What Is Antiracism: And Why It Means Anticapitalism

(Hardback)

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What is "racial capitalism" and how do we overcome it This sharp, slim, revelatory book argues that we misunderstand contemporary capitalism if we miss the centrality of racism to neoliberalism. From David Harvey to Wendy Brown, the leading scholars of neoliberalism's rise treat racism as an ornamental feature of recent capitalist politics-an ugly ornament, to be sure, but not one that is central to neoliberalism. In crisp, accessible prose and via descriptions of some key moments of modern history in the US (like the Black Power movement) and the UK (like Enoch Powell's introduction of neoliberal ideas in parliament), Arun Kundnani argues that this misapprehension of the role of race in neoliberalism contributes to the Left's inability to build a successful movement connecting race and class.

Reviews

Drawing lessons from a long tradition of anticolonial, anti-imperialist, and Marxist intellectuals and movements, Arun Kundnani demonstrates how racism and capitalism are indivisible parts of one global system. And unless we can see the whole, we'll never know how to fight. -- Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams
This is the book we need to deepen our understanding of how ideas of racism and anti-racism became divorced from questions of who has what and why. Kundnani explains in gorgeous detail how in the twentieth century, people who were struggling to build a new world came to comprehend racism, capitalism, and colonialism as codependent systems. And he shows us how neoliberalism has shaped new racisms-involving, for example, 'the terrorist' and 'the welfare queen'--pointing to key areas of the fight today. -- Amna A. Akbar, professor of law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
An important and absorbing intervention into debates around racism today, illuminating the profound structural links between imperialism, racism and capitalism. Kundnani shows us how an understanding of this long history is a vital resource for our fights against exploitation and oppression today. -- Priyamvada Gopal, author of Insurgent Empire
With theoretical precision and clarity, Kundnani lays out the failings of liberals and the left, offering instead a radical anti-racism fit for tackling the urgent issues facing the world today. -- Adam Elliott-Cooper, author of Black Resistance to British Policing
What is Antiracism is going to be a major staple for decades to come. -- Joshua Briond, host of the Millennials Are Killing Capitalism podcast

Author Bio

Arun Kundnani is Visiting Assistant Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University and a former editor of the journal Race & Class. Born in London, he has lived in New York since 2010. He has appeared regularly on broadcast news media, such as CNN and BBC News, and has written for the Guardian, Intercept, Washington Post, the Nation, and Dissent. His last book, The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror (Verso, 2014) sold 12,847 copies by the end of 2017 and was translated into Arabic and Spanish. A review in the Guardian described him as "one of Britain's best political writers." His first book, The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st Century Britain (Pluto, 2007), was selected as a book of the year by the New Statesman. He has been a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at New York Public Library and an Open Society Fellow. He is the lead author of Leaving the War on Terror (Transnational Institute, forthcoming), which develops a detailed policy agenda as an alternative to Britain's current counterterrorism policies. He holds a PhD from London Metropolitan University, and an MA from Cambridge University.