Fofi
The opium of the people
Goffredo Fofi
Culture, as the Power understands it and as we have accepted it, is no longer knowledge, but instead a refined tool that dulls our awareness and makes us complacent with the world as it is. And this is the new "opium of the people", bestowed upon us in abundance to make of us light-hearted lotus-eaters.
How many Italians make a living out of "culture"? They – nay, we - are millions, well positioned in schools of every order and grade, in newspapers, in publishing, in entertainment, in television, on radios, on blogs, in museums, festivals, in departments of culture, of tourism, in advertising…we are the greatest "factory" in the country, albeit completely devoid of whatsoever collective identity. A massive cash trail and a massive trail of waffle. But aside from its financial relevance, is not perhaps that the system which we are a part of, that we are complicit with, uses this same excess of culture also to distract us from concrete collective action, numbing us with words, images and sounds? We certainly have no need for this type of culture that is glitzy and manipulative. What we need is a critical culture able to look at the world with a sharp eye and more importantly with the ambition of becoming action. A culture, or better a plurality of cultures, that is able to detox from the blackmail and flattery of power, so as to understand and consequently, to act.
Goffredo Fofi (Gubbio 1937) has worked in film and literary criticism, founded cultural and political publications – "Quaderni Piacentini", "Lo straniero", "Linea d'ombra", "Asini" - he has also taken part in many projects of social and educational intervention from the 1950s until today, in particular in Palermo, Rome, Turin, Milan and Naples. He is the author of many books and pamphlets, among which Totò. L'uomo e la maschera [Totò the man and the mask] (2017), Salvare gli innocenti. Una pedagogia per I tempi di crisi [Saving the innocent. A pedagogy for times of crisis] (2014), Alberto Sordi. L'Italia in bianco e nero [Alberto Sordi: Italy in black and white] (2015), Le zone grigie. Conformismo e vitlà nell'Italia di oggi [Grey areas. Conformity and cowardice in contemporary Italy] (2010), he has also published for elèuthera Da pochi a pochi, appunti di sopravvivenza [From few to few, notes on survival] (2006) and Il cinema del no, visioni anarchiche della vita e della società [The cinema of No! Anarchic visions of life and society] (2015).
Goffredo Fofi
Culture, as the Power understands it and as we have accepted it, is no longer knowledge, but instead a refined tool that dulls our awareness and makes us complacent with the world as it is. And this is the new "opium of the people", bestowed upon us in abundance to make of us light-hearted lotus-eaters.
How many Italians make a living out of "culture"? They – nay, we - are millions, well positioned in schools of every order and grade, in newspapers, in publishing, in entertainment, in television, on radios, on blogs, in museums, festivals, in departments of culture, of tourism, in advertising…we are the greatest "factory" in the country, albeit completely devoid of whatsoever collective identity. A massive cash trail and a massive trail of waffle. But aside from its financial relevance, is not perhaps that the system which we are a part of, that we are complicit with, uses this same excess of culture also to distract us from concrete collective action, numbing us with words, images and sounds? We certainly have no need for this type of culture that is glitzy and manipulative. What we need is a critical culture able to look at the world with a sharp eye and more importantly with the ambition of becoming action. A culture, or better a plurality of cultures, that is able to detox from the blackmail and flattery of power, so as to understand and consequently, to act.
Goffredo Fofi (Gubbio 1937) has worked in film and literary criticism, founded cultural and political publications – "Quaderni Piacentini", "Lo straniero", "Linea d'ombra", "Asini" - he has also taken part in many projects of social and educational intervention from the 1950s until today, in particular in Palermo, Rome, Turin, Milan and Naples. He is the author of many books and pamphlets, among which Totò. L'uomo e la maschera [Totò the man and the mask] (2017), Salvare gli innocenti. Una pedagogia per I tempi di crisi [Saving the innocent. A pedagogy for times of crisis] (2014), Alberto Sordi. L'Italia in bianco e nero [Alberto Sordi: Italy in black and white] (2015), Le zone grigie. Conformismo e vitlà nell'Italia di oggi [Grey areas. Conformity and cowardice in contemporary Italy] (2010), he has also published for elèuthera Da pochi a pochi, appunti di sopravvivenza [From few to few, notes on survival] (2006) and Il cinema del no, visioni anarchiche della vita e della società [The cinema of No! Anarchic visions of life and society] (2015).