Beyond molotov? Aesthetic, creative and emotional bets against the kaleidoscope of authoritarianisms

Abstract

Beyond molotovs. A visual handbook of anti-authoritarian strategies (International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies IRGACS, kollektiv orangotango eds., 2024) is a complex, captivating, and necessary book. The volume brings together fifty contributions from five continents around multifaceted practices of organization and representation, mostly collective, which have in common the confrontation with different manifestations of violence orchestrated by capitalist modernity. The book poses the question about what is meant by authoritarianism in the current global context. By the other hand, developing in an “other” space of political practice, beyond nostalgia for an illusory past or for outdated utopias that collide with real capitalism, the experiences recounted manage to channel emotions into processes of social organization that allow us, in any way, to continue living in a less bleak and limited here and now.