Monthly Archives: June 2015

Vernacular Values: Remembering Ivan Illich

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

By Andy Merrifield I’ve been revisiting the great maverick radical Ivan Illich, who died in 2002, aged 76. Illich was an Austrian who had no real homeland, a Jew who became a Catholic, a Priest who denounced the Vatican, a … Continue reading →

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The World of Secret Affinities: Remembering Isaac Babel and Walter Benjamin

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

A version of this essay was previously published in August 2003 in The Brooklyn Rail 1940 was a terrible year for freethinking intellectuals. As Stalin and Hitler’s pincers tightened, a bullet and a morphine overdose saw off two of the twentieth … Continue reading →

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James Joyce’s Lifewand

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

A version of this article was previously published in December 2013 at the antipode foundation By Andy Merrifield “He lifts the lifewand and the dumb speak” – James Joyce One of the great humanist visions of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake is … Continue reading →

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Urban Questions: Personal and Political Interrogations

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

In 1977, when Manuel Castells’ classic book, The Urban Question, was first put into English, I’d been a year out of high school, in Liverpool. It was five years after its original French publication, four years since an OPEC oil … Continue reading →

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The Shadow Citizenry

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

Previously Published in June 2015 at Open Democracy” by Andy Merrifield It’s exciting to see one of Henri Lefebvre’s last essays, “Quand la ville se perd dans une metamorphose planétaire” (1989), finally make it into English, in a recent edition of … Continue reading →

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Future Shock

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

Previously published in March 2015 at antipode foundation.org by Andy Merrifield Speculating on the future, especially on the political future—and especially especially on a Left political future—is something you get slammed for these days; “they” tell you you’re writing fiction, particularly … Continue reading →

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Encountering Paratheatrical Space

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Andy Merrifield

Previously published in October 2013 by AntipodeFoundation.org Enter a strange room, any room you’ve never entered before. It feels empty somehow, no matter how big or small this room is, no matter how many people fill it. It’s maybe full of … Continue reading →

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