halos

On positivism:

[...] the “scientific” character of history, as defined by positivism [...] is secured at the cost of completely eradicating every vestige of history's original role as remembrance. The false aliveness of the past-made-present, the elimination of every echo of a “lament” from history, marks history's final subjection to the modern concept of science.

A problem with hope divorced from action, or, a problem with waiting:

Once the classless society had been defined as an infinite task, the empty and homogenous time was transformed into an anteroom, so to speak, in which one could wait for the emergence of the revolutionary situatuon with more or less equanimity. In reality, there is not a moment that would not carry with it its revolutionary chance—provided only that it is defined in a specific way, namely as the chance for a completely new resolution of a completely new problen. For the revolutionary thinker, the peculiar revolutionary chance offered by every historical moment gets its warrant from the political situation. But it is equally grounded [...] in the right of entry which the historical moment enjoys vis-a-vis a quite distinct chamber of the past, one which up to that point has been closed and locked. The entrance into this chamber coinicdes in the strict sense with political action, and it is by means of such entry that political action, however destructive, reveals itself as messianic.

So, the messianic is the character ascribed to action that siezes on the chance in every historical moment for revolution, but that siezure has within itself a connection to a past, or a way of seeing the past, that had been previously inaccessible.

That summary doesn't get it right. I need to keep thinking about it.

In other news: Burial and Kode9's recent mix for Mary Anne Hobbs has a fantastic first half. The garage tunes they're pulling out and showing off are so good...most especially RJ's “You Are My Destiny.”