Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
"Want to know what the mother of all bubbles was? Came out of nowhere, by chance. They called it the Cambrian Explosion. It happened around 530 million years ago. And, over the next 70-80 million years, the rate of evolution accelerated so fast that we came along, the human race. They still can't explain how that happened, except that it happened. Some people say it was by chance. Others, design. But who really knows?"
School of the Art Institute of Chicago: TH 10.13.2011 | 4PM
112 S. Michigan 14th floor lounge
University of Chicago: TH 10.20.2011 | 6PM
Harper Memorial Library | Room 102 | 1116 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL
"I don't blame you. I mean, I do, but -- sh**, you're not the problem. You're just doing your job, I guess. The people I'm really trying to fight are the ones who destroy so much, and they hurt so many lives. Not just one. Literally, millions. And no one ever points a gun at them. You know, they just seem so -- unaccountable. Untouchable. Just seems kind of f***ed that you're -- you and me are the ones that have to fight each other."
University of Chicago: TH 10.13.2011 | 6PM
Harper Memorial Library | Room 151 | 1116 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL
School of the Art Institute of Chicago: TH 10.20.2011 | 4PM
112 S. Michigan 14th floor lounge
The recent #occupy protests protests depart significantly from the anti-war politics that has defined activism on the Left for the past decade. Slogans decrying corporate greed now dominate the picket signs that until recently were used to condemn U.S. imperialism. However, does this spreading protest movement signal a new era of activism in the U.S.? Or, are these recent demonstrations expressing old and familiar discontents? Perhaps, as the role of Adbusters suggests, something of the 1990s has come back into vogue, bringing back to the fore the age-old hatred of the bankers and impersonal financial institutions, and opposition to neoliberal globalization, now in crisis. The spirit of the 1999 Seattle protest against the World Trade Organization seems to have returned, with a vengeance.
Please join Platypus in considering the historical sources of the ongoing anti-Wall Street protests through the lens of two recent films that highlight the popular imagination of contemporary Capitalism and its discontents.
Contact: saic@platypus1917.org and uofc@platypus1917.org
Please read the article "Finance capital: Why financial capitalism is no more 'fictitious' than any other kind" by the Platypus Historians Group (Platypus Review issue #7, October 2008): http://platypus1917.org/2008/10/01/finance-capital-why-financial-capitalism-is-no-more-fictitious-than-any-other-kind/
Platypus in Chicago will be giving a series of talks on The Relevance of Marxism Today at Occupy Chicago, look out for the banner, “The Left is Dead! Long Live the Left!”, and come join us for discussion.
Teach-in: Does Marxism Matter?
In the mid-19th century, Marx and Engels famously observed in the Communist Manifesto that a ‘specter’ was haunting Europe—the specter of Communism. 160 years later, it is ‘Marxism’ itself that haunts us.
In the 21st century, it seems that the Left abandoned Marxism as a path to freedom. But Marx critically intervened in his own moment and emboldened leftists to challenge society; is the Left not tasked with this today? Has the Left resolved the problems posed by Marx, and thus moved on?
Does Marxism even matter?
Pamphlet: "Finance capital: Why financial capitalism is no more 'fictitious' than any other kind"
In the mid-19th century, Marx and Engels famously observed in the Communist Manifesto that a specter was haunting Europe the specter of Communism. 160 years later, it is Marxism itself that haunts us.
In the 21st century, it seems that the Left abandoned Marxism as a path to freedom. But Marx critically intervened in his own moment and emboldened leftists to challenge society; is the Left not tasked with this today? Has the Left resolved the problems posed by Marx, and thus moved on?
Does Marxism even matter?
A teach-in led by Platypus Affiliated Society Member Jamie Keesling on October 6, 2011, at the New School.
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Platypus in New York will be giving a series of talks on<em> The Relevance of Marxism Today</em> at Occupy Wall st., look out for the banner and come join us for discussion.</span><a
On wednesday 9/14 Platypus hosted a dialogue with Sebastian Fraenkle, editor of the influential German left journal Phase II revolving around what does contemporary landscape of left politics look like in Germany and the United States? What are the points of convergence and departure that shape left politics in these two countries? What might we learn from one another? This conversation will touch on the legacy of 9-11, the Anti-Deutsch milieu, popular anticapitalism versus value critique, the relative prominence of the Marxist and anarchist traditions, and the contentious differences in orientation towards the Israel-Palestine conflict, among other themes.
