In between publishing the works of Žižek and plotting ways to destroy capitalism, many of us at Verso occasionally like to read books.
As usual we were stunned by how little the newspaper's books of the year seemed to represent our own reading so we gathered together our own top books of 2012 (and beyond) and the resulting list is a refreshing reminder of just how lively much of the independent publishing scene is.
Jodi Dean recently spoke to Full Stop, Vice's Motherboard, and the New Left Project about her provocative and potentially very contentious new book, The Communist Horizon. Released a month ago, The Communist Horizon charts the re-emergence of communism as a magnet for political energy following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the stalling of the Occupy movement.
In Jodi Dean’s upcoming manifesto, The Communist Horizon, she examines the experiences of the Occupy movement and urges the left to end its accommodation of capitalism and collectively plan how to shape a world that we already make in common.
But in an era when liking a Facebook post or retweeting a link has become an easy substitution for activism, how can we take meaningful action against neoliberalism? In this new excerpt in Guernica from The Communist Horizon, Jodi Dean spells out the dangers of TMI ("too much information") introduced by today's communications technology.
She writes:
Networked information technologies have been the means through which people have been subjected to the competitive intensity of neoliberal capitalism. Enthusiastically participating in personal and social media—I have broadband at home! My new tablet lets me work anywhere! With my smartphone, I always know what’s going on!—we build the trap that captures us, a trap that extends beyond global use of mobile phones and participation in social networks to encompass the production of these phones and the hardware necessary to run these networks.
Visit Guernica to read the excerpt in full.