Lucien van der Walt - Politics at a Distance from the State: Radical and African Perspectives

Yes, universities may produce assemblies which serve the people. So, in 2012 at Grahamstown, South Africa, did Rhodes University (despite the name), and in that service produced a peoples knowledge to transform the economic, material, social, family, political, educational, and spiritual institutions of capitalism at their core, without hierarchy, racism, oppression, or chauvinism of any kind. With sober care, practical acumen, and passionate eloquence the knowledge from that assembly is presented here. Absorb this knowledge and sense the future!

Peter Linebaugh, author of The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (with Marcus Rediker)

Capturing state power is regarded as the dominant means to achieving social transformation. This excellent collection challenges this prevailing perspective through examining societal and social movements in South Africa and Zimbabwe that have advocated and achieved tangible change from below without seizing state power. Kirk Helliker and Lucien van der Walt offer a compelling counternarrative that is indispensable to the literature on social movements.

Immanuel Ness, City University of New York, author of Organizing Insurgency: Workers Movements in the Global South

Moving beyond the disillusion and cynicism engendered by liberation movements of the global South which triumphed and then betrayed everything they professed to hold dear, the contributors to this volume explore what could happen when and if bottom-up labor, gender, and livelihood social movements stop lusting after the capture of state power. Mainly based in South African and Zimbabwean studies, the authors construct an exciting dialogue with the ideas of Mexico-based sociologist and philosopher John Holloway. Can there really be independent survival strategies against the twin malignancies of late capitalism and state turgidity? This is a must-read about the scope and health of 21st century social formations, trying to walk new paths of equitable human flourishing.

Teresa Ann Barnes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, author of Uprooting University Apartheid in South Africa: From Liberalism to Decolonization

In the 1980s and 90s, people who sought a world of equality, liberty, and socialism looked to Zimbabwe. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, after the fall of apartheid, even more looked towards South Africa. Tragically, the ruling parties in both countriesand which had led the liberation struggles in eachhave proven epic failures and profound disappointments. Hence, it is high time to revisit historical social movements and more fully analyze recent ones that never placed their hopes in state power. This collection brings together fascinating research on the history of anarchist, community, rural, and worker movements from the early 20th century into the 21st that believe another world is possible.

Peter Cole, author of the award-winning Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area

In the light of the unfulfilled expectation of overcoming class and race inequality through state-centered national liberation movements and African state socialism this book edited by Kirk Helliker and Lucien van der Walt offers a fascinating insight into the seldom told history of alternative socialist currents in Southern Africa.

Dario Azzellini, Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico, author of If Not Us, Who? Global Workers against Authoritarianism, Fascism and Dictatorships

A must read for all people-centered movements aiming to transform society. This book could not have been written at a more opportune time, as socialism returns to the world stage after a period of much disrepute and gross misinformation. It introduces us to past and present struggles in Southern Africa that do not see the capture of the state by vanguard parties as an adequate form of struggle., and that devise new ways to deal with the changes in capitalism.

Zarina Patel, is editor of Awaaz magazine and author of The In-Between World of Kenyas Media: South Asian Journalism, 19001992

Time and again socialist movements have debated how best to achieve change. Some, like the anarchists and syndicalists, argued that it could only come from below, by means of working-class direct action, solidarity, and self-organization. The majority, with mainstream Marxists at the fore, argued that workers should take part in state politics and stand in elections. The judgment of history is clear: the former were right and, as predicted, rather the conquer state power, it conquered them. This excellent collection of essays brings a welcome South African and Zimbabwean perspective on this debate and will be interest to all those seeking to learn from history rather than repeat it.

Iain McKay, editor of Direct Struggle against Capital: A Peter Kropotkin Anthology

Radical and African Perspectives

Edited by

Kirk Helliker and Lucien van der Walt

Preface by John Holloway

First published 2018 by Routledge

2018 The Institute of Social and Economic Research

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material in this book. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book.

The first six chapters previously appeared in the Journal of Contemporary African Studies, volume 34, number 3, under the same authors and titles, Holloway at pp. 309311, Helliker and van der Walt at pp. 312331, Neocosmos at pp. 332347, Byrne and Nicole at pp. 368387, Naicker and Bruchhausen at pp. 388403, and Alexander and Helliker at pp. 404418 in that issue. They are reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://www.tandfonline.com. The final chapter and dossier by van der Walt first appeared in the Routledge hardcover of this book in 2018 and are reprinted by permission.

Politics at a Distance from the State: Radical and African Perspectives

Kirk Helliker and Lucien van der Walt 2022

This edition PM Press

ISBN (paperback): 9781629639437

ISBN (ebook): 9781629639574

LCCN: 2021945078

Cover design by John Yates/www.stealworks.com

Cover photo by Wendy Shwegmann

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