Insurrections: Education in an Age of Counter-Revolutionary Politics

Description

With this book Henry A. Giroux argues that insurrection has become a dominant motif for the USA and other countries torn between the promises and ideals of democracy and an emergent authoritarianism. He argues that education is central to the idea of insurrection, showing how on the one hand it contributes to an insurrectional authoritarianism, wedded to a fascist legacy that calls for racial purity, militarism, ultra-nationalism, and state terrorism. On the other hand he presents the idea of insurrectional democracy which has a long legacy in the battle for racial justice, economic equality, and a politics of inclusion. The book explores how both positions are motivated by specific visions, values, and particular understandings of education and agency. He also shows how powerful images, social media, and the internet are in merging political education, power, and cultural politics. Giroux makes an impassioned call for an insurrectional democracy that makes education central to politics and produces an anti-capitalist consciousness as the basis for developing a mass movement in defence of a radical democracy. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Part One Politics in an Age of Counter-Revolution 1 Introduction 2 Necropolitics and the Politics of White Nationalism 3 The Rebranding of Fascist Politics in the Digital Age 4 The Threat of Remembering 5 Counter-Revolutionary Politics Part Two Social Media and the Fascist Threat 6 Social Media as a Disimagination War Machine 7 Capitalism’s Observation Posts and the Politics of Denial 8 Politics as Civil War and the Culture of Violence 9 Weaponizing Culture 10 Gangster Capitalism and the Politics of Ethicide Part Three The Public Imagination under Siege 11 Cultural Apparatuses and the Politics of Commonsense 12 Anti-Capitalist Consciousness and the Crisis of Education 13 Politics under Siege 14 The Necessity of a Comprehensive Politics Part Four Towards an Insurrectional Democracy 15 Hideous Freedoms: Lessons to be Learned from the Convoy Movement 16 Making Education Central to Politics and Everyday Life 17 Insurrectional Democracy and the Politics of Education 18 Conclusion Notes Index