Linked with Questions for the left … .
Alex Callinicos (born 1950 in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)) is a Marxist intellectual and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers’ Party. He received his BA and DPhil from the University of Oxford, and was Professor of Politics at the University of York before being appointed Professor of European Studies at King’s College London in 2005. He is a member of the editorial board of International Socialism and British correspondent of Actuel Marx. A prolific writer for both the revolutionary and the academic presses, he is a descendant of the famous historian Lord Acton. During the Second World War his father was active in the Greek Resistance to Nazi occupation, his mother was a member of the British aristocracy [1]. In 1977 he married Joanna Seddon, an Oxford doctoral student of similar aristocratic background. (full text).
Read: German strikers look to target G8 summit, May 15, 2007.
Alex Callinicos – England
He says: « Of course, there is much more to be said about Venezuela and Bolivia, and we have tried to say some of it, notably in our publications. Anyone who consults on the web the back-issues of Socialist Worker, Socialist Review, and International Socialism could not but be struck by the extent of our coverage of the major developments in these two countries over the past few years. Moreover, among the main memories that participants in Marxism 2006 would have taken away was the impact of the Latin American speakers, notably Roland Dennis from Venezuela and Oscar Oliveira from Bolivia. We hope to continue this at Marxism 2007 in London in July with the participation of the Venezuelan Trotskyist trade union leader, Stalin Perez, who has spoken at the Greek SWP’s own Marxism event in 2006 and 2007. ». (full long text, May 24, 2007).
Read:
- The Anti-Capitalist Movement and the Revolutionary Left, The birth of a new left (2001).
- The ‘New Middle Class’ and socialists, 28 October 06.
- The grand strategy of the American empire, Winter 2002.
- this debate (exchange of several articles on ZNet: Movement Building 2004, Vision and Strategy, An Exchange Between Michael Albert and Alex Callinicos.
- Middle East: Imperial assault on and tasks for the left, Ardeshir Mehrdad interviewing Alex Callinicos, 2006.
- about ESF 2004.
- MARX CONGRESS 2004.
- Does globalisation weaken workers? May 23, 2006.
He says also: « We believe that there is a qualitative difference between the cases of Nicaragua and other Central American struggles in the 1980s and Bolivia and Venezuela today. The geopolitical context has changed dramatically – then the Second Cold War made the Sandinistas and the FMLN in El Salvador key targets in the Reagan administration’s counter-revolutionary strategy, now, as we have noted, Latin American movements confront a weakened and distracted American imperialism. More important still, the Venezuelan and Bolivian struggles are driven by politically diverse popular movements employing the weapons of mass action, and not by national liberation fronts specializing in guerrilla warfare and therefore necessarily distanced from the urban masses that dominated the Central American left a generation ago. (full long text, May 24, 2007).
His research interests: European social and political theory, Marx, contemporary political philosophy and critical theory, historiography, international political economy (May 5, 2006).
They say Britain is so class divided that even the revolutionary left is controlled by public school boys. But such an ordinary middle-class upbringing is seemingly not enough to get you a top job in the Socialist Workers’ Party. It’s not as widely appreciated as it should be that Alex Callinicos – pictured left – is not just the great-grandson of Lord Acton, but also related to European royalty. Check out thepeerage.com, scroll down until you find Dr Alexander Theodore Callinicos and then click on the link marked ‘pedigree’. (full text).
His publications:
- on wikipedia;
- on King’s College London, European Studies;
- on amazon;
- online, his book: Trotskyism (1990);
- on LibraryThing;
- on answers.com;
- His texts on International Viewpoint.
And he says: « The international anti-war movement in any case faces a very big challenge. The Lebanon War confirms that the Bush administration is telling the truth when it says that it is waging a global war. Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon are all fronts in this war. Iran may be the next one. The involvement of European troops in both Afghanistan and Lebanon requires a response for the left throughout the EU. Let us hope that this very threatening situation will produce an upsurge of anti-war activity, not just in Europe but globally ». (full text).
Listen in french/écoutez en français: Débat contradictoire attac AZAM et NIKONOFF (attac-azam-nikonoff.avi), 2.33 h, novembre 10, 2006 à Toulouse.
links:
Class Considerations in a Globalized Economic Order, by Delia D. Aguilar;
Reply to Alex Callinicos, by Gilbert Achcar;
Antonio Negri, Alex Callinicos: Multitude or Working Class, translations of labor.