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January-February 2003Just off
the press! Philosophy and Revolution The 30th anniversary edition of this crucial book by Raya
Dunayevskaya is now available. The author considered the central concept of this
book, "Absolute Negativity as New Beginning," to be a fundamental
contribution by Marxist-Humanism. Erich Fromm, commenting on the German edition
of this important work, declared that "For everyone who is seriously
interested in the forces which form and deform the present and the future, this
book is to be most warmly recommended." Lead Article Iraq, North
Korea crises test Anti-war movement Unswayed by mass protests, public opinion polls, and international unease, George Bush is driving toward war on Iraq and conflict with North Korea. But bringing democracy to either country is not the goal, not with the U.S.'s legacy in the 1991 Gulf War, of standing by as Hussein repressed a diverse uprising in blood. Whether the anti-war Left can build solidarity with that Other Iraq, as well as the Other North Korea-- bespeaks to its effectiveness in deterring our own ruler's aims for permanent war. Editorial Bush
declares state of war as well as state of the union Three battlefields, aside from a looming attack on Iraq, define American "civilization" two years into the presidency of George Bush: the right wing's fervent reaction against the commutation of death sentences in Illinois; the future in doubt for women's right to abortion on the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the Bush administration's racist attack on the University of Michigan's admissions policy for Black candidates. Each battlefield represents the accomplishments of mass movements under fire. From the Writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: Marxist-Humanist Archives From
'Philosophy and Revolution': Dialectics and the Black dimension "Black was the color that helped make the 1960s so
exciting a decade. We became witness simultaneously to the African Revolutions
and the Black Revolution in America... We may not have a Hegel or a Marx or a
Lenin, but we do have what no other age has had in such depth-the movement from
praxis whose quest for universality does not stop with practice but hungers for
a uniting of theory to practice. It is this-and therein lies the uniqueness of
the dialectic-which resists any retrogressionism within the revolution." Review Essay Rethinking
the idea of revolution For the greater part of a century, radicals have focused on seizing state power, inevitably leading them to reproduce the basic hierarchies of capitalism, according the John Holloway in his book Change the World Without Taking Power. Opposing the oppressive reality we face must be based on a "negative dialectic." But does Holloway's reliance on Adorno's negative dialectics aid or impair his effort to project a concept of liberation that takes us beyond the limits of past failed revolutions? INS
detentions a betrayal of democracy The government-mandated process of registration became a
process of detention for over 100 immigrants in Los Angeles in December. The
mass protest that ensued centered on the Iranian community and exposed the
hollowness of U.S. democracy. It also deepened solidarity among immigrant
communities and their supporters, as well as remembered the struggle against
religious totalitarianism in Iran. After almost two months, a so-called "civic
strike" has not achieved its goal of ousting Hugo Chavez. The elite who
oppose Chavez are not ashamed of the economic damage the strike has wreaked,
especially on the poor. But can the "bolivarian circles" and the mass
protests against the strike, both organized by the government, lead to real
alternatives to bourgeois rule in Venezuela? MORE ARTICLES... |
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