-- ANTONIO NEGRI, EMPIRE AND THE MULTITUDE --

Thanks to all those that responded to our idea for a little regular reading
group for anarchists, the curious and fellow travelers in the GTA. About ten
people or so showed up to the first session we had, crammed into a room in a
private apartment, force fed chips and dips and despite not everyone reading the
main text, we still managed to have a three hour or so discussion on the nature
of the state, where it came from, the features that define it and how, if at
all, we can move beyond state based societies to one based on voluntary
association.

Next up our discussion will focus on Antonio Negri's concept of Empire and
Multitude. Obviously at times this topic can lead to some dark and murky
chambers of academe abstraction. For this sessions we're going to keep it
simple - by looking at his work through some more general articles rather than
leaping right into his brick of a book itself. Though, do feel free.

We had discussed using the debate between old man Negri and the ex-theoretical
darling of the British SWP Alex Callinicos on multitude versus the working
class, as a quick in on the subject, I can't seem to find that online - there is
a transcript somewhere, I've certainly provided a link to coverage of that
debate. There are lots of articles exploring the question of multitude and
empire, versus class and capital - you'll see some below.

TIME AND VENUE>>

6pm, Sunday March 9th over at the Mudd House at Manning. So for the hard of
hearing, that's 6pm, Sunday March 9th over at 481 Manning Ave. Toronto, Ont.
M6G 2V8 (that's the postal code, not the phone number - just in case you are
coming by her royal pie face's postal service)

Phone: 416-323-3216

BIOGRAPHY OF NEGRI>>

Antonio Negri is arguably the most important political philosopher of the last
10 years. Throughout his life his work has always been controversial, be it his
writings on Spinoza and post-marxism, his political career which saw him
imprisoned as the alleged mastermind behind the May 1978 assassination of Aldo
Moro (leader of the Christian-Democrat Party) or his more recent international
best-selling books “Empire” and “Multitude” which have shaped and
provided analysis for the Italian left and the global anti-capitalist movement.

Head over to Attack.ie for the rest...

BAD BOOKS ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUM>>

There was some discussion about continuing the conversations and reading lark
over in the virtual realm, to facilitate this I've set up an online forum.

Please register there and post a hello to kick start the discussion. It's far
more efficient if people ask questions there rather than emailing me back
personally, email just means chasing addresses and so on in rivers of spam,
forums allow simple instant response. Let the circular discussion reign...

OTHER ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS >>

There was also some talk of other online anarchist resources, some comrades
were recently involved in setting a forum up that seeks to avoid the hostility
of much of the online left. Here's what they have to say:

Ever wished for an anarchist discussion board dominated by an exchange of
argued out political views rather than insults? So did we, so we decided to do
something about it. Inspired by the Organise discussion list of the mid 1990s
(the first serious anarchist discussion list) and Anarkismo.net, we have
launched AnarchistBlackCat. We are building a home for serious anarchist
discussion and strong moderation of anything that falls below this according to
a set of detailed, transparent and publicly available rules. Got something to
say?

Come on over to http://www.anarchistblackcat.org
[http://www.anarchistblackcat.org] --- Posting rules at
http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=158
[http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=158]
More about the board at http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12
[http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12]
Register at http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/ucp.php?mode=register
[http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/ucp.php?mode=register]

DOCUMENTARY ON NEGRI'S POLITICS >>

Antonio Negri: The Revolt that Never Ends can be watched online at:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-635735684063417950

I also have a copy that we could watch on the night of the book club to base
discussion around, it deals with many of the themes in his writing and provides
a useful historical context, that being the long 68 Italy experienced through to
the very early eighties.

What someone else says about it:

"This film was made for Arte and to my knowledge is the first english-language
film to recount Italy's recent revolutionary history; from Potere Operaia and
the long '68 (1968-77) to autonomia operaia. Nice archival material is used, and
there is an attempt to articulate the development of Negri's ideas. Whilst
appreciating the effort invested by the film-makers, some criticisms must be
mentioned.

Firstly it succumbs to the temptation to fetichise Negri as an individual and a
personality. It is notable that other important figures are essentially effaced:
Bologna, Marrazzi, Virno, Dalla Costa, Fortunati, Mezzandra etc etc. Brief
interviews with Bifo and Pino Tripodi, and a slightly longer contribution Alisa
Del Re are included. And that is only the theoretical plain. Grassroots
militants are simply invisible, unless present to say kind things about Toni.
Reducing the complex history of a movement to a figurehead is to undermine
intelligibility of the collective agency which made it. Secondly this
personalization around Negri is precisely the mechanism employed by the state to
process him in the media-political-justice apparatus. It was by pedestalizing
him that they could claim that Negri was a "cattivo maestro", simultaneously
head of the Red Brigades and autonomia operaia. The second part focuses on his
time in Paris, his relationship with Felix Guattari and others.

This same weakness repeats itself in the elaboration of the theses currently
proposed by Hardt & Negri, where considerable attention is given to the notion
of the 'multitude' and to the rejection of traditional forms of representation.
Irony or paradox then that protagonists presented acting politically are drawn
uniquely from one faction (such Luca Casarini, ex -leader of the disobbedienti)
heavily criticised by libertarian autonomists and just about everyone else for
their periodic attempts to hegemonise the movement. In defense of the this
documentary it could be argued that there is a general failure amongst
filmmakers to develop a visual language capable of conveying polyphonic
representation capable of communicating the richness of difference.

Obviously the limitations of television formats impose heavy constraints both
narratively and in terms of detail. Unfortunately it will deepen the trend set
off by Empire to take Negri as the sole representative of the
class-compositionist/autonomist tradition, haemorrhaging the contributions made
by thinkers who have forged other paths path. The subtle and important questions
(the relationship with feminism, the step from Potere Operaio to autonomoia
operaia etc) are glossed over which will leave those already familiar with the
italian movements dissatisfied. But as an introduction to spark discussion it is
a useful tool notwithstanding its hagiographic and formal defects."

SOME LINKS TO GET PEOPLE ONTO THE DISCUSSION >>

Download Empire as a
PDF:http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/negri/HAREMI_unprintable.pdf

Wikipedia Entry On Negri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Negri
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Negri]

Toni Negri in perspective by Alex Callicnicos:
http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj92/callinicos.htm

Negri at the ESF: Another Venue is Possible:
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/11/57669.php

Approximations: Towards an Ontological Definition of the Multitude by Antonio
Negri (Translated by Arianna Bove):
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/space/multitude.htm
Negri vs Callinicos - European Social Forum 03: video

Have Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri Rewritten the Communist manifesto for the
Twenty-First Century? By Slavoj Zizek: http://www.lacan.com/zizek-empire.htm
[http://www.lacan.com/zizek-empire.htm]

Is the emperor wearing clothes? by Andrew Flood:
http://struggle.ws/andrew/empirereview.html
[http://struggle.ws/andrew/empirereview.html]

Class or Multitude by Michael Albert:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7645
[http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7645]

Reading Capital Politically by Harry Cleaver:
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/357krcp.html
[http://www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/357krcp.html]