The Platypus Affiliated Society at Loyola presents:
Women: The Longest Revolution
Speakers
Margaret Power
Yasmin Nair
Brit Schulte
Wednesday Nov 4Â at 6pm
Regis Hall Multi-Purpose Room
North Shore Campus
Loyola University
Panel Description:
Named for Juliet Mitchell’s 1966 essay, this panel will explore the long history of the struggle for women’s liberation from the vantage point of the Left today. Mitchell critiques bourgeois feminist demands such as the right to work and equal pay to posit the need instead for equal work. She calls for a politics capable of taking on the fundamental transformation of society and more immediate demands “in a single critique of the whole of women’s situation.” In keeping with the spirit of this essay, we ask again what the relationship might be between the struggle for social emancipation and the particular tasks of feminism. How have Leftists imagined this relationship historically? What do we make of it today?
While the “woman question” has played an important role in the history of the Left, its knee-jerk inclusion in current Leftist politics does not necessarily reflect a greater understanding of what the struggle for women’s liberation might mean politically. How exactly is it “the longest revolution?” When did it begin? If the crisis of bourgeois society in the industrial revolution posed the need for women’s freedom as inseparable from the project of human emancipation, then what do we make of the later separation of the feminist movement from the workers’ movement for socialism? What do the seeming successes of feminism tell us when considered in relation to the failure of the proletarian struggle to deepen/realize the task of human freedom?
Held at Loyola University on April 15, 2015.
Panelists:
-- David Mountain (London, UK)
-- Jocelyn Li (Halifax, Canada)
-- Sebastian Vetter (Vienna, Austria)
-- Shirin Hagner (Frankfurt, Germany)
While the academy is more liberal than the American mainstream, economic pressures, such as declining opportunities to succeed on the job market, have led to a general depoliticization of the recent generation, the “millennials.” In Europe, on the other hand, the academy still appears as a hotbed of student radicalism: occupations of university buildings across Europe in 2009, demonstrations in UK universities in 2010 to resist tuition hikes and spending cuts, and various protests calling for more democracy and less austerity throughout Europe, but particularly in Greece and Spain.
The Platypus Affiliated Society presents a round-table discussion with student activists from Europe and Canada who will share their views on recent protest movements in their countries. What issues have been prominent? What has been the relationship between student movements and traditional agents of social change, such as labor unions and social democratic or socialist parties? In the past, professors such as Herbert Marcuse played a significant role in radicalizing protesters. Whom do student activists regard today as sources of intellectual and political inspiration, and what does this influence look like?
We invite local students to share their own experiences with these international representatives, and to discuss the possibilities for a re-politicized student body in the United States.
Sponsored by the Loyola University Student Activities Fund, with the support of Loyola's Student Activities and Greek Affairs.
A panel discussion held at Loyola University on April 3rd, 2014.
Tarek Shalaby (Revolutionary Socialists)
Quentin Cyr (Quebec Student Strike)
Glauk Tahiri (VETEVENDOSJE! movement)
Respondent: Samir Gandesha
Moderator: Nathan Smith
Panel Description:
From massive demonstrations by students in the UK and Canada, to square occupations and general strikes in Greece, to the reemergence of Left political currents in Kosovo in response to waves of privatization and austerity, responses to the economic downturn were international in character. While the crisis has stabilized, conditions for many remain desperate. The fate of these new political movements in light of changed conditions is uncertain.
These new developments require coordination across global networks and it is why Platypus at Loyola is organizing a series of international panels that we hope can take place in Universities across the world where Platypus student members have been able to forge connections.
We hope that this panel will be an opportunity to report on activity and form new connections across international efforts. Panelists will report on the state of the Left in their respected regions and reflect on their experience as organizers while helping formulate what the next steps in organizing and planning could look like in the months and years ahead.
Our weekly Coffee Breaks are a great way to meet Platypus members and fellow travelers, and to get to know the Platypus project. It’s an opportunity to discuss issues raised in the latest issue of the Platypus Review, consider the state of the Left, and just hang out with people who have similar political interests.
Spring 2014 Coffee Breaks
Loyola University: Wednesdays | 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Damen Student Center, Room 123
6511 North Sheridan Road
Contact: luc@platypus1917.org
School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Thursdays | 4:30 – 5:30 pm
Cosi 116 South Michigan Avenue
Contact: saic@platypus1917.org
University of Chicago: Tuesdays | 4:30 – 5:30 pm
Harper Cafe University Hall, 601 South Morgan Street
Contact: uic@platypus1917.org
This four week reading group will examine and contextualize the history and potential future of sexual politics through an discussion of the struggle for sexual emancipation in the epoch of capitalism.
[Click on titles for PDFs of readings]
Introductory Teach-in: “Is Feminism Left?”
Loyola University — Monday, February 10 @ 7 PM
Cuneo Hall | Room 203
School of the Art Institute — Tuesday, February 11th @ 5 PM
112 S Michigan Ave | Room 919
University of Illinois at Chicago — Wednesday, February 5th @ 7 PM
Student Center East | Room 610
Juliet Mitchell — “Women: The longest revolution” (1966)
Loyola University — Wednesday, February 12 @ 5:30 PM
Dumbach Hall | Room 238
School of the Art Institute — Tuesday, February 18th @ 4:30 PM
112 S Michigan Ave | Room 919
University of Illinois at Chicago — Wednesday, February 5th @ 7 PM
Student Center East | Room 610
John D’Emilio — “Capitalism and gay identity” (1983)
Loyola University — Wednesday, February 26 @ 5:30 PM
Dumbach Hall | Room 238
School of the Art Institute — Tuesday, February 25
112 S Michigan Ave | Room 919
University of Illinois at Chicago — Wednesday, February 19th @ 7 PM
Student Center East Room 610
Theodor W. Adorno — “Sexual taboos and the law today” (1963)
Loyola University — Wednesday, March 12 @ 5:30 PM
Dumbach Hall | Room 238
School of the Art Institute — Tuesday, March 11th @ 4:30 PM
112 S Michigan Ave | Room 919
University of Illinois at Chicago — Wednesday, March 5th @ 7 PM
Student Center East Room 610
Clara Zetkin and Vladimir Lenin — “An interview on the woman question” (1920)
Loyola University — Wednesday, March 26th @ 5:30 PM
Dumbach Hall | Room 238
School of the Art Institute — Tuesday, March 25th @ 4:30 PM
112 S Michigan Ave | Room 919
University of Illinois at Chicago — Wednesday, March 19th @ 7 PM
Student Center East Room 610
