n+1 magazine - English by n+1 Magazine
"But do not all rebellions without exception have their roots in the disasterous isolation of man... more "But do not all rebellions without exception have their roots in the disasterous isolation of man from the community? Does not every rebellion necessarily presuppose isolation? Would the revolution of 1789 have taken place if French citizens had not felt disasterously isolated from the community? The abolition of this isolation was its very purpose.
But the community from which the workers is isolated is a community of quite different reality and scope than the political community. The community from which his own labor separates him is life itself, physical and spiritual life, human morality, human activity, human enjoyment, human nature. Human nature is the true community of men."
"Occupy the World Together" is the title of a Facebook page, of the website of a Canadian trade u... more "Occupy the World Together" is the title of a Facebook page, of the website of a Canadian trade union, of a demonstration of the Occupy Budapest, of many videos on YouTube ... and of 12,000 other results on Google.
“We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.” ( Opening text of the website "We are 99%", dedicated to thousands of short glimpses of life posted by anonymous members of the Occupy Wall Street movement).
“The only solution is World Revolution” (End of statement on the homepage of the Occupy Wall Street website).
“Workers will win if they'll understand that no one is to come. For a marxist the expectation of a Messiah and the cult of the genius, explainable for Peter and Carlyle, are only a miserable covering of helplessness. The Revolution will rise up terrible, but anonymous” (PCInt., 1953)''
The violence non-violence contrast is a shameful, very ideological product, so elastic that it ca... more The violence non-violence contrast is a shameful, very ideological product, so elastic that it can be used according to the conveniences. It doesn't exist in nature. Instead events, causes and effects, processes and interactions, they exist. The molecules of an overheated gas stir themselves. You can find how, you can draw a theory and do the calculations. It occurs to no one to make moral judgments on their agitation.
Since the early Second Postwar, our current kept watching over the events pertaining to Mediterra... more Since the early Second Postwar, our current kept watching over the events pertaining to Mediterranean Sea, its coast countries and mainly Europe and Middle East (concerning Mediterranean Sea in a geopolitical sense).
As all ancient and recent geopolitical schemes designate this area as crucial, also the governments and the military staff of the major imperialist countries give the same importance to it. In that area there is the highest concentration of capital per sq km inhabited in the world (the inhabited area includes the old industrial - financial metropolis as well as the new oil wells), and this situation has directly to do with the growth of the revolutionary conditions. The stable presence of the US Sixth Marine Division is a proof of that.
Let’s start from an axiom: the only way to produce new value is producing and selling commodities... more Let’s start from an axiom: the only way to produce new value is producing and selling commodities. Everything else concerning value (such as interest, rent and sundry "incomes") is just a subdivision of the original surplus-value. What circulates on the financial market is nothing but that surplus-value, apparently increased by the whirl of transactions. Each financial crash results from a crisis of surplus-value production. So, each financial instrument is to be considered an expedient for exorcizing such a crisis, under the illusion to turn the mere "transfer" into "creation" of value
The "Italian" Communist Left defined as "revolution to the bottom" the constitution of the Jewish... more The "Italian" Communist Left defined as "revolution to the bottom" the constitution of the Jewish nation, because it happened in a "social tabula rasa" context, made by setting up pure capitalism in a geographic area where neither the feudalism arrived, and then there was no need to fight against its residues. In 1948, when its State was founded, the Jewish bourgeoisie conquered, by terror (and support of the USA), a large part of the region. Six Arabian countries counterattacked with their regular armies, recognizing actually by a war’s act the existence of an enemy State. Moreover the USSR had already recognized Israel and only at the beginning of the 50s it broke up the diplomatic relations with the Jewish state; while UNO already in 1947 recommended the "building" of two separate nations by sharing the region. But just one nation was there, the other didn’t exist yet and it was impossible to "create" it; actually, if the unity of the Jewish bourgeois community had millenary reasons, the tribal Arabian separatism had reasons as ancient as the first. The Washington’s imperialists were able to prize the Jewish unity; the Moscow’s imperialists didn’t avoid the Arabian separatism. The first one are still operative, more than ever murderous, while until now the second one have no influence upon the region (moreover some of their ex-allies moved to the enemy side). In the meantime, the war provoked the expulsion of 900,000 Palestinians and the annexation of the 80% of the region designated as Palestinian territory (under the British Mandate) by Jordan. This is the premise to analyze any other subsequent event in that area, but unfortunately the general habit is to adopt the point of view of either of the two imperialist countries, which, half century ago, confronted their strength in Middle East.
We need to understand the reason of the Watts’ riot and what we need to prevent it in the future.... more We need to understand the reason of the Watts’ riot and what we need to prevent it in the future. Because only if we study and assimilate the Los Angeles’ lesson, drawing the due conclusions, could we hope to keep the unstable social components, which are presently clashing in the United States, under control (Robert Conot, The Watts’ summer, 1967).
Prevent the phenomenon? Keep it under control? At present? In the United States? (n+1 editorial staff’s note, 2006).
The Iraqi "sovereign people" went finally to the polls. It doesn't matter whether 68 or 30% voted... more The Iraqi "sovereign people" went finally to the polls. It doesn't matter whether 68 or 30% voted (depending on the opposite estimates made by the international observers). We don't care about elections at all, let alone when held by an invading army in a country at war. The point is that the democratical principle not only has passed in Iraq, but has become consolidated among our leftists, turned into ridiculous notaries of the ballot legality. It is obvious to us that the election results have been suitably "precooked" in the occupier's "kitchen", as they seem to be perfect for a future coalition government. Besides, all means are useful to win a war: from rigging elections to firing on journalists and even on allies. Whether one likes it or not, there has never been a war without deceptions and victims. So, we let moralists shout their indignation and try to consider the facts prospectively.
The U. S. power is the only real chance of survival for the capitalistic mode of production. It i... more The U. S. power is the only real chance of survival for the capitalistic mode of production. It is the backbone of a system that, without this vital prop, would immediately fall into ruin. As active supporters of the global Capital, the United States hostile in particular the old passive imperialism of Europe. That’s why their war against Iraq is nothing but an episode in the war they are waging against the world.
Bourgeois society is the most advanced and complex historical organisation of production. The cat... more Bourgeois society is the most advanced and complex historical organisation of production. The categories which express its relations, and an understanding of its structure, therefore, provide an insight into the structure and the relations of production of all formerly existing social formations the ruins and component elements of which were used in the creation of bourgeois society. Some of these unassimilated remains are still carried on within bourgeois society, others, however, which previously existed. only in rudimentary form, have been further developed and have attained their full significance, etc. (Marx, Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1957)
Regarding the USA’s "endless war", as was foreseeable, we’ve received and produced a lot of remar... more Regarding the USA’s "endless war", as was foreseeable, we’ve received and produced a lot of remarks, elaborations and notes. In an editing session we thought it would be useful to tidy up all this material and gather it into a monograph. Therefore, this review’s number is issued with 128 pages instead of the usual 80 and covers the issues of March-June. Ever since we’ve begun , we’ve issued more pages than that we had predicted. This is a good sign of collective work, even though sometimes we haven’t been able to keep up with the pace; March-June-September-December.
The uneven fight between Israel and the Palestinians won't lead to a decisive outcome as long as ... more The uneven fight between Israel and the Palestinians won't lead to a decisive outcome as long as it is carried on between two opposing "national questions". Since its inception, the Hebrew-speaking and Zionist bourgeoisie was not able to solve the problem concerning its state on its own and was used by American imperialism during the fight against the old European imperialisms and the strategic penetration into the Middle East. The initial Zionist terrorism followed by the war forced the Palestinians to flee from their land, limiting them to the political orbit of the Arab nations. Some of these in turn had no choice but to accept the Soviet Union's devious and uncertain support.
This is the title of an editorial from the Economist. "They (houses) protected the entire world e... more This is the title of an editorial from the Economist. "They (houses) protected the entire world economy from a profound recession". In 2001, for example, the United States went through their worse industrial crisis since the thirties, thus achieving minimum profits and investments during seventy years, resulting in some extra millions of unemployed. Besides, despite their massive recovery during the latest months, the whole amount of stock exchange shares is still 25% lower than two years ago and almost all 275 million US inhabitants are directly or indirectly shareowners. Despite all this, Americans' consumptions have on average increased. How can that be?
"We have the Euro, a single currency for the whole of Europe. We gave up our money sovereignty ag... more "We have the Euro, a single currency for the whole of Europe. We gave up our money sovereignty against a continental sovereignty. We built a more independent and united Europe. We founded the greatest unitary world market. We accepted the American challenge".
Just a moment. Let's not exaggerate. Let's turn our eyes away from celebrative brochures, illustrative leaflets, news ads, TV spots, chinking coin kits and let's go back to our abstract little schemes, that is to say free from the Capital apology and its owners.
"Is the agricultural wealth due to the work of God as believed in feudalism or rather to the work... more "Is the agricultural wealth due to the work of God as believed in feudalism or rather to the work of man as claimed by the bourgeoisie? Here's an old debate founded on false antinomies wich have been caused by the succession of social forms both based on exploitation and private partition of the product. Today, the victorious bourgeoisie doesn't actually think about theoretical problems, it only cares about accumulation. For marxist science - although there's no rent of land witnout human exploitation, appropriation of value, payment to the farmer from society - the agricultural product is a fruit of nature, in the same way as the man and his work are. They really are the product of an infinitesimal part of the energy the Sun diffuses into the space and that, coming in contact with the Earth, gives rise to the chemistry of life. In the classless society no one will "appropriate", no one will "pay"; once the relationship between man and nature will be rationally resolved, the human species won't need to split the work of the man from the work of the sun. The whole land rent theory is contained in this comparison between today and tomorrow, and every other approach has to be considered as pre-marxist" (cf. Prospetto introduttivo alla questione agraria, Partito Comunista Internazionale, 1953).
"What can have in common the molecules structured in self-reproducing complexes, the cells coordi... more "What can have in common the molecules structured in self-reproducing complexes, the cells coordinated in pluricellular organisms, the ecosystems and even the economic and political systems? The working hypothesis is that life just can rise on the border between order and chaos, close to a sort of phase transition. The systems finding themselves in these conditions are those more likely to coordinate complex activities and to evolve" (Stuart Kauffman).
"Nothing makes a scientist feel more awkward than a discontinuity, because every usable quantitative model is based on the use of continuous functions" (René Thom).
Let’s see which kind of a war would be the USA’s possible next one, whereby huge military credits... more Let’s see which kind of a war would be the USA’s possible next one, whereby huge military credits are approved and far away countries are given orders and strategic dictates. It’s not only a conjectural war because it is already happening as a close continuation of the two world wars. After all it’s the completion of gathering together a huge and destroying strength in an ultimate centre of domination and defence of the current class-regime. Such processes may develop even without an open war between the USA and Russia, if the latter’s vassallage could be secured by bringing the former’s prevaling economic forces to bear on it, instead of with military means. However, the fact is that the bullyings of the European aggressors in history, who scrambled for a province or town within cannon-shot, are laughable in the face of the brazenness of those debating publicly – and it’s easy to deduce what kind of plans should be the secret ones – if the safety of New York and San Francisco is best defended on the Rhine or on the Indus, on the Alps or on the Himalaya. The United States conquerors’ vital space is a belt running around the world (See "Aggressione all’Europa" [Aggression upon Europe] Prometeo 1949).
We cannot commentate on events such as the New York and Washington ones with an instant mail like... more We cannot commentate on events such as the New York and Washington ones with an instant mail like this. More reflecting time is needed beyond all information, assumptions and most of all speculations on the "new Pearl Harbor" of Islamic label, for now. However, from what we said in the past and therefore not improvised, we must organize our work so that we are not wasting our energy by running after the media but targeting all available information.
Up to Galileo, and even further, philosophers use to keep it short about all disputes the becomin... more Up to Galileo, and even further, philosophers use to keep it short about all disputes the becoming of the world raised: who said that? Ipse dixit, he said that, that is Aristotle, he who is never wrong. The Stagyrite was a great brain and Galileo did not only admit that for saving himself from the stake. He was not wrong, Galileo said, however another is the matter: if he were here today, he would say the same things I am saying as much as I would say what he says if I had lived during his time.
After the 11th September attack, the United States gathered the whole world to fight the so-calle... more After the 11th September attack, the United States gathered the whole world to fight the so-called international terrorism. In real life, they triggered on their own a military campaign in Afghanistan and a global espionage operation. The attack on the American soil is in itself pure terrorism as much as the attack to Afghanistan is no doubt war. From here derive a few theorizations about the so-called asymmetric conflicts. The terrorist attack showing how vulnerable the imperialist giant is, is supposed to be asymmetric; big "Amerika" 's war action against all "oppressed Islamic people" is in turn supposed to be asymmetric. In our opinion, there is a real asymmetry between the powers of the United States and their European and Japanese competitors and the emerging bourgeoisie's in the rest of the world, Islamic and non-Islamic.
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n+1 magazine - English by n+1 Magazine
But the community from which the workers is isolated is a community of quite different reality and scope than the political community. The community from which his own labor separates him is life itself, physical and spiritual life, human morality, human activity, human enjoyment, human nature. Human nature is the true community of men."
“We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.” ( Opening text of the website "We are 99%", dedicated to thousands of short glimpses of life posted by anonymous members of the Occupy Wall Street movement).
“The only solution is World Revolution” (End of statement on the homepage of the Occupy Wall Street website).
“Workers will win if they'll understand that no one is to come. For a marxist the expectation of a Messiah and the cult of the genius, explainable for Peter and Carlyle, are only a miserable covering of helplessness. The Revolution will rise up terrible, but anonymous” (PCInt., 1953)''
As all ancient and recent geopolitical schemes designate this area as crucial, also the governments and the military staff of the major imperialist countries give the same importance to it. In that area there is the highest concentration of capital per sq km inhabited in the world (the inhabited area includes the old industrial - financial metropolis as well as the new oil wells), and this situation has directly to do with the growth of the revolutionary conditions. The stable presence of the US Sixth Marine Division is a proof of that.
Prevent the phenomenon? Keep it under control? At present? In the United States? (n+1 editorial staff’s note, 2006).
Just a moment. Let's not exaggerate. Let's turn our eyes away from celebrative brochures, illustrative leaflets, news ads, TV spots, chinking coin kits and let's go back to our abstract little schemes, that is to say free from the Capital apology and its owners.
"Nothing makes a scientist feel more awkward than a discontinuity, because every usable quantitative model is based on the use of continuous functions" (René Thom).