Thinking the crisis politically: lineages of resistance to neo-liberalism and the politics of the present conjuncture

Abstract

Dominant forms of left theorizing in relation to the crisis have constructed emergent forms of resistance as limited and reactive. This depiction of resistances, however, is created partly by abstracting the crisis from ongoing contestation of neo-liberalism. This paper situates emerging resistances to crisis and austerity in relation to ongoing trajectories of the contestation of neo-liberalism. It examines some of the solidarities and antagonisms being shaped in relation to the crisis. The paper concludes that a focus on the dynamic trajectories of alternative politics can open up different possibilities within the current conjuncture.

Keywords:

• space
• politics
• crisis
• solidarity
• antagonism

Acknowledgements

This paper has benefited from the helpful comments of two referees and the useful comments and criticisms from talks at the Fels Collective/Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Berlin, at National University of Ireland Maynooth, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Lund and Smålands Nation, Lund, as well as at the In, Against, Beyond Neoliberalism Conference in Glasgow. I would like to thank Carole McCallum for her invaluable assistance with the STUC archives at Glasgow Caledonian University. The material on the Lindsey Oil Refinery Dispute draws on collaborative work with Andy Cumbers, Anthony Ince, Danny Mackinnon and Kendra Strauss and I thank them for permission to draw on it here. The responsibility for the arguments and any substantive errors is my own.

Notes

1. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/10/time-to-stand-with-spanish-miners, last accessed 1 November, 2013. The signatories of the letter were: John Cuningham Acting secretary, Spanish Miners’ Solidarity Committee, and ex-miner, Dinnington Colliery, South Yorkshire, Carrie Hedderwick Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures, Ian Isaac Executive committee, South Wales NUM, 1982–1987, and ex-miner, St John's Colliery, Steve Brunt Ex-miner, Arkwright Colliery, Doncaster.

2. Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) Archives, Glasgow Caledonian University, STUC Box 516: Folder on Scottish Football Team's Proposed visit to Chile, 1977.

3. STUC Box 531: Folder Chile Solidarity Campaign Correspondence 1974–1975.

4. STUC Box 516: Folder on Scottish Football Team's Proposed visit to Chile, 1977.