Sent to us by Margit Mayer (who at the time was struggling to formulate a definition of “city”)
Poor Margit! She deserves our whole-hearted pity
She has to deal with the concept of “city”
With serious and scholarly prose
Yet it’s quite certain inside her she knows
That it’s class that’s at stake, and not city.
Our Henri didn’t really mean “city.”
He couldn’t say what he meant, ‘tis a pity.
He meant: “the proletariat
Is not where the action’s at”
Not language you use in a ‘versity.
It’s no longer the factory, you see
Where the workers will set us all free.
The production that was there
Has moved, when you compare
The importance of controlling financiability.
It might almost be Silicon Valley
Where the best of new revolutionaries tarry
It’s not in cities like Dallas
Where you’ll find them, alas,
It’s on computers and iPhones that they carry.
The “urban” means various things,
It’s a concept that’s quite taken wings
But it’s so wrapped in the clouds
That it deserves burying in shrouds,
For all the confusion it brings.
There once was a geog named Harvey
For whom space for all things was the key
He thought all had its place,
And its place was in space
That it gets lost there he never did see.
The following three were composed as an afterword to the publication that emerged from the conference contributions in 2012:
“Light verse”
When it comes to the Right to the City,
Don’t get mired just in some nitty-gritty,
Maybe break for a ditty,
Even if it isn’t so witty,
Making it boring would be a real pity.
You need to understand class,
If you don’t want to fall on your ass;
It isn’t so easy,
But if you get queasy,
And fudge it, you’ll lose it, alas.
If to critical theory you’ve aspired,
But in abstractions have gotten yourself mired,
Link your theory with action,
Help theory get traction,
You’ll get clearer, be useful – and tired.
Peter Marcuse's Blog 