Elite Capture by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

Tiny book review

It is significant when your biggest complaint about a book is “I wish it were longer.” For me Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is one of the most interesting young scholars working in the United States, and in Elite Capture (Haymarket Books, 2022) he offers a quick analysis of where “identity politics” came from, and what happened to it.

The dominant dynamic here, in which powerful forces co-opt or hijack or crush movements that were initially radical or liberatory, is one I have spent the last few years thinking about. “Elite capture” is so central to my second book that it might as well have been called “Elite Capture: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.” The full title of his book is: Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). Even though my book is not about identity politics (or really the US) at all, it was fascinating to see a thinker like Táíwò talking about something similar in a very different space. And then I was gratified to see that his answer to elite-identity-politics, “constructive politics,” dovetails nicely with the answers many people gave to me after experiencing the “mass protest decade.” Constructive politics is a “worldmaking” project. His explanation is worth quoting here: “A constructive approach would focus on outcome over process: the pursuit of specific goals or results, rather than mere avoidance of ‘complicity’ in injustice or promotion of purely moral or aesthetic principles.”

And then, I was very interested to see that he pays special attention to anti-imperialist movements in lusophone Africa. As it happens Michael Hardt in his new book also concentrates on Amílcar Cabral. I might have to go do some research. If you know anyone in Guinea-Bissau, please let me know.