From Coldwar Communism to the Global Emancipatory Movement. Itinerary of a Long-Distance Internationalist

Cover Title Page Copyright Some previews... Some Inspirations... Dedication Contents Preface Acknowledgements Part 1 Chapter 1. Britain, 1936-55: Growing up Jewish, Middle-Class, Communist and Internationalist Point of departure East End, my Alec, the East-European, extrovert and talmudic one Ray, the introspective, moderate English one Growing up Communist and internationalist The Young Communist League, 1951: ‘All My Life and All My Strength’ The Berlin Youth Festival, 1951: tearing the curtain, embracing the enemy School is Dead! Long Live ... er ... College? Bucharest Youth Festival, 1953: failing to humanise Communism Failing to revolutionise Adrienne Training to become a journalist Dazzling international, Communist and sexual vistas. Chapter 2. Czechoslovakia 1955-58: From Agitator to Agent The International Union of Students: vanguard with a decreasing rearguard World Student News: a hopeless proposition? Primitive socialism their example Sad country The Living under socialism The freedom of the mountains Colleagues, friends, comrades and a lover The not-very-cosmopolitan Brits The Norwegian babes-in-the-woods The Icelanders, ebullient and reserved The romantic Italian The overcoated Soviet The bouncing Czech The serious Japanese The smiling Iraqi The insurrectionary Guatemalan The film students Zuzana Tourist of the revolutions Warsaw Sofia Slovakia Moscow Bye-bye Stalin Chapter 3. Intermezzo 1958-66: Meeting the Actually-Existing Working Class Back to Blighty The fucking army Hamelin London Oxford: their university and mine Revolution in Coca-Cola Island Oxford: back street to High Street Chapter 4. Prague, 1966-69: Workers of the World, Forgive Me! Introduction: optimism and pessimism The WFTU: not so much a spectre haunting as a shadow cast The WFTU: trying to breathe life into the golem Disillusioned tourist of the exhausted revolution Lagos, 1968: the beginning of the rest of my life Prague: abnormal times again? Comrades, friends and fellow workers August 1968: the re-imposition of abnormality Goodbye Stalin Part 2 Chapter 5. Birmingham-Zaria, 1969-72: Social Birmingham, 1969-70: becoming an Africanist Zaria, 1970-72-: negotiating boundaries Living in Toters of bibles and smokers of grass The Star Society and the Star Chamber Nigerian unions and the travelling labour seminar Chapter 6. Academic/Activist, 1970s-80s: Divisions of Labour Introduction: in paradise, if not at home The Netherlands: an embarrassment of tolerance The Institute of Social Studies: developing what? Labour and Development, 1970s-80s: but what about the workers? Things fall apart The New Chapter 7. Academic/Activist, 1980s-90s: Being Alternative ‘Alternative’ development strategies From social movement unionism to the new internationalisms Travelling hopefully Yugoslavia: what if the Communists come to power? India: straws and whirlwinds Poland: the pope’s battalions Western Europe: the rise and fall of shopfloor internationalism El Perú: the binary opposite of The Netherlands? Barcelona: communicating labour internationalism The Philippines: not communicating labour internationalism South Africa: post-colonialism of a special type Conclusion: do principles have a price? Chapter 8. Real Virtuality, From 1998-201?: Globalised Localities, Solidarities and Cyberspaces Exploring Cyberia 2008: Back in the Emancipating labour internationalism in print and online Encountering feminism and feminists Chapter 9. Between Place and Space: The World of Social Forums, 2002-to whenever Learning Portañol Porto Alegre 2002: of fish and water Florence 2002: globalisation from the middle Porto Alegre 2003: life after capitalism ... and civil society? London 2004: verticals and horizontals Mumbai 2005: cyberspatial engagement Nairobi 2007: another world of labour is not yet possible Malmö and Caracas 2008: still seeking the new labour internationalism WSF9, Belem 2009: which other world is desirable? Is another World Social Forum possible? Chapter 10. Let’s Hear it Re:exploring Cyberia Internationalism at a slight angle Hic Sunt Vulpes? The oh-too-rooted cosmopolitans Roots in space? References Back Cover