Thomas,
Maybe when I have the time. I appreciate your sentiments.
I hope I have made clear in my comments that I really don't have any problem with the authors themselves. I am always highly skeptical of anyone-not just Negri and his comrade- that adopts very complex language and theories when trying to explain the workings of political or economic institutions. What is understood at all seems very straight forward to me So compare say Chomsky's "Year 501: The Conquest Continues" to Empire. I seriously doubt that the authors of Empire have an understanding and insight into the history of capitalism that surpasses NC's. Maybe they do, but I doubt it. Well one book is completely understandable to me while the other is not.
But besides all of that, I am a person interested in social change. I consider myself a revolutionary in that I think the major, dominant institutions of our world are the main cause of the problems. They need to be overturned. One way this can be accomplished is to build a mass movement for it by raising consciousness. Actually, thats the only way it is going to happen. I find books like Empire extremely detrimental to this undertaking simply because of the language used. You have sit around in discussion groups or seminars or philosophy class to try to understand what they are saying. The book strikes me as written for and by a certain class, but I'll drop that topic.
It is also for reasons similar to these that i don't find discussions about what Marx thought all that relevant to todays world. Yes, he was a very sharp critic of capitalism, but so what. Lots of people are. He had very little to say regarding what socialism was or is besides some nice words about the Paris commune, at least what I can remember. Or, if I remember correctly, that the goal of a socialist movement was to create a political party in order to seize state power and bring about socialist nirvana. Yeah... well, we've seen where that has lead. That is one reason why I find someone like Bakunin so interesting and compelling. His critique of what Marx was saying and advocating was one the most insightful ones in history. He basically predicted that it would lead to a gulag. See Paul Avrich's "The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution." I also find it very interesting that the name Bakunin is rarely if ever mentioned whenever people are discussing Marx. Like when I was philosophy student 20 or so years ago. We never ever discussed anarchism or Bakunin or Kropotkin etc. Maybe it had something to do with the professors all being Marxists? Hmmmmmm.... I'll stop a that....I don't what to get on big rant.
I'll try to find the book(?) you mention below and give it a shot. Thanks.-Tony
----- Original Message ----- From: Thomas Seay <entheogens at yahoo.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 8:30 PM Subject: Re: more Negri
> Tony, few people know as well as I do how difficult
> Negri is to read. You think you got problems, try
> translating him!!!
>
> I am not unsympathetic to what you are saying, in
> other words. If you think it is worth your time, you
> might want to read a secondary source that is very
> clear. I recommend, "Cyber Marx, Cycles and Circuits
> of Struggle in High Technology Capitalism" by Nick
> Dyer-Witherford. This is a very lucid and in-depth
> exploration of autonomist ideas and Negri.
>
> PART of the problem with reading Negri is that he
> assumes an understanding of certain concepts that are
> particular to autonomism (as well as Foucault and
> Deleuze). Reading the above book would give you the
> proper grounding, should you be interested.
>
> Thomas
>
> --- Anthony Tothe <yankee at webspan.net> wrote:
> >
> > Ok..no problem.-Tony
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Thomas Seay <entheogens at yahoo.com>
> > To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 10:43 AM
> > Subject: Re: more Negri
> >
> >
> > >
> > > --- Anthony Tothe <yankee at webspan.net> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > We/I didn't read it because it is
> > > > indecipherable...not because we hate
> > > > negri.
> > >
> > > I realize some people JUST find his work
> > > indecipherable...but some people are really
> > hostile to
> > > his ideas . My remark was intended for the
> > latter.
> > >
> > >
> > > -Thomas
> > >
> > > =====
> > > "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
> > >
> > > "Money eats quality and shits out quantity"
> > > -William Burroughs
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Do you Yahoo!?
> > > Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up
> > now.
> > > http://mailplus.yahoo.com
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
> =====
> "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
>
> "Money eats quality and shits out quantity"
> -William Burroughs
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> http://mailplus.yahoo.com
>