In recent years "leaderless"
social movements have proliferated around the globe, from North
Africa and the Middle East to Europe, the Americas, and East Asia.
Some of these movements have led to impressive gains: the toppling of
authoritarian leaders, the furthering of progressive policy, and
checks on repressive state forces. They have also been, at times,
derided by journalists and political analysts as disorganized and
ineffectual, or suppressed by disoriented and perplexed police forces
and governments who fail to effectively engage them. Activists, too,
struggle to harness the potential of these horizontal movements. Why
have the movements, which address the needs and desires of so many,
not been able to achieve lasting change and create a new, more
democratic and just society? Some people assume that if only social
movements could find new leaders they would return to their earlier
glory. Where, they ask, are the new Martin Luther Kings, Rudi
Dutschkes, and Stephen Bikos?
With
the rise of right-wing political parties in many countries, the
question of how to organize democratically and effectively has become
increasingly urgent. Although today's leaderless political
organizations are not sufficient, a return to traditional,
centralized forms of political leadership is neither desirable nor
possible. Instead, as Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri argue, familiar
roles must be reversed: leaders should be responsible for short-term,
tactical action, but it is the multitude that must drive strategy. In
other words, if these new social movements are to achieve meaningful
revolution, they must invent effective modes of assembly and
decision-making structures that rely on the broadest democratic base.
Drawing on ideas developed through their well-known Empire trilogy,
Hardt and Negri have produced, in Assembly, a timely proposal
for how current large-scale horizontal movements can develop the
capacities for political strategy and decision-making to effect
lasting and democratic change. We have not yet seen what is possible
when the multitude assembles.