Una scheda bibliografica per La Straniera (...our booklet on racism and sexism is out!)

La straniera. Informazioni, sito-bibliografie e ragionamenti su razzismo e sessismo, (a cura di C. Bonfiglioli, L. Corradi, L. Cirillo, B. De Vivo, S. R. Farris, V. Perilli).

Come il primo, anche il secondo numero dei Quaderni Viola si propone di fornire dati elementari di conoscenza, bibliografie e sitografie per chi desideri poi approfondire, spiegazioni brevi ma capaci di orientare un lavoro politico. Il tema del razzismo è esaminato nelle sue intersezioni con il genere e la classe, così come nel primo numero il tema del lavoro è stato analizzato nelle intersezioni con il genere e con la condizione migrante. Le intersezioni tra vari rapporti di oppressione hanno assunto un’importanza crescente nella ricerca femminista internazionale. In questo quaderno vengono offerti esempi concreti di come genere-classe-razza/etnia/cultura-generazione contribuiscano a determinare posizioni di oppressione nella gerarchia sociale, ma anche nuove possibilità di presa di parola. Allo scopo di indagare alcune delle forme storiche in cui il concetto di razza è stato creato e impiegato, la prima parte del quaderno ne analizza alcuni momenti centrali: l’antisemitismo e la scientizzazione della categoria di razza, il razzismo anti-Rom, il colonialismo e, in particolare, il periodo coloniale italiano e il razzismo anti-meridionale. Il dibattito sul concetto di intersezionalità, sul ruolo da attribuire a ciascuna componente della triade “razza- genere-classe” si è arricchito negli anni di contributi e riflessioni sempre più numerose. La seconda parte perciò offre le coordinate teoriche e bibliografiche per orientarsi in tale dibattito e per affrontare, con una prospettiva più avveduta, l’intera trama problematica che è oggetto del quaderno. La terza e ultima parte infine si concentra sulle forme assunte dal razzismo contemporaneo in Italia, in particolare nelle loro declinazioni di genere. Gli immigrati e le immigrate sono divenuti/e il bersaglio principale di retoriche e pratiche xenofobe. Tuttavia, oltre che discorso esplicito, il razzismo contemporaneo si camuffa principalmente dietro narrative “difensive” che sempre più per affermarsi strumentalizzano le donne, italiane e non. Sono soprattutto tali narrative oggi ad insidiarsi nelle coscienze ed è, pertanto, dalla decostruzione di esse che dobbiamo partire per smascherare la propaganda razzista e misogina.

Per l'indice del numero e brevi schede sulle autrici rinviamo al sito delle Edizioni Alegre. Sui Quaderni Viola e La straniera si veda anche: Quaderni Viola sito e blog, marginalia, femminismo a sud, zeroviolenzadonne, incidenze, diserzioni sensibili, controstorie

Sixth Historical Materialism Annual Conference

‘Another World is Necessary: Crisis, Struggle and Political Alternatives’

27–29 November 2009

The annual Historical Materialism conference is organised by the editorial board of Historical Materialism in association with the Deutscher Memorial Prize committee and the Socialist Register. The conference has become an important event on the Left, providing an annual forum to discuss recent developments on the agenda of historical-materialist research and has attracted an increasingly high attendance over the past four years. The Editorial Board of Historical Materialism welcomes attendance and active engagement in discussion with panellists from new as well as prior participants with an interest in critical-Marxist thought.

One of the principal objectives of the conference has been to build bridges among the various Marxist communities, including the breaking down some of the linguistic and intellectual barriers which continue to hamper the circulation and expansion of critical-Marxist thought. The sixth annual Historical Materialism Conference, under the banner of ‘Crisis, Struggle and Political Alternatives’, promises to continue and take forward this objective.

The conference is organised around three plenary sessions (the Deutscher lecture, the launch of the Socialist Register 2010, and Historical Materialism’s plenary) and a host of workshops dedicated to specific themes.

THE FULL TIMETABLE IS NOW AVAILABLE AND YOU CAN BOOK/ REGISTER ONLINE NOW

For more details, please contact: historicalmaterialism@soas.ac.uk

Attendance is free, but participants must register in advance online (if this is not possible, please contact historicalmaterialism@soas.ac.uk). However, the conference is largely self-funded and we will depend on voluntary donations by attendants and participants to support the organisation and running of the event. The suggested advanced online donation is £40 for waged and £15 for unwaged, and the suggested donation on the door is £50 for waged and £20 for unwaged.

For logistical and other support, Historical Materialism would like to thank the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Centre for International Security and Diplomacy. For sponsorship, thanks to the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at SOAS, SOAS Student Union, Brill Academic Publishers, the Deutscher Memorial Prize committee, Socialist Register, Journal of Agrarian Change, the International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy and Bookmarks.

THEMES FOR THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

A LEFT PROJECT: TRANSFORMING THE STATE? * AGENCY * AGRARIAN CHANGE IN CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM: TECHNICAL DYNAMICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL TRAJECTORIES * ALTHUSSER AND PHILOSOPHY * APOCALYPSE MARXISM * ART AGAINST CAPITALISM * ART AND CRITIQUE IN GERMANY BETWEEN THE WARS * BOOK LAUNCH: ALEX CALLINICOS'S IMPERIALISM AND GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY * BOOK LAUNCH: KARL MARX AND CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY * CAPITALISM, CITIZENSHIP AND CRISIS * CLASS AND CONFLICT IN ANCIENT GREECE * CLASS AND POLITICS IN THE ‘GLOBAL SOUTH’ * CLASS, CRISIS, DISTRIBUTION * COGNITIVE MAPPING, TOTALITY AND THE REALIST TURN * COMMODIFYING HEALTH CARE IN THE UK * CUBAN REVOLUTION AND CUBAN SOCIETY * DERIVATIVES * DEVELOPMENTALISM, THE STATE AND CLASS FORMATION * DIMENSIONS OF THE FOOD CRISIS * EASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE FROM TRANSITION TO EU ENLARGEMENT: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY * ECOLOGICAL CRISIS * EMPIRE AND IMPERIALISM * ENERGY AND GEOPOLITICS * ENERGY, WASTE AND CAPITALISM * EPISTEMOLOGY, DIALECTICS AND HISTORICAL MATERIALISM * EXTENDING THE MINERALS-ENERGY-COMPLEX * FEMINISM AND SOCIALIST STRATEGY * FINANCE, THE HOUSING QUESTION AND URBAN POLITICS * GLOBAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS: MARXIST REFLECTIONS * GRAMSCI RELOADED * GREEN CAPITALISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS * HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND LATE CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT * HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND SOCIAL RESEARCH * HISTORICISING HISTORICAL MATERIALISM * HM BOOK SERIES LAUNCH: MIKKO LAHTINEN ON ALTHUSSER AND MACHIAVELLI * HM BOOK SERIES LAUNCH: PETER THOMAS’S THE GRAMSCIAN MOMENT * IN MEMORY OF PETER GOWAN * INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE CRISIS * INTERPRETATIONS OF THE CRISIS * ISAAC AND TAMARA DEUTSCHER MEMORIAL PRIZE LECTURE: KEES VAN DER PIJL, NOMADS, EMPIRES, STATES * KNOWLEDGE, NATURE, PROPERTY * LABOUR * LABOUR AND THE ECONOMIC SUBJECT IN CONTEMPORARY ART * LABOUR BEYOND THE FACTORY * LATIN AMERICAN WORKING CLASSES * LEARNING FROM PAST CRISES * LINEAGES OF NEOLIBERALISM * LISTEN TO VENEZUELA SCREENING AND DISCUSSION * MARXISM AND LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY * MARXISM AND NATIONALISM TODAY * MARXISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE * MARXISM AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS * MARXISM AND TIME * MARXISM BETWEEN ETHICS AND UTOPIA * MARXISM, DEMOCRACY AND CLASSICAL POLITICAL THEORY * MIGRATION * MONEY * MORBID SYMPTOMS: HEALTH UNDER CAPITALISM * NEOLIBERALISM, AESTHETICS AND THE RECUPERATION OF DISSENT * ON THE OBJECTS OF COMMUNISM: A HACKING PANEL * PHILOSOPHY AND COMMUNISM IN THE EARLY MARX * PLANNING, LOCALISM AND THE LEFT * POSTNEOLIBERALISM * PRESENTATION OF THE JOURNAL CHTO DELAT/WHAT IS TO BE DONE? * RACE, NATION AND ORIENTALISM * RED PLANETS: MARXISM AND SCIENCE FICTION * RE-EMBEDDING MARXISM: COERCION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY * REGISTERING THE CRISIS: A SOCIALIST REGISTER ROUNDTABLE * RESEARCH ON MARX * RESTRUCTURING, OUTSOURCING, DISTRIBUTION: DIMENSIONS OF THE GLOBAL CRISIS * REVOLUTIONARY THEORY, AUTONOMIST MARXISM AND THE CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY * SLAVERY AND CAPITALISM IN THE US SOUTH * SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA: THE CURRENT CONJUNCTURE * STUDENT MOVEMENTS AND YOUTH REVOLTS * THE ARTS AND CAPITALIST CRISIS: THE NEW DEAL EXPERIENCE * THE CRITIQUE OF RELIGION AND THE CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM * THE POLITICAL AESTHETICS OF REALISM * THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF WORK * THE POLITICS OF FINANCE * THE POLITICS OF THE WILL * THE POLITICS OF VALUE * THE RIGHT: RACE, NATION, IDENTITY * THE TURN TO ETHICS AND THE CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM * 'TURBULENCE: IDEAS FOR MOVEMENT', NEW ISSUE LAUNCH * UNION STRUGGLES * UNOISM, ECOLOGY AND CRISIS * UTOPIAS, DYSTOPIAS AND SOCIALIST BIOPOLITICS * WEBLOGS AND THE OPPOSITIONAL PUBLIC SPHERE: A DISCUSSION * WHAT IS ABSTRACTION? * WORKERS AND STRUGGLE TODAY * ZIONISM, ANTISEMITISM AND THE LEFT - A DEBATE

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Gilbert Achcar * Ozgun Akduran * Gregory Albo * Robert Albritton * Peter Alexander * Noaman Ali * Kevin B. Anderson * Ricardo Antunes * Caroline Arscott * Sam Ashman * John Ashworth * Ilker Atac * Jairus Banaji * Fletcher Baragar * Banu Bargu * Colin Barker * Tom Barnes * Luca Basso * Matthew Beaumont * Pinar Bedirhanoglu * Dimitris Belantis * John Bell * Aaron Benanav * Halil Berktay * Alain Bihr * Robin Blackburn * Paul Blackledge * Max Blechman * Derek Boothman * Giacomo Borbone * Mark Bould * Stephen Bouquin * Bill Bowring * Ulrich Brand * Craig Brandist * Michael Brie * Simon Bromley * Wendy Brown * Dick Bryan * Adrian Budd * Verity Burgmann * Damien Cahill * Alex Callinicos * Ricardo Camargo * Mauro Farnesi Camellone * Bob Cannon * Thomas Carmichael * Warren Carter * Giorgio Cesarale * Maria Elisa Cevasco * Dae-op Chang * François Chesnais * Vivek Chibber * Andrew Chitty * Christopher Chitty * Joseph Choonara * Sheila Cohen * Alex Colas * Tim Cooper * Stipe Curkovic * Steve Cushion * Gareth Dale * Neil Davidson * Gail Day * Tim Dayton * Kathryn Dean * Alex Demirovic * Angela Dimitrakaki * Demet Dinler * Kevin Doogan * Elizabeth Dore * Nick Dyer-Witheford * Juliane Edler * Aram Eisenschitz * Hester Eisenstein * Fuat Ercan * Adam Fabry * Daniel Fairfax * Mariano Feliz * Ben Fine * Robert Fine * Peter Fleming * Gregory C. Flemming * Keith Flett * John Foran * Vassillis Fouskas * Carl Freedman * James Furner * Alexander Gallas * Andreia Galvao * Ferruccio Gambino * Earl Gammon * Lindsey German * Frantz Gheller * Lesley Gill * John Glenn * Jesse Goldstein * Maya Gonzalez * Jeff Goodwin * Jamie Gough * Nick Gray * Juan Grigera * Laam Hae * Peter Hallward * Ayeesha Hameed * Carrie Hamilton * Bue Hansen * Jane Hardy * Chris Harman * David Harvie * Owen Hatherley * Mike Haynes * Andrew Hemingway * Lesley Henderson * Christoph Henning * Rob Heynen * Andy Higginbottom * Sarah Hines * John Holloway * Patricia Howard * Peter Hudis * Liz Humphries * Robert Jackson * Dhruv Jain * Fredric Jameson * Elinor Jean * Seongjin Jeong * Bob Jessop * Bonn Juego * Anush Kapadia * Brian Kelly * Sami Khatib * Jeff Kinkle * Kelvin Knight * Meri Koivusalo * Ahmet Hasim Kose * Conor Kostick * Primoz Krasovec * Maria Kyriakidou * Xavier Lafrance * Mikko Lahtinen * Alex Levant * Les Levidow * Iren Levina * William Lewis * Nicola Livingstone * Jean-Guy Loranger * Monica Clua Losada * David Mabb * Andreas Malm * Gonzo Poso Martin * Randy Martin * Jonathan Martineau * Meade McCloughan * David McNally * Andrew Milner * Simon Mohun * Peter P. Mollinga * Kim Moody * Colin Mooers * Jason W. Moore * Adam Morton * Sara Motta * Tadzio Müller * Munoz-Martinez * Ozgur Narin * Jonathan Neale * Mike Newman * Susan Newman * Benjamin Noys * Blair Ogden * Koichi Ohara * Ozlem Onaran * Deidre O'Neill * Ebru Deniz Ozan * Melda Ozturk * Leo Panitch * Giorgos Papafragkou * David Parker * Jaime Pastor * Jody Patterson * Knox Peden * Alexei Penzin * Nicole Pepperell * Simon Pirani * Iain Pirie * Amedeo Policante * Nicolas Pons-Vignon * Charles Post * Moishe Postone * Nina Power * Lucia Pradella * Toni Prug * Ozren Pupovac * Thomas Purcell * Hugo Radice * Ravi Raman * Akbar Rasulov * Gene Ray * John Rees * Tobias Reichardt * Paul Reynolds * Sébastien Rioux * John Roberts * Ed Rooksby * Ellen Rosen * Christina Rousseau * Sheila Rowbotham * Sally Ruane * Frank Ruda * Alfredo Saad-Filho * Spyros Sakellaropoulos * Birgit Sauer * Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt * Alan Sears * Thomas Sekine * Ben Selwyn * Greg Sharzer * Stuart Shields * Subir Sinha * Gary Slater * John Smith * Johan Soderberg * Clare Solomon * Panagiotis Sotiris * Dimitris Sotiropoulos * Susan Spronk * Kerstin Stakemeier * Julian Stallbrass * Engelbert Stockhammer * Erik Swyngedouw * Lotta Takala-Greenish * Daniel Tanuro * Jean Baptiste Thomas * Peter Thomas * Vidar Thorsteinsson * Hillel Ticktin * Bruno Tinel * Massimiliano Tomba * Jonathon Tomlinson * Alberto Toscano * Enzo Traverso * Ben Trott * Julian Tudor-Hart * Mehmet Ufuk Tutan * Nilay Tutan Tutan * Emily van der Meulen * Marco Vanzulli * Leandro Vergara-Camus * Zaira Rodrigues Vieira * Dmitry Vilensky * Marina Vishmidt * Andriana Vlachou * Hilary Wainright * Mike Wayne * Xiaoping Wei * Duncan Wigan * Evan Williams * Michaek Wood * Phil Woodhouse * Galip Yalman * Karel Yon * Christian Zeller * Alexander Zevin * Mislav Žitko

Peter's book is out!!!

The Gramscian Moment. Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism

Peter D. Thomas

http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=29354

Publication year: 2009

Series: Historical Materialism Book Series, 24

ISBN-13 (i): 978 90 04 16771 1

ISBN-10: 90 04 16771 4

Cover: Hardback

Number of pages: xxv, 477 pp.

List price: € 115.00 / US$ 170.00

Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks are today acknowledged as a classic

of the human and social sciences in the twentieth century. The

influence of his thought in numerous fields of scholarship is only

exceeded by the diverse interpretations and readings to which it has

been subjected, resulting in often contradictory 'images of Gramsci'.

This book draws on the rich recent season of Gramscian philological

studies in order to argue that the true significance of Gramsci's

thought consists in its distinctive position in the development of the

Marxist tradition. Providing a detailed reconsideration of Gramsci's

theory of the state and concept of philosophy, The Gramscian Moment

argues for the urgent necessity of taking up the challenge of

developing a 'philosophy of praxis' as a vital element in the

contemporary revitalisation of Marxism.

Peter D. Thomas (Ph.D, 2008) studied at the University of Queensland,

Freie Universität Berlin, L’Università “Federico II”, Naples, and the

Universiteit van Amsterdam. He has published widely on Marxist

political theory and philosophy. He is a member of the editorial board

of the journal Historical Materialism: research in critical Marxist

theory.

REVIEWS

Peter Thomas' book should become the standard text in English on

Gramsci's thought. Acquainted as he is with the latest wrinkle in the

Italian debate on Gramsci, Thomas combines an unmatched philological

research into the sources and a mastery of the ongoing debates about

the sense we should make of key ideas like hegemony. He deftly

overturns the received orthodoxy and the various abuses of the ideas

of the marxist militant by theorists of cultural studies, both

restoring Gramsci's work to its true status and opening up fruitful

possibilities for understanding his contribution to political theory

more generally. The best book on Gramsci's political theory for three

decades.

Alastair Davidson, Author of Antonio Gramsci. the Man, his Ideas and

Antonio Gramsci: Towards an Intellectual Biography

Peter Thomas's Gramsci is the one we need in an era of economic and

geopolitical crises that bears some resemblances to Gramsci's own

time. This Gramsci is no embarrassed culturalist, confused strategist,

or incipient post-Marxist. Thomas's Gramsci, developed from rigorous

critical study of the Prison Notebooks and of the now extensive

scholarly literature, is a deeply consequent thinker intent on

reconstructing revolutionary Marxism in opposition to the most

advanced bourgeois thought of his day. This is also a Gramsci for whom

political economy is of central methodological and substantive

significance. Not content with scholarly interpretation, Thomas draws

his Gramsci into dialogue with contemporary radical thought,

illuminating both sides of the conversation. This is a book that will

recast the understanding of Gramsci, especially but not exclusively in

the Anglophone world.

Alex Callinicos, Professor of European Studies, Social Theory and

International Political Economy, King's College, London

What superlatives can I use to describe this book? Terms like

‘outstanding,’ ‘superb’ and ‘tour-de-force’ suggest themselves, but

even these do not fully capture the extraordinary power of The

Gramscian Moment. Peter Thomas’s erudite, wide-ranging, and

staggeringly sophisticated reading of Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks

completely overturns the dominant interpretations including those of

Louis Althusser and Perry Anderson. Never again will we be able to

read Gramsci solely through their lenses. Henceforth, Thomas’s

magisterial exploration of Gramsci’s thought will become the critical

point of reference for all serious work in the field. But Thomas does

more than meticulous exegesis. He also insists on the actuality of

Gramsci’s work, urging that we approach it in the spirit of “both

continuation and transformation, fidelity and renewal.” He succeeds

brilliantly on all counts.

David McNally, Professor of Political Science, York University, Toronto

Peter Thomas's The Gramscian Moment demonstrates the extent to which

Gramsci’s thought represents a singular synthesis of virtually the

entire tradition of Western political thought. The richness of his

interpretative frameworks allows him both to integrate partial

approaches and contributions and to throw new light on the central

questions inherited by this tradition. This work succeeds in

presenting Gramsci as a "living classic", an author absolutely central

to our understanding of modernity. Given its scope, richness and

originality, I have no doubt that this work will represent a milestone

in Gramscian scholarship and an important contribution to contemporary

debates in political theory and philosophy.

Stathis Kouvelakis, Author of Philosophy and Revolution and Co-editor

of a Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism

The Gramscian Moment is the most thorough and illuminating

philosophical study of Gramsci yet to appear in English. It sets a new

standard for work not only on Gramsci himself but on the whole complex

of issues associated with his legacy – on the mechanics and dimensions

of hegemony, on the role and nature of the subject of political

action, on the relation between theory and practice, and between civil

society and the state. Thomas does more than any previous reader of

Gramsci to demonstrate how his philosophy can fairly claim to meet

Marx's famous prescription – not merely "to interpret the world but to

change it".

Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex

University, London

E' uscito il secondo numero dei Quaderni Viola!

C. Bonfiglioli, L. Cirillo, L. Corradi, B.D. Vivo, S. R. Farris, V. Perilli (a c. di), La Straniera: informazioni, sito-bibliografie e ragionamenti su razzismo e sessismo, Alegre, 2009

Habemus QV!!

Conference: Encountering Althusser

Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, 9-11 October 2009

International Conference organised by Katja Diefenbach, Sara Farris, Gal Kirn and Peter Thomas

www.after1968.org/encounteringalthusser

The work of Louis Althusser and his associates constituted an important attempt to rethink the political and philosophical potential of Marx’s thought, in tension with its ‘orthodox’ reading in Stalinism. In his work in the 1960s and 1970s, Althusser proposed to negate the metaphysical categories of subject, substance, telos, and end. He further explored these themes in the late 1970s and 1980s in terms of the event, the encounter and contingency. The late Althusser’s “materialism of the encounter” both provides many points of contact for a productive dialogue with thinkers associated with post-structuralism, while at the same time seeming to maintain a stronger connection to the Marxist tradition, particularly in terms of his continuing affirmation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. One of the purposes of this conference will be to attempt to gain an overview of the development of Althusser’s thought and to pose the question of its legacy for contemporary debates in radical political thought.

It is not only the legacy of Louis Althusser that will be of our interest here, however, but rather how to encounter and deal with the more unrecognised or suppressed points in his thought that remain enigmatic, and at the same time productive for further research in politics, economy, philosophy (and ideology). Many contemporary discussions ranging from Badiou and Zizek to Balibar, Laclau and Butler revolve around some topics that were traced or started by Louis Althusser, mainly on ideology, linking Althusser to Lacan or politics. In this conference, we would like to focus on some points that have not yet been discussed or have not yet been given the attention they deserve.

In the Althusserian spirit of philosophy working by attacking established positions on an occupied Kampfplatz, we outline four different fields of investigation to which panels will be dedicated: ruptures in philosophy, politics, political economy and politics and philosophy in the late Althusser. In each field, we intend to subject established interpretations of Althusser’s thought to critique and to attempt to determine productive areas for future research. Beyond such scholarly and philological debates, however, our guiding concern will be to pose the question of the extent to which an encounter with Althusser today has the potential to promote critical energies and perspectives that are capable of intervening effectively in the contemporary conjuncture.

Friday 9|10 Ruptures in philosophy: dis/continuities in Althusser's thought – Chair: Peter Thomas

16:00 – 16:15 Introduction

16:15 – 17:15 G. Michael Goshgarian | The early "late Althusser"

Break

17:30 – 18:30 Caroline Williams | Althusser and Spinoza

18:30 – 19.30 Giorgos Fourtounis | The "absolute beginning" and its duration: the continuity of rupture in Althusser

19:30 Discussion

Saturday 10|10 The primacy of politics: singularity, dictatorship of proletariat, class struggle – Chair: Gal Kirn

10:00 – 10:15 Introduction

10:15 – 11:15 Rastko Močnik

Break

11:30 – 12:30 Ozren Pupovac | At this side of interpellation: Althusser’s critique of the subject

12:30 – 13:30 Slobodan Karamanić | Three uses of topography: theory, politics, state

Lunch

14:30 – 15:30 Mikko Lahtinen | Althusser, Machiavelli and us: from Marxist philosophy to materialist politics

15:30 – 16:00 Discussion

Break

The critique of political economy and the legacy of Louis Althusser – Chair: Sara Farris

16:30 - 16:45 Introduction

16:45 – 17:45 Maria Turchetto

17:45 – 18:45 Marko Kržan | Should there be a Marxian perspective on contemporary capitalism

Break

19:00 – 20:00 Frieder Otto Wolf | Dialectic and contingency in thinking reproduction: looking back at a line of Althusser’s theoretical initiatives

20:00 Discussion

Sunday 11|10 Politics and philosophy in the late Althusser: the philosophy of the encounter and aleatory materialism – Chair: Katja Diefenbach

10:00 – 10:15 Introduction

10:15 – 11.15 Vittorio Morfino | History as the "permanent revocation of the accomplished fact": on Machiavelli in the late Althusser.

11:15 – 12.15 Katja Kolšek | Some reflections on the conception of reading of Althusser's aleatory materialism

Break

12:45 – 13:45 Panagiotis Sotiris | Rethinking aleatory materialism

13:45 - 14:45 Jason Read | Primitive accumulation: between contingency and constitution

14.45 - 15:15 Discussion

I VERI COLPEVOLI

di Annamaria Rivera

Abbiamo provato a gridarlo in ogni modo che il mostruoso reato d'immigrazione clandestina avrebbe generato crimini «umanitari». Così è stato, purtroppo. L'abbandono e poi la morte dei settantatre profughi eritrei è la prima strage prodotta dal «pacchetto-sicurezza». È, certo, il frutto maturo del trattato con la Libia, siglato dal ministro Amato, rafforzato e reso operativo, cioè criminale, dall'attuale governo. È il frutto, più largamente, dell'Europa-fortezza e dell'adeguamento alla sua politica anche da parte del governo maltese.

Ma inedito è il cinismo di Stato per cui una tale strage non trovi come risposta né l'indignazione corale, né l'incriminazione per strage, appunto, bensì per favoreggiamento dell'immigrazione clandestina. «Senza escludere un'eventuale ipotesi di omissione di soccorso», dicono gli inquirenti. Immigrazione clandestina di cui potrebbero essere imputati i cinque poveri spettri che il fato - lui solo compassionevole - ha voluto sottrarre alla morte. Questo «dettaglio», con l'annuncio della parata che Berlusconi sta per fare il 30 agosto con Gheddafi per festeggiare a Tripoli l'anniversario del trattato, restituisce in modo perfetto il senso del crollo dell'elementarmente umano consumato con le politiche di questo governo.

Politiche disumane generano comportamenti disumani: se nessuno ha sentito il dovere morale di soccorrerli è anche perché leggi criminali producono condotte sociali criminali. Ma non tutto è inedito in questo dramma. Non è vero che con esso «abbiamo toccato il fondo», come si è scritto. Se così fosse, si potrebbe coltivare la fragile speranza che un futuro governo non reazionario e non razzista potrebbe ripristinare forme di rispetto per l'elementarmente umano. Purtroppo non è così. Ce lo dice la strage di 108 profughi albanesi della Kater I Rades, provocata nel 1997 dalla pretesa di un governo di centrosinistra di bloccare manu militari l'esodo albanese. Ce lo ricorda un'altra strage del proibizionismo, quella del 25 dicembre 1996, in cui annegarono 233 migranti: a lungo ignorata dai media - il manifesto fu l'unico giornale ad aprire subito con la tragedia -, sempre negata dal governo di centrosinistra e occultata da una parte dei pescatori di Portopalo. Alla fine fu grazie all'ostinazione di qualche giornalista e di antirazzisti come Dino Frisullo, che il silenzio fu spezzato. Non vogliamo sostenere che il trattamento crudele riservato ai de-umanizzati - coloro che anche da cadaveri sono detti clandestini - sia una lunga notte oscura in cui tutte le vacche sono nere. Ma che per produrre i frutti marci che coltiva il governo in carica, di fatto guidato dall'ideologia post-nazionalsocialista della Lega nord, altri hanno provveduto a spargere i semi avvelenati: quelli del proibizionismo crudele e ad ogni costo. La condizione per tornare a coltivare la speranza sta nella costruzione di una volontà collettiva di superamento del paradigma proibizionista.

da Il Manifesto, 23 Agosto 2009

On Italian Marxisms by Peter Thomas in the last number of 'New Left Review'

As this blog happens to be particularly sensitive to the Anglo-Italian dialogue and to Marxist and leftist issues more in general, I recommend the reading of the first review essay on Italian Marxisms in the last number of New Left Review. The entire number is worth reading by the way!

New Left Review 58, July-August 2009

Kenneth Pomeranz: The Great Himalayan Watershed

From Asia’s mountainous heart flow rivers on which half the world’s population depends. Pomeranz examines the complex interaction between human water needs, fragile ecology and vast infrastructural projects—and the far-reaching consequences of their conjugation.

Miroslav Hroch: Learning from Small Nations

Leading scholar of national questions discusses his personal trajectory and theoretical development, against the backdrop of the Czech experience. Sociological and historical roots of national feeling, and comparative perspectives on their European destinies.

R. W. Johnson: False Start in South Africa

Disappointments of post-apartheid rule, marred by mass unemployment and corruption, amid the enrichment of a new black elite. Does the arrival of Zuma, and new salience of the SACP within the ruling alliance, portend a lurch to ethnic conflict and capital flight?

Patrick Bond: In Power in Pretoria?

Responding to Johnson, Patrick Bond locates the origins of the ANC’s neoliberal record since 1994 in the compromises of the transition era. Rhetoric versus reality, and the subordination of trade unions and SACP alike to capital’s prerogatives.

Etienne Balibar: Althusser and the Rue d'Ulm

Retrospective look at the life and work of Althusser, seen within the structures—personal, political, institutional—of the École Normale Supérieure. Teaching, thinking and writing at the intersection of private and public realms.

Fredric Jameson: Marx and Montage

The author of Archaeologies of the Future unearths fragments from ‘ideological antiquity’ in Alexander Kluge’s recent film on Capital. Encounters with Eisenstein’s unrealized equivalent, seeking a cinematic transposition of the commodity fetish.

BOOK REVIEWS

Peter Thomas on Cristina Corradi, Storia dei marxismi in Italia. Multiple inheritances of Labriola, Gramsci, operaismo and other currents. Can a pluralized theoretical tradition aspire to outrun reverses in praxis?.

Tony Wood on Michael Reid, Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul. A revised neoliberal gospel for the region, courtesy of the Economist.

Max Gasner on Robert Kagan, The Return of History and the End of Dreams. The 21st century as re-run of the 19th, shaped by the ambitions of ascendant autocratic powers.

For f...'s sake. Leave us alone! Part II

This is one example of the new marketing strategy that the University Alma Mater of Bologna (Italy) has chosen in order to attract more students. I am still collecting some materials. More soon!

Rethinking Marxism Conference

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Call for Papers

New Marxian Times will be held over four days, beginning on Thursday evening, 5 November 2009 and ending on Sunday afternoon, 8 November 2009. In addition to two plenary sessions and an art exhibition, there will be concurrent panels, workshops, and art/cultural events. We invite the submission of organized sessions that follow traditional or non-traditional formats (such as workshops, roundtables, and dialogue among and between presenters and audience) as well as individual presentations. Since Marxism covers a wide variety of fields, from literature to public health and forms of political practice, from environmental organizing to opposing global inequality and envisioning new economic and social practice, anyone engaging with Marxism in any discipline or form of activism is encouraged to submit paper and panel proposals. We encourage those working in areas that intersect with Marxism, such as critical race theory, feminism, political economy, anarchist studies, cultural and literary studies, queer theory, working-class and labor studies, postcolonial studies, geography and urban studies, psychoanalysis, social and natural sciences, philosophy, and around issues of class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and disability, to submit proposals. We also welcome video, poetry, performance, and all other modes of presentation and cultural expression.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Proposals for papers, films, or other formats should include:

• Paper title
• Presenter's name and contact information (mail, email, phone, affiliations)
• Brief abstract (no more than 200 words)
• Technology needs for presentation

Proposals for panels should include:

• Panel title
• Name, contact information, and paper title for each presenter
• Brief abstract (no more than 200 words) explaining the panel's focus
• Brief abstract for each paper (no more than 200 words)
• Names and contact information for any discussant(s) or respondent(s)
• Technology needs of presenters
• Title, contact, and address for any sponsoring organization or journal

The appropriate preregistration fee must accompany all proposal submissions. Unfortunately, any proposal not accompanied by the appropriate preregistration fee cannot be considered. Proposals that are not accepted will have their preregistration fees returned in full. If you are submitting a proposal for an entire panel, please make sure you include the preregistration fee for all members of the panel.

The deadline for proposal submission is 1 August 2009.

The deadline for proposal submission is 1 August 2009.

Subversive sideburns!

We know how Italians are concerned with appearance, to the extent that 'fare una bella figura' marks the sharpest distinction between a gentleman and a lout, a refined and an uncouth lady. On the occasion of the G8 in Abruzzo, therefore, the authorities of L'Aquila encouraged the earth-quacked population of the region - still living in tents and caravans - to show the Vips of the world that a 'bella figura' is a precious concern for the descendants of Dante and the countrymates of Dolce&Gabbana.

Thus they enacted a special ordinance for which "the population (...) must respect precise behavioral and hygienic norms" (see the image above - unfortunately it is not a joke...).

The third 'article' states: "Female citizens must avoid wearing mini-skirts, flip-flops and scanty clothes". Now, the prohibition of flip-flops might appear bizarre. In reality, upon careful consideration, it is perfectly consistent with the ban of mini-skirts and scanty clothes as flip-flops expose the feet to unnecessary male sight and might inelegantly recall a G-string, a thong, and the like. But now I am just wondering why they are not banning dental floss...

The second 'article' urges men "to avoid wearing undershirts, short pants and overalls". Well, at first sight it is not clear why wearing overalls is not decorous. But again, with a surplus of reflection and without losing faith in the rationale governing the intentions of the authors of the ordinance it is possible to find the answer. I think that the ban of overalls in front of Obama, Sarkozy and so on had been dictated by the fear that showing Italian men in working clothes in a country with 30% rate of unemployment and one of the highest rates of workplace deaths would have looked a bit ironical; and the authorities (who happen to have a clown as a commander in chief) want to avoid irony above all things. Well done then! Stop overalls!

However, the third article (listed as first in the ordinance in the picture) is particularly amusing. Here "male citizens" are required "to shave the beard with accuracy on the days of the 8th, 9th and 10th July, as well as sideburns and other decorations".

In front of this, I must admit I am speachless. Are sideburns forbidden because hair is regarded as anti-hygienic? So why did Berlusconi want a hair transplant? Or perhaps they are forbidden because body hair is not sexy? And ok, the malevolent gnome - as my friend Savonarola suggests calling him - prefers women who have not yet developed too much body hair...So, I can get it again. Nonetheless, the matter needs more investigation (try here).

In the meantime, I like thinking of 'subversive sideburns' as a new fashion to be promoted again. Here are some examples:

The example above is very minimalist but immediately usable by the anti-G8 movement on the leaf-lets.

This is also very nice. Perhaps more appropriate for a pluralist movement where each current would like to express its own position on the best way to grow subversive sideburns.

But this is my favourite one. Not only does it give more room for expression of political differences, but it also combines a subversive project with a scientific presentation of the different options available. Terrific!

The essence of Caesarism!

Really worth watching from the beginning to the end. Hysterically funny!

For f...'s sake, leave us alone!!

Advertising of any kind, of any commodity is always addressed to those who should get it. In the 1950s and 1960s, male bread-winner families were the target; long-time consumption commodities kept industries going and helped the post-war economic boom to grow undisturbed for a while. Men, mostly, were those being exploited outside the household and earning the income, while women inside were the ones busy working for the daily reproduction of their men's labour power; commodity-marketing thus accomodated the division of labour by asking men to make their women happy but running ... in the end, it was not that difficult to do it ... a blender, a new dishwasher and everything was fine.

Despite its obvious gender bias, an advertisement like the one above looks almost cute and innocent compared to the level of sexism that has been reached nowadays. The latter is true especially in Dwarf-land, brought recently to renewed international attention thanks to its prime minister's regular use of public money to visit prostitutes, to host lolita-like private parties in his villas with promises of short TV appearances and, especially, to spend a one-night-stand with young women looking to start up their own enterprises.

Thus, more than anything, the Dwarf Era in Italy has amounted to a dramatic increase of sexism and disrespect for women, which is not only testified by an incredibly widespread soubrette-culture, for which young women's primary aspiration is to become a velina in one of the Dwarf's TV. More than this, the Dwarf's sexist era is progressively marked by a widespread wave of extreme violence, sexual abuses and rapes against women, the nature and role of which are publicly depicted as sexual satisfaction of men appetites. The increasing sexism of the advertising campaigns that can be seen on the walls of the streets are a very eloquent sign of this anti-feminist surge.

"We have the most famous sterns of Italy", is stated in the image on the left, where stern (poppa) in Italian also has the meaning of boob. Thus we see a regiment of young female bums entering the new ferry that promises to sweeten the holidays of all those going from Naples to Catania with a nice stock of young pretty girls.

Female sterns-boobs are used by the same company in the image below, and the advertising strategy does not fail to reassert how sexy it could be to go from Campania to Sicily, which are personified by their respective boobs-volcanos.

Travelling around the country, it is completely normal to run into huge posters - hung up on the most crowded streets of the cities - in which not only women's bodies are used to sell all sorts of commodities, but in which the sexual message becomes increasingly starker.

"Trust me! I will give it to you for free" comes out of the voluptuous woman's mouth in block capitals in the image below ... yet, it is not her sexual services, but the glasses' frame (la montatura) that will be given gratis to the lucky customers - as the undertitle clarifies - though 'montatura', in Italian language, is both the glasses' frame and the sexual position of riding.

It could be thought that what all these double-meaning, schlock-taste advertisements produce is just a smarmy smile on people's face, a bit of arousal to keep up the daily routine. However, instead of innocent excitement, today in Italy there is a daily count of violence and rapes against women. A dramatic growth of male brutality that is certainly not discouraged by an every day platitude that women are nothing but sexual objects waiting for their consumption... even with the brute force. In the image below, for example, a quasi-rape scene is used to promote a new clothes-brand. Yet, the company does not seem to be happy merely to use the image of brutally taking off woman's clothes for this commercial purpose. It aims to do it by also employing the evergreen stereotype of the black raper. The potential rapers, in fact, are blackmen, seemingly police, just to add a fashionable flavour of harsh racism to extreme sexism.

The list of sexist-advertising could go on indefinitely, perhaps even risking to fetishise this miserable southern-European culture as a red-blooded paradise.

Instead of always self-portraying themselves as latin lovers, super-machos and virile horses, Italian men would be better off realising that what the sexy advertising speaks of is their sexual impotence, pathetic insecurity and clumsy incapability of getting laid without a bit of brutality.

It is not by chance that instead of the blender for devoted house-wives, today's marketing strategists sell Italian repressed mummy-boys what they think they cannot easily get for free: thus companies sell them a quick glimpse into the décolleté of a perfect-fake breast, the sexual fantasy of a naked-female-army willing to excite them during terrible trips on rotten non-functioning ferries, the forbidden dream of playing the stereotype of the well-endowed black man trying to abuse a pretty white women.

Fortunately enough, it seems to me that more and more often Italian women (but also many men) are denouncing such barbarism and making it visible in all its shame.

Here is a short list of my Italian girl-friends who fight everyday against sexism and violence. Go, girls, go!

la fikasicula

la fatina viola

la vince