The shape of geography to come

In this commentary, I offer, from an anarchist–geographic perspective, a constructive critique of certain elements of Simon Springer’s article. I welcome his article for bringing to light some of the more politically problematic elements of (orthodox) Marxist thought. Springer raises important points about the practicalities of social change, but he does so in a rather binaristic manner. Accordingly, I address several elements of Springer’s characterization of both anarchism and Marxism – especially on political organization and praxis – in order to nuance some of his arguments and draw out broader lessons for radical geographical scholarship and the future of the radical/revolutionary left in general

In vacuums of law we find: outsider poiesis in street art and graffiti

This piece seeks to demonstrate the striating role of property within street art and graffiti, creating a threshold where criminal and intellectual property meet to both outlaw and protect street art at the same time. Street art reveals a legal vacuum for poiesis, protest and property on the threshold of aesthetic and juridical legitimacy and illegitimacy, illustrating where law means all and nothing at once. Legal sanction is argued as affecting the aesthetics of street art, where criminalisation protects the rights of property owners over the creative rights of artists, reasserting the exclusionary nature of law, intertwined with reasserting the ‘outsider’ nature of their art. This is argued as not coincidental, but that notions of aesthetics are not only prioritised by the art ‘establishment’, but also supported by law, to the detriment of other forms of aesthetics such as street art and graffiti. As such, street art and graffiti reveals the elixir of property in both the art and legal establishments, coming to pass as a result of violent histories of expropriation through art property and real property. Ultimately, street art and graffiti is argued as a protest against the legal-aesthetic hegemony, the analysis of criminal, real and intellectual property meeting points telling us more about the congenital role of art in law and vice versa than solely explaining the legalities of random acts of illicit expression

Placing the Animal in the Dialogue between Law and Ecology

This paper explores the growing dialogue between law and ecology, and asks if there is a promising space for the development of animal law in this growing dialogue. Specifically it sets up two meetings and dialogues between ecology and law, one with law prevailing, and one with ecology prevailing, The article pursues the later meeting of ecology and law through introducing and then compiling four prominent groupings in the ecology prevailing dialogue between ecology and law (Ecosystemic law; Earth jurisprudence; Resilience Theory; approaches embracing philosophical complexity theory). The article argues that in this dialogue that ecologically informed approaches develop a fundamental critique of orthodox legality, and that ecologically informed approaches consequently assume the problematic of legality, and that in so doing ecology and legality are each transformed. What emerges from these transformations is an ecological jurisprudence, and ideas of Emergent Law, Adaptive Law, and Ecolaw. In the final two sections the article turns directly to the place of the animal in the ecology prevailing dialogue between ecology and law. The article argues that in this dialogue affective assemblage theory has developed as a pre-prepared place for the animal as an affective body in complex social-ecological affective assemblages. The conclusion briefly draws out some of the implications for animal law and animal lawyers in taking up the conclusions from the ecology prevailing dialogue between law and ecology. The article suggests it may well be an exciting dialogue for animal law to find a place for exploration