The Future Is Now: An Introduction to Prefigurative Politics

278 Pages·2022·33.551 MB·English

by  Lara Monticelli

THE FUTURE
IS NOW
AN INTRODUCTION
TO PREFIGURATIVE
POLITICS
EDITED BY
LARA MONTICELLI
ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALISM
IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Alternatives to Capitalism
in the 21st Century
Series Editors: Lara Monticelli, Copenhagen

Business School, and Torsten Geelan, University of
Copenhagen
Debates about the future of capitalism demonstrate the urgent need to
envision and enact alternatives that can help tackle the multiple intertwined
crises that societies are currently facing. This ground-breaking new series
advances the international, comparative and interdisciplinary study of
capitalism and its alternatives in the 21st century.
Forthcoming in the series:
Politics of the Gift:
Towards a Convivial Society
Capital to Commons
Hannes Gerhardt
Money Commons:
Remaking Money for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future
Ester Barinaga
Find out more at
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/alternatives-to-capitalism-in-the-
21st-century
Alternatives to Capitalism
in the 21st Century
Series Editors: Lara Monticelli, Copenhagen
Business School, and Torsten Geelan, University of
Copenhagen
International Advisory Board:
Wendy Harcourt, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
Vasna Ramasar, Lund University, Sweden
Tom Malleson, King’s University College, Canada
Silvia Federici, Hofstra University, US
, The New School for Social Research, US
Nancy Fraser, The New School for Social Research, US
Luke Martell, University of Sussex, UK
Laura Basu, openDemocracy and University of Utrecht, Netherlands
Juliet Schor, Boston College, US
Isabelle Ferreras, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Göran Therborn, University of Cambridge, UK
Gar Alperovitz, The Democracy Collaborative and the
Next System Project, US
Francesca Forno, University of Trento, Italy
Flor Avelino, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Dutch Research Institute
for Transitions, Netherlands
Emanuele Leonardi, University of Parma, Italy
David Bailey, University of Birmingham, UK
Ashish Kothari, Global Tapestry of Alternatives, India
Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, University College London, UK
Arturo Escobar, University of North Carolina, US
Albena Azmanova, Brussels School of International Studies, Belgium
Find out more at
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/alternatives-to-capitalism-in-the-
21st-century
THE FUTURE IS NOW
An Introduction to Prefigurative Politics
Edited by

Lara Monticelli
With a foreword by
Arturo Escobar
First published in Great Britain in 2022 by
Bristol University Press
University of Bristol
1– 9 Old Park Hill
Bristol
BS2 8BB
UK
t: + 44 (0)117 374 6645
e: bup- [email protected]
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© Bristol University Press 2022
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1 -5 292- 1565- 6 hardcover
ISBN 978-1 -5 292- 1567- 0 ePub
ISBN 978-1 -5 292- 1568- 7 ePdf
The right of Lara Monticelli to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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To Torsten,

and to all the ‘holy fools’ who dare to
prefigure alternative futures.

Are there still other possibilities? Of course, there are. …

Whichever option is chosen, it will not be the end of history,
but in a real sense its beginning. The human social world is
still very young in cosmological time.
In 2050 or 2100, when we look back at capitalist civilization,
what will we see?
Immanuel Wallerstein, Historical Capitalism with Capitalist
Civilization (2011), p 163. Reproduced with permission of
Verso through PLSclear.

Contents

List of Figures and Tables xi
List of Abbreviations xii
Notes on Contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xix
Foreword by Arturo Escobar xxii
Introduction 1
Lara Monticelli
PART I Contextualizing Prefigurative Politics
1 Prefigurative Politics Within, Despite and Beyond 15
Contemporary Capitalism
Lara Monticelli
2 Prefiguration: Between Anarchism and Marxism 32
Paul Raekstad
3 Decolonizing Prefiguration: Ernst Bloch’s Philosophy of 47
Hope and the Multiversum
Ana Cecilia Dinerstein
4 Rethinking Prefiguration: Between Radical Imagination 65
and Imaginal Politics
Aris Komporozos- Athanasiou and Chiara Bottici
5 Prefiguration and Emancipatory Critical Pedagogy: The 76
Learning Side of Practice
Antonia De Vita and Francesco Vittori
PART II Prefigurative Politics in Practice
6 Prefiguration and the Futures of Work 93
Ana Cecilia Dinerstein and Frederick Harry Pitts
7 Prefiguration and Utopia: The Auroville Experiment 106
Suryamayi Aswini Clarence- Smith
8 Prefiguration in Everyday Practices: When the Mundane 119
Becomes Political
Francesca Forno and Stefan Wahlen
ix