Feminist Antifascism. Counterpublics of the Common

by Ewa Majewska

An incisive theoretical manifesto arguing that feminism is the only route to an antifascist global future

In this exciting, innovative work, Polish feminist philosopher Ewa Majewska maps the creation of feminist counterpublics around the world—spaces of protest and ideas, community and common struggle—that can challenge the emergence of fascist states as well as Western democratic “public spheres” populated by atomised, individual subjects.

Drawing from Eastern Europe and the Global South, Majewska describes the mass labour movement of Poland’s Solidarność in 1980 and contemporary feminist movements across Poland and South America, arguing that it is outside of the West that we can see the most promising left futures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Politics, Philosophy, Theory, Gender, 21st Century

198 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2021

About the author

Ewa Alicja Majewska is a Polish philosopher, political activist and an author. In the 1990s and early 2000s, she was involved in anarchist, anti-border, ecological and women's movements.

She is a contributor to prominent international conferences, projects and published articles and essays, in journals, magazines, and collected volumes, including: e-flux, Signs, Third Text, Journal of Utopian Studies, and Jacobin.

She was visiting fellow at UC Berkeley, Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna) and is currently affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Inquiry (Berlin).

Reviews

[John Mihelic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading more theory lately, and a lot of it does do that thing where it is written in a way that feels deliberately obtuse stylistically. Thankfully, Majewska does not do that here. Her book calls for important third places against fascism and for feminism (thus the title and subtitle). However, what this book does do is assume familiarity of the reader for a lot of different other theorists. There’s a section on 131-2 that just drops the names of 10 different theorists and though I have heard of most of them she didn’t really even give a shorthand of the ideas of all of them. Partly on me, but it makes following along a bit harder. What’s weird is that there’s a chapter on the Polish Solidarity movement where she goes over the movement’s history and I think that because she isn’t assuming that people know that history she goes into detail and though it is more alien to me, it is the most successful essay of the book. Overall, another interesting offering from Verso but had some hurdles for me.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful analysis of a variety of different philosophical and political concepts, coalescing to make the case for marxist feminism being the most effective way to oppose fascism - in no small part because fascism so clearly centres on a narrow biopolitical view of gender and bodily autonomy. A persuasive case is made for moving past a constrictive view of public/private space which inherantly lends itself to a constrictive liberal/conservative outlook on what is and isn't political. Counterpublics are the central theme of the book, and interesting points are made using the Solidarity movement in 80s Poland and international women's movements in the wake of #MeToo. Ewa Majewska is clearly a talented writer and philosopher; the book is frankly worth it simply for its strong bibliography, though my reading list now teeters dnagerously.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this could have been a bit longer, in order to really drive home some of the theoretical points and stances that some people may not be as familiar with. However, I do think that this helped me understand a very unique sort of feminist perspective. Poland is such an interesting example in the grand scheme of things, as it has been seen as European, non-European, western, non-western, and even soviet, but not soviet. Such a unique history will, of course, result in unique responses to right-wing or fascist movements.

One of my favorite quotes from Majewska is; "An emancipated academia needs to be practiced, sometimes also by failing, otherwise it will remain theory." (88).

If we want to fight back against fascism, how can we expect to do it through an unpracticed, only read and discussed, theory?