On Resistance: A Philosophy of Defiance

Description

No word is more central to the contemporary political imagination and action than 'resistance'. In its various manifestations - from the armed guerrilla to Gandhian mass pacifist protest, from Wikileaks and the Arab Spring to the global eruption and violent repression of the Occupy movement - concepts of resistance are becoming ubiquitous and urgent. In this book, Howard Caygill conducts the first ever systematic analysis of 'resistance': as a means of defying political oppression, in its relationship with military violence and its cultural representation. Beginning with the militaristic doctrine of Clausewitz and the evolution of a new model of guerrilla warfare to resist the forces of Napoleonic France, On Resistance elucidates and critiques the contributions of seminal resistant thinkers from Marx and Nietzsche to Mao, Gandhi, Sartre and Fanon to identify continuities of resistance and rebellion from the Paris Commune to the Greenham Women's Peace Camp. Employing a threefold line of inquiry, Caygill exposes the persistent discourses through which resistance has been framed in terms of force, violence, consciousness and subjectivity to evolve a critique of resistance. Tracing the features of resistance, its strategies, character and habitual forms throughout modern world history Caygill identifies the typological consistencies which make up resistance. Finally, by teasing out the conceptual nuances of resistance and its affinities to concepts of repression, reform and revolution, Caygill reflects upon contemporary manifestations of resistance to identify whether the 21st century is evolving new understandings of protest and struggle.

Howard Caygill is Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University London, UK.

There could not be a more timely moment for this book ... Acutely attuned to this context, which was unfolding as he wrote, the philosopher Howard Caygill offers a meditation on the history of resistance as idea and lived experience, a term which, as he states at the outset, is "strangely unanalysed" ... the book is wholly inspired by the spirit of resistance whose often unhappy trajectories it so brilliantly describes ... It is his unique mix of caution and enthusiasm, his avoidance of blind utopianism and of defeatism alike, which makes this book so important ... What kind of human being, On Resistance prompts us to ask, does resistance promote? Not only what do we want to achieve, but who do we want to be? ... On Resistance is as much an act as a philosophy of defiance. It will be indispensable for anyone thinking about resistance in our times, not least for demonstrating so profoundly that, for all its perils, resistance still possesses its "own necessities, its own affirmations and its own joy". -- Jacqueline Rose * The Guardian Saturday Review * This is an extraordinarily rich book, and Caygill's selection of struggles and authors is both eclectic and erudite ... one of On Resistance's primary virtues is its sheer wealth of novel and surprising interpretations ... This is an excellent, interesting and provocative work, and is to be highly recommended. -- Tom Bunyard * Marx & Philosophy Review of Books * Caygill assembles a constellation of diverse figures from a broad 'archive of resistance' and works through them in order to tease out an interpretation of resistance as a distinctive experience...This range of reference, along with the warmth of Caygill's evident sympathy with most of the many characters he considers, is enough to set this remarkable book apart from the great majority of recent philosophical reflections on our contemporary moment, most of which serve, one way or another, to help justify quiet acceptance of a version of the status quo. Though reluctant to return to openly revolutionary motifs (for reasons I'll address in a moment), Caygill's 'philosophy of defiance' marks a stirring and striking break with the prevailing philosophy of resignation. -- Peter Hallward * Radical Philosophy * The breadth of the study is striking, and the manner in which the author weaves together an array of philosophers, film makers and activists into a coherent narrative is compelling ... The text remains a fascinating and timely contribution that escapes the dangers of philosophy, remaining constantly aware of the practice of resistance. * Political Studies Review * Caygill offers a sophisticated account of a vast archive of practices and discourses on resistances which include among others figures like Marx, Lenin, Ghandi, Freud, Luxemburg, Mao and Fanon. * European Political Science * Howard Caygill's On Resistance is changing the landscape of how the concept of resistance is understood. -- Nigel Tubbs * Journal for Cultural Research * Whether engaging with Vaneigem's Revolution of Everyday Life, Clausewitz's On War ... or Kafka's Parable of the Law from The Trial, what we see, time and time again, is Caygill's ability as a reader come through as he dramatizes experiences, practices and concepts of resistance in a way that breathes new life into them for a contemporary audience. [...] This major work demands our respect and our attention ... An illuminating, engaging and richly detailed philosophical meditation on resistance ... [which] careful readers will find hard to resist -- Robert Porter, Ulster University, Northern Ireland, UK * Contemporary Political Thought * For the first time in over a generation an internationally acclaimed philosopher focuses his brilliance on re-thinking the very grammar of modern politics and war. A stunningly original re-reading of On War as On Resistance weaves Caygill's philosophically situated Clausewitz into a political reappraisal of the theory and practice of revolutionary and peoples' war, as well as anti-colonial struggle. There could be no timelier text for our newly revolutionary age. In exposing how the strategic interplay of resistance and counter-resistance continually outplays the dialectical, both philosophically and politically, Caygill's book asks profound questions of modern politics as much as it does of modern war. On Resistance is a classic. * Michael Dillon, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Lancaster University, UK * A wonderfully philosophical perspective on what it means to resist -- Mark Perryman * philosophyfootball.com * With his great and gorgeous intellectual generosity, Howard Caygill has charted the emergent politics of our time: resistance! Caygill constructs a constellation composed of concepts, ideas and arguments, but also of practices, histories, subjectivities, human capacities, artworks, movements and political debates that become a dark and dynamic account of who we are and what needs to be done. Stretching from Marx to Gandhi, from Freud to Pasolini, from Mao to the Women of Greenham Common, from Rosa Luxemburg to Jean Genet, from Fanon to the Zapatistas, Caygill exposes us to the elements for a different kind of philosophy, one that remembers, adumbrates and makes resistance possible. Scintillating, timely, and urgent. * J.M. Bernstein, University Distinguished Professor, New School for Social Research, New York, USA *