Hardt and Negri'sEmpireand the ‘Multitude’ in theArgentinazoof December 2001

In their book Empire, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri argue that world capitalism has entered a new stage of development. Empire has transcended imperialism as the locus of capital, and is opposed by a Multitude that is different from, and has greater potential for change, than pre-existing class organisations and alliances.2 More recently, Negri and Cocco claim that their theory can explain the popular uprising in Argentina in December 2001. They state that the Multitude is ‘walking on two legs’; the ‘movements of movements’ represented by the World Social Forum, and the Argentinazo of December 2001. When the popular uprising burst on the scene in December 2001 it became the first clear expression of the Multitude against the Empire. The Multitude came out on the streets on 19 and 20 December, uniting the middle class, workers and unemployed across class lines as an opposition to Empire: