If United Europe Is Dead, Everything Is Allowed: Žižek on Migration, the Left, and a Broken Global Order
In this Substack post, Slavoj Žižek engages with a critique of his position on immigration and open borders. He reflects on whether the current global order still operates within its “constitutive impossibilities,” or whether it is already breaking its own rules through authoritarian politics, lawlessness, and new forms of power. Žižek frames the debate around the failure of both neoliberal multiculturalism and simplistic responses to migration, while questioning whether today’s political reality has moved beyond earlier assumptions about how capitalism and state power function.
Žižek responds to criticism of his immigration argument
The post begins with Žižek quoting a detailed critique of his views, especially the idea that radical politics should still press against the “impossibilities” of the system. The quoted argument favors bottom-up, democratic, cross-border solidarity networks, migrant mutual aid, and labor struggles as practical forms of emancipatory politics.
Questioning whether the system still has stable limits
Žižek pushes back by asking whether it still makes sense to speak of “constitutive impossibilities” when the existing order appears able to survive by violating its own rules. He points to Trump-era politics, lawbreaking violence by ICE, and the erosion of normal market capitalism as signs that the system may already have changed in kind.
A broader challenge to the idea of normal capitalism
The post also raises the idea of techno-feudalism, suggesting that power may now belong to new types of masters rather than ordinary capitalists. Žižek further notes that the moderate Left’s call for stronger police and National Guard intervention during the 2021 Capitol attack was understandable in light of the threat posed by Trumpian forces.
Key takeaways
- Žižek is responding directly to criticism of his views on immigration and the Left.
- The post questions whether the current global order still follows its old rules or has moved into a more authoritarian phase.
- Neoliberal multiculturalism, xenophobic nationalism, and naive humanitarianism are all treated as inadequate responses to migration.
- The article connects contemporary politics to broader concerns about lawlessness, techno-feudalism, and democratic instability.
Source: Slavoj Žižek, “IF UNITED EUROPE IS DEAD, EVERYTHING IS ALLOWED,” published April 24, 2026 on Substack: https://slavoj.substack.com/p/if-united-europe-is-dead-everything Read the original post on Substack.