Chapter 1: Subjective Figures of the Crisis ... - Negri in English

safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in
the other." Since injustices to generations of black slaves have
accumulated in their bones a rightful rage, Jefferson reasons,
which, if unleashed, will destroy white society, slaver}', although
unjust, must be continued in order to hold the beast at bay.
Today's securitized society functions by the same ignoble logic
but now the wolves are already loose, lurking in the shadows, a
perpetual threat. All kinds of injustices can be warranted by the
ghostly apparitions of a generalized fear.
The Represented
We are constantly told that we are in the midst of a long
historical trajectory from diverse forms of tyranny to democracy.
Even though in some places people are repressed by totalitarian
or despotic regimes, representative forms of government, which
claim to be both democratic and capitalist, are increasingly
widespread. Universal suffrage is valued and practiced, albeit
with different levels of effectiveness, throughout the world. The
global capitalist market, we are told, always extends the model of
parliamentary' representation as an instrument of the political
inclusion of populations. And yet, many of the movements of
2011 refuse to be represented and direct their strongest critiques
against the structures of representative government. How can
they heap abuse on the precious gift of representation that
modernity has bequeathed them Do they want to return to the
dark ages of nonrepresentative government and tyranny No, of
course not. To understand their critique we must recognize that
representation is not, in fact, a vehicle of democracy but instead
an obstacle to its realization, and we must see how the figure of
the represented gathers together the figures of the indebted, the
mediatized, and the securitized, and at the same time, epitomizes
the end result of their subordination and corruption.
The power of finance and wealth, first of all, takes away the
possibility for people to associate and construct organizations
able to sustain the ever-higher costs of electoral campaigns. Only
if you are rich, very rich, can you enter the field on your own
resources. Otherwise, to reach the same goal, it is necessary to
corrupt and be corrupted. When in government, elected