...and i didn't even realise he was unwell!
(boom boom)
Richard J.F. Day has written a very interesting book, called, funnily enough, Gramsci Is Dead: Anarchist Currents in the Newest Social Movements (Between the Lines / Pluto Press, Toronto / London, 2005).
From the blurb:
GRAMSCI'S CONCEPT OF hegemony casts a long shadow over radical political theory. Yet how far has this theory got us? Is it still central to feminism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anarchism, and other radical social movements today?A review by Roger Farr of Gramsci the Norwegian Blue is available here, while A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land writes their thoughts on the matter of the ideological legacy of dead parrots here and Chris Carlsson adds further ornithological insight here; and, finally, some Sketchy Thoughts on the subject of affinity versus hegemony may also be found here. As for my own sketchy thoughts... well, I'm only up to page 106, but I think that an alternative sub-title could be 'Anarchism for Marxist Dummies'... but maybe that's just me? Anyway, I'm gonna write a (more) serious review when I finish the damn thing... next year or next week, who knows?
Richard Day shows how most contemporary movements attempt to develop new forms of self-organization that can run parallel-or as alternatives-to existing forms. They follow a logic of affinity rather than hegemony.
From Hegel's concept of recognition, through theories of hegemony and affinity, to Hardt and Negri's reflections on Empire, Day translates academia's theoretical and philosophical concerns to the politics of the street.
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