Davis James - Catastrophism: the apocalyptic politics of collapse and rebirth

Here you have it, a forceful rejection of that gleeful, adolescent paranoia that masquerades as hardcore realism. As the essays in this excellent book show, catastrophism is a wish expressed as a fear, a masochistic cop-out that postures as bravery. Welcoming the end of the world as the catalyst of political deliverance is one of the most irresponsible positions on offer. This book is a superb antidote to the unproductive politics of fear.

Christian Parenti, author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence

Catastrophism comes at the right moment: the year of The End proclaimed across the political spectrum from deep ecologists to the Mayan Calendarists. Instead of concentrating on the merits of the claims of the various apocalypticians, James Davis, Sasha Lilley, David McNally, and Eddie Yuen examine the political function of these claims and find them to be deeply reactionary. This is a controversial book that challenges many of the unexamined assumptions on the left (as well as on the right). It is a warning not to abandon everyday anticapitalist politics for a politics of absolute fear that inevitably leads to inaction.

Silvia Federici, author of Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle

Bravo! This is the book that has been sorely needed for so long to reveal the dead end that a politics founded on catastrophic predictions must lead to in terms of either preventing them or actually changing the world. Essential reading for all those on the left who are concerned with the question of strategy today.

Leo Panitch, coauthor of The Making of Global Capitalism and In and Out of Crisis

At last, and not before time, a full-spectrum guidebook to catastrophism. Together Lilley, Yuen, Davis, and McNally penetrate the smoke of apocalypse, past the politics of fear and redemption which is the stock-in-trade of disaster merchantsright, left, and green. If we and our fellow species are to leave the dark shadow of John the Divine and Parson Malthus, this superb, clear-eyed collaboration opens the way.

Iain Boal, coeditor of West of Eden: Communes and Utopia in Northern California

I cannot overstate how critically important this volume is. Catastrophism captures a problem that few have seriously grappled with. Anyone who wishes, as I do, for a new kind of (occupied) politics will have to face this formidable array of theoretically inspired reflections on the politics of apocalypse.

Andrej Grubai, author of Dont Mourn, Balkanize! and coauthor of Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism, and Radical History

Apocalypse and end-of-civilization memes are shaping and arguably undermining contemporary political and environmental movement organizing. Catastrophism unflinchingly challenges us, as movements, to seek alternatives to these narratives in determining our actions. Its a must read for anyone engaged in political organizing for truly long-term sustainable goals and futures.

scott crow, cofounder of Common Ground Collective and author of Black Flags and Windmills

This is a brilliant, timely book, a searching account of the limitations and inertia of catastrophic thinking. The authors urge us to move beyond doom-laden rhetoric in order to generate more ambitious analyses of our social crises. Above all, this book points the way toward fresh, energizing, and imaginative forms of social transformation.

Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor

In an age when even Mayan prophecies of the end of the long cycle are turned into prophecies of doom and destruction, this book offers a reasoned and lucid alternative understanding. Definitive and momentous, this book should be mandatory reading for everyone who wishes to comprehend the world we live in and change it for the better.

George Katsiaficas, author of Asias Unknown Uprisings

Remember the story from La Haine about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself, So far so good so far so good so far so good. How you fall doesnt matter. Its how you land. This collection of essays compiled in Catastrophism prepares us for that landing. Brilliant reading material for the abyss, and more: how to navigate an escape.

Ramor Ryan, author of Clandestines and Zapatista Spring

This important book aims to end the politics of The End. The authors of Catastrophism claim that apocalyptic politics, though promising to motivate revolutionary transformation, all too often leads to a fear-induced paralysis and cynicism. This book provides a badly needed boost to our political immunity systems against the apocalyptic claims bombarding us in this purported terminal year for our planet.

George Caffentzis, author of In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines, and Value in the Bad Infinity of Capitalism

Editor: Sasha Lilley

Spectre is a series of penetrating and indispensable works of, and about, radical political economy. Spectre lays bare the dark underbelly of politics and economics, publishing outstanding and contrarian perspectives on the maelstrom of capitaland emancipatory alternativesin crisis. The companion Spectre Classics imprint unearths essential works of radical history, political economy, theory and practice, to illuminate the present with brilliant, yet unjustly neglected, ideas from the past.

Spectre

Greg Albo, Sam Gindin, and Leo Panitch, In and Out of Crisis: The Global Financial Meltdown and Left Alternatives

David McNally, Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance

Sasha Lilley, Capital and Its Discontents: Conversations with Radical Thinkers in a Time of Tumult

Sasha Lilley, David McNally, Eddie Yuen, and James Davis, Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth

Spectre Classics

E.P. Thompson, William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary

Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth Sasha Lilley, David McNally, Eddie Yuen, and James Davis

PM Press 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-60486-589-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012913637

Cover by John Yates/Stealworks

Interior design by briandesign

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Catastrophism; the apocalyptic politics of collapse and rebirth /

Sasha Lilley [et al.].

Co-published by PM Press.

Includes bibliographical references and index.