#Imperialismus, #Fossilismus und die Linie #Balibar
Super Aufschlag von Tom Strohschneider für ein Makeover der Imperialismustheorie.
Samt Lieblings-Balibar-Stelle in der Étienne den kommunistischen Geist der StarTrek-Philosophie beschwört. Hach! 
„… für den langen Marsch hin zu »einer internationalen Ordnung, in der Interessen im Vordergrund stehen, »die die gesamte menschliche Gattung vereinen«.“
Thinking about modes of production and how important the concept was for the development on non-Western #Marxism, because it allowed for separating historical analysis from purely theoretical. But I'm wondering whether people like Samir #Amin or Walter #Rodney actually read #Althusser or #Balibar.
Balibar (in Lire le Capital and Cinq Etudes) develops a flexible, historically contingent notion of modes of production on a theoretical level, but Amin (and, after him, Eric Wolf or Jairus Banaji) make it concrete, developing it along non-European case studies in order to show it isn't exclusive.
Amin lived in Paris for a time and taught in Vincennes in 1969, so I would be astonished if he hadn’t connected to these discussions, but he doesn’t cite them anywhere as far as I can see.
"I actually agree with the idea that socialism and democracy have an intrinsic relationship. Or better still, given the disastrous fact that the idea of “socialism” — including things like planning, redistribution, development, and mass education — has been associated with the more or less complete abolition of democracy, in the end leading to the collapse of socialism itself, it’s clear that we must work towards an “organic” combination of socialism and democracy. This certainly influences our very understanding of what “socialism” means, but it should also affect our understanding of what “democracy” means.
I have argued that there are historically three main forms of democratic institutions: those based on representation, direct participation, and social conflict. In Marx’s “communist” program, especially after the Paris Commune, the accent is heavily on “direct” democracy or participation against “representation,” which Marx — or better still, his followers — tended to reduce to “parliamentary” democracy. Perhaps this was too hasty a reduction, and where social conflictuality is concerned, it can actually be dangerous. In fact, the direct form of democracy was conceived on the model of small communities. With social and political problems becoming increasingly global — one need only think of the consequences of climate change, which have become the central problem for humankind — we need various degrees of socialism and various combinations of democratic institutions at different levels, from the local to the global."
https://jacobin.com/2023/12/etienne-balibar-socialism-liberty-equality-democracy-theory-marx
> „[...]Außerdem gehen wir nicht deshalb auf den #Maidan, weil uns die Amerikaner dafür bezahlen, sondern, weil es unser Wille ist. Das ukrainische Wort [für] #Wille - воля - ist gleichzeitig ein Synonym für Freiheit[...]. Das, was Étienne #Balibar mit dem schönen fanzösischen Wort #égaliberté bezeichnet - #Freiheit und #Gleichheit - dafür haben sich die #Ukraine |r erhoben. Für diesen Wert sind wir bereit, unvergleichlich mehr zu bezahlen, als irgendein #Amerika finanzieren könnte.[...]“
Es ist der 13.11.2024. Heute vor 10 Jahren hielt Juri #Andruchowytsch unter dem Titel #DerPreisDerWerte die Eröffnungsrede der #BuchWien 14
in one of my final seminars we discussed #Balibar and the impact of #LeftPopulism on real politics.
turns out none (!) of my (European, Dutch) students had ever heard of either #Podemos or #SYRIZA. they knew #Fidesz and #PiS, but left populism was a primarily theoretical concept to them.
that is perhaps a strong argument against it, no?
Toni #Negri was a reader and continuer of Karl #Marx, in an astonishing combination of literality and #freedom - Obituary by Étienne #Balibar https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/toni-negri-was-a-reader-and-continuer-of-karl-marx-in-an-astonishing-combination-of-literality-and-freedom
Thinking about #modesofproduction and how important the concept was for the development on non-Western Marxism, because it allowed for separating historical analysis from purely theoretical. But I'm wondering whether people like #SamirAmin or Walter #Rodney actually read #Althusser or #Balibar, because they clearly develop similar approaches to #modesofproduction.
And from there one can revert back to #Balibar|s deep reading of what #Marx meant when talking about #modesofproduction. Although neither Amin nor Wolf (or #Banaji for that matter) give him his due, it seems to me the most fitting source of a concept that is thoroughly historical (rather than philosophical/theoretical), i.e. that allows for historical and geographical difference
