We present here a discussion of the Liaison collective’s new book, In the Name of the People, to be published by the Common Notions publishing house. This discussion took place in New York in late July 2018.
This truly internationalist and collectivist publication boldly examines the forms of right and leftwing populism emergent in the fissures of the political world. Experimental in both form and analysis, In the Name of the People exemplifies the commune form of thought and text.
The ghost of the People has returned to the world stage, claiming to be the only force capable of correcting or taking charge of the excesses of the time. The relationship between the collapse of certain orders, the multiplication of civil wars, and the incessant appeal to the People is clear: as the liberal mode of governance experiences a global legitimation crisis, different forms of right and left populism gain strength within the fractures of ever expanding ruins.
In the Name of the People is an analysis and reflection on the global populist surge, written from the local forms it takes in the places we inhabit: the United States, Catalonia, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Quebec, Russia, and Ukraine. The upheaval and polarizations caused by populist policies around the world indicates above all the urgency to develop a series of planetary revolutionary interpretations, and to make the necessary connections in order to understand and act in the world.
Common Notions is a publishing house and programming platform that advances new formulations of liberation and living autonomy. Our books provide timely reflections, clear critiques, and inspiring strategies that amplify movements for social justice. By any media necessary, Common Notions seek to nourish the imagination and generalize common notions about the creation of other worlds beyond state and capital.
TO PREORDER THE BOOK, FOLLOW THIS LINK: www.commonnotions.org/buy/in-the-nam…-of-the-people
On the book’s authors:
More than a collective, less than a world, Liaisons is an inclination, a
tangent, a crossroads of confrontations, links, and encounters. Liaisons
does not study the movement of others as an external object (movement
history), nor does it project principles of revolution in the context of
pure theory (intellectual history). Instead, Liaisons assembles analyses
and theorizations directly from the ongoing struggles of affiliated
groups, based in different parts of the planet and seeking a common
ground. Liaisons has formed through long-term friendships and, in
ensemble, its discourses shed light on a horizon of living-in-struggle.
The works of Liaisons are not embodiments of a shared doctrine, but
rather research on the interconnectivity among singular problems and
aspirations, to facilitate a planetary reverberation of militant
autonomy. The works are to expand along with the permeation of the
collective, and metamorphose amidst the fluctuating situation of the
world.