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Poesia dal futuro. Manifesto per un movimento di liberazione planetario
Un manifesto appassionato, un testo necessario nell'epoca dei populismi e del ripiegamento su se stessi.
«Un radicale appello all'azione. La medicina perfetta per la malinconia di sinistra» – Alfonso Cuarón
«Una visione trascinante, una necessità urgente, e alla nostra portata» – Noam Chomsky
Dov'è finita la democrazia? Come (ri)trovarla? Le grandi mobilitazioni del XX secolo non corrispondono più alla realtà del nostro mondo, e dall'inizio degli anni duemila nessuna ha avuto presa sulla marcia del mondo. È tempo di reinventare l'azione popolare e lo testimoniano le manifestazioni a cui oggi assistiamo in tutto il mondo, dal Cile a Hong Kong, dal movimento di Greta Thunberg alle Sardine nelle piazze italiane: ma per produrre un vero cambiamento dobbiamo prima andare oltre il nostro modo di pensare, oltre le frontiere, le identità nazionali e le narrazioni del passato per creare un nuovo modo di vivere insieme. Horvat ha scritto un manifesto appassionato, un testo necessario nell'epoca dei populismi e del ripiegamento su se stessi.
«Un radicale appello all'azione. La medicina perfetta per la malinconia di sinistra» – Alfonso Cuarón
«Una visione trascinante, una necessità urgente, e alla nostra portata» – Noam Chomsky
Dov'è finita la democrazia? Come (ri)trovarla? Le grandi mobilitazioni del XX secolo non corrispondono più alla realtà del nostro mondo, e dall'inizio degli anni duemila nessuna ha avuto presa sulla marcia del mondo. È tempo di reinventare l'azione popolare e lo testimoniano le manifestazioni a cui oggi assistiamo in tutto il mondo, dal Cile a Hong Kong, dal movimento di Greta Thunberg alle Sardine nelle piazze italiane: ma per produrre un vero cambiamento dobbiamo prima andare oltre il nostro modo di pensare, oltre le frontiere, le identità nazionali e le narrazioni del passato per creare un nuovo modo di vivere insieme. Horvat ha scritto un manifesto appassionato, un testo necessario nell'epoca dei populismi e del ripiegamento su se stessi.
324 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2021
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626 people want to read
About the author
Srećko Horvat
33 books133 followersSrećko Horvat is a Croatian philosopher, author and political activist.
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November 14, 2023Hırvat düşünür Horvat’ın pandemi sonrası dünyaya bakışımızı sorgulamamızı amaçlayan kitabı. Küresel kurtuluş hareketi adını verdiği hareketin dirilmesi gerektiğini söylüyor. Bazı kavramları eski geldi bana. Demokrasi krizi yaşandığı solun en sık kullandığı tezi. Dünya sistemine bakınca bu krizlerin pek bir anlama gelmediğini görüyoruz. İşte kitabın önemi burada. Umutsuzluk anlarında dahi umudun önemini de gösteriyor. Gezi’nin de aralarında olduğu yakın dönemli isyanları da ele alıyor. Küçük bir kitap olmasına karşın okumaya değer.
October 21, 2020
A wonderfully inspiring book carefully builds a case for "hope without optimism" by emphasizing the many ways in which better futures are already available to us: we just need to learn to recognize them.
August 14, 2020
Hope without optimism. Brilliant.
June 24, 2020
Imaginative (the kind of Left-Wing Promethean that we need, urgently), erudite, contradictory... this is a compelling book by the Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvart, who is one the most interesting European intellectuals writing today. This book takes up the genre of a revolutionary pamphlet, yet it isn't entirely consumed by an air of seriousness (there are Zizekian hums of irony throughout--). Poetry is broadly defined, more so as a verb than a noun, drawing from the Greek conception of poiesis. Horvat urges us to create new forms, for there is no end of history, only new forms of control. . . and so imaginative resistances are needed.
January 20, 2020
Srećko Horvart, a philosopher from Croatia, is one of the most interesting thinkers in Europe today (don’t take my word for it: the German magazine Der Freitag has called him as “one of the most exciting voices of his generation”). He is also a political activist, involved in many causes across Europe and co-founder of the pan-European Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (Diem25). His new book, “Poetry from the Future: Why a Global Liberation Movement Is Our Civilisation’s Last Chance” is a passionate — yet historically-grounded — call for bold political action. He puts current events into historical context, and cogently argues for radical democracy, internationalist approach.
Written in a clear, straight-forward style and making ample references to literature and history but also pop music, punk culture, cinema and TV series, the book is very accessible — contrary to what its somber subject could lead one to expect. Written from the perspective of a privileged white, cis male European — like myself and, I suppose, most of his readers — he is constantly challenging us to think beyond our immediate reality: “We have to ask why all this — the refugee crisis, terrorism, the militarization of our cities — wasn’t normal in Europe until this point. Or, to put it another way, why was it normal in all other parts of the world, but not in the West?” (p. 62).
Significantly, Horvart makes us confront our own responsibility in the current abysmal state of affairs — “our task today is to be aware of the steps we are taking: to realize that the real question is not how did all this — Donald Trump, the disintegration of the EU, refugee camps, walls, climate change and new wars — come about, but what were the steps we ourselves took during all this” (p. 74). He talks about the importance of “acquiring a political subjectivity through the experience of organizing and protesting, of confronting the system and one’s own contradictions, and last but not least, of sharing comradeships, and friendships across identities and borders, this feeling of togetherness” (p. 33) and for that “we need news songs” both “metaphorically and literally” (p. 34). In order for this to be achieved, we have “to create the conditions for our own future, not to follow the already written script from the past: it means to produce a crack in the present, a disruption in the imposition of capitalist temporality, the rhythm of power” (p. 137). Importantly, Horvart formulates a constructive way for activists and grassroots movements to frame the defeats of the past: “it is out of these defeats that we must learn and build something different: a stronger movement. And so, the struggle goes on: from protests to general strikes, from refugee solidarity movements to cooperative markets. It is this hope without optimism that can carry us into the future, because it salvages what has passed not as something that has to be repeated, but as a potential that might lead in new directions and that can still — if we keep constantly in mind the lesson that there is no final defeat — change the present” (p. 100).
In sum, this book manages to find hope (albeit a “hope without optimism”) in our desperate times, grounded in history and in activism. It is a timely reminder that nothing is set in stones, destiny is in our hands, the future is ours to make — but it requires political engagement. It is a great antidote to the feeling of impotence and incapacity that so many in the Left feel today.
Written in a clear, straight-forward style and making ample references to literature and history but also pop music, punk culture, cinema and TV series, the book is very accessible — contrary to what its somber subject could lead one to expect. Written from the perspective of a privileged white, cis male European — like myself and, I suppose, most of his readers — he is constantly challenging us to think beyond our immediate reality: “We have to ask why all this — the refugee crisis, terrorism, the militarization of our cities — wasn’t normal in Europe until this point. Or, to put it another way, why was it normal in all other parts of the world, but not in the West?” (p. 62).
Significantly, Horvart makes us confront our own responsibility in the current abysmal state of affairs — “our task today is to be aware of the steps we are taking: to realize that the real question is not how did all this — Donald Trump, the disintegration of the EU, refugee camps, walls, climate change and new wars — come about, but what were the steps we ourselves took during all this” (p. 74). He talks about the importance of “acquiring a political subjectivity through the experience of organizing and protesting, of confronting the system and one’s own contradictions, and last but not least, of sharing comradeships, and friendships across identities and borders, this feeling of togetherness” (p. 33) and for that “we need news songs” both “metaphorically and literally” (p. 34). In order for this to be achieved, we have “to create the conditions for our own future, not to follow the already written script from the past: it means to produce a crack in the present, a disruption in the imposition of capitalist temporality, the rhythm of power” (p. 137). Importantly, Horvart formulates a constructive way for activists and grassroots movements to frame the defeats of the past: “it is out of these defeats that we must learn and build something different: a stronger movement. And so, the struggle goes on: from protests to general strikes, from refugee solidarity movements to cooperative markets. It is this hope without optimism that can carry us into the future, because it salvages what has passed not as something that has to be repeated, but as a potential that might lead in new directions and that can still — if we keep constantly in mind the lesson that there is no final defeat — change the present” (p. 100).
In sum, this book manages to find hope (albeit a “hope without optimism”) in our desperate times, grounded in history and in activism. It is a timely reminder that nothing is set in stones, destiny is in our hands, the future is ours to make — but it requires political engagement. It is a great antidote to the feeling of impotence and incapacity that so many in the Left feel today.
May 17, 2020
Srećko Horvat's new book offers a decent analysis of the failed projects while at the same time urges us that we learn from our past mistakes but aim towards something much more radical (what would draw its strength from the future rather than from the past).
However, it is only in the last two chapters that Horvat discusses what he calls global liberation movement and how it may be constructed, while the preceding chapters deal with the promising movements and events from the recent history that nonetheless failed to bring a change (Greek Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, Gezi Park, etc). The book consists of narrative segments in which Horvat retells his personal experiences (his journeys, activism and interviews), descriptions of the important historico-political events (apart from the recent ones Horvat pays much attention to the Partisan movement from the WW2) and theoretical discussions of the concepts such as state of exception (G. Agamben), machinic enslavement (M. Lazzarato), hope without optimism (T. Eagleton) and others. While Horvat isn't inventive in the way that would suppose creating new concepts (he rather borrows from other authors), what he tries to do instead is to connect concepts with particular historico-political events (thus we get analysis of hope without optimism in the context of Syriza). By doing that, Horvat enables readers to recognize specific (philosophical) importance of a particular event - its Truth - while at the same time he makes philosophical concepts more concrete, so to say.
To summarize, this is not a work of original (inventive) thinker (many of Horvat's thesis can also be found in the recent books by Slavoj Žižek) but it is a fairly good introduction into our global predicaments with few important points regarding "the global liberation movement" which need further elaboration.
However, it is only in the last two chapters that Horvat discusses what he calls global liberation movement and how it may be constructed, while the preceding chapters deal with the promising movements and events from the recent history that nonetheless failed to bring a change (Greek Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, Gezi Park, etc). The book consists of narrative segments in which Horvat retells his personal experiences (his journeys, activism and interviews), descriptions of the important historico-political events (apart from the recent ones Horvat pays much attention to the Partisan movement from the WW2) and theoretical discussions of the concepts such as state of exception (G. Agamben), machinic enslavement (M. Lazzarato), hope without optimism (T. Eagleton) and others. While Horvat isn't inventive in the way that would suppose creating new concepts (he rather borrows from other authors), what he tries to do instead is to connect concepts with particular historico-political events (thus we get analysis of hope without optimism in the context of Syriza). By doing that, Horvat enables readers to recognize specific (philosophical) importance of a particular event - its Truth - while at the same time he makes philosophical concepts more concrete, so to say.
To summarize, this is not a work of original (inventive) thinker (many of Horvat's thesis can also be found in the recent books by Slavoj Žižek) but it is a fairly good introduction into our global predicaments with few important points regarding "the global liberation movement" which need further elaboration.
August 6, 2020
Read this book in one go. Manifesto of our age. Must read for everyone. A vector for left and the world towards the future, with hope but without optimism.
December 20, 2021
“Only a few years ago, if someone told you children would be filling detention camps in the United States and boats with exhausted refugees would be turned away from European ports, it might have sounded like a dark fantasy.”
This felt like a pleasing blend of Slavoj Zizek, an Adam Curtis documentary and Dasa Drndic’s exceptional “Trieste”. Taking the small Croatian island of Vis as a starting point, using its fascinating history and stubborn resistance to the Nazis and Italians during WWII, Horvat uses this as a reference point and source of inspiration and sets off from there.
One of the many memorable aspects he zones in on is the widespread and increasing criminalisation of protest, citing the events at the Hamburg G20 in 2017. He talks about the shocking case of Eleanor Jones, who got stopped and arrested at Edinburgh airport under the Terrorism Act 2000, she was questioned about her political beliefs, forced to surrender phone and laptop passwords and later transferred to a police station where she had a DNA sample and her fingerprints taken. All of this because she had attended the protests in Hamburg.
I also learned what Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are, apparently these are 10 x 10 cm concrete cubes which bear the names of victims of the Nazis, and as of January 2017 over 56,000 of these were laid in 22 European countries, making them the world’s largest decentralised memorial.
Horvat makes a good point comparing the idea of protest with the Herzog documentary, “My Best Fiend”. He also covers the likes of Machinic enslavement, Heterotopia and Denkverbot (prohibition to think) and the controversial “Auschwitz On The Beach”. Elsewhere he utilises aspects of the “The Circle”, “We”, “Leftovers”, “The Handmaid’s Tale”. A word of warning though, many of his forays into these reference points results in a bit of a spoiler frenzy!
I really enjoyed this, I learned a lot and got a lot out of it. This is good reading for those who enjoy political books with a bit of fire in the belly. Horvat seems a likely successor to Zizek, having already co-authored a book with him. Either way, this is strong and memorable writing by a fresh and engaging political voice.
December 17, 2020
Εξαιρετικά εύπεπτο καί ξεκούραστο ανάγνωσμα. Δεν ξέρω πως μπόρεσε ο Horvat να ξεκινήσει από τον β π.π καί νά φτάσει στον Trump καί τά drones μέσα σέ 190 σελίδες,αλλά τά κατάφερε.
Παρόλο πού μέσα σέ ένα τόσο σύντομο έργο τίποτα από όλα αυτά δεν μπορεί νά αναλυθεί σέ βάθος, καί είναι πολύ εύκολο νά ρίξει ένα βιβλίο στα σκουπίδια, εδώ βλέπουμε μία από τις ελάχιστες φορές πού δεν έγινε αυτό.
Οι ιστορικές παραπομπές τού καί όι αναφορές/παραλληλισμοί τού σε έργα τής pop κουλτούρας ( μουσική, ταινίες), σέ συνδιασμό με τον τρόπο πού χρησιμοποιεί τα Αγγλικά ο συγγραφέας -πού δεν είναι η μητρική του γλώσσα- κάνουν αυτό τό βιβλίο πολύ ευχάριστο, σαφές και σύγχρονο.
Οι περιγραφές γεγονότων πού ήταν παρών (π.χ στο δημοψήφισμα τού 2015 στην πλατεία Συντάγματος) είναι συναρπαστικές, όμως καμια από τίς ιδεες πού προτείνει δεν είναι"δικια" του.
Σάν ποιότητα γραφής απέχει αρκετά από το επίπεδο των Chomsky,Greaber ή Agamben π.χ, αλλά είναι μία αρκετά αξιοπρεπής απόπειρα από έναν νέο πολιτικό συγγραφέα νά ενώσει μία πληθώρα ιδεών καί ιστορικών συμπερασμάτων για νά εμφυσήσει "ελπίδα χωρίς αισιοδοξία" στόν αναγνώστη, χωρίς νά κουράζει με ψευτο-διανοουμενισμους καί άχρηστη φλυαρία.
Παρόλο πού μέσα σέ ένα τόσο σύντομο έργο τίποτα από όλα αυτά δεν μπορεί νά αναλυθεί σέ βάθος, καί είναι πολύ εύκολο νά ρίξει ένα βιβλίο στα σκουπίδια, εδώ βλέπουμε μία από τις ελάχιστες φορές πού δεν έγινε αυτό.
Οι ιστορικές παραπομπές τού καί όι αναφορές/παραλληλισμοί τού σε έργα τής pop κουλτούρας ( μουσική, ταινίες), σέ συνδιασμό με τον τρόπο πού χρησιμοποιεί τα Αγγλικά ο συγγραφέας -πού δεν είναι η μητρική του γλώσσα- κάνουν αυτό τό βιβλίο πολύ ευχάριστο, σαφές και σύγχρονο.
Οι περιγραφές γεγονότων πού ήταν παρών (π.χ στο δημοψήφισμα τού 2015 στην πλατεία Συντάγματος) είναι συναρπαστικές, όμως καμια από τίς ιδεες πού προτείνει δεν είναι"δικια" του.
Σάν ποιότητα γραφής απέχει αρκετά από το επίπεδο των Chomsky,Greaber ή Agamben π.χ, αλλά είναι μία αρκετά αξιοπρεπής απόπειρα από έναν νέο πολιτικό συγγραφέα νά ενώσει μία πληθώρα ιδεών καί ιστορικών συμπερασμάτων για νά εμφυσήσει "ελπίδα χωρίς αισιοδοξία" στόν αναγνώστη, χωρίς νά κουράζει με ψευτο-διανοουμενισμους καί άχρηστη φλυαρία.
May 16, 2020
Interesante para entender el presente analizando el pasado.
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May 13, 2023'There is no escape. Except, maybe, for the very rich.'
February 18, 2021
Horvat debate sobre el sentimiento apocalíptico que, supuestamente, rodea a Europa y que se debate en no hacer nada porque todo está perdido o que se prepara para el Apocalipsis “que viene en el futuro”, negando las posibilidades del presente. Es un libro interesante, supongo, pero me pareció tremendamente centrado en las disquisiciones políticas del varón blanco de cierta elite, incluso usando mucha teoría de varones blancos del siglo XX. No sé. Me parece que ahí mismo, en Europa, hay mucho más vida teórica -y practica- desde el transfeminismo, el posthumanismo, incluso desde el decrecimiento. El debate apocalíptico me parece una lata, sobre todo cuando hay millones de personas donde la pregunta política que se plantea Horvat no es ni una posibilidad pues su praxis -y la poiesis que rescata Horvat- es la única vía de supervivencia.
December 23, 2020
A book for all the people who don't want neoliberal or neofascist politics ruling the globe. There is a third option for all the creative and humanistic comrades out there. Let us make the future together in the now.
May 26, 2020
"Nuestra parte de noche, ubicada en la Argentina de los años 60, emana un contexto de duras represiones, controles policiales y un recorrido de fuertes imposiciones sociales. En ella, se entrelazan aspectos más próximos, como bien, el poder, la violencia familiar o la promiscuidad con elementos fantásticos, la existencia de una Orden basada en la maldad, cuyo único objetivo es la supervivencia por encima de cualquier impedimento humano. En ella, Gaspar, protagonista principal de la novela, se ve con la necesidad de madurar y afrontar situaciones como la relación de un padre enfermo, la carga de una bárbara herencia o escenas donde la malicia cobra el mayor de los aspectos humanos.
La narración es fuerte, directa e, incluso, incansable. Mariana Enríquez pretende disolver la línea que separa lo real de lo irreal. De entender la potencia de unas palabras como ahora el poder, la maldad, la violencia, el terror o la repugnancia. Trata de desdibujar mitos con el fin de hacerlos próximos. Enríquez cree en la necesidad de hacer ver al lector que la muerte o lo macabro puede estar más presente de como nosotros mismos nos pensamos. De ver, en primera persona, la dureza de unos cuerpos torturados. Mentes violadas con la única voluntad incesante de encontrar un hilo de esperanza o una supuesta felicidad marcada." Laura Sala
La narración es fuerte, directa e, incluso, incansable. Mariana Enríquez pretende disolver la línea que separa lo real de lo irreal. De entender la potencia de unas palabras como ahora el poder, la maldad, la violencia, el terror o la repugnancia. Trata de desdibujar mitos con el fin de hacerlos próximos. Enríquez cree en la necesidad de hacer ver al lector que la muerte o lo macabro puede estar más presente de como nosotros mismos nos pensamos. De ver, en primera persona, la dureza de unos cuerpos torturados. Mentes violadas con la única voluntad incesante de encontrar un hilo de esperanza o una supuesta felicidad marcada." Laura Sala
February 28, 2025
It starts as a rather tiresome anarchist preaching. Activist heroism that belongs to the sort of young people who usually have many ideals but have no desire for the further democratic development of them, other than founding their own community in which they can show correct behavior. Unworldly? Well, perhaps.
It is all certainly not unsympathetic. In fact, the story represents the view of the 'alterglobalists' from the period around the turn of the millennium, who mobilized many demonstrators during major economic summits. At that time there was no extreme right. The only counter-movement that seemed to exist was precisely the left. Different times.
Horvath now warns against everything we absolutely must be warned against: BigTech, Trump and the extreme right, ecological catastrophe. It is no fun to read this, but, like so many other books do today, it gives an overview of disaster.
How can we prevent Auschwitz from happening again? By fighting despair with hope, as old WW II freedom-fighter Stéphane Hessel teaches us. There are several uprisings that could give us hope and belonging: the Arab spring, Occupy Wall Street, Gezi Park, etc. But this is meanwhile about 15 years ago. Greta Thunberg, Black Lives Matter, Metoo, etc. Between 5 and 10 years ago. What will be up now?
As a reader, I get more involved towards the end of the book, when Horvath notes the following: “Thanks to technology, personal friendships and shared struggles, today’s movements are already more or less connected, but there is an absence of leadership on the transnational level, a lack of the kind of decision making needed to transform this connectedness into a global resistance and liberation struggle. How can horizontality and verticality be effectively combined?” (p.123)
This is a very sensible question. His answer to it helps in outlining the shape of a counter-movement. “Long term geopolitical, social and economic solutions can be achieved only by a mutually connected movement with a leadership structure at all levels: local, national, international” (p.124). Horvath tells about Yugoslav refugees in WW II in the Sinai Desert in El Shatt, Egypt: vertical leadership in the Partisan movement was combined with horizontality in the localized construction of a new society, thus making the first successful experience of Yugoslav self-management possible. As if a typical Yugoslav citizen of the seventies, Horvath is inspired by the then existing Non-Aligned Movement: ‘What we need is a rebooted non-aligned movement, one refocused on the struggle against all forms of occupation by capital. (…) It should not only consist of governments (there are not that many progressive governments yet). It would embrace movements operating horizontally. (…) This new global resistance and liberation movement would need strong anchors (movements, trade unions, whistleblowers, political parties, governments) in the most developed capitalist countries (US, Germany, but also Russia, China, South Korea and others). This new movement would not limit itself to annual meetings, networking and declarations. It would undertake concrete and coordinated local, national and transnational actions that would be able to tackle and solve the crucial threats to humanity – ecological disasters, migration, subjugation to capitalism an techno-totalitarianism.’ (p.127-128). This is Horvath’s ‘third option’, a midway between the Neoliberal Austerity International and the Fascist International, a global movement that can effectively oppose both.
Why ‘Poetry from the Future’? We have to get inspired from, and collect hope for what is possible. ‘Poiesis’ means ‘bringing something into being’. Next to ‘praxis’ (action), this is an essential ingredient for the movement Horvath pleads for. ‘Instead of breaking into the future with eyes turned to the past, a truly new social revolution must draw its content from the future.’ (p.131). And no, we should not despair, for we should have an understanding of history as Kairos: time as an open and unfinished process. (p.132). Not Kronos, time as a straight line from which one cannot escape. Horvath, as a real warrior, argues for a mentality of taking courage from comrades’ perishing, of living 'as if the comrades and their struggles are here, in the now-time, to debate with them here and now, to quarrel if needed, to think and to re-think, to have fun, to laugh and play and dream together. (…) We have to understand the temporality of struggle as something which is not kronos, a mere succession of events (e.g. the French Revolution, the anti-slavery movement, the Partisans), but another space, another time, another reality which is not past but is here and now'. (p.133)
Horvath is as radical as one can be: ‘The only seemingly paradoxical answer to the cancellation of the future is now. It is, as counterintuitive as it might seem at first glance, precisely the inevitable collapse of civilization which – today more than ever – makes revolution inevitable. If there is no revolution, it is surely the end of the world.’ (p.134)
Wow. Youthful activist reasoning. As old as the world. Scary. It makes me wonder: does it, in this moment in world history, indeed take a warrior mentality to fight for the good cause? Or could/ should it be done democratically, by talking with other people who don’t share your point of view? In this book, Horvath makes quite clear what a revolutionary mentality might entail.
It is all certainly not unsympathetic. In fact, the story represents the view of the 'alterglobalists' from the period around the turn of the millennium, who mobilized many demonstrators during major economic summits. At that time there was no extreme right. The only counter-movement that seemed to exist was precisely the left. Different times.
Horvath now warns against everything we absolutely must be warned against: BigTech, Trump and the extreme right, ecological catastrophe. It is no fun to read this, but, like so many other books do today, it gives an overview of disaster.
How can we prevent Auschwitz from happening again? By fighting despair with hope, as old WW II freedom-fighter Stéphane Hessel teaches us. There are several uprisings that could give us hope and belonging: the Arab spring, Occupy Wall Street, Gezi Park, etc. But this is meanwhile about 15 years ago. Greta Thunberg, Black Lives Matter, Metoo, etc. Between 5 and 10 years ago. What will be up now?
As a reader, I get more involved towards the end of the book, when Horvath notes the following: “Thanks to technology, personal friendships and shared struggles, today’s movements are already more or less connected, but there is an absence of leadership on the transnational level, a lack of the kind of decision making needed to transform this connectedness into a global resistance and liberation struggle. How can horizontality and verticality be effectively combined?” (p.123)
This is a very sensible question. His answer to it helps in outlining the shape of a counter-movement. “Long term geopolitical, social and economic solutions can be achieved only by a mutually connected movement with a leadership structure at all levels: local, national, international” (p.124). Horvath tells about Yugoslav refugees in WW II in the Sinai Desert in El Shatt, Egypt: vertical leadership in the Partisan movement was combined with horizontality in the localized construction of a new society, thus making the first successful experience of Yugoslav self-management possible. As if a typical Yugoslav citizen of the seventies, Horvath is inspired by the then existing Non-Aligned Movement: ‘What we need is a rebooted non-aligned movement, one refocused on the struggle against all forms of occupation by capital. (…) It should not only consist of governments (there are not that many progressive governments yet). It would embrace movements operating horizontally. (…) This new global resistance and liberation movement would need strong anchors (movements, trade unions, whistleblowers, political parties, governments) in the most developed capitalist countries (US, Germany, but also Russia, China, South Korea and others). This new movement would not limit itself to annual meetings, networking and declarations. It would undertake concrete and coordinated local, national and transnational actions that would be able to tackle and solve the crucial threats to humanity – ecological disasters, migration, subjugation to capitalism an techno-totalitarianism.’ (p.127-128). This is Horvath’s ‘third option’, a midway between the Neoliberal Austerity International and the Fascist International, a global movement that can effectively oppose both.
Why ‘Poetry from the Future’? We have to get inspired from, and collect hope for what is possible. ‘Poiesis’ means ‘bringing something into being’. Next to ‘praxis’ (action), this is an essential ingredient for the movement Horvath pleads for. ‘Instead of breaking into the future with eyes turned to the past, a truly new social revolution must draw its content from the future.’ (p.131). And no, we should not despair, for we should have an understanding of history as Kairos: time as an open and unfinished process. (p.132). Not Kronos, time as a straight line from which one cannot escape. Horvath, as a real warrior, argues for a mentality of taking courage from comrades’ perishing, of living 'as if the comrades and their struggles are here, in the now-time, to debate with them here and now, to quarrel if needed, to think and to re-think, to have fun, to laugh and play and dream together. (…) We have to understand the temporality of struggle as something which is not kronos, a mere succession of events (e.g. the French Revolution, the anti-slavery movement, the Partisans), but another space, another time, another reality which is not past but is here and now'. (p.133)
Horvath is as radical as one can be: ‘The only seemingly paradoxical answer to the cancellation of the future is now. It is, as counterintuitive as it might seem at first glance, precisely the inevitable collapse of civilization which – today more than ever – makes revolution inevitable. If there is no revolution, it is surely the end of the world.’ (p.134)
Wow. Youthful activist reasoning. As old as the world. Scary. It makes me wonder: does it, in this moment in world history, indeed take a warrior mentality to fight for the good cause? Or could/ should it be done democratically, by talking with other people who don’t share your point of view? In this book, Horvath makes quite clear what a revolutionary mentality might entail.
February 6, 2020
First of all, this took me a long time to finish, mainly because I only read it intermittently e.g. a chapter between finishing each work of fiction. This was because a) I much prefer reading fiction, and b) I found it very hard going ...
That said, it’s probably me not the book. It was well written, but more importantly contains a key message about how we survive and prosper in the future, and how capitalism (as understood and functioning in the West) just isn’t working.
I met Srećko at an event in London on 14.5.19 - where I bought the book - top man. I’d be delighted if he was the UK’s elected Head of State (instead of our ridiculous Queen).
That said, it’s probably me not the book. It was well written, but more importantly contains a key message about how we survive and prosper in the future, and how capitalism (as understood and functioning in the West) just isn’t working.
I met Srećko at an event in London on 14.5.19 - where I bought the book - top man. I’d be delighted if he was the UK’s elected Head of State (instead of our ridiculous Queen).
November 14, 2020
There something fresh about this book. It gives another perspective for figuring out time. The time that has passed while watching how some systems disintegrated (communism, social democracies..), and the rise of capitalism that got us to the brink of the inevitable Apocalypse in the future. The book somewhat gives hope that there are things that need to be focused on such as the constant struggle for the better cause and wellbeing on a micro-scale. There are several interesting examples and quotations that I can really agree on. In my personal opinion, some issues could be more elaborated.
July 22, 2019
To preserve civilisation, we need to build a new community.
And to build that community, we can to look to examples from recent history and around us today. Yugoslavia in World War II, when the resistance was probably the most effective in Europe. Communes in Catalunya, finding ways to live after the 2008 crash. The G20 protests in Hamburg two years ago.
Melancholia is an indulgence. We must have hope, even if we lack optimism.
And to build that community, we can to look to examples from recent history and around us today. Yugoslavia in World War II, when the resistance was probably the most effective in Europe. Communes in Catalunya, finding ways to live after the 2008 crash. The G20 protests in Hamburg two years ago.
Melancholia is an indulgence. We must have hope, even if we lack optimism.
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April 8, 2020Review by Raluca Bejan:
Author and activist Srećko Horvat's new book is billed as a guidebook for building "a new radical internationalism" that can help us transcend our current moment of "apocalyptic politics." Horvat's claims to radical novelty are ironic, however, since his work seems to be a poor imitation of the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
Continue reading: https://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2019/...
Author and activist Srećko Horvat's new book is billed as a guidebook for building "a new radical internationalism" that can help us transcend our current moment of "apocalyptic politics." Horvat's claims to radical novelty are ironic, however, since his work seems to be a poor imitation of the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
Continue reading: https://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2019/...
April 12, 2020
"What if the coming apocalypse opens up a chance, maybe for the first time, not only to understand humanity as the whole, as totality, but to create a totality in the sense of a global community that would be structured in a radically different way from the one we are inhabiting now?"
As paradoxical as it might sound, COVID-19 is our chance.
As paradoxical as it might sound, COVID-19 is our chance.
September 15, 2022
Very well written, imaginative and important at the same time. Though the last chapters which moved towards alternative solution and possibilities of new solidarities needed more articulation. There are new ideas which the books brings out but at the same time makes one wanting for more newer ideas to evolve. And therefore, the structure really works.
April 1, 2024
I enjoyed the Hegelian tickling and trickling of time through this slender, bound, hourglass but it reads like a Preface to what might one day be a more substantial work. But it will be too late. And will never arrive. And this should mobilise us, or should have. I’m tempted to build a poetry class around some its more lucid moments.
May 29, 2019
A stunningly clear, and open-eyed book that lays out in simple terms and with great perspicacity the core issues of our time, and, more so, the statement that we must - for all the issues - maintain a statement towards the future, as it is both ever present but always forthcoming and possible.
October 18, 2019
An inspiring and hopeful analysis of why the future must create our desires presently. Srecko is a wonderful person and it comes across the page, especially his desire for change in the midst of terror on all sides. We need poetry now, and we need it more than ever,
July 11, 2021
An outline of some of the world's problems, some examples of counter-capitalism movements the author is in favour of, and a message of hope without optimism that is formulated by a confusing description of a relationship to the present moment.
November 8, 2019
The drama of a Christian White male who feels he does not receive all the entitlements he decided he deserves.
May 7, 2022
a manifesto for the 21st century
August 17, 2022
Bit of a ramble
December 27, 2023
sick! hope without optimism. big recommend to leftie friends who can't bring themselves to see the light at the end of the tunnel but can't bring themselves to give up either.
January 28, 2024
“Hope without optimism.”
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