Group 1- Bastien, Jon Kebe, Mohannad, Jason, Brent, Etienne

They propose not only a new way of thinking about capitalism and the societies of control, but a new way of understanding how we can and must revolt against it. They have a high goal -- of being the Karl Marx of the twenty-first century!

It is interesting to analyze a reading that becomes an auto critical piece in such a fast pace. Especially these months of perpetual questioning to the empire of the world and its big influence in international conflicts, economic influences and systematic stomping of those who do not follow its guidelines, “Empire” is a good reflection of the lack of balance we are struggling with today and that seems will never be fixed while the system works in such brutal and primitive way. As the authors say on page 43, “One might even say that the construction of Empire and its global networks is a response to the various struggles against the modern machines of power, and specifically to class struggle driven by the multitude’s desire for liberation.”

Hardt and Negri illustrate through symbolic political examples what the empire is, has become, and will do to our lives. The critique to what the modern world has left for its legacy, based on the infinite number of never-ending wars and conflicts, raise eyebrows and proves a point that is very interesting, yet scary. This reminds me of a passage where H & N discuss the non-existing connection of several events such as riots, strikes and revolts going on throughout the world. We live in a world that is supposedly increasing in communication and thus creating a global Empire, but the facts that these events were not connected in any way shows an “urgent political paradox of our time”, “Struggles have become all but incommunicable”.

The authors quote Eric Auerbach by remembering his though of “Tragedy is the only genre that can claim realism in the Western literature”. This is directly linked with the struggle for power brought in by the empires, and how we have degenerated our societal values and have not yet been able to resolve our most basic and symbolic differences with one another, thousands of years after great wonders such as the Egyptian pyramids or the invention of the wheel and the development of our own tribal world.

The key factors of Communication within the empire and the “Res Gestae”. How guilty are we of what is happening and how much are we supporting it by sustaining a weak or non-partisan state of mind that succumbs to the fierce claw of Capitalism and Imperial politics? The United Nations, for example, as well as all the multinational political treaties, accords, funds, commissions and committees built to support a multi-networked planet of common labour are indeed good proposals, but there is still a treacherous gap within theory and practice. The main headquarters of the United Nations is inside the biggest empire. The empire is the main donor of funds to maintain these organizations running and tends to end up intimidating, more than supporting, when such closeness is as tight as it is in our actual times. If the United Stated had respected the stand of the Security Council in 2003 with respects of the war in Iraq, history would have been too different now and we would have reaffirmed the ethics and actual existence of the United Nations as a mediator for world politics. Yet we allowed Rwanda to happened, not to mention Darfur and other tortures that should wipe out our faces from the mirror when, as humankind, we look at each other and praise our sense of fraternity.