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I think that the liberal prohibition of enemies [in politics] has a very precise implication: If there are no true enemies, if there is no true struggle in politics, this means that those who really disagree are not simply our enemies, but are excluded from the very scope of humanity, so that anything goes against them. Paradoxically, the first step to recognizing the very humanity of the enemy, should be to fully accept the unavoidability of taking sides in politics. There is then no third place above the struggle.

—Slavoj Zizek, “The Uses and Misuses of Violence” seminar, Nunemaker Hall, Loyola University, Nov. 17, 2009