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Marx for the anti-globalist
The works of Karl Marx had been relegated to the dustiest back shelves of university campuses by the end of the 20th century, even in Russia. But a new wave of student activists caught up in anti-globalization fervor are rediscovering the communist philospher, according to THE VILLAGE VOICE.
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These students, attending college in a post-Seattle world, are ready to look at Marx with fresh eyes and a healthy disdain for free-market mystification, according to Andy Merrifield, who teaches in the graduate school of geography at Clark University.
“These kids are political, and they have a gut feeling that corporations are screwing up the world. But it’s not a sophisticated theoretical understanding.” Borderline anarchist acts such as the trashing of a McDonald’s in Seattle could be informed by Marxist teachings, he says. “There’s political purchase in slightly mad destructive acts. I’m not saying that has to be the chief political means through which struggle takes place. But if you can harness it with theory and give it some depth, then you can use that destructive energy intelligently.”
