Description

Every year, we continue to witness the emergence of ‘leaderless’ social movements. From North Africa and the Middle East to Europe, and from North America to East Asia, these movements have surprised and baffled journalists, analysts, politicians, police forces and governments. Even the activists themselves have often found it difficult to understand and assess the strength and effectiveness of these new horizontal movements. Why have these movements, which give voice to the needs and aspirations of so many people, failed to bring about lasting change and a more just society? Some believe that if social movements could only find new leaders, they would regain their former glory and be able to realise projects of social transformation and liberation. Where, they ask, can we find today a new Martin Luther King Jr, a Rudi Dutschke, a Patrice Lumumba or a Steve Biko? Where have all the leaders gone?

Even if today’s leaderless and spontaneous political organisations are not enough, it is neither possible nor desirable to return to more traditional and centralised forms of political leadership. What is required instead, according to Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, is a reversal of the roles between the multitude and the leaders in political movements. Leaders should confine themselves to short-term, tactical action, whilst the multitude governs strategy. In other words, long-term goals should be formulated by the collective, rather than by certain selected figureheads. Building on the ideas from their well-known Empire trilogy, Hardt and Negri have, in Assembly, developed a compelling proposal for how today’s major horizontal movements can develop a collective capacity for strategic thinking and political decision-making in order to achieve lasting democratic change.