Law and Critique

, Volume 28, Issue 3, pp 307–322 | Cite as

A Break?

Article
First Online:

Abstract

Since the financial crisis of 2008 we have seen a rise in suicides across the world. Greece for example in 2011 saw a sustained increase in suicides of 35.7%. In this article I draw our attention to well-publicized suicides that took place in Greece. I focus on the suicide notes left behind. The suicide notes, I suggest, can be read as offering us a critique of the anxious times in which we find ourselves. They are offering us a critique in two senses: (a) a critique of the way we are being governed (through austerity memorandums and a neoliberal logic); and (b) a critique of the affirmative ways of responding towards the financial crisis (through occupations, demonstrations etc.). Consequently these suicide notes can be read as a demand for having a break from this neoliberal logic and organization of life and asking us to re-imagine our social and political realm. In arguing thus, the article draws on Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, Wendy Brown and others.

Keywords

Anxiety Austerity suicides Critique Michel Foucault Sigmund Freud Wendy Brown 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

My gratitude to Angus McDonald and Andreja Zevnik for their editorial suggestions as well as the insightful comments of the anonymous referee. My gratitude also to Valerie Kelley for her corrective edits.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of LawBirkbeck, University of LondonLondonUK

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