‘An infinite degradation of everything’
Eric Hazan and Kamo, First Measures of the Coming Insurrection
Zed Books, 134pp, £9.99, ISBN 9781783604098
reviewed by Stephen Lee Naish
If the proposed revolution in First Measures of the Coming Insurrection is successful then future generations will recall right-wing commentator and television host Glenn Beck unwittingly promoting the subversive literature that brought about the revolt. In 2014, Beck drew conclusions to mankind's downfall via the nihilistic content of a little-known philosophy book by Eugene Thacker entitled In the Dust of This Planet (2011), the popular TV show True Detective (the show’s writer Nic Pizzolatto acknowledged Dust’s influence) and rapper Jay-Z's use of Thacker's distinctive book title to adorn his designer jacket in a music video. Thus, thanks to Beck, a three-year-old philosophy book suddenly came to represent a pop culture moment, bridging the worlds of politics, fashion, entertainment, and philosophy, and selling copies in droves. In 2010, Beck presented his viewers with The Invisible Committee's slim tone The Coming Insurrection (2009). Against fearful images of burning cars and rioting masses, Beck urged his audience to buy copies in order to better understand the radical left's desire to ‘...bring down capitalism and the Western way of life.’ As with In the Dust of This Planet, sales of The Coming Insurrection surged. Beck's ‘The most evil thing I've ever read’ anti-endorsement is now used as solid approval for the First Measures of The Coming Insurrection, a follow-up by French historian Eric Hazan and Kamo, an anonymous group of French revolutionaries. If The Coming Insurrection was a practical how-to-guide for overthrowing the established order, then First Measures of The Coming Insurrection is the clean-up-manual – a transitional guide for building a new and fair society.
First Measures of The Coming Insurrection is split into three sections. The first, entitled 'The Right to Rebel', pulls focus on a modern form of democracy that ‘...has been inseparable from capitalism in all its various aliases.’ The authors refer to this coupling as ‘Democratic capitalism’ which ‘has imposed itself as the ultimate, definitive form of social existence, not only in the ideology of the ruling class but even in the popular imagination.’ This cancerous form of democracy and injustice is, say the authors, in a stage of collapse. Examples are pulled from Syria and The Democratic Republic of Congo, but also the Occupy movement, which has shed a light on the deceitful nature of modern economics, and the indifferent reaction by the citizenry to their governments' actions to repair and restore trust in the system.
Section two, entitled 'Creating the Irreversible', puts in place the apparatus for a new society, one that endeavours to retreat to localism, collective organisation, and communal living. Those in the doldrums of a nine-to-five existence, or a zero-hour contract will rejoice as work as a means of productivity in the economic climate is dispensed with in favour of ‘...a new conception of life, a new tendency to joy. Work will not disappear just because its structures have collapsed; it will disappear out of a desire to experience collective activity differently.’ A brief, yet encouraging, example of this form of collectivism is the cooperative municipality of Marinaleda in Andalusia (subject of a recent book by Dan Hancox, 2014’s The Village Against the World). The authors argue that if a small village could operate with full employment, zero crime, and collective welfare for all its residents, whilst the surrounding region collapsed during Spain's banking crisis, then a world of ‘...genuine communism is not only possible but within our reach.’
The book's closing section, entitled ‘There's Everything to Play for’, observes the signifiers of societies' dependence on the continuing political rot; or, as the authors put it, ‘a kind of end without an ending, which no revolutionary or counter-revolutionary surge ever quite wraps up; an infinite degradation of everything…’ In other words, the promise of action and reaction without the follow-through, a resolution to the problems with no solution to the cause. The authors add that we must interject, that we ‘...cannot merely watch and record the collapse of the present social edifice; we must make it happen as soon as possible, before a permanent state of decomposition has been established.’ The seeds of this discontent are being sown far and wide. From ‘wage earners and unemployed, soup kitchen users, prisoners, single mothers – who can no longer endure the life they are forced to lead.’
The United Kingdom faces another plodding election process, full of the usual fear-mongering, back stabbing, and comical footage of David Cameron and Ed Miliband desperately trying to converse in a believable manner to the hordes of the great unwashed. First Measures of The Coming Insurrection observes that our political class are ‘Trained in the same school of thought, reading the same texts, meeting in the same forums, they share the same visions of what is good for the world, and especially for themselves.’ We have seen this pantomime before, the outcome is the same again and again no matter who wins or loses. Russell Brand articulated this in his famous interview with Jeremy Paxman. Yet what feels different at this point is the real public disillusionment that is eating away at the established order.
Our culture is grappling for alternatives to social injustice; we are weeding out the cause and effect of mainstream political stagnation. Whether it be the Occupy movement, democratic revolutions in the Middle East, a victory for the left in Greece, Russell Brand's revolution, or pop star Paloma Faith roping in Owen Jones to speak about the NHS at her concerts. We are witnessing a discourse within popular culture that informs and educates us, allows other realistic perspectives to emerge. The missteps are cautionary, and we've seen it go painfully wrong in Libya and Tunisia, but untwining the weeds of capitalism towards a form of democratic localism, was always going to be an arduous task. The change may not be as instant as Hazan and Kamo might wish, but getting a blueprint in place for an alternative future is an important part of that process. Kudos to them for dreaming it up.
First Measures of The Coming Insurrection is split into three sections. The first, entitled 'The Right to Rebel', pulls focus on a modern form of democracy that ‘...has been inseparable from capitalism in all its various aliases.’ The authors refer to this coupling as ‘Democratic capitalism’ which ‘has imposed itself as the ultimate, definitive form of social existence, not only in the ideology of the ruling class but even in the popular imagination.’ This cancerous form of democracy and injustice is, say the authors, in a stage of collapse. Examples are pulled from Syria and The Democratic Republic of Congo, but also the Occupy movement, which has shed a light on the deceitful nature of modern economics, and the indifferent reaction by the citizenry to their governments' actions to repair and restore trust in the system.
Section two, entitled 'Creating the Irreversible', puts in place the apparatus for a new society, one that endeavours to retreat to localism, collective organisation, and communal living. Those in the doldrums of a nine-to-five existence, or a zero-hour contract will rejoice as work as a means of productivity in the economic climate is dispensed with in favour of ‘...a new conception of life, a new tendency to joy. Work will not disappear just because its structures have collapsed; it will disappear out of a desire to experience collective activity differently.’ A brief, yet encouraging, example of this form of collectivism is the cooperative municipality of Marinaleda in Andalusia (subject of a recent book by Dan Hancox, 2014’s The Village Against the World). The authors argue that if a small village could operate with full employment, zero crime, and collective welfare for all its residents, whilst the surrounding region collapsed during Spain's banking crisis, then a world of ‘...genuine communism is not only possible but within our reach.’
The book's closing section, entitled ‘There's Everything to Play for’, observes the signifiers of societies' dependence on the continuing political rot; or, as the authors put it, ‘a kind of end without an ending, which no revolutionary or counter-revolutionary surge ever quite wraps up; an infinite degradation of everything…’ In other words, the promise of action and reaction without the follow-through, a resolution to the problems with no solution to the cause. The authors add that we must interject, that we ‘...cannot merely watch and record the collapse of the present social edifice; we must make it happen as soon as possible, before a permanent state of decomposition has been established.’ The seeds of this discontent are being sown far and wide. From ‘wage earners and unemployed, soup kitchen users, prisoners, single mothers – who can no longer endure the life they are forced to lead.’
The United Kingdom faces another plodding election process, full of the usual fear-mongering, back stabbing, and comical footage of David Cameron and Ed Miliband desperately trying to converse in a believable manner to the hordes of the great unwashed. First Measures of The Coming Insurrection observes that our political class are ‘Trained in the same school of thought, reading the same texts, meeting in the same forums, they share the same visions of what is good for the world, and especially for themselves.’ We have seen this pantomime before, the outcome is the same again and again no matter who wins or loses. Russell Brand articulated this in his famous interview with Jeremy Paxman. Yet what feels different at this point is the real public disillusionment that is eating away at the established order.
Our culture is grappling for alternatives to social injustice; we are weeding out the cause and effect of mainstream political stagnation. Whether it be the Occupy movement, democratic revolutions in the Middle East, a victory for the left in Greece, Russell Brand's revolution, or pop star Paloma Faith roping in Owen Jones to speak about the NHS at her concerts. We are witnessing a discourse within popular culture that informs and educates us, allows other realistic perspectives to emerge. The missteps are cautionary, and we've seen it go painfully wrong in Libya and Tunisia, but untwining the weeds of capitalism towards a form of democratic localism, was always going to be an arduous task. The change may not be as instant as Hazan and Kamo might wish, but getting a blueprint in place for an alternative future is an important part of that process. Kudos to them for dreaming it up.