Saúl Alvídrez (Author)(Interviewer), Noam Chomsky(Interviewee), and José Alberto Mujica Cordano (Interviewee), Surviving the Twenty-First Century. New York: Verso Books, 2025.
Activist Saúl Alvídrez brings together scholar and theorist Noam Chomsky and guerrilla fighter and former President of Uruguay Jose "Pepe" Mujica for a series of conversations. They speak on various topics such as culture, war, technological disruption, China, fascism, democracy, and a few other topics of interest in the Hard Times. They look at the situation today. They look at history and how we got here. Then they provide some ideas for solutions and how to move forward.
The book is arranged into four parts. Once we get past part one, which has author introductions, we get to the interviews and conversations. In a way reading this book feels like listening to two elders discussing politics while sitting on a porch. These are knowledgeable leftist elders who have been in the activist trenches for many years, and we get to hear their experiences and their advice to younger people.
I wanted to like this book more, but it has some issues. For one, it can get a little repetitive once you get about halfway through the book. Two, the book was published in 2025, but some of the interviews happen years before. As a result, current events have overtaken some of their observations and speculations. Some parts may be out of date by the time you read the book. Third, much of this is very theoretical. This last may be I just don't share some of their optimism given the Hard Times. Some of their solution ideas, as good as they sound on paper, just don't seem feasible given the Hard Times and the people who actually hold power.
On a positive note, we may learn some new things about American and world history. We also consider how things could've been different if one or two decisions had been different.
Overall the book was OK. It was interesting in some parts. It was less so in others. You listen to the elders speak, nod, possibly agree, then still wonder how exactly will we survive the century without some radical change. Values like democracy, freedom, sustainable living, and community are great, and we need such value to make it through. I don't feel they really answer how do we get there because just hoping for others' goodwill and self-interest-- note they are by their admission libertarians on the left-- is not going to cut it in the Hard Times. In the end, this may be more a book for leftist political theorists and leftist activists who likely already share their ideas. Still, the book is accessible enough for regular readers and people wanting to learn.
2 out of 5 stars.
Additional reading notes:
Alvidrez understands the real pandemic of our time:
"...I came to understand a hard truth that haunts my generation: depression is the real pandemic of our era, because capitalism not only exploits everyone, it also depresses us all. At its root lies the greatest contradiction of our time: capitalist success and human happiness are simply not compatible" (xix).
The two big challenges the elders see:
"The two awesome challenges to decent survival are, of course, nuclear weapons and environmental catastrophe. The best defense would be a functioning democracy in which informed and engaged citizens join together to develop means to overcome the threats-- as can be done" (18).
I am not sure if the idea of an informed and engaged citizenry is meant to make us cry or laugh given our current times and policies enacted to prevent such citizen engagement. This is where I recall George Carlin's idea of the Real Owners.
One of Mujica's greatest concerns:
"Will humanity have time to right itself, or will be succumb to ecological holocaust? Will we fail to make the important political decisions?" (31).
I don't feel too optimistic trying to answer those two questions.
Mujica on the need of creativity because, let us be honest, a lot of the so-called "left" now kind of sucks:
"It seems to me that creativity must be encouraged, because we are in a world with an old left that lives too much on nostalgia, a left that finds it hard to realize why it failed and has great difficulty in imagining new ways forward. I believe that this is a time of much rehearsal, a lot of experimentation and creativity" (44).
That line about the old left living out of nostalgia resonated quite a bit for me. As for the rest of the description, it is spot on for the U.S. Democrats, also known as the useless Republican Lite.
Chomsky on terrorism:
"We call terror what others do to us, but not what we do to them" (62).
Oh so true.
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