Left-of-centre democratic ideologies and movements Books

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisWashington Bullets is written in the best traditions of Marxist journalism and history-writing. It is a book of fluent and readable stories, full of detail about US imperialism, but never letting the minutiae obscure the larger political point. It is a book that could easily have been a song of despair - a lament of lost causes; it is, after all, a roll call of butchers and assassins; of plots against people''s movements and governments; of the assassinations of socialists, Marxists, communists all over the Third World by the country where liberty is a statue.Despite all this, Washington Bullets is a book about possibilities, about hope, about genuine heroes. One such is Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso - also assassinated - who said: ''You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.''Washington Bullets is a book infused with this madness, the madness that dares to invent the future.

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Book SynopsisThe people of the Congo have suffered from a particularly brutal colonial rule, American interference after independence, decades of robbery at the hands of the dictator Mobutu and periodic warfare which continues even now in the East of the country. But, as this insightful political history makes clear, the Congolese people have not taken these multiple oppressions lying down and have fought over many years to establish democratic institutions at home and free themselves from foreign exploitation; indeed these are two aspects of a single project. Professor Nzongola-Ntalaja is one of his country's leading intellectuals and his panoramic understanding of the personalities and events, as well as class, ethnic and other factors, make his book a lucid, radical and utterly unromanticized account of his countrymen's struggle. His people's defeat and the state's post-colonial crisis are seen as resulting from a post-independence collapse of the anti-colonial alliance between the masses and the national leadership . This book is essential reading for understanding what is happening in the Congo and the Great Lakes region under the rule of the late President Kabila, and now his son. It will also stand as a milestone in how to write the modern political history of Africa.Trade Review'Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is one among those very few intellectuals who possesses the background, the knowledge, the commitment and the vantage point from which to assess the historical possibilities for contemporary Congo.' Mahmood Mamdani, Columbia University 'A leading Congolese scholar-activist, Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, delivers his magnum opus. The book is the product of a lifetime of study of Congolese politics, both as observer and participant. The richly documented narrative makes clear why Congolese nationalism survives the collapse of its state, the many decades of oppressive rule, and the depredations of external forces.' Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin-Madison 'It is refreshing to have a well-written popular history of the Congo by a Congolese scholar and sometime activist' Choice 'Authoritative books in English on the Congo are scarce, so this work by a leading Congolese academic is welcome' Gail M. Gerhart, Foreign Affairs This book is the winner of the African Politics Conference Group (APCG) first Best Book Award 2003Table of Contents Introduction 1. Imperialism, Belgian Colonialism and African Resistance 2. The Struggle for Independence 3. The First Congo Crisis 4. The Second Independence Movement 5. The Mobutu Regime: Dictatorship and State Decay 6. The Struggle for Multiparty Democracy 7. Conflict in the Great Lakes Region Conclusions

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Book SynopsisThe socialist tradition in Britain is diverse and multi-layered. Its pattern of development differed markedly across the great industrial centres where it first put down roots. In this new book - which is so much more than a work of history - Paul Salveson re-asserts the strength and distinctiveness of the socialism which emerged in the mills, mines and railway yards of the North of England. The core of his argument is that popular socialism today needs to reconnect with its local and regional roots, and relocate power to the regions and localities. Central to Salveson's account is his discussion of the rise of the Independent Labour Party, which was formed in Bradford in 1893, and whose character differed markedly from the metropolitan-based socialism of the Marxist-inclined Social Democratic Federation. Its emphasis was on ethical values, community and culture; and it was decentralist and democratic rather than centralist and authoritarian. And, as the book also documents, a number of outstanding women - including Katharine Bruce Glasier, Caroline Martyn, Sarah Reddish and Enid Stacy - played a central role in its campaigning. Salveson reminds us of the role of working-class writers such as Allen Clarke, who converted thousands of his readers to socialism 'by making them laugh', and of the Clarion cycling clubs, which introduced a generation of working men and women to a new kind of politics, one which was fun and recreational. He also shows how the co-operative movement and the trades unions, alongside the ILP, helped shaped a working-class culture which was remarkably durable and independent. As Salveson argues, in reconnecting with these local radical traditions in a modern context Labour could find valuable resources for its renewal.

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Book SynopsisPhilippe Van Parijs is one of the world''s leading political philosophers. In this book, he argues that the purpose of democracy should be to promote justice - we need not just democracy (in the sense of unqualified democracy) but a just democracy. Machiavelli and Rawls must be brought together. In a series of provocative and timely essays, he explores what creating such a just democratic political system would involve in order to tackle such issues as intergenerational justice, multiculturalism and linguistic diversity. He illustrates his arguments with examples drawn from the European Union and his native Belgium.

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