Terry Eagleton and Kieran Allen on ‘The Return of Marx’

Kieran Allen, author of Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism, spoke alongside Terry Eagleton, renowned political philosopher, literary critic and author of Why Marx Was Right, on ‘The Return of Marx’ at Trinity College Dublin, Thursday 23rd February.

Terry Eagleton and Kieran Allen discuss ‘The Return of Marx’ from Paula Geraghty on Vimeo.

Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism Kieran Allen An accessible and comprehensive overview of the ideas of Karl Marx that elucidates his theories and suggests crucial alternatives to capitalism. £16.99 only £15.00 on the Pluto site

Max Weber A Critical Introduction Kieran Allen Ideal student introduction to Weber’s sociology that offers critical analysis in the context of Weber’s political beliefs. £14.99 only £13.00 on the Pluto site

Lessons from the occupy movement – Marianne Maeckelbergh in Stir

Tent at the St Paul's occupation

As the occupy London camp at St Paul’s is cleared by bailiffs and the police, Marianne Maeckelbergh, author of The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement is Changing the Face of Democracy, provides a timely reflection of the lessons which can be drawn from the occupy movement for ‘horizontal’ decision-making and radical politics:

The current historical juncture requires reflection on these decision-making methods and here I explore a few of the important lessons that seem to stand out after participating in these processes in Barcelona, New York and Oakland. First, more awareness of the political values that underlie these seemingly practical meeting procedures referred to as “process” would be helpful. Second, the link between these political values and the social relations of economics could use some analysis: in order to create new political structures we actually have to let go of certain economic relations which we take as given. For example, horizontal decision-making does not work when we assume a) that resources are scarce, b) that we therefore need to compete with each other and c) ownership is an exclusionary relation – a proprietary relation. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the more we try to set the rules in stone, to find the ‘golden key’, the ideal set of procedures, the more we disengage from the central political questions of how we decide – a terrain of politics that has to remain open if it is to remain horizontal. In order for a ‘general assembly’ to be productive, effective and empowering to participants, the procedures have to maintain a certain degree of flexibility as the circumstances in which we find ourselves shift. Let me explain what I mean…

Visit Stir to read the article in full.

The Will of the Many How the Alterglobalisation Movement is Changing the Face of Democracy Marianne Maeckelbergh Argues that the most promising new model for democracy is found in grassroots movements against capitalist globalisation. “Maeckelbergh’s ethnographic research has enabled her to write an exciting book-length exploration of the prefigurative democratic political practices of alter-globalization activists. This study is essential reading for all who continue to insist that other worlds are possible.” – John Gledhill, Max Gluckman Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester “Fifty years from now, this book may well be looked back on as having opened an entire new chapter in the history of democratic thought. It certainly deserves to.” – Dr David Graeber, Reader in Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, University of London £17.99 only £16.00 on the Pluto site

‘On the shores of a new collective imagination’ – Mute and Monthly Review praise ‘Dark Matter’

Poster for the Exploding Cinema Art Collective

Gregory Sholette’s Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture continues to pick up praise, this time from Monthly Review and Mute. Writing in Monthly Review, Marc James Léger offers a nice summation of Sholette’s concept of ‘dark matter’:

The overall argument of Dark Matter is that “a shadowy social productivity” haunts the high art world. The great many excluded practices and failed artists who keep the art galleries, museums, and magazines going are now threatening this pyramidal system as their dark energy becomes increasingly visible. Dark Matter thus presents itself as a “lumpenography” of this invisible mass of makeshift, amateur, informal, unofficial, autonomous, activist, non-institutional, and self-organized practices. While engaged art practice is a minefield of contending leftist tendencies, the core concept of dark matter is that these are increasingly gaining momentum as they make common cause within and against neoliberal enterprise culture.

Léger concludes his detailed and theoretically engaging review by arguing that Dark Matter captures the experiences of a whole generation living under neo-liberalism:

Dark Matter captures with great aplomb the tenor of a generation that possesses abundant academic qualifications but few expectations and even less desire for rewards that are consonant with corporate culture and neoliberal administration. On the shores of a new collective imagination, Sholette wonders how it would be possible for the dispersed practices of the present to be mobilized into a new revolutionary politics…Following the tumultuous events of the Arab Spring, the culture jamming magazine Adbusters and the hacktivist network Anonymous helped organize the rebellion that has gone by the name #occupywallstreet. Those who first camped out in Zuccotti Park and renamed it Liberty Square are indeed a dark matter whose resistance various institutionalized forces have attempted to recuperate. If the pretexts of artistic dark matter are anything like those of this movement, then for good and bad, it is likely that both will continue to avoid being absorbed into the channels of a constituted politics.

Visit Monthly Review to read the review in full.

New books from Pluto Press

Paul Le Blanc and Kunal Chattopadhyay edit the latest addition to the Get Political series, Leon Trotsky: Writings in Exile. To mark the release of the book Pluto is launching a new campaign to promote the writings of past revolutionaries amongst today’s activists and radical scholars. Visit the new Get Political website for more details.

Leon Trotsky Writings in Exile Leon Trotsky, edited by Kunal Chattopadhyay and Paul Le Blanc Introduces the writings of Leon Trotsky “Leon Trotsky stands as a shining beacon amid the revolutionary events of our epoch. Out of the vast ideological arsenal he produced, Trotsky always considered that his most important works were those from his years in exile, which remain essential reading for those seeking to bring about fundamental change today. Kunal Chattopadhyay and Paul Le Blanc have done a great service in helping to make available, in a single volume, these texts to new generations of revolutionary activists.” – Esteban Volkow, Grandson of Leon Trotsky and President of the Board, Leon Trotsky House Museum, Coyoacan, Mexico “This bracing book provides theoretical nourishment for our times, just as millions take to the streets worldwide demanding a just economic system. Leon Trotsky hit the world stage as President of the St. Petersburg Soviet in the 1905 Russian Revolution. … Trotsky continues to educate and inspire, his flame refuses to be extinguished.” – Suzi Weissman, Professor of Politics, Saint Mary’s College of California £14.99 only £13.00 on the Pluto site

Vijay Mehta’s The Economics of Killing has picked up a huge array of endorsements from, amongst others, Tony Benn, Deepak Chopra, Bruce Kent, Caroline Lucas and Arun Gandhi. Vijay will be launching the book on the 8th March at the Hilton Hotel Euston in Central London. Visit Pluto Events for more details.

The Economics of Killing How the West Fuels War and Poverty in the Developing World Vijay Mehta Shows how Western governments are trapping the developing world in a cycle of violence and poverty. “We live in a rich world and yet increasingly people are getting caught in the poverty trap and facing real hardship and pain. Vijay Mehta’s excellent book sets out the problems and solutions, and challenges us all to create the spiritual and political will to implement policies which will bring about real change and give hope to humanity.” – Mairead Maguire, Irish peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. “The Economics of Killing brilliantly links the deepening economic crisis facing the West with the dynamics of militarism that is wreaking havoc on the planet. Everyone who cares about the future must read this groundbreaking book.” – Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for the Palestinian Territories, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, USA £14.99 only £13.00 on the Pluto site

In Pakistan: The US, Geopolitics and Grand Strategies, Julian Schofield and Usama Butt bring together a range of prominent analysts and commentators, including Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister, to look at Pakistan’s geo-political position within the global order. What makes the book unique is its analysis of Pakistan’s relationship not just with the USA but also with China, India, the Arab Gulf and the European Union.

Pakistan The US, Geopolitics and Grand Strategies Edited by Usama Butt and Julian Schofield “This deeply-researched, well-thought-out and comprehensive book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Pakistani policy and the vexed subject of US-Pakistani relations.” – Professor Anatol Lieven, War Studies, King’s College London and author of Pakistan: A Hard Country “Pakistan’s complex and increasingly stressful relationship with the US cannot be analysed in isolation from its other regional interests, including those relating to China and Iran, let alone India. This wide-ranging study by scholars from diverse backgrounds provides much-needed analysis of this wider context. It is a singularly valuable contribution to a field of study all too often dominated by a particular national orientation.” – Professor Paul Rogers, Peace Studies, Bradford University £18.99 only £17.00 on the Pluto site

In Discordant Development: Global Capitalism and the Struggle for Connection in Bangladesh, Katy Gardner draws on her longstanding research to reveal the complex and contradictory ways that local people attempt to connect to, and are disconnected by, foreign capital. She takes as her main case study the building of a gas plant by a vast multinational close to four densely populated villages in rural Bangladesh.

Discordant Development Global Capitalism and the Struggle for Connection in Bangladesh Katy Gardner Based on extensive field work, looks at the impact of a multinational mining company on four densely populated villages in rural Bangladesh. “Katy Gardner treads a finely judged line, keeping both neoliberal developers and anti-globalisation activists at arm’s length in order to describe relations at a human scale, thereby doing for development what anthropology ought. She addresses a number of highly topical issues include the paradoxical developmental effects of extractive industries, Corporate Social Responsibility as a form of neoliberal governmentality (handled especially well), microfinance and corruption. This is an extremely rare opening up of the world of ordinary people affected by such schemes.” – David Mosse, Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London £21.99 only £19.50 on the Pluto site

Key radical activists urge engagement with Trotsky, Lenin and Luxemburg

Fifty key figures on the left, including China Miéville, Lindsey German, Ken Loach, Suzi Weissman, Michael Yates and Immanuel Ness, have backed a Pluto Press campaign urging activists fighting for the 99% against the 1% to draw inspiration from the lives and writings of three giants of 20th-century political change: Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg and VI Lenin.

Visit the new Get Political website to view the campaign statement and a full list of those who have signed so far. The website also includes:

• Extensive slide shows detailing the lives of Trotsky, Lenin and Luxemburg and an introduction to Marxism
• Sample Chapters from three Pluto Press Get Political titles on each of the three figures
• Study plans for each title, ideal for planning reading groups or lectures
• A tool for users to endorse the campaign and spread the word

The campaign has been launched to coincide with the release of Leon Trotsky: Writings in Exile, the latest title in the Get Political series.

The Get Political campaign statement argues:

It will not be a simple thing to win the battle of democracy…Luxemburg, Trotsky and Lenin were among the most perceptive and compelling revolutionaries of the 20th century. The body of analysis, strategy and tactics to which they contributed was inseparable from the mass struggles of their time. Critically engaging with their ideas can enrich the thinking and practical activity of those involved in today’s and tomorrow’s struggles for a better world.

Paul Le Blanc, author and co-ordinator, outlined the purpose of the campaign:

The occupy movement and the anti-cuts movement have made a huge impact in a short space of time, but we must build on these successes in order to advance struggles of the future. By engaging with the lives and ideas of Lenin, Luxemburg and Trotsky, activists will find vital analyses and organisational strategies which can help us overcome setbacks, with a leftward shift of the political mainstream.’

The campaign gives those involved in recent movements, such as occupy, the tools and inspiration to continue their struggle to build a fairer world.

SPECIAL OFFER!

To celebrate the launch of the campaign we are running a special ’3 for 2′ offer on all Get Political titles. Click here to browse and buy.

Money talks…too much – Anitra Nelson on post-capitalist futures

Anitra Nelson

Anitra Nelson, co-editor of Life Without Money: Building Fair and Sustainable Economies, writes for The Conversation on practical proposals for life beyond capitalism:

Instead of establishing tiny self-sufficient households, we’d work collectively, with a range of connected local households occupying a basic unit of a neighbourhood, the size of which would be flexible and dependent on the local ecology. Local collective sufficiency would be the key aim of every neighbourhood, sourcing materials for, and making, food, clothing and shelter as well as other basic needs, through appropriate technology.

Of course, there are likely to be needs or wants that people could not source or create locally. Ideally, these would be obtained from a neighbouring area or through the least environmentally and socially expensive option available at the time.

Establishing and maintaining collective sufficiency would require every individual to work out what they would need over a year, assessing local potential, planning how to meet the needs listed, working out how surpluses might be generated, and negotiating with other units to fulfil their needs. The internet facilitates this kind of collective research, planning and negotiation, which would involve numerous compacts.

A main focus of the Occupy movement has been working out how to develop and embed processes for direct decision making. Only by expanding such experience can we decide what practices work, are efficient, effective and really democratic.

At the same time, as developments that stimulated the Occupy movement show, the economic systems by which we live have to be reclaimed as our cultural inventions.

A massive decade of engaging with our current economic, environmental and political challenges might well have just started.

Visit The Conversation to read the article in full.

Life Without Money Building Fair and Sustainable Economies Edited by Anitra Nelson and Frans Timmerman Examines the failure of the money-based global economy and how we might live in more sustainable, equitable ways. A textbook and manifesto for change. “The collapse of capitalism will also be an end to money as the prime regulator of society—an eventuality both hard to imagine and necessary to understand. Anitra Nelson and Frans Timmerman have assembled an indispensable collection for those who are bold enough to explore this dramatic prospect. Life Without Money is an essential guidebook for the great debate now unfolding and around which our hopes for a worthwhile future unfold.” – Joel Kovel, author of Enemy of Nature (2002; 2007) and Overcoming Zionism (Pluto, 2007) “A timely contribution to an under-researched and under-reported area of economics: the theory of money and proposals for alternatives to the globalised capitalist financial system. I would recommend it to anyone interested in finding ways to develop an economy that functions without money.” – Molly Scott Cato, Reader in Green Economics, Cardiff School of Management £17.99 only £16.00 on the Pluto site

‘We are all Greeks’ – John Holloway in the Guardian

Writing in the Guardian, John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism and Change the World Without Taking Power, writes about the current crisis in Greece, highlighting the importance of resistance by ordinary Greek’s to the austerity measures:

I do not like violence. I do not think that very much is gained by burning banks and smashing windows. And yet I feel a surge of pleasure when I see the reaction in Athens and the other cities in Greece to the acceptance by the Greek parliament of the measures imposed by the European Union. More: if there had not been an explosion of anger, I would have felt adrift in a sea of depression.

The joy is the joy of seeing the much-trodden worm turn and roar. The joy of seeing those whose cheeks have been slapped a thousand times slapping back. How can we ask of people that they accept meekly the ferocious cuts in living standards that the austerity measures imply? Do we want them to just agree that the massive creative potential of so many young people should be just eliminated, their talents trapped in a life of long-term unemployment? All that just so that the banks can be repaid, the rich made richer? All that, just to maintain a capitalist system that has long since passed its sell-by date, that now offers the world nothing but destruction. For the Greeks to accept the measures meekly would be to multiply depression by depression, the depression of a failed system compounded by the depression of lost dignity.

Video of launch for Ben White’s ‘Palestinians in Israel’

Below is the full video of Ben White’s recent detailed and inspiring talk based on his new book Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy. Ben spoke to a packed lecture hall of 300 people at the Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre in London on 26th January.

Visit Ben’s Palestinians in Israel website for the latest events, reviews and articles related to the book.

Palestinians in Israel Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy Ben White. Foreword by Haneen Zoabi Argues that Israel’s insistence on declaring itself a Jewish state leads to discrimination, segregation and a guarantee of continued conflict. “This book debunks convincingly and forcefully the myth of Israel being ‘the only democracy’ in the Middle East. As this book shows, the treatment of the Palestinians in Israel is the ultimate proof that the Jewish State is anything but democratic.” – Professor Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and Out of the Frame “Essential reading to understand why there can never be peace unless Palestinian citizens of Israel are granted full equality, something they are systematically denied by Israel’s aggressive, and increasingly unrestrained Zionist ethnocracy.” – Ali Abunimah, Co-founder of Electronic Intifada, author of One Country £14.99 only £13.00 on the Pluto site

Israeli Apartheid A Beginner’s Guide Ben White Indispensable introduction to the Israel/Palestine conflict, examining the current structures of Israeli domination. “A very strong and clear voice that does not shun from exposing in full, and in a most accessible manner, the essence of Zionism and Israeli policies in Palestine. In a world confused by competing narratives, disinformation and fabrication, this book is an excellent guide for understanding the magnitude of the crimes committed against the Palestinians and the nature of their present suffering and oppression.” – Professor Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter, Israeli historian and author of ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’ (2007) “This book deals rationally and cogently with a topic that almost always generates considerable heat even just with book titles. The reader may not agree with everything that White asserts but it is a highly commendable effort to throw light on a fraught subject.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate £9.99 only £8.50 on the Pluto site

Gotcha! – Des Freedman on the latest setback for the Murdoch empire

Des Freedman

Writing in Open Democracy, Des Freedman, co-editor of The Assault on Universities: A Manifesto for Resistance, detects a whiff of hypocrisy in Sun associate editor Trevor Kavanagh’s complaints about the arrests at the newspaper:

Kavanagh rages, in a lengthy piece in today’s Sun, that the Guardian-inspired ‘witch hunt’, which culminated in the arrest last weekend of senior Sun journalists (together with a police officer, an Army major and a MoD employee), ‘has put us behind ex-Soviet states in Press freedom’. The UK is now, according to a recent Reporters without Borders analysis, 28th in the World Press Freedom Index.

Except that what Kavanagh fails to point out is that, according to the report, the UK has dropped down the league table because of two things: ‘its approach to the protection of privacy and its response to the London riots’, neither of them issues in which the Sun, nor indeed McKenzie himself, can claim to have a proud record.

However Freedman also argues that advocates of media reform need to take seriously concerns about press freedom and should not allow the Murdoch empire to get away with turning a few journalists into scapegoats:

Advocates of a democratic media need to argue that reforms—such as those proposed by the Media Reform campaign for a right of reply, for a new accountable press body to monitor news organisations and for levies to fund new types of news ventures (discussed in OurKingdom here)—will actually enable the press to act more ethically and responsibly than they are able to do under regimes which are committed to serving shareholders more than readers. Far from shackling journalists, robust and democratic regulation that is independent of both government and the news barons will actually empower journalists to do their job.

Crisis within Hamas – Michael Bröning in Open Democracy

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal

Writing in Open Democracy, Michael Bröning, author of The Politics of Change in Palestine: State-Building and Non-Violent Resistance, comments on the current power struggle taking place within Hamas:

Recent weeks have witnessed an escalation in tensions from within Hamas, as separate centers of power vie to determine the future course of the movement. The contenders are the leadership in Gaza represented by Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh, and the Damascus-based overall leadership represented by Khaled Meshaal who heads the group’s political bureau. While Haniyeh holds control of a breakaway branch of the Palestinian Authority in the isolated Gaza strip, Meshaal is supported by Hamas members from the West Bank and the Diaspora. Recently, the ongoing public revolt against Meshaal’s Syrian host, President Bashar Al-Assad, has put the head of the political bureau in an increasingly uncomfortable position.

Bröning looks at how the Arab uprisings have aggravated tensions within the Hamas leadership:

In December, Ismael Haniyeh embarked on a western-bound Mediterranean tour in an attempt to gather political support from post-revolutionary regimes in Tunisia and Egypt. Yesterday, the Gaza prime minister started a second diplomatic circuit that will bring him to Iran and several Gulf countries. To the dismay of Palestinian diplomats loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, Haniyeh has so far used these visits to stress Hamas’ commitment to “armed resistance“, underlining what he views as “the futility of peace negotiations” with Israel. Similar statements are expected in scheduled meetings in Tehran. In Gaza, Haniyeh has proven uncompromising with a recent call to merge Hamas with the die-hard Islamists of Gaza’s Islamic Jihad who have never ceased terror operations against Israeli civilians.