WHAT IS THE #OCCUPY MOVEMENT?
Please join us for the first platypus public event of the year
Friday 16 of March 2012
7pm @ Housmans
(Peace House, 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1 9DX)
Speakers:
Barbara Dorn (IBT)
Michele Kidane Mariam, Occupier
Tammy Samede, Occupier
Ed N, Activist
Steve, Michael and Martin, editors of The Occupied Times
LISTEN TO AUDIO
The recent #Occupy protests are driven by discontent
with the present state of affairs: glaring economic
inequality, dead-end electoral politics, and, for some,
the suspicion that capitalism could never produce an
equitable society. These concerns are coupled with
aspirations for social transformation at an international level in the #occupy movement.
Although participants at #Occupy sites managed to organize resources for their own daily needs, legal services, health services, sleeping arrangements, food supplies, defense against police brutality, and a consistent media presence, these pragmatic concerns have taken precedent over long-term goals of the movement. Where can participants of this protest engage in formulating, debating, and questioning the ends of this movement? How can it affect the greater society beyond the occupied spaces?
We in the Platypus Affiliated Society ask participants and interested observers of the #Occupy movement to consider the possibility that political disagreement could lead to clarification, further development and direction. Only when we are able create an active culture of thinking and debating on the Left without it proving prematurely divisive can we begin to imagine a Leftist politics adequate to the historical possibilities of our moment. We may not know what these possibilities for transformation are. This is why we think it is imperative to create avenues of engagement that will support these efforts.
Towards this goal, Platypus will be hosting a series of roundtable discussions with organizers and participants of the #Occupy movement. These have started at campuses in New York, Halifax and Chicago but will be moving to other North American cities, and beyond London, to Germany, and Greece in the months to come. We welcome any and all who would like to be a part of this project of self-education and potential rebuilding of the Left to join us in advancing this critical moment.
-The Platypus Affiliated Society
UPDATE:
Since November of 2011, and with the help of working groups and organizers of OWS, Platypus has been hosting a series of roundtable discussions reflecting on the obstacles and possibilities, political content, and potential future of the #Occupy movement. These have taken place in New York, Chicago, Boston, Halifax (Canada), London (UK). We welcome any and all who would like to be a part of this project of self-education and potential rebuilding of the Left to join us in advancing this critical moment.
Click on banners to see event media.
/// Platypus on the Airwaves: Pam Nogales on Occupy Wall Street Radio /// 5.4.12 ///
/// The Day After: What is the #Occupy Movement? NYC III /// 5.2.12 ///
/// Defining Democracy: The Labor Movement and #Occupy /// 3.31.12 ///Β
/// Lenin and the Marxist Left after #Occupy /// 3.31.12 ///
/// Whence Anarchism? The Historical Conjuncture of #Occupy /// 3.31.12 ///
/// The Environmentalism of #Occupy /// 3.18.12 ///
/// 2011, 1999, 1968 β and 2012? The History of the Left and #Occupy /// 3.18.12 ///
/// The Significance of Art in the Occupy Movement /// 3.17.12 ///
/// Finance Capital and #Occupy /// 3.17.12 ///
/// What is the #Occupy Movement? London I /// 3.16.12 ///
/// What is the #Occupy Movement? Cambridge I /// 12.15/11 ///
/// What is the #Occupy Movement? NYC II /// 12.9.11 ///
/// What is the #Occupy Movement? Halifax I /// 11.16.11 ///