Guy Debord

Comments on the Society of the Spectacle

In memory of Gerard Lebovici, assassinated in Paris on 5 March 1984, in a trap that remains mysterious.[1] “However critical the situation and circumstances in which you find yourself, despair of nothing; it is on the occasions in which everything is to be feared that it is necessary to fear nothing; it is when one is surrounded by all the dangers that it is not necessary to dread any; it is when one is without resources that it is necessary to count on all of them; it is when one is surprised that it is necessary to surprise the enemy himself.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War.[2] I These comments are sure to be promptly known by fifty or sixty people; a large number given the times in which we live and the ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

1978

I will make no concessions to the public in this film. I believe there are several good reasons for this decision, and I am going to state them. In the first place, it is well known that I have never made any concessions to the dominant ideas or ruling powers of my era. Moreover, nothing of importance has ever been communicated by being gentle with a public, not even one like that of the age of Pericles; and in the frozen mirror of the screen the spectators are not looking at anything that might suggest the respectable citizens of a democracy. But most importantly: this particular public, which has been so totally deprived of freedom and which has tolerated every sort of abuse, deserves less than any other to be treated... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Report on the Construction of Situations : And on the International Situa...

1957

Revolution and Counterrevolution in Modern Culture First of all, we think the world must be changed. We want the most liberating change of the society and life in which we find ourselves confined. We know that such a change is possible through appropriate actions. Our specific concern is the use of certain means of action and the discovery of new ones, means which are more easily recognizable in the domain of culture and customs, but which must be applied in interrelation with all revolutionary changes. A society’s “culture” both reflects and prefigures its possible ways of organizing life. Our era is characterized by the lagging of revolutionary political action behind the development of modern possib... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Situationist Theses on Traffic

1959

1 A mistake made by all the city planners is to consider the private automobile (and its byproducts, such as the motorcycle) as essentially a means of transportation. In reality, it is the most notable material symbol of the notion of happiness that developed capitalism tends to spread throughout the society. The automobile is at the center of this general propaganda, both as supreme good of an alienated life and as essential product of the capitalist market: It is generally being said this year that American economic prosperity is soon going to depend on the success of the slogan “Two cars per family.” 2 Commuting time, as Le Corbusier rightly noted, is a surplus labor which correspondingly reduces the amou... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Society of the Spectacle, The

Translator’s Note There have been several previous English translations of The Society of the Spectacle. I have gone through them all and have retained whatever seemed already to be adequate. In particular, I have adopted quite a few of Donald Nicholson-Smith’s renderings, though I have diverged from him in many other cases. His translation (Zone Books, 1994) and the earlier one by Fredy Perlman and John Supak (Black and Red, 1977) are both in print, and both can also be found at the Situationist International Online website. I believe that my translation conveys Debord’s actual meaning more accurately, as well as more clearly and idiomatically, than any of the other versions. I am nevertheless aware that it is far fro... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

To Libertarians

Esteemed comrades, We regret to have to draw to your attention a serious and urgent question about which you would ordinarily know more than we, who are far away and foreigners.[1] But we are obligated to note the diverse circumstances that until now have made it impossible for you to know certain facts or their meaning. We believe it necessary, therefore, to clearly expose those facts to you, as well as the circumstances that have prevented them from reaching you. At this moment, more than fifty libertarians are being held in the prisons of Spain, and many among them have been held many years without being tried. The whole world, which every day hears about the struggles of the Basques,[2] completely ignores this aspect of th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

User’s Guide to Détournement, A

Every reasonably aware person of our time is aware of the obvious fact that art can no longer be justified as a superior activity, or even as a compensatory activity to which one might honorably devote oneself. The reason for this deterioration is clearly the emergence of productive forces that necessitate other production relations and a new practice of life. In the civil-war phase we are engaged in, and in close connection with the orientation we are discovering for certain superior activities to come, we believe that all known means of expression are going to converge in a general movement of propaganda that must encompass all the perpetually interacting aspects of social reality. There are several conflicting opinions about the f... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

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Guy Debord

December 28, 1931 — November 30, 1994

Entry 4112

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Comments on the Society of the Spectacle

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

Report on the Construction of Situations : And on the International Situa...

Situationist Theses on Traffic

Society of the Spectacle, The

To Libertarians

User’s Guide to Détournement, A

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