Mike Davis: 1946–2022
JVL Introduction
Mike Davis, one of the greatest leftwing writers, activists and analysts to emerge from the upheavals of the sixties in the United States, has just died after a long illness.
As he wrote towards the end of this death, cited in a brief obit by Tariq Ali for his UK publisher Verso.
If I have a regret, it’s not dying in battle or at a barricade as I’ve always romantically imagined — fighting. Everybody always wants to know: Aren’t you hopeful? Don’t you believe in hope? To me, this is not a rational conversation. I’m writing because I’m hoping the people who read it don’t need dollops of hope or good endings but are reading so that they’ll know what to fight, and fight even when the fight seems hopeless.”
His extraordinary writings live on and are currently available from Verso at 30% off. If you don’t know them hurry to fill the gap!
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I first read about his death from a Facebook post and someone posted this from an interview with him, which I think worth sharing – for me socialism is about love and a belief that people matter; it may sound corny but isn’t this at the essence of what we do? In response to a questioner asking Mike Davis as someone who has been working for social change his whole life, how he copes with a future that looks so bleak, Mike replied: “For someone my age who was in the civil rights movement, and in other struggles of the 1960s, I’ve seen miracles happen. I’ve seen ordinary people do the most heroic things. When you’ve had the privilege of knowing so many great fighters and resisters, you can’t lay down the sword, even if things seem objectively hopeless.
I’ve always been influenced by the poems Brecht wrote in the late 30s, during the second world war, after everything had been incinerated, all the dreams and values of an entire generation destroyed, and Brecht said, well it’s a new dark ages…how do people resist in the dark ages?
What keeps us going ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.”
And, of course, Brecht also wrote:
In the dark times, Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.”
Thank you Leah and JVL. I am close to despair but these comments and learning about Mike give me resolve
Thank you Leah for two quotes giving us HOPE and reason to carry on trying to undo the wrongs we see around us. It’s often very difficult to keep on going when nothing seems to be “working”.
Never forget Raymond Williams: “To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.”