William Watkin
Philosopher, Artist and Author of...
Bioviolence:
how the powers that be make us do what they want
"this is the book the planet needs"
Benjamin Zephaniah
IN THE PRESS
“
This is serious stuff, but it has humour, depth, and compassion. Watkin writes with rhythm and precision. His watchful eyes observe subjects with a focused, logical gaze, and his passion is genuine. I get it, and now that I’ve got it, the way I see the world has changed forever.
This is the book the planet needs. Intelligent, opinionated, but crafted in a way that does not ignore the common sense of the reader.
Benjamin Zephaniah
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A gripping read that kept me enthralled with its jaw-dropping details about the realities of our contemporary society. This is an essential book made enjoyable with its wide range of references and its persistent wit!
Daljit Nagra, Chair of the Royal Society for Literature
Watkin has produced a work of astonishing originality, which any attempt to read twentieth-century philosophy will be obliged to confront
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Giorgio Agamben, world's leading political philosopher
BIO
Prof. William Watkin is one of the leading voices in contemporary philosophy today. His is the world's leading expert on the philosophy of Giorgio Agamben, one of the world's most important contemporary political thinkers. He is also the world's leading expert on Alain Badiou, increasingly thought of as the most significant philosopher and political thinker of our age
William is very widely published with seven monographs to his name, but when he is not making the world a better place through philosophy, William is also a journalist, blogger, vlogger and painter. A lot of his public speaking and broadcasting is concerned with the impact of digitisation and fake news on our contemporary lives.
Press Release:
Bioviolence: how the powers that be make us do what they want
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If you are interested in reviewing the book contact author direct william.watkin@gmail.com
If you are interested in having William be part of your programming, write a piece for your publication, take part in a podcast and so on again contact him at william.watkin@gmail.com
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On the 13th March 2020, three middle-aged, white men stepped up to old-fashioned podia in a wood-panelled chamber reminiscent of their august boarding schools and delivered a message somewhat akin to the end of the world. Like doctors surrounding a brave, yet fatal, case, their tone was measured, clipped by Eton and softened by the emollient demands of Whitehall machinations. The whole performance with graphs and whatnot was boffinish, typical of a British understatement—I say chaps, I am sorry, but you are all going to cop it. And so began the policy that never was, that we came to call herd immunity.”
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A week after ‘Freedom Day,’ in the midst of the ‘pingdemic,’ the British nation was in a state of anxiety over whether to wear a mask or not, whether to go to a rave or not, whether to delete the NHS app, go back to the office, on holiday to Spain, out for dinner, up the M6 to see their cocooned ones, or down the A30 for a rainy staycation spent in traffic jams and sad cafes…or not. In light of this national indecision, it seems a legitimate question to ask: Why can’t the powers that be make us do what they want during the Covid pandemic?
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Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland reasoning of Bioviolence or forms of coercion and harm that appear to be perpetrated against us, for our own good!
The book presents a contemporary history of the last ten, confusing, sometimes terrifying years, starting with ISIS and ending with Covid. At the same time, it is also a philosophical investigation of how power, force, coercion and violence has been upcycled by modern states into unique affordances of harm, often dressed up as concern for our wider wellbeing.
A kind of philosophical tough love, a politics of being cruel to be kind, the role of bioviolence during Covid is only the most recent and pronounced example of a creeping process that has come to typify power in this new, already ailing, millennium. Think of how our clicktivism made us part of a digital draft in the war on terror. How our fear of migrants has turned the world into a global camp. How Grenfell Tower revealed the truth about the murder of neglect. Or how a simple broken tail-light can send young black males back to the slave plantation. Consider each of these as early symptoms of bioviolence, and Covid as the full-blown disease, and you basically get the picture.
The philosopher Michel Foucault famously said “Knowledge is power”; whosoever controls our modes of understanding the world, also controls the world. Bioviolence, in revealing the political forces behind seemingly random, unconnected events, gives the reader a new truth, and provides them with the knowledge they need create a new world, one that they want not what the powers that be want for them.
In a sense then, the book is the ultimate self-help manual, combining deep thinking with great writing to show you that these truths of ours are not self-evident, and, knowing that, it is not too late for us to choose a different path.
CONTACT
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