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Theory

August 31, 2005 - 12:52am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Anonymous Comrade writes
Reflections on the VI Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle

Cuban Libertarian Movement

* The Cuban Libertarian Movement (CLM; in Spanish: Movimiento Libertario Cubano - MLC) presents for collective debate its reflections on the declarations made by the EZLN (the Zapatista rebels) in July 2005 in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.

On January 1st, 1994 the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico came into effect, and along with the new year, spoiling the party of the powerful, from deep within the forgotten Lacandona jungle also came on scene “the fire and the word” of the Zapatista rebels. Back then the whole world seemed to march without too much upheaval or energetic opposition towards “the end of History” and was doing so via “globalization” and neo-liberalism; that is – lest we forget and assume erroneously that those words explain everything – via the present hegemonic model adopted by the state’s system of control and transnational capitalism; that is, the currently prevalent models of large scale domination and exploitation. In such a hopeless context, the Zapatista outbreak meant a strong breeze of fresh air and a loud confirmation – anticipated, naturally, in many but less resounding gestures of resistance all over the world – that History continued its course and that nothing had put a stop to people’s struggles. Thus it was lauded from the beginning by leftist groups of diverse colors and thus it was also received by the Cuban Libertarian Movement who then gave its initial support to community projects in the Lacandona jungle such as the anti-authoritarian school May 1st or the direct solidarity camp Chicago Martyrs. For us, then as now, the emergence and development of the Zapatista National Liberation Army and its deeds make sense and demand a new look as part of the emergence and development of a new Latin American revolutionary left. The form, the profile and the orientations of that constellation of left groups and practices are one of our basic issues; therefore we must, within that frame of reference, take our position on the road the EZLN is on and its recent VI Declaration of the Lacandona jungle, as well as on its treatment and derivations. We will do so, with the solidarity and respect the Zapatista movement has earned on its merits whose proclamation is not necessary, but also without omitting – this would be an inconceivable demonstration of demagoguery and opportunism – the criticism we deem applicable regarding contributions to the slow and laborious process of consolidating the new Latin American revolutionary left.

August 30, 2005 - 5:24pm -- stevphen
Events
Theory

Strategies of Refusal: Explorations in Autonomist Marxism

Bluestockings • 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington, NYC •

http://www.bluestockings.com • $25 – 50 sliding scale

Sundays 12 – 2 PM from October 9nd – December 4th

Instructors: Jack Z. Bratich & Stevphen Shukaitis

Since the publication of Hardt and Negri's Empire new attention has been brought to a previously ignored current of revolutionary theory and practice, namely that of autonomist Marxism. The attention paid to readings of Negri have tended to neglect the vast wealth of engaged theoretical reflection contained within the history of autonomist thought and organizing from which Negri's work emerges. The course will begin to explore this future behind our backs focusing on key concepts and practices with autonomst Marxism such as class composition analysis, spatial articulations and enclosures, mobility and exodus, the refusal of work, affective labor, biopower, communication and information theory, and current developments in autonomist organizing such as those around precarious labor. It will explore the writing of theorists as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno, the Midnight Notes Collective, Harry Cleaver, Silvia Federici, Bifo, Leopoldina Fortunati, Ferrucio Gambino, Raniero Panzieri, Sandro Mezzadra, George Caffentzis, Maurizio Lazzarato, Mariarosa Dallacosta, Toni Negri, Félix Guattari, and Alisa Del Re. Having at least a working knowledge of Marxist concepts (and a willingness to critique them) would be very helpful. A majority of the reading will be made available electronically and/or in scanned form.

For more information / readings:
http://www.refusingstructures.net/strategies.htmor strategies@refusingstructures.net

Sponsored by Autonomedia: Substructing the Planetary Work Machine Since 1983

August 24, 2005 - 5:49pm -- hydrarchist
News
Theory

"Antonio Negri:

A Revolt That Never Ends"

A documentary about Toni Negri entitled "Antonio Negri: A Revolt that Never Ends" is now available via the collaborative video network V2V.

The film was made for Arte and to my knowledge is the first english-language film to recount Italy's recent revolutionary history; from Potere Operaia and the long '68 (1968-77) to autonomia operaia. Nice archival material is used, and there is an attempt to articulate the development of Negri's ideas. Whilst appreciating the effort invested by the film-makers, some criticisms must be mentioned.

August 24, 2005 - 5:48pm -- hydrarchist
Events
Theory

Peter Waterman writes "
Developing a Crucial Social Movement Triangle (1)
The International Colloquium on Anti-Globalism,
Amsab/Institute of Social History,
Gent, Belgium, 09.09.05

Peter Waterman
p.waterman@inter.nl.net

[This note began as a simple exercise preparatory to attending the Gent Colloquium on Anti-Globalism, September 2005. As I began raking my own mind and surfing the web, however, it took off into something more like a paper. In so far as it reflects on the two colloquium themes and identifies some possibly unfamiliar resources, it occurred to me that it might be of value to others. But in so far as much of it remains speculative, I thought it could only be completed by a Part 2, after the event. It should therefore be considered an incomplete draft. As always, critical feedback will be appreciated and acknowledged.]

Introduction: the crucial triangle


        Hosted by Belgium’s major institute of labour studies, in Gent, a Flemish city with a significant labour movement history, this one-day event can be expected to make a further contribution to the crucial triangular relationship between the trade unions, the global justice and solidarity movement (GJ&SM) and the academy (see further below). Belgium has further stakes in these topics. French-speaking academics have concerned themselves with internationalism, historical and contemporary (Gotovitch and Morelli 2003). Belgium is also the base for Cedetim (Centre Tricontinental) which, through the Forum Mondial des Alternatives has made a considerable contribution to research and documentation on the new global solidarity movements (Amin and Houtart 2002). And Brussels is the base of the International Confederation of Trade Unions and many of the associated Global Unions.

August 23, 2005 - 1:39am -- jim
Announcements
Theory

"Immaterial Labor, Multitudes, New Social Subjects" Conference

Cambridge, UK, April 29-30, 2006


Papers are invited for a conference:


"Immaterial Labour, Multitudes and New Social Subjects: Class Composition
in Cognitive Capitalism"


Venue: University of Cambridge, UK: Location: to be announced.


Date: Saturday 29 – Sunday 30 April 2006


Among other themes the conference will address issues of cognitive
capitalism, class composition, new social subjects, the knowledge economy
and immaterial labour. Papers will be provided in advance of the conference. They will be
translated into English. They will be circulated via the medium of website
and internet mailing lists. The papers will eventually be published in book form.


Conference organised under the aegis of “Universitas adversitatis”, a
peripatetic university. Supported by the Uninomade network. With possible
involvement of other organising bodies.


A full prospectus for the conference is being prepared. For proposals of papers, and for participation in the conference, further
details from:


Ed Emery

[Class Composition Conference]

Peterhouse

Cambridge CB2 1RD

E-mail: ed.emery@britishlibrary.net

August 23, 2005 - 12:06am -- stevphen
Announcements
Theory

Call for papers:

"Immaterial Labour, Multitudes and New Social Subjects: Class Composition in Cognitive Capitalism"

Venue: University of Cambridge, UK: Location: to be announced.

Date: Saturday 29 – Sunday 30 April 2006

Among other themes the conference will address issues of cognitive capitalism, class composition, new social subjects, the knowledge economy and immaterial labour.

Papers will be provided in advance of the conference. They will be translated into English. They will be circulated via the medium of website and internet mailing lists.

The papers will eventually be published in book form.

Conference organised under the aegis of “Universitas adversitatis”, a peripatetic university. Supported by the Uninomade network. With possible involvement of other organising bodies.

A full prospectus for the conference is being prepared.

For proposals of papers, and for participation in the conference, further details from:

Ed Emery

[Class Composition Conference]

Peterhouse

Cambridge CB2 1RD

E-mail: ed.emery@britishlibrary.net

August 22, 2005 - 8:05am -- jim
Announcements
Theory

NOT BORED! writes:


Translator's Introduction to Guy Debord's
Comments on the Society of the Spectacle

In his "Translator's Note" to his (truly terrible) translation of Guy Debord's Comments on the Society of the Spectacle into English (Verso 1990, reprinted 1998), Malcolm Imrie states:

The French edition of Comments has no footnotes, and it would have been inappropriate to add any to this translation. However, with the author's approval, I have included these brief notes on certain references and allusions that might otherwise remain unnecessarily obscure to English readers.

In August 2004, we found ourselves in strong disagreement with this assessment: footnotes would definitely have helped many readers to better understand Comments, in part because some of the historical events to which Debord refers or alludes aren't very known (have been suppressed, obscured or completely forgotten) in English-speaking countries; and in part because Debord himself "take[s] care not to instruct just anybody." In the absence of such explanations, Debord seemed paranoid (which he wasn't) and his references seemed figural (when they are in fact historical). And so we added 40 brand-new footnotes, while at the same time preserving those written by Imrie. On some occasions, when we found Imrie's notes to be incomplete, we added more information.

August 15, 2005 - 8:14pm -- nolympics
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Anonymous Comrade writes

Against Gravity
Bettina Funcke in conversation with Peter Sloterdijk

The German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk achieved much acclaim (and a wide readership) in the United States during the heyday of critical theory with the translation of his Critique of Cynical Reason (University of Minnesota Press, 1988), in which he introduced a multifaceted style of writing, freely engaging with philosophy, history, anthropology, fiction, poetry, literary theory, and colloquial language. This unique discursive repertoire was widely perceived as constituting an altogether new take on the role of philosophy, one that continues to mark his work. If Sloterdijk's subsequently translated Thinker on Stage: Nietzsche's Materialism (University of Minnesota Press, 1989) also captured his performative philosophy (itself a continuation of the Nietzschean project that provides the book with its subject), the title was perhaps not the follow-up to Critique of Cynical Reason that American readers had expected. Due to the vicissitudes of critical-theory reception in the United States, Sloterdijk's work came to be viewed as an '80s period piece.

In Germany, however, Sloterdijk is one of the most prominent public intellectuals and has distinguished himself by pushing the boundaries of the traditional forum of the philosopher–and thus its very definition–by turning not only to the traditional academic stage but also to that of the mass media. This was a risky move, for in doing so he courted marginality from both sectors. But his was an attempt, in the tradition of the Frankfurt School, to recover a greater relevance for critical thinking. In addition to professorships at academies in Vienna and Karlsruhe and his output of one or two books a year for the last two decades, Sloterdijk is a ubiquitous media presence in Germany. He reaches a wide audience through his talk show on German TV and maintains a public profile with philosophical provocations such as his widely publicized debate with Jürgen Habermas over the ethics of genetic engineering.

August 14, 2005 - 11:28am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Peter Waterman writes:

"A Letter from Lima:
Is the World Still Broad and Alien?"
Peter Waterman

It occurs to me that I have been coming to Peru, on some kind of internationalist pilgrimage, for 20 years or so.

The first time was in 1986 when I was doing research on ‘international labour information’ in Peru (Waterman and Arellano 1986). There seemed at that time to be plenty of the old labour and socialist internationalism in Peru, received and transmitted by maybe a dozen different newspapers or magazines, of an equal number of different organisations or socialist tendencies. (For one tragic/pathetic Peruvian experience of Trotskyist internationalism, see the disenchanted Martínez 1997, reviewed Rénique 199?).

August 13, 2005 - 11:10pm -- stevphen
Reviews
Theory

Anthropology Against the State:
A Review of David Graeber's Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

Stevphen Shukaitis

If there is any question thrown at organizers within the various tendrils of the global justice movement intended to make our efforts appear utopian and unrealizable, it would have to be “I understand what you’re against, but what are you for?” The implicit idea being that there is no reason to believe that another world is possible in more than a rhetorical sense, or at least not examples to prove such is possible. Frequently those of us who dream of a liberated world without a market or state structures turn to anthropology for inspiration from the thousands of years of human history where such didn’t exist. Anthropologists, worried about being accused of romanticizing populations, have generally responded to these inquiries with a confused silence.

In Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology Yale based anthropologist and political activist David Graeber asks, “what if that wasn’t the case?” Drawing from the rich history of ethnographic materials and anthropological records as well as critical theory and current practices within the global justice movement Graeber demonstrates that there is an endless variety of revolutionary political and social organization to draw from. Rejecting both the Hobbesian fable of the “war of all against all” and the blatant forms of racism and Eurocentrism used to argue that so called “primitive” societies have no bearing on and are completely removed from the world we live in, Graeber explores the endless variety of political and organization which have existed throughout the world. From the Tsimhety of northwest Madagascar to Amazonian tribes what emerges are the dynamics of struggle and contention, of insurrection and resistance that have existed not just through the past two hundred years of European history but arguably since the dawn of human existence.

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