The decline of America first socialism
Robert Brenner’s nostalgia for Fordism in these times
Wars of position, wars of maneuver
The concepts of “war of position” and “war of maneuver” are widely, and incorrectly, attributed to Antonio Gramsci. They also serve as a glimpse into longstanding debates over theories of causation and the decisive element in both figurative and literal wars.
The hucksters of discontent
Naomi Klein has a piece in the Guardian which is fairly indicative of an argument being made by various socialists and social democrats in moments such as this. Her argument, put simply, is that while racism and misogyny were indeed factors in Trump’s election, it is really ‘neoliberalism’ – the ‘rise of the Davos class’…
The Performative Economy of the Racial Speculative
Abstract This paper focuses on the conjunctures between contemporary financial speculation, national security and border control systems for what these can illustrate about changing practices of race and racism.
The skin in the political game of SYRIZA and ANEL
There has been a good deal of discussion about the recent elections in Greece and, in particular, SYRIZA’s decision to form a parliamentary alliance with the ultra-nationalist Independent Greeks (ANEL).
Gramsci’s feelings about home
I happened to come across a piece on Jacobin called “Gramsci Comes Home,” which I think—once again—presents Gramsci in a far better light than he really can be. Here are some very quick notes on why the Gramscian revival might require a more explicit statement on (what should be) some fairly obvious questions. How critical…
Proliferating Limits: Capitalist Dynamics, Oikonomia and Border Technologies
Implicit or not, there persists a view of capitalism in which the border is understood as extraneous to the inherent tendencies of capital. In this, capital and the state are regarded as distinctive logics, the first inclined to overtake limits, the second emphasising limit as such. […]
Uncanny Robots and Affective Labour in the Oikonomia
Full text from Cultural Studies Review, volume 18 number 1 March 2012, pp.153–73.
Borders 2.0 – Future, Tense
Arrayed beyond and around the obvious walls of migration control, the architectures and technologies of the border proliferate.
The Failure of Political Theology
The concept of ‘failed states’ is ubiquitous in political idiom and theory, extending well beyond its methodical appearances in recent global security vernaculars.
Exceptional Times, Non-governmental Spacings, and Impolitical Movement
At the border, politics risks exposing itself to the impolitical, to a sense of movement beyond its conventional socio-political definitions, and to an expression of the political without a sovereign tone. One might say that it is this risk-which is also to say, this chance for a life otherwise-that a migratory politics seeks out. And…
Under the Beach, the Barbed Wire
Full text, in J. Berry-Slater and P. van Mourik Broekman, eds. Proud To Be Flesh: An Anthology of Cultural Politics after the Net (London: Mute/Autonomedia), 2009, pp.391-98 [republished from Dis-Integrating Multiculturalism – Mute 2:2, 2006, pp.34-33.].
