The birth of digital populism — physical copies available

Obsolete Capitalism is releasing physical copies of their Digital Populism project, a bi-lingual collection of interviews and essays about political philosophy.

The birth of digital populism. Crowd, power and postdemocrarcy in the 21st century is a collection of interviews edited by the Obsolete Capitalism collective. English and Italian thinkers answer questions related to a few eternal concepts of political philosophy such as crowd, power, control with a particular focus on the unexpected electoral success of the Five Star Movement (5SM), a self-defined 'non-party' led by Beppe Grillo and Gianroberto Casaleggio. The 5SM obtained a resounding success in the Italian general election of 24th 25th February 2013, a moment after which the panorama of Italian politics deeply changed.

This book seeks to investigate the novelty which characterise the emergence of a new political phenomenon: that of digital populism. Are we facing the beginning of a change in governmental policy and representative democracy as we know it? Far from being an Italian anomaly, populism is a firmly Western phenomenon, both in its analog and digital versions. The english equivalent is UKIP, an extremely seductive and therefore equally dangerous anti-establishment right-wing situation. Six questions were formulated, touching on fundamental aspects of the rise of digital populism and the relationships between masses, power, and post-democracy at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

The birth of digital populism. Crowd, power and postdemocrarcy in the 21st century is the result of nine interviews conducted between May 2013 and February 2014 by Luciana Parisi, Tiziana Terranova, Lapo Berti, Simon Choat, Paolo Godani, Saul Newman, Jussi Parikka, Tony D. Sampson and Alberto Toscano.

The book is released free of charge and can be read and downloaded on Issuu (IT, UK). If you would like a physical copy get in touch directly with Obsolete Capitalism.

The birth of digital populism. Crowd, power and postdemocracy in the 21st century… by Obsolete Capitalism

The Italian Five Star Movement led by Beppe Grillo and Gianroberto Casaleggio had an unexpected success in the Italian general elections of February 2013, deeply disrupting the panorama of Italian politics. This book seeks to explore some of the features characterising the emergence of a new political phenomenon: that of digital populism.

We asked Italian and English thinkers from different political and disciplinary backgrounds to contribute to an analysis of some fundamental points behind the rise of populism and the digital relations between masses, power and democracy at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

This is the result of nine interviews carried out between May 2013 and February 2014 with Luciana Parisi, Tiziana Terranova, Lapo Berti, Simon Choat, Paolo Godani, Saul Newman, Jussi Parikka, Tony D. Sampson and Alberto Toscano.

 Read it on ISSUU or download a free copy.

Nascita del populismo digitale. Masse, potere e postdemocrazia nel XXI secolo @Obsolete Capitalism

 Nascita del populismo digitale è leggibile e scaricabile in formato PDF.

Il non-partito M5S guidato da Beppe Grillo e Gianroberto Casaleggio ha ottenuto alle elezioni nazionali del 24—25 Febbraio 2013 un clamoroso successo elettorale: il panorama della politica italiana ne è uscito profondamente sconvolto. Questo libro cerca di indagare le novità che caratterizzano la nascita di un nuovo fenomeno politico: il populismo digitale. Siamo all’inizio di un cambio epocale della politica governamentale e della democrazia rappresentativa come l’abbiamo conosciuta fino da oggi? Lontano dall’essere un’anomalia italiana, il populismo è un fenomeno saldamente occidentale, sia nella sua versione analogica, sia nella sua versione digitale, con una english version, l’UKIP, estremamente seducente e, per questo motivo, non meno pericolosa di altre formazioni anti-establishment di destra.

Abbiamo formulato a intellettuali italiani e anglosassoni - di varia estrazione politica e differenti competenze disciplinari - sei domande riguardanti alcuni punti fondanti della nascita del populismo digitale e delle relazioni esistenti tra masse, potere e post-democrazia agli albori del XXI secolo. Ciò che leggerete in questo libro è il risultato delle nove interviste rilasciate tra maggio 2013 e febbraio 2014 da Luciana Parisi, Tiziana Terranova, Lapo Berti, Simon Choat, Paolo Godani, Saul Newman, Jussi Parikka, Tony D. Sampson e Alberto Toscano.

A cura di Obsolete Capitalism.