George Katsiaficas

Last updated

George Katsiaficas is a Greek-American [1] historian and social theorist. He is known for his many writings on social movements, including The Imagination of the New Left: The Global Analysis of 1968 [2] and The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life. [3] [4] He was a professor of humanities and sociology at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston from 1985 up to his retirement in 2015. [5] [6] [7] He sits on the Editorial Board of New Political Science, published by the Caucus for a New Political Science. [8]

Contents

Eros effect

After being mentored by Herbert Marcuse, Katsiaficas created the concept of the "eros effect," an analytical tool for explaining mass political awakenings and spontaneous rebellions which sweep through the world in certain time periods. According to this theory, economics and technology alone cannot account for the spread of these movements. Instead, it posits that humanist instincts for liberty and justice are triggered by persistent inequality and explode virally across populations.

Katsiaficas writes that "in moments of eros effect, universal interests become generalized at the same time as the dominant values of society are negated (such as national chauvinism, hierarchy, and individualism)." Other scholars of the theory note that "rebellions in both industrial and preindustrial nations exhibit shared interests in anti-authoritarian self-governance, international solidarity, the transformation of everyday life, and the creation and promotion of alternative values and ethics." Katsiaficas and others have applied this framework to the anti-globalization movement, the "people power" uprisings in Asia in the 1980s (especially the Gwangju Uprising), and the Arab Spring, among other events. [9]

Related Research Articles

Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other forms of libertarianism by its rejection of private property. Broadly defined, it includes schools of both anarchism and Marxism, as well as other tendencies that oppose the state and capitalism.

In political science, a revolution is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements at their core: (a) efforts to change the political regime that draw on a competing vision of a just order, (b) a notable degree of informal or formal mass mobilization, and (c) efforts to force change through noninstitutionalized actions such as mass demonstrations, protests, strikes, or violence."

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of society and the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapatista Army of National Liberation</span> Libertarian socialist political and militant group in southern Mexico

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, often referred to as the Zapatistas, is a far-left political and militant group that controlled a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political movement</span> Movement to obtain a political goal

A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some theories of political movements are the political opportunity theory, which states that political movements stem from mere circumstances, and the resource mobilization theory which states that political movements result from strategic organization and relevant resources. Political movements are also related to political parties in the sense that they both aim to make an impact on the government and that several political parties have emerged from initial political movements. While political parties are engaged with a multitude of issues, political movements tend to focus on only one major issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeganism</span> Stance of limited participation in the food system and broader economy in protest

Freeganism is an ideology of limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources, particularly through recovering wasted goods like food. The word "freegan" is a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan". While vegans avoid buying, consuming, using, and wearing animal products as an act of protest against animal exploitation, freegans—at least in theory—avoid buying anything as an act of protest against the food system in general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social movement</span> Loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular set of goals

A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may involve individuals, organizations, or both. Social movements have been described as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist the more powerful and advantaged elites". They represent a method of social change from the bottom within nations. On the other hand, some social movements do not aim to make society more egalitarian, but to maintain or amplify existing power relationships. For example, scholars have described fascism as a social movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hafenstraße</span> Legalized squats in Hamburg, Germany

Hafenstraße is a street in St. Pauli, a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, known for its legalized squats. The squats were occupied in 1981 and became a figurehead for autonomist and anti-imperialist politics. After a prolonged battle with the city council which involved demonstrations of over 10,000 people, the buildings were legalized in the 1990s. Today they are owned by a self-organised cooperative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwangju Uprising</span> 1980 anti-government uprising in South Korea

The Gwangju Uprising, known in Korean as May 18, were student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980. The uprising was in response to the coup d'état of May Seventeenth that installed Chun Doo-hwan as military dictator and the implementation of martial law. Following his ascent to power, Chun arrested opposition leaders, closed all universities, banned political activities, and suppressed the press. The uprising was violently suppressed by the South Korean military with the approval and logistical support of the United States under Carter administration, which feared the uprising might spread to other cities and tempt North Korea to interfere. The uprising is also known as the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, the Gwangju Democratization Struggle, the May 18 Democratic Uprising or the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infoshop</span> Space for distributing political and subcultural information

Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer flyers, posters, zines, pamphlets and books for sale or donation. Other items such as badges, locally produced artworks and T-shirts are also often available. Infoshops can also provide printing and copying facilities for people to produce their own literature or have a meeting space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social movement theory</span> Interdisciplinary social study

Social movement theory is an interdisciplinary study within the social sciences that generally seeks to explain why social mobilization occurs, the forms under which it manifests, as well as potential social, cultural, political, and economic consequences, such as the creation and functioning of social movements.

Autonomism, also known as Autonomist Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism. Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio as well as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno and Franco "Bifo" Berardi.

Jack A. Goldstone is an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian, specializing in studies of social movements, revolutions, political demography, and the 'Rise of the West' in world history. He is an author or editor of 13 books and over 150 research articles. He is recognized as one of the leading authorities on the study of revolutions and long-term social change.

Prefigurative politics are the modes of organization and social relationships that strive to reflect the future society being sought by the group. According to Carl Boggs, who coined the term, the desire is to embody "within the ongoing political practice of a movement [...] those forms of social relations, decision-making, culture, and human experience that are the ultimate goal". Besides this definition, Leach also gave light to the definition of the concept stating that the term "refers to a political orientation based on the premise that the ends a social movement achieves are fundamentally shaped by the means it employs, and that movement should therefore do their best to choose means that embody or prefigure the kind of society they want to bring about". Prefigurativism is the attempt to enact prefigurative politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neozapatismo</span> Political philosophy of Mexicos Zapatista Army of National Liberation

Neozapatismo or neozapatism is the political philosophy and practice devised and employed by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, who have instituted governments in a number of communities in Chiapas, Mexico, since the beginning of the Chiapas conflict. According to its adherents, it is not an ideology: "Zapatismo is not a new political ideology or a rehash of old ideologies. .. There are no universal recipes, lines, strategies, tactics, laws, rules or slogans. There is only a desire: to build a better world, that is, a new world."

Charles Derber is an American Professor of Sociology at Boston College. His work focuses on the crises of capitalism, globalization, corporate power, neo-fascism, American militarism, the culture of hegemony, the climate crisis, and the new peace and global justice movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapatista uprising</span> 1994 Uprising in Mexico by the Zaptistas

On 1 January 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) coordinated a 12-day uprising in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, in protest against the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The rebels occupied cities and towns in Chiapas, releasing prisoners and destroying land records. After battles with the Mexican Army and police, a ceasefire was brokered on 12 January.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities</span> Zapatista territories in Chiapas, Mexico

The Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities were the basic governmental units utilized until 2023 within the de facto autonomous territories controlled by neo-Zapatista support bases in the Mexican state of Chiapas. They were founded following the Zapatista uprising which took place in 1994 and were part of the wider Chiapas conflict. Despite attempts at negotiation with the Mexican government which resulted in the San Andrés Accords in 1996, the region's autonomy remains unrecognized by that government.

The 1988 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank were met with an international protest in West Berlin. Whereas the organizations' earlier meetings were met with smaller, national protests, the 1988 meetings attracted protesters internationally against what was the largest assembly of the international monetary order since the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. Protesters demonstrated against the IMF's austerity policies towards developing nations. Representatives from Third World countries called for debt cancellation, and others advocated for solutions to world hunger and poverty. Due to the protest's high-profile venue, media outlets extensively covered the protests. Later IMF and World Bank meetings received smaller protests, but following the 1999 Seattle WTO protests, all meetings of the IMF, World Bank, G7, and G8 summits were met with significant protests.

References

  1. "George Katsiaficas biography". Eros Effect - George Katsiaficas. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  2. "1968, 40 Years Later: Student, Worker Protests Sweep France, Leaving Indelible Mark on the Country and the World". Democracy Now! . Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  3. LoPatin-Lummis, Nancy (January 1998), Review of Katsiaficas, George, The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonialization of Everyday Life, H-Review, H-Review, retrieved 2019-09-04
  4. "The Subversion of Politics – European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  5. "George Katsiaficas | 48 publications | University of California, San Diego, California | UCSD | Department of Sociology". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  6. "Subversion of Politics". AK Press . Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  7. "Against the Grain". KPFA . September 8, 2009. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  8. "Caucus for a New Political Science – To make the study of politics relevant to the struggle for a better world" . Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  9. Gandio, Jason Del; Thompson, A.K. (2017-08-28). Spontaneous Combustion: The Eros Effect and Global Revolution. SUNY Press. pp. 1–10. ISBN   9781438467276.

See also