John Holloway and Crack Capitalism
For some reason every time myself and my brother meet up and get talking John Holloway and his latest book, Crack Capitalism, find its way into our conversation
Over the weekend I had a fantastic long night with him, sitting on the North Western shores of Ireland. As the wet night wore into day and our beer drained away, our conversations –as they always do – began plumbing the depths of a new world order, anti – capitalism, negativism and the need for systematic change.
And, as I said, not for the first time Holloway and his theories graced our conversation. I don’t know much about him but he is always name checked whenever we talk about change, politics, social structures, systems, etc.
In brief Holloway is a renowned sociologist and philosopher, whose work is closely associated with the Zapatista movement in Mexico.His 2002 book, Change the World Without Taking Power, has been the subject of much debate in Marxist, anarchist and anti-capitalist circles. In it he contends that the possibility of revolution resides not in the seizure of state apparatuses but in day-to-day acts of abject refusal of capitalist society. This notion is often seen as Autonomist in outlook and thus his work is often compared and contrasted with another Autonomist figure, Antonio Negri, whose documentary I posted in this blog 2 years ago
I have finally ordered Crack Capitalism – whose central thesis argues that radical change can only come about through the creation, expansion and multiplication of ‘cracks’ in the capitalist system. These cracks are ordinary moments or spaces of rebellion in which we assert a different type of doing – something I’d like to think we do with our skills exchange and festival in mutantspace; finding cracks, gaps to create new space in which to act outside the structures placed upon us. When I’m finished reading its 33 theses I’ll let you know what I think. In the meantime here is Holloway talking in Glasgow University earlier this year about Crack Capitalism
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