CounterpointStimulating debate with the British Council

Is there a part of the world the present financial earthquake hasn’t made itself felt? And yet the voice of a radical politics, of any persuasion, is hard to hear above the dominant drone about state obligation and the clarion call to business as usual. There are other perspectives but just what they are and how they might help us avoid repeating our mistakes is less than clear. By bringing together over 30 contributors to answer the question, What is Radical Politics Today, editor Jonathan Pugh does provide some answers but raises obvious questions as he does so.  If, as many argue, radical forces are in disarray, just how should they regroup? Given the absence of a shared programme, who should convene, how and for what purpose? If the time of Fukuyama’s ‘end-of-History’ is itself at an end, what are the features of the political landscape we are now entering? The debate we had reflected those deep concerns. And many more.

We’ve captured both the panel and the Q & A with the audience on audio. Plus there’s an interview with contributor, David Chandler, filmed amid the teatime hubub of the launch. Counterpoint held the launch Wednesday 25 November 2009 at Canada House, our near neighbour on London’s Trafalgar Square. Opened by Counterpoint director, Catherine Fieschi and introduced by the book’s editor Jonathan Pugh, of Newcastle University it saw three contrasting presentations and an ensuing debate between panellists Doreen Massey, David Chandler, and Saskia Sassen.

Catherine Fieschi opened by pointing out the interrelatedness of local and global developments, the pervasive sense of insecurity and the kind of questions which arise from this dynamic.

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Perspective: Editor, Jonathan Pugh

Despite the crisis and the apparent failure of neoliberalism, no truly radical alternatives are being put forward, neither by civil society nor by political parties.

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Perspective: Doreen Massey:The left / non-right has to reclaim the narratives surrounding the present crisis. While the crisis offers much space for the disempowerment of neoliberalism, parties on the left and the right locate the problem elsewhere. Also, the potential for mobilising social forces is not being realised.

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Perspective: David Chandler

The perception of radical politics as a ready-made alternative is misleading, as is the notion of politics having become powerless in favour of an impalpable “global cyberspace”. Rather, we are currently in an “abyss of darkness”, and power rests with the individual. We have yet to learn how to think and act in this environment.

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Perspective: Saskia Sassen

The state has not become obsolete, but must be re-conceptualised along different lines than before; states have undergone changes in their power structures and activities. The apparent lack of radical politics concerns the global north, seeing as radical politics are practiced elsewhere. Radical politics ultimately has to be “made”, and powerlessness does not preclude the ability to shape history.

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The debate was then opened to the floor, which confronted the speakers – among others – with questions about the role of gender in radical politics, and with the “elephant in the room”: the Labour Party in the UK.

David Chandler talks to Counterpoint from Nick Wadham-Smith on Vimeo.