Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
For decades, most anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements identified radical transformation with capturing state power. The collapse of these statist projects from the 1970s led to a global crisis of left and working-class politics. But crisis has also opened space for rediscovering alternative society-centered, anti-capitalist modes of bottom-up change, operating at a distance from the state. These have registered important successes in practice, such as the Zapatistas in Mexico, and Rojava in Syria. They have been a key influence on movements from Occupy in United States, to the landless in Latin America, to anti-austerity struggles in Europe and Asia, to urban movements in Africa. Their lineages include anarchism, syndicalism, autonomist Marxism, philosophers like Alain Badiou, and radical popular praxis. This path-breaking volume recovers this understanding of social transformation, long side-lined but now resurgent, like a seed in the soil that keeps breaking through and growing. It provides case studies with reference to South Africa and Zimbabwe, and includes a dossier of key texts from a century of anarchists, syndicalists, insurgent unionists and anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. Originating in an African summit of radical academics, struggle veterans and social movements, the book includes a preface from John Holloway.
Synopsis
For decades, most anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements identified
radical change with capturing state power. The collapse of statist
projects from the 1970s fostered both neo-liberalism and a global crisis
of left and working-class politics. But it also opened space for
rediscovering democratic, society-centered and anti-capitalist modes of
bottom-up change, operating at a distance from the state. This resurgent
alternative has influenced the Zapatistas in Mexico, Rojava in Syria,
Occupy, and independent unions and struggles worldwide around austerity,
land, and the city. Its lineages include anarchism, syndicalism,
autonomist Marxism, philosophers like Alain Badiou, and popular praxis.
This
pathbreaking volume helps recover this once sidelined politics, with a
focus on South Africa and Zimbabwe. It includes a dossier of texts from
a century of anarchists, syndicalists, radical unionists, and
anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. Originating in an African
summit of scholars, social movements, and anti-apartheid veterans, this
book also features a preface from John Holloway.