Michael Hardt: "Where have all the leaders gone?"

Each year, we continue to witness the eruption of “leaderless” social movements. From North Africa and the Middle East to Europe, the Americas, and East Asia, movements have left journalists, political analysts, police forces, and governments disoriented and perplexed. Activists too have struggled to understand and evaluate the power and effectiveness of horizontal movements. Why have the movements, which express the needs and desires of so many, not been able to achieve lasting change and a more just society? Many assume that if only social movements could find new leaders they would return to their earlier glory and be able to sustain and achieve projects of social transformation and liberation. Where, they ask, are the new Martin Luther King Jr.s, Rudi Dutschkes, Patrice Lumumbas, and Stephen Bikos? Where have all the leaders gone?

In this lecture Professor Hardt will use examples from past theory and practice to situate and clarify some of the issues and alternatives involved in the organization of social movements today.


About Professor Hardt: Michael Hardt teaches at Duke University, where he is co-director of the Social Movements Lab. He is author of Gilles Deleuze and co-author (with Antonio Negri) of six books. Their Empire trilogy (Empire, Multitude, and Commonwealth) analyzes the contemporary capitalist global order and investigates the existing resources for creating alternatives oriented toward democracy and liberation. Their most recent book, Assembly, explores how social movements today can enact lasting political transformations. Michael Hardt also currently serves as the editor of The South Atlantic Quarterly.


This event is presented by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Cultural Studies and the Institute for Humanities Research. All Center for Cultural Studies events are free and open to the public.