Stuart Archer Cohen

From a Q & A with Stuart Archer Cohen about his new book, The Army of the Republic:

Naomi Klein says “The Army of the Republic” is “one of the first works of art with the courage to live up to our historical moment.” What do you think she means by that?

We’re living in a changing country, and this book tries to address those changes. The world of The Army of the Republic is one where Corporations keep control through propaganda, sham elections and a mixture of public police and private “counter-terrorism” forces whose real job is to disrupt and neutralize citizen opposition. This country has very strong democratic traditions, but I think people of every political persuasion recognize the drift.

This book is about rebellion of all sorts, but it’s especially about democracy: what it means and what its bottom line is.

What do you mean by “what its bottom line is?”

I mean, where does the power of the people come from? Does it come from the barrel of a gun, as Mao said? Or does it come from an idea, or a sense of community? There’re a lot of characters putting all those ideas to the test in the book, with a lot of different results.

Read the complete Q & A.

Visit Stuart Archer Cohen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue