Reclaim the State
Adventures in Popular Democracy

From Seattle to Porto Alegre, anti-capitalist protests have captured the headlines and the public imagination. Behind these dramatic eruptions of anger against global capitalism lie local, more individual stories of resistance, no less important for being less confrontational.

She hangs out on a young, 'dream' estate on the outskirts of the commuter town of Luton where ex-squatters and ravers join with established residents' groups and local vicars to take control of public resources and forge a new social economy. Finally, in the northern city of Newcastle, she is a fly on the wall as council workers see off an attempt by British Telecom to take over local services and win the battle for a democratic public alternative. Wainwright concludes with a set of proposals for turning resistance into lasting institutions of participatory democracy - an embedded bargaining power against corporate and military elites. This, she argues, will require very different kinds of political parties from the ones currently alienating voters. Reclaim the State shows that the foundations for new political directions already exist, and provides imaginative and practical tools for building on them.