Negri interdit de Japon

Pas de Japon pour le philosophe Toni Negri

AFP 24/3/2008Le philosophe altermondialiste italien, Toni Negri, a renoncé à une série de conférences qu’il devait donner au Japon, les services de l’immigration ne lui ayant pas donné de visa.

« Normalement, un Français ou un Italien peut entrer au Japon sans visa, mais M. Negri a une histoire particulière et devait se faire délivrer un visa par l’ambassade du Japon en France », a expliqué un responsable des services d’immigration.

Citoyen italien installé à Paris, M. Negri a été condamné en Italie à la prison pour « association subversive et constitution de bande armée », en raison de ses liens avec des groupes d’extrême-gauche pendant les « années de plomb », marquées par plusieurs crimes politiques.

Il a été détenu en Italie de 1979 à 1983 puis de 1997 à 2003, vivant dans l’intervalle en exil en France.

Dans un courrier adressé par M. Negri et sa compagne à leurs « amis japonais » pour s’excuser de n’avoir pu venir comme prévu, le philosophe explique avoir été contraint de faire une demande de visa « contre toute attente » deux jours avant son départ, alors que sa venue ne posait jusque-là « aucun problème » à l’ambassade du Japon à Paris.

« On nous a demandé toute une série de documents qui concernaient le passé politique de Toni depuis les années 1970. C’est une documentation énorme, en langue italienne, qui remonte à longtemps, et que nous n’avons bien entendu pas sous la main », a écrit sa compagne dans une lettre.

M. Negri est l’auteur du livre « Empire », une des sources d’inspiration du mouvement altermondialiste.

Le Japon est depuis plusieurs mois très attentif à l’entrée des militants altermondialistes sur son territoire, à quelques mois du sommet du G8 qu’il organise du 7 au 9 juillet sur l’île de Hokkaido (nord).

I-House Ushiba Fellowship

This program will invite to Japan distinguished contemporary thinkers and intellectuals for the purpose of bringing humankind closer together and transcending the North-South / East-West divides through the enhancement of international understanding and mutual trust. This program is made possible by the endowment subsequent to the dissolution of the Ushiba Memorial Foundation, established to promote international cooperation for the realization of harmonious relations between the developed world and the underdeveloped world. The I-House Ushiba
Fellowship aims at encouraging cross-cultural dialogue which critically examines various problematics of the 21st century, in particular those issues that arise from the problems left unresolved (« negative legacy ») from the last century, and suggesting a creative vision for human

development from an alternative perspective.

The second Fellow of the I-House Ushiba Fellowship
Antonio Negri

Photo Copyright: David Balicki
Mr. Balicki’s copyright is represented by Le Bureau des Copyrights Français

As the second Ushiba fellow, Mr. Antonio Negri will be visiting Japan from March 20 to April 4, 2008, and will spend his residency engaged in various cultural and intellectual dialogues including a lecture at I-House.

Mr. Negri’s visit to Japan has unfortunately been cancelled. Please refer to the following page for details of the cancellation of his trip to Japan (we are sorry the page is available only in Japanese). We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences this last-minute cancellation may cause you.

On the cancellation of Mr. Negri’s visit to Japan (Japanese)

Intellectuals Nowadays

What kind of image does the word <Intellectual> evoke today? In the bi-polar world structure during the cold war era, eminent intellectuals explored the implications of their public role and responsibility in pursuit of embodying an alternative world. Standing at the threshold of the twenty-first century in a turbulent world facing complex and interdisciplinary issues after the collapse of the cold war system, how will public intellectuals interpret the contemporary world and what kind of questions will they raise as their main agenda? Focusing on how we should regard their existence in an age of « Empire » and « Multitude, » Mr. Antonio Negri will talk on intellectuals nowadays.

Moderator: Kang Sangjung, Professor, University of Tokyo
Commentator: Yoshihiko Ichida, Professor, Kobe University

Date & Time: Saturday, March 22, 2008, 6:00 pm- 9:00 pm
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan
Language: Italian/Japanese consecutive interpretation provided (for lecture)
French/Japanese consecutive interpretation provided (for Q & A session)

Admission: 1,500 yen (1,000 yen for students, free for I-House members)

Pre-event to commemorate Mr. Antonio Negri’s first visit to Japan
Panel Discussion « Antonio Negri: Intellectual Rebellion in Our Time »

One month prior to Mr. Negri’s visit to Japan, this program will present a panel discussion for shedding light on why Antonio Negri matters now. In so doing, we will examine the contemporary significance of his thought from various perspectives such as “Empire and Americanism”; Multitude and Arts”; “Multitude and Gender” and “Bio-politics.”

Date: Friday, February 8, 2008, 6:00 pm-9:00 pm
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan
Admission: I-House Members: Free/ Non-members: 1,500 yen/ Students: 1,000 yen
Organizer: International House of Japan
Language: Japanese (no translation will be provided)
Moderator: Yoshihiko Ichida, Professor, Kobe University
Panelists:
KANG, Sang-jung, Professor, University of Tokyo
Kazue Kobata, Professor, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Kazuko Takemura, Professor, Ochanomizu University
Kuniichi Uno, Professor, Rikkyo University

Antonio Negri

Born in Padua, Italy, 1933. Starting off his academic career as a scholar of political philosophy centering on Marx, Mr.Negri shaped the theoretical foundation for a new social movement known as “Autonomia” supported by the socially disadvantaged. The movement jolted all parts of Italy. When it was in a stage of further development, however, he was accused of masterminding the kidnapping and murder of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the militant organization “the Red Brigades” and plotting to overthrow the government. Shortly afterward, although no link was established between Negri and the Red Brigades, he was convicted for his political activities and critical discourse against the government. During his imprisonment awaiting trial, he announced his candidacy for and was elected to the Italian legislature. Owing to parliamentary privilege, he was permitted to leave prison, but this was abrogated a few months later. Before being arrested, he sought for political asylum in Paris. During his exile in Paris, he became acquainted with such French intellectuals as Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, was engaged in global intellectual movements and prolific political writings, and developed a new theory of human emancipation in a rapidly globalized world. Later, he voluntarily returned to Italy to serve his remaining sentences and was released from prison in 2003 after serving his full sentence of 17 years.

As an eminent scholar, he has held teaching positions at the University of Padua, the Ecole Normale Supérieure, the Universities de Paris Ⅶ,Ⅷ, and College International de Philosophy. In the widely acclaimed works of “Empire” and “Multitude” under his co-authorship with Michael Hart, Negri grasped the new political global order, which emerged with the acceleration of “Globalization,” as “Empire,” and reconfigured it as de-centralized network system of domination, which differs from a sovereignty of traditional “nation-states” presupposing physical territory and which accepts no boundaries or limits. In so doing, Negri conceptualized “Multitude” as the democratic forces and alternative paradigm to resist against a new imperial order and the power of “Empire.”

His major publications include Political Descartes: Reason, Ideology and the Bourgeois Project (New York: Verso, 2007), Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (co-authored with Michael Hardt, New York: Penguin Press, 2004), Time for Revolution (New York: Continuum, 2003), Empire (co-authored with Michael Hardt, Harvard University Press, 2000), The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza’s Metaphysics and Politics (University of Minnesota Press, 1991), Marx Beyond Marx: Lessons on the Grundrisse (New York: Autonomedia, 1991) and The Politics of Subversion: A Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989).