Cyber-Proletariat: Global Labour in the Digital Vortex
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Load more
Recommended publications
-
Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism. -
Exodus General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century
Exodus General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century Kevin A. Carson 2021 Contents Reviews 5 Abstract 6 Preface 7 Part One: Background 8 Chapter One: The Age of Mass and Maneuver 9 I. A Conflict of Visions .................................... 9 II. The Triumph of Mass in the Old Left .......................... 15 III. The Assault on Working Class Agency ......................... 42 IV. Workerism/Laborism .................................. 49 Chapter Two: Transition 52 I. Drastic Reductions in Necessary Outlays for the Means of Production . 52 II. The Network Revolution and the Imploding Cost of Coordination . 57 III. The Impotence of Enforcement, and Superiority of Circumvention to Resistance . 70 IV. Superior General Efficiency and Low Overhead .................... 74 V. Conclusion ......................................... 78 Part Two. The Age of Exodus 79 Chapter Three: Horizontalism and Self-Activity Over Vanguard Institutions 80 Introduction ......................................... 80 I. The New Left ........................................ 81 II. Autonomism ........................................ 90 III. The 1968 Movements and the Transition to Horizontalist Praxis . 98 IV. The Post-1994 Movements ................................ 100 Chapter Four: The Abandonment of Workerism 115 I. The Limited Relevance of Proletarianism in the Mass Production Age . 115 II. Technology and the Declining Relevance of Proletarianism . 116 III The Abandonment of Proletarianism by the New Left . 117 IV. The Abandonment of Workerism in Praxis . 127 Chapter Five: Evolutionary Transition Models 131 Introduction and Note on Terminology . 131 2 I. Comparison to Previous Systemic Transitions . 132 II. The Nature of Post-Capitalist Transition . 146 Chapter Six: Interstitial Development and Exodus over Insurrection 157 Introduction ......................................... 157 I. The Split Within Autonomism .............................. 159 II. The Shift From the Factory to Society as the Main Locus of Productivity . -
Britain in the 2020S
REPORT FUTURE PROOF BRITAIN IN THE 2020S Mathew Lawrence December 2016 © IPPR 2016 Institute for Public Policy Research INTRODUCTION Brexit is the firing gun on a decade of disruption. As the UK negotiates its new place in the world, an accelerating wave of economic, social and technological change will reshape the country, in often quite radical ways. In this report, we set out five powerful trends that will drive change in the 2020s. 1. A demographic tipping point: As the population grows, the UK is set to age sharply and become increasingly diverse. Globally, the long expansion of the working-age CONTENTS population is set to slow sharply. 2. An economic world transformed: The economic world order will become more Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3 fragile as globalisation evolves, trade patterns shift, and economic power gravitates toward Asia. At the same time, developed economies are likely to struggle to escape Executive summary: The UK in 2030 ..................................................................... 4 conditions of secular stagnation. The institutions governing the global economy are A world transformed: Five major disruptive forces reshaping Britain .................. 6 likely to come under intense pressure as the American hegemony that underpinned the postwar international order fades and the Global South rises in economic and Britain at the periphery? ..................................................................................8 -
The Bolshevil{S and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927 Chinese Worlds
The Bolshevil{s and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927 Chinese Worlds Chinese Worlds publishes high-quality scholarship, research monographs, and source collections on Chinese history and society from 1900 into the next century. "Worlds" signals the ethnic, cultural, and political multiformity and regional diversity of China, the cycles of unity and division through which China's modern history has passed, and recent research trends toward regional studies and local issues. It also signals that Chineseness is not contained within territorial borders overseas Chinese communities in all countries and regions are also "Chinese worlds". The editors see them as part of a political, economic, social, and cultural continuum that spans the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, South East Asia, and the world. The focus of Chinese Worlds is on modern politics and society and history. It includes both history in its broader sweep and specialist monographs on Chinese politics, anthropology, political economy, sociology, education, and the social science aspects of culture and religions. The Literary Field of New Fourth Artny Twentieth-Century China Communist Resistance along the Edited by Michel Hockx Yangtze and the Huai, 1938-1941 Gregor Benton Chinese Business in Malaysia Accumulation, Ascendance, A Road is Made Accommodation Communism in Shanghai 1920-1927 Edmund Terence Gomez Steve Smith Internal and International Migration The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Chinese Perspectives Revolution 1919-1927 Edited by Frank N Pieke and Hein Mallee -
Sacred Places Europe: 108 Destinations
Reviews from Sacred Places Around the World “… the ruins, mountains, sanctuaries, lost cities, and pilgrimage routes held sacred around the world.” (Book Passage 1/2000) “For each site, Brad Olsen provides historical background, a description of the site and its special features, and directions for getting there.” (Theology Digest Summer, 2000) “(Readers) will thrill to the wonderful history and the vibrations of the world’s sacred healing places.” (East & West 2/2000) “Sites that emanate the energy of sacred spots.” (The Sunday Times 1/2000) “Sacred sites (to) the ruins, sanctuaries, mountains, lost cities, temples, and pilgrimage routes of ancient civilizations.” (San Francisco Chronicle 1/2000) “Many sacred places are now bustling tourist and pilgrimage desti- nations. But no crowd or souvenir shop can stand in the way of a traveler with great intentions and zero expectations.” (Spirituality & Health Summer, 2000) “Unleash your imagination by going on a mystical journey. Brad Olsen gives his take on some of the most amazing and unexplained spots on the globe — including the underwater ruins of Bimini, which seems to point the way to the Lost City of Atlantis. You can choose to take an armchair pilgrimage (the book is a fascinating read) or follow his tips on how to travel to these powerful sites yourself.” (Mode 7/2000) “Should you be inspired to make a pilgrimage of your own, you might want to pick up a copy of Brad Olsen’s guide to the world’s sacred places. Olsen’s marvelous drawings and mysterious maps enhance a package that is as bizarre as it is wonderfully acces- sible. -
Agrarian Anarchism and Authoritarian Populism: Towards a More (State-)Critical ‘Critical Agrarian Studies’
The Journal of Peasant Studies ISSN: 0306-6150 (Print) 1743-9361 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjps20 Agrarian anarchism and authoritarian populism: towards a more (state-)critical ‘critical agrarian studies’ Antonio Roman-Alcalá To cite this article: Antonio Roman-Alcalá (2020): Agrarian anarchism and authoritarian populism: towards a more (state-)critical ‘critical agrarian studies’, The Journal of Peasant Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2020.1755840 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1755840 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 20 May 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 3209 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 4 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=fjps20 THE JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1755840 FORUM ON AUTHORITARIAN POPULISM AND THE RURAL WORLD Agrarian anarchism and authoritarian populism: towards a more (state-)critical ‘critical agrarian studies’* Antonio Roman-Alcalá International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This paper applies an anarchist lens to agrarian politics, seeking to Anarchism; authoritarian expand and enhance inquiry in critical agrarian studies. populism; critical agrarian Anarchism’s relevance to agrarian processes is found in three studies; state theory; social general areas: (1) explicitly anarchist movements, both historical movements; populism; United States of America; and contemporary; (2) theories that emerge from and shape these moral economy movements; and (3) implicit anarchism found in values, ethics, everyday practices, and in forms of social organization – or ‘anarchistic’ elements of human social life. -
Communization and Its Discontents
Minor Compositions Open Access Statement – Please Read This book is open access. This work is not simply an electronic book; it is the open access version of a work that exists in a number of forms, the traditional printed form being one of them. All Minor Compositions publications are placed for free, in their entirety, on the web. This is because the free and autonomous sharing of knowledges and experiences is important, especially at a time when the restructuring and increased centralization of book distribution makes it difficult (and expensive) to distribute radical texts effectively. The free posting of these texts does not mean that the necessary energy and labor to produce them is no longer there. One can think of buying physical copies not as the purchase of commodities, but as a form of support or solidarity for an approach to knowledge production and engaged research (particularly when purchasing directly from the publisher). The open access nature of this publication means that you can: • read and store this document free of charge • distribute it for personal use free of charge • print sections of the work for personal use • read or perform parts of the work in a context where no financial transactions take place However, it is against the purposes of Minor Compositions open access approach to: • gain financially from the work • sell the work or seek monies in relation to the distribution of the work • use the work in any commercial activity of any kind • profit a third party indirectly via use or distribution of the work • distribute in or through a commercial body (with the exception of academic usage within educational institutions) The intent of Minor Compositions as a project is that any surpluses generated from the use of collectively produced literature are intended to return to further the development and production of further publications and writing: that which comes from the commons will be used to keep cultivating those commons. -
Simple Rules for a Complex World with Artificial Intelligence
Simple Rules for a Complex World with Artificial Intelligence Jes´usFern´andez-Villaverde1 April 28, 2020 1University of Pennsylvania A complex world with AI and ML • It is hard to open the internet or browse a bookstore without finding an article or a book discussing artificial intelligence (AI) and, in particular, machine learning (ML). • I will define some of these concepts more carefully later on. • Many concerns: effects of AI and ML on jobs, wealth and income inequality, ... • Some observers even claim that gone is the era of large armies and powerful navies. The nations with the best algorithms, as the Roman said in the Aeneid, \will rule mankind, and make the world obey." 1 2 AI, ML, and public policy, I • One thread that increasingly appears in these works, and which is bound to become a prominent concern, is how AI can address policy questions. • Some proposals are mild. • For example, thanks to ML: 1. We might be able to detect early strains in the financial markets and allow regulatory agencies to respond before damage occurs. 2. We might be able to fight electronic fraud and money laundering. 3. We might be able to improve public health. • I do not have any problem with these applications. Natural extension of models used in econometrics for decades. 3 AI, ML, and public policy, II • Some proposals are radical: \digital socialism" (Saros, 2014, Phillips and Rozworski, 2019, and Morozov, 2019). • The defenders of this view argue that some form of AI or ML can finally achieve the promise of central planning: we will feed a computer (or a system of computers) all the relevant information and, thanks to ML (the details are often fuzzy), we will get an optimal allocation of goods and income. -
Error Correction. Chilean Cybernetics and Chicago's Economists
[2] Error Correction: Chilean Cybernetics and Chicago’s Economists Adrian Lahoud Cybernetics is a specific way of conceiving the relation between information and government: It represented a way of bringing the epistemological and the onto- logical together in real time. The essay explores a par- adigmatic case study in the evolution of this history: the audacious experiment in cybernetic management known as Project Cybersyn that was developed follow- ing Salvador Allende’s ascension to power in Chile in 1970. In ideological terms, Allende’s socialism and the violent doctrine of the Chicago School could not be more opposed. In another sense, however, Chilean cybernetics would serve as the prototype for a new form of governance that would finally award to the theories of the Chicago School a hegemonic control over global society. In Alleys of Your Mind: Augmented Intellligence and Its Traumas, edited by Matteo Pasquinelli, 37–51. Lüneburg: meson press, 2015. DOI: 10.14619/014 38 Alleys of Your Mind Zero Latency Agreatdealoftimehasbeenspentinvestigating,documentinganddisputing anelevenyearperiodinChilefrom1970–1981,encompassingthepresidency ofSalvadorAllendeandthedictatorshipofAugustoPinochet.Betweenthe rise of the Unidad Popular anditsoverthrowbythemilitaryjunta,brutaland notorious events took hold of Chile.1 Though many of these events have remainedambiguous,obscuredbytraumaorlostinofficialdissimulation,over timethecontoursofhistoryhavebecomelessconfused.Beyondthecoup,the involvement of the United States or even the subsequent transformation of the economy, a more comprehensive story of radical experimentation on the Chileansocialbodyhasemerged.AtstakeintheyearsofAllende’sascension to power and those that followed was nothing less than a Latin social labora- tory.Thislaboratorywasatonceoptimistic,sincere,naïve,andfinallybrutal. FewexperimentswereasaudaciousorpropheticasAllende’scybernetic program Cybersyn. -
The Socialist Calculation Debate and New Socialist Models in Light of a Contextual Historical Materialist Interpretation
THE SOCIALIST CALCULATION DEBATE AND NEW SOCIALIST MODELS IN LIGHT OF A CONTEXTUAL HISTORICAL MATERIALIST INTERPRETATION by Adam Balsam BSc [email protected] Supervised by Justin Podur BSc MScF PhD A Major Paper submitted to the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Environmental Studies York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 11, 2020 Table of Contents The Statement of Requirements for the Major Paper ................................................................................. iii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ iv Foreword ...................................................................................................................................................... vi Section I: Introduction, Context, Framework and Methodology .................................................................. 1 Preamble ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Context of this Investigation ................................................................................................................. 5 The Possibilities of Socialist Models .................................................................................................. -
Towards a Unified Theory Analysing Workplace Ideologies: Marxism And
Marxism and Racial Oppression: Towards a Unified Theory Charles Post (City University of New York) Half a century ago, the revival of the womens movementsecond wave feminismforced the revolutionary left and Marxist theory to revisit the Womens Question. As historical materialists in the 1960s and 1970s grappled with the relationship between capitalism, class and gender, two fundamental positions emerged. The dominant response was dual systems theory. Beginning with the historically correct observation that male domination predates the emergence of the capitalist mode of production, these theorists argued that contemporary gender oppression could only be comprehended as the result of the interaction of two separate systemsa patriarchal system of gender domination and the capitalist mode of production. The alternative approach emerged from the debates on domestic labor and the predominantly privatized character of the social reproduction of labor-power under capitalism. In 1979, Lise Vogel synthesized an alternative unitary approach that rooted gender oppression in the tensions between the increasingly socialized character of (most) commodity production and the essentially privatized character of the social reproduction of labor-power. Today, dual-systems theory has morphed into intersectionality where distinct systems of class, gender, sexuality and race interact to shape oppression, exploitation and identity. This paper attempts to begin the construction of an outline of a unified theory of race and capitalism. The paper begins by critically examining two Marxian approaches. On one side are those like Ellen Meiksins Wood who argued that capitalism is essentially color-blind and can reproduce itself without racial or gender oppression. On the other are those like David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch who argue that only an intersectional analysis can allow historical materialists to grasp the relationship of capitalism and racial oppression. -
Report 1. the Political
National meeting of spokespeople of 15M squares, retrieved from https://madrid.tomalaplaza.net, accessed 20/11/2020. ERC-COG-2016-724692 HETEROPOLITICS Refiguring the Common and the Political D3.1 Author: Dr. Alexandros Kioupkiolis Host Institution: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Principal Investigator: Dr. A. Kioupkiolis ERC COG 2016 (implementation 2017-2020) July 2020 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................ 4 1. The political .......................................................................................................17 1.1. Theorizing the political today .........................................................................17 1.2. On the political (i): state/non-state in political science and theory ..................20 1.3. On the political (i): state/non-state beyond political theory, from ‘personal’ politics to infra-, alter- and micro-politics .............................................................25 1.4. On the political (ii): war or peace? .................................................................38 1.5. Another agonistic politics via Arendt and Rawls ............................................50 1.6. Opening up the political .................................................................................64 1.7. Mapping out another politics, alter-politics or heteropolitics in contemporary political theory and practice ..................................................................................66