København den 27. marts 2020, med lukkede butikker for at stoppe spredningen af coronavirus. Photo: News Øresund – Sofie Paisley © News Øresund - Sofie Paisley. (CC BY 3.0).
København den 27. marts 2020, med lukkede butikker for at stoppe spredningen af coronavirus. Photo: News Øresund – Sofie Paisley © News Øresund - Sofie Paisley. (CC BY 3.0) Source: flickr.com.

Socialistisk Biblioteks Tidslinje med links til begivenheder og personer i 2020.


Se også Index over personer, organisationer/partier og værker (som bøger, malerier, mm.), steder, begivenheder, mv., der er omtalt på hele Tidslinjen, titler og indhold på emnelisterne osv.

 

Året 2020 / The year 2020

  • Happy New Year – for some (In Defence of Marxism, 8 January 2021). “Alan Woods looks at the tumultuous state of the world at the dawn of 2021.”
  • Nytårsstatus 2021. Af Torkil Lauesen (Konfront.dk, 8. januar 2021). “I sidste års status lovede jeg et dramatisk 2020. Det blev det. En global økonomisk krise var under opsejling i begyndelsen af 2020 … Men pludselig i marts 2020 satte Covid-19 pandemien en helt ny, men ikke mindre dramatisk global dagsorden.”
  • 2020: the year the mask fell off (Counterfire, December 31, 2020). “Shabbir Lakha reflects on a tumultuous year and what we must remember for the fight ahead.”
  • Best films and television of the year and the devastation of cultural life. By
    David Walsh and Joanne Laurier (World Socialist Web Site, 31 December 2020). “It is not possible to discuss any aspect of artistic life, or life in general, in 2020 without central reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the various ruling elites have permitted to ravage the world’s population.”
  • Books in the year of the COVID (Michael Roberts Blog: Blogging from a Marxist economist, December 20, 2020). “Every year, I do a post on books that I have reviewed during the last 12 months. What’s a bit surprising in this year of the COVID is that I did not review any books specifically on the pandemic.”
  • Marx21’s picks of notable Books of 2020 (Marx21, December 17, 2020). “Marx21 has asked around and compiled this year-end list of twenty-five notable books of 2020.”
  • 2020: en verden i brand. Af Alan Woods (Revolution, 24. januar 2020). “Den ekstreme turbulens og ustabilitet, der nu eksisterer på verdensplan og på alle niveauer: det finansielle, økonomiske, sociale, politiske, diplomatiske og militære.”
  • Nytårsstatus 2020. Af Torkil Lauesen (Konfront.dk, 2. januar 2020). “Vi går ind i en periode i kapitalismens historie, hvor modsigelserne skærpes og hvor resultatet af kampen ikke blot drejer sig om den ene eller anden klassens sejr, men om klodens fremtid. Afgørelsen vil falde i dette århundrede.”
  • Forecast 2020 (Michael Roberts Blog: Blogging from a Marxist economist, December 30, 2019). “As we enter a new decade and go into the 11th year since the end of the last global slump, these are the fundamental factors that suggest a new slump is not far away.”
  • Beyond impeachment: challenges facing the U.S. Left in 2020. By Peter Hudis (The International Marxist-Humanist, December 22, 2019). “Trump will remain in power through 2020, regardless of the impeachment process; our job is to ensure he remains there no longer.”

 

22. februar 2020

Den socialpædagogiske redaktør, aktivist og udgiver af tidsskriftet Social Kritik, Benny Lihme, dør. (Født 6. november 1946).

Benny Lihme
Benny Lihme. Foto: Forlaget Frydenlund, og bringes her med tilladelse fra forlaget.

Links:

Social Kritik nr. 112 december 2007 (!). Tema: Arbejde og liv i den nye kapitalisme -fagbevægelsen ved en skillevej
Social Kritik, nr. 112, december 2007 (?). Tema: Arbejde og liv i den nye kapitalisme -fagbevægelsen ved en skillevej.

Det er så fucking træls! Af Knud Vilby (Information.dk, 28. februar 2020). “Få har som Benny Lihme præget den socialpædagogiske tænkning i Danmark og bibragt offentligheden viden om området. Han var guld værd for samfundet.”

Socialpædagogikkens klareste katalysator er død (Socialpædagogen online, 28. februar 2020). “Tidligere forbundsformand for Socialpædagogerne Jens Asger Hansen skriver her et mindeord.”

Social Kritik: Tidsskrift for social analyse og debat (site). P.t. kun indholdsoversigt online (nr. 107, december 2007 [i.e. 2006] – nr. 163, december 2019).

Tidsskriftet, hvor akademikere og praktikere mødtes om social indignation. Af Serge Savin (Information.dk, 28. marts 2020). “Men efter redaktør og drivkraft bag projektet, Benny Lihme, døde i februar, er det nu lukningstruet. Vi tegner et portræt af tidsskriftet. ” Kræver abonnement.

Litteratur:

Det er så fucking træls!: Solhaven og de unge. Af Benny Lihme.  (Børn & Unge, 1999, 288 sider). Foto: Søren Svendsen. Se Pressemeddelelse om posthumt særnummer af Social Kritik om sagen mod Solhaven (nr. 162, 6. april 2021). Red. Knud Vilby og Mette Bladt.

 

28. februar 2020

Den marxistiske historiker, skribent og socialistiske aktivist Benito Scocozza dør. (Født 17. januar 1935, se denne).


 

1. marts 2020

Rød-Grøn Ungdom (RGU) stiftes, efter udskillelse fra Socialistisk Ungdomsfront (SUF), som Enhedslistens ungdomsorganisation. Vedtægterne §1: RGU “støtter Enhedslisten til og mellem … valg”.

Links:

Illustration fra nedenstående artikel, Solidaritet, 3. marts 2020
Illustration fra nedenstående artikel, Solidaritet, 3. marts 2020.

Politisk opgør blandt venstrefløjens unge. Af Kim Kristensen (Solidaritet.dk, 3. marts 2020). “Kampen om de unge på venstrefløjen skærpes. En ny socialistisk ungdomsorganisation, Rød-Grøn Ungdom, gør således Socialistisk Ungdomsfront (SUF) rangen stridig som Enhedslistens uofficielle ungdomsorganisation.”

Er der noget nyt ved Rød-Grøn Ungdom? Af Tobias Fogtmann og Ella Wiberg (Solidaritet.dk, 28. marts 2020). “Der er brug for unge aktivister fra generationen formet af klimakrisen, #MeToo og den racistiske indvandrer-diskurs. Derfor er det ærgerligt, hvis man blot samler dem i endnu et ungdomsparti med øjnene på Christiansborg.”

Unge antænder magtkamp i Enhedslisten. Af Kim Kristensen (Solidaritet.dk, 20. marts 2020). “»Kampen om ungdomsarbejdet skal ses som en slags stedfortræderkrig om, hvilken retning Enhedslisten som parti skal bevæge sig i«, lyder det, efter at to medlemmer af partiets forretningsudvalg er stoppet i protest mod dannelsen af en ny ungdomsorganisation.”

I ungdommen som i Enhedslisten: Nej til splittelse! Af SAPs Forretningsudvalg (Socialistisk Information, 17. marts 2020). “Hverken unge eller gamle blandt dem, der slutter op om Enhedslisten, kan være tjent med den splittelse, som dannelsen af ‘Rød Grøn Ungdom’  (RGU) lægger op til.”

Udemokratisk kupforsøg i Enhedslistens ungdomsarbejde. Af Socialistens redaktion (Socialisten.dk, 4. marts 2020). “Hele denne proces er dybt skadelig for Enhedslisten og synliggør alvorlige problemer.”

Se også på Socialistisk Bibliotek:


 

11. marts 2020

Oplysningsark om Coronavirus fra Sundhedsstyrelsen udgivet i marts 2020.
Oplysningsark om Coronavirus fra Sundhedsstyrelsen udgivet i marts 2020.

FN’s Verdenssundhedsorganisation WHO erklærer coronavirus for en pandemi. Statsminister Mette Frederiksen holder det første af en række pressemøder, hvor Danmark ‘lukkes ned’ fra fredag den 13. marts: “vi skal undgå at for mange danskere bliver smittet på én gang … Vi skal stå sammen ved at holde aftstand …”. Alle studerende og elever og fleste offentlige ansatte sendes hjem; alle institutioner lukker, nedlukning af visse erhverv, butikker, værtshuse, og forsamlingsforbud for mere end 10 følger de næste uger sammen med ekstraordinære straffe- og epidemi-lovstramninger osv.

Leksikalt mv.:

Tema / Theme (Tags):

På dansk (+ svensk):

In English:

Marx and Covid-19
Source: Socialist Worker.

Artikler:

Skandinaviske:

Forskere: Dårlig håndtering af corona har kostet millioner af dødsfald. Af Johan Gudmansen (Videnskab.dk, 15. september 2022). “Regeringers dårlige håndtering og mangel på samarbejde under COVID-pandemien får skarp kritik fra 200 forskere og eksperter, der har fulgt pandemien i mere end to år.”

Forskere har målt overdødelighed: 28 millioner leveår gik tabt i 2020, men Danmark gik fri. Af Frederik Guy Hoff Sonne (Videnskab.dk, 4. november 2021). “Nyt studie har målt overdødeligheden i tabte leveår i 37 lande under corona-pandemiens første år.”
Se også: Corona sænker forventet levetid markant i de fleste lande – men ikke i Danmark (Rockwool Fondens Forskningsenhed, 4. november 2021).

Pandemien i perspektiv: Fire kriser har afløst hinanden. Af Karen Helveg Petersen (Solidaritet.dk, 28. august 2021). “Covid-krisen kommer oven på finanskrisen, hvis efterdønninger stadig er med os. Men er der forskelle i landenes politiske reaktionsmønstre? Er der ændret noget ved økonomiens kapitalistiske base – og hvad er mulighederne for venstrefløjen?”

Vi gør status efter et år med corona: Her er misinformationen, vi har set under pandemien (TjekDet.dk, 11. marts 2021). “Vi har samlet de mest læste artikler om pandemien og ser på, hvilke emner der især har domineret informationsforureningen.”

Den globale kapitalisme: Antikapitalistisk politik i en covid-19-tid. Af David Harvey (Magasinet Arbejderen, nr.3, 2020). “Med covid-19 er grundlaget dannet for et altomfattende sammenbrud lige i hjertet af den form for forbrugerisme, som er dominerende i de fleste rige lande.”

Coronakrisen, del 1: Krisens økonomiske virkninger (Solidaritet.dk, 5. juni 2020). “Henrik Herløv Lund vurderer, at der er en betydelig risiko for et stort og længerevarende fald i forbrugs- og investerings-lysten i Danmark. Så en langstrakt økonomisk krise – en L – formet krise over adskillige år frem til 2022 – kan også blive tilfældet i Danmark.” Se også  del 2: Genopretning af økonomien: Hvordan og hvem skal betale regningen? (11. juni 2020)

Covid-19 og kapitalens kredsløb, del 1: Amerikanske tilstande. Af Rob Wallace mfl.  (Solidaritet.dk, 5. maj 2020). “For at forstå en sygdom som Covid-19 ordentligt, må man gøre sig noget klart: Dens geografiske ophav er ikke kun Wuhan, men også London, New York og Hong Kong. 4 amerikanske forskere analyserer epidemier i en global, kapitalistisk verdensorden.”
Se også interview med med forfatteren bag bogen Big Farms Make Big Flu (2016): Kapitalistisk landbrug og Covid-19: En dødbringende cocktail (Ibid., 16. marts 2020). “Socialist og biolog Rob Wallace forklarer de tætte bånd mellem nye vira, industriel fødevareproduktion og multinationale selskabers indtjening.

Er coronakrisen neoliberalismens endeligt? Af Esben Bøgh Sørensen (Solidaritet.dk, 19. april 2020). “Væk er årtiers spareprogrammer og stramme finansielle budgetregler: Den politiske dagsorden står på enorme kompensationsprogrammer til både virksomheder og lønmodtagere, investeringer i sundheds-infrastruktur og en generel, massiv statslig indgriben i økonomien.”

Covid-19 – den økologiske dimension. Af Alan Thornett (Socialistisk Information, 18. april 2020). “Vi må være klar over, at pandemier som denne er en væsentlig del af den globale økologiske krise, vi står over for, og de må betragtes og behandles som sådan. Det er ikke bare noget, der tilfældigvis sker på samme tid.”

Exit-illusion. Af Jan Helbak (Kritisk Debat, 15. april 2020; online på Eftertrykket.dk). “… vi opgiver mainstreamøkonomernes og bankøkonomernes (og det politiske​​ establishments) illusioner om en hurtig og næsten smertefri tilbagevenden til normalen. Derimod forekommer det produktivt at træde et skridt tilbage og​​ tage bestik af status ved årsskiftet 2020.”

Krisen blotlægger nyliberalismens grusomhed (Eftertrykkket.dk, 10. april 2020). Interview med Noam Chomsky: “Pandemien blev dog forudset, længe før den kom, men forsøg på at forberede samfundet på den kommende krise blev bremset af den nådesløse økonomiske orden. En orden, hvor ‘det ikke kan betale sig at forebygge en fremtidig katastrofe’.”

Smelteovnen (Solidaritet.dk, 5. april 2020). “Den kinesiske blog ‘Chuang’ skriver om kinesisk kapitalisme, statsmagt og landets håndtering af – og reaktioner på – coronakrisen. Første afsnit handler om ‘smelteovnen’ Wuhan, hvor Covid-19 epidemien startede.” Andet afsnit: Plager på samlebånd (12. april 2020) + Tredje afsnit: Epidemier og sygdomshistorie (3. maj 2020) + Fjerde afsnit: Den forgyldte æra (10. maj 2020).

Den globale kapitalisme og COVID-19 pandemien. Af Torkil Lauesen (Konfront.dk, 30. marts 2020). “Den globale kapitalisme befinder sig i en strukturel krise både økonomisk, politisk såvel som i forholdet til naturen, der giver sig udslag i klimakrise og, som vi ser for øjeblikket, i en pandemi.” Se også Torkil Lauesen: Covid-19 og kapitalisme (Konfront.dk, 8. april 2020).

Mainstreamøkonomer vil hævde, at det var virussens skyld. Af Michael Roberts (Magasinet Arbejderen, nr.2, 2020). “Mange landes økonomiske nedlukning på grund af covid-19 udsætter os for enorme økonomiske skader, og hjælpepakker kan ikke afværge en kraftig lavkonjunktur. Vi har endnu det værste til gode.” Artiklen i anden udgave: Det var virussen der gjorde det (Solidaritet.dk, 27. marts 2020). Se også Michael Roberts: Covid-19: Det forsømte forår og det kommende økonomiske kollaps (Socialistisk Arbejderavis, nr. 378, 27. marts 2020).

Se også:

Den spanske syge er et pragteksempel på, hvordan pandemier ender. Af Lone Simonsen (Videnskab.dk/Forskerzonen, 14. marts 2022). “… hvordan forsvinder pandemier egentlig? Det kan historien om den spanske syge give os et fingerpeg om. Se også artiklen Den spanske syge på Wikipedia.dk.

På engelsk:

Uncertain future: workers in the pandemic. By Joseph Choonara (International Socialism, Issue 173, Winter 2022). “This analysis offers an account of some of the changes to work as the pandemic reaches its two-year mark.”

The year of the pandemic (Michael Roberts Blog, March 11, 2021). “How does the health balance sheet look after one year of the pandemic? … and what of the impact of the last year’s pandemic on the world economy and people’s livelihoods?” See also:
After the Pandemic slump, what next? (Spectre, February 25, 2021). Interview with Michael Roberts.
Poverty in the pandemic (Michael Roberts Blog, November 4, 2021). “The COVID19 pandemic slump has raised poverty across the globe.”

Coronavirus, crisis, and socialist perspectives. By Ashley Smith (New Politics, April 26, 2020). “We are faced with two interacting crises of the capitalist system—the global pandemic and global recession. The combination will have a devastating impact on the lives of workers and oppressed people, especially in the Global South.”

The Monster enters. By Mike Davis (New Left Review, Issue 122, March-April 2020, p.7-13). “The current pandemic expands the argument: capitalist globalization now appears to be biologically unsustainable in the absence of a truly international public-health infrastructure. But such an infrastructure will never exist until …”

How “Just-in-Time” Capitalism spread COVID-19: trade routes, transmission, and international solidarity. By Kim Moody (Spectre, April 8, 2020). “Historically, most epidemics have spread geographically through two common forms of human long-distance movement: trade and war. The timing, however, changed dramatically with the rise of capitalism.”

A war economy? (Weekly Worker, Issue 1293, 2 April 2020). “What the pandemic has demonstrated, writes Michael Roberts, is that in a crisis the capitalist state has no alternative but to suppress the ‘free market’.”

COVID-19 and circuits of Capital. By Rob Wallace, Alex Liebman, Luis Fernando Chaves and Rodrick Wallace (Monthly Review, March 27/Vol.72, No.1, May 2020). “The insistence that we fold the virus’s structural origins into emergency planning offers us a key to parlaying every step forward into protecting people before profits.” Se dansk udgave foroven.

Socialism in a time of pandemics. By Joseph Choonara (International Socialism, Issue 166, Spring 2020, p.3-35). “This article explores how pandemics enmesh with the logic of capital and offers some potential responses from the left.” See also: Pandemic politics: year two (Ibid., Issue 170, Spring 2021, p.3-16).


 

4. april 2020

Efter Jeremy Corbins bebudede afgang som leder af det britiske Labour Party, vandt Keir Starmer urafstemningen med 56% i første runde. Mens Angela Rayner vandt posten som næstformand i 3. valgrunde.

Keir Starmer, June 2017. Photo: Chris McAndrew (1974–). (CC BY 3.0). Source: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Official_portrait_of_Keir_Starmer.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>. Angela Rayner speaking at the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election hustings in Bristol on the afternoon of Saturday 1 February 2020, in the Ashton Gate Stadium Lansdown Stand. Photo: Rwendland. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Keir Starmer, June 2017. Photo: Chris McAndrew (1974–). (CC BY 3.0). Source: Wikimedia Commons. Angela Rayner speaking at the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election hustings in Bristol on the afternoon of Saturday 1 February 2020, in the Ashton Gate Stadium Lansdown Stand. Photo: Rwendland. (CC BY-SA 4.0). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Encyclopedia:

Links:

Sådan smadrer man et parti indefra. Dokumentaren The Labour Files er rystende TV. Af Morten Hammeken (Solidaritet.dk, 6. oktober 2022). “En ny Al Jazeera-dokumentar om fløjkrigen i Labour viser, hvordan store dele af partiapparatet i britiske Labour hellere ville tabe valget, end gøre Jeremy Corbyn til premierminister. Den retter samtidig en skarp kritik mod de britiske mediers dækning af sagen.”

Demokratiet er dødt i Keir Starmer’s Labour (Solidaritet.dk, 29. september 2021). “Kritik af lederen er blevet forbudt, og tusindvis af medlemmer i det britiske socialdemokrati er blevet ekskluderet – eller har forladt partiet i vrede. Men drømmen om en verden, hvor fællesskab er vigtigere end profit, lever stadig, skriver den britiske filminstruktør og socialist, Ken Loach.”

Knight shift: Keir Starmer and Labour’s move to the right. By Ian Taylor (International Socialism, Issue 179, Summer 2023). Review of Oliver Eagleton, The Starmer Project: A Journey to the Right (Verso, 2022, 240 p.). “Oliver Eagleton examines Starmer’s time as a lawyer, politician and Labour leadership candidate, and his first years as leader, which marked his reversal of ‘almost every gain made by the left’ under Corbyn.”

Who is Keir Starmer? (Jacobin, April 29, 2022). An interview with Oliver Eagleton, author of The Starmer Project: A Journey to the Right (Verso, 2022).: “A combination of conservatism and careerism has characterized Keir Starmer’s approach to politics. In the context of his ideological trajectory, his most recent round of purges of the Left comes as no surprise.”

More than Starmer: why did Labour lose (again)? By Charlie Kimber (International Socialism, Issue 171, Summer 2021, p.35-48). ”The Labour right had an instant explanation for the party’s troubles—blame the left and, in particular, Jeremy Corbyn.”

Establishment champion (Weekly Worker, Issue 1307, 9 July 2020). “Mark Kosman looks at Keir Starmer’s transition from ‘Marxist’ to ‘cop in an expensive suit’.”

Bridging the Gap: Corbynism after Corbyn (Verso, Blog, 6 April 2020). “Momentum co-founder and former Corbyn aide James Schneider gives a unique insight into the Corbyn years and weighs the prospects for the British left in the age of Keir Starmer.”

Keir Starmer’s victory will drag Labour to the right. By Nick Clark (Socialist Worker, Issue 2699, 4 April 2020). “His victory should be the final nail in the coffin for the idea that the main focus for the left is inside the Labour Party.”

After Corbyn, Socialists must continue the struggle within Labour. By Ronan Burtenshaw (Jacobin, April 4, 2014). “Today’s Labour leadership election is a defeat for the Left. But the real victory for our opponents would be watching the forces we have amassed in recent years scatter to the wind.”

Britain: Starmer victory – prepare for battle. By Rob Sewell (In Defence of Marxism, 4 April 2020). “Starmer had the backing of the media and the Blairites in his leadership campaign. He won decisively, but will have to tread carefully.”

Now is no time to turn back the clock. By Bey Keenan (RS21: Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century, 3 April 2020). “Keir Starmer’s victory in the Labour leadership election cannot mean a return to ‘business as usual’ for activists inside or outside the Labour Party.”

No socialist should vote for Keir Starmer. By Jonathan Maunders (Counterfire, February 17, 2020). “In the aftermath of Corbyn, candidates understand the need to be seen to tack left. Kier Starmer’s career offers an insight into why we should examine the facts.

The problem with Keir Starmer. By Tom Blackburn (Jacobin, February 3, 2020). “Keir Starmer is posing as the Labour Party’s unity candidate, appearing prime ministerial while sticking by the party’s left-wing policies. But if elected, he would be forced to choose between these priorities — and it’s clear the left policies would lose out.”

Se også på Socialistisk Bibliotek:

Tidslinjen 12. september 2015 om Jeremy Corbyn.


 

29. april 2020

Yahya Hassan, dansk digter og forfatter med palæstinensisk baggrund under Bogforum 2013 i København, 8 November 2013. Foto: Mogens Engelund. (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Yahya Hassan, dansk digter og forfatter med palæstinensisk baggrund under Bogforum 2013 i København, 8 November 2013. Foto: Mogens Engelund. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Kilde: Wikimedia Commons.

Den danske digter fra palæstinensisk familie, Yahya Hassan dør i Århus efter nogle turbulente år med medieopmærksomhed, fængselsdom,  behandlingsdom m.m. (Født 19. maj 1995 i Århus). Debutdigte Yahya Hassan i 2013, der med 120.000 solgte ekspl. satte rekord for salg af debutdigte.
Se Tidslinjen 17. oktober 2013.

 

 

 

 


 

3. maj 2020

Neil Davidson, november 2013. Source: Skærmdump Youtube
Neil Davidson, november 2013. Source: Skærmdump fra Youtube

Den skotske marxistiske historiker, sociolog og politiske aktivist Neil Davidsson dør. (Født 9. oktober 1957 i Aberdeen).

 

Works etc:

  • Neil Davidson (Glasgow University/Academia.edu). Papers (51) and books (6). Some of the works is online for free.
  • Neil Davidson, 1957-2020 (Marxists Internet Archive). Articles 1990-2019.
  • Neil Davidson (RS21). Articles 2013-2019.
  • Neil Davidson (International Socialist Review). Articles 2010-2019.
  • Neil Davidson (Brill and Historical Materialism). “In honour of Neil, we are pleased to make the following articles freely available until the end of July.”

The National Question, class and the European Union: An interview with Neil Davidson (Salvage, May 4, 2020). “An interview with George Souvlis, that gives a measure of the breadth of Neil’s intellectual and political commitments as well as his profound humanity.”

Audio: The fire last time – 1968 (RS21: Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century, 26 September 2018, 43 min.). “Neil Davidson discusses 1968 and the epoch of revolutionary upheavals it was a part of – from revolutions against colonialism in Africa and Asia to mass struggle against racism and sexism in America and Europe, to the student movement and the ’68 general strike in France, the largest strike in world history at the time.”

Obituaries:

Neil Davidson, 1957-2020. By Steve Edwards (Radical Philosophy, Issue 8, Autumn 2020). “Deeply committed to working-class politics, Davidson maintained an attachment to intellectual continuity – to the work of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Luxemburg, Gramsci and Benjamin – yet he was also a theoretical innovator. “

Neil Davidson, 1957-2020. By Iain Ferguson (Socialist Worker, Issue 2704, 12 May 2020). “His early death is a loss for all of us who valued his theoretical and political interventions, even when, as occasionally happened, we strongly disagreed with them.”

Neil Davidson, 1957–2020 (RS21: Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century, 7 May 2020). “Raymond Morell pays tribute to our comrade Neil Davidson, whose enormous contribution to the historical understanding of revolutionary processes was driven by his fierce commitment to the struggle for socialism and a better world.”

An appreciation of Neil Davidson (1957-2020). By George Kerevan (Bella Caledonia, 7 May 2020). “He was a Marxist not only in the activist sense – though he was politically committed all his life, and a founder member of the Radical Independence Campaign. Neil exemplified a creative, non-dogmatic Marxism; one he deployed when analysing complex historical questions, principally how capitalism emerged in Scotland.”

Transcending convention: Neil Davidson. By Bridget Fowler (Weekly Worker, Issue 1298, 7 May 2020). “Given his capacity to blend theory and empirical research, I would go so far as to put him in the great traditions of historians, along with Marc Bloch, Pierre Broué, EP Thompson, Christopher Hill and Eric Hobsbawm.”

In memoriam: Neil Davidson. By Jamie Allison (Verso, Blog, 6 May 2020). “With the death of historian, sociologist and socialist militant Neil Davidson, the Marxist Left has endured a profound loss both internationally and in his native Scotland. A working-class autodidact of a rare kind, and undoubtedly the foremost intellectual of his generation on the Scottish radical Left.”

Neil Davidson, cultural theorist: a personal reminiscence. By Jordy Cummings (Red Wedge, May 6, 2020). “One of the great Marxist thinkers and organizers of the last century has just departed the mortal coil. My purpose in this reminiscence is to shine a light on one of Neil Davidson’s less well-known qualities, his work as a cultural theorist and critic.”

Neil Davidson (1957-2020). By Chris Bambery (Counterfire, May 4, 2020). “The loss of Neil Davidson means the loss of a powerful intellectual force on the Scottish and the global left. But Neil was also an activist.”

Neil Davidson (1957-2020): an appreciation. By Louis Proyect (The Unrepentant Marxist, May 3, 2020). “Davidson is the author of the 840-page ‘How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions?’ … I am not familiar with all his work but I would describe this as a magnum opus that goes to the heart of major debates within Marxism since the 1970s.”

Book:

How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions? By Neil Davidson (Haymarket Books, 2012, 812 p.). “A historical defense of the concept of bourgeois revolution, from the sixteenth century to the twentieth.”
Preliminary work: How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions? (Historical Materialism, Vol.13, No.3, 2005, p.3-33) + Part 2 (Ibid., Vol.13, No.4, 2005, p.3-54).
See also Neil Davidson: The revolutionary bourgeoisie (Spiked, 6 October 2017).

Reviews/Debates:

See also:


 

25. maj 2020

25. maj 2020 bliver den sorte indbygger i Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA) 46 årige George Floyd dræbt af politiet under hårdhændet anholdelse, som bliver filmet og vækker bred vrede. Hans sidste udråb ‘I can’t breath’ bliver parole og kampråb under det næste måneds store demonstrationer i USA og internationalt, organiseret af Black Lives Matter, hvor fokus blir på racisme og undertrykkelse lokalt. Opmærksomheden rettes også mod statuer, der hylder fx slaveejere, overgreb på oprindelige folk og historiske kolonisatorer. Om danske se datoen 20. juni 2020 nedenfor.

From Black Lives Matter demo in Copenhagen. 20.000 to 30.000 people protest in Copenhagen aganist racism and police brutality, June 7th 2020. Photo: Klaus Berdiin Jensen. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
From Black Lives Matter demo in Copenhagen. 20.000 to 30.000 people protest in Copenhagen aganist racism and police brutality, June 7th 2020. Photo: Klaus Berdiin Jensen. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Source: flickr.com.

Links:

Killing of George Floyd (Wikipedia.org)

Reflections on the 2020 uprising (Tempest, October 6, 2022). “Mara Chinellilooks back on the 2020 rebellion that followed the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Missouri and its reverberations across the country, including in New York City.”

How George Floyd was killed in police custody (YouTube.com, 1 June 2020). “The New York Times … has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal. (This video contains scenes of graphic violence).”

I Danmark står især organisationen Black Lives Matter, DK, bag flere demonstrationer, bl.a. 7. juni 2020 i København med ca. 15.000 deltagere.
Den øgede debat om racisme fører også til debat om dansk kolonihistorie, om oprettelse af et kolonihistorisk museum og en statue-debat, da der internationalt væltes og fjernes statuer af slaveri-ansvarlige.
I Grønland overmales kolonisten Hans Egedes statue i hovedstaden Nuuk. Se 20. juni nedenfor.

From Black Lives Matter demo in Copenhagen. 20.000 to 30.000 people protest in Copenhagen aganist racism and police brutality, June 7th 2020. Photo: Klaus Berdiin Jensen. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
From Black Lives Matter demo in Copenhagen. 20.000 to 30.000 people protest in Copenhagen aganist racism and police brutality, June 7th 2020. Photo: Klaus Berdiin Jensen. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Source: flickr.com.

Links:

Black Lives Matter: 15.000 til demonstration mod racisme i København. Af Morten Hammeken (Solidaritet.dk, 8. juni 2020). “Tusinder af mennesker var igen samlet for at protestere mod racisme og diskrimination. Vi har samlet billeder og video fra demonstrationen.” (se 7. juni ovenfor).

Se også:

List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests (Wikipedia.org)

History Matters Project: a compendium of evidence. 1-4 editions (Policy Exchange, 2020). “This compendium [is] drawing together a range of recent developments, which all turn on the place of history in the public square – including the removal of certain statues on public display, the renaming of buildings and places, and changes to the way history is taught in university curriculums.”


 

20. juni 2020

Statuen af ‘Grønlands apostel’, Hans Egede i Nuuk i Grønland hældt over med rød maling og påskrevet ‘decolonize’ (‘afkolonisér’) (aktionen fandt sted op til Grønlands nationaldag, 21. juni). Se Hans Egede Statue (Wikipedia.dk).
Den originale Hans Egede-statue Ved Marmorkirken i København fik påført samme budskab 30. juni. Ligesom Knud Rasmussens (der er kendt som ‘polarforsker’) buste i Hundested blev bemalet.

Links:

Overhældt med rød maling i Nuuk og København: 3 ting, du måske ikke vidste om Nuuks kontroversielle grundlægger. Af Kasper Madsbøll Christensen (Dr.dk, 30. juni 2020). “Både i Danmark og Grønland er statuer af Hans Egede overhældt med rød maling. Men hvem var han egentlig?”
Se også: Flertal i Nuuk: Omdiskuteret statue skal blive stående (Dr.dk, 22. juli 2020). “921 har stemt for, at statuen bliver stående. 600 mener, at den skal fjernes.”

Vi sletter ikke historie ved at tage statuen af Hans Egede ned. Vi skaber historie. Af Juno Bertelsen, medstifter af Nalik* (Socialistisk Arbejderavis, nr.380, 2. juli 2020; indlægget bragt i Politiken 1. juli). ” … statuen, der skuer ud over kolonihavnen i min hjemby, er et symbol på den koloniale vold, … Danskerne elsker at se sig selv som de gode koloniherrer … vrangforestillinger betyder, at racismen fra kolonitiden stortrives i det moderne Danmark.”
* Se om Nalik: “… formål at give en rigere fortælling om Grønland fra et grønlandsk perspektiv.”

Har Grønland været en koloni? (Information.dk, 18. marts 2020). “Debatten om Grønland som koloni er blusset op igen … Tre historikere og en historiestuderende fra Nuuk giver hver deres bud.”

Grønland 2021: Ilussat i Vestgrønland. (Foto: Privat /Martin Ashwin Bryld)
Grønland 2021: Ilussat i Vestgrønland. (Foto: Privat /Martin Ashwin Bryld)

Se også:

Tidslinjen 3. juli 1721 om Hans Egede og Grønland/kolonialisme.

List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests (Wikipedia.org)

History Matters Project: a compendium of evidence. 1-4 editions (Policy Exchange, 2020). “This compendium [is] drawing together a range of recent developments, which all turn on the place of history in the public square – including the removal of certain statues on public display, the renaming of buildings and places, and changes to the way history is taught in university curriculums.”

 


Lucio Urtubia 2010.
Kilde: Wikipedia Commons.

18. juli 2020

Den spanske anarkist og ‘bank-bedrager’ Lucio Urtubia dør i Paris. (Født i Cascante, Nordspanien, 18. februar 1931).

Links:

Lucio Urtubia Jiménez, a legendary life. By Stuart Christie (Libcom.org, July 2020). “The life of Lucio Urtubia Jiménez (1931-2020), an anarchist from Navarre in northern Spain, is the stuff of legend.”

Lucio Urtubia, 1931–2020. By Eoghan Gilmartin (Jacobin, July 22, 2020). “The anarchist bricklayer Lucio Urtubia made his name robbing banks in order to fund clandestine revolutionaries in Franco’s Spain. He insisted that there was nothing criminal about his expropriations of firms like Citibank — arguing that “he who robs a thief is a thousand times forgiven.”

Obituary: Lucio Urtubia Jiménez. By Philip Ruff (Freedom News, August 11, 2020). “Growing up in the brutal poverty of Franco’s Spain, Lucio was instinctively drawn towards the twin-flames of rebellion and crime which became the leitmotif of his life and propelled him into the ranks of the anti-Franco resistance.”

“Fattigdom var min stora tur”. Av Sara Jeswani (Arbetaren, 1. juli 2009). “Lucio Urtubia är anarkisten som lurade storbanken Citibank på obegripligt stora summor för att finansiera motståndsgrupper världen över, men som själv aldrig var borta en enda dag från sitt arbete som murare. Tidigare i år besökte han Sverige när filmen om hans liv, Lucio, visades i flera städer. Arbetaren träffade honom.”

Lucio, the good bandit: reflections of an Anarchist. By Marie Trigona (Toward Freedom, June 5, 2008). Interview with Lucio Urtubia: “Lucio explains that his anarchism is based in his poor childhood in fascist Spain.”

Litteratur:

Revolution fra byggepladsen: selvbiografi. Af Lucio Urtubia (Det Poetiske Bureau, 2017, 578 sider) (Bureuets Lommebibliotek).
Se anmeldelse på Autonom Infoservice (28. september 2017). “Denne selvbiografi af en baskisk anarkist er skrevet ud fra noget så sjældent som fra en arbejders perspektiv.”

Lucios skat – En grafisk roman om Lucio Urtubis liv. Af Belatz (Det Poetiske Bureau, 2019, 138 sider). “På baggrund af utallige interviews med Lucio Urtubia har den baskiske tegner Belatz udarbejdet denne grafiske biografi.”

Video:

Lucio – Trailer. By Nine Inch Nails (YouTube.com, 1:39 min.). “Anarchist takes U.S. bank for millions!”. With English Subtitles.

Oversætteren Lars Troels Møller præsenterer Lucio Urtubias dokumentarfilmen ”Lucio” sammen med hans selvbiografi ”Revolution fra byggepladsen” i Byens Lys Christiania. Musik: Gunni Torp (Christiania TV Online, 17. oktober 2017, 20:08 min.).


 

2. september 2020

Den amerikanske antropolog og venstrefløjsaktivist David Graeber (især i Occupy Wall Street-bevægelsen) dør i Venedig, Italien. (Født 12. februar 1961 i New York). Forfatter til Debt: The First 5000 Years (2011) + Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (2018) + The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Everything (2021), dansk udgave: Altings begyndelse: en ny historie om menneskeheden (2022).

David Graeber, left, speaks at the Maagdenhuis occupation at the University of Amsterdam 7 March 2015. Photo: Guido van Nispen. (CC BY 2.0).
David Graeber, left, speaks at the Maagdenhuis occupation at the University of Amsterdam 7 March 2015. Photo: Guido van Nispen. (CC BY 2.0). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Links:

Nekrologer/obituaries mv:

Efter pandemien må vi ikke lægge os til at sove igen (Efterykket.dk, 7. maj 2021). “I dette sidste essay … argumenterer den amerikanske antropolog og anarkist David Graeber for, at coronakrisen må blive startskuddet til noget radikalt nyt: En grundlæggende omtænkning af vores forestillinger om værdiskabelse, fællesskab og økonomi.”

Anarkisten David Graeber (59) er død (Autonom Infoservice, 4. september 2020). “I den anledning bringer vi et ældre interview med David Graeber (2012).”

Did communism make us human?: on the anthropology of David Graeber. By Chris Knight (The Brooklyn Rail, June 2021). “My friend David Graeber’s sudden death last year came as a great shock. More than anyone since Frederich Engels, he succeeded in digging anthropology out of the shadows and making it seem empowering to ordinary people.”

In loving memory of our friend, comrade, and mentor…David Graeber (PM Press, Blog, 3 September 2020). Andrej Grubacic shares some thoughts on David’s sudden passing + A mini-bio of David Graeber, written by David himself.

Great questions of our time (Weekly Worker, Issue 1314, 10 September 2020). “Chris Knight of the Radical Anthropology Group discusses David Graeber’s ideas and activism.”

Living as if another world were possible: goodbye, David Graeber! By Daniel Fischer (New Politics, September 9, 2020). “To me, however, Graeber’s more inspiring works focused on discovering and building alternatives. He had a keen eye for spotting utopia in seemingly unlikely places.”

Assessing David Graeber’s legacy. By Louis Proyect (The Unrepentant Marxist, September 8, 2020). “Seeing nobody else willing to write a balance sheet on his career as an activist, I guess I’ll have to fill the bill until someone more qualified comes along.”

Remembering my friend, David Graeber. By Michael Hardt (Jacobin, September 7, 2020). “David Graeber will remain for me a model for how to live to the fullest a scholarly and activist life.”

David Graeber obituary. By Stuart Jeffries (The Guardian, 6 September 2020). “Anthropologist, activist and author who played a key role in the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

A Jewish goodbye to David Graeber. By Benjamin Balthaser (Jacobin, September 5, 2020). “David Graeber’s intellectual legacy is enormous and wide-ranging, but his recent writings on antisemitism deeply moved me. He knew that antisemitism was far from dead — and he also knew that only a democratic left could stop it.”

David Graeber’s anarchism and the Occupy movement. By Daniel Taylor (Red Flag, 5 September 2020). “Graeber’s anthropological work is fascinating and valuable; his major book, Debt, is thought-provoking, though basically flawed. But his most important role was as an activist.”

David Graeber, 1961–2020 (New York Review of Books, 5 December 2020). “David Graeber, the anthropologist and activist, died aged fifty-nine on September 2, 2020. The New York Review, to which he began contributing last year, is collecting tributes from his friends and colleagues.”

The anarchist: How David Graeber became the left’s most influential thinker. By Jerome Roos (New Statesman, 4 September 2020). “The anthropologist and best-selling author will be remembered for a life spent fighting for a freer, more joyous and egalitarian world.”

Remembering comrade and Leftist academic David Graeber. By Meera Kumar (Left Voice, September 3, 2020). “David Graeber, leftist anthropologist, activist, and anarchist, died September 2, 2020, at the age of 59. His death was sudden and a shock to his students and the scores of people influenced by his ideas. In a world where most academics value theorizing over activism and choose to abstain from public protest, Graeber was vocal about his anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist views.”

Bøger/Books:

The Dawn of Everything (Wikipedia.org)
All things being equal. By Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale (Anne Bonny Pirate, December 16, 2021). A critique of David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (Allen Lane, 2021, 704 p.). “The book has received considerable recent attention in the press, and it would be unfortunate if such praise became the general view.
Also online at The Ecologist + at Climate & Capitalism (December 17, 2021), together with a review by Chris Knight: “… the two reviews, both from materialist anthropologists, argue that its account of human history ignores masses of contrary evidence, and that its political argument is idealist and voluntarist.”
See also:
How can we be free? A Marxist critique of ‘The Dawn of Everything’ (In Defence of Marxism, Issue 42, Summer 2023; online 15 March 2024). “In this article Joel Bergman subjects this work to a rigorous Marxist critique, and exposes the fatal flaws inherent in the authors’ idealist view of historical development.”
Against sociobiology: a response to Jane Bassett. By Rosemarie Nünning (International Socialism, Issue 180, Autumn 2023). “… I agree with her basic conclusions. However, I would like to make a few additions to her criticisms. I would also like to register a problem with any reliance on the sociobiology of anthropologist Christopher Boehm.”
Not the dawn of everything. By Jane Bassett (International Socialism, Issue 178, Spring 2023). “[The books] highly problematic decision not to explore the lives of early modern humans before about 30,000 years ago, as well as its failure to account for the rise of the state, class society and women’s oppression.
A new human history? By Llanon Harris (New Politics, Issue 73, Summer 2022). “… there are many problems with their analysis of the archaeological and anthropological evidence. Despite the book’s bold claim of presenting a new history of humanity, much of their discussion is ahistorical.”
All that glistens is not gold. By John Molyneux (Irish Marxist Review, Issue 33, June 2022). “The main point is that this book is a challenge to the Marxist theory of history but not in the end a convincing one.”
The Dawn of Everything. By Dominic Alexander (Counterfire, February 10, 2022). “[The book] seeks a new narrative of prehistory, but for all its interest, the analysis is deeply flawed.”
Wrong about (almost) everything. By Chris Knight (Focaal Blog, December 22, 2021). “[The books idea is] new and refreshing but hardly credible.”
‘The Dawn of Everything’ and the politics of human prehistory. By Dennis J. Junk (Quillette, 22 October 2022). “David Graeber and David Wengrow’s tendentious assault on the Enlightenment and its modern defenders is a bust.”
Ny bog udfordrer forklaringen på hele verdenshistorien! Af Reinout Bosch (Solidaritet.dk, 30. april 2022). “Det er rystende læsning for alle, der har en fasttømret holdning til verdenshistorien.”
Der findes to fortællinger om mennesket: At vi enten er naturligt voldelige eller fredelige. Ingen af dem passer. Af Mikkel Thorup (Information.dk, 7. januar 2022). “De to grundfortællinger om os mennesker passer ikke med den samling af arkæologiske og antropologiske afdækninger af vores tidlige historie, der pibler frem overalt i disse år.”
A flawed history of humanity. By David A. Bell (Persuasion, 19 November 2021). “… a careful reading of its look at the Enlightenment exposes concerning mistakes.”
David Graeber knew ordinary people could remake the world. By Giulio Ongaro (Jacobin, October 22, 2021). “A new book by David Wengrow and the late David Graeber is a brilliant rejection of the fatalistic myths of human history …”
See also interview with David Wengrow: No, large-scale societies don’t need massive inequalities (Jacobin, December 20, 2021).

Er dit arbejde en omgang bullshit? David Graeber forklarer, hvorfor kapitalismen skaber så mange unyttige jobs (Solidaritet.dk, 18. september 2020). “I bogen ‘Bullshit Jobs’ fra 2018 forklarer antropolog og anarkist David Graeber, hvorfor knap 40 % af arbejdsstyrken betragter sit job som totalt meningsløst. Læs Dayton Martindales interview med den nu afdøde forfatter.”

Vart tog de meningslösa jobben vägen? (pdf). Av Matteo Tiratelli (Marxistarkiv.se, 17. januari 2023, 19 s.). “Recension av David Graebers Bullshit Jobs. Blir det allt fler meningslösa jobb under nyliberalismen, som Graber hävdar? Tiratelli ifrågasätter det.” Ur Catalyst, januari 2023.

On “Bullshit Jobs”. By Chris Wright (CounterPunch, August 14, 2018). “I wasn’t able to find the ‘theory’, unless it be that bullshit jobs do in fact exist. And Graeber marshals abundant evidence to test and confirm that theory.”

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. By Clare Solomon (Counterfire, David Graeber’s new book raises many questions about the function and worth of work, but doesn’t entirely explain why useless work persists.”

The rise of bullshit jobs: An interview with David Graeber. By Suzi Weissman (Jacobin, June 30, 2018). “A bullshit job is a job which is so pointless that even the person doing the job secretly believes that it shouldn’t exist. And there are more now than ever.”

5,000 years of debt? (Libcom.org, March 1, 2015). “Aufheben‘s critical review of David Graeber’s book Debt: The first 5,000 years.”

In defense of David Graeber’s Debt. By J.W. Mason (Jacobin, September 18, 2012). “Debt is certainly not without its flaws, but I think Jacobin has missed a good opportunity to connect David Graeber’s opus with the broader conversation economics on the Left.”

Debt: The first 500 pages. By Mike Beggs (Jacobin, August 27, 2012). “We need more grand histories. But 5,000 years of anecdotes is no substitute for real political economy.”

Debt’s role in history. By Paul Heideman (International Socialist Review, Issue 84, June 2012). Review of David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years (Melville House, 2011, 544 p.). “Though Debt is a tremendously useful book for socialists, Graeber’s analytic framework is quite different from that familiar to Marxists.”

Video:

David Graeber and David Wengrow: Palaeolithic politics and why it still matters (Radical Antropology Group, London, 13 October 2015, Vimeo video, 55 m.)


 

25. oktober 2020

Antiimperialisten Ellen Brun. (Foto: Andrea Sigaard) Kilde: Arbejderen, 28. oktober 2020.

Den danske anti-imperialistiske forsker, skribent og redaktør (Politisk Revy 1966-69) Ellen Brun dør. (Født 23.3.1933 i København). Livslang partner og samarbejder med Jacques Hersh. Begge var førende skikkelser i den danske bevægelse mod Vietnam- og Indokina-krigene.

Links:

Nekrologer:

Mindeord: Ellen Brun. Af Tue Magnussen (Solidaritet.dk, 12. november 2020). “Ellen Bruns liv var præget af en lang række politiske kampe. Hun skrev bøger, underviste og bloggede om den anti-imperialistiske kamp gennem hele sit liv, og forblev optimistisk på sine gamle dage.”

Ellen Brun er gået bort. Af Hanne Micheelsen (Arbejderen.dk, 28. oktober 2020). “Efter et langt og aktivt liv er Ellen Brun gået bort i en alder af 87 år efter længere tids sygdom. Hun og hendes mand, Jacques Hersh, fik afgørende betydning for den politiske udvikling i Danmark.”

 


 

30. oktober 2020

Journalisten og især Mellemøst-korrespondenten med kritisk holdning til USA’s politik Robert Fisk dør af et slagtilfælde i Dublin (født 12. juli 1946 i Maidstone, England).

Robert Fisk at Al Jazeera Forum 23 May 2010. Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay. (CC BY 2.0).
Robert Fisk at Al Jazeera Forum 23 May 2010. Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay. (CC BY 2.0). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Links:

Nekrologer/obituaries:

Robert Fisk var en legendarisk – og kontroversiel journalist. Af Lasse Ellegaard (Information.dk, 6. november 2020). “Den verdenskendte mellemøstkorrespondent, der blev 74, døde i en hospitalsseng i Dublin, stadig med sit stridbare temperament intakt. ”

Robert Fisk (1946-2020): Historian of the present (Socialist Review, Issue 463, December 2020). “His fearless reporting of the struggle from Ireland to Afghanistan was defined as ‘speaking truth to power’. Jack Robertson pays tribute to a journalist who changed the mind of a generation.”

Robert Fisk—a courageous and truthful reporter on the Middle East who “covered history” (1946–2020). By Jean Shaoul (World Socialist Web Site, 7 November 2020). “Robert Fisk was that rare phenomenon, a journalist who reported truthfully and indeed courageously for decades on the Middle East.” Se også på norsk (Ibid.).

Robert Fisk was a reporter who brought the wars home and shaped the thinking of a generation. By Harry Browne (Jacobin, November 5, 2020). “British journalist Robert Fisk, who died last week, produced decades of outstanding work, from Ireland to the Middle East. His greatest impact on public opinion came after 9/11, when he mounted a brave challenge to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Robert Fisk’s wrong turn. By Louis Proyect (The Unrepentant Marxist, November 4, 2020). “Like most people on the left, I relied heavily on five journalists after George W. Bush unleashed his war on terror: Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, Seymour Hersh, Patrick Cockburn, and Robert Fisk. After 2011, I was dismayed to see that all of them—to one degree or another—had begun to serve the war aims of the Assad dictatorship.”

Robert Fisk: The outstanding and truth-telling journalist who ventured into danger. By David Mckittrick (The Independent, 4 November 2020). “Over his long and extraordinary career, the award-winning journalist witnessed hundreds of horrific events in his quest to hold power to account.”

Robert Fisk obituary. By Harvey Morris (The Guardian, 3 November 2020). “Veteran journalist and author whose postings read like a battle roll of the post-colonial wars he despised.”

Robert Fisk: the journalist who told the truth about imperialism. By Lindsey German (Counterfire, November 2, 2020). “Robert Fisk’s writing armed the anti-war movement and his death is a loss for us all.”

Syria dispatches: Robert Fisk’s independence (OpenDemocracy, 14 September 2012). “The reports from Syria of the journalist Robert Fisk raise serious questions over his credibility, say Yassin Al Haj Saleh & Rime Allaf.”

Indicting imperialism. By Per-Ake Westerlund (Socialism Today, Issue 114, December 2007-January 2008). Review of Robert Fisk, The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Harper, 2006). “What he writes is therefore always worth reading, not least this book, over 1,000 pages of recent Middle East history.”


 

30. oktober 2020

Den svenske forfatter Jan Myrdal, der også skabte adskillige dokumentar- og enkelte spillefilm, dør i Varberg i Halland. Født 19. juli 1927 som søn af de internationalt aktive socialdemokratiske politikere og økonomer Alva Myrdal og Gunnar Myrdal.
Jan Myrdal var politisk aktiv (maoist) og skrev især om rejser og forhold i østasiatiske lande, bl.a. Kina i 60’erne, og mere kontroversielt om Pol Pot-regimet i Cambodja. Også i den svenske debat var Myrdal kontroversiel, bl.a. ift. kultur- og kønsdebat og højrenationale bevægelser.

Links:

Jan Myrdal er død. Af Christer Lundgren (Arbejderen.dk, 11. november 2020). “Den 30. oktober 2020 døde den svenske forfatter Jan Myrdal efter kort tids sygdom, 93 år gammel. Han var en uhørt betydningsfuld person for Folket i Bild/Kulturfront og er dybt savnet.”

Tidningen Internationalen och Jan Myrdal (pdf) (Marxistarkiv.se, 17. februar 2021, 20 s.). “Diskuterar Myrdals syn på trotskismen, Stalin, utvecklingen i Sovjet och världsläget m m. Innehåller även en intervju med Myrdal.”

Jan Myrdal i blåsväder (pdf) (Marxistarkiv.se, 22. november 2016, 22 sider). Debatt senhösten 2016: “Jan Myrdal har under flera år torgfört märkliga ståndpunker om högerextremistiska partier i Europa, exempelvis Front National i Frankrike. Han har också fått kritik från flera hållför detta, men hans gamla politiska vänner har i stort sett hållit tyst, tills helt nyligen, efter att han medverkat i den nazistiskt anstrukna tidskriften Nya Tider.”


 

6. november 2020

Busten af Kong Frederik V er blevet opstillet på kajen af Københavns Havn, hvorefter den smides i havnen. Fra Anonyme Billedkunsteres video, se link nedenfor.

En gruppe, Anonyme Billedkunstnere, fjerner gipskopien af en buste af kong Frederik V fra Kunstakademiet på Charlottenborg festsal og smider den i havnen. Den originale buste er fra 1754, skabt af billedhugger Jacques Saly som et forstudie til rytterstatuen på Amalienborg Slotsplads.
Se om rytterstatuen på sitet Kongehuset.dk.

Links:

Den famøse buste røg i havnen – var det i orden? Af Ulla Kjær (Politiken Historie, nr.16, 31. marts 2021) +podcast (13:52 min.). Om merkantilismens indhold, ‘trekantshandlen’ og om financieringen af Sally’s rytterstatue af Frederik d. 5 på Amalienborg Slotsplads, der ikke blev betalt af slavehandel.

Frederik V rytterstatue på Amalienborg Slotsplads, København, Danmark. Foto taget 26 februar 2016 af Jebulon. Public Domain.
Frederik V rytterstatue på Amalienborg Slotsplads, København, Danmark. Foto taget 26 februar 2016 af Jebulon. Public Domain. Kilde: Wikimedia Commons.

Busten der røg i havnen, er et forarbejde til J.F. Salys rytterstatue af Frederik 5., 1771 (Danmarkshistorien.dk). “Salys statue er en af de sidste, der repræsenterer den enevældige fyrste som en hersker i cæsar-kostume fra det hedengangne romerrige. Senere gik man, især under indtryk af Den Franske Revolution i 1789, over til nationalistiske fremstillinger.”
“Det tog 14 år at fuldføre Rytterstatuen, og den endte med at koste mere end de fire Amalienborgpalæer, der omkranser den.” (Frederik V, rytterstatue, Wikipedia.dk).

Det Kgl. Danske Kunstakademis grundlægger smidt i havnen. Af Anonyme Billedkunstnere (Ideoart.dk, 6. november 2020). “Ved at synke Frederik V i kanalen ønsker vi at italesætte de måder, hvorpå kolonitiden er usynliggjort, men stadig har direkte konsekvenser for minoritetsgjorte mennesker inde og uden for kunstakademiet.
Se også om skulpturen over den danske koloni-fortid/slave-tid, ’Freedom’ af billedhuggeren Bright Bimpong, placeret ved Havnen, på Ugens skulptur (Facebook, 9. november 2019).

Buste af Frederik V blev smidt i havnen: Kunstnerisk aktion eller hærværk? (Kunsten.nu, 12. november 2020). “De anonyme billedkunstnere kalder handlingen en kunstnerisk aktion vendt imod kolonitiden og dens nutidige konsekvenser. Akademiraadet, som forvalter kunstsamlingen på kunstakademiet, kalder det for tyveri og hærværk. Læs de to versioner af forløbet.”

Institutleder på Kunstakademiet indrømmer: »Det var mig, der skubbede busten i havnen« (Berlingske.dk, 13. november 2020). “En institutleder påtager sig nu ansvaret for, at en historisk buste af Frederik V er blevet stjålet fra Kunstakademiet og smidt i Københavns Havn. Fredag blev hun hjemsendt af Kunstakademiets ledelse efter sin indrømmelse.” Se  Pressemeddelelse (Kunstakademiet.dk, 13. november 2020; online på Internet Archive).

Kunsthistoriker forsvarer hærværk mod buste (pdf). Af Troels Heeger (Berlingske, 14. november 2020, s.10; online på CarstenJuul.dk). Mikkel Bolt: “Jeg ser busteaktionen som en kunstpolitisk intervention, der peger på en allerede eksisterende strukturel vold.”

Litteratur:

Hvidt støv: en antologi om ‘busteaktionen’ og det vi taler om, når vi taler om den. Red.
Nermin Duraković og Jeppe Wedel-Brandt (Public Square & Antipyrine, 2021, 224 s.).

Se også:

Frederik 5. (Wikipedia.dk)

Et Kunstakademi bliver født (Kunstakademiet.dk), “Med etableringen af Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi ville kong Frederik V solidere sit enevælde og gøre landet selvforsynende med kunst. Nu skulle både konge og fædreland styrkes gennem ‘den gode smag’.”

Om bemalingen af Hans Egedes statue i Nuuk på Tidslinjen 20. juni 2020 (ovenfor).


 

25. november 2020

Den argentinske fodboldstjerne Diego Maradona dør i Buenos Aires. (Født 30. oktober 1960).

Links:

Nekrologer/obituaries:

Maradona – fodboldidol og socialist. Af Anders Fenger (Arbejderen.dk, 26. november 2020). “Diego Armando Maradona, antiimperialist, socialist og uden tvivl den største fodboldspiller nogensinde, er død i en alder af 60 år. Han hyldede både Che Guevara, Fidel Castro og Hugo Chavez og støttede palæstinenserne.”

Maradona: rebel genius. By Mark Brown (Socialist Review, Issue 464, January 2021). “The clichés about Diego Maradona being the ‘half-devil, half-angel’ of world football deliberately overlook his passionate, anti-imperialist politics.”

Diego Maradona was everything. By Marianela D’Aprile (Jacobin, November 30, 2020). “Diego Maradona was a genius and a cheater, gregarious and despairing, a liar and an open book. Argentinians loved him as we loved ourselves: so much, not at all. And we hated him as you can only hate someone you truly love, someone who’s brought you so much joy, so many times, then ripped it away.”

Argentine football star Diego Maradona mourned worldwide. By Rafael Azul and Andrea Lobo (World Socialist Web Site, 29 November 2020). “He became politically oriented to Peronism in Argentina, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Fidel Castro in Cuba and other populist forces of the so-called “pink tide” in Latin America …”

Diego Maradona loved Naples — and it loved him back. By Maurizio Coppola and Giuliano Granato (Jacobin, November 29, 2020). “In the working-class districts of Naples, Diego Maradona was more than their local team’s star player. He was a son of the slums who wanted to ‘put six goals past the boss’ — and stood up for the dignity of their city.”

Diego Maradona 1960-2020. By Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Socialist Democracy, 29 November 2020). “His death has provoked diverse reactions, from those who praise him in the same light as Fidel to those who condemn him for the same and also those feminists who rightly question his attitude towards women and his record on the same. It is not easy to pay homage to such a noble and yet contradictory and ignoble figure.”

Remembering Diego Maradona: The idol of the poor. By Kaveh Boveiri (Jacobin, November 28, 2020). “Growing up in the south of Iran, our distraction from life was football, our passion was football, and our heroes were footballers. And it seemed at the time that our heroes were immortal. Rest in peace, Diego Maradona.”

‘In my heart I am Palestinian’: Maradona’s activism remembered (Aljazeera, 26 November 2020). “The Argentinian footballer, who has died at 60, proudly expressed his support for Palestine on several occasions.” With links to 4 other articles.


 

25. november 2020

Wilfred Gluud på Blågårds Plads ud for hans stamværtshus Blågårds Apotek. Foto: Taget 23 september 2019 af pma
Wilfred Gluud på Blågårds Plads ud for hans stamværtshus Blågårds Apotek. Foto: Taget 23. september 2019 af pma.

Den danske venstrefløjsaktivist og mangeårige leder af Dansk Vietnamesisk Venskabforening, Wilfred Gluud, dør på Nørrebro i København. (Født 31. august 1947).

Links:

Gluud.net (eget site; online på Internet Archive). Bl.a. om:

  • Værtshuset Blågårds Apotek og Nørrebro
  • Om skolegangen på Niels Ebbesen Skolen 1954-64
  • Fotoserier fra Vietnam-rejser, og div. ferier og studieture
  • Samling af billedmaterialer om ‘Trotskisten Poul Møller 1929-2014’
  • Historien om Kulturhus Cikaden, Griffenfeldsgade 1991-97
  • Plakatinitiativet på Enhedslistens Sommerlejr 2015-17
  • Vietnamesiske plakater, frimærker m.m. fra Vietnamkrigen og Udstilling på Café
  • Blågårds Kvarter, ‘sort Firkant’ Blågårds Plads m.m.
  • Blågårds Apotek september 2015. Historien om Apteket, Kroteket og værtshuset Blågåds Apotek, krofatter Hans Nielsen samt andre stamgæster.

Nekrologer:

Mindeord: Wilfred Gluud. Af Inger V. Johansen (Solidaritet.dk, 18. december 2020). “I over 50 år var Wilfred Gluud Vietnam-aktivist. Først for amerikansk tilbagetrækning og fred i Vietnam, dernæst for genopbygning og udvikling. Han døde 25. november 2020 efter et længere sygdomsforløb.”

Wilfred Gluud er død. Af Ninna [Ninse] Enselmann (Arbejderen.dk, 10. december 2020). “Wilfreds hjerte bankede for Vietnam, hvor han stod for blandt andet indsamling af hospitalsudstyr, og han rejste mange gange derned og holdt senere foredrag om arbejdet og landet.”


 

6. december 2020

Den faglige venstrefløjsaktivist og tidligere formand for Havnearbejdernes Klub af 1980, Kjartan “Lydia” Gudmundsson dør i Valby. (Født i Reykjavik i Island 28. marts 1952). Ansvarshavende redaktør på Giraffen: Socialistisk Tidsskrift (1990-1995).
Facebook (3F København,  6. december 2020):
“Det er med stor sorg at jeg må meddele at Kjartan ‘Lydia’ Gudmundsson gik bort i formiddag. Som formand for klubben og senere som ITF-inspektør kæmpede ‘Lydia’ for ordentlige løn- og arbejdsforhold for folk. Han var formand for klubben i en svær og omskiftelig tid, hvilket dog ikke lagde en dæmper på kampgejsten. Ære være Kjartan Gudmundsson.” Per Hasager, formand for Havnearbejdernes klub af 1980.

Foto fra havnearbejderstrejken i 1982-1983. Havnearbejder- og aktivistmøde i Folkets Hus Rømersgade’s festsal, nu: Arbejdermuseet. Foto: Henrik Saxgren - Bringes med tilladelse af fotografen.
Foto fra havnearbejderstrejken i 1982-1983. Havnearbejder- og aktivistmøde i Folkets Hus Rømersgade’s festsal, efter 1986: Arbejdermuseet. Foto: Henrik Saxgren – bringes med tilladelse af fotografen.

 

Se også:

Havnestrejken i 1982-83. Af Klaus Erik Hamann Hansen (Leksikon.org)

Konflikten på de danske havne 1982-83 (pdf). Af Klaus Erik Hamann Hansen (Arbejderhistorie, nr.3, 2000, s.57-74). “En af de hårdeste og mest dramatiske arbejdskonflikter i efterkrigstiden fandt sted i 1982 og 1983, da havnearbejdere i flere danske byer deltog i en omfattende arbejdskamp.”

Oktober Radio: Arbejdskampene i 1980erne (KPnet, 30. maj 2021; udsendelsen 29. maj 2021). “[Havnearbejdernes] tre måneder lange strejke fra december 1982 til februar 1983 … blev udløst af at Schlüters regering gennemførte en ændring af reglerne for udbetaling af supplerende dagpenge … en konflikt med flere voldsomme kampe mellem politi og arbejdere i alle store havne og ved landegrænsen i forbindelse med blokader.”

".. flere voldsomme kampe mellem politi og arbejdere i alle store havne og ved landegrænsen i forbindelse med blokader"  Foto:Henrik Saxgren  - Bringes med tilladelse af fotografen.
“… flere voldsomme kampe mellem politi og arbejdere i alle store havne og ved landegrænsen i forbindelse med blokader”. Foto: Henrik Saxgren – bringes med tilladelse af fotografen.

Podcast: Stemmer fra fortiden: havnearbejdere i Københavns havne (SFAH/Radio Stjernen, 27. marts 2022, 51:50 min.). “Løsarbejde, et nærmest slavelignende mønstringssystem, akkordbetaling og ikke mindst slid og slæb og til tider også losning af farligt gods. Alt dette kendetegnede havnearbejderens hverdag langt op i det 20. århundrede.”


 

12. december 2020

Den britiske forfatter af litterære illusionsløse spændings- og spionromaner John le Carre (født 19. oktober 1931) dør af lungebetændelse i Cornwall.

Links:

Obituaries:

John Le Carré is still an enigma in Errol Morris’s new documentary. By Eileen Jones (Jacobin, November 15, 2023). “Celebrated spy novelist John Le Carré is the subject of Errol Morris’s new documentary The Pigeon Tunnel. While it claims to reveal secrets about his famously strange life, you get the sense Le Carré told as much as he ever meant to and no more.”

John le Carré’s novels weren’t just spy thrillers — they were high literature. By Paco Ignacio Taibo II (Jacobin, December 12, 2021). “One year ago today, novelist John le Carré died at age eighty-nine. His talent for turning spy novels into great literature was unmatched.”

John le Carré captured the paranoid mood of the Cold War. By Toby Manning (Jacobin, December 21, 2020). “John le Carré was the Cold War’s finest novelist. He was no leftist, but Le Carré’s portrayals of the British security establishment offer an enduring insight into the mindset of the ruling class.”

John le Carré (1931–2020): Spy novelist and ‘inside-outside’ man. By Stefan Steinberg (World Socialist Web Site, 20 December 2020). “Le Carré leaves behind an intriguing body of literary work set against a background of some of the key political and social developments of the past half-century.”

The spy who never came in from the cold. By John Rees (Counterfire, December 14, 2020). “Le Carré made the difficult transition from being a cynical critic of Cold War politics to an outspoken critic of neoliberal capitalism in the post-Cold War era.

John le Carré — the novelist who tried to unmask the truth of British intelligence. By Simon Basketter (Socialist Worker, Issue 2735, 14 December 2020). “By exploring treachery at the heart of British intelligence, le Carré challenged assumptions about the Cold War.”

John le Carré told the truth about Cold War espionage when few others would. By Emma Steiner (Jacobin, December 12, 2020). “His novels rejected the glamor and ritz of Cold War–era spy fiction. Instead, he portrayed espionage as a dreary, disturbing machine that ground up innocents for a goal that didn’t justify the human cost.”

From cold war spy to angry old man: the politics of John le Carré. By Adam Sisman (The Guardian, 24 October 2015). “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was such a hit that le Carré had to resign from the secret service. In the decades since, as his new biographer writes, his politics have become more overt, and more leftwing.”


 

19. december 2020

I Toronto dør socialisten Leo Panitch, medredaktør 1985-2021 af årbogen Socialist Register. (Født 3. maj 1945 i Winnipeg, Canada).

Beyond Social Democracy and Communism. Leo Panitch, professor of political science at York University (Toronto) was the keynote speaker of the evening February 23, 2018. His topic was: Within and Against Social Democracy? Photo: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung–New York Office. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Beyond Social Democracy and Communism. Leo Panitch, professor of political science at York University (Toronto) was the keynote speaker of the evening February 23, 2018. His topic was: Within and Against Social Democracy? Photo: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung–New York Office. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Source: Flickr.com.

Links:

Obituaries:

Syv ting som Leo Panitch lærte os om at nå frem til socialismen. Af Liam Flenady (Socialistisk Information, 8. marts 2021). “Hvis man virkelig ønsker at ændre samfundet grundlæggende, så skulle man nok læse nogle af de ting, som Leo Panitch har skrevet. Og lige nu ville være et godt tidspunkt at starte.”

Leo Panitch was a sober optimist and an anti-utopian utopian (Jacobin, February 27, 2021). “Leo Panitch saw no other option than to act as if socialism and a world free of exploitation could be won in the here and now, his longtime collaborator Sam Gindin writes. Despite knowing that socialism was unlikely to emerge in his lifetime, Panitch devoted himself fully to a project that could liberate generations of people to come.”

Remembering Leo Panitch. By Richard Fidler (Life on the Left, February 9, 2021). “Leo was well-known not just as an insightful political economist but as one of Canada’s rare ‘public intellectuals’ who combined his Marxist scholarship with a profound engagement with contemporary social and political issues.”

The Marxism of Leo Panitch. By Chris Maisano (Jacobin, January 15, 2021). “Leo Panitch emphasized three core themes throughout his career: the process of class formation, the key role of political parties in facilitating this process, and the need to transform the state instead of wielding it in its current form. In doing so, he gave the democratic-socialist movement an invaluable trove of resources to change the world with.”

Leo Panitch obituary. By Colin Leys (The Guardian, 14 January 2021). “Leo Panitch … was a Canadian researcher, teacher and public intellectual whose work had a profound impact on the thinking of democratic socialists in several continents, not least in the UK.”

A tribute to Leo Panitch (1945–2020) (Socialist Register, 30 December 2020). “Leo’s death is an unfathomable loss for the Register but also for socialists around the world.”

Leo Panitch and the Socialist Project. By Stephen Maher (Socialist Project/The Bullet, December 26, 2020). “His writings have carried us through some of the most difficult periods in the history of the socialist left, as wave after wave of the neoliberal onslaught broke workers’ organizations, serving up one defeat after the next.”

Leo Panitch was a mentor for a new generation of Socialists. By Ingar Solty (Jacobin, December 24, 2020). “Leo Panitch, who died on Saturday, defended working-class politics even in times when many of his colleagues succumbed to neoliberal triumphalism. His work had a political, not just academic, purpose — and its message will survive among the generation of socialists whose thinking he shaped.”

Leo Panitch (1945–2020). By Vivek Chibber (Jacobin, December 22, 2020). “The global left has suffered an irreparable loss with the passing of Leo Panitch this weekend. He was incredibly warm, inviting, and generous to others. And he remained committed to the end to the cause of socialism and human emancipation.”

In appreciation of Leo Panitch. By Rowan Wilson (Verso, Blog, 21 December 2020). “How Leo Panitch touched the lives of students, scholars and activists.” With appreciations by Ursula Huws and Patrick Bond.

The frontpage of Socialist Register 2021, edited by Leo Panitch and Greg Albo. Cover Design: Louis MacKay. (Published October 2020)
The frontpage of Socialist Register 2021, edited by Leo Panitch and Greg Albo. Cover Design: Louis MacKay. (Published October 2020).

Reviews/Debates:

Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin, The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire (Verso, 2012, 456 p.) + Global Capitalism and American Empire (Merlin Press, 2004, 80 p.):

Se også:

Linkboxen Socialist Register 1964- (Socialistisk Bibliotek).