Frank Füredi - Revision history

David: /* To London - 1969 */

2013-09-10T13:17:00Z

To London - 1969

David at 13:15, 10 September 2013

2013-09-10T13:15:42Z

Matthew Pringle: Page formatting

2011-11-15T13:43:26Z

Page formatting

David: /* Furedi's exit from IS and the RCG */

2011-11-11T10:02:46Z

Furedi's exit from IS and the RCG

David at 10:02, 11 November 2011

2011-11-11T10:02:14Z

David: /* In Quebec and the student movement in the 1960s */

2011-11-11T09:44:48Z

In Quebec and the student movement in the 1960s

David at 19:41, 10 November 2011

2011-11-10T19:41:13Z

David: /* In Quebec and the student movement in the 1960s */

2011-11-10T19:38:14Z

In Quebec and the student movement in the 1960s

David at 19:37, 10 November 2011

2011-11-10T19:37:48Z

Matthew Pringle: /* General Articles */

2011-04-27T14:57:43Z

General Articles

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 But for Furedi, changing the world did not mean re-engaging with the movement. It meant as he says in his next sentence: 'So at the end of the Sixties, I began to sense that rather than talk the talk, I had to sort out my ideas.'<ref name="Frank"/> And it was to ideas that he looked for the next four years.  Indeed, arguably, it was ideas which he came to see were the motor force of revolutionary change and which formed the basis for the programme of the [[Revolutionary Communist Tendency]] in 1977/78.
 ===To London - 1969===
-Furedi moved to London in 1969 at the age of 22 and undertook an MA in African Politics at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]] in 1969/70.  Between 1970 and 1974 again at SOAS he studied for a PhD Titled: The Mau Mau Revolt in Perspective<ref>University of Kent [http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/furedi/cv-mar08.pdf Frank Furedi, CV, March 2008], accessed 18 January 2011</ref>.  His work led to early academic publications on popular movements and land reform in Kenya in 1973-4.<ref>[[Frank Furedi]], [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3235664 'The African Crowd in Nairobi: Popular Movements and Elite Politics'], ''Journal of African History'', Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 275-290, Published: 1973; [[Frank Furedi]], 'The Development of Anti-Asian Opinion Among Africans in Nakuru District, Kenya', ''African Affairs'', Volume: 73, Issue: 292, Pages: 347-360, Published: 1974; [[Frank Furedi]], 'Nation Building in Kenya - Role of Land Reform', ''Journal of African History'', Volume: 15, Issue: 1, Pages: 165-166, Published: 1974.</ref> At some point between 1969 and Spring 1973 Furedi joined the [[International Socialists]] and was expelled along with the rest of the faction known as the 'Right Opposition' in spring 1973.<ref name="Callinicos">Alex Callinicos '[http://www.scribd.com/doc/48322905/Callinicos-Abstract-Propagandism-1981 Politics or Abstract Propagandism?]' ''International Socialism'', 2(11), Winter 1981, p.120.</ref>   The grouping called itself the 'Revolutionary Oppostition'.<ref name="Richards">Frank Richards, 'The IS and Centrism', ''Revolutionary Communist: Theoretical Journal of the Revolutionary Communist Group'', Issue 1, January 1975, p. 14. </ref>
+Furedi moved to London in 1969 at the age of 22 and undertook an MA in African Politics at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]] in 1969/70.  Between 1970 and 1974 again at SOAS he studied for a PhD Titled: The Mau Mau Revolt in Perspective<ref>University of Kent [http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/furedi/cv-mar08.pdf Frank Furedi, CV, March 2008], accessed 18 January 2011</ref>.  His work led to early academic publications on popular movements and land reform in Kenya in 1973-4.<ref>[[Frank Furedi]], [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3235664 'The African Crowd in Nairobi: Popular Movements and Elite Politics'], ''Journal of African History'', Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 275-290, Published: 1973; [[Frank Furedi]], 'The Development of Anti-Asian Opinion Among Africans in Nakuru District, Kenya', ''African Affairs'', Volume: 73, Issue: 292, Pages: 347-360, Published: 1974; [[Frank Furedi]], 'Nation Building in Kenya - Role of Land Reform', ''Journal of African History'', Volume: 15, Issue: 1, Pages: 165-166, Published: 1974.</ref> At some point between 1969 and Spring 1973 Furedi joined the [[International Socialists]] and was expelled along with the rest of the faction known as the 'Right Opposition' in spring 1973.<ref name="Callinicos">Alex Callinicos '[http://www.scribd.com/doc/48322905/Callinicos-Abstract-Propagandism-1981 Politics or Abstract Propagandism?]' ''International Socialism'', 2(11), Winter 1981, p.120.</ref>   The grouping called itself the 'Revolutionary Oppostition'.<ref name="Richards">[[Frank Richards]], '[http://www.scribd.com/doc/166982212/Frank-Richards-The-IS-and-Centrism-Revolutionary-Communist-No-1-1975-p-14-26 The International Socialists and Centrism: the Re-emergence of Economism]', ''Revolutionary Communist: Theoretical Journal of the Revolutionary Communist Group'', Issue 1, January 1975, p. 14. </ref>
 Furedi's faction claimed that the IS had an 'economistic' perspective.<ref name="Richards"/> According to leading IS members the faction that became the RCT espoused a kind of 'paleo-Marxism' which displayed 'an obsession with the letter of the marxist classics which often lost sight of the method which informed these works'.<ref name="Callinicos"/> According to the account of [[Alex Callinicos]] this faction:
 :were highly critical of mere involvement in the practical struggles of the day(the greatest Britain had seen since the 1920s) and argued that priority should be accorded to the formulation of the correct marxist programme; practically,they were highly suspicious of any attempt to modify the organisation's geographical structure by introducing factory branches and were afraid that an influx of workers into IS would dilute its politics (none too hot at the best of times, on their account). After an internal debate notable for its abstruseness (one of the main issues rested on the interpretation of ''Capital'' Volume 3 and the IS bulletin was for a time full of simultaneous equations) IS and the Right Opposition parted company.<ref name="Callinicos"/>
 ===Furedi's exit from the RCG===

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 :Campus radicalisation appeared to develop effortlessly. Without very much exertion we organised a series of meetings, and in November 1967 we got the majority of political science students to vote for an occupation of the floor of the building where our teachers’ offices were based. The occupation successfully forced some concessions from the university, and left us all with the impression that taking this kind of direct action was the way forward. More importantly, everyone involved in the occupation experienced a real sense of elation, which further reinforced our conviction that ‘anything and everything is possible’. In the succeeding months, I was involved in a series of strikes and demonstrations, which won the support of large numbers of students and gained some quite considerable media coverage and publicity.
-:...I was soon reminded that it was easier to talk about than to realise change. In August 1968, the so-called Prague Spring was brought to an end through the exercise of Soviet military power. The popular movement for democracy, which showed so much potential, was swiftly repressed. Anything was not possible, it seemed, in Eastern Europe – or in the West, either, as I would soon discover.<ref name="Frank"> Frank Furedi  http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_article/5020/ My 1968: The rise of radicalism and the fall of authority].  Spiked Review of Books, Issue 12, April 2008</ref>
+:...I was soon reminded that it was easier to talk about than to realise change. In August 1968, the so-called Prague Spring was brought to an end through the exercise of Soviet military power. The popular movement for democracy, which showed so much potential, was swiftly repressed. Anything was not possible, it seemed, in Eastern Europe – or in the West, either, as I would soon discover.<ref name="Frank"> Frank Furedi  [http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_article/5020/ My 1968: The rise of radicalism and the fall of authority].  ''Spiked'' Review of Books, Issue 12, April 2008</ref>
 It was the crushing of the Prague Spring that turned Furedi away from student radicalism.  In the telling of the story in 2008 he emphasises that it was the lifestyle politics that put him off, the obsession with individual transcendance as opposed to material change:

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-{{Powerbase:LM network: Resources}}'''Frank Furedi''' (originally called [[Ferenc Füredi]], Dob 3 May 1947) is professor of sociology at the [[University of Kent]] at Canterbury, UK and a leading associate, perhaps ''the'' leading associate, of the [[LM network]]. He was, under the pseudonym [[Frank Richards]], a leading member of the [[Revolutionary Communist Group]], then, having been expelled from the RCG, the founder and chairman of the [[Revolutionary Communist Tendency]], later the [[Revolutionary Communist Party]] (RCP). The RCP has traversed one of the longest ideological journeys in British politics, moving from the what it described as 'ultra-left', through several incarnations into a broad collection of organisations on the libertarian right wing, including [[Spiked Online]] and the [[Institute of Ideas]]. Furedi continues to be a leading figure in this network of organisations, characterised by a vigorous anti-environmentalist, pro-GM stance, known as the [[LM network]].
+{{Powerbase:LM network: Resources}}
 [[File:FORA.tv - Battle of Ideas- The Battle for Truth 1295431619324.png|thumb|right|300px|[[Frank Furedi]] speaks at the [[Battle of Ideas]], organised by the [[Institute of Ideas]] in 2008.  Note the unusual caption naming Furedi as the 'founder' of the [[Revolutionary Communist Party]]]]
 Aside from his academic work, he is frequently quoted in the media as an expert on how our society has become obsessed with risk.  He writes regularly for [[Spiked Online]], and has written several books on the subject, with titles such as ''Paranoid Parenting'', ''Therapy Culture'', and ''Culture of Fear''. He wrote an article about risk culture post September 11, one of only two papers published by [[Global Futures]]. Furedi also writes a column for the [[Times Higher Education]] supplement.<ref>Frank Furedi, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=404397 Nine out of ten dogmas], ''Times Higher Education Supplement'', 20-November-2008</ref>

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 :were highly critical of mere involvement in the practical struggles of the day(the greatest Britain had seen since the 1920s) and argued that priority should be accorded to the formulation of the correct marxist programme; practically,they were highly suspicious of any attempt to modify the organisation's geographical structure by introducing factory branches and were afraid that an influx of workers into IS would dilute its politics (none too hot at the best of times, on their account). After an internal debate notable for its abstruseness (one of the main issues rested on the interpretation of ''Capital'' Volume 3 and the IS bulletin was for a time full of simultaneous equations) IS and the Right Opposition parted company.<ref name="Callinicos"/>
-===Furedi's exit from IS and the RCG===
+===Furedi's exit from the RCG===
 In 1975 Furedi (using the name [[Frank Richards]]) was listed as a member of the editorial board of the RCG theoretical journal ''[[Revolutionary Communist]]'' at the time of issue number two dated May 1975.

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 :...I was soon reminded that it was easier to talk about than to realise change. In August 1968, the so-called Prague Spring was brought to an end through the exercise of Soviet military power. The popular movement for democracy, which showed so much potential, was swiftly repressed. Anything was not possible, it seemed, in Eastern Europe – or in the West, either, as I would soon discover.<ref name="Frank"> Frank Furedi  http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_article/5020/ My 1968: The rise of radicalism and the fall of authority].  Spiked Review of Books, Issue 12, April 2008</ref>
-It was the crushing of the Prague Spring that turned Furedi awa from student radicalism.  In the telling of the story in 2008 he emphasises that it was the lifestyle politics that put him off, the obsession with individual transcendance as opposed to material change:
+It was the crushing of the Prague Spring that turned Furedi away from student radicalism.  In the telling of the story in 2008 he emphasises that it was the lifestyle politics that put him off, the obsession with individual transcendance as opposed to material change:
 :After Prague, I ceased to think of myself as a student radical. As a child, I lived through the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which means I experienced the crushing of the Prague experiment as an intensely familiar tragedy. All of a sudden, Sixties radicalism appeared empty of ideas, and I started to find its rhetoric extremely irritating. With the ascendancy of lifestyle politics, it was difficult to avoid noting the powerful anti-intellectual currents that sprung from the soul of Sixties radicalism. I wasn’t interested in ‘changing my head’ – I wanted to change the world around me.<ref name="Frank"/>
 But for Furedi, changing the world did not mean re-engaging with the movement. It meant as he says in his next sentence: 'So at the end of the Sixties, I began to sense that rather than talk the talk, I had to sort out my ideas.'<ref name="Frank"/> And it was to ideas that he looked for the next four years.  Indeed, arguably, it was ideas which he came to see were the motor force of revolutionary change and which formed the basis for the programme of the [[Revolutionary Communist Tendency]] in 1977/78.
-==Furedi's exit from IS and the RCG==
+Furedi's faction claimed that the IS had an 'economistic' perspective.<ref name="Richards"/> According to leading IS members the faction that became the RCT espoused a kind of 'paleo-Marxism' which displayed 'an obsession with the letter of the marxist classics which often lost sight of the method which informed these works'.<ref name="Callinicos"/> According to the account of [[Alex Callinicos]] this faction:
 In 1975 Furedi (using the name [[Frank Richards]]) was listed as a member of the editorial board of the RCG theoretical journal ''[[Revolutionary Communist]]'' at the time of issue number two dated May 1975.

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 ==Early life==
-==In Quebec and the student movement in the 1960s==
+===In Quebec and the student movement in the 1960s===
 In 2008 Furedi gave the following account of his short career as a student radical:

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 :After Prague, I ceased to think of myself as a student radical. As a child, I lived through the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which means I experienced the crushing of the Prague experiment as an intensely familiar tragedy. All of a sudden, Sixties radicalism appeared empty of ideas, and I started to find its rhetoric extremely irritating. With the ascendancy of lifestyle politics, it was difficult to avoid noting the powerful anti-intellectual currents that sprung from the soul of Sixties radicalism. I wasn’t interested in ‘changing my head’ – I wanted to change the world around me. So at the end of the Sixties, I began to sense that rather than talk the talk, I had to sort out my ideas.
-:…However, it is far from evident who bears responsibility for the events of the Sixties – the students marching on the streets of Paris, London and Berlin, or sections of the ruling elites who lost belief in the cultural legacy that underpinned their authority? Sadly, the decline of traditional authority has not been matched by the emergence of an enlightened, future-oriented alternative. Today, figures of authority rarely speak the language of human values. Instead they hide behind a cynical, technocratic worldview, and subject public life to the narrow instrumentalist logic of performance, delivery and best practice. Many of yesterday’s student radicals have been integrated by this new Establishment. They have opted for a small-minded, politically correct worldview that readily complements the political class’s ceaseless desire to ‘modernise’ and ‘reform’ its institutions.
+:…However, it is far from evident who bears responsibility for the events of the Sixties – the students marching on the streets of Paris, London and Berlin, or sections of the ruling elites who lost belief in the cultural legacy that underpinned their authority? Sadly, the decline of traditional authority has not been matched by the emergence of an enlightened, future-oriented alternative. Today, figures of authority rarely speak the language of human values. Instead they hide behind a cynical, technocratic worldview, and subject public life to the narrow instrumentalist logic of performance, delivery and best practice. Many of yesterday’s student radicals have been integrated by this new Establishment. They have opted for a small-minded, politically correct worldview that readily complements the political class’s ceaseless desire to ‘modernise’ and ‘reform’ its institutions.<ref> Frank Furedi  http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_article/5020/ My 1968: The rise of radicalism and the fall of authority].  Spiked Review of Books, Issue 12, April 2008</ref>
 ==Furedi's exit from IS and the RCG==

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 ===General Articles===
-*George Monbiot, "[http://www.monbiot.com/dsp_article.cfm?article_id=266 Far Left or Far Right?]", ''Prospect Magazine'', November 1998.
+*George Monbiot, "[http://www.monbiot.com/1998/11/01/far-left-or-far-right/ Far Left or Far Right?]", ''Prospect Magazine'', November 1998.
 *[http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=78 Living Marxism profile], GM Watch, accessed Dec 2003.
 *David Pallister, John Vidal and Kevin Maguire, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,341053,00.html Life after Living Marxism: Banning the bans]", ''The Guardian'', July 8, 2000.