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The Left after the Election

PANELISTS:

BEN CAMPBELL (The North Star)
ANNIE DAY (Revolution)
ANTHONY GALLUZZO (CUNY)
CHRIS MAISANO (DSA, Jacobin)
BHASKAR SUNKARA (Jacobin)

Thursday
Dec 6, 2012
7:00-10:00pm

MODERATOR:

 TANA FORRESTER (Platypus Affiliated Society)

Thursday
Dec 6, 2012
7:00-10:00pm
NYU Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South, rm 804
New York, NY 10011
Join the Facebook event page.

This past US election season saw an array of positions on the Left concerning the outcome that might follow from either major party's victory. Among them, there were some who openly supported the incumbent Barack Obama as the lesser of two evils, others who opposed him by casting a vote for another candidate, and still others who followed the abstentionist line by not voting at all. Many of those who voted for "four more years" did so under the assumption that the Democrats were a broadly center-left party with vaguely social-democratic tendencies, who might be pushed to reverse neoliberal policies and stave off measures of austerity. Some, while generally less optimistic, endorsed Obama on the premise that organizing a mass movement against capitalism would be easier with the Democrats in power. Others argued that Obama had done nothing to deserve reelection, offering no hope for either change or progress moving forward. The rest, who took no stance either for or against any party, chose instead to eschew electoral politics altogether.

Now that the quadrennial plebiscite for the "leader of the free world" has resulted in a Democratic victory, we are afforded a brief chance to critically evaluate the prospects for the Left's transition into the next four years. What is different today from four years ago, when Obama's election seemed departure from eight years under Bush? Did the last four years signal progress or regress for the Left? How will the terrain shift for the Left with another term under the president? In terms of foreign policy, will there be an end to the wars? Or will US militarism continue unabated? Domestically, will government social programs and infrastructure deteriorate yet further? Or will legislative reforms breathe life back into the moribund welfare state? Should we, in fact, take for granted the idea that keeping Romney out of office promises a better environment in which the Left to organize? What does the future hold for a Left caught in the stale air of the status quo?

Organized by Platypus and co-sponsored by Center for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths.

Film Screening:

MARX RELOADED

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

7:00pm

Ian Gulland Lecture Theatre

Goldsmiths College (map)

New Cross, London Borough of Lewisham, London SE14, UK

Marx Reloaded is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx’s ideas in relation to the global economic and financial crisis of 2008–09.

Director Jason Barker will be present for the discussion.

Official site: http://www.marxreloaded.com/

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1884351/

//This film screening is in part a lead up event to the NUS demo on 21st of November and the the “Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis” panel organized by Platypus for Up the Anti: Reclaim the Future event on 1st of December. JOIN FACEBOOK EVENT.

FREE!

ΔΕΙΤΕ ΕΔΩ ΤΗΝ ΕΚΔΗΛΩΣΗ:

https://vimeo.com/56466282

Εκδήλωση - Συζήτηση

Δημοκρατία και Αριστερά

Ομιλητές:

Γιώργος Οικονόμου - Διδάκτωρ φιλοσοφίας
Βασίλης Σαμαράς - ΚΚΕ (μ-λ)
Μιχάλης Μπαρτσίδης - Διδάκτωρ Φιλοσοφίας
Σάββας Μιχαήλ - ΕΕΚ

Εργατικό Κέντρο Θεσσαλονίκης [Αριστοτέλους 32] Κυριακή, 9 Δεκέμβρη 2012
5:30 μ.μ.

Σκεπτικό εκδήλωσης
Από την οικονομική κρίση και τη διάσωση των τραπεζών στο ζήτημα του «δημόσιου χρέους»· από την αραβική άνοιξη στο κίνημα Occupy· από την προσπάθεια για μία ενοποιημένη πανευρωπαϊκή πολιτική, στις εκλογές στην Ελλάδα και Αίγυπτο, οι οποίες φαίνεται να υποσχέθηκαν τόσα πολλά και απείλησαν εν τέλει τόσα λίγα. Σ' όλες αυτές τις περιπτώσεις, η ανάγκη να πάμε πέρα από την απλή «διαμαρτυρία» έχει επιβεβαιωθεί: η πολιτική επανάσταση είναι ξανά στην ατμόσφαιρα. Ταυτοχρόνως, οι εκλογές στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες έμοιαζαν συγκριτικά ένα ασήμαντο γεγονός, παρά του ότι έχουν δυνητικά μακροπρόθεσμες συνέπειες για σημαντικά ζητήματα παγκοσμίως. Σήμερα, οι άνθρωποι, ο λαός –ο δήμος– φαίνεται να έχουν παραιτηθεί και αποδεχθεί την πολιτική τους αδυναμία, ακόμη κι αν μαίνονται ενάντια στη διαφθορά του πολιτικού συστήματος. Ως εκ τούτου, ενώ τα σύγχρονα αιτήματα για εκδημοκρατισμο της πολιτικής του "δήμου" αυξάνονται, είναι πιθανόν επίσης να είναι ενδεικτικά της κοινωνικής και πολιτικής οπισθοδρόμησης, η οποία χρήζει επειγόντως αναγνώρισης και αναστοχασμού. Αιτήματα για δημοκρατία «από τα κάτω» καταλήγουν να εκφράζονται «από τα πάνω»: το 99%, με τον ήδη συσκοτισμένο και ανοργάνωτο χαρακτήρα του, δεν εκφράστηκε ως τέτοιο στις διάφορες πρόσφατες εκλογές, αλλά διασκορπίστηκε σε ποικίλες τάσεις, πολλές εκ των οποίων ήταν αντιδραστικές. Η δημοκρατία διατηρεί έναν αινιγματικό χαρακτήρα, εφ’ όσον μονίμως διαφεύγει κάθε σταθερής μορφής και περιεχομένου, εφ’ όσον οι άνθρωποι υπό τη δυναμική του κεφαλαίου συνεχίζουν να διεκδικούν κατά καιρούς «περισσότερη» δημοκρατία και «πραγματική» δημοκρατία. Ωστόσο η δημοκρατία μπορεί να είναι όπως ο διπρόσωπος Ιανός: εκφράζει συχνά τόσο τα προοδευτικά κοινωνικά και χειραφετητικά αιτήματα, όσο επίσης και την ήττα τους, την αρπαγή τους από έναν εκλεγμένο «Βοναπάρτη». Ποια είναι η ιστορία που διατρέχει τα αιτήματα για ευρύτερη δημοκρατία σήμερα και κατά πόσον η Αριστερά προωθεί επαρκώς – ή όχι – το πρόταγμα της ενίσχυσης της δημοκρατικής λαϊκής εξουσίας; Ποιο είναι το πιθανό μέλλον μίας «δημοκρατικής» επανάστασης, ειδικότερα όπως κατανοείται από την Αριστερά;

Μερικές ενδεικτικές ερωτήσεις που θέσαμε υπόψη των ομιλητών
1. Τι είναι για σας η "πραγματική δημοκρατία", ειδικά στο μέτρο που αυτή αποτελούσε κυρίαρχο αίτημα στις πρόσφατες αυθόρμητες κινητοποιήσεις (π.χ. στην "Αραβική Άνοιξη", το κίνημα Occupy στις ΗΠΑ, τις κινητοποιήσεις κατά της λιτότητας στην Ευρώπη);

2. Υπάρχει διαφορά μεταξύ της αρχαίας και της νεώτερης έννοιας της δημοκρατίας και, εάν ναι, σε τι συνίσταται η διαφορά αυτή; Μοιράζεται μία "πραγματική" δημοκρατία περισσότερα χαρακτηριστικά με την αρχαία ελληνική πόλη;

3. Γιατί η δημοκρατία έχει αναδυθεί ως κεντρικό αίτημα στις πρόσφατες αυθόρμητες κινητοποιήσεις; Το θεωρείτε κι εσείς αναγκαίο, ή επαρκές, για την αντιμετώπιση των προβλημάτων της εποχής μας;

4. Πιστεύετε ότι για την οικοδόμηση ενός δημοκρατικού κινήματος είναι απαραίτητο να αποφεύγονται οι κατεστημένες μορφές "μαζικής" πολιτικής, για χάρη νέων μορφών; Ή είναι οι τρέχουσες μορφές πολιτικής επαρκείς για μία δημοκρατική κοινωνία;

5. Ο Ένγκελς έγραψε ότι "Μία επανάσταση είναι, αναμφίβολα, το αυταρχικότερο πράγμα που μπορεί να υπάρξει." Συμφωνείτε; Μπορεί αυτή η οπτική να είναι συμβατή με τους αγώνες για δημοκρατία;

6. Είναι η δημοκρατία καταπιεστική, ή μπορεί να γίνει καταπιεστική; Πώς κρίνετε τη διατύπωση του Λένιν ότι "...η δημοκρατία είναι επίσης κράτος και ότι, συνεπώς, και η δημοκρατία θα εξαφανιστεί επίσης, όταν θα εξαφανιστεί το κράτος";

7. Πως σχετίζεται σήμερα η δημοκρατία με την εργατική τάξη; Θεωρείται ότι οι ιστορικοί αγώνες της εργατικής τάξης για δημοκρατία ήταν στην ουσία ένα μέσο για την αφομοίωσή της από το σύστημα, ή ο μοναδικός χειραφετητικός δρόμος που δεν μπορούσε να αποφύγει;

8. Πως σχετίζεται η δημοκρατία με το ζήτημα του πιθανού ξεπεράσματος του καπιταλισμού;

Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis

RAYMOND LOTTA ┇ JOE PERSKY ┇ DAVID RUCCIO ┇ DAVID SCHEICKART

// December 3rd, 2012

5-7:30PM

// Assembly Hall

International House
1414 East 59th Street,
Chicago, IL

Join the Facebook event page.

The present moment is arguably one of unprecedented confusion on the Left. The emergence of many new theoretical perspectives on Marxism, anarchism, and the left generally seem rather than signs of a newfound vitality, the intellectual reflux of its final disintegration in history. As for the politics that still bothers to describe itself as leftist today, it seems no great merit that it is largely disconnected from the academic left’s disputations over everything from imperialism to ecology. Perhaps nowhere are these symptoms more pronounced than around the subject of the economy. As Marxist economics has witnessed of late a flurry of recent works, many quite involved in their depth and complexity, recent activism around austerity, joblessness, and non-transparency while quite creative in some respects seems hesitant to oppose with anything but nostalgia for the past the status quo mantra, “There is no Alternative.” At a time when the United States has entered the most prolonged slump since the Great Depression, the European project founders on the shoals of debt and nationalism. If the once triumphant neoliberal project of free markets for free people seems utterly exhausted, the “strange non-death of neo-liberalism,” as a recent book title has it, seems poised to carry on indefinitely. The need for a Marxist politics adequate to the crisis is as great as such a politics is lacking.

And 2011 now seems to be fading into the past. In Greece today as elsewhere in Europe existing Left parties remain largely passive in the face of the crisis, eschewing radical solutions (if they even imagine such solutions to exist). In the United States, #Occupy has vanished from the parks and streets, leaving only bitter grumbling where there once seemed to be creativity and open-ended potential. In Britain, the 2011 London Riots, rather than political protest, was trumpeted as the shafted generation’s response to the crisis, overshadowing the police brutality that actually occasioned it. Finally, in the Arab world where, we are told the 2011 revolution is still afoot, it seems inconceivable that the revolution, even as it bears within it the hopes of millions, could alter the economic fate of any but a handful. While joblessness haunts billions worldwide, politicization of the issue seems chiefly the prerogative of the right. Meanwhile, the poor worldwide face relentless price rises in fuel and essential foodstuffs. The prospects for world revolution seem remote at best, even as bankers and fund managers seem to lament democracy’s failure in confronting the crisis. In this sense, it seems plausible to argue that there is no crisis at all, but simply the latest stage in an ongoing social regression. What does it mean to say that we face a crisis, after all, when there is no real prospect that anything particularly is likely to change, at least not for the better?

In this opaque historical moment, Platypus wants to raise some basic questions: Do we live in a crisis of capitalism today and, if so, of what sort — political? economic? social? Why do seemingly sophisticated leftist understandings of the world appear unable to assist in the task of changing it? Conversely, can the world be thought intelligible without our capacity to self-consciously transform it through practice? Can Marxism survive as an economics or social theory without politics? Is there capitalism after socialism?

Questions:

1. Do we live in a crisis of capitalism today and, if so, of what sort — political? economic? social? Is capitalism basically the same in its “laws of motion” and can it be grasped equally well today as it was by Marx? What difference, if any, does the collapse of the socialist workers movement make for our understanding of capitalism?

2. Why are sophisticated leftist understandings of the world seemingly unable to assist in the task of changing it? Conversely, is the world intelligible despite our incapacity to transform it politically? Can the Left survive as an economics or social theory? Is our work more “difficult” today in theorizing capitalism, or of a completely different kind than it was for past generations of leftist intellectuals?

3. Many on the Left welcomed the #Occupy movement in 2011 because, above all, it responded to capitalist austerity in its slogans and characterized itself in class terms. Did #Occupy betoken a renewed salience of class? How did #Occupy and other movements worldwide differ from the political response — whether by the new social movements or other political expressions — to the crisis of Fordism beginning in the late 1960s and crystallizing with the Oil Crisis in 1973?

4. How does the present crisis compare with past crises of capital? What might we expect to be the duration of the present crisis? Is there an end in sight? Or are we witnessing the “terminal crisis” of capitalism? How do we know? If not the end of capitalism as such, does the present crisis at least signal an end to neoliberalism? If so, what will take its place?

5. How do your political views influence your understanding of capitalism and crisis? In what sense is economics as a science or discipline independent and autonomous from those politics? How do you avoid the danger of your theory from simply confirming your politics, rather than allowing our understanding of present circumstances to help push beyond our present political impasse?

6. At different moments of its unfolding the crisis has been differently expressed in different locations — a sub-prime mortgage crisis in North America, then a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, and now in a still different form in China. What is the extent of the present crisis and how has it been distributed globally? Unevenly? What does globalization look like in a period of prolonged crisis? Is the era of US hegemony at an end? If so, what will take its place? How is/was American imperialism connected to first Fordism and, later, post-Fordist capitalism and how does the new capitalism challenge a new American Empire-led global (re-)organization?

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/53764071]

In October, the Platypus Review published it's fiftieth issue. In celebration of this landmark occasion, at the issue No. 50 release party held in New York City on November 15, 2012, an international video conference with the members of the current and past editorial staff of the Platypus Review was held, including speakers involved with the Platypus Review from New York City and Chicago, USA, London, UK, Thessaloniki, Greece, Maastricht, the Netherlands, Frankfurt, Germany, and Graz, Austria.