No subject

Tue Dec 30 18:11:19 CET 2014

overcoming of it...

Negri sounds like he is saying something like this: "well.. with the 2011
uprisings, good-will multitude made a good case for her master's quest,
while she proven how foolish is she without the master.. Oh the
commonwealth she produces... What does substructure mean without a
mastermind to lead the production.. now shut up and give me the Ring, I
will take care of the rest for you, as I guessed this was coming.."

What I read in between lines here is the typical weakness before the real
and concrete power, when it appears close by, transforming speeches and
analysis to the transmitter of collective and individual 'will to power'.
That makes one to say and do things even that are exact opposite of those
things you did or say that brought one to that point where she or he is
being listened, without seriously questioned.. Like a good domestic
multitude...

at least Negri gives a wink to Harvey, reflecting a possible power share,
or power seizure from the multitude believes in Harvey..

Multitude is dead, long live Solitude... One chance the Dial-etude.

My question would be to Negri, and those who similes at, and believes in
these words; what is then the meaning of working, fighting, creating, and
bundling together as equal brothers and sisters to you? What does commons
and commons-wealth would mean in reality?

*..*

*From the refusal of labor to the seizure of power, the Italian militant
and theorist talks to ROAR about class struggle in the contemporary
metropolis.*

*Editor=E2=80=99s Note: A few months ago, ROAR attended the annual Euronoma=
de
gathering in Passignano, which brought together dozens of activists and
thinkers in the Italian post-workerist tradition. This year, Euronomade
invited the Marxist geographer David Harvey to participate in the event
alongside a number of other guests, including Michael Hardt and Sre=C4=87ko
Horvat.*

*We sat down with the legendary Italian militant and theorist Antonio Negri
to talk about the recent convergence between his work and Harvey=E2=80=99s,=
 the
centrality of the metropolitan terrain to contemporary social struggles,
the fate of the global uprisings of 2011, the state of the movements in
Europe today, and the significance of new political forces like Syriza and
Podemos.*

*The interview was taken by Lorenzo Cini and Jerome Roos, with special
thanks to Tommaso Giordani for the translation.*

:::::::::::::::::::::::

*In recent years, there appears to be somewhat of a convergence between
your approach and Harvey=E2=80=99s. What do you consider to be the most imp=
ortant
overlaps in your work? And what do you see as the main differences or
tensions?*

It seems to me that there is a very clear and explicit convergence between
Harvey=E2=80=99s positions and those of my own current of thought, most cle=
arly on
the contemporary transformation of productive labor, of living labor =E2=80=
=94 that
is, of labor capable of generating surplus value. If I may use Marx=E2=80=
=99s
language from *The Fragment on Machines*, I would say that there is
substantial common ground between Harvey=E2=80=99s work and my own in the a=
nalysis
of the transformation of the forms of value, that is to say, in the step
from value as connected to the structures of large-scale industry to the
current situation, in which society is wholly subjected to the logic of
capital =E2=80=94 not only in the productive sphere, but also with regards =
to
reproduction and circulation.

Italian workerism [*operaismo*] already developed such an analysis in the
late 1970s, suggesting, at the time, new forms of struggle that would
deploy themselves within the larger social sphere, because we had
understood that the social had become a locus of value production. Already
in those years, we identified the crucial shift in the locus of surplus
production: a shift away from the factory and towards the wider metropolis.
And this same shift appears to me to have become central to Harvey=E2=80=99=
s work.
This is the essential point: from here, both the question of surplus
extraction and the question of the transformation of profit into rent have
become central in the critical analyses of contemporary capitalism that
Harvey and I have developed.

What, then, are the differences? I believe it=E2=80=99s simply a question o=
f
genealogy, of the theoretical trajectory that has brought us to this shared
analysis. I have reached these conclusions starting from the analysis of
the transformation of the nature of labor, which is, in fact, the concept
on which the entire workerist approach was based. In other words, I began
from the workerist concept of the refusal of labor. With this idea, we
meant two things. On the one hand, we took it as a rejection of the law of
value as the fundamental norm of the capitalist order. On the other hand,
we interpreted it in a more constructive way, as a call for the
acknowledgment of new forms of productivity of work beyond the factory, at
a wider social level. From this Marxian analysis of the internal
transformation of labor, we arrived at the same conclusions at which Harvey
arrived =E2=80=94 and on which he developed a more thorough empirical analy=
sis.

*Starting from what you just said about the concept of productive labor, we
would like to reflect with you on the forms and content of contemporary
struggles. In your book Commonwealth
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_%28book%29>, co-authored with
Michael Hardt, you have written that today the metropolis is to the
multitude what the factory was once to the working class. In light of this
change of paradigm, does it seem accurate to you to identify in the recent
uprisings that have erupted in countries like Brazil and Turkey a set of
struggles linked to questions about the production and reproduction of
metropolitan life, instances of a new class struggle conducted at the
metropolitan level?*

Yes, very much so. Both the Turkish and the Brazilian struggles are clearly
*biopolitical* struggles. How, then, can we link this biopolitical
dimension to the new forms of labor we discussed before? This is a question
with which Michael Hardt and I have been dealing ever since 1995, when we
began working on *Empire*. It appeared to us that if labor becomes social
labor, if production and capitalist oppression were swallowing up the
social sphere, then the question of *bios* became an essential one. The set
of struggles developing around the welfare state was becoming one of the
central aspects of class struggle. This discovery became even more
important once we understood that productive labor was not only (or even
mainly) a material activity, but also (and mostly) an immaterial one. That
is, an activity linked to caring, affection, communication, and what we can
loosely call =E2=80=98generically human=E2=80=99 processes and activities.

It was this attention to the =E2=80=98generically human=E2=80=99 that helpe=
d us understand
how the productive process had become fundamentally a *biopolitical* proces=
s.
Consequently, the more politically significant struggles became those that
deployed themselves on the biopolitical terrain. What did this mean in more
concrete terms? We did not have an exhaustive and final answer. Yes, we had
some intuition that one had to fight against, for example, the
privatization of healthcare and education, but at the time we did not
manage to fully grasp what was later revealed to us by the formidable
struggles of 2011. It was those struggles that revealed the full
articulation of the biopolitical discourse, that is, the new character of
contemporary struggles. And it becomes very clear that the metropolis is
its essential setting. This does not mean that it will always be so, but
today it is certain that the metropolis is the crucial locus of this
struggle.

The metropolitan strike in Paris in 1995 was essential in making me
understand this. A city as complex and articulated as Paris completely
supported the struggle, which blocked the city in its entirety, starting
from transportation. That struggle expressed in a paradigmatic sense the
cooperative and affective elements of the forms of conflict and knowledge
that were emerging on the metropolitan stage in those years. It is not a
coincidence that these aspects, linked to cooperation and to affective
production, are still central in contemporary metropolitan struggles, which
are fully biopolitical struggles.

*The cycle of struggles that began in 2011 briefly hinted at the possible
birth of a new constituent process. Today it seems that many of these
movements are confronted with what you and Michael Hardt have called a
**=E2=80=98thermidorian
closure,=E2=80=99 bringing about the re-establishment of the old regime. Wh=
at is
your analysis of the current state of these struggles, and what could have
been done differently to prevent the present outcome?*

To start with, we need to establish some differences. The Spanish
mobilization, for example, has a force and a degree of political
originality that is still evident today, and constitutes an important
phenomenon that must also be seen as partly emerging from the tormented
history of Spain in the twentieth century, from the civil war, through the
incomplete democratic transition, to the failure of the Socialist Party.

On the other hand, there is a much more ambiguous phenomenon such as
Occupy, which appears to be a mobilization of the so-called middle classes
more than an expression of the cognitive working class. And yet, beyond
these obvious weaknesses, even Occupy displayed an important degree of
originality, especially in terms of the struggle developed on the issue of
debt and financial capital.

Finally, there is the Arab process, which has monopolized our attention for
a long time, and which =E2=80=94 unfortunately =E2=80=94 has had an absolut=
ely tragic
ending. Strictly speaking, the only =E2=80=98thermidorean=E2=80=99 outcome =
has been the
Tunisian one, where an apparently democratic but substantially falsified
order has now been established. For the rest, we have witnessed merely the
beginnings of revolution, that is, a taking of the Bastille more than
anything else. At any rate, I believe that this extremely articulated
revolutionary process has many days ahead of itself and is, at the moment,
still completely open.

So far, this revolutionary process has revealed the presence in the Arab
world of new forces of freedom, of cognitive labor, that have tenaciously
opposed the old military and feudal regimes. There is, however, still an
enormous problem in Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Iran, and it is the problem of
the =E2=80=9Cmedieval=E2=80=9D nature of these states =E2=80=94 states that=
 are extremely
reactionary and repressive. Thus I have the impression that the seed of
revolt planted in 2011 in various Arab states resembles, in some ways, the
European 1848: a moment of anticipation of a revolutionary process. I hope,
however, that it does not have the same consequences that it had in Europe,
where it also produced nationalist thought and practice, which eventually
fueled the rise of fascism and national socialism.

In spite of this fear, I still strongly believe in a progressive dynamic of
history, and I am confident that events of revolutionary rupture will, in
the future, manage to break the feudal and reactionary political and social
order of many Arab countries.

*Let=E2=80=99s discuss the struggles in Europe today. Taking our cue from a=
n
article <http://www.euronomade.info/?p=3D1417> you wrote together with Sand=
ro
Mezzadra just before the European elections of 2014, and a follow-up piece
<http://roarmag.org/2015/01/negri-interview-multitude-metropolis/www.eurono=
made.info/?p=3D3913>
you
just published ahead of the Greek elections, we wanted to ask you whether
you see the European dimension as the only one in which the movements can
possibly act to advance a project of the common as a genuine alternative to
the present capitalist crisis.*

This is certainly the most timely and important political question today.
Currently, in Europe, we are in the lowest phase of the cycle of struggles.
I do not believe in the theory that, the worse the political, social and
economic situation, the stronger the revolutionary movement. We are faced
with a serious economic crisis that has had extremely negative
consequences. The capitalist establishment has, for the moment,
successfully exploited the regression and the domestication of existing
struggles, and has managed with ease to control the post-Fordist productive
transformation that hailed the defeat of the Fordist mass worker. Today, we
are experiencing the consequences of our defeat in the 1970s, in the
absence of a political organization capable of expressing the interests of
the contemporary workforce and, more generally, of the contemporary
productive society that emerged from that process of capitalist
transformation.

However, in this negative situation, we still have to carefully consider if
and how capital will be able to overcome the crisis. For example, I tend to
agree with Wolfgang Streeck=E2=80=99s analyses, which examine the current c=
risis in
the light of some 1970s literature such as that by Offe, Hirsche, and
O=E2=80=99Connor, who saw the crisis of the times as a consequence of the f=
alling
rate of profit. This fall, however, is intimately linked to the devaluation
of the workforce, to the incapacity of considering the workforce as a
central player in development.

It is necessary to be very careful on a number of points. When one says
that some instances of the common, certain demands of the struggle for the
common can be, and have been, reabsorbed by and into the =E2=80=9Cmanagemen=
t
crisis=E2=80=9D and into all those mechanisms of management of the common, =
one
often ignores that this absorption into capitalist management is not a
creative one. It is not, for example, akin to the assimilation of the
working class that occurred in the Fordist and Keynesian paradigm, when
this absorption did generate a rise in demand and manifested itself in a
strong and energetic economy.

Today, we are faced by a capitalist contraction that leaves even those who
operate the contraction breathless. In this context, we have to be
extremely attentive, because the very real risk is that of giving a
completely pessimistic reading to a situation that, of course, is
characterized by an important crisis =E2=80=94 but whose outcome is still
completely open.

*With this last question we would like to reflect with you on the
innovation represented by a number of political phenomena that are
occurring in some European countries at the moment. Do you see, in Europe
today, a political organization capable of starting a constituent process
and creating a transnational political project based on the communism of
the 21st century =E2=80=94 that is, a political project based on the practi=
ce of
the common? And what do you consider to be the significance, in this light,
of new political forces like Syriza and Podemos?*

Before answering your question, I must confess that I have developed a
problem in recent years. If I am asked to assess the struggles of 2011, I
can=E2=80=99t help but concentrate my critical remarks on the question of
horizontality =E2=80=94 or of exclusive horizontality, at least. I have to
criticize it because I think that there is no project or political
development capable of transforming horizontal spontaneity into an
institutional reality. I think, instead, that this passage must be governed
in some way or another. Governed from below, of course, on the basis of
shared programs, but always bearing in mind the necessity of having, in
this passage, an organized political force capable of constituting itself
and of managing this transformation.

I think that the present state of the movement forces us to be
self-critical about what happened in 2011, and I think this self-criticism
must focus on the question of political organization. We need to
acknowledge, for example, that the Lista Tsipras
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Europe> experiment in Italy has
been a tragic failure, even if I, together with Sandro Mezzadra and other
comrades, welcomed it with faith and hope. However, on the other hand, it
should have been clear, from the beginning, that with organized parties
such as SEL or Rifondazione Comunista it would have been impossible to find
political forms capable of channeling and allowing spontaneous forces from
below to affirm themselves.

With Podemos, however, we are probably dealing with something different.
Beyond the questionable ideologies around which Podemos constituted itself,
I believe that =E2=80=94 maybe because of the goodwill of its leaders, or p=
erhaps
thanks to the situation in which it finds itself =E2=80=94 Podemos is infin=
itely
more powerful than it is organized. It is producing, for the moment, an
extremely interesting and active movement that might be capable of
contributing to a healthy institutionalization of the struggles.

On this question of struggle at the institutional level and of political
organization, I would like to conclude with two more general propositions.
The first one is that after 2011 horizontality must be criticized and
overcome, clearly and unambiguously =E2=80=94 and not just in a Hegelian se=
nse.
Secondly, the situation is probably ripe enough to attempt once again that
most political of passages: the seizure of power. We have understood the
question of power for too long in an excessively negative manner. Now we
can reinterpret the question of power in terms of multitudes, in terms
of *absolute
democracy* =E2=80=94 that is to say, in terms of a democracy that goes beyo=
nd
canonical institutional forms such as monarchy, aristocracy and
=E2=80=9Cdemocracy.=E2=80=9D I believe that today the problem of democracy =
is best
formulated and addressed in terms of the multitude.

*Antonio Negri **is an Italian militant and theorist in the post-workerist
tradition. He is the author of many books, including his highly influential
trilogy with Michael Hardt, Empire
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_%28Negri_and_Hardt_book%29>, Multitude
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitude:_War_and_Democracy_in_the_Age_of_Em=
pire>
and Commonwealth
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_%28book%29>.*

::::::::::::::::::::

On January 28, Toni Negri will be giving a lecture titled *From the
=E2=80=98Operaio Sociale=E2=80=99 to the Multitude: A Marxist Approach to S=
ocial Movement
Theory?* <https://www.facebook.com/events/1555501571360568/> as part of a
lecture series organized by the Marxism(s) in Social Movements working
group at the European University Institute in Florence.

The event is open to the public.

ABSTRACT:
Widely known to be one of the founding fathers of autonomist Marxism, Prof.
Antonio Negri will elaborate on the way in which he has conceptualized the
notions of labor, social struggle, and class struggle within contemporary
capitalist society in the light of his Marxist framework. In this regard,
he will discuss some of his most compelling and debated concepts such as
the mass worker, the social worker (=E2=80=9C*operaio sociale*=E2=80=9D), t=
he multitude,
exodus, and the common/commonwealth, among many others. These concepts are
part of one of the most powerful attempts to rethink the political project
of critical theory today and to reformulate a Marxist tool-kit in
contemporary post-industrial societies. The lecture that Prof. Negri will
give at the EUI will also be a good opportunity to open up the discussion
on whether and how some of these concepts may be used to enrich the current
field of Social Movement Studies.

Discussants:
Daniela Chironi (EUI)
Helge Hiram Jensen (EUI)

_______________________________________________
NetworkedLabour mailing list
NetworkedLabour at lists.contrast.org
http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour

--=20
Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:
http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Update=
s:
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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<div dir=3D"ltr">very much worth reading:<div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote=
">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class=3D"gmail_sender=
name">Orsan</b> <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:orsan1234 at gmail.com=
">orsan1234 at gmail.com</a>&gt;</span><br>Date: Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 8:27 AM<=
br>Subject: [Networkedlabour] Negri talks to ROAR<br>To: &quot;&lt;<a href=
=3D"mailto:networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org">networkedlabour at lists.contra=
st.org</a>&gt;&quot; &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:networkedlabour at lists.contrast.o=
rg">networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org</a>&gt;<br><br><br><div dir=3D"auto"=
><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em">From skep=
ticism of egalitarian politics of communing to full fledge overcoming of it=
...</p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em">Neg=
ri sounds like he is saying something like this: &quot;well.. with the 2011=
 uprisings, good-will multitude made a good case for her master&#39;s quest=
, while she proven how foolish is she without the master.. Oh the commonwea=
lth she produces... What does substructure mean without a mastermind to lea=
d the production.. now shut up and give me the Ring, I will take care of th=
e rest for you, as I guessed this was coming..&quot;</p><p style=3D"text-al=
ign:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em">What I read in between lines =
here is the typical weakness before the real and concrete power, when it ap=
pears close by, transforming speeches and analysis to the transmitter of co=
llective and individual &#39;will to power&#39;. That makes one to say and =
do things even that are exact opposite of those things you did or say that =
brought one to that point where she or he is being listened, without seriou=
sly questioned.. Like a good domestic multitude...</p><p style=3D"text-alig=
n:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color=
:rgba(255,255,255,0)">at least Negri gives a wink to Harvey, reflecting a p=
ossible power share, or power seizure from the multitude believes in Harvey=
.. =C2=A0 =C2=A0</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:=
0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Multi=
tude is dead, long live Solitude... One chance the Dial-etude.=C2=A0</span>=
</p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span =
style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">My question would be to Negr=
i, and those who similes at, and believes in these words; what is then the =
meaning of working, fighting, creating, and bundling together as equal brot=
hers and sisters to you? What does commons and commons-wealth would mean in=
 reality? =C2=A0=C2=A0</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;m=
argin:0px 0px 1.571em"><br></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;mar=
gin:0px 0px 1.571em"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;background-col=
or:rgba(255,255,255,0)">..</strong></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding=
:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;backgr=
ound-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">From the refusal of labor to the seizure of=
 power, the Italian militant and theorist talks to ROAR about class struggl=
e in the contemporary metropolis.</strong></p><p style=3D"padding:0px;margi=
n:0px 0px 1.571em;text-align:justify"><span style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px=
;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"></span></p><p style=3D"text-align:st=
art;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px=
;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><span style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0p=
x;text-decoration:underline">Editor=E2=80=99s Note:</span>=C2=A0A few month=
s ago, ROAR attended the annual Euronomade gathering in Passignano, which b=
rought together dozens of activists and thinkers in the Italian post-worker=
ist tradition. This year, Euronomade invited the Marxist geographer David H=
arvey to participate in the event alongside a number of other guests, inclu=
ding Michael Hardt and Sre=C4=87ko Horvat.</em></p><p style=3D"text-align:s=
tart;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0p=
x;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">We sat down with the legendary Ital=
ian militant and theorist Antonio Negri to talk about the recent convergenc=
e between his work and Harvey=E2=80=99s, the centrality of the metropolitan=
 terrain to contemporary social struggles, the fate of the global uprisings=
 of 2011, the state of the movements in Europe today, and the significance =
of new political forces like Syriza and Podemos.</em></p><p style=3D"text-a=
lign:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"padding:0px;mar=
gin:0px;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The interview was taken by Lo=
renzo Cini and Jerome Roos, with special thanks to Tommaso Giordani for the=
 translation.<br style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"></em></p><p style=3D"text=
-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-=
color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">:::::::::::::::::::::::</span></p><p style=3D"te=
xt-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"padding:0px=
;margin:0px"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(=
255,255,255,0)">In recent years, there appears to be somewhat of a converge=
nce between your approach and Harvey=E2=80=99s. What do you consider to be =
the most important overlaps in your work? And what do you see as the main d=
ifferences or tensions?<br style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"></strong></em><=
/p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span s=
tyle=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It seems to me that there is =
a very clear and explicit convergence between Harvey=E2=80=99s positions an=
d those of my own current of thought, most clearly on the contemporary tran=
sformation of productive labor, of living labor =E2=80=94 that is, of labor=
 capable of generating surplus value. If I may use Marx=E2=80=99s language =
from=C2=A0<em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">The Fragment on Machines</em=
>, I would say that there is substantial common ground between Harvey=E2=80=
=99s work and my own in the analysis of the transformation of the forms of =
value, that is to say, in the step from value as connected to the structure=
s of large-scale industry to the current situation, in which society is who=
lly subjected to the logic of capital =E2=80=94 not only in the productive =
sphere, but also with regards to reproduction and circulation.</span></p><p=
 style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=
=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Italian workerism [<em style=3D"p=
adding:0px;margin:0px">operaismo</em>] already developed such an analysis i=
n the late 1970s, suggesting, at the time, new forms of struggle that would=
 deploy themselves within the larger social sphere, because we had understo=
od that the social had become a locus of value production. Already in those=
 years, we identified the crucial shift in the locus of surplus production:=
 a shift away from the factory and towards the wider metropolis. And this s=
ame shift appears to me to have become central to Harvey=E2=80=99s work. Th=
is is the essential point: from here, both the question of surplus extracti=
on and the question of the transformation of profit into rent have become c=
entral in the critical analyses of contemporary capitalism that Harvey and =
I have developed.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin=
:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">What=
, then, are the differences? I believe it=E2=80=99s simply a question of ge=
nealogy, of the theoretical trajectory that has brought us to this shared a=
nalysis. I have reached these conclusions starting from the analysis of the=
 transformation of the nature of labor, which is, in fact, the concept on w=
hich the entire workerist approach was based. In other words, I began from =
the workerist concept of the refusal of labor. With this idea, we meant two=
 things. On the one hand, we took it as a rejection of the law of value as =
the fundamental norm of the capitalist order. On the other hand, we interpr=
eted it in a more constructive way, as a call for the acknowledgment of new=
 forms of productivity of work beyond the factory, at a wider social level.=
 From this Marxian analysis of the internal transformation of labor, we arr=
ived at the same conclusions at which Harvey arrived =E2=80=94 and on which=
 he developed a more thorough empirical analysis.</span></p><p style=3D"tex=
t-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"padding:0px;=
margin:0px"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(2=
55,255,255,0)">Starting from what you just said about the concept of produc=
tive labor, we would like to reflect with you on the forms and content of c=
ontemporary struggles. In your book=C2=A0<a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org=
/wiki/Commonwealth_%28book%29" style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px" target=3D"_=
blank">Commonwealth</a>, co-authored with Michael Hardt, you have written t=
hat today the metropolis is to the multitude what the factory was once to t=
he working class. In light of this change of paradigm, does it seem accurat=
e to you to identify in the recent uprisings that have erupted in countries=
 like Brazil and Turkey a set of struggles linked to questions about the pr=
oduction and reproduction of metropolitan life, instances of a new class st=
ruggle conducted at the metropolitan level?</strong></em></p><p style=3D"te=
xt-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"backgroun=
d-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Yes, very much so. Both the Turkish and the Br=
azilian struggles are clearly=C2=A0<em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">bio=
political</em>=C2=A0struggles. How, then, can we link this biopolitical dim=
ension to the new forms of labor we discussed before? This is a question wi=
th which Michael Hardt and I have been dealing ever since 1995, when we beg=
an working on=C2=A0<em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">Empire</em>. It app=
eared to us that if labor becomes social labor, if production and capitalis=
t oppression were swallowing up the social sphere, then the question of=C2=
=A0<em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">bios</em>=C2=A0became an essential =
one. The set of struggles developing around the welfare state was becoming =
one of the central aspects of class struggle. This discovery became even mo=
re important once we understood that productive labor was not only (or even=
 mainly) a material activity, but also (and mostly) an immaterial one. That=
 is, an activity linked to caring, affection, communication, and what we ca=
n loosely call =E2=80=98generically human=E2=80=99 processes and activities=
.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em=
"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It was this attentio=
n to the =E2=80=98generically human=E2=80=99 that helped us understand how =
the productive process had become fundamentally a=C2=A0<em style=3D"padding=
:0px;margin:0px">biopolitical</em>=C2=A0process. Consequently, the more pol=
itically significant struggles became those that deployed themselves on the=
 biopolitical terrain. What did this mean in more concrete terms? We did no=
t have an exhaustive and final answer. Yes, we had some intuition that one =
had to fight against, for example, the privatization of healthcare and educ=
ation, but at the time we did not manage to fully grasp what was later reve=
aled to us by the formidable struggles of 2011. It was those struggles that=
 revealed the full articulation of the biopolitical discourse, that is, the=
 new character of contemporary struggles. And it becomes very clear that th=
e metropolis is its essential setting. This does not mean that it will alwa=
ys be so, but today it is certain that the metropolis is the crucial locus =
of this struggle.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin=
:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The =
metropolitan strike in Paris in 1995 was essential in making me understand =
this. A city as complex and articulated as Paris completely supported the s=
truggle, which blocked the city in its entirety, starting from transportati=
on. That struggle expressed in a paradigmatic sense the cooperative and aff=
ective elements of the forms of conflict and knowledge that were emerging o=
n the metropolitan stage in those years. It is not a coincidence that these=
 aspects, linked to cooperation and to affective production, are still cent=
ral in contemporary metropolitan struggles, which are fully biopolitical st=
ruggles.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px =
1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><strong style=
=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"><em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">The cycle =
of struggles that began in 2011 briefly hinted at the possible birth of a n=
ew constituent process. Today it seems that many of these movements are con=
fronted with what you and Michael Hardt have called a=C2=A0</em></strong><e=
m style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"=
>=E2=80=98thermidorian closure,=E2=80=99 bringing about the re-establishmen=
t of the old regime. What is your analysis of the current state of these st=
ruggles, and what could have been done differently to prevent the present o=
utcome?</strong></em></span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;ma=
rgin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">=
To start with, we need to establish some differences. The Spanish mobilizat=
ion, for example, has a force and a degree of political originality that is=
 still evident today, and constitutes an important phenomenon that must als=
o be seen as partly emerging from the tormented history of Spain in the twe=
ntieth century, from the civil war, through the incomplete democratic trans=
ition, to the failure of the Socialist Party.</span></p><p style=3D"text-al=
ign:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-col=
or:rgba(255,255,255,0)">On the other hand, there is a much more ambiguous p=
henomenon such as Occupy, which appears to be a mobilization of the so-call=
ed middle classes more than an expression of the cognitive working class. A=
nd yet, beyond these obvious weaknesses, even Occupy displayed an important=
 degree of originality, especially in terms of the struggle developed on th=
e issue of debt and financial capital.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:sta=
rt;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba=
(255,255,255,0)">Finally, there is the Arab process, which has monopolized =
our attention for a long time, and which =E2=80=94 unfortunately =E2=80=94 =
has had an absolutely tragic ending. Strictly speaking, the only =E2=80=98t=
hermidorean=E2=80=99 outcome has been the Tunisian one, where an apparently=
 democratic but substantially falsified order has now been established. For=
 the rest, we have witnessed merely the beginnings of revolution, that is, =
a taking of the Bastille more than anything else. At any rate, I believe th=
at this extremely articulated revolutionary process has many days ahead of =
itself and is, at the moment, still completely open.</span></p><p style=3D"=
text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"backgro=
und-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">So far, this revolutionary process has revea=
led the presence in the Arab world of new forces of freedom, of cognitive l=
abor, that have tenaciously opposed the old military and feudal regimes. Th=
ere is, however, still an enormous problem in Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Iran=
, and it is the problem of the =E2=80=9Cmedieval=E2=80=9D nature of these s=
tates =E2=80=94 states that are extremely reactionary and repressive. Thus =
I have the impression that the seed of revolt planted in 2011 in various Ar=
ab states resembles, in some ways, the European 1848: a moment of anticipat=
ion of a revolutionary process. I hope, however, that it does not have the =
same consequences that it had in Europe, where it also produced nationalist=
 thought and practice, which eventually fueled the rise of fascism and nati=
onal socialism.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0=
px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">In spi=
te of this fear, I still strongly believe in a progressive dynamic of histo=
ry, and I am confident that events of revolutionary rupture will, in the fu=
ture, manage to break the feudal and reactionary political and social order=
 of many Arab countries.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px=
;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"><strong style=
=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Let=E2=80=
=99s discuss the struggles in Europe today. Taking our cue from=C2=A0<a hre=
f=3D"http://www.euronomade.info/?p=3D1417" style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"=
 target=3D"_blank">an article</a>=C2=A0you wrote together with Sandro Mezza=
dra just before the European elections of 2014, and a=C2=A0<a href=3D"http:=
//roarmag.org/2015/01/negri-interview-multitude-metropolis/www.euronomade.i=
nfo/?p=3D3913" style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px" target=3D"_blank">follow-up=
 piece</a>=C2=A0you just published ahead of the Greek elections, we wanted =
to ask you whether you see the European dimension as the only one in which =
the movements can possibly act to advance a project of the common as a genu=
ine alternative to the present capitalist crisis.</strong></em></p><p style=
=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"bac=
kground-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">This is certainly the most timely and im=
portant political question today. Currently, in Europe, we are in the lowes=
t phase of the cycle of struggles. I do not believe in the theory that, the=
 worse the political, social and economic situation, the stronger the revol=
utionary movement. We are faced with a serious economic crisis that has had=
 extremely negative consequences. The capitalist establishment has, for the=
 moment, successfully exploited the regression and the domestication of exi=
sting struggles, and has managed with ease to control the post-Fordist prod=
uctive transformation that hailed the defeat of the Fordist mass worker. To=
day, we are experiencing the consequences of our defeat in the 1970s, in th=
e absence of a political organization capable of expressing the interests o=
f the contemporary workforce and, more generally, of the contemporary produ=
ctive society that emerged from that process of capitalist transformation.<=
/span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em">=
<span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">However, in this negat=
ive situation, we still have to carefully consider if and how capital will =
be able to overcome the crisis. For example, I tend to agree with Wolfgang =
Streeck=E2=80=99s analyses, which examine the current crisis in the light o=
f some 1970s literature such as that by Offe, Hirsche, and O=E2=80=99Connor=
, who saw the crisis of the times as a consequence of the falling rate of p=
rofit. This fall, however, is intimately linked to the devaluation of the w=
orkforce, to the incapacity of considering the workforce as a central playe=
r in development.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin=
:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It i=
s necessary to be very careful on a number of points. When one says that so=
me instances of the common, certain demands of the struggle for the common =
can be, and have been, reabsorbed by and into the =E2=80=9Cmanagement crisi=
s=E2=80=9D and into all those mechanisms of management of the common, one o=
ften ignores that this absorption into capitalist management is not a creat=
ive one. It is not, for example, akin to the assimilation of the working cl=
ass that occurred in the Fordist and Keynesian paradigm, when this absorpti=
on did generate a rise in demand and manifested itself in a strong and ener=
getic economy.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0p=
x 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Today, =
we are faced by a capitalist contraction that leaves even those who operate=
 the contraction breathless. In this context, we have to be extremely atten=
tive, because the very real risk is that of giving a completely pessimistic=
 reading to a situation that, of course, is characterized by an important c=
risis =E2=80=94 but whose outcome is still completely open.</span></p><p st=
yle=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><em style=3D"pa=
dding:0px;margin:0px"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;background-co=
lor:rgba(255,255,255,0)">With this last question we would like to reflect w=
ith you on the innovation represented by a number of political phenomena th=
at are occurring in some European countries at the moment. Do you see, in E=
urope today, a political organization capable of starting a constituent pro=
cess and creating a transnational political project based on the communism =
of the 21st century =E2=80=94 that is, a political project based on the pra=
ctice of the common? And what do you consider to be the significance, in th=
is light, of new political forces like Syriza and Podemos?</strong></em></p=
><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span sty=
le=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Before answering your question,=
 I must confess that I have developed a problem in recent years. If I am as=
ked to assess the struggles of 2011, I can=E2=80=99t help but concentrate m=
y critical remarks on the question of horizontality =E2=80=94 or of exclusi=
ve horizontality, at least. I have to criticize it because I think that the=
re is no project or political development capable of transforming horizonta=
l spontaneity into an institutional reality. I think, instead, that this pa=
ssage must be governed in some way or another. Governed from below, of cour=
se, on the basis of shared programs, but always bearing in mind the necessi=
ty of having, in this passage, an organized political force capable of cons=
tituting itself and of managing this transformation.</span></p><p style=3D"=
text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"backgro=
und-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">I think that the present state of the moveme=
nt forces us to be self-critical about what happened in 2011, and I think t=
his self-criticism must focus on the question of political organization. We=
 need to acknowledge, for example, that the=C2=A0<a href=3D"http://en.wikip=
edia.org/wiki/The_Other_Europe" style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px" target=3D"=
_blank">Lista Tsipras</a>=C2=A0experiment in Italy has been a tragic failur=
e, even if I, together with Sandro Mezzadra and other comrades, welcomed it=
 with faith and hope. However, on the other hand, it should have been clear=
, from the beginning, that with organized parties such as SEL or Rifondazio=
ne Comunista it would have been impossible to find political forms capable =
of channeling and allowing spontaneous forces from below to affirm themselv=
es.</span></p><p style=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571=
em"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">With Podemos, howe=
ver, we are probably dealing with something different. Beyond the questiona=
ble ideologies around which Podemos constituted itself, I believe that =E2=
=80=94 maybe because of the goodwill of its leaders, or perhaps thanks to t=
he situation in which it finds itself =E2=80=94 Podemos is infinitely more =
powerful than it is organized. It is producing, for the moment, an extremel=
y interesting and active movement that might be capable of contributing to =
a healthy institutionalization of the struggles.</span></p><p style=3D"text=
-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"background-=
color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">On this question of struggle at the institutiona=
l level and of political organization, I would like to conclude with two mo=
re general propositions. The first one is that after 2011 horizontality mus=
t be criticized and overcome, clearly and unambiguously =E2=80=94 and not j=
ust in a Hegelian sense. Secondly, the situation is probably ripe enough to=
 attempt once again that most political of passages: the seizure of power. =
We have understood the question of power for too long in an excessively neg=
ative manner. Now we can reinterpret the question of power in terms of mult=
itudes, in terms of=C2=A0<em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">absolute demo=
cracy</em>=C2=A0=E2=80=94 that is to say, in terms of a democracy that goes=
 beyond canonical institutional forms such as monarchy, aristocracy and =E2=
=80=9Cdemocracy.=E2=80=9D I believe that today the problem of democracy is =
best formulated and addressed in terms of the multitude.</span></p><p style=
=3D"text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"bac=
kground-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><strong style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px"=
><em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">Antonio Negri=C2=A0</em></strong><em =
style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">is an Italian militant and theorist in the=
 post-workerist tradition. He is the author of many books, including his hi=
ghly influential trilogy with Michael Hardt,=C2=A0<a href=3D"http://en.wiki=
pedia.org/wiki/Empire_%28Negri_and_Hardt_book%29" style=3D"padding:0px;marg=
in:0px" target=3D"_blank">Empire</a>,=C2=A0<a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.o=
rg/wiki/Multitude:_War_and_Democracy_in_the_Age_of_Empire" style=3D"padding=
:0px;margin:0px" target=3D"_blank">Multitude</a>=C2=A0and=C2=A0<a href=3D"h=
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_%28book%29" style=3D"padding:0px;m=
argin:0px" target=3D"_blank">Commonwealth</a>.</em></span></p><p style=3D"t=
ext-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"backgrou=
nd-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">::::::::::::::::::::</span></p><p style=3D"te=
xt-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"backgroun=
d-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">On January 28, Toni Negri will be giving a lec=
ture titled=C2=A0<a href=3D"https://www.facebook.com/events/155550157136056=
8/" style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px" target=3D"_blank"><em style=3D"padding=
:0px;margin:0px">From the =E2=80=98Operaio Sociale=E2=80=99 to the Multitud=
e: A Marxist Approach to Social Movement Theory?</em></a>=C2=A0as part of a=
 lecture series organized by the Marxism(s) in Social Movements working gro=
up at the European University Institute in Florence.</span></p><p style=3D"=
text-align:start;padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em"><span style=3D"backgro=
und-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The event is open to the public.</span></p><=
p style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 1.571em;text-align:center"></p><div s=
tyle=3D"text-align:start"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,=
0)"><span style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px;text-decoration:underline">ABSTRA=
CT</span>:</span></div><div style=3D"text-align:start"><span style=3D"backg=
round-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Widely known to be one of the founding fat=
hers of autonomist Marxism, Prof. Antonio Negri will elaborate on the way i=
n which he has conceptualized the notions of labor, social struggle, and cl=
ass struggle within contemporary capitalist society in the light of his Mar=
xist framework. In this regard, he will discuss some of his most compelling=
 and debated concepts such as the mass worker, the social worker (=E2=80=9C=
<em style=3D"padding:0px;margin:0px">operaio sociale</em>=E2=80=9D), the mu=
ltitude, exodus, and the common/commonwealth, among many others. These conc=
epts are part of one of the most powerful attempts to rethink the political=
 project of critical theory today and to reformulate a Marxist tool-kit in =
contemporary post-industrial societies. The lecture that Prof. Negri will g=
ive at the EUI will also be a good opportunity to open up the discussion on=
 whether and how some of these concepts may be used to enrich the current f=
ield of Social Movement Studies.</span></div><p></p><p style=3D"padding:0px=
;margin:0px 0px 1.571em;text-align:center"></p><div style=3D"text-align:sta=
rt"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><span style=3D"pad=
ding:0px;margin:0px;text-decoration:underline">Discussants</span>:</span></=
div><div style=3D"text-align:start"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(25=
5,255,255,0)">Daniela Chironi (EUI)</span></div><div style=3D"text-align:st=
art"><span style=3D"background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Helge Hiram Jense=
n (EUI)</span></div><p></p><br></div><br>__________________________________=
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><br>
<br></div><br><br clear=3D"all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class=3D"gmail_s=
ignature"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here =
at:=C2=A0<a href=3D"http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan" target=
=3D"_blank">http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan</a>=C2=A0</div><=
div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href=3D"http://p2pfoundation.net" target=
=3D"_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a>=C2=A0 - <a href=3D"http://blog.p2p=
foundation.net" target=3D"_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br=
><a href=3D"http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-founda=
tion" target=3D"_blank"></a>Updates: <a href=3D"http://twitter.com/mbauwens=
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facebook.com/mbauwens" target=3D"_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</=
a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href=3D"http://enrichlist.org/the-co=
mplete-list/" target=3D"_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a=
> <br></div></div>
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