POSSIBLE WORLDS: HENRI LEFEBVRE AND THE RIGHT TO THE CITY

“self-management is a radical attack on the foundations of capitalist social relations in which the bourgeoisie controls, through private ownership, the means of production.(pg.7)

Karl Marx defined the bourgeoisie as people who owned most of the society’s wealth. When the concept of self-management came into play the bourgeoisie felt threatened because a number people started to realize the power they harness, also they did not have to report to an elected official.

“The first is easy for most: accept the inferno and become such a complete part of it that you no longer know it is there.(pg.1)”

The meaning behind this powerful quote is those people who dwell on certain things that they cannot control suffer through pain and the only way to help themselves is by just accepting their situation and make the best out of it.

“Recall that Lefebvre saw his new contract of citizenship not as an end goal, but as a political awakening, a catalyst for a movement toward autogestion.(pg.12)”

The movement towards autogestion (self-management) is important because they give shape to the urban. They get better at perceiving its form, at feeling its rhythms and moods. They help bring the urban out of the shadows and into the center, into the heart of the city and its social life.(pg.11)