The Yam Vendor

When philosophy matures as a truly dialectical materialism (or transgressive transcendentalism--two ways of looking at a blackbird), it emerges as a meta-philosophy or "lived poetry" here termed "Mazeppism" or manhaj al-fellahi.

Politics loses it luster--or, rather, becomes limited to the "micro-politics" of the everyday.



Life under empire requires dilatory tactics; "sainthood" belongs to those who prove too slow, deliberative, or unambitious to be of any use when it comes to advancing the Imperial agenda. To be "left behind" under such circumstances is a badge of honor. The saint is a fly in the ointment, a wrench in the works. The savoir-faire of the fellahin seasons all ideological commitments. Irony becomes the predominant mode of public expression.

Silence, exile, cunning, as Joyce wrote. Weapons of the weak.



The yam vendor.