Restructuring and Resistance is an inspired book that succeeds in explaining why many people in western Europe are opposing capitalist globalisation. It does this by doing what the mainstream media will not, giving them a voice.
Restructuring and Resistance is an inspired book that succeeds in explaining why many people in western Europe are opposing capitalist globalisation. It does this by doing what the mainstream media will not, giving them a voice.
The book consists of 77 individual chapters, almost all of them written by activists based on their experiences of struggle against the different aspects of capitalist globalisation. Those that aren’t are chapters that give a theoretical background that links these struggles together, particularly in the opening section, ‘The Europe of Capital’. This makes it essential reading for Irish activists looking forward to the second Nice referendum.
But it doesn’t isolate itself to the EU; the Zapatistas and Indian farmers put in an appearance. A substantial section deals with the attempt of the EU to criminalise and exclude immigrants and the methods that we are using to struggle against this. And there are contributions from the ‘edges’ of the EU, particularly from Poland and Turkey.
There are flaws, the lack of an index being one, but despite this the book gives one a real feel of the anti-capitalist movement that is entirely lacking from the left and mainstream press. Without trying to, it answers in part the ‘where did we come from’ question that is so essential to planning ‘where we should go to’. Here we see all those ‘disconnected’ struggles of the 90’s in Europe; road protests, GMO’s, privatisation, urban sprawl and Fortress Europe as the source of this movement. In particular, numerous essays mention the global J18 protests and the conferences and caravans that immediately preceded it.
Given its thickness (550+ pages) it is also remarkably cheap. This book is written by the movement and is very much for the movement. It is essential reading and like the ads tell us something you won’t find in the shops.
Edited by Kolya Abramsky
IRP 10
Published in Workers Solidarity No. 106, 2001
WORDS Andrew Flood (Follow Andrew on Twitter )