Heroes: Mass Murder and Suicide – Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Book Launch Events

Heroes

HEROES: MASS MURDER AND SUICIDE – FRANCO “BIFO” BERARDI, BOOK LAUNCH EVENTS

OUT NOW: Heroes: Mass Murder and Suicide

BY FRANCO “BIFO” BERARDI

What is the relationship between capitalism and mental health?

See: http://www.versobooks.com/books/1746-heroes

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LAUNCH EVENTS:

 

Wednesday February 25th 2015, 7.00pm – 8.30pm

At Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0DT

Franco Berardi in conversation with Paul Mason and Emma Dowling. For more information and to book: http://www.foyles.co.uk/event-bifo

 

Friday February 27th 2015, 1pm-2pm

At Institute of Contemporary Art, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH

Culture Now: Franco “Bifo” Berardi will discuss HEROES with Professor Benjamin Noys. For more information and to book: https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/culture-now-franco-bifo-berardi

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What is the relationship between capitalism and mental health? In his most unsettling book to date, Franco “Bifo” Berardi embarks on an exhilarating journey through philosophy, psychoanalysis and current events, searching for the social roots of the mental malaise of our age.

Spanning an array of horrors – the Aurora “Joker” killer; Anders Breivik; American school massacres; the suicide epidemic in Korea and Japan; and the recent spate of “austerity” suicides in Europe – Heroes dares to explore the darkest shadow cast by the contemporary obsession with relentless competition and hyper-connectivity. In a volume that crowns four decades of radical intellectual work, Berardi develops the psychoanalytical insights of his friend Felix Guattari and proposes dystopian irony as a strategy to disentangle ourselves from the deadly embrace of absolute capitalism.

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HEROES: MASS MURDER AND SUICIDE is part of our new FUTURES series.

VERSO FUTURES is a brand-new series of essay-length philosophical and political interventions by both emerging and established writers and thinkers from around the world. Each title in the series addresses the outer limits of political and social possibility. Other books in the series include ISABELL LOREY, MARC AUGE and PAOLO VIRNO: http://www.versobooks.com/series_collections/113-futures

“The law of the innermost form of the essay is heresy”—Theodor Adorno

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FRANCO “BIFO” BERARDI, founder of the famous Radio Alice in 1976 and one of the most prominent members of Autonomia, is a theorist and media activist. His recent books in English include The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy; The Uprising: On Poetry and Finance; and After the Future.

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“As a diagnostician, Berardi is among the sharpest.” – Slate

“Bifo is a master of global activism in the age of depression. His mission is to understand real existing capitalism. Sense the despair of the revolt, enjoy this brilliant ‘labour of the negative’!” – Geert Lovink, Founding Director of the Institute of Network Cultures

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PAPERBACK: FEBRUARY 2015 / 240 pages / ISBN: 9781781685785 / £7.99 / $12.95 / $15.95 (Canada)

HARDBACK: FEBRAURY 2015 / 240 pages / ISBN: 9781781685778 / £55 / $95 / $108 (Canada)

HEROES is available at a 40% discount (30% hardback) on our website, with free shipping and bundled ebook. Purchasing details here: http://www.versobooks.com/books/1746-heroes

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Visit Verso’s website for information on our upcoming events, new reviews and publications and special offers: http://www.versobooks.com

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**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/

​

Paul Mason: Why It’s Still Kicking Off Everywhere

Paul Mason

PAUL MASON: WHY IT’S STILL KICKING OFF EVERYWHERE

Thursday, 10 January 2013, 7pm
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, WC1H OXG
Bookstalls – Doors Open 6pm
TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE
All enquiries: paulmasonlecture@gmail.com

Paul Mason is the economics editor of the BBC’s flagship current affairs program Newsnight. He has covered globalization and social justice stories from locations around the world, including Latin America, Africa and China, has been nominated for an Emmy for his work with BBC World News America, and has twice been nominated for the Orwell Prize for his blog Idle Scrawl. He is the author of Meltdown and Live Working or Die Fighting.

Eighteen months on from the Arab Spring, a year on from the Occupy protests, social unrest continues. Paul Mason explores the roots of the great dissatisfaction among the young and educated and reflects on the way his thesis – that this is an 1848 of the mind, driven by new information networks and horizontal forms of protest – has stood up in the face of attempts to normalise and colonise the protest movements.

He also explores the changing dynamic of the economic crisis that underpins the social unrest, showing how events in Russia and China – countries that have delivered economically to their middle classes – fit into the pattern of disruption and challenge begun in Tahrir Square.

This will be a landmark exposition of Mason’s analysis, incorporating new research and reactions to the original criticisms of his book, “Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions”.

 

**END**

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

Crisis, Class and Resistance

 

CRISIS, CLASS AND RESISTANCE

A one-day Conference on Political Economy hosted by International Socialism Journal

Saturday 12 May, 10:30am-6pm

School of African and Oriental Studies (Vernon Square Campus), Central London (Kings Cross/St Pancras tube)

With:

Robin Blackburn (author of Age Shock: How Finance is Failing Us)

Alex Callinicos (author of Imperialism and Global Political Economy)

Guglielmo Carchedi (author of Behind the Crisis: Marx’s Dialectics of Value and Knowledge)

Esme Choonara (author of A Rebel’s Guide to Trotsky)

Joseph Choonara (author of Unraveling Capitalism: A Guide to Marxist Political Economy)

Kevin Doogan (author of New Capitalism? The Transformation of Work)

Jane Hardy (author of Poland’s New Capitalism)

Paul Mason (author of Why it’s Kicking Off Everywhere)

Guy Standing (author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class)

In an era of crisis, revolt and revolution, questions are arising that demand answers from the radical left: How is Marx’s analysis of capitalism relevant to the current crisis? Is the working class the agency which can overthrow capitalism? What forms of organisation and resistance are most effective in fighting for a different world? This one-day conference, organised by International Socialism journal, will bring together activists, writers and academics from different traditions and backgrounds to discuss these and other issues. 

Price: £10 waged / £3 students & unwaged

To book, call 020 7819 1177 or email isj@swp.org.uk

**END**

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

WUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society

Work

WUSA: THE JOURNAL OF LABOR AND SOCIETY

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS, LABOR MOVEMENTS AND WORKER ORGANIZATION (EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE)

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/wusa.2012.15.issue-1/issuetoc

March 2012, Volume 15, Issue 1, Pages 1-148

 

CONTEMPORARY LABOR AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE (pages 3-13)

Polina Kroik

 

TRANSNATIONAL LABOR AND AESTHETIC THEORY IN URSULA BIEMANN’S GEOBODIES VIDEO ESSAYS (pages 15-33)

Hanna Musiol

 

UNDERSTANDING GLOBALIZATION AND MIGRANCY THROUGH LITERATURE (pages 35-50)

Nandita Ghosh

 

SOLIDARITIES IN RUSSELL BANKS’S CONTINENTAL DRIFT (pages 51-66)

Joseph Entin

 

NAFTA, LABOR, AND THE RECOVERY PROJECT (pages 67-86)

Leisa Rothlisberger

 

COSMOPOLITANISM, ETHNIC BELONGING, AND AFFECTIVE LABOR: HAN ONG’S FIXER CHAO AND THE DISINHERITED (pages 87-102)

Christopher B. Patterson

 

FILIPINO WOMEN WRITERS IN ENGLISH AND THE WORK OF APPRENTICESHIP (pages 103-119)

Marites L. Mendoza

 

LABOR AND OCCUPY WALL STREET: COMMON CAUSES AND UNEASY ALLIANCES (pages 121-134)

Benjamin Heim Shepard

 

REVIEWS:

 

The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Joe Hill, American Labor Icon – By William M. Adler (pages 135-138)

Laura Hapke

 

The Country and the City – By Raymand Williams (pages 138-140)

Houman Barekat

 

The Civil Wars in US Labor: Birth of a New Workers’ Movement or Death Throes of the Old? – By Steve Early (pages 140-144)

Paul Krehbiel

 

Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global – By Paul Mason. Work and Struggle: Voices From U.S. Labor Radicalism – By Paul Le Blanc (pages 145-148)

Steve Early

 

**END**

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

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

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions

Protest

WHY IT’S KICKING OFF EVERYWHERE: THE NEW GLOBAL REVOLUTIONS

Paul Mason, Economics Editor, Newsnight, BBC
Monday, 5th March 2012, 11.00am-12.30pm
The Boardroom, College Building, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, Hendon, London NW4 4BT
(nearest Tube Hendon Central)
Part of the Middlesex University Business School Public Lecture Series

The year 2011 has witnessed an unprecedented wave of protests and revolts, from the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, to the indignados in Spain, the urban protests in Israel and the youth riots in Britain. 2012 has already started with the ongoing breakdown of Greek society. In his new book Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere, Paul Mason analyses the reasons behind the current wave of struggles. The social roots of the upheaval lie in the massive disillusion of the ‘graduates with no future’ and the impoverished middle classes, the capacity of social networks to mobilize from below as opposed to top down hierarchical forms of mobilisation. Meanwhile the ongoing financial crisis has led to massive youth unemployment, a formidable squeeze on living standards, and the virtual disappearance of any hope of a better future for the next generation. Taken together, these social and economic factors have produced an explosive mix, as the collapse of the Greek society spectacularly illustrates, with children abandoned in orphanages by starving parents. Financial capitalism is now eating its own children. That people should revolt is not that all surprising – after all, there is surely a limit to what they can endure. The crucial puzzle is the incapacity of economic and political elites to understand, anticipate and respond to such revolts – or revolutions.

The economics editor of the BBC’s flagship program Newsnight, Paul Mason is also one of the most influential journalists on twitter. He first reported live for the BBC on 9-11, and covered the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 from outside its New York HQ.

This event is FREE to attend but bookings must be made in advance due to popular demand.

To reserve a place, please email Yangna Li: Y.Li@mdx.ac.uk.

**END**

 

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

 

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

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

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

Festival of Dangerous Ideas

 

Lost Generation

FESTIVAL OF DANGEROUS IDEAS

Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Saturday, March 17, 10-5pm
Rich Mix, London E1 6LA

The old ideas are bust. Now is the time for the new, the marginalised, the road less travelled… dangerous ideas for dangerous times. 

Join key activists, commentators and cultural figures reflecting on a world in disarray and turmoil.

Bringing the spirit of revolution to Londonare Egyptian MP Nasr-Eddin al-Zoghbi and activist Marwa Farouk of the Socialist Renewal Current, an activist group in Cairo. They will be joined by John Rees, co-author of The People Demand, to discuss how to finish a revolution, and activists from Greece describing what it means to be at the frontline of Europe’s austerity project. BBC Economics editor Paul Mason, and author and recent Question Time panellist Owen Jones join subversive authors and activists Nina Power and Sanum Ghafoor to discuss the radical ideas needed to confront the bleak landscape of austerity Britain. Paul Mason also joins Sanum Ghafoor and Lindsey German to discuss why it’s kicking off everywhere. Situationist adbuster Rob Montgomery, graffiti politician Stik and Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah will speak and perform. TV archaeologist Neil Faulkner will be presenting a brief history of the world. Sam Duckworth of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. runs a workshop on the perils of political songwriting. He will perform after Tony Benn and Roy Bailey do their sell out Writing on the Wall show and Mark McGowan brings us the latest thoughts of the Artist Taxi Driver. There will also be live performances from Pandit G of Asian Dub Foundation and Sam Duckworth of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. The Rich Mix bar and club will be serving until 1am.

Festival organiser Clare Solomon describes the day as a ‘’fun-packed and informative day using music, multimedia and a variety of interesting formats including a ‘tweet-out’, Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, lunchtime comedy from Josie Long, a guerrilla film workshop, an exclusive ‘free shop’, live graffiti walls and much more…”

Book now online or phone 0207 613 7498 as tickets are selling fast and space is limited. Tickets are £10/£5 concessions: http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-festival-of-dangerous-ideas/

The event is organised jointly by Counterfire, ISG, Verso and the Rich Mix.

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

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

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

Occupy Everything!

Occupy

OCCUPY EVERYTHING!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day… a new collection of essays on the composition of current struggles…

Occupy Everything! Reflections on why it’s kicking off everywhere
Edited by Alessio Lunghi & Seth Wheeler

Penned after the 2010 European student unrest and before what is now commonly referred to as the “Arab spring” began to escalate, BBC Newsnight economist Paul Mason’s “20 Reasons Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere” sought to establish an understanding of the motivations behind these globally disparate, yet somehow connected struggles.

What roles do the “graduate with no future,” the “digital native” or the “remainder of capital” play in the current wave of unrest? What are the ideas, ideologies, motivations or demands driving these movements? How is struggle organized and coordinated in the age of memetic politics and viral ad campaigns?

This collection of essays seeks to further explore Paul Mason’s original 20 Reasons in an attempt to better understand our turbulent present.

“A startling insight into the aims, dreams and ideologies of a generation of radicalized youth.” –Paul Mason, author of Meltdown and Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere

“…an encomium to still, as yet, unfocused possibilities. Each fragment is provocative and possessed of the same energies as the movements it seeks to describe.” – Aaron Peters, Open Democracy

“…this book has the inside track on how we can keep ‘kicking off’  for an end to capitalism and for the establishment of a global commons. Read, discuss and take action.”– Ewa Jasiewicz, Trade Union Organizer / Journalist

Contributors: 500 Hammers – Thomas Gillespie & Victoria Habermehl – The Free Association – Deterritorial Support Group – Ben Lear & Raph Schlembach – Camille Barbagallo & Nicholas Beuret – David Robertshaw, Rohan Orton & Will Barker – Antonis Vradis – Tabitha Bast & Hannah McClure – Andre Pusey & Bertie Russell – Federico Campagna – Emma Dowling

PDF available freely online (http://www.minorcompositions.info/?p=372).

Released by Minor Compositions, Wivenhoe / New York / Port Watson
Minor Compositions is a series of interventions & provocations drawing from autonomous politics, avant-garde aesthetics, and the revolutions of everyday life.

Minor Compositions is an imprint of Autonomedia
www.minorcompositions.info |info@minorcompositions.info

**END**

 

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

 

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

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

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

Breaking Up? A Route Out of the Eurozone Crisis

Eurozone Crisis

BREAKING UP? A ROUTE OUT OF THE EUROZONE CRISIS

Friday 9 December, 2011
Doors open at 6 pm; the panel will begin at 6.30 pm
Brunei Gallery Theatre, SOAS , WC1H 0XG

Join us for a timely and urgently needed discussion over the future of the eurozone, the possibility of exit, and what it will all mean for the people of Europe . Bringing together leading economists, political scientists and financial journalists, the discussion will play a critical role in setting the terms of the debate for the tumultuous period that lies ahead.

The panel includes:
– Costas Lapavitsas, professor, department of economics, SOAS, and lead author of a series of groundbreaking reports on the eurozone crisis from the Research on Money and Finance network.
– George Irvin, professor, department of development studies, SOAS, and author of ‘Super Rich: the Growth of Inequality in Britain and the United States ‘.
– Paul Mason, BBC economics editor and author of ‘Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed’.
– Stathis Kouvelakis, reader in political theory, King’s College London.

The panel will be chaired by Seamus Milne, associate editor at The Guardian.

Please register your participation (see link below or visit the RMF website) and arrive as early as possible.

Read the latest RMF report on the eurozone crisis: http://www.researchonmoneyandfinance.org 
Register: https://docs.google.com/a/soas.ac.uk/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dDRpWjBGaXNhTmxyb3lLUUFQdnRvcmc6MA

Jeff Powell
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
University of London
+44 (0)7817184435

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The latest report by the Research on Money and Finance (RMF) group on the eurozone crisis, entitled Breaking Up? A Route Out of the Eurozone Crisis, is now available at http://www.researchonmoneyandfinance.org
****

**END**

 

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

 

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a new song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

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

Tony Benn and Paul Mason on Gerrard Winstanley

Gerrard Winstanley

TONY BENN AND PAUL MASON ON GERRARD WINSTANLEY

NEW TITLE FROM VERSO’S ‘REVOLUTIONS’ SERIES:

GERRARD WINSTANLEY:­ A COMMON TREASURY

Introduced by TONY BENN

Published 10th April 2011

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EVENT:

TONY BENN in conversation with PAUL MASON at the Southbank Centre on WINSTANLEY, the Diggers and English radicalism.

Monday 23rd May, 2011

Part of the Festival ofBritain

More information and tickets: http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/tony-benn-57704

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”Sick to death of the royal wedding? Then where better to take refuge than in the radical ruminations of Gerrard Winstanley, the voice of revolutionary republican England?…a useful and inspiring collection” — SOCIALIST REVIEW http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11625

”With house prices at ridiculous levels and employment plummeting, perhaps this neat introduction to Winstanley’s writings could provide an excellent instruction manual for a new breed of 21st century Digger?” —  MORNING STAR http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/content/view/full/103449
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In Spring 1649, at the end of the English Civil War, Gerrard Winstanley and his comrades, the Diggers, went to St George’s Hill to farm the common land and to distribute the food amongst themselves. Winstanley’s extraordinary writings from this period have remained a huge influence for many on the left, and are cited as some of the earliest examples of communist thought.

Legendary voice of the left, Tony Benn, introduces this collection of Winstanley’s work and shows how it still has the power to inspire us to turn our world upside down. Benn credits the Diggers, along with the Levellers, with helping to launch into the public domain ideas about freedom, equality and democracy which, though now regarded as normal were then hugely threatening of the status quo, and are “some of the most important radical ideas of all time.”

Winstanley and the Diggers saw the earth and its natural resources as belonging to all mankind, a “common treasury”.  Since the 15th century, the enclosure of land by private landlords had meant that the poor were unable to farm and increasingly had to rely on wage labour. The Diggers attempted to seize the revolutionary moment to reclaim these common rights to the land through both argument and direct action.  Protestant agrarian socialists, the Diggers are an example of the long-standing relationship between Christianity and radicalism.

Emerging at the end of the English Civil War, the Diggers started their colony at St George’s Hill on 1st April 1649, just two months after the King, Charles I had gone to the scaffold. While the Diggers were ultimately unsuccessful in reclaiming the common land and destroying the system of “enclosures”, Winstanley’s ideas resonate to this day.

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ISBN: 978 1 84467 595 1 / $15.95 / £8.99 / CAN$20 / 192 pages
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For more information and to buy the book visit:
http://www.versobooks.com/books/479-a-common-treasury
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Part of Verso’s REVOLUTIONS series
http://www.versobooks.com/series_collections/6-revolutions

Other titles that may be of interest include:

GEOFFREY ROBERTSON presents THE LEVELLERS:­ THE PUTNEY DEBATES
http://www.versobooks.com/books/297-the-putney-debates

and

WU MING present THOMAS MÜNTZER :­ SERMON TO THE PRINCES
http://www.versobooks.com/books/367-sermon-to-the-princes

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Academics based outside North America may request an inspection copy please contact tamar@verso.co.uk

Academics based within North America may request an examination copy please contact clara@versobooks.com

Please check the guidelines at http://www.versobooks.com/pg/desk-copies and include all necessary information.
———————————–

***END***

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Paul Mason: ‘From Tehran to Madison’ – What is New in the Great Unrest of 2011?

World Crisis

PAUL MASON: ‘FROM TEHRAN TO MADISON – WHAT IS NEW IN THE GREAT UNREST OF 2011?

Tuesday, 12th April 2011, 11am – 12.15
Venue: David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London (Mile End Campus)
Paul Mason is BBC Newsnight’s Economics editor and author of ‘Live Working or Die Fighting – How the Working Class Went Global’ and ‘Meltdown – The End of the Age of Greed.’

Christian Marazzi: ‘The Common and Money’
Wednesday, 13th April 2011, 1pm – 2.45
Venue: David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London (Mile End Campus)
Christian Marazzi is Professor and director of socio-economic research at the Scuola Universitaria della Svizzera Italiana and author of ‘The Violence of Financial Capitalism.’

Both events are free and open to all and are part of the 14th Annual Conference of the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN): http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/newsandevents/events/items/43116.html

Contact and further info: a.alele@qmul.ac.uk

Maps and directions here: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/about/howtofindus/mileend/index.html
http://www.cfep.org.uk

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Madison to Tehran

World Crisis

MADISON TO TEHRAN

The Center for Place, Culture, and Politics & Haymarket Books are pleased to present:

MADISON to TEHRAN
The Great Unrest – Then & Now

Presentation and Author Q & A
Tuesday, March 15th | 6:30pm
CUNY Graduate Center | History Lounge
365 Fifth Avenue at 34th street Room 5114 (fifth floor)

Featuring Paul Mason
BBC Newsnight and BBC World News America Economics Editor, Blogger, IdleScrawl and author of Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global *Shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award*

Free and open to the public | Space is limited | ID required to sign-in
Hosted by the CUNY Center for Place, Culture, and Politics

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

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

World Crisis

MADISON TO TEHRAN

Left Forum 2011: Towards a Politics of Solidarity

Socialism and Hope

LEFT FORUM 2011: TOWARDS A POLITICS OF SOLIDARITY

WHERE: Pace University, One Pace Plaza New York, NY 10038

WHEN: March 18 – 20, 2011
The Left Forum—the largest annual conference of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, academics, and the interested public in the U.S—will convene this March in New York City. Last year’s participants included Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy and Jesse Jackson. The Left Forum will bring together 700 speakers, over 3,000 participants and 200 panels, during the three-day conference.

Plenary Speakers include:

Cornel West: Culture critic; Distinguished Professor, Princeton University
Barbara Ehrenreich: Author of Nickel and Dimed
Malalai Joya: former member of Afghan parliament
Paul Mason: BBC Newsnight economics editor
Laura Flanders: best-selling author; host of GRITtv
John Nichols: author of The “S” Word; correspondent for The Nation
Carlos M. Vilas: Universidad Nacional Lanus, Argentina; Editor, Latin American Perspectives

For interviews, press passes, or other media queries, email media@leftforum.org

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leftforum.org | left forum on Facebook | left forum on Twitter 
leftforum@leftforum.org  | 212-817-2003

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All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: https://rikowski.wordpress.com

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com