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Distributed for Black Rose Books

Take the City

Voices of Radical Municipalism

Distributed for Black Rose Books

Take the City

Voices of Radical Municipalism

With rapid increases in urban populations, there is an urgent need to transform our world’s cities in keeping with ecological imperatives and democratic principles. A growing worldwide citizen movement is attempting to challenge bureaucratic administrations and replace the politics of fear with neighborhood power, direct democracy, and solidarity. They believe that threats of capitalism, totalitarianism, and climate change require imaginative political resistance rooted where they live. 
 
Combining political theory, philosophy, history, and intimate narrative, Take the City! presents an expansive view of municipalist movements around the world. With over twenty contributors, including David Harvey, this anthology provides crucial insights into the challenges ahead by looking at and beyond municipal electoral politics. Stories of diverse regions and issues illuminate the nuances of municipalist movements of the past and present, providing a roadmap of the fight for our future. From Seattle to Kurdistan, Burlington to Oaxaca, Barcelona to Mississippi, and Vienna to Montreal, contributors carefully consider the intertwined questions concerning current crises in housing, the environment, democracy, and capitalism. 
 

157 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2

Political Science: Urban Politics

Sociology: Social Change, Social Movements, Political Sociology


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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Jason Toney: Introduction

The Challenges Ahead
Brian Tokar: Communalism Against Climate Chaos
Robert Kaminski: The Crisis of Late Capitalism in Seattle
Peter Marcuse, Margit Mayer, and David Harvey: Three Lectures on Radical Urbanism

Building Democracy through Municipal Electoral Politics
Veronika Duma and Hanna Lichtenberger: Remembering Red Vienna
Donald Cuccioletta: The FRAP (Political Action Front) 1970–1974: The First Experience of Municipal Radicalism in Montréal

Dual Power and Taking the City beyond Elections
Nazan Üstündag: Bakur Rising: Democratic Autonomy in Kurdistan
Barucha Peller: Self-Reproduction and the Oaxaca Commune
Jonathan Durand Folco: Beyond Projet Montréal: From Progressive Neoliberalism to Economic Democracy
Jonny Gordon-Farleigh: An Interview with Kali Akuno

Possible Futures
Antje Dieterich: Urban Sanctuary: The Promise of Solidarity Cities
Austin Krauss: How Hip Hop Can Save Us
Anna Kruzynski: From Social Ecology to Community Economies: Towards Better Livelihoods

Annex
The FRAP Manifesto

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