comunismo ingl.qxd
24.06.07
16:58
Page 125
taken aback by the ease, or indeed the superficiality, with which some contemporary artists, some of whom are immersed in State-sponsored transgression, lay claim to someone like Debord, who always believed that nothing interesting could ever be done from within the existing system, and who provided surprising proof, himself, that it is possible to make one’s voice heard without taking recourse to the channels laid out for such ends in the society of the spectacle. After all, he never went on TV to rail against the spectacle. Of course, it would be useless to try to do today what Debord did back then, which was fruit of very specific circumstances, but it is always possible to be inspired by the spirit that animated his entire trajectory: the independence and courage to stand alone, if necessary, against all and sundry; indifference to the spectacular honours, to the riches of power, his unfettered perspective on the world. But who would be up for that?
Anselm Jappe is a philosopher and professor at the Frosinone Academy of the Fine Arts in Italy. He is the author of L’avant-garde inacceptable, Réflexions sur Guy Debord (Editions Léo Scheer, 2004), among other titles. In Brazil, his biography of Guy Debord was published by Vozes (Guy Debord, 1999).
1 Adbusters Media Foundation is a non-profit, anti-consumerist organization founded in Canada in 1989.
125