issue 15 / September ‘12 £3.50
The final issue
m31 and blockupy: a summer of protest in germany
privilege and transformative politics
regroupment on the left September ‘12
Contents Shift Magazine Issue 15
3 Remember, Remember A final statement from the Shift team
7 We haven’t even started yet! German group ...UMS GANZE! on the recent M31 ‘day of action against capitalism’ and the Blockupy protests in Frankfurt
12 Experiments in regroupment #1 COLLECTIVE ACTION on the need for a political regroupment
15 Experiments in regroupment #2 ANTI-CAPITALIST INITIATIVE discuss the reasons behind their formation
16 The poverty of privelege politics TABITHA and HANNAH BAST-MCCLURE take a critical look at privilege politics: is ‘feminist voice’ always woman’s voice?
18 Experiments in regroupment #3 PLATYPUS LONDON argue for the need to confront our political history
20 Creating Commonwealth and Cracking Capitalism (Part II) The second installment of an exchange between MICHAEL HARDT and JOHN HOLLOWAY
25 Experiments in regroupment #4 CLIMATE JUSTICE COLLECTIVE on the importance of environmental activism today
EDITED BY Lauren Wroe, Ben Lear, Josie Hooker 3/shift
Remember, remember a final statement from the shift team
Shift’s semi-regular ‘Remember, Remem- ses and perspectives, we saw Shift’s aim talism that failed to recognise the social ber’ feature was conceived as a chance for of encouraging a climate of debate and nature of capital or which, implicitly or reappraisals of past political events, proj- reflection among radicals as an interven- otherwise, were supportive of national ects and social movements. In our last is- tion in itself. The motivation behind the borders, population control or austerity- sue we want to use this space to take a project has always been to contribute to based politics (before austerity became look back at our own project, evaluate the on-going development of a socially the touchstone of a new political pro- our own successes and failures and ex- relevant and politically vibrant anti-capi- gramme of the state!) We also advocated plain some of the reasoning behind our talist movement committed to challeng- for a shared politics between what some decision to end the project for now. ing both the state and capital, while also argued were antithetical manifestations refusing to promote non-emancipatory of radical left activity, by highlighting the Shift was started as an attempt to inter- politics. For us, a space for asking diffi- common anti-capitalist and anti-statist vene into the movements we found our- cult political questions and for exploring foundations of the No Borders and Cli- selves a part of, from the inside and in a new ideas or finding new relevance in old mate Camp movements. Where relevant, comradely way. This intervention was al- ones has a crucial role to play in this pro- we published material from prominent ways envisaged at two levels. Firstly, we cess. And so Shift, with its emphasis on movement-oriented theorists such as wanted to create a space for individuals publishing accessible yet challenging and John Holloway, Werner Bonefeld, Mi- and groups to explore or critique specific rigorous yet engaging material, was born. chael Hardt and Alberto Toscano; and analyses, ideas, practices or strategies from the radical left in other parts of the relevant to our movements, especially Over 5 years and 15 issues we’ve featured world - for example, a number of transla- those that we as editors felt were particu- material based around many different tions from the German non-dogmatic larly exciting or problematic. Secondly, in groups, events and debates within the left (including the one in this issue on the a political scene lacking somewhat in the movement. Many of our early contribu- M31 and Blockupy mobilisations and the mechanisms for developing shared analy- tions were levelled at forms of anti-capi- former’s ‘international anti-national’ ori- 4/shift
entation). We also engaged with the edu- authoritarian, Marxian-inspired politics in the current moment for a variety of rea- cation struggles of 2010-2011, the poten- can make in a period characterised by po- sons. Some of these reasons are personal, tials and aftermath of M26 (the TUC litical stagnation within the Left in gener- our life situations have changed and run- ‘March for the Alternative’ held on 26th al, the increased marginality of radical ning a print and online magazine with a March 2011), and the riots of August politics and a resultant retreat into sub- small team and an even smaller budget is a 2011. Our recent series on lifestyle poli- cultural activity and uncritical action-ism. taxing and challenging endeavour at the tics has received attention in different Despite, or more accurately because of, best of times. Whilst maintaining a print parts of the movement, in particular with- the recent upsurge in political struggle presence in an increasingly digital world in the Radical Routes housing co-operative across the globe, we feel that continued certainly has its place, it also has draw- network and has inspired a series of dis- commitment to the on-going revitalisa- backs: it is intensive in time, makes it dif- cussions in Bristol. And Inga Scathach’s tion of the anti-authoritarian left is as vi- ficult to be responsive and relevant, and, piece on Popular Education remains an tal as ever. for the size of audience for which we are important and relevant intervention to- publishing, far from financially sustain- day. *** able. Meanwhile, just as the political land- scape has changed significantly since we Our articles have been reprinted in mobil- The motivations that have animated Shift began this project, so too have our politi- ising magazines, books and translated throughout its life remain important to us cal perspectives shifted. Whilst at times into several languages including German, as editors. Much as we’ve always been ex- divergence among the editorial group has Latvian and Finnish. The editorial team cited by the conversations that readers led to a creative tension within the proj- have presented and hosted discussions have struck up with us at bookfairs and ect, it has also led in other moments to and interventions at Climate Camps, No social centres over the years, we were inconsistency in editorial choices. We Border camps, independent cinemas, uni- touched to read the many messages of leave Shift to dedicate our time to a vari- versities and anarchist bookfairs. As we support that we received at the news of ety of projects, some theoretical in orien- come to the end of our project, demand the project’s closure (and tickled pink by tation and others based on organising. for our printed magazine is still rising and the trolls on Indymedia). They’ve been a Although Shift may return at some point our website is receiving more visits than great reward for our hard work and an af- in the future, either in the same format or ever. We feel proud of creating a space for firmation that the debates Shift has had as something different, we are hoping to critical reflection on current practice and the privilege of hosting must continue. take the politics and spirit of the project arguing for the contribution that an anti- Despite all this, Shift is coming to an end into our new endeavours in the near fu- 5/shift ture. tial political allies through the publication to Occupy’s accommodation of conspiracy of some of our articles on topics such as theory-based politics remains an impor- As our project comes to an end we have climate change, Palestine and Indymedia. tant intervention. On the other hand, we had some time to reflect on our experience were slow to balance this with discussion of running a UK-based, movement-orient- of the movement’s achievements and in- ed publication. The years of Shift’s life- “we’ve found it novations, and to recognise that, emerg- time have largely corresponded with a low ing as they do from contradictory social period for the Left, including the radical particularly relations, radical movements will always left, in the UK. With the dwindling of the carry such contradictions with them. anti-globalisation movement and no re- difficult to verse in the decomposition of the organ- Nonetheless, the strong hostility that ised working class, for example, during navigate the Shift has sometimes experienced has this period the Camp for Climate Action amounted in some cases to a damaging and the No Borders network were two of delicate balance anti-intellectualism: whereby political in- the few spaces for sustained and vibrant terventions are not seen as legitimate anti-capitalist organising within the UK. between parts of movement but rather as external, These were therefore a strong focus of our less legitimate forms of political activity. project. Of course, many other groups addressing the On this point, we agree wholeheartedly were active in this period, as a glance over with Tabitha and Hannah Bast-McClure the various newsletters and action bulle- questions already when, in their article in this issue of Shift, tins of the period will confirm. However, they point out that intellectual activity the relative fragmentation of these groups circulating within has somehow – and so very mistakenly – - both internally and vis-a-vis one another become branded a tool of oppression rath- - along with a general tendency towards ‘the movement’, er than a weapon of emancipatory politics. actionism over strategy and movement- As well as working on Shift all of our edi- building meant that they were not gener- and challenging tors have been involved in other capacities ating the sorts of debates that Shift was with many of the groups, initiatives and most interested in hosting. Indeed, at the latter to look areas of organisation that we have pub- times it was difficult to find content that lished about. However, we feel that dem- fitted our criteria of being analytical, eval- beyond itself for onstrating ‘activist credentials’ should not uative, polemical or theoretically informed be a necessity for arguments to be taken and of contributing to the development of inspiration” seriously. a socially relevant and politically vibrant anti-capitalist movement committed to This said, we are willing to admit that de- Another question that has surfaced peren- challenging both the state and capital, spite these aims, at times our material has nially when making editorial decisions has while also refusing to promote non-eman- been overly polemical. What is more, in been that of who exactly we are addressing cipatory politics. some cases we have also slipped, unwit- through the project. What exactly is the tingly or too quickly, into glib or cynical movement in which we have sought to in- These challenges were compounded by criticism. The latter denigrates the worth tervene? Whilst inspired by Marxian poli- (and in no doubt resulted from) a reluc- of the sort of constructive critique and tics our work was not aimed at existing tance from some parts of the anarchist questioning, aimed at challenging our- socialist groups but rather at groups from and activist world to engage in public de- selves to do better, that is so vital to the anarchist and ‘activist’, direct-action bate and disagreement and the difficulty healthy, ambitious and vibrant political tradition. At times of high creativity and of finding writers on certain topics (we movements. Undoubtedly there’s been an traction, the movement came to resemble often mused that a writing group might element here of overcompensation for an exactly that, a movement (or at least the have been more appropriate a project). exaggerated lack of critique in the move- fuzziness of its boundaries became less These factors led us at times down more ment. Perhaps also our insistence on chal- problematic, and more of a creative ten- obscure angles and away from the con- lenging sloppiness and resignation have, sion of movement); but in periods of stag- cerns and experiences of large parts of the ironically, played into exactly the defeatist nation or lesser coherence, the question of audience we were meant to be writing for. tendencies that they were intended to who we were addressing – and with what This didn’t help claims against us as a confront (tendencies that, after all, are the purpose – became more problematic. Par- group of aloof pseudo-academics that product of the historic crisis of the left); ticularly during such periods, we’ve won- were not ‘real activists’. Alongside charges and, despite ourselves, had a dispiriting dered, variously, whether an anarchist of being unengaged outsiders, many of rather than a rallying effect. Shift’s en- movement even existed, whether we were our articles were not accepted in the com- gagement with the Occupy movement, for writing for an imagined audience, or radely spirit of critique in which they were example, could have fallen prey to this whether we’d slipped into addressing a written. We made enemies and lost poten- shortcoming. On one hand, our challenge constituency inspired by different politi- 6/shift
cal traditions and aims (and with different sion not in the pages of Shift or other vet- achieved with Shift and pleased to be quit- historical baggage) than our own. Again, erans of the anarchist publishing scene, ting while we’re ahead. We believe we’ve in times of stagnation, we found it partic- but instead in an explosion of new plat- instigated some important debates, sug- ularly difficult to navigate the delicate bal- forms and voices, some appropriately gested interesting new avenues for others ance between addressing the questions al- ephemeral, others more lasting. Faced and, perhaps, helped steer still others ready circulating within ‘the movement’, with this new terrain, Shift has made away from dodgy terrain. We hope we’ve and challenging the latter to look beyond some first steps to adapt, to make our- been a strong advocate for an anti-author- itself for inspiration (with the latter some- selves relevant, to reach new audiences. itarian, Marxian-inspired politics and a times being conservatively conceived, by Increasingly though we’ve felt that our reasonable and principled voice in several ourselves as much as others, as an exter- continued engagement with the politics of the debates we’ve seen in our corner of nal imposition or as intellectual vanguard- we’ve sought to promote via Shift might the left over the past few years. Above all, ism). Facing thorny issues such as these be better channelled through different ve- we’ve enjoyed it, good, bad and ugly. We’d should by no means be reason to give up hicles. It’s not that a project like Shift is like to thank all our writers, artists, dis- on projects with similar aims as Shift. not capable of adapting (and of becoming tributors, supporters, readers and even They merely highlight some of the chal- stronger for it), simply that Shift’s current our trolls – it’s been a blast! lenges that movement-oriented maga- editors are ready to move on and to allow zines inevitably encounter. new projects to flourish. These consider- ations surely chime strongly with John Finally, as with other projects with which Holloway and Michael Hardt’s discussion, The Shift Editors we’re involved and those we see around featured in this issue, of the respective us, Shift has also felt the humbling and roles of habit and institution-building ver- disorienting effect wrought by a changed sus invention and subversion. The ‘Experi- political landscape in the wake of the up- ments in regroupment’ series featured in surge in struggle, nationally and globally, this issue, in which we interview some of since 2010-11. As with the other projects the new groupings that have emerged with which we’re involved, Shift has had since the dust has settled on 2010-11, is its assumptions and ambitions starkly evidence that these questions of regroup- challenged. We’ve witnessed the birth of a ment and continuity are being taken up by new chapter of struggle. And with this the movement. new chapter has come new political actors, new political forms and new infrastruc- *** tures. When the student movement kicked off, for example, its debates found expres- Ultimately, we are proud of what we have 7/shift
...ums Ganze! (translation by Stefan Köhler) we haven’t even started yet! on the state of anti-capitalist protest in Germany in the summer of 2012
The following article is a translation of a Workfare scheme on the same day. tional Antinationalism!’, authored by the German text written as an evaluation of ‘Just Do It!’ working group of AntiFa AK the recent M31 and ‘Blockupy’ mobilisa- Shift decided to translate and publish this Cologne, available at: http://shiftmag. tions in Germany. Its author, the …ums article to help continue the discussions co.uk/?p=603). We believe that such an Ganze! alliance, was one of the key organ- which the M31 initiative has begun, fur- orientation could significantly strengthen isers of the M31 initiative, which is an at- ther discussions around the opportunities the UK anti-austerity movement. With its tempt – via an initial international day of and difficulties of international organising strong focus on public sector cuts and re- action on 31st March – at co-ordinating and bring out some of the differences be- forms - and with internationalist gestures action against capitalism across Europe. tween the M31 day of action and Block- largely remaining limited to statements or The M31 network includes the …ums Gan- upy. In particular, we wanted to highlight acts of solidarity with movements else- ze! alliance and the anarcho-syndicalist the authors’ vision for the emergence, on a where - the latter’s ‘official’ (TUC-led) face, FAU (Free Workers’ Union) from Germa- European-wide scale, of an anti-capitalist at the very least, has so far lacked such an ny, anti-fascist groups in Austria, Belgium movement based on a radical ‘internation- outward orientation grounded in a joined and the Netherlands and groups from the al antinational’ perspective of the crisis: up analysis of global crisis. Ukraine and Russia. The day of action was that is, a perspective critical of nationalist also supported by organisations such as or social democratic responses to the crisis The text was published in German in Au- the Spanish CNT and the Solidarity Fed- (for an important theoretical contribution gust 2012. eration in Britain who picketed businesses to the development of such a perspective, profiting from the British governments see Shift’s translation of the text ‘Interna-
Until spring, everything seemed to be just cial Democratic Party (SPD), who support- couple of thousand people went out on the way it has always been. While thou- ed authoritarian austerity measures M31 and during Blockupy to protest for a sands of people in Spain and Greece took against the ‘southern European good-for- better, more solidary society beyond capi- to the streets to protest the biggest auster- nothings’, along with the unions, whose talism. Despite the different results of ity program since World War II, the Ger- outreach of solidarity usually ends at the both events, they might mark the begin- man Bild Zeitung [a populist, conservative German border. However, the pan-Euro- ning of a new, more political and critical German tabloid - the translator] unabash- pean day of action ‘M31’ in late March and perception of the crisis for many people, edly agitated against the ‘bankrupt the ‘Blockupy’ protests in May boldly op- entailing a challenge to the dominant dis- Greeks’. Moreover, the German chancel- posed this development with heavy pro- course of Germany being the ‘winner’ of lor, Merkel, even demanded the right to test. Both M31 and Blockupy strongly the crisis, and its justification for inaction. intervene in matters of fiscal policy of criticized the German handling of the cri- states that receive EU aid, while the for- sis in the Eurozone. Further, they empha- *** eign minister, Guido Westerwelle, im- sized that neither financial crises nor au- plored the Greek government to ‘do their thoritarian austerity measures are Clearly, we are, as of yet, far from estab- homework’. inevitable natural phenomena; rather, lishing an intelligent anti-capitalist coun- they have much more to do with the capi- ter hegemony. Much too often, coarse This newly instigated German chauvinism talist excess that has historically been a criticism is directed towards the greedy has been shored up by the domestic pact permanent crisis for the largest part of the bankers and fat cats and not against struc- between labour and capital, led by the So- world population. With this critique, a tural problems of capitalism. Against this 8/shift
background, M31 and Blockupy offered protest. Further, people in more than 30 ken – at a Jobcentre, an employment different answers: that is, for emancipato- cities all over Europe participated in rallies agency, a government immigration unit, a ry perspectives beyond state, nation, and and demonstrations: for example, in Ath- police station, and a bridal shop. Indeed, capital. M31 was conceived as a pan-Euro- ens, Milan, Kiev, Utrecht, Zagreb, and Vi- as the Blockupy days of action approached, pean, locally organised day of action with enna, in many Spanish cities and even in the state and the media sensationalised a clear anti-capitalist agenda. In Frank- New York and Mexico City. Some of these about an unpredictable political threat in furt, M31 peaked in a demonstration events just had symbolic character, but Frankfurt. [Frankfurt is Germany’s main financial still, the M31 actions succeeded in estab- hub and thus a symbolic place for anti- lishing a tangible political reference point *** capitalist protest – the translator]. We, as for the crisis. For us, this response indi- the …ums Ganze! alliance, made up of cates that, after two decades of neoliberal In contrast to M31, Blockupy was not an over 10 groups from across Germany, tried redistribution, there is a widespread de- overtly anti-capitalist form of protest. The to scandalise both the German doctrine of sire to express general criticism against Blockupy alliance, especially the Interven- austerity-based policies and neoliberal capitalism beyond the established forms tionist Left [a coalition of groups from concepts of economic order. Our most im- of representation. For this reason as well, across Germany, most famous for its ef- portant goals as organizers were to have … we would evaluate M31 as success that did forts to create a pluralistic yet radical mo- ums Ganze!’s anti-capitalist and anti-na- bilising platform as part of the 2007 G8 tional position publicly discussed in the summit protests in Heiligendamm. For context of the Eurocrisis; and to demon- more, read Red Pepper’s excellent feature: strate solidarity with the Greek people “the political www.redpepper.org.uk/moving-against/ – who have been affected by the austerity the ed.], was aimed at all those who want- measures. It worked. In preparation for elites used ed to protest against the policy of the Ger- the day of action, we agreed on five com- man federal government and of the mon goals with the Krisenbuendnis Blockupy as a Troika. Additionally, Blockupy made use Frankfurt (Crisis Alliance Frankfurt) and of mass mobilisation and openly cooper- the FAU (Free Workers’ Union), both of preparation for ated with unions and parties from the left. whom were signatories to the initiative. We, as the …ums Ganze! alliance, again Firstly, the protests were to have an anti- more aggressive participated in the protest, this time with capitalist, anti-national, anti-statist, self- a designated anti-capitalist space, featur- organised, and inclusive character. Our crisis protests, as ing newspapers, flyers, and workshops second demand was to transcend the na- about ‘social-chauvinism’ [see Endnote 1 tional limitation of crisis protest. The lat- an adaption to below for an explanation of this term – the ter will be a political process in the proper ed.], ‘international anti-nationalism’ and sense. But it is also one that calls for new the state of the wretched hopelessness of left reform- structures and forms of actions. By estab- ism. Due to repressive police action, we lishing a network together with activists emergency.” were only able to carry out about half of from other countries with whom we share this programme, but we are still quite sat- strategic goals and a strategic repertoire, isfied with the results. the recent protests were a first step in this direction. What these agreed goals meant not need to be assessed by the number of Blockupy was intended to become a kind in practice was a strong rejection of both smashed windows, but rather by its role in of anti-capitalist Wendland – the long- the German government – in its self-ap- promoting a rebirth of popular anti-capi- time heartland of Germany’s strong, non- pointed role as European taskmaster – talist protest in Germany. Still, the media violent direct action anti-nuclear move- and the European Central Bank (ECB), reports were largely negative, portraying ment – in Frankfurt. However, the with its technocratic project to raise the the demonstration as a largely Black Block German government’s reaction was un- competitiveness of European capitalism at protest. Given this context, the behaviour precedented. In May, the city authorities the expense of the working and the unem- of the media and the political establish- of Frankfurt and the state government of ployed alike. ment towards M31 was, even by their Hesse, the state in which Frankfurt is situ- bourgeois standards, dishonest and cyni- ated, decided to ban all planned public It was important for us to present a per- cal: while the effects of German-European events that were to be held as part of spective for a better life beyond state, na- crisis politics is social devastation in Blockupy. Several thousand police officers tion and capital. What we did not expect, southern Europe, while people in Spain were brought into the city, all protest was however, was the positive reaction across and Greece die because neither they nor criminalised, usually justified in the media Europe around the day of action. In Ger- the state can afford public healthcare, by referring to the M31 ‘riots’. Thus, many, many groups, from Flensburg to M31 was depicted as violent rioting just Blockupy revealed the fragility of liberal Munich, followed our lead and called for because some symbolic windows were bro- commitments to civil liberties when faced 9/shift 10/shift
“We need to recognise and confront the small-scale and fragmented nature of our movements head on”
with meaningful popular protest: several *** mained in force throughout the days of ac- courts legitimated the ban on protest in tion and they continued to detain activ- the city, arguing that protest might in- From a position of ideological critique, the ists. Despite this, and thanks to the fringe upon the basic right of private reactions of the German administration in defiance of hundreds of people, many property, especially for the inner-city Frankfurt are very interesting. In a situa- smaller protests occurred throughout the bankers and traders who might be affected tion that was, compared with Greek or city. Several days of protest, along with by the urban blockade. Spanish conditions, a fairly low level the massive police presence, also polarised threat, the administration responded in the population of Frankfurt. The liberal As the actual blockade approached, the re- what can only be considered a paranoid newspaper the Frankfurter Rundschau, actions of media and the political estab- manner: 500 people were denied access to for example, changed its coverage of the lishment towards the perceived threat be- the city and another 1,500 were detained event entirely: it began in support of the came more and more ridiculous. Still, they prior to the days of action and only re- government reaction but gradually shifted revealed that Blockupy, just like M31 be- leased afterwards. Furthermore, it is re- to a more bourgeois criticism of the police fore it, has touched a nerve. The city gov- markable that the Hessian political elites strategy. Despite all of this, the critical ernment of Frankfurt did not hesitate one did not only try to ban the Saturday dem- mass needed for a blockade of the ECB was second to sacrifice its liberal ambition in onstration, but also that the courts, which not reached as too few people turned up. favour of a police-state like reaction. in Germany are usually fairly liberal, legiti- Meanwhile, at least the police themselves Though absolutely scandalous, this is not mated this anti-liberal approach, referring shut down Frankfurt’s main financial and too surprising. Law and order at any price, to the danger the demonstration posed to commercial area as an effect of their strat- without regard for basic civil liberties, has private property. The political establish- egy. always been a part of authoritarian poli- ment, the courts, the banks and the retail tics. And it has now arrived in Germany industry alike feared limitations to the With more than 30,000 participants, the too. Given this, describing the political re- conduct of business in Frankfurt. Antici- Saturday demonstration was one of the action to Blockupy as ‘exaggerated’ falls a pating violence, the banks gave some of largest in some time. Alongside the left re- bit short of the problem. Liberalism has their employees time off and relocated formist reductions of speakers from Attac, always had the full force of the state to certain operations to the suburbs. With the unions and the Left party, much criti- back up its strategic assets – and Frank- the media gladly picking up on this fear, cism was directed against individuals furt this May was no exception. From this anti-capitalist activists were quickly ren- (greedy bankers etc.). Some anti-Semitic perspective, it would seem that the politi- dered as violent mobsters that would hunt morons even wrote calls to boycott Israel cal elites used Blockupy as a preparation down white-collar professionals if they on their bellies. Another problem was the for more aggressive crisis protests, as an were let loose in the city. focus on the administrative response to adaption to the state of emergency. What Blockupy. Some organisers and protesters Blockupy successfully revealed, therefore, Consistently, the police turned Frankfurt seemed to be content merely that the is the concrete line of conflict between into a fortress. Although the courts later demonstration was, eventually, allowed to those who hold on to the current capitalist ruled that all detentions and denials of ac- take place. But these problematic posi- system and those who desire something cess to the city were issued illegally, the tions did not dominate the protest march. better. repressive behaviour of the police re- Rather, criticism of the German, neoliber- 11/shift
al-styled handling of the crisis in the Euro- the dialogue that has been opened be- ...ums Ganze!, August 2012 zone stood in the center of the protest and tween us and the those groups who sup- most demonstrators showed solidarity ported the M31 and Blockupy protests Special thanks to Stefan Köhler for his hard work with those affected by the German-im- and with all those interested in a radical with the translation of this text, which was complet- posed austerity programmes. criticism of capitalism. M31 has proved ed with editorial assistance from Josie Hooker. that we can forge complex alliances within More than 5,000 people also demonstrat- a short period. In the near future, we want ed in an explicitly anti-capitalist bloc: or- to strengthen interregional networks with ganised by the Interventionist Left and … a variety of political groups in order to Endnotes: ums Ganze!, this bloc borrowed from the quickly coordinate activities on an inter- strategic repertoire and outward appear- national scale. We would be delighted to 1. Social chauvinism is a term used on the German ance associated with the black bloc, yet participate in shared international proj- anti-authoritarian left. The definition provided here was inclusive, colourful and vibrant. Par- ects and we are always interested in dis- is a loose translation of the one given in a recent ticipants of this bloc countered the po- cussions, no matter where. Our collective pamphlet on social chauvinism, produced by the ‘Al- lice’s aggressive tactics with good humour, goal should be the delegitimisation of the liance against Racism and Social Chauvinism’ (of which we consider to be a positive sign for current crisis politics and crisis analysis which TOP, another of the groups in …ums Ganze!, is future projects together. In sum, both and the development of a social and intel- part): ‘social chauvinism’ is the ideology of capitalist M31 and Blockupy put the political aspect lectual counter-hegemony made up of all crisis. It promotes enmity against all those who do of the crisis back onto the agenda. This is those affected by it on an international not fit the ideal type of an efficient, driven and moti- an achievement we must seek to replicate level. We are not megalomaniac: the scale vated individual competing in the capitalist rat race. in our future actions. of our ambition is determined by the al- Its proponents stigmatise and exclude others as ‘un- most permanent nature of capitalism it- productive’, ‘lazy’ or ‘benefit cheats’ in an attempt to *** self. Our critique of current conditions, cement their own utility for capital. ‘Social chauvin- which refuses to be directed at anything ism’ denies the social origins and structural causes of What is required in the current stage of less than the whole system […ums Ganze! poverty, presenting instead an image of social exclu- the crisis is bottom-up, cross-border net- loosely translates to ‘All of it! – the trans- sion as resulting from a lack of individual aspiration. working between protest movements. We lator], will need to prove itself in the fu- Its logic forecloses the thinking of alternatives to need to recognise and confront the small- ture. Clearly, there are as of yet few tangi- (national) economic competition and to the cult of scale and fragmented nature of our move- ble alternatives to capitalism. But they do business performance. Aggressive forms of ‘social ments head on. Here, in the Federal Re- not just pop out of thin air, they are made chauvinism’ are (a populist) manifest across party public of Germany, we want to embrace in the political process. lines. 12/shift
Several attempts at regroupment of the Left have emerged within the last year here in the UK. As many of the anti-cuts, occupy and student groups that ex- ploded onto the scene in 2010-11 have struggled to maintain momentum, ‘Experiments in regroupment’ is a series of interviews with some of the groups that have emerged from the wreckage. The interviews offer a brief introduction to the groups in question: looking at their origins, motivations, influences and ambi- tions and probing the political questions that their respective approaches raise. As Shift comes to an end, we wanted to put the spotlight on some projects that are just beginning.
We asked each group to respond in 500 words (no easy task) and some went over. We also asked some groups further questions of clarification. We decided to print each groups full responses despite the disparities in length. experiments in regroupment #1 an interview with collective action
Why has your organisation formed? What are you hoping to organise need another anarchist membership around and how? organisation? As we state on the ‘About Us’ section of our website the Collective Action project Launched on 1st May this year, Collective Simply put, Collective Action is a current aims to re-visit our anarchist communist Action is a new association and, as yet, is within the anarchist communist move- political tradition and re-group and re-kin- relatively small in numbers. However, as ment seeking re-groupment. The Solidari- dle our political action in relation to the we reject the concept of political vanguard- ty Federation, by contrast, is an anarcho- challenges of the 21st century in a country ism in favour of one of a leadership of syndicalist union and, as such, has very located at the centre of the system of glob- ideas, by way of social insertion we seek to little to do with our perspective. Acknowl- al capitalist hegemony. We also state that develop a strategy and tactics capable of edgment of this fact, of course, implies no this focus on re-groupment is comple- building a strong, effective base for our an- disrespect to SolFed whatsoever. CA mented with the aim of practicing and de- archist communist ethos within the wider emerged from the Anarchist Federation veloping the approaches we advocate working class. In practical terms this will largely as a response to the latter’s pen- through our conduct as both militants and involve principled co-operation with di- chant for propagandism and apathetic at- members of Collective Action. In other verse anti-authoritarian militants in con- titude towards coherent organisation. In words, while critically assessing the his- flicts as they ensue. Anarchists often speak contradistinction to this our association torical experience of anarchist commu- of the need to nurture a new society of has identified with Especifismo; the need nism we look to further enrich our revolu- freedom within the shell of the old. For for specifically anarchist organisation built tionary theory through an ongoing this vision to become reality a consistently around a unity of ideas and praxis. In or- involvement in the living struggle of class- pro-active approach to revolutionary der to carry our project forward a member- es. Moreover, future dialogue and interac- struggle is imperative. We refer to this re- ship structure is essential. tion with like-minded groups and individ- quired process as building counter-power. uals from around the world will, over time, Especifismo or “Specifism” refers to a -or naturally inform and influence our inter- What are the differences between CA ganisationalist current within the anar- national perspectives. and Afed and Solfed? Does the UK chist tradition which is principally elabo- 13/shift
rated by the FARJ (Anarchist Federation man terms). These are heavily determined conditions, by arguing for anarchist meth- of Rio de Janiero) but has its roots in the by a wider cultural, economic and political ods and ideas, for the flourishing of work- writings of Bakunin, Makhno and Malat- framework that will cause them to ebb- ing class autonomy. This autonomy is the esta (among others). and-flow, one example being the way that basis for working class counter-power and the ongoing financial crisis has provoked revolutionary change. an acceleration of working class resistance “we reject the in certain sectors and geographical areas. Specifism is a praxis that seeks to strike Anarchists need to find a way of engaging the balance between a healthy relation- concept of with these struggles in a way that relates ship of influence within the class and an directly to their existing composition and ideologically coherent communist organ- political level of class consciousness. However an- isation, while rejecting the vanguardist archists also need to maintain their own approaches of Leninist groups. Many peo- vanguardism in coherent vision of an alternative society - ple associate these ideas solely with Makh- anarchist communism. This is the political no’s “Organisational Platform of the Gen- favour of one of a level. Strategically what results from this eral Union of Anarchists” but they actually understanding of the political and social date from one of the first organisational leadership of levels is a practice of “organisational dual- documents of social anarchism - Bakunin’s ism” where specifically anarchist groups programme for the International Alliance ideas” (hence the term “specifism”) with well de- of Socialist Democracy. fined positions of principle and operating Specifists argue that a lot of the mistakes under conditions of political unity at the There has been debate in certain sec- of activists result from a confusion of the political level intervene, participate with- tions of the anarchist movement social and political level. The social levels in or seek to build popular movements at around the reasons why many of your are those struggles that exist within the the social level. The objective of this inter- members left the Anarchist Federa- material and ideological framework of vention is not to “capture” or establish an- tion to found Collective Action. Could capitalism (bread-and-butter issues in lay- archist fronts but to create the correct you explain some of the thinking be- 14/shift hind this? guidance on practice at both a local or na- struggles of the twenty or so people you tional level. It was this desire for coher- routinely meet through your day (and we We felt that there was no longer a space ence, as well as theoretical re-assessments don’t mean “activist” friends and circles within the Anarchist Federation for the that motivated us towards the formation here, the people you ride the bus with, kind of fundamental reorientation that we of CA. work with, live next to etc.) then you have were arguing for. Unfortunately many an- no theory of social change. And to clarify, archists have been too long entrenched in Many of the recent struggles that by this we do not mean watering down this cycle of political activism to look be- have emerged have not consciously your politics or dissolving yourself into yond this as the only means of building identified with existing left wing tra- “community projects”, rather it’s about anarchist communism. CA, in many ways, ditions such as anarchism and social- finding ways to radicalise those connec- was a search for a new critical space in ism, do you think there is a future for tions you have with existing communities which developing ideas could breathe. an explicitly anarchist politics? In to a point where they take on a specific po- particular the anarchist movement litical content - anti-capitalism. It is us, Following our formation there has been a which exists in the present. after all, who produce the wealth of this great deal of hostility to the internal com- world and any social conflict needs to be position of our organisation which runs We are neither on the left nor of it. Anar- waged on the basis of this fact and the closely to the FARJ’s model of “concentric chist communism advocates the abolition need for re-appropriation of the collective circles,” as well as our idea of an explicitly of the state and capitalism in favour of product of our labour. Now this is, of organisationalist approach. Both of these, common ownership of the means of life course, incredibly difficult. But we’d argue wrongly we believe, were accused of being with production and consumption based that even minimal progress in this area “vangaurdist” or “hierarchical”. Our re- on the principle, “from each according to would be a leap forward compared to even sponse, as indicated above, is to argue that their ability, to each according to their twenty of the best attended A-B marches these ideas have a long tradition within needs.” For such a society to succeed it or “spectacles”. The tasks as we see it now, anarchism and are fully compatible with must be based on the norms of direct de- as Collective Action, is both to be making its principles. mocracy and horizontalidad, thus en- this argument to the wider movement, re- abling personal autonomy to flourish establishing our understanding and rela- within a framework of social equality. tionship to the wider class, as well as fur- “our association None of this bears any resemblance to the nishing ourselves with an organisational machinations of the left wing of capitalist theory and praxis suited to this task. has identified management which strives only to replace one state apparatus with another. We for- with Especifismo; get our history at our peril. The tragic out- come of both the Russian and Spanish You can contact Collective Action on collectiveac- the need for revolutions must constantly be borne in [email protected] and their website is http://www.an- mind. The prevailing anarchist milieu con- archistcommunist.org/ specifically anar- tinues to be a tremendous engine of ideas, but in many ways it is badly organised. Its chist organisa- future development and success, there- fore, rests on redressing this imbalance as tion built around a matter of urgency. a unity of ideas The only way there can be a future for an- archist politics is in making anarchist and praxis” ideas and methods a practical and coher- ent tool for organising workplaces, inter- Even with its existing Aims and Principles vening in social struggles and empowering there are many areas of the Anarchist Fed- working class communities. Anarchism eration’s activity that are very loose or ill- needs to recapture its traditional terrain defined. We’ve pointed out before, for ex- of organising, what Bakunin referred to ample, their propagation of the “workplace as, the “popular classes” and abandon the resistance group” without any following dead-end of activism. This means a funda- strategy for putting these into practice (or mental re-assessment of what we do and any analysis of how these relate to the ex- what we hope to achieve. It also means re- isting composition of the class). The turning, as Vaneigem would call it, to the AFed’s central idea of creating a “culture of politics of “everyday life”. To put it bluntly, resistance” also, we believe, confuses the if your politics cannot relate and poten- social and political level and gives no clear tially organise around the problems and 15/shift experiments in regroupment #2 an interview with anti-capitalist initiative
“The almost inevitable collapse of attempts to unite the left de- mands that we need to begin at the beginning.”
What is the idea behind your project We have had several anticapitalist initia- tiatives were rashly defined, often by con- and what are it’s political influences? tives in the UK in the last two decades; the fused reformist politics, the ACI is more larger projects were crushed by bureau- concerned with listening and learning The Anticapitalist Initiative (ACI) is an at- cratic control of this or that group. For ex- first. tempt to bring together the new political ample, the Socialist Labour Party drew in activists who have been inspired by the many militants from the Great Miners What are you hoping to organise Occupy movement, the uprisings in the Strike and the anti-Poll Tax movement, around and how are you hoping to Middle East and North Africa, anti-auster- yet under Arthur Scargill and his support- move beyond the current limitations ity campaigns and the fractured groupings ers the possibility of a significant left force of the Left? of the revolutionary left. We are making a emerging in opposition to the Labour Par- conscious effort to take time to debate and ty was lost. The almost inevitable collapse The Initiative wants to organise spaces for discuss what politics we collectively wish of attempts to unite the left demands that those of us coming from the Marxist left to pursue. Instead of declaring a platform we need to begin at the beginning. From to learn from the new movements, liber- decided on by the initial supporters, we the very start of previous initiatives a bu- tarian activists and from our shared expe- want to draw in a diverse range of views reaucratic and sectarian tumour slowly riences of struggles. Our current goals are from across the movement. The Initiative but surely killed those projects. We want to organise in campaigns to strengthen currently has supporters who consider to go a different way: the ACI is not the them but also to break down the barriers themselves communists, many from a plaything of this or that Trotskyist group- of mistrust of decades of factional separa- Trotskyist tradition, as well as more liber- ing but an open space for all of us in the tion and fighting. We will also be organis- tarian traditions including anarchists and movement to create a new left. We are not ing forums to debate the immediate prob- those who draw on Autonomism as a guide urging the left to repeat previous initia- lems the movement faces but also its to action. Many in the movement will see tives with a few democratic tweaks; we are strategic and political problems. The left the ACI as an attempt to set up a UK fran- asking the left to question the basis of its has been stuck at a dead end for over 80 chise of the French Nouveau Parti anti- politics, activities and ultimately its exis- years by generalising the strategies and capitaliste, but this isn’t accurate. We have tence. politics from an era of political retreat much to learn from similar processes but when the revolutionary processes un- we ideally want to circumvent the damag- What makes the ACI stand out from previ- leashed by the the October Revolution ing dissolution of previous projects by not ous initiatives is that we have prescribed were reversed. The best way to consider repeating the same mistakes. That means no set outcome on where we will end up. the Initiative is as a reboot for the revolu- taking our time to consider where our The debate over what kind of organisation tionary movement, not just a democratic movement is and through common work we need so that we can participate in upgrade. and discussion attempt to articulate a struggles in a useful fashion is completely credible anticapitalist alternative. open. Some of us would like to see a new party emerge, others a network or a unit- Does the UK need another anti-capi- ed front organisation. We hope to avoid You can contact Anticapitalist Initiative via their talist initiative? What makes yours making decisions too quickly with too lit- website http://anticapitalists.org different? tle variety of opinion. Where previous ini- 16/shift
Tabitha and Hannah Bast-McClure The Poverty of Privilege Politics
“It is not woman’s voice we should be seeking but feminist voice.”
“Feminist voice is not one based on identity but rather on a shared transformative politics...[it] is a stance rather than a given”
Privilege. Now there’s a word we are hear- ing to be the most victimised person in the litical terms these punkier than thou equal ing a lot. The concept and finger-pointing world. This sort of privilege scorekeeping ops sessions reinforce the holier than thou of privilege is coming to increasingly con- is tallied in our everyday encounters but attitude of the attendees....and the ones cern us as a problem and a poor semblance most often called out in a certain political who could do with it rammed down their within the alternative left. We feel not context, such as a political meeting, dis- hairy throats wouldn’t dream of attending. only embarrassed by the simplicity of this cussion or lecture. We now are presented These examples of new emerging themes undisclosed and undefined overarching with the ‘manarchist’ who uses his male demonstrate that on one side of the coin theory but concerned that it further leads privilege taking up space in meetings. Tak- you have a points based oppression out- a stagnant movement down more dire ing up space is not seen as only about the look (we’ve made the complexities of pow- dead ends. And yet our disquiet is not be- amount a person of privilege speaks but er into a handy ticklist for you!) and on the cause we believe interpersonal politics are often the language used. We see a growth other you have individualised guilt and less worthy of our attention, nor because in these subcultural movements in the UK self- victimisation (which is another way we are without awareness and rage about of an adherence to a new political language of re-focusing on the ‘more privileged’ the oppressive power structures within and analysis with a centrality of privilege ironically). This focus on the individual our lives and political milieus. We do not as an overarching ideology. We find an an- and self as the problem is a product of believe that these are minor details that ti-intellectualism where both theorising privilege leading us nowhere. It’s a dead can wait til after the revolution. Whilst we and militancy are seen as a privilege in and end. We feel a political lens of privilege is are currently organising what is suspi- of themselves, as if acting on the front line divisive and unhelpful when we are part ciously like a women’s consciousness rais- as WELL as analysis are only weapons of and parcel of a system that already thrives ing group, we dismiss those laughable and the oppressive rather than weapons of the on the division of the working classes, cringeworthy lists that have gone viral in oppressed. We find this dangerous because through gender, class and sexual oppres- the social networking world. These might it evokes that the most ‘oppressed’ are sion. appear as conflicting positions, but as we helpless and weak, encourages a lack of ac- hope to explain, we do not find them so. tivity and analysis away from ‘make do and So how then do we divide these concepts mend’ circles, and further rarefies the no- so we neither become a self parodying As mentioned, we are confronted with tion of resistance. shell of victim politics nor replicate the endless lists asking us to ‘Check our Privi- power structures we seek to destroy? How lege.’ We have encountered the ‘heterosex- Another vagary is the self-flagellating does this differ from an analysis of power? ual privilege checklist” the “cis privilege groups emerging that prop up a culture of Does it permit spaces for movement and checklist” and the “able bodied checklist.” shame. For example, recent workshops resistance? Or does it revert back to the (links to these example checklists are in- have emerged under the theme of ‘Men activist quagmire of guilt, shame and stag- cluded in the Endnotes the article - the dealing with their patriarchal shit.’ Whilst nation? These are questions that should be ed.) We think you get the picture? Soon we we want individuals to examine, analyse discussed within our wider political will be carrying around score cards wish- and challenge their own behaviour in po- groups. 17/shift
We recognise the well meaningness of der. This is not to downplay the struggles checking your privilege. We too under- “to resist we but we believe that these fixed linear posi- stand that people are silenced not just as tions are not just unhelpful but often individuals but due to identities. However, must understand false. Cis gender may not seem intrinsi- we perceive wrong footed attempts to cally a privilege to the women killed by do- right this balance. In meetings we witness our power; the mestic violence or childbirth. Nor male call outs where someone will announce privilege to a gay Ugandan. The relational- that six men have spoken and no women. strength in our ity of power has to be optimistically un- This is an attempt to expose the hidden derstood if we are to move beyond an idle subtleties of patriarchy and male domi- collective power determinism and singular identity code. nance, and to empower women. We have But, also, to resist we must understand never seen this work to readdress power rather than this our power; the strength in our collective relations. This call of male privilege may power rather than this frugal analysis of serve to quieten the six men who have frugal analysis of power where privilege divides us into spoken, but it does not give more voice to mundane categories of oppression. We the silenced. More awkwardly, it is often power where need to galvanise on our power as a class, uncomfortable for the women in the group as this class being fucked over by capital who may feel, as we do in this scenario, an privilege divides within all it’s facets of everyday life. Rath- obligation to speak, but with it comes an er than creating new prisons and new box- unnatural sense of representation. The op- us into mundane es to further tear ourselves to pieces with- posite usually takes place; a silencing of in, we need to analyse and act with fluidity people rather than the growth of new con- categories of and creativity in terms of our intersec- versations. One that is forced, fake and tional identities in the kitchens, the bed- full of disdain. Whilst the next person, oppression” rooms, the meeting spaces, the pubs and woman, is to speak but feels an artificial in the streets we demand to occupy. pressure of representation that we are Because ultimately, it is not womans voice supposed to be speaking on behalf of all we should be seeking but feminist voice. A women, from an identity as ‘woman’, and feminist voice is not one based on identity only as ‘woman’. And when we, or she, but rather on a shared transformative pol- Tabitha and Hannah Bast-McClure are engaged in speaks, it is of course as a woman within itics. A feminist voice is a stance rather the following crimes of passion; mostly together, but patriarchy and to a room where she is be- than a given. As bell hooks reminds us; some as singular adventures – the Space Project (a ing observed and judged by the six men feminism is the struggle to end sexist op- radical education Space), as writers (latest article in who have spoken, under a political male pression. We suggest this will often be “Occupy Everything: Reflections on Why its Kicking gaze. Because of these things, and more, best realised through those most facing Off Everywhere), New Weapons Reading Group, we do not see these clumsy attempts mov- sexist oppression but also we are vigilant various Queer ventures, Plan C, Footprint Worker’s ing any steps toward challenging sexist to note that not all oppressed are resist- Co-operative, working with domestic violence per- oppression. To do that we need first to ac- ing, subverting or fighting this oppres- petrators, parenting, and general Leeds/Redhills knowledge intersectionality of power, his- sion, nor are those who seem to benefit in based agitation. tory and privilege. With a singular identi- ways from it always or automatically in fication of privilege we reduce the myriad alignment with the oppressive forces. So There will be a presentation and discussion, led by of power relations within the group to a where does that leave identity and privi- the authors, of the issues raised in this article at the straightforward visible one. We don’t want lege in the struggle for freedoms? Under- upcoming Shift magazine ‘Goodbye’ party on Sunday a politics that reduces and simplifies pow- standing politics through the lens of privi- 7th October in Manchester at 4pm. Full details can er into an ideology of privilege. Intersec- lege is intrinsically entangled with identity be found in the inside back cover of the magazine. tionalities of power, oppression and privi- politics. And, for reasons stated, we find lege need to be examined mixed with identity politics a monolithic and restric- Endnotes: relations of capital. Analysing and pin- tive way to understand the world. We are pointing privilege to an obsessive extent our identities but we are never just one 1. The checklists mentioned in this article can be in political circles can be demobilising as identity, we are a complexity of them. And found at the following urls: well as futile. But most damaging of all, identities do not line up in a straightfor- these performances of privilege call out, ward ABC of oppression, no matter how http://queersunited.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/het- mislead us into believing that challenging much the privilegists want them to. This erosexual-privilege-checklist.html patriarchy within our interpersonal rela- just falls into binaries that we are attempt- tions occurs within the formalities of a ing to escape from, or creates more. The http://takesupspace.wordpress.com/ meeting and it is who speaks rather than queer movement challenges the notions of what they say. “men” and “women” yet seems to be opt- http://manchesterafed.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/ ing instead for “cis” or “trans” giving new how-not-to-be-a-manarchist/ permanence and boundaries to our gen- 18/shift experiments in regroupment #3 an interview with platypus london
“The Left is dead! Long live the Left!”
What’s the idea behind the Platypus tegrated and so exist for us only in frag- vide a space for renewed debate and unex- project? ments. pected agreements. We try to clarify prob- lems not only in specific locations but to At present the Marxist Left today stands We have organized our critical investiga- understand what internationalism and in ruins. Platypus is a project for the self- tion of the history of the Left in order to solidarity could mean today. We hope to criticism, self-education, and, ultimately, help discern emancipatory social possibili- provide the Left with a platform on which the practical reconstitution of a Marxian ties in the present, a present that has been it can clarify and transform itself. Platy- Left. determined by the history of defeat and pus as a project, though it started in the failure on the Left. As seekers after a high- US, was able to grapple with a problem Platypus contends the Left suffers, as a re- ly problematic legacy from which we are that is: understanding the global defeat of sult of the accumulated wreckage of inter- separated by a definite historical distance, the Left and the possibility for global hu- vening defeats and failures, from a very we are dedicated to approaching the his- man emancipation. partial and distorted memory of its own tory of thought and action on the Left history; and that at crucial moments the from which we must learn in a deliberately Whilst attending a talk hosted by best work on the Left is its own critique, non-dogmatic manner, taking nothing as Platypus in Berlin we heard the proj- motivated by the attempt to escape this given. ect described as a “pre-political” one. history and its outcomes. The Left is in At what point might Platypus move to such a grave state of decomposition that it How does the international aspect of a more overtly political project? has become exceedingly difficult to draft Platypus influence your project? What coherently programmatic social-political challenges and possibilities does it The importance of hosting the conversa- demands. At certain times, the most nec- open up? tion, as opposed to organizing debates or essary contribution one can make is to de- varying forms of activism, is due to platy- clare that the Left is dead. We take the question of internationalism pus’s self conception as a pre-political seriously and we do so through hosting project. We don’t seek to host debates but Hence, Platypus makes the proclamation, the conversation at different cities, such instead “curate conversations” in which for our time: “The Left is dead! — Long as in Greece, Germany, Canada, US and the differences among various tendencies live the Left!” — We say this so that the UK. Through our reading group and public on the “Left” can be manifested and future possibility of the Left might live. fora we try to raise the same issues in nu- worked through. We hope to clarify the merous contexts and thus build a continu- problems these differences raise, or at We take our namesake from the platypus, ous conversation through multiple loca- least identify unexpected agreements. The which suffered at its moment of zoological tions. The similarities of the problems at choice of a pre-political project is not discovery from its unclassifiability accord- an international scale faced by the Left are merely a choice to abstain from politics, ing to prevailing science. We think that an greater than what we might have expect- but rather, it is informed by what we rec- authentic emancipatory Left today would ed. By our efforts to educate ourselves on ognize as a greater absence of politics, that suffer from a similar problem of (mis)rec- the question of an international Left (and is, the absence of radical democratic social ognition, in part because the tasks and capitalism), through posing it in different transformation in our moment. project of social emancipation have disin- concrete circumstances, we hope to pro- 19/shift
It has become clear that previous and cur- be forgotten or a political form will emerge You can contact Platypus London at london@platy- rent far Left political models are inade- that allows Platypus to dissolve itself. pus1917.com and their website is http:// london. quate to the task at hand. What is required platypus1917.com is hosting the conversation about what it What do you think the future of the means to be political in order to create the Left here in the UK looks like? You can find out more about Platypus at http://platy- possibility for new political forms to pus1917.org/ emerge that are capable of posing the We are an internationalist project, we con- question of human emancipation. Platy- tend the future of the British Left is de- [email protected] pus would dissolve itself once the possibil- pendent upon the future of an interna- ity of more overtly political organization tional emancipatory Left. emerges. In the future, either Marxism will 20/shift
An exchange between Michael Hardt and John Holloway Creating commonwealth and cracking capitalism: a cross-reading (Part 2)
“Revolt comes first but spontaneity is not enough. Rebellion must be organised in a revolutionary process.”
What follows is the latter half standings or terminological differences think we differ little. The contrast comes, of a two-part exchange between (no small task) and clarify the important as you say, in where the accent falls and, in the authors regarding some points on which we disagree. particular, the extent to which the stabili- common themes raised in their ty of organisation is emphasised. work. You can read the first I appreciate how much the term institu- part at http://shiftmag.co. tion sits poorly with you and thus I am On the molecular level I’m not convinced uk/?p=596 grateful that you work through it so tena- that our difference in emphasis is very sig- ciously in your letter until you finally ar- nificant. I understand that notions of rive on a formulation where we do, in fact, habit, custom, and repeated practices agree. You can accept a mandate to insti- seem restrictive to you and you fear they June 2011 tutionalise if that is always accompanied can blunt innovation. I insist, however, with a simultaneous process of subver- that forms-of-life only exist through struc- Dear John, sion. Yes, institutionalise and subvert – a tures of repetition. Our lives and bonds to good motto we can share. each other are supported by innumerable I think you’re right that walking so closely habits and repeated practices, many of together can sometime make us trip and But, of course, our views of this do differ which we are not aware. This is not only a stumble when reading each other. A kind so let me return to them a bit more. As matter of the time we have dinner each of irritation arises when, after having you note, Toni and I come to the discus- night and when we go for a walk on Sun- agreed so much with the other’s argument, sion of institution from our preoccupation days, but also how we relate to each other we come across a point or argument that with the need for organisation. Revolt and maintain both intimate and social sticks out and that we can’t accept. Part of comes first but spontaneity is not enough. bonds (Marcel Proust’s novel seems to me our task here is to clear up the seeming Rebellion must be organised in a revolu- the classic investigation of how a life is conflicts that are merely due to misunder- tionary process. On these basic points I constituted by complex webs of habits and 21/shift repeated practices). Such institutions do, Our differences come out more clearly uador, and Venezuela. And like for you as you suggest, link the present to the fu- with regard to established institutions of too our hopes and inspirations are linked ture but not necessarily in the way you which we are critical. Like you, Toni and I primarily not to the governments but the fear. You worry that social habits restrict are critical of the official trade unions and powerful social movements that created us to repeating the social and organisa- their traditions but for us that does not the possibility of their electoral victories. tional forms of previous generations. I am position us in complete opposition to the But we do not regard these governments more oriented toward what Spinoza calls entire union movement. Small segments solely as antagonists. Here too I like the prudence: regarding the future as if it were of the union movement continually try to dual stance of your slogan, institutionalise present and acting on that basis. This is move out of the tradition and in new di- and subvert. I would say, in other words, not only how we act today against the in- rections: for periods (sometimes brief) that the advent of these governments cre- dustries and practices that will create by portions (often small minorities) of the ates a new (and in some respects better) 2050 catastrophic CO2 levels but also the FIOM in Italy, SUD in France, and the terrain of struggle in which the move- way we constantly create a perspective of SEIU in the United States, for example, ments need to continue the struggles duration in our relations with each other. have sought to chart new directions. against neoliberal practices, economic This is also true with regard to love. Love paradigms based on extraction (including is not only an event of rupture, shattering, reliance on oil, gas, soy monoculture, and and transformation but also a bond. I “I am more ori- the like), racial hierarchies, and many oth- continually return to those I love. That ers. I sense that the kind of critical en- does not mean that love is a static, fixed ented toward gagement with which Toni and I feel com- relationship. Love is innovation, you fortable seems alien and even dangerous rightly say, going beyond. Yes, but there is what Spinoza to you. This is probably a real difference also a ritual to love, returning to the be- between us and I’m not sure there is much loved and repeating our shared practices. calls prudence: to say about it. In the context of those rituals the innova- tions of love emerge. Institutionalise and regarding the (One small clarification: You are perplexed subvert, as you say, or repetition with dif- by a passage in our book in which Toni and ference. In any case, at this molecular future as if it I seem to be proposing that the UN insti- level I understand that you and I approach tute a global guaranteed income. Your in- the question of institution from different were present and stincts are right that we are not proposing perspectives but I don’t see great conse- this. The passage comes in a paradoxical quence to our differences. acting on that section of our book in which we attempt a thought experiment about how capital At the molar level, in contrast, I think our basis.” would reform if it were able to act ratio- differences are more significant. Toni and nally in its self-interest. We try to follow I put the emphasis on institution or, real- Our inclination is to enter into dialogue through the logic of capitalist reform, we ly, on creating new institutional forms in with these syndicalist elements while at say, all the while knowing that such re- order to develop an alternative gover- the same time subverting their traditional forms are impossible and the logic will nance. I think you can accept and even be logics, both inside and outside their insti- eventually collapse.) comfortable with some version of this tutional structures. Does institutionalise project. Some of the greatest successes of and subvert make sense to you also in this This might be the right time to bring up the EZLN in Chiapas, for example, have context? Or, rather, here is another way another question I had reading ‘Crack been their creation of institutions of an of approaching the same question in Capitalism’, which is probably related to alternative governance. Caracoles, Juntas terms of your book: can and should “do- the issue of institutions but in different de buen gobierno, and the myriad norms ing” be organised and, if so, what relation frame. A primary antagonist in your argu- and procedures that govern Zapatista would these organisations bear to the his- ment is abstract labour and, if I under- communities are excellent examples of the tory of organised labour? How would you stand correctly, the conceptual processes kind of experimentation with new, demo- characterse the syndicalist practices of do- of abstraction more generally. I don’t cratic institutional forms that we are ad- ing? I’m attracted to the idea of construct- think I share your opposition to abstrac- vocating. My sense is that you are gener- ing “soviets of doing” but I fear that idea tion. Let’s start with abstract labour in ally supportive of this level of Zapatista would horrify you. Marx by way of exchange value. In my institutional practice. Here too the slogan reading of the opening pages of ‘Capital’ in institutionalise and subvert works well: all Our differences are probably most pro- which Marx details how the exchange val- practices should be submitted to a con- nounced with regard to the so-called pro- ue of a commodity obscures and takes pre- stant force of critique, walk forward ques- gressive governments in power today, es- cedence over its use value, just as abstract tioning (this is a translation of a phrase pecially those in Latin America. As you labour takes precedence over concrete la- popularised by the Zapatistas. The Span- know, Toni and I, like you, are critical of all bour, this does not imply a symmetrical ish is: ‘preguntando caminamos’ - th ed.). of these Leftist parties and governments, anti-capitalist project pointing in the op- from Argentina and Brazil to Bolivia, Ec- posite direction. In other words, a politi- 22/shift
cal project to affirm use value over -ex nising as work the unwaged domestic ac- But, I suppose that even though I was try- change value sounds to me like a nostalgic tivities and practices of care that continue ing to move away from the question of in- effort to recapture a precapitalist social to characterise the sexual division of la- stitution it sneaks back in here again. Yes, order. Marx’s project instead, as I see it, bour. Abstract labour, then, as I under- I want to appreciate each doing in its sin- pushes through capitalist society to come stand it, is not a thing but an analytic, a gularity but I also want to grasp what is out the other side. In the same way I don’t way of grasping the continuities across the common to the myriad doings across soci- see abstract labour as the antagonist. It’s worlds of labour. ety (is this a logic of abstract doing?) I a simplification (but an important one, I want organisation. Try to wash out of think) to say that without abstract labour In part I think what I just wrote might ob- your mouth the bad taste of my proposi- there would be no proletariat. If the la- scure the issue because you and I are using tion earlier for creating soviets of doing. bour of the bricklayer, the joiner, the the terms differently. My guess is that you How are doings organised and what is the weaver, the agricultural worker, and the are using abstraction (and abstract labour) form of their organisation? autoworker were each to remain concrete to name the processes and structures of and incommensurable, we would have no exploitation by which capital measures It’s not so easy to move away from the concept of labour in general (labour with- and expropriates the value produced by question of organisation and institution. out regard to its form of expenditure, as our labour and exerts command over our It keeps coming back. I guess that’s an Marx says), which potentially links them lives. And, in contrast, “doing” serves for area where we still have work to do to un- together as a class. I know this must you as the self-organised, autonomous la- derstand our differences. sound to you like I’m turning around and bour that we could create a space for in the affirming the tradition of working class cracks of the capitalist order. Ok, that can Best, Michael organisations now, but I’m not or, at least, work for me. In fact, your argument in not uncritically. In fact, abstraction is nec- this regard corresponds well with and ------essary for us to argue against the corpo- complements our argument in Chapter 3 ratist structures that have plagued that of ‘Commonwealth’ about what we call the October 2011 tradition. Such abstraction too is what crisis of capitalist biopolitical production, made possible the domestic labour de- the emerging composition of labour, and Dear Michael, bates in social feminist circles in the US the new possibilities for autonomy from and the UK in the 1970s and 80s, recog- capital. Lots and lots of stimulus here, agreement 23/shift
and disagreement, lovely. This helps to situate our differences on -in and what is the form of their organisa- stitutionalisation. We meet happily on the tion?” If we think of doing as a movement Let me go straight to a sentence that slips ground of institutionalise-and-subvert, of communising self-determination, then unobtrusively into your argument but but I feel that within this tension we lean we can hardly lay down what form it that I suspect is an important key to our in different directions. You put your em- should take. At best, we can look at past differences. You say, in the context of the phasis on the importance of institutional- and present experiences and draw sugges- discussion of abstract labour: “Marx’s isation, whereas I want us to throw our tions from them. project instead, as I see it, pushes through weight on the side of subversion, of con- capitalist society to come out the other stantly moving against-and-beyond. Insti- We differ on the issue of abstract labour. I side”. But I do not want to push through tutionalise-and-subvert is not, for me, understand abstract labour as the sub- capitalism to come out the other side: I “repetition with difference”, as you sug- stance of the social bond that is money. In want us to get out now, while there is still gest, but a repeated process of rupture, of other words, the fact that we exchange our time, if there is still time. There must be breaking, negating. products as commodities abstracts from some kind of way out of here (as Bob us, takes away from us, control over our Dylan/Jimi Hendrix put it) – though of own activities. Abstract labour (and there- course there may not. “the proletariat’s fore money) is the core of the negation of social self-determination, and therefore This is Benjamin’s emergency brake (Wal- existence is the any struggle for social self-determination ter Benjamin’s comment that: “Marx must be a struggle against abstract labour called Revolutions the locomotives of struggle against (and money). To say, as you do, that there world history. But perhaps it is totally dif- would be no proletariat without abstract ferent: perhaps it is the people in these its own existence labour is true, but who needs a proletari- trains reaching for the emergency brake.” at? I imagine you agree that the proletari- the ed.) We are on a train heading for di- as proletariat.” at’s existence is the struggle against its saster, rushing toward the total annihila- own existence as proletariat. To say that “a tion of humanity. It no longer makes Of course it is not just a question of break- political project to affirm use value over sense, if it ever did, to think of coming out ing. Revolt is not enough – that is the exchange value sounds to me like a nostal- the other side. We need to pull the emer- shared starting point of our exploration. gic effort to recapture a precapitalist social gency brake, stop the train (or, jumping What then? Communise. This is the word order” seems to me completely wrong. It metaphors, capitalism is an over-ripe, rot- that I am drawn to more and more. Break could well be so, but for me it is the es- ting apple, or a zombie, already dead but and weave social relations on a different sence of the struggle to create a commu- marching on, destroying all). Not prog- basis. Obviously it comes close to your nist or anti-capitalist society. If you do not ress, then, but rupture. Here, now. Common Wealth, but I feel it’s important see the struggle as being to create a differ- to think in terms of verbs rather than ent sort of creative activity (a doing liber- I suspect that much of your argument in nouns, in terms of our doings. The prob- ated from abstract labour) and therefore a your and Toni’s trilogy rests on the view lem, as always, is the material production different sort of product (a use value liber- that pushing through capitalist society of life. If we scream against capital but are ated from value), does this not bring you will take us to the other side. Certainly you not able to live in a way that breaks with very close to Leninism, which, of course, say that capital is on a path of destruction capital, then we won’t get very far with was blind to the distinction between ab- (p.306), but that is not quite the same as our revolt. In order to break capitalist so- stract and concrete labour, with disastrous saying that capital is a path to destruction, cial relations we need the support of new results? as I would. Your formulation suggests that productive forces, not in the old orthodox- its course can be altered, whereas my feel- Marxist sense of technology but rather in There’s much more to be said. On the pro- ing is that breaking with capital is a neces- the sense of a new weaving of human ac- gressive governments, for example: it is sary precondition for stopping the rush to tivity. So absolutely YES to your soviets of not that I regard them solely as antago- destruction. You follow your statement doing, which you think will horrify me. nists. It is rather that the organisational about capital being on the path of destruc- Doing-against-labour means for me a col- form which they have adopted (the state) tion by proposing a reformist programme lective or communising movement of self- integrates them into the generality of cap- for capital as a way of moving towards a determination which has at its centre a italist social relations and turns them, transition to a different society, whereas I self-determination of our own activity – tendentially at least, against movements see capitalism as being already in an ad- our own productive force. Perhaps the that are directed against capitalism. Look vanced stage of decomposition, with all movement creates new institutions, but at Bolivia in the last couple of months. sorts of projects for alternative societies only as the water in a stream rests for a overflowing its banks, and suggest that we moment in pools and then flows on. I But rather than go on and on, I want to should throw all our energies into those think that would be my answer to your fi- end with a quandary. A dilemma perhaps overflowings or cracks. nal question, “How are doings organised for both of us, but I suspect we lean differ- 24/shift
ent ways. You say near the beginning of October 2011 and thus I insist on constituent processes. your letter “Revolt comes first but sponta- You instead fear more the fixity of repeat- neity is not enough. Rebellion must be or- Dear John, ed practices and institutional structures, ganised in a revolutionary process.” I’m and thus you privilege rupture and move- fine with the first sentence, it’s the second Some misunderstandings persist. It’s ment. I found particularly interesting in that makes me pause, wonder, feel clear, for example, that we understand ab- this regard the apprehensions expressed shocked, wonder again. Rebellion for me is straction and abstract labour in very dif- in our brief exchange about love. But even a massive and explosive confluence of dis- ferent ways. And the paradoxical passage such differences of emphasis should not contents and other-doings, the dramatic in Commonwealth in which we conduct a be exaggerated since we clearly share each coming together of so many puncturings thought experiment about capitalist re- other’s preoccupations to a large degree. of capitalist social relations. In order to form to demonstrate its impossibility avoid being swamped by a re-surging of comes up again in this letter and leads you I’m happy, then, to leave off our corre- capital, there must be a communising (or a again to think that such reform is our pro- spondence here, with the hope that we can confluence of cracks) so strong that the gramme. But really such misunderstand- take it up again when the movements, and social nexus of money is shattered or ren- ings are minor and I suspect that even we too, have taken a few more steps for- dered irrelevant. If you like, the rebellion when they loom large in our eyes they ward. must organise itself in such a way as to matter little to our readers. gather sufficient momentum to break cap- All the best, Michael italism completely. Organisation is cru- What strikes me most strongly reading cial, but not an organisation: it has to be over our correspondence, though, is the an organising that comes from below, a common theoretical and political terrain communising. Is that what you mean we share. We meet happily, as you say, on John Holloway is a Professor in the Instituto de Cien- when you say “Rebellion must be organ- the terrain of “institutionalise and sub- cias Sociales y Humanidades of the Benemerita Uni- ised in a revolutionary process”? I wonder. vert” – as well as “subvert and institution- versidad Autonoma de Puebla in Mexico. alise” (since the process certainly works A pleasure. both ways). But then, you add, we move in Michael Hardt is professor of Literature at Duke Uni- different directions or, at least, put the ac- versity in the USA and has published several books, John cent on different sides of the equation. including ‘Empire’ and ‘Commonwealth’, with Anto- This difference comes out most clearly, I nio Negri. ------think, when we express apprehensions about the formulations of the other. I am often on guard against placing too much faith in spontaneous revolt because on its own it fails to create lasting alternatives, 25/shift experiments in regroupment #4 an interview with climate justice collective
CJC was formed during the closure of The discussions around climate camp cen- That may all sound very high-falutin, but the Climate Camp. Could you explain tered on a number of themes, including we have been experimenting with how to the reasons behind this move? How ‘anti-capitalism’, ‘radical lobbying’, and carry this out on a practical level. Some of have your experiences with Climate how climate activism related to other what we are currently up to was men- Camp influenced CJC? movements, particularly those focussed tioned in a reply to Shift’s write up of the on social justice. But there were also issues Big Six Bash [see Shift issue 14- the Eds.]; In 2011 Climate Camp held a week long that anyone involved in non-hierarchical a mass action we organised early in the gathering called ‘Space for Change’ to re- organising will be familiar with, those of year targeting the the big 6 UK energy solve ongoing discussions around the power relationships and hidden hierar- companies (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, camp’s political identity, its forms of ac- chies, openness and accountability, some Npower, Scottish Power and SSE). tion and methods of organising. At the of which were described back in 1970 in gathering, following a great deal of discus- the ‘Tyranny of Structurelessness’ (which For example, just over a year ago, ‘Fuel sion, a decision was made not to organise was met with it’s own critique, ‘The Tyr- Poverty Action’ formed as a campaign as Climate Camp in 2011. The gathering anny of Tyranny’). In forming CJC we within CJC that is devoting much time to released a statement, entitled ‘Metamor- aimed to try and learn from the lessons of building links with tenants’ and residents’ phosis’ (http://climatecamp.org.uk/2011- organising Climate Camp, keeping the associations and the communities affect- statement), in order to explain the reason- good bits and trying not to repeat the mis- ed by rising energy prices. Fuel Poverty ing behind the decision. It says: ‘This takes (and in case you are wondering, we Action’s ‘Winter Warm-ups’ in January closure is intended to allow new tactics, are anti-capitalist!). mobilised pensioners, students, anti-cuts organising methods and processes to groups and environmental campaigners in emerge ... With the skills, networks and What are you currently organising ten boroughs and cities across the country trust we have built we will launch new around and what is your long term to take a variety of different forms of ac- radical experiments to tackle the inter- strategy? tion from street theatre, to public flyering, twined ecological, social and economic cri- to town hall demonstrations, to energy ses we face.’ CJC is committed to taking action against company occupations. the root causes of climate change and The Climate Justice Collective (CJC) was building towards new models of political We are also trying to make links between one of the groups that emerged. Of course and economic organisation, based on sus- anti-austerity, climate justice and other people involved in Climate Camp also tainability, participatory democracy and ecological movements. Linking different moved on to all sorts of other groups and social justice. We see ourselves as part of energy struggles together, both in terms movements including Frack Off, UK UN- the wider movements for social and eco- of how it is produced and accessed, re- CUT, Green and Black Cross, UK Tar Sands logical justice, and aim to build toward a ferred to by some as Energy Justice, is an Network, the student protests, Occupy, common future free from exploitation, important area for future work. At the Traveller Solidarity Network and many oppression or environmental devastation. moment we are discussing how we might more. try and organise a way of creating links be- 26/shift
tween climate justice and austerity on the There is no doubt that the economic crisis interested in getting involved, or want to 20th October when the TUC are planning and ensuing austerity has drawn a lot of chat to us about anything drop us a line. a march in London. political energy away from climate change and other ecological issues. It’s also true that there are difficulties around linking “In forming CJC climate change and anti-austerity, espe- Climate Justice Collective can be contacted at cli- cially when the growth mantra dominates [email protected] and their website we aimed to try discussion around the response to the eco- is www. climatejusticecollective.org/ nomic crisis. But ever increasing economic and learn from growth, market economics and neoliberal- ism are not just a threat to the environ- the lessons of ment, they also cause great social harm and are behind the current economic cri- organising sis.
Climate Camp, In a world with ever more extreme weath- er events, rapidly diminishing arctic ice keeping the good (NASA recently published a study linking climate change to extreme weather and bits and trying Arctic sea ice reduction) and worsening climatic feedback loops, ignoring climate not to repeat the change or any of the other global ecologi- cal crises, such as biodiversity or the nitro- mistakes” gen cycle (see stockholmresilience.org), simply isn’t an option. If we are to mean- Does climate change politics still have an ingfully address the root causes of all our important part to play in the anti-capital- current crises, ecological and social justice ist movement? Can it be relevant in a pe- must be seen as complementary and not riod of austerity? in competition. Sure it’s not easy, but if it was easy it wouldn’t be a struggle! If you’re 27/shift
WHAT NEXT?
While Shift is closing shop for the time being, there’s still the possibility that the project will resurface in some guise in future. So look out for that.
For now, all that remains is to say a heartfelt thanks to all the supporters who’ve accompanied us over the years: thank you for your compliments, your insights and your rage (at the system and at us and the more controversial articles we’ve published!). Thanks also for paying the solidarity price we’ve charged for this final issue in a bid to ensure that the project doesn’t end its life in debt (the price we’ve paid for our commitment to print publishing!) If you would like to donate, you can do so via our website or by contacting us on the email address below. Any surplus funds will be gifted to organisations and campaigns that have featured in Shift. On that note, we invite you to join us for an afternoon/evening of politics and dancing at Kraak Gallery (Manchester) on Sunday 7th October from 4pm. We’ll be raising money, as well as hosting a discussion on privilege politics and hearing from some of Manchester’s finest new acoustic artists.
We will be archiving all our material on Libcom in the near future and hope to have this completed by May 2012.
The editorial team are contactable at the email address below and are especially happy to offer any advice we can to any projects seek- ing to fill a similar niche or use a similar format to Shift. Similarly, if you think we might be interested in a project you are involved in, please get in touch.
That’s all folks!
CONTACT SHIFT [email protected] www.shiftmag.co.uk
CREDITS PICTURE CREDIT: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (front cover); syndikalismus (p.4); austerity grand tour (p.6); M31 initiative (p.9); strassenstriche.net (p.11); kateausburn (p.13); Platypus London (p.19); Joe Linton, http://handmaderansomnotes.wordpress. com/ (p.22); theplantsince1969.com (p.24); Big Six Energy Bash campaign (p.26); NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (back cover). WWW.SHIFTMAG.CO.UK