Slavoj Žižek · The Non-Existence of Norway

Žižek, Europe, utopianism, migration, refugia, refugees, Norway, There is No Norway

There is something enigmatically utopian in this demand: as if it were the duty of Europe to realise their dreams – dreams which, incidentally, are out of reach of most Europeans (surely a good number of Southern and Eastern Europeans would prefer to live in Norway too?). It is precisely when people find themselves in poverty, distress and danger – when we’d expect them to settle for a minimum of safety and wellbeing – that their utopianism becomes most intransigent. But the hard truth to be faced by the refugees is that ‘there is no Norway,’ even in Norway.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n18/slavoj-zizek/the-non-existence-of-norway