Rethinking Revolution: New Strategies for Democracy & Social Justice : the Experiences of Eritrea, South Africa, Palestine & Nicaragua

"Rethinking Revolution is the book so many of us have been waiting for. Dan Connell examines the failure of twentieth century revolutionary movements not in the theoretical abstract, but in four concrete cases: Eritrea's popular Front for Democracy and Justice, the South African Communist Party, the Palestine People's Party and the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua. Years of hands-on study -- attention to an analysis of their differences as well as profound understanding of how each of these histories fits into the global struggle for revolutionary social change -- has produced a book that is useful as it is illuminating. Wisely, Connell limits his exploration to two key social movements: women and workers. This is a thoughtful, often brilliant, look at the challenges posed by the post-Cold War era and a necessary guidebook for those who will continue the good fight." -- Margaret Randall, Author and political activist This book is a voyage into the thick of unfinished debates and dialogues among frontline activists over how to unify and transform their societies in the direction of greater economic, social, and political equality at a time when the political tide in much of the world seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Connell looks at the programs and animating visions of four revolutionary movements and asks what they have learned from their own and others' experiences since the end of the Cold War and how their thinking has evolved (or not) to achieve their objectives. His central theme is: what works and what doesn't in making of social and political revolution? Drawing from the successes and failures of the movements of all four countries, he argues thatdemocracy, both in terms of the character of society itself and within the political movements that propose to transform it, is as central to the success of a post-Cold War revolutionary project as justice. But what do we mean by democracy? Is it reducible to a new set of recipes? Is it an identifiable rite of passage through which a nation passes -- a gateway to a higher stage of development? Or is it, like nation-building, a process that ebbs and flows unevenly and at times erratically, dependent upon often unpredictable internal and external factors? What are its economic and social components as well as its various political forms? To what degree is it shaped by particular socio-economic, historic and cultural context? How much is popular participation essential to the practice of democracy, and how can it be fostered in a non-manipulative manner while yet retaining its substance? These are some of the questions that drive the exchanges running through this book. Rethinking Revolution offers a window into some of the most creative thinking on how to work for popular democracy and social justice in the post-Cold War era -- and what democracy and social justice mean today.