Keyword: the left

Shifting the Ground of Radical Reason

Picture: Dragaholic Richard Pithouse - For some time now much of the left has either been alienated from actually existing popular mobilisation or unable to make and sustain productive connections with it. But the emergence of new forces to the left of the ANC, forces with money, a national reach, easy access to the media and, in the case of NUMSA, an established and organised membership, is generating fresh optimism. However, the old fantasy that history will, in time, reward radical patience sometimes functions to prevent...

The Social Democrats' Curse: The Future of Progressive Politics in Europe

Picture: Jacob Christensen Saliem Fakir - On a recent visit to Madrid, I attended the Global Progress initiative held on 2-3 October 2009. It was a most illuminating meeting on the question of the evolution of European politics in the last 50 years. I was invited by the Centre for American Progress (CAP), which is very strongly associated with the Obama administration, Heinrich Boell Foundation (the German Foundation for the Green Party) and Fundacion Ideas (allied to the Spanish Social Democrats). I had the privilege of being a...