Category Archives: Commentary

Illuminations from Pier Paolo Pasolini

The magazine Ballast regularly gathers together citations of authors under the generic designation of an abécédaire.  We share below, in translation, their most recent “alphabet text”, from the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

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From the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes: An intergalactic call

From the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes (Appel Intergalactique 19/04/2018) …

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He who designates the terrorist, in this world, is sovereign: The “Tarnac affair”

Antiterrorism, contrary to what the term would suggest, is not a means to fight against terrorism, it is the method by which the political enemy is positively produced as a terrorist. It is a matter, by a luxury of provocation, … Continue reading

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The fear of the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes

Forms of life enter into conflict when one or both can survive only by the colonisation of the other.  Capitalism as a political project – and it is essentially a political project – cannot but actively undermine and destroy alternative, … Continue reading

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Creating autonomies in the ZAD: Notre-Dame-des-Landes

The significance of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes ZAD in france is reflected below in two texts, excerpts from longer essays/collections.  The first is from a french publication entitled Défendre la zad, by the Collective Mauvaise Troupe (2016), and available in an english translation … Continue reading

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The war against autonomy: The State attacks the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes

This April 9th, the expulsion of the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes began.  If the proposed airport for the region was struck down, the french government has repeatedly announced that it will not accept the “illegal” occupation of the land by squatters. … Continue reading

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Brazil and the permanent state of exception

A prisoner of my class and some clothing, I walk, dressed in white along the gray street. Melancholy and merchandise harass me. Must I keep going until I collapse? Can I rebel without arms? Filthy eyes in the tower clock … Continue reading

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Feminism and beyond in May 68

France’s May 68 not only created space for the emergence of a radical gay movement in the country (with the FHAR), but a parallel feminist movement as well, as expressed in the Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF).  We share a … Continue reading

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The long and winding May of 1968 (7): Argentina’s Uprising

We share a study by James P. Brennan, of the 1969 uprising in the Argentine city of Cordoba, known as the Cordobazo, which saw students and workers rise up against the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía with a series … Continue reading

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The long and winding May of 1968 (6): German student movement

We share below Manfred Buddeberg’s essay, The Student Movement in West Germany, written at the height of events in 1968 (From International Socialism, No.33, Summer 1968, and translated by Jennifer Bell, and available at the site marxists.org).

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