Chronic dissentery

Chronic dissentery AUSTIN WILLIAMS The Art of Dissent: Adventures in London's Olympic State, Hilary Powell and Isaac Marrero-Guillamon (eds), Marshgate Press, £14.99

British comedian Jimmy Carr was recently heckled with the taunt 'You don't pay tax'. Floundering for a reply, Carr spat: ? pay what I have to and not a penny more', which was possibly one of the least funny comeback lines ever delivered. This exchange, allied to the growth of the self-proclaimed 'grassroots movement' UK Uncut, which campaigns against tax avoidance, says something about the level and target of political protest in Britain today. Whereas most people long to pay less to the Treasury, activists are now preaching tax morality.

Historically, radicals tried to transform society rather than merely arguing for redistribution. Francis Fukuyama argued in Foreign Affairs journal that, despite major upheavals within the capitalist system, there is currently a 'lack of left-wing mobilisation' principally due to 'a failure in the realm of ideas'. The Art. of Dissent addresses, but ultimately reflects that confusion at the heart of alternative politics today.

The first Dissenters instigated the Protestant challenge to the hegemony of the Catholic Church and suffered badly after the Restoration. By definition, they were nonconformists. They believed in reason (albeit God-ordained reason) and have long been recognised as playing a significant part in the foundation of enlightened, Enlightenment ideals. Dissenters played a heroic part in the story of history.

So to this book. The introduction opens with a definition of dissent:...