Tiqqun
Tiqqun was a French-Italian post-Marxist philosophical journal or zine, produced in two issues in February 1999 and October 2001. Topics treated in the journal's articles include anti-capitalism, anti-statism, Situationism, feminism, and the history of late 20th century revolutionary movements, especially May 1968 in France, the Italian Years of Lead, and the anti-globalization protests of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The journal's articles were written anonymously; as a result, the word "Tiqqun" is also used to name the articles' collective of authors, and other texts attributed to them.
The journal came to wider attention following the Tarnac Nine arrests of 2008, a police operation which detained nine people on suspicion of having conspired on recent sabotage of French electrical train lines. The arrested were accused of having written The Coming Insurrection, a political tract credited to The Invisible Committee, a distinct anonymous group named in the journal. Julien Coupat, one of the arrested, was a contributor to the first issue of Tiqqun.
The journal's articles are polemics against modern capitalist society, which the authors hold in contempt. Individual articles present diagnoses of specific aspects of modern society, drawing on ideas from continental philosophy, anthropology, and history. Guy Debord's concept of the [|Spectacle] is used to explain how communication media and socialization processes support existing capitalist society, and Michel Foucault's concept of [|biopower] is used to explain how states and businesses manage populations via their physical needs. The journal's articles introduce terminology for their topics, freely used throughout the other articles. A "Bloom" refers to an archetypal, alienated modern person or subject, named after the character Leopold Bloom from the James Joyce novel Ulysses. A "Young-Girl" refers to a person who participates in modern society and thereby reinforces it, exhibiting traits commonly associated with femininity. Although a "Bloom" frequently stands for a man and a "Young-Girl" frequently stands for a woman, the authors stress that the concepts are not gendered. The word Tiqqun is an alternate spelling of Tikkun olam, a Jewish theological concept which refers to repair or healing of the world. In the authors' context, Tiqqun refers to improvement of the human condition through the subversion of modern capitalist society.
Due to their philosophical influences, political content and historical context, the Tiqqun articles have received some attention in humanities scholarship and anarchist reading circles. Selected articles have been republished in several languages.
Contents and authorship
The first issue of Tiqqun was published in February 1999 with the title Tiqqun, Organe conscient du Parti Imaginaire: Exercices de Métaphysique Critique. The second issue was published in October 2001 with the title Tiqqun, Organe de liaison au sein du Parti Imaginaire: Zone d’Opacité Offensive. For simplicity the two issues are commonly referred to as Tiqqun 1 and Tiqqun 2, respectively.Eleven articles were published in Tiqqun 1, and ten major articles were published in Tiqqun 2. Additionally the first issue contained a one-page spread, and the second issue contained nine smaller pieces interspersed between each of its ten main articles, two-page spreads with black borders. In all 31 pieces were published in the journal, listed below in the order they originally appeared.
Due to their anonymity, Tiqqun's articles are not credited to individual authors; rather, they are simply attributed to the journal's namesake. However the first issue's back cover contained a colophon which listed the issue's editorial board as Julien Boudart, Fulvia Carnevale, Julien Coupat, Junius Frey, Joël Gayraud, Stephan Hottner and Rémy Ricordeau.
The actor and philosopher Mehdi Belhaj Kacem briefly collaborated with the Tiqqun collective toward the end of its existence. In an interview, he noted that the group disbanded shortly after the September 11 attacks.
| Original French Title | English Translation |
| Eh bien, la guerre! | Of course you know, this means war! |
| Qu'est-ce que la Métaphysique Critique? | What is Critical Metaphysics? |
| Théorie du Bloom | Theory of Bloom |
| Phénoménologie de la vie quotidienne | Phenomenology of Everyday Life |
| Thèses sur le Parti Imaginaire | Theses on the [|Imaginary Party] |
| Le silence et son au-delà | Silence and Beyond |
| De l'économie considérée comme magie noire | On the Economy Considered as Black Magic |
| Premiers matériaux pour une théorie de la Jeune-Fille | Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl |
| La théologie en 1999 | Theology in 1999 |
| Hommes-machines, mode d'emploi | Machine-Men: User's Guide |
| Les métaphysiciens-critiques sous le «mouvement des chômeurs» | The Critical Metaphysicians beneath the "Unemployed Persons' movement" |
| Quelques actions d'éclat du Parti Imaginaire | A Few Scandalous Actions of the Imaginary Party |
| Original French Title | English Translation |
| Introduction à la guerre civile | Introduction to Civil War |
| L'hypothèse cybernétique | The Cybernetic Hypothesis |
| Thèses sur la communauté terrible | Theses on the Terrible Community |
| Le problème de la tête | The Problem of the Head |
| «Une métaphysique critique pourrait naître comme science des dispositifs...» | "A [|critical metaphysics] could emerge as a science of apparatuses..." |
| Rapport à la S.A.S.C. concernant un dispositif impérial | Report to the S.A.C.S. Concerning an Imperial Apparatus |
| Le petit jeu de l'homme d'Ancien Régime | The Little Game of the Man of the Old Regime |
| Échographie d'une puissance | Sonogram of a Potential |
| Ceci n'est pas un programme | This Is Not a Program |
| Comment faire? | How Is It to Be Done? |
| Original French Title | English Translation |
| Dernier avertissement au parti imaginaire | Final Warning to the Imaginary Party |
| Les vainqueurs avaient vaincu sans peine | The Conquerors had Conquered Without Trouble |
| «Tout mouvement excède...» | Untitled Notes on Citizenship Papers |
| Ceux qui ne veulent pas du progrès, le progrès ne veut pas d'eux | Progress doesn't want Those that don't want Progress |
| Halte à la domestiCAFion! | Stop DomestiCAFion! |
| Notes sur le local | Notes on the Local |
| On a toujours l'âge de déserter | You're never too old to ditch out |
| Bonjour! | Hello! |
| Ma noi ci saremo | But we'll be here |
Themes
Tiqqun's articles pathologize modern capitalist society, introducing several terms used to describe social phenomena. The authors use the terms together to present an anti-capitalist, anti-statist worldview. Because of their contempt for modern society, the authors advocate insurrectionary anarchism, crime, and other methods intended to subvert it. The authors also indicate that people opposed to modern capitalist society may form meaningful community with each other based on their shared rejection of it.According to the authors, the coordination of states and private businesses gives rise to modern capitalist society, which entails "commodity domination" of social interactions, supplanting authentic human community. This leads to several pathological sociological types: socially alienated people, people who fully participate in society and thereby become commodities themselves, people who criticize society without attempting to change it, and subcultures which seek to preserve themselves at the expense of their members' inability to be honest with each other. Historically, modern Western society transitioned from a period of liberal governance to a period stressing social control using technology. Modern society uses two techniques to maintain its power and to reproduce itself: biopower is used to manage the physical needs of the population, while the Spectacle is an established form of discourse which reproduces modern society through its socialization in individuals.
Against this, the authors posit "critical metaphysics", an attitude which rejects modern society. Persons who reject modern society may meet in "planes of consistency", circumstances which allow like-minded people to encounter each other. Persons rejecting modern society form the Imaginary Party, an unorganized group who may coalesce around specific events of civil unrest. An example is the Black bloc, a practice—employed during anti-globalization protests and riots—of dressing in black and wearing face coverings. The authors describe "zones of offensive opacity" as places where people may meet to subvert modern society. The process through which such people meet and interact is described as Tiqqun.
The tone of the articles is frequently acerbic and sarcastic. The philosophers Thucydides, Thomas Hobbes and Martin Heidegger are described respectively as "that moron", "that piece of shit" and "swine", due to the authors' disagreements with their views. The Italian sociologist Antonio Negri is also frequently the subject of harsh criticism, due to his involvement in activism which the authors feel is too conciliatory to existing capitalist society. The articles are illustrated with reproductions of artwork and photography of riots and demonstrations.