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De la necropolítica liberal a la empatía radical
La necropolítica (del griego «necro», muerte) del neoliberalismo no necesita armas para matar a los excluidos. Mediante sus políticas, los cuerpos que estorban viven muertos en vida o se les deja morir porque no son rentables. Pero como no es suficiente con mantenerlos sin acceso a comida, a techo o a atención sanitaria, se desarrollan políticas y formas de violencia discreta que aceleran su muerte y que aseguran que estén al límite de la vida con el «privilegio» de sobrevivir. Porque aun desde su exclusión, desde los espacios «intermedios» en los que habitan, los marginados son una amenaza. Sin darse cuenta ni proponérselo, esos cuerpos resonantes actúan como altavoces que ponen en evidencia todas las injusticias del neoliberalismo. Y eso, los poderosos no lo van a tolerar porque tiene el potencial de inspirar, en el resto de la sociedad, la repolitización, una empatía radical que se podría convertir en revuelta. Entre los cuerpos excluidos en los que se enfoca este libro, se profundiza de manera más detallada en la situación de los enfermos de Síndromes de Sensibilización Central como ejemplo de las motivaciones y consecuencias de la necropolítica del neoliberalismo. Clara Valverde Gefaell (Barcelona, 1956), escritora especializada en biopolítica. Activista en el #15M y en otros movimientos sociales. Fue profesora de enfermería durante décadas. Ahora coordina el Equipo Aquo de formación on-line y off-line. Ha publicado también con Icaria editorial Desenterrar las palabras: Transmisión generacional del trauma de la violencia política del siglo xx en el Estado español.
135 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2015
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May 17, 2026
A fitting read for the Necrocene (or Thanatocene) that rightly names capitalism as an extinction-driven system pushing reality toward nature’s destruction and human disappearance.
The slow move and spillover from Biopolitics to Necropolitics is not a break but a shift in emphasis. Biopolitics already works through hierarchy and distribution to give and take, sorting bodies as part of the management of life. What Necropolitics does is to focus more explicitly on the extreme zones where life is reduced to a scam run by a few. Death-worlds, bodies that move in contexts where they are already perceived as dead, zombie-like.
The change of focus is placed on the abandonment and exposure to death ceasing to be calculated byproducts and becoming a more, central governing logic. Systems organized around life-optimization increasingly deal with “abundance” as something to abandon, exhaust, and expose to death, indeed, living bodies already perceived as dead, because the business as usual depends on an ever greater imbalance. It is no longer enough to lead the cattle into a straight line; increasingly, ways are found to remove cattle from the line, to classify cattle as non-cattle or dead-in-line. Consolidation at the top comes with more waste at the bottom.
From Necropolitics to Radical Empathy deals with this contrast: politics that treats its subjects as if they were already dead: administered through exposure, suspension, and disposability; and argues instead for radical empathy where coldness has blinded the hearts.
Clara Valverde focuses on Necropolitics in everyday neoliberal contexts such as healthcare cuts, chronic illness, social exclusion, the “slow violence” imposed on all those who don’t fit it, who seem like too much of a cost, or whatever. Ah yes, patients forever reduced to the footnotes. Bodies that are not only exposed to precarious situations, but are (classified) abandoned as if already dead: death-in-life. (The death of the soul? No, that’s too romantic, because of course, there are a lot of broken bones too!)
Monetization then, is a form of managed death. As long as people don’t press the button or touch the trigger it’s ok for others to die in all kinds of ways, just not too close, please.
The slow move and spillover from Biopolitics to Necropolitics is not a break but a shift in emphasis. Biopolitics already works through hierarchy and distribution to give and take, sorting bodies as part of the management of life. What Necropolitics does is to focus more explicitly on the extreme zones where life is reduced to a scam run by a few. Death-worlds, bodies that move in contexts where they are already perceived as dead, zombie-like.
The change of focus is placed on the abandonment and exposure to death ceasing to be calculated byproducts and becoming a more, central governing logic. Systems organized around life-optimization increasingly deal with “abundance” as something to abandon, exhaust, and expose to death, indeed, living bodies already perceived as dead, because the business as usual depends on an ever greater imbalance. It is no longer enough to lead the cattle into a straight line; increasingly, ways are found to remove cattle from the line, to classify cattle as non-cattle or dead-in-line. Consolidation at the top comes with more waste at the bottom.
From Necropolitics to Radical Empathy deals with this contrast: politics that treats its subjects as if they were already dead: administered through exposure, suspension, and disposability; and argues instead for radical empathy where coldness has blinded the hearts.
Clara Valverde focuses on Necropolitics in everyday neoliberal contexts such as healthcare cuts, chronic illness, social exclusion, the “slow violence” imposed on all those who don’t fit it, who seem like too much of a cost, or whatever. Ah yes, patients forever reduced to the footnotes. Bodies that are not only exposed to precarious situations, but are (classified) abandoned as if already dead: death-in-life. (The death of the soul? No, that’s too romantic, because of course, there are a lot of broken bones too!)
Monetization then, is a form of managed death. As long as people don’t press the button or touch the trigger it’s ok for others to die in all kinds of ways, just not too close, please.
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