New Paul Mason book

Submitted by Mark. on September 12, 2011

Seen on twitter

@libcomorg
libcom.org
@paulmasonnews what's the new book about? Any chance we can get a review copy?

9 Sep via web

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paulmasonnews Paul Mason
@
@libcomorg its about you lot!
9 Sep

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libcomorg libcom.org
@
@paulmasonnews Look forward to reading it! We will review it if you get your publishers to send us a copy! #lookingforafreebie
9 Sep

Should be interesting.

Here's a talk he gave earlier in the year that might give an idea of the line of argument.

[youtube]XTNcySHaCm8[/youtube]

Transcript

Theft

12 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Theft on September 12, 2011

Any idea what's the books called or when it will be published?

Mark.

12 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on September 12, 2011

No, that snippet on twitter is all I've seen. I was hoping someone else would come up with more information.

georgestapleton

12 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by georgestapleton on September 13, 2011

Whatever it is on its finished. Also form twitter: "Voted 13th in totalpolitics blogging poll - book finished so will be blogging more..."

Mark.

12 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on September 13, 2011

Also from twitter: 'early 2012 "why its kicking off " book, mixture of bleak and hopeful'

Mark.

12 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on November 13, 2011

Theft

Any idea what's the books called or when it will be published?

'Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere is published by Verso in January'

http://www.versobooks.com/books/1075-why-its-kicking-off-everywhere

Chilli Sauce

12 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on November 14, 2011

I heard this book was ghost written by Tommy Ascaso ;)

Mark.

12 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on January 17, 2012

So the book is now out and the book about it is on the way:

Occupy everything! Reflections on ‘why it’s kicking off everywhere’ – Ed. Alessio Lunghi and Seth Wheeler

What role has the ‘graduate with no future’ played in the global wave of unrest that gripped 2011? What connects ‘digital natives’ and the ‘remainder of capital’ in struggle? What role will ideologies play in future upheavals and why have some memes resonated, others not?

In February 2011 BBC Newsnight economist Paul Mason sought to explain the motivations, of those taking to the streets in a blog post entitled ‘20 Reasons Why its Kicking off everywhere.’ These interventions shed light on to the growing movements arising in opposition to state solutions to the crisis facing capital and the prospects for a new democracy.

Contributors: The Free Association, Andre Pusey and Bertie Russell, Deterritorial Support Group, David Robertshaw, Rohan Orton, & Will Barker, Antonis Vradis, Ben Lear & Raph Schlembach, Thomas Gillespie & Victoria Habermehl, Federico Campagna, Emma Dowling, Camille Barbagallo & Nicholas Beuret, Tabitha Bast & Hannah McClure

http://www.minorcompositions.info/?page_id=345

Mark.

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on January 31, 2012

A more critical review from shift magazine

http://shiftmag.co.uk/?p=523

Mark.

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on February 7, 2012

Lecture at LSE on 30 January, also available as a podcast

[youtube]mztFlAQSccA[/youtube]

Choccy

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Choccy on February 8, 2012

Few chapters in, decent so far and I like his writing. Early impressions are I'm a bit put-off by the uncritical way he engages with the stuff in Egypt. Maybe it gets better, but early on a year ago, there were lots of people saying how handing over to a military rule rather than Mubarak was no real revolution and that's borne out by recent interviews with participants a year on:

"I came on 25th last year, I've been here throughout the difficult times in the past year, and I'm here again because things haven't improved. In fact they got worse," declared Shaimaa Zain, dressed in tight jeans and sunglasses.
"There is a conspiracy between the extremists and the military council."

I guess being there and interviewing people at the time might have given a rose-tinted view.

Mark.

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on February 8, 2012

Choccy

Early impressions are I'm a bit put-off by the uncritical way he engages with the stuff in Egypt.

I might need to look back at that chapter, but generally I took his approach as being to try to describe what the protest movements and so on actually are rather than what he, or anyone else, thinks they ought to be. He does seem to skate over some of the events pretty quickly though.

Anyway things seem to be getting interesting again in Egypt - see the response to the Port Said stadium disaster for example, which has developed into a call for a general strike:

[youtube]gEJA3tGwkp4[/youtube]

Choccy

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Choccy on February 8, 2012

The coverage he did of the factory occupation and hospital self-management stuff was cool though so I'm not having a go as such.

the button

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by the button on February 8, 2012

I read it, and think it succeeds on its own terms -- as decent journalism. This said, I think "Meltdown" is still his best book, and I found the 'reportage' parts of "Why....." (especially the later chapters on the USA & the slums in Manila) a bit painful. Like those "Sunrise over the slums, and has already been working for 2 hours" things you get in the Guardian magazine.

vanilla.ice.baby

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by vanilla.ice.baby on February 10, 2012

I agree Meltdown is his best book, and this doesn't change that. I think it's a bit over excited about the most recent wave of uprisings, but a decent overview none the less, and an interesting companion piece to "Live Working..."

Just downloaded his novel, which Iooks quite funny, Wayne crossed with Wu Ming.

wojtek

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on February 23, 2012

[youtube]7WsmWEt0RK0[/youtube]

Mark.

12 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on February 26, 2012

Talk given to World Affairs Council of Northern California

http://wacsf.vportal.net/?fileid=6420

Rory

11 years 12 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Rory on April 3, 2012

must admit yet to read the book, but when to an interesting talk by Paul Mason (about the book and related ideas) at the Bath Literature Festival :)

he had some interesting analysis of the crisis and of organisation and opposition to austerity as well, he also spoke about the ideals of capitalism having failed many people (the american dream no longer exists kinda line), which was interesting, I think he is good, but is also worth being aware of the fact that he is a Keynsian rather than an Anarchist/Socialist.

AndrewF

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by AndrewF on April 16, 2012

I've published a very long review and discussion of 'Why its kicking off everywhere' at http://anarchism.pageabode.com/andrewnflood/kicking-off-everywhere-paul-mason-review

IMHO its well worth reading and has a lot of useful insights even if politically there are some pretty big problems. I'm actually finding his politics quite hard to get my head around as they seem quite contradictory

Tart

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Tart on April 16, 2012

Was Paul Mason not a member of Workers Power?
I was put off seeking out his writing by the association because I found Workers Power to be the most unreadable of all Leninist papers- I have heard him doing the interview circuit promoting this book and I am trying to get hold of a copy- it sounded interesting.

flaneur

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by flaneur on April 16, 2012

He was but I think that was some time ago. Haven't read any of his stuff but I'm not surprised to see people saying the new book is a bit at odds with itself. When I saw him at the bookfair doing a talk a couple of years back, he basically advocated that left wing parties take power because if they don't, right or far right parties will.

georgestapleton

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by georgestapleton on April 16, 2012

Yea he was in Workers Power in the early 2000's. See here.

AndrewF

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by AndrewF on April 17, 2012

I wouldn't let his one time membership of Workers Power put you off, you have to look pretty hard to find any traces of it in his writings today. There are a couple of echos which I mention but the political problems mostly come from other sources.

Theft

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Theft on April 17, 2012

He was in Workers Power from the 80's through to the late 90's pretty sure he had left by 2000, though not sure as I left the same group just after a couple of ex-AWG members joined in the early 90's.

Tart

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Tart on April 17, 2012

I wouldn't let his one time membership of Workers Power put you off,

I was put off on stylistic grounds- I have a learning disability and remember trying to read a copy of Workers Power in order to discuss it with a friend- it was such turgid prose and terrible layout and I have to read and re-read things in order to absorb the content; my eyes bled!

AndrewF

11 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by AndrewF on April 17, 2012

Ah well then no worries, its the most readable theory book I've ever read by a very long way indeed

Mark.

11 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on May 13, 2012

Occupied Times interview with Paul Mason

http://theoccupiedtimes.co.uk/?p=3392

ernie

11 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by ernie on May 14, 2012

Mason is just another capitalist hack who serves up just what they want but in 'radicalish' guise. I was astonished that he reported just after the demo last spring in London that people in the black bloc had been talking to him: why would anyone do this? His reporting on Greece at the time of the mass assemblies etc did not mention this at all. Yes he produces interesting books about the conditions of the working class etc but he is still a capitalist hack, and all the more dangerous for his radicalism.

mariajones

11 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by mariajones on May 15, 2012

I didn't read all the comments - when is it going to be published? I did check out the video, good stuff.

no1

11 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by no1 on May 15, 2012

mariajones

when is it going to be published?

It came out a few weeks ago.

Mark.

11 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on October 17, 2012

I wasn't that sure what to make of the chapter on networks in the book. Paul Mason has just done an interview with Manuel Castells which I suppose is relevant to this and doesn't really justify a new thread. Any thoughts on it?

[quote=Paul Mason]

When most of us were still struggling to work our analogue modems, in the mid-1990s, one man had worked out where the internet was going.

Manuel Castells, one of the world's most cited sociologists, proclaimed the dawn of the "network society".

In pioneering quantitative research, he discovered that internet use and "projects of personal autonomy" fed off each other: that the internet, in other words, was changing our social attitudes and even our very selves.

For Radio 4's Analysis, on Monday night at 8.30pm, I quiz Professor Castells about his new book Aftermath - which looks at how the current financial crisis has produced networked protest movements, and even new "non-capitalist" forms of economic behaviour (the programme was recorded with a live audience at the London School of Economics last week)…[/quote]

Listen to the interview here

Indigo

11 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Indigo on October 17, 2012

I caught that talk a couple of days ago, makes for an interesting listen. I think it raised some interesting points about how identity can be influenced by an increasingly networked way of life. I may go ahead and get Castells book once I've got a bit of book money floating around. I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has read it already.

jura

11 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jura on October 17, 2012

Indigo, save your money and get a shitload of books by Castells for free here: http://libgen.info/search.php?search_type=magic&search_text=manuel+castells&submit=Поиск (just click on a title and then click "Get!").

jura

11 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jura on October 17, 2012

Sorry about that ;)

Mark.

10 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mark. on August 30, 2013

Paul Mason calling himself an anarcho-syndicalist?
[quote=Nick Cohen]

The success of Channel 4 News in replacing Newsnight as the preeminent current affairs programme on British television is one of those events that fascinates journalists but leaves the public cold...

...as things stand, Newsnight's best journalists are walking out of its understaffed newsroom. The programme is glum and timid, racked by scandal and self-doubt...

Paul Mason, Newsnight's economics editor, is a furrow-browed theorist from the Marxisant Left...

In a statement, Mason said he was leaving because he wanted the freedom to write books without submitting them to the BBC's censors...
[/quote]

@TimPBouverie @nickcohen4 @channel4news I think the term he was looking for was "anarcho-syndicalist" though— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) August 29, 2013

wojtek

10 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on September 3, 2013

BBC Radio 4 Great Lives: Paul Mason on Louise Michel

TV journalist and writer Paul Mason talks to Matthew Parris about the 19th Century French anarchist, Louise Michel, heroine of the Paris Commune. They're joined by historian Carolyn Eichner who says that Michel "expounded action and aggression with a theatrical, infectious elegance."

Caiman del Barrio

10 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Caiman del Barrio on September 4, 2013

He can only join SF if he's willing to organise Channel 4.

(Or write for Direct Action.)

plasmatelly

10 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by plasmatelly on September 4, 2013

wojtek

BBC Radio 4 Great Lives: Paul Mason on Louise Michel

TV journalist and writer Paul Mason talks to Matthew Parris about the 19th Century French anarchist, Louise Michel, heroine of the Paris Commune. They're joined by historian Carolyn Eichner who says that Michel "expounded action and aggression with a theatrical, infectious elegance."

Good program that. A bit surprised by his choice.

AndrewF

10 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by AndrewF on September 4, 2013

I'd have thought he was much closer to a modern day De Leonist than any sort of anarchist as he is pretty supportive of the party form and electoralism as part of an overall strategy - or at least that's how I have read him.

Burgers

8 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Burgers on February 22, 2016

Some people maybe interested in this response from the Communist Workers' Organisation to Paul Mason's new book.

Post-capitalism via the Internet (According to Paul Mason) – Dream or Reality?

Introduction

The book “Postcapitalism – A Guide to our Future” by Paul Mason (PM) is creating a lot of interest amongst the political left in general and in particular amongst the anarchist and left-communist milieu. The book tries to identify the forces which have shaped capitalist society in the past and which at present are determining its future. It argues that Internet Technology (IT) is a route to a society beyond capitalism. This central claim is a provocative challenge to Marxism which he condemns as having failed the test of history. The book contains a lot of interesting historical details and facts about the contemporary world together with discussions of ideas of economic and political thinkers. It is written in an accessible journalistic style and so is it easy to read.

Paul Mason’s central thesis can be outlined as follows. Industrial capitalism has evolved, since its inception in the late 18th century, in a series of long term cycles, called Kondratieff cycles 1 or waves, each lasting approximately 50 years. There have been 4 such cycles and we are now entering the 5th cycle. However because neo-liberalism has been so successful in shattering the resistance of the working class, the 4th cycle has been extended beyond the 50 year period. In addition because neo-liberalism has broken the resistance of the working class, the capitalist class cannot develop a new paradigm of exploitation as occurred at the start of the previous cycles. The 5th cycle cannot, therefore, take off and we are in a period of stagnation. Capitalism has reached the limit of its capacity to adapt. In addition capitalism has invented a technology, in the internet and Information Technology (IT), which it cannot control and which is undermining capitalist relations. IT is, PM claims, undermining the working of the capitalist market, leading to social production and so opening the way to a post-capitalist society. We are therefore at the start of a transition period to post-capitalism; a transition in which post-capitalism coexists with capitalism as a parallel system of production; a transition which could take centuries. However, because of a number of existential threats, such as climate change, demographic change in global population and sovereign debt, humanity does not have the time to let this transition run its course. Therefore, although post-capitalism is happening anyway, we need to mobilise the state to speed up the transition.