Category: Gramsci

27 Jun

Comments Off on The age of austerity: Social polarisation, fake partisanship & the Left’s strategy

The age of austerity: Social polarisation, fake partisanship & the Left’s strategy

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Austerity (noun): 1.     Enforced or extreme economy. From the Greek, austēros, meaning “harsh” or “severe”. 2.     Merriam-Webster Word of the Year, 2010. The conversion of the present ALP federal government from new-era Keynesian stimulus apostles to sovereign debt doom merchants did not take place overnight, but if it happened anywhere it was in Toronto at the […]

16 Jun

Comments Off on Explaining the age of austerity: Beyond the conjunctural, the organic crisis re-emerges

Explaining the age of austerity: Beyond the conjunctural, the organic crisis re-emerges

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How did it come to this? Just two years ago everything seemed so different: The GFC was crashing across the planet, provoking the largest internationally coordinated program of state intervention in human history. Prime Ministers were writing quasi-erudite essays damning “market fundamentalism” while disinterring Keynesianism and social democracy. Progressive thinkers spoke hopefully of Green New […]

04 Feb

Comments Off on Who’s afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Who’s afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood?

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They are: The tyrant’s strategy seems clear. After 30 years of brutality, repression and feathering the nest of his globetrotting fellow elites, at the moment his regime is in peril he will act as the reasonable one. He will act to reverse the “chaos” and “anarchy” in the streets as gangs of violent thugs attack […]

11 Dec

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Let me tell you a secret… WikiLeaks, the state and hegemony

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What is the nature of elite rule and how can it be challenged? This is the real question behind the political crisis caused by the WikiLeaks revelations. Compared with other leaks, the scale and breadth of the information being released makes it impossible not to reassess how state and citizens interact. Despite the attempts at […]

06 Nov

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What is politics?

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So what is politics? For most, politics is that thing that happens in Canberra and on Macquarie Street. That thing to be ridiculed, not trusted, obsessed over and argued about. It is that thing external from us, happening ‘out there’ in other locations, and reported in the media. Yet politics is also a practice, or potential […]

18 Sep

Comments Off on A ‘Philosophy of Praxis’ for our times

A ‘Philosophy of Praxis’ for our times

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As I blog this, liz_beths is writing the conclusion to her Masters thesis, which analyses the rise and fall of the Global Justice Movement in Australia. She wrote a bit about the arc from S11 2000 to 9/11 and the present day on the Overland blog last weekend. Rather than simply re-use hackneyed categories that […]