"A major work of reimagining" ---- Payot and Rivages publishing
frequently offer works on anarchism, certainly classics by Proudhon,Bakunin, Kropotkin but also others by more recent authors such as
Catherine Malabou (There was no Revolution, Reflections on Private
Property, Power and the Servile Condition in France, column Ideas and
Struggles of April 27, 2024, Le Monde Libertaire website) and David
Greaber, both participants in the renewal of libertarian thought by
introducing the notion of feminism. David Greaber died in 2020, from
parents of modest origins, his father, a printer worker, fought in the
International Brigades, his mother an artist in a musical produced by a
textile workers' union. After studying anthropology, he obtained his
tenure as professor at the London School of Economics and Political
Science. At the end of his thesis, he published his Pour une
anthropologie anarchiste. He would write on many subjects from value to
debt, including royal power, democracy and even piracy. In 2000, he
joined the New York section of the Direct Action Network and
participated in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Thus, he led an
academic career and activist positions at the same time.
Drawing lessons and identifying points of convergence
A book takes up texts by David Graeber in which he is involved and
underlines his commitment, Révolutions à l'envers, Essais sur la
politique, la violence, l'art et l'imagination. As its preface writer,
Vassily Pignoudès, points out, "the following collection contains some
of David Graeber's most political writings[and I would add, among the
most readable and accessible]; These are texts that have been published
in newspapers and political journals and that, for the most part, deal
with questions of revolutionary strategy. The first three essays ("The
Shock of Victory", "Hope in Common") and the last one ("Against Kamikaze
Capitalism") deal directly with these questions, the former focusing on
drawing lessons from the alter-globalization movement and the latter on
identifying points of convergence between environmental activists and
oil workers. "An Army of Altruists" is a commentary on the political
struggles over values in the contemporary United States and on the
appeal of right-wing populism within the working class. "Misery of
Operaismo" is a critical reflection on the Italian autonomist theory of
the 1970s.
Hope in a Depressing Landscape?
One of the strengths of these texts certainly lies in the search for
signs of hope in a depressing landscape. Taking up the struggles in
question, Graeber demonstrates the successes recorded and the fears of
capitalism, of those in power. For us Europeans and particularly French,
some conflicts are little known. However, the assertions that there are
no alternatives to capitalism find their limits and this constitutes a
victory, that of common hope. Everywhere in the world. It is clear that
the system is terrible, even its supporters know that it cannot give the
majority of the population a response to "needs as fundamental as health
or education". So? Let us ask ourselves! How to overthrow the
traditional order. "Understanding all the implications of this change
requires a significant work of reimagining. It also requires
reconsidering what terms such as violence, alienation or "realism"
really mean." Other passages invite a retrospective and prospective
reflection on the social struggles waged in France. For those who still
had hope in the electoral battles, what we are experiencing is
enlightening. Power, its tools, the State and its coercive forces seek
to divide us. International bodies remain ineffective. To evolve, should
we promise a brighter tomorrow or create holes in reality? Greaber
quotes the GrimethInc collective: "We must build our freedom by cutting
holes in the fabric of reality.[...]Change, revolutionary change, is
happening constantly and everywhere - and everyone plays a role in it,
consciously or not."
Can we believe it? David Graeber makes us want to. "The only solution
that gives us a chance of getting out of this is to fend for ourselves -
starting by creating a new language, a new common sense that allows us
to express what human beings really are and what would be normal to
expect from each other and from life. In fact, one could argue that the
fate of the world depends on it." There would be a tone of The
Internationale.
"[...]The world is going to change its basis
We are nothing, let us be everything[...]
There is no supreme savior
Neither God nor Caesar nor tribune
Producers let us save ourselves[...]"
* David Greaber
Revolutions in reverse
Essays on politics, violence, art and imagination
Ed. Payot et Rivages, 2024
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=7996
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