Editorials
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Editorial
Behind the Mask: Violence and Representational Politics
Particular moments can, like a lightning flash, illuminate the terrain upon which we struggle. The recent anti-G20 convergence in Toronto was one such moment. Under the glare of the world’s media, three social forces – the capitalist state, the social democratic left, and the small but a…
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Editorial
With Eyes Wide Open
Notes on Crisis and Resistance Today
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. For the last two years, the financial crisis and global recession have presented the left in North America with the best opportunity in recent memory to move beyond the defensive postures of “resistance.” Rocked by the most severe financial crisis since the…
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Editorial
Seeing the Change We Want to Be
As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, we are faced with an uncomfortable paradox. On the one hand, the spectre of catastrophe – economic, ecological, social, biological, and nuclear – looms as large as ever. Even in mainstream political discourse, it’s possible to det…
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Editorial
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Social Democracy and Anti-Capitalist Renewal in English Canada
While many radicals would rather not admit it, it’s difficult to talk about a specifically Canadian project of anti-capitalist renewal without considering the role that social democracy plays as either an obstacle to or a potential stepping stone for mass radicalization. As one of the most coheren…
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Editorial
The Moment of Danger
Catastrophe and Actualization
As radicals, we’re often accused of looking for trouble. The problem is, nowadays, we don’t have to look very far. Everywhere we turn, it seems like trouble has seized the initiative. It has stolen the wind from our sails. It has come looking for us. Under conditions like these, being radical is…
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Editorial
In Praise of Good Maps
Theory, History, & the Signs of the Times
Except for graying professors encased in ivory towers and card-carrying members of anachronistic socialist sects, nobody really reads Lenin these days. Like wide-legged furry pants, he seems to have been relegated to the dustbin of history. Few will be worried, then, that the turnout at the 100th an…
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Editorial
Becoming the Enemy They Deserve
Organizational Questions for a New “New Left”
We are living in a moment of paradox. Prospects for rebuilding the radical left in North America seem as tentative as ever. At the same time, the face of our enemy has never been clearer. Capitalist class rule makes little attempt to hide its deprivation and hypocrisy. Imperialist wars of aggression…
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Editorial
Growing Pains
The Anti-Globalization Movement, Anti-Imperialism and the Politics of the United Front
Writing our most recent histories seems to bring to mind the reliable touchstones of literature. Let us say, then, that it was the best of times – and the worst of times. A little over five years ago, our world was turned upside down. All it took was two events: Québec City and September 11. But…
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Editorial
Breaking the Impasse
Breaking the Impasse
In this issue of Upping the Anti we continue our attempt to engage with the radical political currents in Canada and around the world from which we have taken our name; the politics of anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and anti-oppression. In our first editorial, we took as our starting point the f…
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Editorial
Upping the Anti
Upping the Anti
Our name Upping the Anti refers to our interest in engaging with three interwoven tendencies which have come to define much of the politics of today’s radical left in Canada: anti-capitalism, anti-oppression, and anti-imperialism. These three political tendencies, while overlapping and incorporati…
