the body of king boris

first some alice coltrane  for you.

mainly horsemouth liked this article for the illustration which is a parody of the frontspiece of 'leviathan' by hobbes (but with a king boris instead of a king charles).

we (the people) give our assent to the state because it protects us. we are the little blobs that make up the body of king boris. and this is what is going on at a deeper level with the state behind its democratic normal operation the people are sovereign so they make the state sovereign so that it can make the necessary decisions (even if those decisions involve the suspension of normal democratic operation or civil rights). 

(now horsemouth would argue that the state in normal operation is in fact considerably less 'democratic' than people take it to be - but that's bye the bye - that there is with the guardian, and indeed the UK ruling class as a whole, a certain blindness to what s beneath them, to what has been produced as a consequence of their actions.)

the article argues for the 'niceness' of democracies against the 'autocratic harshness' of one party states.

but what is 'nice' about the continuing dragooning of non-essential construction workers and non-essential shop workers into work? what is nice about the continued failure to provide proper PPE to doctors and nurses? what is nice about the belated and haphazard treatment of over 7 million workers who are self-employed or earn to little to qualify for sick pay? what is nice about the prevarication and delay in the coronavirus response (one that will cost thousands of lives)?

and finally, what was nice about this most recent decade of austerity and its effects on the NHS, social care and the underlying health of the people?

is bringing in the measures that will prevent death really 'autocratic harshness'?

the really interesting thing about the state's response to the pandemic (even given all the delays and failures listed above) is that in the support provided for people to stay off work, housing for the homeless etc. it shows what they could have been doing all along.

but whatever the alleged 'generosity' of the 'democratic' state now (or the efficiency of the one party state) it will all have to be paid for in the capital markets later. this could be the moment that finally breaks the rule of dead money over the lives of the living, or it could just be the beginning of another bout of debt slavery. 

theresa may announced that the austerity caused by the 2008 banking crisis was over (but the next day the 'hostile environment' against claimants was still in operation and the cuts had still happened). when this is over we face austerities to pay for brexit, we will face austerities to pay for the corona virus. but who is this 'we'?

horsemouth suspects that it will once again be the poor. we were sacrificed by our rulers in austerity, we were sacrificed to the economy in the run up to corona virus, and those who survive we will be sacrificed to it again after.

but this is not a done deal. we are in a pivotal moment. when the pandemic has run its course the country (and indeed the world) will look very different.

carl schmitt, the weimar theorist of the state of exception, fan of hobbes (and later member of the nazi party), is the man behind the reassuringly english hobbes that runciman is not mentioning. but walter benjamin (writing in response to schmitt) would encourage us to see it another way,

 'the tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the “emergency situation” in which we live is the rule. we must arrive at a concept of history which corresponds to this. then it will become clear that the task before us is the introduction of a real state of emergency...'
- walter benjamin, on the concept of history, thesis 8 
(horsemouth has probably posted this before)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b08h0cc8