The authors of our volume consciously distance themselves from “fake” decolonization and “co-optation” into the status quo. Yet, their arguments exemplify tendencies that have contributed to the Left’s current helplessness. The book offers little beyond a synthesis of writings fashionable within the “academic” Left, and there are significant omissions in a text that seeks to open debate rather than foreclosing it. I shall argue that these follow from a one-sided view of modern history and its contradictions.

[. . .]