DOCSLIB.ORG

Animal Spirits

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Animal Spirits ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 1 02-12-2008 13:39:50 studies in network cultures Geert Lovink, Series Editor This series of books investigates concepts and practices special to network cultures. Exploring the spectrum of new media and society, we see network cultures as a strategic term to enlist in diagnosing political and aesthetic developments in user-driven communications. Network cultures can be understood as social-technical formations under construction. They rapidly assemble, and can just as quickly disappear, creating a sense of spontaneity, transience and even uncertainty. Yet they are here to stay. However self-evident it is, collaboration is a foundation of network cultures. Working with others frequently brings about tensions that have no recourse to modern protocols of conflict resolution. Networks are not parliaments. How to conduct research within such a shifting environment is a key interest to this series. Studies in Network Cultures is an initiative of the Institute of Network Cultures (INC). The INC was founded 2004 by its director Geert Lovink and is situated at the Amsterdam Polytechnic (Hogeschool van Amsterdam), as a re- search programme inside the School for Interactive Media. Since its inception, the INC has organized international conferences: ‘A Decade of Web Design’, ‘Incommunicado: Information Technology for Everybody Else’, ‘Urban Screens’, ‘The Art and Politics of Netporn’, ‘MyCreativity: Convention on Creative Industries Research’, ‘New Network Theory’, and ‘Video Vortex: Responses to YouTube’. For more information please visit: www.networkcultures.org. The series Studies in Network Cultures is published by the Institute of Network Cultures in collaboration with NAi Publishers, Rotterdam. Series Coordinator: Sabine Niederer, Institute of Network Cultures. For more information please visit www.networkcultures.org/naiseries. Previously published in this series: Ned Rossiter, Organized Networks. Media Theory, Creative Labour, New Institutions (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers and Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2006). Eric Kluitenberg, Delusive Spaces. Essays on Culture, Media and Technology (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers and Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008). ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 2 02-12-2008 13:39:50 Animal Spirits A Bestiary of the Commons Matteo Pasquinelli NAi Publishers Institute of Network Cultures ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 3 02-12-2008 13:39:50 This publication was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam Series editor: Geert Lovink, Institute of Network Cultures, Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) Series coordinator: Sabine Niederer, Institute of Network Cultures, Hogeschool van Amsterdam Editor: Michael Jason Dieter Copy editor: D’Laine Camp Design: Studio Tint, Huug Schipper, The Hague Cover design: Studio Léon&Loes, Rotterdam Type setting and printing: Die Keure, Bruges, Belgium Binding: Catherine Binding Paper: Munken Lynx 100 grs. Project coordination: Barbera van Kooij, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam Publisher: NAi Publishers, Rotterdam © 2008 the author, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For works of visual artists affiliated with a CISAC-organization the copyrights have been settled with Pictoright in Amsterdam. © 2008, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam NAi Publishers is an internationally orientated publisher specialized in developing, producing and distributing books on architecture, visual arts and related disciplines. www.naipublishers.nl [email protected] It was not possible to find all the copyright holders of the illustrations used. Interested parties are requested to contact NAi Publishers, Mauritsweg 23, 3012 JR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Available in North, South and Central America through D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers Inc, 155 Sixth Avenue 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10013-1507, Tel 212 6271999, Fax 212 6279484. Available in the United Kingdom and Ireland through Art Data, 12 Bell Industrial Estate, 50 Cunnington Street, London W4 5HB, Tel 208 7471061, Fax 208 7422319. Printed and bound in Belgium ISBN 978-90-5662-663-1 ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 4 02-12-2008 13:39:50 Contents Acknowledgments 11 Introduction 13 Chapter i Animal Spirits: A Conceptual Bestiary The Diseases of the Empire 18 London Sinking: The Psychopathology of Everyday Cultural Life – Institute of Contemporary Boredom: The Art World as Symptom – Radically Correct: The Unconscious Puritanism of Activism – The Removal of the Animal Body and the New Commons The Dark Side of the Multitude 30 The Animal Open to the World – Restoration of a Bicephalous God A Conceptual Bestiary of the Commons 43 A Conceptual Bestiary – The Bicephalous Eagle: The Ambivalence of Power and Desire – The Parasite of the Commons: Alliance and Sabotage – The Hydra of Language: The Biomorphic Unconscious of Culture Chapter ii The Parasite of the Commons: Digitalism and the Economy of ‘Free Culture’ The Biosphere of Machines: Enter the Parasite 54 The Living Energy of Machines and the Surplus – Michel Serres and the Cybernetic Parasite – Diagram of an Immaterial Parasite – Intermezzo: Baudrillard in the Whirlpool of Sign Digitalism: The Impasse of Media Culture 72 The Flesh Is Made Code – The Ideology of Free Culture – Against the Creative Anti-Commons – Towards the Autonomous Commons – The Poverty of Networks – A Parasite Haunting the Hacker Haunting the World ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 5 02-12-2008 13:39:50 Rent: The Dystopian Parasite of Cognitive Capitalism 91 Rent Is the New Profit – Rent Is the Other Side of the Commons – The Fourth Dimension of Cognitive Capitalism – A Taxonomy of Immaterial Parasites – The Bicephalous Multitude and the Grammar of Sabotage Chapter iii The Hydra of Language: The Biomorphic Unconscious of Culture Industry Immaterial Civil War: Prototypes of Conflict within Cognitive Capitalism 106 My Creativity Is My Conflict – The Public Life of a Cognitive Object – Lazzarato Reading Tarde: The Social Dimension of Value – Enzo Rullani and the ‘Law of Diffusion’ – David Harvey and the Collective Symbolic Capital – Immaterial Civil War and the Common – The Sabotage of the Cognitive Parasite Creative Sabotage in the Factory of Culture: Art, Gentrification and the Metropolis 126 The ‘Life of the City’ versus the Chimera of the ‘Creative City’ – Introducing the New Urban Frontier – The Hydra of Concrete behind the European ‘Creative Cities’ – The Metropolis as Social Factory and Motor of the Surplus – Intermezzo: Radical Cities: Negative Index versus Positive Index – The Collective Symbolic Capital and the Asymmetries of the Common – The Artistic Mode of Production – The Dispostifs of the Factory of Culture – Be Uncreative: Linguistic Games on the Surface of the Metropolis – The Grammar of Sabotage and the Institution of the Common Chapter iv The Bicephalous Image: The Just Masochism of the Imaginary Neurology and Profonation of the Optical Unconscious 156 The Bicephalous Image: Questioning the Autonomy of the Imaginary – ‘Fiction Is a Branch of Neurology’ – ‘Neuronic Icons on the Spinal Highway’ – ‘The Latent Sexual Character of the War’ – ‘Pornography Is a Powerful Catalyst for Social Change’ – Pessimism of Senses, Optimism of Nerves: Deleuze’s Francis Bacon – First ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 6 02-12-2008 13:39:50 contents Disambiguation: Code Claustrophobia and the Poverty of the Subject – Second Disambiguation: Biodigitalism and False Organicism – The ‘Civilization of Images’ and the Profanation of Pornography I Like to Watch! Warpunk against Warporn 188 The Grinning Monkeys (of Peace Activism) – Videoclash of Civilizations –Animal Narratives for the Global Mind – Digital Anarchy: A Videophone versus the Empire – Warporn: The Sexual Content of War Imaginary – The Reset of Imaginary – Warpunk: ‘I Like to Watch!’ Libidinal Parasites: Netporn and the Machinic Excess 200 Porn on Diazepam and the Technopathology of Immaterial Labour – The Thermodynamics of Pornography – The Entropy of Desire and the Negentropy of Machines – Vortices Accumulating Crystals of Time – Libidinal Parasites and the Accumulation of Libidinal Surplus Notes 211 Bibliography 229 7 ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 7 02-12-2008 13:39:51 Hoe groter de geest, hoe groter het beest. [The greater the spirit, the greater the beast] Traditional Dutch saying1 ANIMAL_SPIRITS.indd 9 02-12-2008 13:39:51 Introduction What constitutes the common? While I was exploring the dark sides of digital commons and culture industry, the awakening of the animal spirits of the financial crisis during 2008 became in fact the horizon of the political debate. The idea of investigating the animal spirits of the commons was actually conceived a few years earlier, when the global mediascape following stock indexes were fed by the pornography of war terrorism. Yet the irrational fears and forces struggling behind media networks were never illuminated by critical thinkers and politi- cal activists or, more specifically, considered as a productive component of economic flows. John Maynard Keynes once defined ‘animal spirits’ as precisely those unpredictable human drives that influence stock markets and push economic cycles.1 Similarly, in his recent work, Paolo Virno has underlined how all institutions (from the nation-state to con- temporary digital networks) represent an extension of the aggressive instincts of humankind.2 In this reading, language
Recommended publications
  • A Brief History of Occupy Wall Street ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG NEW YORK OFFICE by Ethan Earle Table of Contents

    A Brief History of Occupy Wall Street ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG NEW YORK OFFICE by Ethan Earle Table of Contents

    A Brief History of Occupy Wall Street ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG NEW YORK OFFICE By Ethan Earle Table of Contents Spontaneity and Organization. By the Editors................................................................................1 A Brief History of Occupy Wall Street....................................................2 By Ethan Earle The Beginnings..............................................................................................................................2 Occupy Wall Street Goes Viral.....................................................................................................4 Inside the Occupation..................................................................................................................7 Police Evictions and a Winter of Discontent..............................................................................9 How to Occupy Without an Occupation...................................................................................10 How and Why It Happened........................................................................................................12 The Impact of Occupy.................................................................................................................15 The Future of OWS.....................................................................................................................16 Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, November 2012 Editors: Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg Address: 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114,
  • Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

    Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

    Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal Volume 5 Issue 2 Article 8 August 2010 Book Review: Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and The Triumph of Spectacle Herb Hirsch Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp Recommended Citation Hirsch, Herb (2010) "Book Review: Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and The Triumph of Spectacle," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal: Vol. 5: Iss. 2: Article 8. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol5/iss2/8 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Book Review Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and The Triumph of Spectacle. New York: Nation Books, 2009. Pp. 232, cloth, $24.95. Reviewed by Herb Hirsch, Professor of Political Science, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University; Co-Editor, Genocide Studies and Prevention At first glance, a book that is a critical analysis of US culture might appear not be relevant to the study and prevention of genocide. This would be a profound mistake. Chris Hedges’ analysis is not only applicable but important. Hedges, author of the National Book Critics Circle–nominated War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), has given those who consider themselves genocide scholars much to think about and to apply to their concerns.
  • IN the MOUNTIES WE TRUST: a Study of Royal Canadian Mounted

    IN the MOUNTIES WE TRUST: a Study of Royal Canadian Mounted

    IN THE MOUNTIES WE TRUST: A Study of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability by STEPHEN LORENZ WETTLAUFER A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada July, 2011 Copyright © Stephen Lorenz Wettlaufer, 2011 Abstract Police and Canadian citizens often clash during protests sometimes resulting in violent outcomes. Due to the nature of those altercations, there are few other events that require oversight more than the way police clash with protesters and there is a history of such oversight resulting in a number of Federal Parliamentary documents, Parliamentary Committee reports Task Force reports, reports arising from Public Interest Hearings of the Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP, and testimony at various hearings and inquiries which have produced particular argumentative discourses. Argumentative discourses that have a great effect on the construction of a civilian oversight agency of the RCMP is the focus of this thesis. This thesis examines how it is that different discourses, as represented by argumentative themes in these reports, intersect with one another in the process of creating a system of accountability for the RCMP. Through the lens of complaints that arise from protest and police clashes one may conclude that the current system of accountability does not adhere to a practice of protecting the most fundamental rights as prescribed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; nor would the currently proposed legislation contained within Bill C‐38 alter the system in a substantial way to allow for such protections. The power dynamic between the Commissioner of the Force and the Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP favours the police force in the current and proposed system.
  • An Analysis of the Works of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt

    An Analysis of the Works of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt

    Journal of Global Media Studies Vol. 23 ［ 初 校 ］ P . 3 1 Towards Global Multitude and Assembly: An Analysis of the Works of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt Atsushi Shibasaki ※ You say you＇ll change the Constitution Well, you know We all want to change your head You tell me it＇s the institution Well, you know You better free your mind instead - John Lennon - Key words: Antonio Negri, Empire, Multitude, Common, Assembly, Global Relations Summary This paper reveals only the very introductory part of an ongoing research on the thought, theory, and phi- losophy of Antonio Negri (1934-). The original script was read at the working lunch seminar held at the In- stitute of Global European Studies (Europainstitut), University of Basel, on 24 April 2018. Before the publi- cation, slight and minimum revisions and corrections were done. In addition, because of its nature as being originally a manuscript for a lecture, all slides are attached in order to help the readers to understand the argu- ment. The author has long been tackling with this research project from the perspectives of theory and philoso- phy of international relations, or rather international cultural relations, since the publication of the book Empire (2000), co-authored by Negri and Michael Hardt (1960-). Until now, two papers had been published by the author, respectively in 2006, and 2011. The former mainly dealt with Empire and Multitude (2005), and the latter measured the development of their argument from Empire, Multitude to Commonwealth (2009). Since the author’s publications, they published new books and many articles.
  • Arch : Northwestern University Institutional Repository

    Arch : Northwestern University Institutional Repository

    NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of History By Matthew Kane Sterenberg EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2007 2 © Copyright by Matthew Kane Sterenberg 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain Matthew Sterenberg This dissertation, “Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth- Century Britain,” argues that a widespread phenomenon best described as “mythic thinking” emerged in the early twentieth century as way for a variety of thinkers and key cultural groups to frame and articulate their anxieties about, and their responses to, modernity. As such, can be understood in part as a response to what W.H. Auden described as “the modern problem”: a vacuum of meaning caused by the absence of inherited presuppositions and metanarratives that imposed coherence on the flow of experience. At the same time, the dissertation contends that— paradoxically—mythic thinkers’ response to, and critique of, modernity was itself a modern project insofar as it took place within, and depended upon, fundamental institutions, features, and tenets of modernity. Mythic thinking was defined by the belief that myths—timeless rather than time-bound explanatory narratives dealing with ultimate questions—were indispensable frameworks for interpreting experience, and essential tools for coping with and criticizing modernity. Throughout the period 1900 to 1980, it took the form of works of literature, art, philosophy, and theology designed to show that ancient myths had revelatory power for modern life, and that modernity sometimes required creation of new mythic narratives.
  • The Public Intellectual in Critical Marxism: from the Organic Intellectual to the General Intellect Papel Político, Vol

    The Public Intellectual in Critical Marxism: from the Organic Intellectual to the General Intellect Papel Político, Vol

    Papel Político ISSN: 0122-4409 [email protected] Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Colombia Herrera-Zgaib, Miguel Ángel The public intellectual in Critical Marxism: From the Organic Intellectual to the General Intellect Papel Político, vol. 14, núm. 1, enero-junio, 2009, pp. 143-164 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá, Colombia Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=77720764007 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative The Public Intellectual in Critical Marxism: From the Organic Intellectual to the General Intellect* El intelectual público en el marxismo crítico: del intelectual orgánico al intelecto general Miguel Ángel Herrera-Zgaib** Recibido: 28/02/09 Aprobado evaluador interno: 31/03/09 Aprobado evaluador externo: 24/03/09 Abstract Resumen The key issue of this essay is to look at Antonio El asunto clave de este artículo es examinar los Gramsci’s writings as centered on the theme escritos de Antonio Gramsci como centrados en of public intellectual within the Communist el tema del intelectual público, de acuerdo con la experience in the years 1920s and 1930s. The experiencia comunista de los años 20 y 30 del si- essay also deals with the present significance of glo XX. El artículo también trata la significación what Gramsci said about the organic intellectual presente de aquello que Gramsci dijo acerca del regarding the existence of the general intellect intelectual orgánico, considerando la existencia in the current capitalist relations of production del intelecto general en las presentes relaciones de and reproduction of society.
  • Anarchy in the PA? Anti-Essentialism, Anti-Statism, and the Future of Public Administration

    Anarchy in the PA? Anti-Essentialism, Anti-Statism, and the Future of Public Administration

    CONFERENCE DRAFT This paper is not intended for general circulation and may not be cited without the permission of the author. Anarchy in the PA? Anti-Essentialism, Anti-Statism, and the Future of Public Administration Thomas J. Catlaw Assistant Professor School of Public Affairs Arizona State University 411 North Central Avenue Mail Code 3720, Suite 450 Phoenix, AZ 85004 Email: [email protected] Phone (602) 496-0459 Paper prepared for presentation at the “Public Administration and Anti-Essentialism” Conference, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale, FL—March 2-3, 2007 Introduction Authority has been an ongoing focus of scholarly and intellectual investigation for nearly entirety of modern social science. In sociology, this concern can be tracked from Weber’s famous typologies and Durkheim’s exposition of anomie, a state induced by the decline of regulative authority relations, through the 1960’s “twilight of authority” (Nisbet, 1975) and the contemporary declaration of a “post-traditional” order (Giddens, 1994). Authority has also received enormous consideration in political science and political philosophy (Agamben, 2005; Arendt, 1958; Benne, 1943; DeGeorge, 1985; Engles, 1978; Flathman, 1980; Friedrich, 1972; Laski, 2000/1919; Lowi, 1970; McKercher, 1989), anthropology (W. B. Miller, 1955; Turner, 1969), organizational sociology (Blau, 1968; Dalton, Barnes, & Zaleznik, 1973/1968; Meyer, 1972), psychology (Kelman & Hamilton, 1989), and a wide range of provocative interdisciplinary legal, political, and psychological perspectives (Diggins & Kann, 1981; Friedrich, 1958; Horkheimer, 1972; Lincoln, 1994; Pennock & Chapman, 1987; Sennett, 1980). The literature on the topic is internally contradictory and voluminous—not withstanding the fact that consideration of authority readily expands into equally nebulous and complex concepts such as power, legitimacy, the state, and the nature of social order itself with no obvious analytic or historical limit.
  • Reflections on Hardt and Negri and John Holloway. A

    Reflections on Hardt and Negri and John Holloway. A

    Page 1 of 28 Occupy: ‘struggles for the common’ or an ‘anti-politics of dignity’? Reflections on Hardt and Negri and John Holloway. Abstract This article provides a critical examination of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s and John Holloway’s theory of revolutionary subjectivity, and does so by applying their theories to the Occupy movement of 2011. Its central argument is that one should avoid collapsing ‘autonomist’ and ‘open’ Marxism, for whilst both approaches share Tronti’s (1979) insistence on the constituent role of class struggle, and also share an emphasis on a prefigurative politics which engages a non-hierarchical and highly participatory politics, there nevertheless remain some significant differences between their approaches. Ultimately, when applied to Occupy Movement whilst their theory isn’t entirely unproblematic, I will argue that Hardt and Negri’s ‘autonomist’ approach offers the stronger interpretation, due mainly to their revised historical materialism. Introduction Some years ago, writing in this journal Martin Spence (2010) argued that, because of its specific Italian heritage, the body of thought labelled ‘autonomism’ had become ‘misleading. The reason for this lay in the diversity of its authors, ranging from Mario Tronti and Antonio Negri, to Harry Cleaver and John Holloway. We might add here the inclusion of others, such as Werner Bonefeld and Simon Clarke, and Massimo De Angelis and Nick Dyer-Witheford. For his own purposes, Spence (2010) replaced the category of ‘autonomism’ with that of ‘open Marxism’, arguing its usefulness as an ‘appropriate tag for the field as a whole’ (Spence 2010, p.99). In some ways this was an unusual move.
  • Reclaim the Streets, the Protestival and the Creative Transformation of the City

    Reclaim the Streets, the Protestival and the Creative Transformation of the City

    Finisterra, XLVii, 94, 2012, pp. 103-118103 RECLAIM THE STREETS, THE PROTESTIVAL aND THE CREaTiVE TRaNSFoRMaTioN oF THE CiTY anDré carMo1 abstract – the main goal of this article is to reflect upon the relationship between creativity and urban transformation. it stems from the assumption that creativity has a para- doxical nature as it is simultaneously used for the production of the neoliberal city and by those seeking to challenge it and build alternative urban realities. first, we put forth a criti- cal review of the creative city narrative, focused on richard florida’s work, as it progres- sively became fundamental for the neoliberal city. afterwards, and contrasting with that dominant narrative, we describe a trajectory of Reclaim the Streets that provides the basis for our discussion of the protestival (protest + carnival) as its main creative force of urban transformation. Keywords: Creativity, urban transformation, Reclaim the Streets, protestival. Resumo – reclaiM the streets, o protestival e a transForMação criativa Da ciDaDe. O principal objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre a relação existente entre criativi- dade e transformação urbana. Parte-se do princípio de que a criatividade tem uma natureza paradoxal, na medida em que é simultaneamente usada para a produção da cidade neolibe- ral, mas também por aqueles que procuram desafiá-la e construir realidades urbanas alter- nativas. Primeiro, fazemos uma revisão crítica da narrativa da cidade criativa, focada no trabalho de richard florida, por esta se ter progressivamente tornado fundamental para a cidade neoliberal. Depois, e contrastando com essa narrativa dominante, descrevemos uma trajetória do Reclaim the Streets que providencia a base para a nossa discussão do protesti- val (protesto + carnaval) como a sua principal força criativa de transformação urbana.
  • Submission and Executive Summary Submission Submission

    Submission and Executive Summary Submission Submission

    SUBMISSION AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SUBMISSION SUBMISSION SUBMISSION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT TO THE EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY To the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma; I have the honour of presenting the 2002/03 Annual Report of the Department of Foreign Affairs. 2 3 Annual Report 2002/2003 Annual Report 2002/2003 DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SOUTH AFRICA DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SOUTH AFRICA SUBMISSION SUBMISSION Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. 2 3 Annual Report 2002/2003 Annual Report 2002/2003 DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SOUTH AFRICA DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SOUTH AFRICA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BY THE ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL OUR DEPARTMENT, IN COLLABORATION WITH OUR SISTER DEPARTMENTS in African region, remained the core focus of our foreign policy. the International Relations, Peace and Security Cluster, has over To give practical expression to our foreign policy objectives the the past year worked extensively in many very important areas priority areas for the Department’s work included: in pursuit of our foreign policy goals. At the same time we have • African Renaissance had to adjust our focus to a global environment that has been – Launch and operationalise the African Union (AU); fundamentally changed by the seminal events of 11 September – Restructure the Southern African Development Community 2001 and the war against Iraq. (SADC) and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU); During the period 2002/03, our foreign policy programmes – Implement the New Partnership for Africa’s Development were aimed at supporting the rapid delivery of basic needs to our (NEPAD); people; developing human resources; building the economy and • Peace, stability and security; and creating jobs; combating crime and corruption; transforming the • Economic development and co-operation.
  • Marxism and the Solidarity Economy: Toward a New Theory of Revolution

    Marxism and the Solidarity Economy: Toward a New Theory of Revolution

    Class, Race and Corporate Power Volume 9 Issue 1 Article 2 2021 Marxism and the Solidarity Economy: Toward a New Theory of Revolution Chris Wright [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Wright, Chris (2021) "Marxism and the Solidarity Economy: Toward a New Theory of Revolution," Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 9 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. DOI: 10.25148/CRCP.9.1.009647 Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol9/iss1/2 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Class, Race and Corporate Power by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Marxism and the Solidarity Economy: Toward a New Theory of Revolution Abstract In the twenty-first century, it is time that Marxists updated the conception of socialist revolution they have inherited from Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Slogans about the “dictatorship of the proletariat” “smashing the capitalist state” and carrying out a social revolution from the commanding heights of a reconstituted state are completely obsolete. In this article I propose a reconceptualization that accomplishes several purposes: first, it explains the logical and empirical problems with Marx’s classical theory of revolution; second, it revises the classical theory to make it, for the first time, logically consistent with the premises of historical materialism; third, it provides a (Marxist) theoretical grounding for activism in the solidarity economy, and thus partially reconciles Marxism with anarchism; fourth, it accounts for the long-term failure of all attempts at socialist revolution so far.
  • The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Could Help Build a Stronger, Fairer and Cleaner Global Economic Growth

    The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Could Help Build a Stronger, Fairer and Cleaner Global Economic Growth

    THE G8 L’AQUILA SUMMIT TUAC EVALUATION July 2009 Summit Overview 1. The G8 L’Aquila Summit took place amidst fears of an escalating global jobs crisis, despite reports of economic ‘green shoots’. Whilst the figures released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the eve of the Summit forecast a weak recovery in 2010, they also signal that “unemployment rates will reach double digits in some countries, holding back wages and household spending and presenting significant policy challenges”1. Earlier forecasts published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) predicted increases in unemployment of up to 59 million worldwide by the end of 20092. 2. The G8 sessions at the Summit were followed by meetings of the G13/G14, as well as a session of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on climate change. Over 40 countries3 and international organisations4 took part in the Summit, including the Director-General of the ILO. The Summit issued a 40-page economic statement, ‘Responsible Leadership for a Sustainable Future’ made up of the following sections: Economic and financial crisis: the way to recovery (§7-59); Sustainable use of natural resources; climate change, clean energy and technology (§60-93); and development and Africa (§94-134). Statements on water and food and agricultural security were also issued, together with a joint declaration by the G13 on “Promoting the Global Agenda” and by the MEF on Climate Change. 3. A union delegation comprising the three Italian trade union confederations and TUAC (also representing the ITUC) attended the Summit and met with the Brazilian President Mr Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the ILO Director-General, Mr Juan Somavía, on the margins of the meeting.