Monthly Archives: April 2009

Writing Political Biographies of the Left

Writing Political Biographies of the Left

A Birkbeck Arts Week Panel Discussion:

Gregory Elliott (writer and translator, biographer of Perry Anderson).
Esther Leslie (Birkbeck, biographer of Walter Benjamin)
Gonzalo Pozo-Martin (UCL/Birkbeck, biographer of Isaac Deutscher)

The event will be chaired by Alex Colás (Politics, Birkbeck) and co-convened with the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize Committee.

Tuesday 12 May 2009, 18:00-19:30
Clore Management Building, Room 203
Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Alejandro Colas
Senior Lecturer in International Relations
School of Politics and Sociology
Birkbeck College
Malet Street, Bloomsbury
London WC1E 7HX
Tel:+(0)2076316382
Fax:+(0)2076316787
Email:a.colas@bbk.ac.uk

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

The Ethical Critique of Capitalism

The Ethical Critique of Capitalism

Paul Blackledge

International Socialism Journal Seminar

 

6.30pm, Friday 1st May, King’s College London

The Strand, Room 1B06: MAP

 

Room 1B06 is in the “first basement”.

Enter via the main entrance on The Strand and take either the stairs on your left of the lift to level B1.

 

Paul Blackledge, author of Reflections on the Marxist Theory of History and co-editor of a recent collection of writings by Alisdair MacIntyre, will be presenting the latest in our series of seminars. He will speak on “The Ethical Critique of Capitalism”.

 

As background to this talk, those planning to attend may wish to read Paul’s recent article on Marxism and ethics, published in International Socialism 120 and available online: http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=486

 

For more information phone 020 7819 1177 or email isj@swp.org.uk

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Workers Councils

Workers Councils in Historical and Comparative Perspective

Call for Essays: Workers Councils in Historical and Comparative Perspective
DARIO AZZELINI Dario & IMMANUEL NESS

14 April 2009

The editors consider workers councils as the definitive form of democratic labor control. Worker councils, seen as worker control over the economic resources that are vital to their lives, has had a prodigious history as one of the most dramatic forms of radical working-class action against business and corporate domination. From the origin of the industrial revolution to the present neoliberal capitalist era, workers councils have been recognized as a tangible means of both expressing working-class radicalism and grasping and consolidating power and control from the ruling class following labor organizing and direct insurgency.

The editors Dario Azzellini and Immanuel Ness are seeking submissions for a special collection on issue on worker councils and worker control from a comparative and historical perspective. The editors consider worker councils as a significant form of challenging capitalism and obtaining and securing worker power over workplaces and communities. We are seeking essays that demonstrate how worker councils have engendered and advanced perceptible gains for labor. We also seek essays that examine the endogenous and exogenous state and capitalist forces aligned against workers councils and democracy under labor control. We encourage submissions that are both contemporary and historical, including case studies and theoretical essays that range over any geographical space (including international, cultural, country, or regional focus).

The editors are seeking academically rigorous essays that also are accessible to workers, trade unionists, and activists. We encourage submissions that are free of jargon and rooted in historical experience. The culmination of the essays will be a book on workers councils published in many languages that embraces theory and action and easily grasped by a wide range of readers seeking democratic and socialist transformation through workers councils.

Possible topics for submission may include the following:

* Theoretical and philosophical consideration of worker councils and worker control
* Historical case studies of worker councils drawn from throughout the world
* Contemporary regional and national examples of workers councils
* Worker councils as a means toward revolutionary transformation

The editors consider the questions related to workers councils as praxis as essential to reclaiming democratic participation from capitalist forms of domination in general and, and particularly significant in the contemporary era of financial crisis. As such, please ensure that the essays are accessible to a broad range of readers, and offer a tangible contribution to research and praxis of social transformation.

Proposals for essays are welcome and are due and will be accepted through August 15 2009. Manuscript submissions are due November 15 2009, with anticipated publication in early 2010. Essays should range from 5,000 to 7,500 words in length, although the editors will consider shorter or longer manuscripts on a case by case basis. Essays will be published in a volume to appear in several languages. The editors have already secured publication agreements from publishers for this work in several languages.

Please send all proposals and manuscript submissions electronically to both editors: Dario Azzellini dnapress@gmx.net and Immanuel Ness iness@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Postal Addresses and telephone:
Dario Azzellini
Lausitzer Str. 10
10999 Berlin
Germany

Tel. +49-30-61288162
Fax: +49-30-61288162
Email: dnapress@gmx.net
http://www.azzellini.net

Immanuel Ness
Brooklyn College Graduate Center/CUNY
25 Broadway – 7th Floor
New York 10004 NY (US)

Tel. +011-212-822-1715
Fax. +011-212-966-4038
Email: iness@brooklyn.cuny.edu
http://www.immanuelness.net

Please circulate this call widely to all interested parties

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Euro Elections

Euro Elections: where should we turn our fire?

 

Uncaptive Minds Discussion Forum

 

The second series of our ‘Uncaptive Minds’ forums is about “capitalism and the working class today”, looking at issues such as the financial climate, globalisation and imperialism, casualisation and the transformation of the workforce.

 

The next meeting is on the subject of “Euro elections: where should we turn our fire?” We will be looking at the European Union’s response to the recession and proposed constitution; whether there is any worth in contesting elections and whether they have any relevance to today’s workplace struggles; and the politics of the No2EU election campaign backed by the RMT, Morning Star and Socialist Party.

 

Speakers include:

Peter Gowan: a New Left Review editorial board member

Andy Littlechild: an RMT (LuL) London Region activist

Mick Dooley: rank-and-file candidate for general secretary of the builders’ union UCATT.

 

The meeting takes place from 7pm at the Lucas Arms, near King’s Cross on Monday 20th April.

 

Email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com for more info.

 

The Commune issue no.4 is out now and available on-line at: http://www.thecommune.co.uk

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

 

Feelbad Britain

Feelbad Britain

FEELBAD BRITAIN DISCUSSIONS

London: Wednesday 6 May, 6.45-9pm Staff Café (Tower Building) London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Road, N7
Speakers: Pat Devine, Angela McRobbie, Kate Soper, Martin Jacques (discussant)  

Manchester: Wednesday 29 April 6-7.30pm Blackwell’s Bookshop, The Precinct Centre, Oxford Road, M13
Speakers: Pat Devine, Jules Townshend (discussant)

FEELBAD BRITAIN: HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER is edited by Pat Devine, Andrew Pearmain and David Purdy and published by Lawrence & Wishart, London.

The central thesis of Feelbad Britain is that after the decades of neoliberalism the institutions and social relations on which solidarity, trust and citizenship depend have been undermined. This has left contemporary British society in a troubled and dysfunctional state, without the cohesion or confidence needed if we are to escape from recession, combat climate change and restore faith in government.
The authors put forward a theoretical framework for understanding contemporary politics; and they consider what is to be done to revitalise the British left, challenge neoliberal hegemony, and develop a political project aimed at creating a greener, fairer, happier, more democratic and less divided Britain.

Contributors: The editors, plus Patrick Ainley, Martin Allen, David Beetham, Noel Castree, Angela McRobbie, Linda Patterson,  Michael Prior, Kate Soper

More information on the book at: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/books/archive/feelbad_britain.html
More information on meetings: sally@lwbooks.co.uk

 

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk  

 

Recession Blues

Recession Blues

 

CLICK HERE TO BUY A COPY OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF ‘SOUNDINGS’ AT THE SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE OF £5: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/current.html

CONTENTS:
ADAM LEAVER on private equity
TOBY LLOYD on the housing disaster
CARLOTA PEREZ on financial bubbles
KATE CRAWFORD on adulthood
ZYGMUNT BAUMAN on life on credit
RICHARD MURPHY on tax justice
JULIE FROUD on city pay
TOBY DODGE on Iraq’s new ruling elite
ANTHONY JACKSON and EVE MITCHELL on food sovereignty
HEATHER NUNN and ANITA BIRESSI on the undeserving poor
STEPHEN AMIEL, JOHN LAUNER on general practice

To subscribe by standing order at the special price of £20 go to http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/standingorder.html

For Soundings ebook THE CRASH: A VIEW FROM THE LEFT go to: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/crash.html

For details of Soundings 20 JUNE EVENT go to http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/events/seminar5.html

Please pass on this email to friends and colleagues who might be interested

New readers – to sign up to receive regular information on soundings and related events click here http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/newsletter.html

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

On Goldner’s Theory of Crisis

On Goldner’s Theory of Crisis

 

Birkbeck ‘Marx, Individuals & Society’ Seminar

 

All Welcome

 

Presentation and discussion on Goldner’s Theory of Crisis

Thursday 16th April

Birkbeck College, University of London

Malet Street, London

7.30 – 9.00pm

MAL 354, Classroom 15

 

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/maps/interactive

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Postcolonial Ethnicity, Visuality and Cultural Politics

Postcolonial Ethnicity, Visuality and Cultural Politics

 

Free Day Conference

All Welcome.

Postcolonial Ethnicity, Visuality and Cultural Politics

Cardiff University, Friday 29th May 2009

 

 

Blog: http://cultstud.blogspot.com/

 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=61785428357

 

Call for Papers (Sorry, no vacancies for this one, but please call again!): http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/newsandevents/events/09postcolonialethnicitycallforpapers.html

 

Cardiff University:

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/research/researchgroups/racerepresentationandculturalidentity/index.html

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Capitalism is Organized Crime

CAPITALISM IS ORGANIZED CRIME

A Conference taking place on
Sunday, April 19 in Washington, D.C.

The “Capitalism is Organized Crime” conference will take place on Sunday, April 19 from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm at the Festival Center, located at 1640 Columbia Rd. NW, between 16th and 17th Sts. (Green line metro to Columbia Heights), in Washington, D.C.

The conference will link the struggles of those fighting for social and economic justice at home with those fighting against U.S. imperialism and for national liberation around the world, and will address the need for a society organized to meet the needs of the majority rather than to maximize the profit of a few.

FEATURED SPEAKERS at the April 19th Conference will include:
* Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice
* Hodari Abdul-Ali, Chair of the Social Justice Task Force for MANA, the Muslim Alliance in North America
* Prof. Zachary Wolfe, George Washington University, chair of the Amicus Curiae Committee of the National Lawyers Guild
* Representative, Friends of the Congo
* Frances Villar, Senator and Senate Parliamentarian of Bronx Community College Student Government, Vice Chair for Legislative Affairs for University Student Senate of City University of New York (CUNY)
* Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition
* James Circello, Iraq war veteran and co-coordinator of the Veterans and Service Members Task Force of the ANSWER Coalition
* Eugene Puryear, Howard University student, PSL 2008 Vice-Presidential Candidate
* Crystal Kim, PSL 2008 Candidate for D.C. Council At-Large

SCHEDULE for the day

11:00 am: Doors open for registration

12:00 noon – 2:00 pm: Panel I
Capitalism is Organized Crime

2:30 – 4:00 pm: Panel II
The Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism and for National Liberation

4:30 – 5:15 pm: Panel III
Is Socialism Possible in the United States?

To PRE-REGISTER for the April 19th Conference, click here:

http://www.pslweb.org/registerDCconference

$20 donation requested. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Childcare available. Please call to reserve.

The April 19th “Capitalism is Organized Crime” Conference is hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).

For more information, click here:

http://www.pslweb.org/dcconference

Email: dc@socialismandliberation.org
Phone: 202-543-4900

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

The Rouge Forum – Update 9th April 2009

The Rouge Forum – Update 9th April 2009

 

A Message from Rich Gibson

 

Dear Friends:


For those teaching or learning about the current depression, here are some more good sources:

* Lewis Corey’s outstanding 1934 book, Decline of American Capitalism, is online free at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/corey/1934/decline/index.html
   

* How Goldman Sachs was at the Center of the Oil Trading Fiasco that Bankrupted SemGroup: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0413/096-sachs-semgroup-goldman-goose-oil.html
        

* The auto crisis, likely leading to the bankruptcy of GM (and the end of retiree health benefits, etc.) but this is also an indicator of the power of finance capital over industrial capital and the shift to the corporate state as US society decays: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/business/31assess.html?_r=1&hp
        

* Stiglitz on State Capitalism as Robbing Workers: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/opinion/01stiglitz.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
        

* Updated interview with John Bellamy Foster: http://democracyandclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2009/03/interview-with-john-bellamy-foster-of.html
        

* Bello’s Primer on the Meltdown: http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/bello031008.html
        

* The Economist on the Huge Fraud Beneath the Fiscal Crisis: Missing the Deeper Fraud; Exploited Labor:
http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=15090
        

*Five Million Jobs Lost So Far This Depression: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/business/economy/04jobs.html

Current Developments:

 

* Centinela CalfiorniaTeachers Wildcat Strike:  http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_12034343    

* Al Sharpton and the Ruling Class: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/04/pols_press_part.php
        

* Labor Bosses Forge Unity Committee:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/07/AR2009040703222.html The plum here is the dues from 3.5 million education workers, members of the National Education Association who will quickly learn that they are funding yet another layer of enemies.

Criticism of “Progressive” Warmongers:

 

The term “progressive” may have no meaning anymore. If it is Move.on, that means slavish support for the demagogue, Obama. If it is United For Peace and Justice, it means the same thing in shifty terms.  

UFPJ’s recent Wall Street demos,

deliberately set up to counter demands from rank and filers to demonstrate on the anniversary of the war, failed completely. This is nothing to gloat about even though we said, years ago, that following UFPJ would do just this. Still, it is tragic.       

 

Less than 10,000 people demonstrated, down from the one million who hit the streets six years ago. But numbers are not everything. UFPJ trumped that by teaching people nothing at all important about why things are as they are, what to do in order to develop grand strategy (peace, justice, equality, freedom, etc.) or strategy (how to understand specific local circumstances and to seek out choke points where people can use powerful direct action moves) and tactics (particular actions that link these three elements).  

Why would that be? Because UFPJ is run by remnants of the Communist Party USA, people who have never sought to build a mass class conscious movement and who have always fought those who try. The current Rouge Forum News has a very fine article by Tom Suber about the wreckage that UFPJ leadership is creating. http://blogs.ubc.ca/ross/2009/04/rouge-forum-news-issue-13/

Let us be clear. The core issue of our time is accelerating color coded inequality met by the potential of organized mass class conscious resistance. Neither the CP nor UFPJ want any part of that.  

Here is a sampling of UFPJ’s failures:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/04/content_11129335.htm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPati7jbLo532dVb5D55XbX9T3bgD97B8IUG0
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN0335443120090403

The task at hand is ours. The $10.9 trillion dollars the corporate state just printed for the banks and insurance companies is going to come from the lives and labor of someone. Either it will come from the ruin of hundreds of thousand of poor and working people, or, if we fight back, it can come from the rich. Let them suffer and pay, as they should. The degree of the pain will be determined by the levels of our real resistance in schools, in communities, at work places, and in the military. When they say Cut Back; We should say Fight Back.

This is a critique from Antiwar.com: Progressive Warmongers:

We note with sadness the death of a friend, Janet Jagan:

http://www.rougeforumconference.org/

Rich Gibson

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk