The english translation of Raoul Vaneigem's new book 'A Declaration of the rights of Human Beings' has been published today.

I will not attempt to explain who Raoul Vaneigem is. This posting is intended for those who are familiar with his ideas and background, and who may not be aware that he has published a new, and I would say definitive account of his philosophical and political ideas.

Raoul Vaneigem will be 70 years old next year, and has drawn together his life’s work in the form of a new Declaration of Human Rights.

I personally believe this is the most significant anti-capitalist (more accurately post-capitalist ) book to be published since Society Of The Spectacle in 1968.

Publication details are as follows.

Title: A Declaration of the Rights of Human Beings
First published in French in 2001.
First published in English: 1st May 2003 (Translator Liz Heron)
Publisher: Pluto Press (www.plutobooks.com)
ISBN: 0745320228 hardback
ISBN: 074532021X paperback
Currently the book is available only in paperback format.

The cover notes are as follows:

‘All opponents of globalization should carry it in their luggage’ – Le Monde

Raoul Vaneigem is an iconic figure in French philosophy. One of the founding fathers – along with Guy Debord – of the Situationist movement, his writings helped trigger the events of May 1968. After the inevitable Situationist split, Vaneigem pursued his own interests, and he has since established a unique place in the world of French political thought. In this new book he sets out quite literally to create a new declaration of human rights, by updating earlier declarations-from the French Revolution to the UN declaration in 1948 – on the grounds that ‘we can no longer make do with the liberties derived from free exchange, while the free cicrulation of capital is establishing a tyranny that reduces humankind and the earth to a commodity’. By times playful, poetic and provocative, this is a remarkable book that makes a profoundly serious point about the way in which progress towards true human rights is undermined by globalisation.

The book costs approx £15 in paperback. I bought my copy from Blackwell’s website (  http://www.blackwell.co.uk ). Anyone wishing to support an Anarchist non-profit bookshop should contact Active Distribution (  http://www.activedistribution.org/ ) who I’m sure would be more than happy to try and supply this book at cost price. It can also shortly be bought direct from www.plutobooks.com

Interestingly, the inside cover of the book has this information:
Liberte . Egalite . Fraternite
Republique Francaise
This book is supported by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as part of the Burgess programme headed for the French Embassy in London by the Institut Francais du Royaume-Uni

(I.E. in plain english, the French Embassy in London are promoting the English translation of this book, which says more than I ever could about the esteem within which Situationist ideas are now held in terms of promoting and developing the principles behind the founding of the French Republic.)

I have spent some time reading through the book and would say that the translation is excellent, and the book is as ever with Raoul Vaneigen very fluently and clearly written. The book covers in a more formal and coherent way the ideas originally set out in his earlier and angrier books ‘The book of pleasures’ and ‘The revolution of everyday life’. I can see parallels with Wilhelm Reich’s devestating book ‘Listen Little Man’, but whereas Reich condemned (in a sincere attempt to awaken the anger of) the reader for having been crushed by modern life, Vaneigem’s book is throughout life affirming in inspiring the reader to fully live their lives as the most effective means of throwing off the suffocating constraints of survival within capitalist society, and ultimately as the means by which Capitalism will be crushed.

It’s also clear that Vaneigem’s ideas have not stood still since 1968. The book is entirely contemporary in the ground it covers. Environmental and gender issues are an intrinsic part of the philosophy set out in this book.


Change your life. Read this book.

(Aplogies to anyone who views this posting as advertising. That is not my intention. I happen to think this book is of great importance and have nothing to gain financially from this posting. Nevertheless, please insult me if you feel it necessary.)