Undercurrent
Review of 'Reflections on J18' - Undercurrent
Undercurrent's review of the critical 'Reflections on J18' pamphlet on the 'Carnival Against Capitalism' which happened in London in 1999.
June 18 saw the biggest riot in London in years. A broad alliance of mostly ecological groups had called for a "carnival against capital" as on that day the political character masks of the world's eight biggest economies had their annual summit in Cologne, Germany. The event itself was as diverse as the alliance that had initiated it.
Seattle: the first US riot against 'globalisation'? - Loren Goldner
Loren Goldner's article for Undercurrent #8 on the anti-WTO protests which took place in Seattle in 1999.
Mass politics in the streets disappeared in the U.S. between 1970 and 1973. In retrospect, it is clear that the years 1964 to 1970 were not a "pre-revolutionary situation", but anyone who lived through those years as an activist can be forgiven for thinking it was. Any number of people in the ruling circles shared the same error of judgement.
The Neoliberal Wars - Treason pamphlet
Warfare has significantly changed in the last thirty years. From 1945 until about 1975 most wars were
part of the worldwide movement of decolonisation that saw the formation of dozens of new states in
Africa and Asia. Since then most wars have been civil wars within the decolonised countries, sometimes
The Paris Commune of 1871 - Undercurrent
The Paris Commune of 1871
undercurrent #6
Recently, the Sussex University library dedicated part of its space for a small exhibition on the Paris Commune. At first this came with some surprise: how was it that, in the midst of the boredom of academic life and the total lack of interest in any issues of importance, the library was willing to commemorate one of the most crucial proletarian revolutions of the nineteenth century? Yet, our surprise quickly vanished when we gave this exhibition a closer look. Not only is the exhibition of a purely academic nature (looking at historical events as spectacles and thus a-historically), but it is also taking the Commune out of context, describing it by using some of the most common illusions found in the bourgeois world. This article comes as a response to the exhibition.
Preliminary Notes on Recent Call Centre Struggles
Article on the growth of call centres and struggles within them, focussed on Brighton in the UK.
From undercurrent #8
Call centres are appearing everywhere. Representing a new way of integrating telecommunications and computer technology into the process of reshaping the division of labour, they are predominantly situated in the circulation process of capital - although some are within the production process itself. Bosses and politicians herald them as an example of the future of labour. Britain, whose national economy revolves around the finance sector, has 40% of the total call centres in Europe and this number is increasing every year. It is estimated that there are 350,000 workers employed in 4000 call centres, expected to rise to 500,000 in the next three years.(1)
Practice and ideology in the direct action movement
Undercurrent's contribution to a critique of the politics of anti-capitalist protest.
"The call to abandon their illusions about their condition is a call to abandon a condition which requires illusions".
Workers Against Work - Review
Undercurrent's review of Michael Seidman's 'Workers against work: labor in Paris and Barcelona during the Popular Fronts'.
This 400 page book is also available in a much shortened pamphlet version, which is probably easier to get hold of, and despite sounding dull as shit it's actually really interesting. It deals with the situations in France and Spain during their Popular Front governments of the 1930's, focusing on developments in Paris and Barcelona, drawing out the differences and similarities between the two.
Chechnya
Chechnya
Beasts of Burden - Review
Beasts of Burden- Antagonism Press 1999
undercurrent #8
Class war in Barcelona - Jean Barrot, 1973
The following text is the translation of a pamphlet of the group Mouvement Communiste, written in 1973 by Jean Barrot (aka Gilles Dauve), as a means of solidarity for some Spanish revolutionaries arrested in Spain facing harsh penalties.
Undercurrent #8
