Special Feature
Commonwealth Project
Alex Means and Paul Aitken are collaborating on a project to discuss and review Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Commonwealth, the third installment of their “Empire Trilogy.” aimed at (1) an excavation of some productive criticisms/limitations of Hardt and Negri’s project; (2) the creation of something new by thinking with and against Hardt and Negri in the context of their respective intellectual interests.
Analysis & Commentary
In defense of Alain Badiou: A riposteA response by Slavoj Zizek and Fabien Tarby to an ad-hominem journalistic attack against Alain Badiou.
Some schools choice for you dear?The schools choice debate requires a rethink after revelations that the Swedish experiment is not going to plan.
Commonwealth: Part 6This chapter rethinks identity politics from the perspective of revolution. Hardt and Negri unfold their argument by first critiquing what might be called “liberal” or “liberal multiculturalist” variants of identity politics which have culminated in “race-blind discourses” and struggles for social recognition.
Commonwealth: Part 5The joining of neoliberalism and unilateralism in the latter half of the twentieth century is illustrative of the problems faced by capital in contending with the emergence of biopolitical production. In fact, the current crisis in neoliberalism is not due to unilateralism’s death grip, but rather because both systems proved to be solutions generated by an outmoded approach to understanding production.
Announcements »
The Night Shift, New BlogThe Night Shift is a guide for those of you who are lost: for the thinkers amongst you who are frustrated by a lack of progress in creating a just society and for the practical amongst you who are at a loss as to what you should actually be doing.
Intellectuals, critique and power (in French)
In the journal Agone (issues 41 and 42) a whole collection of articles and papers examine the role of intellectuals in regards of liberation struggles. The co-coordinators of these issues, Thierry Discepolo, Charles Jacquier eta Philippe Olivera, present the debate as follows: “The “intellectual” would necessarily be “from the left”, he would only work “naturally” [...]
Citizen journalism project in India
Women Aloud: Videoblogging for Empowerment (WAVE). The project involves training young women around India (one per state) to become citizen journalists telling video stories about positive change in their communities to an international audience online.
News Picks »
The debilitating race for EnglishMary Roy, an educationist from Kerala, India writes about the debilitating impact of the mania for English language education for school children in India. Using Kerala as an example she argues that learning in English comes at a price — not understanding what one is learning leading to feelings of inadequacy and low self esteem. [...]
Managerialism in the university: A petitition
We have been reporting on the crisis in the University (read here and here). A petition asking the prime minister of UK to reverse the Research Councils and HEFCE policy to direct funds to projects whose outcomes are determined to have a significant ‘impact’. Details:
We request the reversal of the Research Councils and HEFCE policy [...]
Zizek on DN: Capitalism and healthcare
Slavoj Zizek appeared on Democracy Now to critique the ideology that provides scaffolding for capitalism to go on doing what it does, even when we know its consequences. He cites the example of the openness of cynicism in democratic societies with no room for radical emancipation.
“That’s ideology today. We don’t believe in democracy—nobody. You make [...]
