"Civil Society"

Patrick Bond pbond at wn.apc.org
Wed May 13 17:13:45 PDT 1998


First, does everyone else get double posting? Are Doug and Louis running a cc service in case one breaks down or doesn't pay the bill?

I'll go with Louis' post and leave Harvey there for now, until I get a chance to go over the February posts again with fine-tooth comb.

South Africa has seen -- to just pick up on one of Mark's more cogent allegations -- an attempt to apply some rudimentary class analysis to the civil society fad (Mzwanele Mayekiso's 1996 MR book Township Politics lays out the idea of "working-class civil society"). This weekend the regroupment of the township civic movement is taking a further step with a policy conference to solidify demands and a programme -- which on Monday should be ready for emailing around if anyone's interested. About three dozen or so civics in Jo'burg townships alone have broken from the new corporatist tradition that has sunk in since 1994 (often with very little NGO prodding, often in search of futile patronage arrangements with state and capital). It's like Wojtek says, a resource mobilisation issue at present. But these comrades are hoping the ideological problems can be reasserted now that it's clear there won't be any real change in the status of black workers, women, poor people, etc etc.

Mark, you're certainly welcome to join the *debate* list (though there are a couple of glitches now and again with the university host): write to majordomo at sunsite.wits.ac.za; then subscribe debate [your email]. But reform v. revolution is not where most of our heads and work are at right now. The phrasing of the Call for Papers comes, by the way, from an autonomist Marxist from the Negri tradition, who is the primary organiser of the journal (Franco Barchiesi; see last post for his contact details). The fifth issue is not yet filled, but we'll likely have a Petras article defending marxism from (Latin American) NGO pragmatists, and commentary on its relevance to SA, in addition to a fair amount of stuff from up-continent. Two other members from the Louis/Doug lists have just sent in proposals for submissions to the next issue based on the Call for Papers, which is great!

By the way, running against the current, Brian Ashley also represents a radical NGO that despite his modesty periodically makes major inroads into hegemonic discourse (particularly over whether SA should repay British and US banks for the apartheid debt -- check Brian at http:\\www.aidc.org.za\). There are also some quite active SACP comrades who take up highly critical positions on the debate list. We do spend an inordinate time, however, working over arcane problems in South African social policy. A warning to expectant newcomers.


> Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 10:59:40 -0400
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
> Speaking of Harvey, I want to make clear that he has declared in favor of
> the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism on many occasions and favors the
> dictatorship of the proletariat. His main political contribution to the
> broad milieu of leftists around the Brecht Forum in NYC has been to defend
> "classical" Marxist positions on the state. He has critiqued "civil
> society" concepts and argues that the social movements have to be subsumed
> under class. He even cited Mao to the effect of primary contradictions. I
> suspect that his use of terminology like "social justice" in his latest
> book is not some sort of Bernsteinite ploy, but rather an attempt to
> satisfy marketing requirements for Verso press.

No, it's engagement discourse. David's first Left book (Social Justice and the City, 1973) had a similar function.


> If he wrote for MR, I'm
> sure the leftish buzzwords would come to the fore, since Harvey is no
> reformist by any stretch of the imagination.

This last 'graf is interesting, and strikes me as closer to the target than Louis has been firing recently!:


> Actually, it would be more correct to say that he embodies a "left
> deviation" of the sort Lenin fought in "Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile
> Disorder." Harvey's politics vis-a-vis the greens reminds me very much of
> the sort of thing that Lenin was polemicising against, including Georg
> Lukacs of the Hungarian Communist Party. Lukacs et al were anxious to
> maintain communist purity, so this meant avoiding the corrupt bourgeois
> trade unions, whose leaders were dedicated to class peace. Isn't the same
> sort of objection being raised by Harvey? He is obsessed with people like
> Lester Brown, Herman Daly, the Pew Charitable Trust, the Audobon Society,
> etc. Because these groups and individuals are worried over global warming,
> we Marxists have to keep our distance. We have to keep our hands clean,
> even if this means working only with working-class and poor communities
> over toxic-waste struggles, etc. As I pointed out, Harvey echoes the
> worries of a rather broad milieu in the black nationalist and Marxist
> movement about being co-opted. As far as I'm concerned, the least of
> Harvey's problems is accomodation to the bourgeoisie.
>
> Louis Proyect
>
> (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
>
>

Patrick Bond HOME: WORK: 51 Somerset Road University of the Witwatersrand Kensington 2094 Graduate School of Public and Johannesburg, South Africa Development Management Phone: (2711) 614-8088 2 St.David's Road, Parktown E-mails: pbond at wn.apc.org bondp at zeus.mgmt.wits.ac.za Work phone: (2711) 488-5917 Fax: (2711) 484-2729



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