Punto cero : Reflexiones n.º 002

The “zero point” is ground level, the bottom, the place to which one retreats and from which one regroups. Taken from Vladimir Lenin’s 1922 text, *The Ascent of High Mountains*, in which he reflects on the complexity of “retreating” without betraying the cause, the mountaineer metaphor becomes a model of resilience, flexibility, and the persistence of hope. It is the figure of the revolutionary embodying Beckettian’s motto: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” In Žižek’s hands, this formula serves to confront the antagonisms of the existing world order. With a particular focus on the Middle East—the point where all our tensions threaten to erupt—Žižek argues that nothing can be addressed meaningfully without directly confronting this confrontation.