The poor image expresses the full ambivalence of Fanons idea of lumpenproletarians, which Arendt already beautifully and much more precisely described as mob in her “Elements of Totalitarianism”. The mob does not consist of the underclasses, but the “refuse of all classes”. The mob is composed of people expelled into a world characterised by violent colonialism, the expansion of industrial capitalism and subjugation; it is unable to make up its mind, distracted, easily corrupted, or rather corrupt by definition and always ready to betray anybody and everything in order to suck up to the elite. In the current moment of globalisation I see a new mob: people who cannot form a class but constitute the refuse of all classes.
Before reading this article I had not heard the term lumpenproletarians. After looking it up, I discovered it is a marxist theory to define the working class people that are unlikely to ever achieve class consciousness. This is very interesting to me because of how this theory does not have a specific artistic implication, yet is very relevant to the art world. How many artists only become famous posthumously? Vincent Van Gogh had to die before his work was recognized. Is there art that can appeal to this societal group of “lumpenproletarians”? Art is meant to speak to society and comment on society, so I am interested in what kind of art can reflect a group that is unaware of their station. It occurred to me that art could be used as a vessel of awareness.
Video art in particular can communicate this message in a more effective way than other mediums. Video art can grab attention unlike something like a classic oil painting. Video can relate to mass groups of people and transmit information by using visuals on top of auditory sound. Auditory senses trump visual. In this way, a video message could institute social change and break down the walls of the “lumpenproletarians”.
My question about the “refuse” of all classes is by refuse, does the author mean those excluded by each class? I do not understand this because I would imagine there is already an existent class (a lower one) for those not fitting into upper classes. I think there is a difference between exclusion from the upper classes, maybe these people are not as educated or cultured as those who “belong” to classes. This would explain why the “refuse” fall by the wayside of each society. There are those who fit in economically and socially, but perhaps not intellectually.