Lucien
van der Walt is a South African sociologist and labour
educator,
involved in the working-class movement. His research includes
anarchism/syndicalism, working-class and left history, and
neo-liberalism. He has been active in workers' education since
the
1990s, including for DITSELA, the National Union of Metalworkers of
SA,
the Vuyisile Mini Workers School, the Unemployed Peoples' Movement,
and
the Red & Black Forums. Kirk
Helliker is research professor in sociology at Rhodes University,
South
Africa, and director of its Unit of Zimbabwean Studies. His
books
include the edited Everyday Crisis: Living in Contemporary Zimbabwe
(2021) and the authored Fast Track Land Occupations in Zimbabwe in
the Context of the Zvimurenga (2021), both in collaboration with
Sandra Bhatasara and Manase Kudzai Chiweshe. He was deported by the
apartheid regime.
John Holloway is a professor of sociology at the Instituto de
Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades in the Benem�rita Universidad
Aut�noma de Puebla, Mexico. He has published widely on Marxist
theory, on the Zapatista movement and on the new forms of
anticapitalist struggle. His book Change the World Without Taking
Power has been translated into eleven languages and has stirred an
international debate. His book Crack Capitalism (Pluto, 2010) takes
the argument further, suggesting that the only way in which we can
think of revolution today is as the creation, expansion,
multiplication, and confluence of cracks in capitalist domination.
"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 people's
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 countries--and
which had led the liberation struggles in each--have 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 Kenya's Media: South Asian Journalism,
1900-1992
"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
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