The New York Times this morning (Dec. 15, 2022) carried an article about the unbearable pressure caused by the overwhelming and rising number of immigrants crossing the border into the relatively welcoming city of El Paso, Texas. Demonized by conservatives, ignored as much as possible by the Democrats whose program offers no solution, the accelerating arrival of masses composed of people who want nothing other than what any of us wants: security, survival, opportunity—their mass may be the element that defies the rules and customs of a social-historical “situation” and in doing so creates the precondition of a transforming “event” in the Badiouvian sense. Neither the letter of the law (which mandates receiving asylum seekers) nor its spirit (fairness, compassion, justice for all) is in the least up to the challenge of these inflowing masses: the legal and official recourses are overwhelmed and the genuine private compassion of many El Pasoans, who themselves are recent immigrants, faces the force majeure of material necessity. It’s simple: if you were among the last to be pulled out of the icy water into the lifeboat and you know that it’s already perilously threatened with capsizing, you won’t clamor to let in even more of those drowning swimmers—no matter what your Christian heart or your devotion to “effective altruism” dictates. Of course, the “lifeboat” that is the entirety of the country is hardly overfilled. Rural areas are depopulated. Cities are dotted with empty office buildings vacated by the employees who chose to work from home after the habit-disrupting experience of the pandemic. Space for new construction abounds. Agricultural products and consumer goods get over-produced and are subject to gluts. What the universal human needs of the immigrant masses and the will of those who confront them with hostility or helpless compassion are crashing up against is a system and culture of private ownership and private profit. The question is whether at some point this unbearable impasse will effect a transformative event comparable to those that precipitated previous revolutions. If this is possible, the “event” is less likely to issue in revolutionary change if those who are open to it expect it to arrive bearing the trappings of previous revolutions. What is certain is the assessment of a cash register attendant in a downtown El Paso shop: “The city can’t keep up with the flow,” said Mr. Garcia, [age] 54. “It’s a crisis now, really. No one has seen anything like it. Everyone is nervous. What if this is only the beginning?”
This captures the sense of the Badiouvian event better than any learned commentary. No one has seen anything like it. What if this is only the beginning?
Signed,
Andrew (Weeks)
Normal Thoughts 