The Coming Insurrection
Encyclopedia
The Coming Insurrection is a French work (although it has become extremely influential in the North American anarchist scene) that hypothesizes the "imminent collapse of capitalist culture". Written by The Invisible Committee, an anonymous group of contributors (attributed to the Tarnac Nine
by the French police), the book was first published in 2007 by French company La Fabrique.
: "self
, social relations, work
, the economy
, urbanity, the environment, and to close civilization". The latter part of the book begins to offer a prescription for revolutionary struggle
based on the formation of communes, or affinity group
-style units, in an underground network that will build its forces outside of mainstream politics, and attack in moments of crisis
– political, social, environmental – to push towards anti-capitalist revolution. The insurrection envisioned by the Invisible Committee will revolve around "the local appropriation of power by the people, of the physical blocking of the economy and of the annihilation of police forces".
The book points to the late 2000s financial crisis, and environmental degradation
as symptoms of capitalism
's decline. Also discussed are the Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002)
and the piquetero
movement which emerged from it, the 2005 riots
and 2006 student protests in France, the 2006 Oaxaca protests
and the grassroots relief work in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina
as examples of breakdown in the modern social order which can give rise to partial insurrectionary situations.
, a French radical philosophy journal printed from 1999–2001. Tiqqun was steeped in the tradition of radical French intellectuals that includes Michel Foucault
, George Bataille, the Situationist International and Deleuze and Guattari
. The book bears traces of influence from the works of these philosophers, and also, most notably, Giorgio Agamben
's notions of the whatever singularity and being-in-common, and Alain Badiou
's ontology of the event and truth procedures. Its analysis of capitalist civilization is clearly informed by Foucault's and Agamben's notion of biopower
, Guy Debord
's society of the spectacle
, and Antonio Negri
's concept of Empire
. The revolutionary strategy outlined in the latter part of the book is reminiscent in some ways of the "exodus" or "secession" strategy espoused by many autonomist Marxists
like Antonio Negri
and Jacques Camatte
, as well as influenced by the concept of war machine in Deleuze and Guattari
's works.
in relation to the case of the Tarnac 9, a group of French leftists arrested on charges of railway sabotage in November 2008. Their alleged authorship of the book is the centerpiece of the government's case. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter
, Michael Moore
mentioned the book as being the most recent one he had read.
The book has created major interest in the anarchist
movement and in particular the insurrectionary anarchist tendency, as well as among North American radical leftists in general. Bootleg editions of the work have been passed around extensively since before the Semiotext(e) edition. On the other hand many radical leftists have been severely critical of the book and the movement; see comments on the copy published by libcom.org and the zine Why She Doesn't Give A Fuck About Your Insurrection for examples.
In September 2010, Coline Struyf from the National Theatre of Belgium adapted the book to theatre.
also made the book a centerpiece in his interpretation of contemporary radical politics. Beck, host of The Glenn Beck Program, first announced his interest in the book by making it the subject of a monologue on July 1, 2009 and May 3, 2010, after reading the New York Times piece which described the guerrilla "book launch party" held by anarchists at the Union Square
Barnes & Noble
bookstore. Concerned by its contents, Beck urged his viewers to order the book online themselves, so as to better understand what he claimed were the thoughts of leftist radicals. Beck replayed a clip of this review on his own show a year later, saying that then-current events proved his ideas correct. He has called it at various times "crazy" and "evil".
Beck later made the book an important element of several episodes of his show.
In February, 2011, Beck hosted an episode of his show titled "The Coming Insurrection: Egypt", referring to the 2011 Egyptian revolution
, which began seven days earlier. The episode posed an analysis of the Egyptian revolution and alleged relationships between Leftists and the Muslim Brotherhood
. "There is a strange alliance between the Left and Islamists that we're seeing," Beck said, holding up a copy of the book. "I think it's all part of The Coming Insurrection."
The book was also the subject of a panel discussion in February 2011, in the context of the 2010–2011 Greek protests
taking place at the time. Describing the book to his guest speakers, Beck asked each for their opinions. Brian Doherty
expressed understanding for youths who turned to the book and its ideas in the face of the Greek economic crisis: "I get why the lefty kids who read books like that book, The Coming Insurrection... I understand why the thought of bringing the whole system down around its ears starts to look attractive." Of the opinion that the Greek experience was "the end of the socialist dream", he asserted his belief that Greek society would emerge from the crisis with "more freedom, not more socialism, despite books like that". Claiming in April 2011, the book predicted an impending global crisis, he said "maybe by September, you'll say this is a history book. It is happening."
In October 2011, with the onset of the Occupy Wall Street
protest, Beck connected the book to the protesters. Claiming that it presented their views, he asserted the protesters were angered at all politicians. "They're against the entire system. Read The Coming Insurrection," he urged his audience, "because it's almost not coming anymore. It's almost like it's here." He also uged Nancy Pelosi
to read the book, following comments of support by her for the protesters. Asserting that civil unrest associated with European economic crises inspired Occupy Wall Street, he claimed to have predicted the events two years previously by reading The Coming Insurrection, saying, "This [the book] was the plan for Europe. It turned into this [Greek unrest]." He also connected these events to the attack on Prince Charles
and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on Regent Street
during the 2010 UK student protests
.
During a New York video recorded panel on the strategy of the Occupy Wall Street protest, panel member Malcolm Harris acknowledged the radical potential of the protest movement. "If you want to read what the capitalists think about this, you can go look at what Glenn Beck says," Harris said. "He's got a better analysis than most people on the Left about where this could go... 'No, it's The Coming Insurrection. I've been reading these French guys.'" Glenn Beck later featured an excerpt of the recording on his show, highlighting Harris' comments.
Hosting a panel of guest speakers on his show, Glenn Beck asked each for their analysis of given economic and social trends. Author Brad Thor
said that he felt the Occupy movement protesters and their slogan, "We are the 99%", represented the culmination of Beck's analysis. "It's the coming insurrection, which is not coming anymore. It's here," Thor said to Beck. "It's that whole pamphlet by The Invisible Committee, we discussed a couple years ago."
Tarnac Nine
The Tarnac Nine are nine alleged anarchist saboteurs arrested in the village of Tarnac, France in November 2008 in relation to a series of instances of direct action...
by the French police), the book was first published in 2007 by French company La Fabrique.
Summary
The book is divided into two parts. The first attempts a complete diagnosis of the totality of modern capitalist civilization, moving through what the Invisible Committee identify as the "seven circles" of alienationSocial alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
: "self
Self
The self is an individual person as the object of his or her own reflective consciousness. The self has been studied extensively by philosophers and psychologists and is central to many world religions.-Philosophy:...
, social relations, work
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
, the economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, urbanity, the environment, and to close civilization". The latter part of the book begins to offer a prescription for revolutionary struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
based on the formation of communes, or affinity group
Affinity group
An Affinity group is usually a small group of activists who work together on direct action.Affinity groups are organized in a non-hierarchical manner, usually using consensus decision making, and are often made up of trusted friends...
-style units, in an underground network that will build its forces outside of mainstream politics, and attack in moments of crisis
Crisis
A crisis is any event that is, or expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community or whole society...
– political, social, environmental – to push towards anti-capitalist revolution. The insurrection envisioned by the Invisible Committee will revolve around "the local appropriation of power by the people, of the physical blocking of the economy and of the annihilation of police forces".
The book points to the late 2000s financial crisis, and environmental degradation
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
as symptoms of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
's decline. Also discussed are the Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002)
Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002)
The Argentine economic crisis was a financial situation, tied to poilitical unrest, that affected Argentina's economy during the late 1990s and early 2000s...
and the piquetero
Piquetero
A piquetero is a member of a political faction whose primary modus operandi is based in the piquete. The piquete is an action by which a group of people blocks a road or street with the purpose of demonstrating and calling attention over a particular issue or demand...
movement which emerged from it, the 2005 riots
2005 civil unrest in France
The 2005 civil unrest in France of October and November was a series of riots by mostly Muslim North African youths in Paris and other French cities, involving mainly the burning of cars and public buildings at night starting on 27 October 2005 in Clichy-sous-Bois...
and 2006 student protests in France, the 2006 Oaxaca protests
2006 Oaxaca protests
The Mexican state of Oaxaca was embroiled in a conflict that lasted more than seven months and resulted in at least seventeen deaths and the occupation of the capital city of Oaxaca by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca . The conflict emerged in May 2006 with the police responding to a...
and the grassroots relief work in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
as examples of breakdown in the modern social order which can give rise to partial insurrectionary situations.
Influences
A few of the Tarnac 9 were involved in producing TiqqunTiqqun
Tiqqun is the name of a French philosophical journal, founded in 1999 with an aim to "recreate the conditions of another community." It was created by various writers, before dissolving in Venice in 2001 following the attacks of September 11, 2001...
, a French radical philosophy journal printed from 1999–2001. Tiqqun was steeped in the tradition of radical French intellectuals that includes Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, George Bataille, the Situationist International and Deleuze and Guattari
Deleuze and Guattari
Deleuze and Guattari refers to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, two French philosophers who wrote a number of works together. The most notable of these is the two volume Capitalism and Schizophrenia, consisting of Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus...
. The book bears traces of influence from the works of these philosophers, and also, most notably, Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben is an Italian political philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception and homo sacer....
's notions of the whatever singularity and being-in-common, and Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou is a French philosopher, professor at European Graduate School, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure . Along with Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Žižek, Badiou is a prominent figure in an anti-postmodern strand of continental philosophy...
's ontology of the event and truth procedures. Its analysis of capitalist civilization is clearly informed by Foucault's and Agamben's notion of biopower
Biopower
Biopower was a term coined by French Social theorist and philosopher Michel Foucault it refers to the practice of modern states and their regulation of their subjects through "an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations." ...
, Guy Debord
Guy Debord
Guy Ernest Debord was a French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International . He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.-Early Life:Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931...
's society of the spectacle
The Society of the Spectacle
The Society of the Spectacle is a work of philosophy and critical theory by Guy Debord. It was first published in 1967 in France.-Book structure:...
, and Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
's concept of Empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
. The revolutionary strategy outlined in the latter part of the book is reminiscent in some ways of the "exodus" or "secession" strategy espoused by many autonomist Marxists
Autonomism
Autonomism refers to a set of left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. As an identifiable theoretical system it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerist communism...
like Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
and Jacques Camatte
Jacques Camatte
Jacques Camatte is a French writer who once was a Marxist theoretician and member of the International Communist Party, a primarily Italian left communist organisation under the influence of Amadeo Bordiga, which denounced the USSR as capitalist and aimed to rebuild a "true" Leninism...
, as well as influenced by the concept of war machine in Deleuze and Guattari
Deleuze and Guattari
Deleuze and Guattari refers to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, two French philosophers who wrote a number of works together. The most notable of these is the two volume Capitalism and Schizophrenia, consisting of Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus...
's works.
Reaction
The book was mentioned in the New York Times and also in the anti-consumerist magazine AdbustersAdBusters
The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia...
in relation to the case of the Tarnac 9, a group of French leftists arrested on charges of railway sabotage in November 2008. Their alleged authorship of the book is the centerpiece of the government's case. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
, Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
mentioned the book as being the most recent one he had read.
The book has created major interest in the anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
movement and in particular the insurrectionary anarchist tendency, as well as among North American radical leftists in general. Bootleg editions of the work have been passed around extensively since before the Semiotext(e) edition. On the other hand many radical leftists have been severely critical of the book and the movement; see comments on the copy published by libcom.org and the zine Why She Doesn't Give A Fuck About Your Insurrection for examples.
In September 2010, Coline Struyf from the National Theatre of Belgium adapted the book to theatre.
Interest from Glenn Beck
Talk show host Glenn BeckGlenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
also made the book a centerpiece in his interpretation of contemporary radical politics. Beck, host of The Glenn Beck Program, first announced his interest in the book by making it the subject of a monologue on July 1, 2009 and May 3, 2010, after reading the New York Times piece which described the guerrilla "book launch party" held by anarchists at the Union Square
Union Square
Union Square may refer to:Asia* Union Square * Union Square station on Dubai MetroCanada* Union Square, Nova ScotiaUnited States* Union Square, Baltimore, Maryland* Union Square * Union Square, San Francisco, California...
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
bookstore. Concerned by its contents, Beck urged his viewers to order the book online themselves, so as to better understand what he claimed were the thoughts of leftist radicals. Beck replayed a clip of this review on his own show a year later, saying that then-current events proved his ideas correct. He has called it at various times "crazy" and "evil".
Beck later made the book an important element of several episodes of his show.
In February, 2011, Beck hosted an episode of his show titled "The Coming Insurrection: Egypt", referring to the 2011 Egyptian revolution
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
, which began seven days earlier. The episode posed an analysis of the Egyptian revolution and alleged relationships between Leftists and the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
. "There is a strange alliance between the Left and Islamists that we're seeing," Beck said, holding up a copy of the book. "I think it's all part of The Coming Insurrection."
The book was also the subject of a panel discussion in February 2011, in the context of the 2010–2011 Greek protests
2010–2011 Greek protests
The 2010–2011 Greek protests are an ongoing series of demonstrations and general strikes taking place across Greece. The protests, which began on 5 May 2010, were sparked by plans to cut public spending and raise taxes as austerity measures in exchange for a bail-out, aimed at solving the...
taking place at the time. Describing the book to his guest speakers, Beck asked each for their opinions. Brian Doherty
Brian Doherty (journalist)
Brian Doherty is an American journalist. He is a Senior Editor at Reason magazine. He is the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground , Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement and Gun Control on Trial: Inside the...
expressed understanding for youths who turned to the book and its ideas in the face of the Greek economic crisis: "I get why the lefty kids who read books like that book, The Coming Insurrection... I understand why the thought of bringing the whole system down around its ears starts to look attractive." Of the opinion that the Greek experience was "the end of the socialist dream", he asserted his belief that Greek society would emerge from the crisis with "more freedom, not more socialism, despite books like that". Claiming in April 2011, the book predicted an impending global crisis, he said "maybe by September, you'll say this is a history book. It is happening."
In October 2011, with the onset of the Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...
protest, Beck connected the book to the protesters. Claiming that it presented their views, he asserted the protesters were angered at all politicians. "They're against the entire system. Read The Coming Insurrection," he urged his audience, "because it's almost not coming anymore. It's almost like it's here." He also uged Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
to read the book, following comments of support by her for the protesters. Asserting that civil unrest associated with European economic crises inspired Occupy Wall Street, he claimed to have predicted the events two years previously by reading The Coming Insurrection, saying, "This [the book] was the plan for Europe. It turned into this [Greek unrest]." He also connected these events to the attack on Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on Regent Street
Regent Street
Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...
during the 2010 UK student protests
2010 UK student protests
The 2010 UK student protests were a series of demonstrations that began in November 2010 in several areas of the United Kingdom, with the focal point of protests centred in London. The initial event was the largest student protest in the UK since the Labour government first proposed the Teaching...
.
During a New York video recorded panel on the strategy of the Occupy Wall Street protest, panel member Malcolm Harris acknowledged the radical potential of the protest movement. "If you want to read what the capitalists think about this, you can go look at what Glenn Beck says," Harris said. "He's got a better analysis than most people on the Left about where this could go... 'No, it's The Coming Insurrection. I've been reading these French guys.'" Glenn Beck later featured an excerpt of the recording on his show, highlighting Harris' comments.
Hosting a panel of guest speakers on his show, Glenn Beck asked each for their analysis of given economic and social trends. Author Brad Thor
Brad Thor
Brad Thor is a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist and author of The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assassin, State of the Union, Blowback, Takedown, The First Commandment, The Last Patriot, The Apostle, Foreign Influence, The Athena Project and Full Black. His novels have been...
said that he felt the Occupy movement protesters and their slogan, "We are the 99%", represented the culmination of Beck's analysis. "It's the coming insurrection, which is not coming anymore. It's here," Thor said to Beck. "It's that whole pamphlet by The Invisible Committee, we discussed a couple years ago."
See also
- Anarchism in FranceAnarchism in FranceThinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
- Julien CoupatJulien CoupatJulien Coupat is a French political activist at the centre of a controversial investigation. As one of the Tarnac Nine, he was accused of plotting the sabotage of train lines in November 2008, which the French government decided to define as terrorism, and spent over six months in jail before...
- activist alleged by French police to be part of the Invisible Committee - Communization
External links
- The Coming Insurrection — full text A helpful guide to the "circles" in "The Coming Insurrection" (oddly the book uses "circles" instead of chapters).
- Tiqqun and other texts