Origins and Development of Workers Autonomy in Spain (1970-1976) – Miguel Amorós
Submitted by Alias Recluse on Nov 21 2018 20:33
A chronicle of the rise and fall of the fortunes of the assembly movement in Spain during the early 1970s, with brief accounts of strike movements all over Spain, the rise of assemblies as forms of autonomous organization of the struggle, and the subsequent repression and police violence, highlighting the nefarious role played by the Communist Party and its trade union front organization at a time when it seemed that Spain was on the verge of a social revolution and that only the Communist Party and its allies could effectively prevent the workers’ assemblies from associating, organizing their self-defense, and becoming a system of workers councils.
Taking stock: Reflections on the uncertain likelihood of a European revolution – Miguel Amorós
A 2018 assessment of the prospects for a communist revolution in Europe, where the “logic of the commodity and of unbridled economic development has so profoundly penetrated society that it has successfully prevented the appearance of any collective revolutionary subject”, in a situation in which “thinking constitutes the most radical and daring act, and also the one that arouses the most suspicion and hostility” but also one in which the elements for “a rigorous historical vision” (“ecological critique, anti-development analysis, anthropological studies and value theory”) are present, which could serve as the basis of orientation for “authentic revolutionary thought”.
Technological society—mass society – Miguel Amorós
A 2005 summary of the author’s views concerning the defeat of the working class in the 1970s and 1980s, the role played by technology in this defeat, the rise of the “masses” (who cannot “distinguish between reality and fiction”) that emerged from the dissolution of class consciousness as subjects of consumer society under the new totalitarian or “fascist” conditions, the repercussions of these developments on ideology (not exactly “fascist”, but a “hodgepodge … of previous ideologies”) and politics (“managing the survival of the masses under catastrophic conditions”) during the last thirty years, and prospects for revolutionary critique and resistance.
Miguel Amorós interviewed by Rubén Martín for El Informador (Guadalajara)
A March 2018 interview in which Miguel Amorós discusses his anti-development concepts, the global trend towards mega-urbanization, the destructive tendencies of capitalist development, Latin American populist governments and their social basis, the civil society movement, and perspectives for a movement to create a better world.
ZAD’s Victory – Miguel Amorós
A short article from February 2018 celebrating the initial victory of an ongoing struggle to stop an airport from being built in a rural part of western France.
Durruti en la labirinto - Miguel Amorós
Biografio pri la vivo de Buenaventura Durruti.
When the barbarians invade the periphery: the commercialization and destruction of the Catalonian Pyrenees – Miguel Amorós
A 2018 diatribe against tourism, as an industry that is wrecking the natural environment and the social fabric of rural areas, and particularly as it has capitalized on the recent craze for “adventure sports”, which manifest the “primordial capitalist mentality”, “the taste for competition, for overcoming obstacles, for demonstrating endurance, for the cult of hard work, for risk-taking, for exhibitionism”, echoing Günther Anders’ reflections on this new kind of leisure that is exploited for profit and becomes just another variety of “work” for people who are plagued by neuroses generated in the claustrophobic cities and are incapable of the tranquil repose that our ancestors valued.
Anatomy of a scandal – Miguel Amorós
Submitted by Alias Recluse on Feb 20 2018 21:56
An account of the “Strasbourg Scandal” of 1966—widely recognized as a precursor to the greater scandal of May 1968—its background, its protagonists, the takeover of the local student union and the origins of the pamphlet, “The Poverty of Student Life…”, the role played by the members of the Situationist International in the affair, particularly Debord and Mustapha Khayati, the humiliating exclusion of the “Garnaultins” in January 1967, and the SI’s subsequent descent into an even more rigid and unapproachable sectarian existence until its dissolution in 1972.
The whole world is like a nowhere land called Alicante – Miguel Amorós
A brief, and idiosyncratic, social and economic history of the medium-sized Valencian city of Alicante since the Spanish Civil War, denouncing the negative impact of chaotic development, venal and corrupt politicians, unbridled consumerism, the role played by the automobile in social atomization, the destruction of old working class neighborhoods, real estate speculation, the cynical exploitation of local cultural traditions, the noxious effects of an economy based on tourism, the ruin of traditional agriculture, and the proliferation of hideous skyscrapers in a nauseating panorama of trivialization and degradation that is typical of so many other cities all over the world.
The pitfalls of the social economy – Miguel Amorós
The text of a 2017 presentation examining the significance of the “third sector” or “social economy”, the non-profit community development and assistance sector, its origins as a replacement for faltering government aid programs for excluded sectors of the population, its diversification and increasing economic impact on job creation, service provision and housing, its association with the “civil society” movement, its avoidance of conflict with state and private power and its reliance on parliamentary procedures and negotiations, its ideological smokescreens, and the rise of the “new commons” ideology as a delusional strategy for non-confrontational withdrawal from the system.
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