Multitude against Empire

Abstract

In the final section of their work Empire, Hardt and Negri discuss the coming into being of the multitude, the unified force that overthrows the system of ‘Empire’. Absent from the account of this unification of the multitude is the influence of religion. I endeavor to show that contrary to Hardt’s and Negri’s assumption, religion is not dissipating among the multitude and that its impact will be contrary to the creation of a unified multitude. Thus the creation of the unified multitude requires an absence of religion, but the creation of the multitude under the system of Empire entails a creation of more theists, leading to a seeming contradiction in the process of creating a unified multitude. In order for the creation of the multitude envisioned by Hardt and Negri to be complete, the issue of religion must be addressed, it cannot simply be assumed away as unimportant or non-existent.

Interrupting the economy of miracles

“…Thus I cannot agree with Connolly (2005: 150-1) and McDaniel (2009) that Hardt and Negri overlook the element of religion in contemporary politics. It is rather that they overlook the importance of non-Christian, and indeed non-monotheistic, religions, many of whose problems and practices were developed by encounters with Christianity.…”