George I have a huge amount of work at the moment with college but do keep me in the loop and if can I will contribute.
On 10 February 2017 at 16:07, Holy Mountain <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Michel, > > We had a visiting lecturer Douglas Holmes a few weeks ago who wrote a book > called Fast Capitalism which examined the rise of the far right in Europe > throughout the 1990's he interviewed Le Pen for example. He said something > along these lines, at least as I interpreted, that people tend to see the > far right as something in the past something we have moved on from, but > what is misunderstood is that the emergence of fascism was in some ways > inseparable from the emergence of Liberalism and Socialism, it is part and > parcel of modernity, the elements that fascists draw on and instrumentalise > for their reactionary anti-democratic cause are everywhere part of the make > up of the modern world. In a broad cultural sense we are still collectively > working through, both unconsciously and consciously, the enlightenment and > counter enlightenment. Listening to the lectures of liberal political > philosopher Isaiah Berlin, he presents a strong argument in support of > this. The struggle between the forces of the enlightenment and > counter-enlightenment were incredibly productive, in the progressive sense > in that it opened up great scope for debate and exploration of what it > means to be human in the modern world, giving birth to so much art and the > social sciences, but those same tendencies, the importance of culture vs > nature also gives birth to the comparison of cultures, the ranking of > cultures, the privileging of cultures, the sanctity of culture. We rush to > the defence of those marginalised by the rough reductionist mechanics of > 'western civilisation' but the claim of the extreme right is that the same > respect be afforded to conserve the culture of the privileged or at least > their mythic appropriation and re-construction of it. They claim western > cultural and technological superiority is evolution at work an essential > expression of their identity and that "nature" should be let off the leash. > In this sense they are essentialist and vitalists and find common cause > with the survival of the fittest, might is right logics of > Libertarians/ancaps.They share the belief that authority is not rooted in > the constructions the rational or man made which risks critical scrutiny, > rather authority is located 'natural law' or in the mystical the mythical, > beyond the reach of reason or man made law, here is the extreme rights > obsession with new age spiritualism and the occult. The man and machine are > subservient and must always work in the service of myth. Its a pretty dark > view of human beings to say the least but it should be clear how they can > appropriate and mobilise certain cultural tendencies that normally are > considered benign. The transcendent Hero, the Superman, the Warrior for > example. > > Berlin's lectures do not look so much at contemporary fascism as much as > the ideological roots in the counter-enlightenment, Vico, Harmann, Herder > and then De Maistre who he particularly terms a proto fascist. In the 3 > lectures on culture he follow Vico to Harmann. Then there are two other > lectures one on Harmann and De Maistre. > > http://mediapub.it.ox.ac.uk/feeds/129062/audio.xml > > > > > > > > On 10 February 2017 at 07:41, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Dear Kevin, >> >> Thank you so much for this perspective, I wholly agree and I want to >> commend you especially for your efforts in knowing the dynamics of the >> opposite camp, as I would not have the time to do this. I urge you to keep >> on working on this track, and to become a real expert in this, god knows we >> need people like you willing to do this. We would also welcome your >> perspectives and writings on the p2p and CT blogs, and you will have seen >> george por's proposal for a political and policy oriented commons >> newsletter, >> >> I want to make a little point of localism, and Occupy; obviously, at >> least for me, it doesn't work to critique them from the outside as many >> post-Marxists do, and seeing them as the enemy either. These are both great >> and massive social mobilisations, moving into a necessary but not >> sufficient direction. Localized initiatives are not bad, just insufficient, >> swarm based mobilizations are not bad, just insufficient. At the same time, >> for those who have a more integrative understanding and understand 'power' >> and 'institutions' cannot be ignored, it's cleary not enough, and it is >> important to also point that out. >> >> One point here is that recently at the P2P Foundation I have been >> pointing at the need for our language to reflect this. So I have been >> introducing, in the context of our work on the cosmo-local DGML based forms >> of physical production, to stress, not localism, but the 'subsidiarity of >> material production' instead. I.e. we need a lot more local production, but >> always also in a trans-national framework. >> >> If ever you had some energy to maintain a newsletter of the kind george >> and I are wishing for, that would cover political commons convergences like >> the ECA, the assembly of the commons that are emerging, the policy work >> being done in so many urban settings, >> >> I would put a lot of my energy of assembling such info in a way that >> would be accessible to the editor of such a newsletter, >> >> we really need this, but at p2p-f, we are overwhelmed with our existing >> to do lists, >> >> Michel >> >> Michel >> >> >> >> >> >> <<<From: Holy Mountain <[email protected]> >> To: P2P Foundation mailing list <[email protected]> >> Cc: "[email protected]" >> <[email protected]>, Ann Marie Utratel >> <[email protected]>, George Pór <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Reflections on Trump, and the role of the >> commons >> as an alternative >> Message-ID: >> <[email protected] >> ail.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" >> >> >> I completely agree Michel with your analysis of how the left have been >> co-opted into supporting the neoliberal agenda. The other trend on the >> more >> radical left over the last 30 years has been the rejection of >> parliamentary >> politics in favour of localism. The risks of a puritan anti-state left >> politics are that they have no organised opposition to challenge the >> capture of the state by reactionary right wing forces. If the left is not >> occupying those seat the right will. >> >> Liberals have successfully co-opted aspects of the left into the >> institutions of capitalism, with the collapse of the soviet union, the end >> of history, the establishment left that includes academics without a >> serious alternative assumed liberalism was a given and committed to >> working >> for change from within a liberal framework. >> >> No one expected a resurgence of fascism. Spend any time researching this >> and you quickly realise it is huge. It is important to think about the >> young people who are being recruited to extreme right, what paths have >> lead >> them to participate in these communities. >> >> The extreme right have not had the privilege of access to government, >> academic institutions or mainstream media and so they waste no time trying >> to get papers published or to lobby governments to support their policies, >> no they are entirely focused on recruiting online not through reason but >> through myth, tapping into young peoples anxieties and offering them >> insurgent narratives, vision and mythology. >> >> Where do young people go to learn about the world. Youtube. The extreme >> right have made really effective use of this as a medium for recruitment. >> Unlike academics, politicians so on who mostly talk to each other. The >> right engage with these young people in 'debate'. >> >> The problem is also the narrative. Liberals and the left offer complex >> narratives. Liberal politics has become a bureaucratic and there are >> establishment gatekeepers. The extreme right offer simple narratives with >> naive hero myths which appeal to young people who the right claim are >> raised being taught left politics of victimhood and blame in universities. >> >> The promise of figures like Trump is that he does not care for checks and >> balances, he is the image of the authoritarian who overcomes, the >> complexities of politics, the cynical power plays of bureaucrats and >> experts, he does this by sheer force of charismatic will, cheered on by >> his >> followers who have simply lost patience with the status quo. >> >> This is the modus operandi of fascism. >> >> This has emboldened the far right, those who previously entertained these >> ideas in private for fear of social censure are coming out and organising. >> >> Berger is an expert on online extremism and has done significant work on >> how Isis use social media to recruit and organise at scale. In this video >> he explains how the far right are using the same tactics but do not face >> the same kinds of limitations as Isis. He talks about the relative impact >> of small groups on shaping public discourse. He is not at all convinced >> that western governments have the capacity to effectively deal with this >> turn. >> >> We are looking at highly organised fascist recruitment and propaganda >> machine. It cannot be tolerated and must face full resistance that means >> alliances of everyone committed to democratic process. >> >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65YJmfRbbPw >> >> https://cchs.gwu.edu/sites/cchs.gwu.edu/files/downloads/Nazi >> s%20v.%20ISIS%20Final_0.pdf >> >> Part of that is offering real alternative political imaginaries, and >> making >> those imaginaries available and accessible to young people is essential. >> What would a popular alternative movement look like? One that moves beyond >> the horizontalism of Occupy and aims effectively to get hands dirty, to >> take power and put it to work for the kind of world we want to live in. >> >> >> -- >> Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: >> http://commonstransition.org >> >> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net >> >> <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: >> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens >> >> #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> P2P Foundation - Mailing list >> >> Blog - http://www.blog.p2pfoundation.net >> Wiki - http://www.p2pfoundation.net >> >> Show some love and help us maintain and update our knowledge commons by >> making a donation. Thank you for your support. >> https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/donation >> >> https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation >> >> > > > -- > Skype: kev.flanagan > Phone: +353 87 743 5660 <087%20743%205660> > -- Skype: kev.flanagan Phone: +353 87 743 5660
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