The Political is Noch Nicht (not yet)! (original) (raw)

City, 2013

Abstract

I t is a good thing that we judge books neither by their covers nor by their titles. It is also a good thing we also judge them neither by their prologues nor their forewords. Amin and Thrift’s latest joint book should not be judged on any of these accounts, except on the first sentences of their prologue, which reads: ‘This is a book about how the Left, particularly in the West, can move forward in the struggle to voice a politics of social equality and justice. But it does not provide a manifesto, a template, or even a plan’ (ix). Two gorgeous sentences, straightforward, but full of pathos and above all dignity. The first, declares, confesses and commands an ethical commitment. This is a book about what we can do to further the struggle against injustice and inequality. However, at the same time, it announces after it has declared its point of departure, its moral foothold, that it has no ‘manifesto, template, or even plan’ to provide. Should we be confused, disappointed, ‘turned off’? Should anyone on the side of justice and equality also not have a road map, or in our days should we not say an IP address, for how to get to a social arrangement in which we can decrease suffering and degradation, and tip the scales of justice on the side of integrity and dignity? Amin and Thrift do us the honor of treating us as enlightened and cosmopolitan citizens of a global society that can do without the pontificating of soothsayers, apocalypsists or Leninist prophets. Their stance should remind us of Kant and Rorty. The former urged us to ‘Sapere Aude!’ He dared us to depart from all self-incurred forms of mental tutelage. The latter reminded us that there are less useful and more useful ways to talk about our collective challenges. He dared us not to get things right, but to see them under the bright light of an utopia in which more and more of us could count part of our beloved ‘we’. Between Kant and Rorty there is a common meeting ground, and it goes by the name of Mündigkeit, or what I would call ‘cosmopolitan maturity’. This is also the ground from which Amin and Thrift address us. This book is about what the Left should be proud of, what it can do to recapture the imagination of peoples to energize them into social action, and what horizons lay ahead in terms of actionable strategies. I will quickly overview the contents, before I come to what I take to be the main reason why many of us interested in tipping the scales of justice on the side of integrity and dignity should be reading this wonderful and very useful book. The book is made up of seven compact, well-argued and well-annotated chapters. In the first, Amin and Thrift lay out their understanding of what they call ‘the grounds of the political’. The key argument in this chapter is that historically the Left has been known for

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