The following texts were written in 2012 and 2014, and slightly modified for their translation. They criticize two books on the cover of which appears Alain Badiou’s name. In reality, however, neither of these books is a real one, if by that word, we mean a scholarly study, based on reliable historical sources, and dealing with antisemitism, Zionism and the so-called « Jewish question ». The first one, Antisemitism Everywhere, is an article printed in large letters to turn it into an editorial product that could pass for a « book ». The second is a collection of articles, interviews and excerpts of texts.
Alain Badiou has the reputation of being a « great Marxist philosopher ». I am unqualified to judge his philosophical talent as my philosophical knowledge is quite limited. And I am not interested in labeling who is a « great Marxist » and who is not. I leave this job to Marxologists.
In these two texts I have merely tried to show that Alain Badiou, by venturing into the realm of politics and history, says and writes a lot of nonsense, partly because he has not the proper knowledge to deal with historical and political facts (I could say the same thing about what he writes on China even he is a Maoist, because his ideological positions oblige him to discard or ignore basic facts). Hence my polemical and irreverent tone when faced with the texts of an intellectual who uses his authority acquired in the philosophical (and mediatic) field to conceal his ignorance about historical and political matters. This irresponsible attitude should pose a problem for anyone who is committed to intellectual rigour and honesty.
Moreover, Badiou is presented as somebody belonging to the left, and even the far left, whereas his political alliances in the intellectual field and some of his arguments, and in any case the arguments of his allies (Eric Hazan and Cecile Winter) show that he has no political sense and that he supports reactionary individuals, insofar as philoStalinism and Third Worldism are strong obstacles to any real emancipation and liberation of the exploited.
Y.C., Ni patrie ni frontières, April 2020