[via] Rhizome [txt] Paul Virilio on the crisis - interview on Le Monde
Having destabilised the financial system, the stock exchange crash might well destabilise the state, which is the guarantor of last resort of collective life. For the time being, the state tries to be reassuring. But if the bourses keep on heading South, it will be state itself that will go in receivership, and that will plunge nations into chaos. This is not me embracing catastrophism. I do not believe that the worst is unavoidable, I do not believe in chaos, that is an untenable position, and it amounts to intellectual arrogance. But that does not mean that one should be prevented from thinking about it. Faced with absolute fear, I counter with hope absolute. Churchill said once that an optimist is somebody who sees opportunity hiding behind every calamity.
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