I’ve dabbled a bit in the past with Left Accelerationist tendencies mainly through stressing the development of productive forces as a necessary part of Marxist praxis, although in many ways I see this as much a part of orthodox Marxism as of accelerationism. With Marx and with Marxists more broadly, I feel there’s always different viewpoints, different approaches and different focuses and with Accelerationism being at least partly based on Marx it was unsurprising that it would branch out in some many different directions. My principle interest in acceleration, however, isn’t so much within its emancipatory possibilities, but more as a...
At the end of the last post I wrote on the US election, I ended with a quote from Dave Chappelle taken from his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, which on reflection poses a particular question, specifically with the depths of the dejection, flat out disbelief and hurt that’s been felt by many following the results of the US election and perhaps more importantly the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis, how is it possible to find a way to continue to find joy in existence? This perhaps sounds incredibly dramatic. However as I write this a march consisting of...
I recently finished reading Goodwin and Eatwell’s work of political theory ‘National Populism: A Revolt Against Liberal Democracy’ which attempts to breakdown the roots of recent populist movements from Trump’s victory in 2016, to gains made by the likes of Fidesz in Hungary, National Rally in France and of course Brexit and subsequent successes The Brexit Party. Among their observations, they identify four principal causes for the rise of populism deprivation, destruction, de-alignment and distrust. However, when charting a course forward for post-populism they suggest, as indeed some parties have done, adopting certain ideas from populist parties. I, however, identify...
