Counterfutures Issue #15

COUNTERFUTURES is a multidisciplinary journal of Left research, thought, and alternatives, with a focus on Aotearoa. The essays, articles, interviews and reviews are urgent, thoughtful, and vital. This issue includes: An interview with Franco ‘Bifo’ Bifardi on ‘Futurism without a future’, and on using psychoanalysis to comprehend political events today; A review of Eleanor Catton’s novel Birnam Wood, which situates it within a revision of the South Island myth that has occupied a privileged place in settler aesthetic traditions; An assessment of the 2023 New Zealand General Election by Metiria Turei, Sue Bradford, and Jack Foster, and its implications for left politics in Aotearoa; An exploration by Neil Vallelly of the entwined relationship btween democracy and violence, as revealed in the current Israeli siege of Gaza; An analysis of the ‘religious right’ and its involvement in politics in Aotearoa, by Isabella Gregory; An overview of contesting Treaty histories, by Emma Gattey; Essays on the growing importance of a nationally co-ordinated union movement, the possibilities of inclusive debt forgiveness, and on the meeting of theory and the lived experience of sex workers in Aotearoa.

A Punitive Turn — SUE BRADFORD, JACK FOSTER & METIRIA TUREI
A reflection on the implications of the 2023 General Election for the Left.

‘You Know What, It Is the Money’: Sex Work and Anti-reproductivist Critique — PEYTON BOND
An anti-reproductivist critique of the institution of work that brings the ideas of theorists such as Heather Berg and Kathi Weeks into conversation with the lived experience of sex workers in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The ‘Religious Right’ in the 2020 Aotearoa New Zealand General Election — ISABELLA GREGORY
An analysis of the rise of the ‘religious right’, and the complicated relationship between religion and politics in Aotearoa New Zealand, during the 2020 General Election through a close reading of the policy platforms of the New Conservatives, One Party, Vision New Zealand, and Advance New Zealand.

Debt Abolition after the Crash — WARWICK TIE
An outlining of the possibilities for a national movement on debt abolition that recognises both household debt and the socio-historical debt accrued to Indigenous, working-class, and other peoples.

Futurism without a Future — FRANCO ‘BIFO’ BERARDI
An interview with the renowned Italian autonomist Marxist philosopher, who discusses his role in the operaismo movement, his intellectual and personal relationships with Félix Guattari and Jean Baudrillard, and how psychoanalytic theory might help us examine political events today.

Austerity, Precarity, and Tertiary Union Strategy: Notes from The Left TEU Network — THE LEFT TEU NETWORK
A critique of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) prior to, during, and beyond the 2023 ‘Stop the Cuts’ campaign across the tertiary education sector in Aotearoa New Zealand, and a call to build a more politically active and coordinated national union movement.

A Nation Still in Search of a New History — EMMA GATTEY
A review essay on Bain Attwood’s ‘A Bloody Difficult Subject’: Ruth Ross, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Making of History, presenting a detailed overview of historiographical debates about Treaty histories in Aotearoa New Zealand and the possible directions these histories might take in the future.

Selling Out in the High Country— JENNIFER LAWN
A review of Eleanor Catton’s latest novel Birnam Wood, which situates it within a revision of the South Island myth that has occupied a privileged place in settler aesthetic traditions.

The Eclipse — NEIL VALLELLY
A theoretical intervention, in discussion with the ideas of Achille Mbembe and Judith Butler, on the intertwined relationship between democracy and violence that is currently playing out in Israel’s siege on Gaza.

Format: Paperback
Imprint: Small New Zealand Publisher
Publication date: 18/05/2024