Abstract

One response to the newest rounds of ‘austerity’ policies implemented by governments around the world has been a turn towards non-representational forms of political practice which seek simultaneously to be autonomous from state and capital, and to create radically democratic modes of existence. Whilst such projects are grounded in diverse philosophies of knowledge and practice, many share a faith in the power of critical knowledge and cultural work that prefigures alternative futures. We have thus seen a proliferation of ideas being produced about the importance of critique, autonomy, self-valorisation, ‘becoming minor’, transformation and critical pedagogy. However, what often remains invisible behind the closed doors of ‘safe spaces’ and the messiness of oppositional practices are the often complex affective politics and subjective labour that such practices demand. Based on a preliminary analysis of on-going research with cultural workers, political activists and popular educators, this paper offers some insight into how those working to oppose the logics of neoliberalism, reduce the systemic impacts of economic ‘austerity’ and create alternative, radically democratic ways of life actually experience this work. It will also consider how this understanding can inform the development of more sustainable and inclusive forms of critical practice and radical democracy.