Abstract

In this interview Michael Hardt analyses the changes in the balance of Imperial power brought about by the war in Iraq. American unilateralism has led to an untenable military situation; but European multilateralism would only mean a division of the spoils among a few other great powers. The demonstrations of February 15, 2003, whose organizational mode prolongs the cycle of counter-globalization struggles, are more promising for the multitude. The latter, Hardt notes, is « a concept of social singularities that... are able to communicate, collaborate and act in common. » Its development is oriented by the major characteristics of immaterial labor, which exerts its hegemony across the global division of labor. Writing « multitude » without an « s » indicates the « decision-making capacity » required for the multitude to become a social project. One way to conceive this project would be through a science of foreigners, a « becoming foreign in one’s own and every country »