Misusing the City Statute in São Paulo

By Patricia Rodrigues Samora*: The City Statute and subsequent São Paolo Master Plan were seen as victories for the housing movement, but the city and state governments of São Paulo, and to a certain extent the federal government, seem to have chosen another way to build the future of our cities. This is a future [...]

Read more

The Urban Roots of Financial Crises:

Reclaiming the City for Anti-Capitalist Struggle By David Harvey: [ABSTRACT] Property market booms and busts are inextricably intertwined with speculative financial flows and these booms and busts have serious consequences for the macro-economy in general as well as all manner of externality effects upon resource depletion and environmental degradation. Property booms and capitalist crises also [...]

Read more

La crise des ressources comme point de rupture du contrat social

Par Andreas Exner, Christian Lauk & Konstantin Kulterer [1]: Le fordisme ne s’est pas contenté de délocaliser ses contradictions vers la périphérie : il les a également évacuées vers l’avenir. Les âpres luttes sociales du XXe siècle ont abouti à un mode de gestion des conflits qui consiste à prendre la nature pour « dépotoir [...]

Read more

Misère de l’économie du développement

Par Cédric Durand et Charlotte Nordmann: L’extension de la rationalité néolibérale à l’échelle mondiale a engendré une augmentation dramatique de la pauvreté, des inégalités et de la dépendance au capitalisme mondialisé. À ces processus, les organisations internationales n’ont pas su résister, quand elles ne les ont pas accompagnés ou aggravés. Une redéfinition radicale de l’économie [...]

Read more

Le mouvement des piqueteros: Argentine 1994-2006

Pour Bruno Astarian: Présentation – (…) Dans l’histoire mondiale du prolétariat, il n’y a pas d’exemple où l’on ait vu les chômeurs développer une activité propre aussi approfondie et construite que celle des piqueteros argentins. Le chômage, même quand il est massif, est le plus souvent considéré et vécu comme l’antichambre du travail, tandis que [...]

Read more

De quoi l’indignation est-elle le nom ?

Au cœur de la société capitaliste, une nécessaire rupture Par Clément: Depuis plusieurs mois en Europe sur la place de la « Puerta del Sol » à Madrid comme aux Etats-Unis avec le mouvement « Occuper Wall Street », des dizaines de milliers de gens qualifiés d’ « indignés » descendent dans les rues, mais l’on s’indigne de quoi au juste ? Pour [...]

Read more

Why complexity improves the quality of city life

By Richard Sennett: I want to explore the concept of ‘quality of life’ in cities. My own view can be stated simply: the quality of life in a city is good when its inhabitants are capable of dealing with complexity. Conversely, the quality of life in cities is bad when its inhabitants are capable only [...]

Read more

Não há Leviatã que vos salve – Parte II

Teses para uma teoria crítica do Estado. Por Robert Kurz: [Nota prévia] Na nova crise económica mundial longe de estar dominada o Estado mostra-se novamente um actor económico central. Prova-se que a doutrina neoliberal sempre tinha um núcleo estatista. A estatalidade constitui um momento objectivo da socialização negativa através do capital. E, tal como nas [...]

Read more

Mass Culture and Terrorist Culture

By David Kishik: 1. The great fear of the nineteenth century was that amorphous blob called “the masses.” The masses were irrational, unpredictable, ungovernable, and extremely violent. From the construction of the wide boulevards in Paris to the castle-like armories across New York, the people in charge went out of their way to combat the [...]

Read more

PRESSURE: The PoliTechnics of Water Supply in Mumbai

By Nikhil Anand: “Now there is a [state] policy regulation for water that we are bound by. Those structures prior to January 1995 are eligible for basic amenities. We are allowed . . . supposed to give water to them. Those [who have unauthorized structures built] after that date also get water. They make arrangements [...]

Read more

L’argent est-il devenu obsolète ?

Par Anselm Jappe : Médias et instances officielles nous y préparent : dans les prochains mois, voire semaines, une nouvelle crise financière mondiale va se déclencher, et elle sera pire qu’en 2008. On parle ouvertement des catastrophes et désastres. Mais qu’est-ce qui va arriver après ? Quelles seront nos vies après un écroulement des banques [...]

Read more

Theses on the New European Fascism

An anticipatory paper of Paolo Virno: [excerpts] 1. At the turn of the century, European fascism is the twin brother, which is to say the terrifying “double,” of the most radical instances of freedom and community that arise in the crisis of the labor-based society. It is the malignant caricature of what men and women [...]

Read more

This is Actually Happening

By Escalate (collective of writers and activists from around the University of London) – January 2011 – Introduction: The delusional cries in the media that our protests are hijacked by trouble-makers are indicative of how complete our alienation is. The unspoken belief is that all disorder and disobedience must originate outside of normal society, as [...]

Read more

Giorgio Agamben: Política da profanação versus religião do consumo

Por Demétrio Cherobini: Em 1921, Walter Benjamin escreveu um breve artigo que viria a público somente após sua morte: O capitalismo como religião. Nele o filósofo acreditou ter decifrado três das principais características da sociedade capitalista de seu tempo, enquanto fenômeno intrinsecamente religioso. O capitalismo seria, em primeiro lugar, uma religião essencialmente cultual: o dinheiro, [...]

Read more

Mucho ciberactivismo… pocos votos: Antanas Mockus y el Partido Verde colombiano

Por Omár Rincon: [ABSTRACT] El ex-alcalde de Bogotá Antanas Mockus y su «ola verde» constituyeron un auténtico caso de ciberactivismo en la campaña presidencial colombiana de 2010. Una ilusión democrática creada en internet convocó a jóvenes y ciudadanos sofisticados a cambiar un país sobre la base de la promesa de legalidad, pero la historia terminó [...]

Read more