The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising

‘How does one tell the story of a revolutionary moment when the cataclysmic events are still underway, when the future remains remarkably uncertain, and where upheavals continue to characterise the day-to-day conduct of politics? Gilbert Achcar’s’ The People Want provides a felicitous response to this question. … Any reader who would like a clear-eyed, theoretically grounded, and lucid assessment of what the Arab uprisings have wrought so far would benefit from this book.’Laleh Khalili, The Middle East in London

‘Telling a story let alone one as complicated as that of the Arab uprisings and their historical lineage from beginning to end is a task few can complete. … Yet this is what Gilbert Achcar s The People Want manages to do. This is the first book to locate the Arab uprisings within a broad historical sweep. … Once we accompany Gilbert out of and away from the freak show that is mainstream scholarship about the Middle East, historical events and conceptual constructs start to take a completely different shape.’ —Maha Abdelrahman, Jadaliyya

‘While some readers may be distracted by Achcar s unabashedly Marxist analysis, the strength and long-range view of his socio-economic insights should overcome such reluctance. … His insights offer a reasoned practical hope, whereas other analysts on the left offer doom and gloom. Moreover, Achcar’s chapter providing a balance sheet of what has been achieved so far in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Syria, as well as an assessment of future prospects in each country, is indispensable. Andrew Stimson, director of the American Educational Trust Book Club, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

‘It is easy to follow the events of the Arab Spring as it continues to unfold and get excited by some developments only to have the enthusiasm dashed by new twists and turns. While it is important to not gloss over troubling data, Achcar is correct to insist that we are still in the early stages and many different roads are still open. What he says about Libya is true for the entire region: The game is not over yet .’ —New Politics

‘Publishing a book about the Arab uprising may seem a perilous venture given how swiftly events are changing. However, Gilbert Achcar, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, avoids the risk of being outdated by zooming in on root causes and abiding trends. … The book offers a valuable, in-depth and original perspective for evaluating the popular revolts which continue to determine events in the Arab region.’ Jordan Times

‘Brushing aside a host of fashionable narratives to explain the Arab spring, Gilbert Achcar’s recent book offers a radically different perspective. … His prophetic analysis, informed by a Marxist outlook, springs from rigorous research and deep knowledge of Arab realities.’ —The News

‘Gilbert Achcar, the pre-eminent Marxist scholar of the Arab world … attempts to get beneath surface impressions, especially those based on changing seasons….Departing from the game of nations framework that is used by most commentators on MENA as a way of reducing everything to a battle between the US and an anti-imperialist bloc led by Vladimir Putin, Achcar’s analysis is grounded in the class relations that exist within nations like Egypt, Libya, Syria et al’ —CounterPunch

[This] important book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the revolutions of 2011 in the Arab world … mobilising an impressive range of comparative data, [it] represents the most significant attempt yet to grapple with the theoretical challenges of analysing this immense popular uprising from a Marxist perspective … Very valuable.’ —International Socialism

The most careful, insightful, and erudite study to date of the Arab uprising, written at a time when its fires were still burning strongly’ —Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

Translated from the French by G.M. Goshgarian. Born in the United States and educated at Yale and UCLA, Goshgarian translates fiction and philosophy from French, German and Armenian into English. He is the author of To Kiss the Chastening Rod (Cornell U.P.).