Intersectionality and Marxism
Here is a podcast based on the lead-off that I gave at the 2014 Ideas for Freedom conference. I hope you find it of some political and intellectual use:
Tag: Marxism
Edward Said’s “Orientalism”: a critique through the spirit of Marx
“[…] Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, “us”) and the strange (the Orient, the East, “them”).” (Said, 43) I. Introduction Edward Said’s book Orientalism (1978) is a retort to his conceptualisation of a dual camp schema of the world called Orientalism, which […]
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: what should the Left say?
The following podcast is based on my speech presented in a debate with Marcus Halaby of Workers’ Power at the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty Summer School in July 2010. Also, below this link, is a brief photo essay of what happened when Sheffield Workers’ Liberty comrades participated in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in January […]
Ritual circumcision of male minors, and the political befuddlement of Eric Lee
I am grateful for Eric Lee’s response piece to my article here and in the socialist newspaper Solidarity. On his website there are a number of end comments that I recommend people read. Here I expose what I consider to be Eric’s confused notion of politics, or rather, the lack of politics that Eric considers […]
Scandinavia’s ritual circumcision debate: a socialist response
“the contradictory state of consciousness does not permit any action, any decision or any choice, and produces a condition of moral and political passivity. Critical understanding of the self takes place therefore through a struggle of political ‘hegemonies’ and opposing directions” (Antonio Gramsci) Independent working class culture It was on reading Frank Furedi’s article “Culture […]
Marxism 101: Globalisation, Culture, and the Coke Studio India
So what might “Zariya” – a composition by India’s foremost composer AR Rahman, which brings together a traditional chant by Nepalese Buddhist nun, Ani Choying, traditional lyrics sung by Jordanian Farah Siraj, and a Hindi chorus – tell us about globalisation? As an audio-visual cultural offering, readily available via social media, it is an exquisite […]
A contemporary history of China (Part III): precarious power
Introduction The post-1979 era of ‘opening and reform’ opened China’s economy to global capital. Since then the State has been managing this process to ensure its own political legitimacy and stability. As such it fuels a populist nationalism, embedded with anti-American and anti-Japanese feeling, and a neoconservative nostalgia for the past. Moreover, although Confucianism was […]
A contemporary history of China (Part II): post-Mao
Introduction It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice. Deng Xiaoping In the second of three articles overviewing a recent history of China, I review the era of Deng Xiaoping. That the successor to Mao Zedong as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was to be both […]
On privilege theory and intersectionality
What are privilege theory and intersectionality? And what’s the appeal? Privilege theorist Peggy McIntosh talks of white privilege as “an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank cheques”. The term privilege is seen to go beyond the concept of ‘economic class’ to enable […]
In defence of comrade Matgamna and Workers’ Liberty
I. These are the rules A storm should leave in its wake stillness and clarity. Marxism to me works as a method of thinking and application; a body of ideas and a school of experience; a theory to apply to any given reality with an analytical rigour and honesty; and, a process of testing, modifying […]
Anaemic On A Bike 