Revolutionary Hope After Nihilism: Marginalized Voices and Dissent

Description

As we face new and debilitating catastrophes caused by capitalism and nation-state politics, Saladdin Ahmed argues that our only hope is to create space for a new world by negating the existing order. To achieve this new society, Revolutionary Hope After Nihilism outlines a practical philosophy of change that rejects ideologies of false hope and passive hopelessness. Drawing public attention to the decisiveness of the present historical moment, Ahmed introduces a critical theory of social emancipation based on post-Soviet revolutionary movements that have emerged at the margins of the global social order. The rise of socially and politically exclusionary movements in multiple parts of the world, ongoing ecological crisis, anti-Black racism, and the concretization of despair brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic demand a new approach to revolution, which Ahmed argues, must be rooted in the experiences of the most oppressed in society. Realizing the epistemological potential of emancipatory movements, Ahmed rejects dystopian nihilism and positions our focus on marginalized spaces to break out of capitalist totalitarianism. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments PART ONE Crises Chapter one The Philosophy and the Plan of the Present Work Chapter two The Indispensability of Universal Anti-fascist Solidarity: A Return to Normal Is Neither Possible nor Desirable Chapter three The Two-Headed Beast of Capitalism and Nation-Statism Chapter four Capitalism and the Ecological Deadlock Chapter five Culturalism as an Ideological Crisis PART TWO Negations Chapter six Refuting the No-Alternative Rhetoric Chapter seven The Marginalized and Their Cosmopolitan Episteme of Emancipation Chapter eight Postnihilist Theses on Revolution Summarized Notes 1 The Philosophy and the Plan of the Present Work 2 The Indispensability of Universal Anti-fascist Solidarity: A Return to Normal Is Neither Possible nor Desirable 3 The Two-Headed Beast of Capitalism and Nation-Statism 4 Capitalism and the Ecological Deadlock 5 Culturalism as an Ideological Crisis 6 Refuting the No-Alternative Rhetoric 7 The Marginalized and Their Cosmopolitan Episteme of Emancipation 8 Postnihilist Theses on Revolution Summarized Bibliography Index