Anti-Capitalism: A Beginner's Guide

Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)

by Simon Tormey

Every aspect of the anti-capitalist world is covered in this helpful guide, from WOMBLES to Zapatistas, NGOs to environmentalism, Paris 1968 to Seattle, and beyond. Picking up where Naomi Klein left off, this is not so much a manifesto as a roadmap, which captures the essence of the movement, and also articulates a range of possibilities for future alternatives to the corporate domination of our planet.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Economics, History, World History, European History

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Emma Sea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This accidentally ended up being my Christmas Day read :/

very clear, well structured, if perhaps a little heavy on the history of anti-capitalism, at the expense of its future. As with most books critiquing capitalism, i am left wondering what a post-capitalist world might look like, globally. My country is geographically remote and not self-sufficient. How's that going to work?

This is really, truly awful of me, but I ask myself; would I be happy with my country if we increased social equality, but I can't have my MacBook? And I wanna clutch the precious to my chest and growl, "No."

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is great. it covers so many things but still have good analysis. yet, the wrter forget that islamic fundamentalist is also anti-capitalism movement.

[Jonathan Hockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an accurate assessment of what it describes it is good, and for that I give it 4 stars. Of course it is a bit dated now, and I mainly read this as like an autopsy of a type of politics that was mostly finished as a legitimate outlet in the events of 2016, and early 2017. Back in the early 2000's I would have classed myself as among the category of red or green anti-capitalists at one point or another. I certainly opposed the actions of Blair and Bush in the light of 9/11. And I certainly had plenty of time while studying philosophy and sociology at university to become familiarised with radical politics and globalisation, from Karl Marx, to sociologists liks Bauman and GIddens. At the same time, however, I became familiar with the old style of liberal politics, from Adam Smith and Ricardo, to Malthus, Mill, and Herbert Spencer and Hobson. I did consider myself a humanist at one point, I flirted with ideas in Marxism, but I dont think I ever thought too much of socialism. It always seemed like a poor mans compromise with the beast of capitalism. A shady deal done with the devil. It also seemed to me to place too much hope in a kind of rational planning that I knew to be impractical from reading the likes of Adam Smith and more recently Hayek. So, in sum, I have a perspective from which I view this book that shows me its limits, while also appreciating some of its charms. Now I very much position myself as a defender of capitalism for the simple reason that something even more fundamental is under threat now, namely democracy itself. And it is under threat in precisely those areas where capitalism is being eroded, particularly with the global elite who use advertisement, liberal education and the mainstream media to force their perspective on all us to try and fool us there is a consensus, when really it is just their opinion foisted upon us all. These multi-national "owners" of all things do-goodery are using their global influence to undermine the soverignty of nation states, and so undermine their status as representing the interests of their citizens, namely, their very status as democracies. The basic problem with the left at the moment in general, and the reason I have moved to the right, is their unrealistic starting position as being neutral. They feign a political neutrality, a political innocence, that neither they nor anyone else possess. We all have a side, we all are brought up with values we want to preserve, and we must start acknowledging this again in the political discourse if we are to avoid the ridiculous current state of affairs where the political left is hell bent on demonising its opponents without offering anything positive of its own, just more "diversity" measures, more immigrants, more of all the things that give them a moral boost for a few seconds and allow them to ignore the long term backlash of communities falling apart and disintegrating under this diversity, and under their weak-willed, fuzzy-minded, neutralism. In summary to take a line from Dante, "The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." The political left is currently entering that dark place, and we really will do well to not follow them there, and focus instead on conserving some of our own cultures values that come above any and all economic and pragmatic imperatives and dictates, and any and all attempts terrorise or fill us with fear by our enemies. These values for me, are good representative democracy, strong civil society, and since the best way to help keep them solid is capitalism, we will need some form of capitalism alongside them, for all the problems and downsides it may have, and that this book picks up on, and that I am well aware of myself from my own anti capitalist experiences.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blessed unrest

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A very balanced, but ultimately passionate analysis of the movement that brought history and morality back to the political scene, as the author concludes. The book swiftly reviews the array of apparently disparate sub-movements and ideologies that build the rhizomatic structure of anti-capitalism to find necessity in all of them. The roundup culminates in an empathic overview of the zapatista movement. Here is where I find that the generally sound logic of the analysis gets flawed.

Even if the zapatista movement was born in reaction to the NAFTA agreement, which was a neo-liberal measure, it differs from the other movements described in the book in that it speaks in the name of a different culture and people than the culture and people that are in power and the movement aims to contrast. On the other hand, the beauty of the anti-capitalist movement is that it was born and grows inside the culture and people that gave rise to neo-liberal capitalism. The only act of seeing neoliberalism as such when you are born with it and benefit from it is awesome. More awesome if possible in its reaction against its own DNA than the noble, pure stance of the zapatistas that with neoliberalism have nothing to share.

Another reviewer raised that the book fails to include islamist movements under the anti-capitalist banner. As in the case of zapatismo, my point would be that islamist movements are not so much opposed to neoliberal capitalism, as to the takeover of alien cultural elements that they claim undermine the inner strength of Islam.

The Americans that protested in Seattle were instead attempting to change and tame a state of affairs that had become invisibly quintessential to their own and to vast portions of western cultures and societies. There's no place like home to fight a genuine battle in your own name.

On a more personal note, I'm under the impression I have affinities with the international social democratic types, a 'grouping' which the author qualifies as "truly Jacobin" - to my total satisfaction.

[Mislav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction for the total beginner!

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated and a wee bit dry, but overall an okay beginner's guide...

[Worm · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 rounded up to 3. Eh not the best, not the worst, good for an intro to the subject but I'm a bit meh on it

[Cüneyt Şanlı · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bişey anlaşılmıyo dili ağır ve faydalı bişey anlatmıyo sayfa 75e kadar geldim bişey öğrenmedim bide yeni başlayanlar için yazıyo 14 liraya aldım o paraya bile değmedi çöp