Books Launch – Two New Books by Professor Mike Cole

BOOKS LAUNCH – TWO NEW BOOKS BY PROFESSOR MIKE COLE

 

Critical Race Theory and Education: a Marxist Response (Revised 2^nd Edition)

And

New Developments in Critical Race Theory and Education: Revisiting Racialized Capitalism and Socialism in Austerity

Both books are published by Palgrave Macmillan: Marxism and Education Series – https://www.palgrave.com/br/series/14811

Professor Mike Cole (ICPuP)

Cass School of Education and Communities

University of East London

Stratford Campus, UEL, ED.2.02

25 May 2017

17:00-19:00

With an introduction from Professor John Preston (University of East London)

The books address the nature of Critical Race Theory, including its origins, its varieties and its major strength. This is accompanied by a Marxist critique. Particular attention is paid to two of CRT’s major tenets, its prioritising of “race” over class and its use of “white supremacy”. Also discussed is the perceived decline of “BritiCrit.” Racialized neoliberal capitalism in the era of austerity and immiseration is also addressed as are CRT and Marxist visions of the future. With respect to educational practice, there is a consideration of multicultural and antiracist education in the UK and the US, and of CRT and Marxist suggestions for classroom practice. Moving to the global perspective, it is argued that the world has become polarised and that while discussion of democratic socialism has become more mainstream, fascistic rhetoric and narratives and neo-fascism are becoming normalised. Anything, it is concluded, is now possible.

The launch will be followed by a beer and wine reception

RVSP: Diane Sharrier @ D.Sharrier@uel.ac.uk

Dr Mike Cole is Professor in Education, University of East London, Emeritus Research Professor in Education and Equality, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln and Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Social Sciences, Zaman University, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His other recent and forthcoming books include Racism: A Critical Analysis (Pluto Press, 2016) and the edited collection, Education, Equality and Human Rights: Issues of Gender, “Race”, Sexuality, Disability and Social Class 4^th Edition (Routledge, forthcoming, 2017).

Mike Cole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

 

 

 

The Labour Party, Europe and Civic Engagement: People’s Empowerment or Misplaced Idealism?

THE LABOUR PARTY, EUROPE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: PEOPLE’S EMPOWERMENT OR MISPLACED IDEALISM?

Half-Day Workshop at THE University of East London

7 March 2015. Venue: UEL / Stratford Campus

Convenors: Centre for the Study of States, Markets & People (School of Business & Law, University of East London); Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (King’s College London); and the School of Politics & International Relations (SPIRE, Keele University)

The Labour Party, Europe and Civic Engagement: People’s Empowerment or Misplaced Idealism?

Jeremy Corbyn’s ideas of “Peoples Quantitative Easing” (PQE), progressive taxation, a new welfare state in the UK and changing the European Union from a neo-liberal monetarist construction to a civilised, multi-cultural and pro-labour space for good governance are gaining traction amongst informed practitioners of finance, politicians, academics and beyond. But can wider communities and constituencies be engaged, and how? The theme of “civic engagement” would appear to empower people, engaging civil society and local communities with pro-growth and pro-welfare initiatives across Britain and Europe. The workshop aims at exploring the new ideas of the Labour Party examining their appeal and whether or not they further civic engagement empowering the citizen, or whether it is just another form of misplaced idealism with no possibilities to deliver.

Themes to explore include:

What is the relationship between Labour Party and the EU in both historical and contemporary perspectives? What’s the Labour Party stance on the EU today? What are the key ideas and policies of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn and how do they engage with civil society and the key constituencies of the youth and middle classes? Are Labour Party’s new policies an alternative to austerity and how do they impact on current taxation regimes and inflation? Do Labour Party’s new policies augment the distance between Britain the EU? How do local communities can benefit from the Labour Party and vice versa? What would be the likely impact of Labour Party’s policies on education and the University sector from their possible im plementation in the future? Can PQE (People’s Quantitative Easing) lead to a re-industrialisation of Britain and how does it fit with the overall economic policy of the “New Labour” (abolition of tuition fees, re-nationalisation of railways, new taxation regime etc.)?

Contact and further information: Ejike Udeogu, Lecturer in Economics, School of Business & Law, University of East London, e.udeogu@uel.ac.uk

The convenors thank The Political Quarterly for its generous support

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/the-labour-party-europe-and-civic-engagement

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

Historical Materialism London Conference 2015 – Pre-Registration

I must work harder!

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM LONDON CONFERENCE 2015 – PRE-REGISTRATION

Reminder: Only 4 days left to pre-register for the HM 2015 London Conference*

* NB: remember please that this year’s conference is at the SOAS Russell Square site, not Vernon Square as last year!
The Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born: States, Strategies, Socialisms

Twelfth Annual Historical Materialism Conference

School of Oriental and African Studies, Central London, 5-8 November 2015
As austerity tightens its grip around the throats of the peoples of Europe, but also rears its ugly head in Brazil and elsewhere, we are forced to recognize that it is not the mere by-product of the ‘economic crisis’ but a political project in its own right, one whose aim is to deepen and consolidate the most uncompromising forms of neoliberal capitalism. It cannot be said that this project has hitherto been met with passivity, even if social movements of resistance have been mostly far from strong enough to halt its advance. Yet something is perhaps beginning to change, namely the emergence of counter-austerity projects that have pitched themselves at a political – even electoral or governmental – level. With all their weaknesses, hesitations and contradictions, the chinks of light in Southern Europe, amongst others, should compel Marxists to pose a whole series of ‘old’ strategic and theoretical problems in new garbs and new configurations, ​but perhaps also to retire some of our dear fetishes and shibboleths, and to experiment with forms and strategies adequate to our present. Among the themes that have returned to the agenda are: the relationship of movements and parties of the radical Left to states and governments; the need for a political response to how class power is enmeshed with forms of domination that have gender, race, imperialism or sexuality as their axes; possible « socialist » futures and the ‘transitional’ mediations implied by them; the guiding dichotomies of left thought: reform and revolution, revolution and revolt, state and movement, parties classes and masses; the link between the limits to capital and the limits of politics.

Over a hundred panels on a wide variety of topics and plenary sessions on: Race, Mobility and the State; Austerity and Socialist Strategy in Southern Europe; Social Reproduction Theory; Marxism and Religion; Workers’ Struggles in South Africa.

Provisional Programme: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/conferences/annual12/ProvProgramme.pdf/view
Conference Poster for download: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/conferences/annual12/conference-poster

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

Back to the Future: Launching the Left Book Club

BACK TO THE FUTURE: LAUNCHING THE LEFT BOOK CLUB

November 17^th

Conway Hall

25 Red Lion Square

London, WC1R 4RL

7.00pm

 

With: Ken Livingstone, Kevin Ovenden, Natalie Bennett, Kate Osamor MP and others

Suggested donations, £5, concessions £3

To book your place email: admin@leftbookclub.com

 

The original Left Book Club was founded in 1936 as a means of promoting radical debate in Britain. It swiftly became a phenomenon, distributing over 2 million books and forming 1,200 reading and discussion groups across the country. It engaged in political activity, including solidarity work (e.g. with Spain), political agitation and much else. The LBC is considered a factor in the creation of the Welfare State and in Labour’s landslide election victory of 1945. It closed in 1948.

Today we face a similar crisis to that of the 1930s, with capitalism breeding inequality, suffering and violence around the world. As then, however, the global left remains mobilised and committed to the creation of a fairer society, free of the repression and austerity that has defined the modern era.

The re-launch of the Left Book Club will help us rise to the challenge posed by the global crisis. The LBC will publish four books a year covering a range of progressive traditions, perspectives and ideas focused on the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

Our aim is for these books to form the basis of a wide network of reading circles, discussion groups and other educational and cultural activities relevant to constructing the conditions for progressive social change in the interests of working people.

 

Jeremy Corbyn:

The relaunch of the Left Book Club is a terrific and timely idea, and will give intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate.

The work will open minds and inspire. I have a large collection of Left Book Club publications collected by my parents and me.

I support the LBC wholeheartedly.

The Left Book Club: http://www.leftbookclub.com/

 

 

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century

PsychoPolitics

PSYCHO-POLITICS IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY: PETER SEDGWICK AND RADICAL MOVEMENTS IN METAL HEALTH

Wednesday 10th June 2015 9.45am – 5.30pm

EDEN Building, Liverpool Hope University, Taggart Avenue, Liverpool L16 9JD

Speakers include: Professors Ann Davis and Peter Beresford, campaigners from Psychologists Against Austerity, reVision and Social Work Action Network

The work of Peter Sedgwick and in particular his classic text PsychoPolitics (1982) has a renewed relevance in the context of ‘austerity’, the privatisation of welfare provision and emergent forms of radical activism in mental health. This conference will provide an opportunity to explore Sedgwick’s ideas and assess his legacy in light of these contemporary developments.

The conference will include papers from academics, service users/survivors, mental health practitioners and activists on the following themes:

• The politics and sociology of mental health
• Reading Sedgwick in 2015
• Neoliberalism, austerity and alliances of resistance between service user/survivor movements, practitioners, trade unions and campaigners
• Links between mad studies and the work of Sedgwick
• Contemporary applications of PsychoPolitics in mental health movements and front line practice
• Marxism, materialism, alienation and mental health
• Representations of psychiatry and anti-psychiatry
• Basaglia and movements for psychiatric de-institutionalisation in Europe
• Revisiting the Sedgwick archive

Prices (including lunch and refreshments):

Waged/Practitioners/academics (institutional funding): £60

Waged/Practitioners/academics (self-funding): £35

Service users/survivors/carers/students/unwaged: £10

To book your place and download provisional programme go to: www.hope.ac.uk/psychopoliticsc21 (‘Registration’ tab to book, ‘Overview’ tab for programme).

For mailing list and other information contact: sedgwickconf2015@hope.ac.uk

This event has been organised by: British Sociological Association (BSA) Sociology of Mental Health Study Group and Department of Social Work, Care and Justice, Liverpool Hope University

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/psychopolitics-in-the-21st-century-conference-details-announced

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Corporate Care: Migrant Labour and the Care Industry in Times of (Non) Crisis

Outland

CORPORATE CARE: MIGRANT LABOUR AND THE CARE INDUSTRY IN TIMES OF (NON) CRISIS

CALL FOR PAPERS

Corporate Care: Migrant labour and the care industry in times of (non) crisis

A one-day conference at Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London, 29 October 2015

Deadline: June 12, 2015

Though unsurprisingly hitting the low-income and unemployed harder than ever, the 2007-2011 Global Economic Crisis and subsequent politics of austerity have also revealed the emergence of new and unexpected trends in the West: in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, both non-migrant and migrant women in numerous Western countries were less affected than men in terms of jobs losses, though their working conditions might have not improved. Subsequent austerity policies, on the other hand, seem to have disadvantaged women in terms of working conditions, though they also appear to have reinforced their commitment to paid work (Karamessini and Rubery, ed., 2013; Farris, 2015).

The intertwined fate of non-migrant and migrant women during and after the crisis is due to their position vis-à-vis care, or social reproduction. The assumption that care is a “woman’s job” remains firmly in place, while public state care provision continues to shrink. But while non-migrant women’s rate of participation in the workforce means that they do less unpaid care work in comparison to previous periods, migrant women from ‘post-socialist’ countries and the Global South take on the bulk of the social reproductive tasks in paid form in the booming care industry.

But what is the care industry? How did the crisis change its configuration?

Studies conducted across Europe and the West in the last ten years show that the care industry was not negatively affected by the crisis. On the contrary, the demand for care and domestic service has grown rather than decreased. Moreover, a process of polarization appears to be impacting upon migrant workers employed in the care industry: on the one hand, a proliferation of domestic and care placement agencies as well as so-called ‘non-profit’ organisations (particularly in Southern Europe) is increasingly meeting the growing demand for carers and housekeepers by individual households. Effectively functioning as corporations, many of these organisations are making enormous profits out of mediating for, or directly exploiting, the hugely needed work of migrants in the care sector. On the other hand, anti-immigration policies at the national level and the refusal of numerous states to issue visas for care and domestic workers (particularly during the first years of the crisis) have pushed migrants working in this sector into the underground. But rather than being discouraged to employ migrants, more and more families in fact rely upon “word of mouth” to hire them as carers and housekeepers, as they remain the most cost-effective solution for their caring needs. Yet even in the underground, illegal agencies and organisations profiting from this flourishing industry begin to emerge.

With the crisis and austerity politics in the background, this one day conference aims to analyse this new set of dynamics by focusing upon the care industry, the emergence of corporate care and (female) migrant labour in particular.

While the employment of migrant women in the care industry has been widely studied, the impact of the recent crisis and austerity politics on female migrant labour in the care sector and the boom of care placement agencies have remained largely under-scrutinized.

This conference thus aims to fill a gap in this field of studies by seeking papers that address the following questions in particular:

• How does the increasing presence of corporations and also non-profit organisations in the care industry in a period of crisis and austerity affect the sector?
• How does the profitability of care impact upon our understanding of social reproduction theory in particular?
• How do care and domestic placement agencies change conceptions and cultures of care and domestic work?
• How have the crisis and austerity politics transformed the working conditions of migrants in the care sector in different countries?

Abstracts should be 300 words long and clearly state the question they address. Preference will be given to papers that seek to combine theoretical and empirical work.

Deadline for submission is June 12, 2015. Please send abstracts and any inquiries to s.farris@gold.ac.uk

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-corporate-care.-migrant-labour-and-the-care-industry-in-times-of-non-crisis.-goldsmiths-college-29-october-2015

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Derry Socialism Conference

DERRY SOCIALISM CONFERENCE

Time for an Alternative

With Eamonn McCann, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, US activist Tithi Bhattacharya, Goretti Horgan, Belfast City Cllr Gerry Carroll and others – speaker information below.

Saturday, March 21st

10AM-7:30PM

The Playhouse Theatre

5-7 Artillery Street, Derry

https://www.facebook.com/events/1401881060120082/

Grotesque inequality is growing but the super-rich have never been so wealthy. Oxfam reported that the share of the world’s wealth owned by the richest 1% has increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014, while the least well-off 80 currently own just 5.5%. If current trends continue the rich will own more than 50% of the world’s wealth by 2016.

Resistance to grinding poverty, zero-contract jobs and the destruction of desperately needed social services is spreading. The people of Greece elected a left-wing party committed to reversing austerity. Millions are demanding the same across Europe. In Ireland, North and South, struggles challenging austerity and cuts are developing. Across the North, thousands of people went on strike, marched and rallied on March 13th to say no to the Stormont House Agreement. Across the South, a mass movement is defying the government’s plans to impose water charges.

An alternative based on the priorities of the vast majority is needed and possible — but we can also see billionaires and their institutions from Egypt to Greece to Ireland are determined to stop fundamental change.

Join us in Derry to discuss the challenges we face and how we can effectively organise solidarity and resistance. We’ll be taking up crucial questions for everyone interested in social justice such as challenging exploitation and oppression; neoliberalism and austerity; immigration and immigrant rights; gender violence and women’s liberation; working class struggles North and South of the border; sectarianism and the peace process; and, how we can win a world based on the needs of the vast majority of people instead of profits and war.

Schedule:

10AM Registration and Radical Book Fair Open

11AM Neoliberalism, Gender Violence and Women’s Liberation with US activist Tithi Bhattacharya & Goretti Horgan

https://www.facebook.com/events/335498013317914/

1:15PM Workers of the World, Unite! When the Shankill and the Falls Fought Together with Sean Mitchell & Ruairi Gallagher

3:15PM Solidarity has no Borders: Capitalism, Racism and Immigrant Rights with Bernadette Devlin McAliskey & Shaun Harkin

https://www.facebook.com/events/347679658772065/

4:45PM   Dinner

Pizza Dinner Break-out: Questions for Socialists with Becca Bor & others

Pizza Dinner Break-out: After March 13th – where now for the trade union movement?​ with leading trade union activists in Belfast and Derry

5:45PM  Challenging Austerity and Sectarianism: Fighting for a Socialist Ireland with Eamonn McCann, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Nicola Curry & Belfast City Cllr Gerry Carroll

https://www.facebook.com/events/1550802688525779/

Speakers:

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey​, Co-ordinator of the migrants rights South Tyrone Empowerment Program (STEP) and author of The Price of My Soul. Bernadette was a student Civil-Rights leader with People’s Democracy and was elected to Westminster Parliament in 1969 as an independent socialist.

Gerry Carroll, Long-time student and community activist, and, People Before Profit Alliance Councillor. Gerry was elected to the Belfast City Council in May 2014 in the West Belfast Sinn Féin dominated Black Mountain Ward. On being elected Gerry told the Belfast Telegraph “There is a lot of anger in west Belfast at the minute over the situation at Royal Victoria Hospital’s A&E, the privatisation of leisure centres and the Casement Park issues – those residents have been trampled on. This is where we are strong. I am not a nationalist or a unionist, I am a socialist. Belfast has a strong history of socialism and this is it coming back.”

Eamonn McCann, Veteran activist and Civil-Rights movement founder; columnist for the Belfast Telegraph, Irish Times and Socialist Worker; author of War and an Irish Town, Bloody Sunday in Derry: What Really Happened, War and Peace in Northern Ireland, and, Dear God: The Price of Religion in Ireland. Eamonn is a long-time activist with the National Union of Journalists and leading member of the Derry Trades Union Council.

Tithi Bhattacharya, professor of South Asian History at Purdue University, Indiana. She is the author of The Sentinels of Culture: Class, Education, and the Colonial Intellectual in Bengal and a long time activist for Palestinian justice. She writes extensively on Marxist theory, gender, and the politics of Islamophobia. Her work has been published in the Journal of Asian Studies, South Asia Research, Electronic Intifada​, Jacobin Magazine​, Salon​ and the New Left Review. She is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review (ISR)​.

Goretti Horgan, Social Policy lecturer at The University of Ulster and author of Abortion: Why Irish Women Must have the Right to Choose. She is Branch Secretary of University and Colleges Union at Ulster University and on the board of NI Anti Poverty Network. Goretti is a regular contributor to Socialist Worker and the Irish Marxist Review​.

Sean Mitchell, activist based in Belfast, regular contributor to the Irish Marxist Review, author of The Permanent Crisis of 21st Century Ulster Unionism and is currently working on book about the 1932 Belfast Outdoor Relief Strike. Sean is a UNISON member and shop steward at Coláiste Feirste in Belfast.

Nicola Curry, long-time activist and socialist in Dublin. Nicola is very active in the movement against water charges and is a local convenor of the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes. She is the chairperson of the Ballyogan Environment Group which was set up by local residents because of concerns about a waste disposal centre located in her residential area. She stood as a candidate for People Before Profit Alliance in Dublin South.

Becca Bor, is an American socialist living in Derry. In Chicago, she was a member of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), including during the historic 2011 strike. Becca is the author of Race and Class in Obama’s U.S. in the Irish Marxist Review and Malcolm X – 50 years on at swp.ie

Ruairí Gallagher is a socialist activist from Derry and is a first year PhD student at NUI Galway. He is involved with NUI Galway’s Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class (ICHLC) and is interested in class history and ‘history from below’. He is studying a comparative history of Labour militancy in Belfast & Glasgow, 1915-1924; particularly focusing on the shipyards and engineering industries in Clydeside and the Lagan. He has published an article in the Irish Marxist Review entitled ‘Irish Tories and Social Bandits of Seventeenth Century Ireland’ and has recently written book reviews for the latest addition of Saothar, journal of the Irish Labour History Society,(vol. 39, 2014)

Shaun Harkin, Derry native and long time socialist activist and writer in the United States. In Chicago, Shaun was an organiser for the March 10 Movement and the historic 2006 May 1st ‘Day Without Immigrants’ actions across the US demanding full legalisation, ending deportations and workers’ rights. His articles can be found at swp.ie, Socialistworker.org, the International Socialist Review, Jacobin magazine, El Beisman and Counterpunch.org. He is currently working on a James Connolly Reader.

 

The Playhouse is Wheelchair accessible.

Contact us ASAP for Childcare.

Limited free housing is available.

Hosted by the Derry Socialist Workers Party

Contact SWPDerry@gmail.com for more information

https://www.facebook.com/derryswp

www.swp.ie

https://www.facebook.com/SWPIreland

https://www.facebook.com/IrishMarxistReview

 

Shaun

07960404137

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Democracy Rising

ATHENS

DEMOCRACY RISING

THE GLOBAL CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES (GCAS)

GCAS World-Conference Athens “Democracy Rising” (Free and Open to the Public)

The Global Center for Advanced Studies

Announces Our First World Conference

“Democracy Rising: From Insurrections to ‘Event’”

Date: July 16-19th 2015, Athens, Greece

 

Speakers: (The Following Speakers will be Present in Athens)

Keynote:

Costas Douzinas, Jodi Dean, Bruno Bosteels & Maria Aristodemou

Speakers:

Tariq Ali, Kenneth Surin, Stathis Kouvelakis, Azfar Hussain, Paul Mason, Alex Callinicos, Maria Nikolakaki, Athena Athanasiou, Creston Davis, Athina Karatzogianni, Kostis Karpozilos, Lola Sánchez ,Giovanni Tusa, Dimitris Dalakoglou, Leonidas Vatikiotis, Claudia Landolfi, Peter Thompson, Aris Chatzistefanou II, Julie Resche, Theodore Koulouris, Sigrid Hackenberg, Srecko Horvat, Paolo Gerbaudo, Dave Hill,Stavros Stavrides and special guests from Syriza and Podemos.

 

Description:

Margaret Thatcher’s slogan, “There is no alternative” was a declaration of war that installed the horrors of neoliberal policies that have eroded and systematically undermined democratic and public-based projects for more than 30 years.  The global financial crisis of 2008 exposed these neoliberal policies that have paved the way for the rise of an untouchable oligarchical class whose top 80 members now possess more wealth than the bottom half of the world’s population. It is now abundantly clear that neoliberalism has accelerated radical inequality and at the same time forced the world to conform to their unquestionable, anti-democratic policies, lest even greater disasters befall us.

Faced with no alternative, on their terms, in 2011 a new series of insurrections began to emerge from the Occupy movement to Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, to Spain, Ireland, and Greece. The recent historic victory of Syriza brings forth the message that citizens must decide their own future and thus the reassertion of the primacy of politics takes place again in the world.

In the wake of Syriza’s victory and the hope it articulates for the world, we propose a conference comprised of academics and activists from the birthplace of democracy, Athens, Greece.  The purpose of the conference is to bring together intellectuals and activists to think through and propose strategic alternatives for democracy and its future.

 

Thematics:

• Neoliberalism and Austerity Measures
• Philosophy and Political Struggles
• The Global Debt Crisis
• Capitalism & Education
• Democracy & Activism
• European Union & the Euro-Zone
• The Rise of Fascism in Europe
• Neoliberalism and Globalization
• Uniting the Workers with the Intelligentsia
• The Hope of Left Governance
• The Rise of Podemos in Spain
• Organizing Locally & Globally
• Inequality & Democracy

 

Format:

Academics and activists are invited to give papers on relevant topics that support the conference’s description.  Papers can be presented in Athens, Greece, or in some cases, via the Internet.  In either case, papers should be no longer than 20 minutes in length.  In addition to individual papers, we encourage panel proposals consisting of 2-4 participants.  Panel sessions should be no longer than 40 minutes in length.

This conference will be hybrid in that it will be broadcasted live on the internet making it one of the first academic conferences in the world to be live and available to all.

 

Call for Papers:

250 word Abstracts for Papers, and 500 word abstracts for Panel Proposals should be submitted no later than April 1, 2015 midnight Eastern European Time to: submit@thegcas.com. Please include a photo and a very short Bio in your submission.  Please also state in the subject title of your email either “Paper” or “Panel Proposal” and whether or not your paper or panel will be presented at the conference or via the Internet.

NOTE: Panel Presentations: If your panel is being delivered via the Internet the individual members that comprise your panel can present from anywhere in the world so long as their Internet connection is excellent. You will need to verify that all Internet connections range between 6-10 Mbps so that access quality is at a premium.

You can test your Internet speed here: http://www.speedtest.net/

Acceptance/Rejection emails will be sent no later than April 15, 2015. The papers will be judged by the Conference Organization Committee.

 

Registration:

Registration is free & open to the public for participants in Athens & $5 for participants on-line (to help cover Internet infrastructure including access (purchasing a subscription), security, equipment, and technical services).

Please register as soon as possible!  REGISTER HERE

Presenters Fees are $20 per person or $40 per panel presentation

Conference Dinner $30 Athens (TBA)

Registration deadline for on-line participants is 1 July 2015.

A course will be designed and offered on this conference, details forthcoming.

 

Outcome:

The Editors of Insurrections Series at Columbia University Press have agreed to consider supporting the proceedings for publication.  Some papers will also be considered for GCAS’s Journal via GCAS Press.

Language & Translation:

Greek & English

Translation capabilities will be available if enough donations are provided to support this service. Please consider donating.  When you donate please specify “GCAS Conference”.  Donate here.

Location: TBA

 

Organizational Committee:

Creston Davis

Maria Nikolakaki

Dimitris Dalakoglou

Kostis Karpozilos

Anghelos Palioudakis

George Souvlis

Bob Drury King

Evi Zevgiti

Che Brandes-Tuka

Steven A. Panageotou

Michael D Wassell

Salim Nabi

 

Scientific Committee:

Alain Badiou, President of GCAS

Azfar Hussain, Vice-President of GCAS

Maria Nikolakaki, Prof., University of Peloponnese & GCAS

Creston Davis, Director GCAS

 

Special Activities: 

There will be special tours of Athens that follow the events of the struggles for Democracy as well as other travel opportunities.

 

Accommodations: 

All participants are responsible for their own lodging.

Media Sponsor:  InforWar Productions

 

See more:

@ GCAS Blog: https://gcasblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/gcas-world-conference-athens-free-and-open-to-the-public/

Registration: https://globalcenterforadvancedstudies.wufoo.com/forms/z154dnz71hyo08b/

ATHENS

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Differences, Inequalities and the Sociological Imagination

DIFFERENCES, INEQUALITIES AND THE SOCIOLGICAL IMAGINATION

Call for Papers:

‘Differences, Inequalities and the Sociological Imagination’

12th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Prague, Czech Republic, 25–28 August 2015

Critical Political Economy Research Network (RN06)

Re-Imagining Class – Materialities of Resistance, State Power and the Commons

In a context of increasingly authoritarian processes of austerity measures in response to the crisis in Europe and beyond, various groups and social movements have articulated quests for more democracy and reclaiming the Commons. Categories of public goods and the commons include amongst others education, health, environment, food, water, air, energy, land, housing, transport, cities, or waste management. These notions generally engender new forms of horizontal participatory and inclusive bottom up democratic decision-making and communal ownership structures not considered for profit. Democratic imaginaries are however only seldom spelled out, as if such wished-for democratic structures were without a teleology. This raises the question of which concrete conceptions the (radical) Left has to offer with respect to the political economy of democracy and the commons? Which lessons can be drawn from prefigurative politics and existing/real life examples in the organisation of the economy and public goods? Which implications would such imaginaries have for rethinking class, and the materialities within social movements? At the same time, in order to contextualise these processes in the concrete materiality of crisis and resistance, we need to understand the changes and continuities in the imaginaries of state power and authoritarian governance, and the relations between social forces struggling over the prerogatives of resistance and contestation.

As the overall conference theme suggests, it is through sociological imagination that we can begin to understand the current conjuncture and formulate alternatives. Re-imagining class should be a core focus in this process. We are interested in hosting a wide range of topics in sessions that are linked to the above themes. This could include a focus on various social movements on the Commons; contestation and resistance to austerity measures; new forms of democratic participation and citizenship; conceptual reflection and critique on the use of class concepts; authoritarian dimensions of the ongoing capitalist restructuring; new manifestations of the capital-labour conflict; or the social/human geography of contestation and resistance. Of particular importance here are critical feminist political economy perspectives that challenge underlying patriarchal structures and social relations.

We are interested in all of the above plus more. We invite contributions (papers and/or panel proposals) from those with an interest in critical political economy research, regardless of their disciplinary affiliation and whether they are in academia or not. We also hope to attract a diverse range of participants, from a number of countries and backgrounds.

Notes for Authors

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words. Abstracts must be submitted online to the submission platform, see below. Abstracts sent by email cannot be accepted. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected for presentation by the Research Network; the letter of notification will be sent by the conference software system in early April 2015.

Abstract submission deadline: 1 February 2015. Conference website and abstract submission platform: www.esa12thconference.eu

If you have further questions regarding this call, or the Critical Political Economy research network, please contact us at cpern@criticalpoliticaleconomy.net.

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/call-for-papers-2018differences-inequalities-and-the-sociological-imagination2019

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century

Posthuman

PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century

Please see below for call for papers for a conference at in Liverpool on Wednesday 10th June 2015 organised in conjunction with the British Sociological Association Sociology of Mental Health Study Group. The conference title is PsychoPolitics in the Twenty First Century: Peter Sedgwick and radical movements in mental health

Background to the conference:

The work of Peter Sedgwick and in particular his classic text PsychoPolitics (1982) has a renewed relevance in the context of ‘austerity’, the privatisation of welfare provision and emergent forms of radical activism in mental health. This conference will provide an opportunity to explore Sedgwick’s ideas and assess his legacy in light of these contemporary developments.

The organisers welcome proposals for papers/workshops from academics, service users /survivors and mental health practitioners on the following topics (though this is not an exhaustive list):

• The politics of mental health
• Social movements in mental health; social movements and sociological knowledge on mental health
• Alliances between service user/survivor movements and trade unions/anti-austerity campaigns
• Alliances between disabled people’s and mental health service user/survivor movements
• Mental health practice and resistance under neoliberalism
• Contemporary applications of Sedgwick’s ideas
• Links between mad studies, disability studies and the work of Sedgwick

The conference webpages are at www.hope.ac.uk/psychopoliticsc21. The email for mailing list and further info is: sedgwickconf2015@hope.ac.uk

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/call-for-papers-psychopolitics-in-the-21st-century-conference-june-2015

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Austerity and Revolt

Protest

AUSTERITY AND REVOLT

Duke University Press has recently published “Austerity and Revolt,” a special issue of SAQ: South Atlantic Quarterly, volume 113 and issue 2, edited by Werner Bonefeld and John Holloway.

In recent years, we have witnessed massive demonstrations of denial, refusal, and rejection exploding in one country after another. The squares of the world have become organizational focal points for rebellion and repression. What does such collective negation mean, and what comes afterward? This special issue explores the forms of a reinvigorated, experimental communism: councils, assemblies, communes, squares, occupys, horizontalism, recovered factories, and cooperative farms and community gardens. Practitioners of this new model of “communism as communizing” attempt to change fundamental social relations from the bottom up. By combining insider knowledge with sophisticated theoretical scrutiny, the contributors to this issue approach eruptions of rebellion from a variety of historical, economic, and methodological perspectives. Writing not only about but also within such forces of progressive resistance around the world, they investigate the complex, hopeful, and contradictory process of creating new social, economic, and political structures through negation.

To link to the electronic content page click here: http://saq.dukejournals.org/content/113/2.toc. If you find that your library does not subscribe to this journal and you do not have online access, please contact Katie Smart, who can arrange to have a complimentary copy of this issue mailed to you or your library.

John Holloway

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/latest-south-atlantic-quarterly-austerity-and-revolt

Werner Bonefeld

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskpoint.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Marx Memorial Library: Political Economy for Trade Unionists

Marx Memorial Library

MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY: POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR TRADE UNIONISTS

There is a series of four classes entitled Political Economy for Trade Unionists taking place in April and May as follows:

 

Tuesday 29 April – Today’s Capitalist Crisis: Banks, Profits, Wages and Austerity

Tutor:  Jonathan White

 

Tuesday 6 May – The Assault on the Workplace: Rights, Conditions and Pay

Tutor: John McGee

 

Tuesday 13 May – The Law and Industrial Relations

Tutor: John Hendy QC

 

Tuesday 20 May – The Assault on Democratic Rights: The threat to labour’s collective voice

Tutor:  Professor Marj Mayo

 

All classes begin at 6.30 in the Lecture Hall at the Library.  The Registration fee for four classes is £12.

 

Dr Laura Miller

Administrator

Marx Memorial Library

37a Clerkenwell Green

London EC1R 0DU

(Tel)  0207 253 1485

(Web site) http://www.marx-memorial-library.org

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

 Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academic.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskpoint.blogspot.com