Radical Theory Forum: What (is) Strategy?

An event at the G8Alternatives summit in Edinburgh, 3 July 2005.

What is Strategy? While Zizek declares the very concept of political strategy to be counter-revolutionary and Negri counsels us to 'wait and be patient' for history's inevitable immanent resolution, can the old question of 'what is to be done' really be so easily abjured by anti-capitalists today? In the absence of any serious party organisation, how do we think the strategic dimension of politics without either reducing it to an aggregation of isolated 'tactics' or imposing a master-scheme on all future political endeavours? Can either the relentless positivism of a politics of immanent self-constitution, or the negative ontology of Laclau & Mouffe, for whom the social and the political are only constituted hegemonically on the ground of 'radical antagonism', offer a perspective from which to answer these questions? So, what is an anti-capitalist strategy for today?

This Radical Theory Forum (RTF) event will build on the success of past RTF events at the European Social Forums in Paris and London. For Edinburgh we envisage a 2-3 hour event with presentations and plenty of time for discussion.