Postanarchism: A critical assessment1

Franks, Benjamin

doi:10.1080/13569310701284985

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Unlike the unrestricted sovereign, the self‐determining sovereign promotes the idea that an individual or polity's freedom should never be conceived of as absolute. This is summed up beautifully in John Quail's comment: “until all of us are free then no one is free” (quoted in Franks :129). This latter definition presents sovereign subject formation as a collective process involving a dynamic relationship between multiple overlapping centres of power—individuals and communities, however a community may be conceived.…”

Section: Creating Alternative Narratives Of Democracy and Citizenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contesting Neoliberal Urbanism in Glasgow's Community Gardens: The Practice of DIY Citizenship

et al. 2016

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In this journal, it has been suggested that citizens practising community gardening “can become complicit in the construction of neoliberal hegemony”. Such hegemony is maintained, it is argued, through the day‐to‐day work of neoliberal citizen‐subjects, which “alleviates the state from service provision”. In this paper we acknowledge that community gardens are vulnerable to neoliberal cooptation. But, even where neoliberal practices are evidenced, such practices do not define or foreclose other socio‐political subjectivities at work in the gardens. We contend that community gardens in Glasgow cultivate collective practices that offer us a glimpse of what a progressively transformative polity can achieve. Enabled by an interlocking process of community and spatial production, this form of citizen participation encourages us to reconsider our relationships with one another, our environment and what constitutes effective political practice. Inspired by a range of writings on citizenship formation we term this “Do‐It‐Yourself” (DIY) Citizenship.

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Section: Creating Alternative Narratives Of Democracy and Citizenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contesting Neoliberal Urbanism in Glasgow's Community Gardens: The Practice of DIY Citizenship

et al. 2016

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“…Mutual aid is an ethics‐of‐practice with which individuals can guide themselves and one another through and beyond their vices so that virtues (which include empathy, solidarity, courage and caring) come to the fore (Kropotkin, [1902]). Prefiguration means building the future offered by these three principles in the present (Franks, ; Gordon, ).…”

Section: Social Centres and Anarchismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re‐appropriating the political through enacting a pedagogical politics of place

Crossan

2016

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This paper critically analyses the post-political thesis, highlighting its universalising and agency-grabbing tendencies. Drawing on my own family life, anarchist theory and long-standing traditions of "properly" political placemaking by past and present grassroots actors, the paper unsettles two interrelated claims on which the post-political thesis sits. First, that the political (le politique) is in retreat. Second, that "proper" politics constitutes a confrontational set of relations. Informed by empirical observations I present an existing form of rigorous political encounter enacted in anarchist-influenced social centres. The politics on offer here has a supportive pedagogical quality to it and, crucially, there are semblances of this pedagogical politics found in multiple sites. Focusing on the "micro-physics of power" at work in social centres, I show how such organisational practices counter the predetermined finalities of the post-political condition by enacting what I call "equality-as-tactic". Community here is not an empty vessel that can be easily filled with "empty signifiers". On the contrary, post-political practices tend to crack under the scrutiny of a pedagogical politics aimed at equalising participation in the decisionmaking process. K E Y W O R D S anarchism, democracy, equality, placemaking, post-politics, social centre The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

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“…Interstitial politics refers to social movements which attempt to build alternatives to capitalism at a distance from the state by operating in the cracks and spaces within dominant structures of power (Wright, 2010). As a broad category it includes what have been called more 'evolutionary' forms of anarchism rather than the classical, 'insurrectionary' form aimed at the total destruction of the state (Franks, 2007). By experimenting with alternative forms of living, evolutionary anarchism aims to erode the boundaries of capitalism from within, through prefiguring alternatives that point towards a viable and preferable future that could be enacted on a larger scale.…”

Section: What Kind Of Politics Is This?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rancière, Politics, and the Occupy Movement

Bassett

2014

Environ Plan D

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This paper focuses on the work o f Jacques Ranciere, his view o f politics, and its relevance for understanding key aspects o f social protest movements such as the Occupy movement. The paper outlines some o f Ranciere's key concepts, such as the distinction between politics and the police, subjectivity, 'in-between spaces', and 'insubstantial com m unities', and attem pts to locate his concept o f politics within a wider spectrum of political form s in order to bring out its distinctive nature. Links are then m ade to the ideas and practices o f the Occupy movement as an expression o f politics th at Ranciere has recently endorsed. The paper concludes with a discussion of some o f the critical questions concerning the effectiveness of this style of politics (questions o f political organisation and engagem ent with the state) and the wider consequences for Ranciere's concept of radical politics.

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Postanarchism: A critical assessment1

Cited by 15 publications

References 6 publications

Contesting Neoliberal Urbanism in Glasgow's Community Gardens: The Practice of DIY Citizenship

Contesting Neoliberal Urbanism in Glasgow's Community Gardens: The Practice of DIY Citizenship

Re‐appropriating the political through enacting a pedagogical politics of place

Rancière, Politics, and the Occupy Movement

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