On October 16, 2008, a panel discussion titled What is a Movement? A Discussion on the Meaning and Direction of Left Political “Movements” Historically and Today was held in Chicago. The panelists were Luis Brennan of the new Students for a Democratic Society, Elena Davis of Pomegranate Health Collective, Chuck Hendricks of UNITE/HERE, Jorge Mujica of Movimiento 10 de Marzo, and Richard Rubin of Platypus.
Transcript in Platypus Review #14:
"The desire for revolution cannot be born only when the situation is ripe, because among the conditions for this ripeness are the revolutionary demands made of an unripe reality."
-- Leszek Kolakowski
"But it is absurd to think of a purely 'objective' foresight. The person who has foresight in reality has a 'programme' that he wants to see triumph, and foresight is precisely an element of this triumph."
-- Antonio Gramsci
"The socialist order of society is not prevented by world history; it is historically possible. But it will not be realized by a logic that is immanent to history but by men trained in theory and determined to make things better. Otherwise, it will not be realized at all."
-- Max Horkheimer
". . . every shortcoming in historical duty increases the necessary disorder and prepares more serious catastrophes."
-- Antonio Gramsci
Panelists
Luis Brennan (new Students for a Democratic Society),
Elena Davis (Pomegranate Health Collective),
Chuck Hendricks (UNITE/HERE),
Jorge Mujica (Movimiento 10 de Marzo),
and Richard Rubin (Platypus)
Platypus Affiliated Society presents
NAOMI KLEIN: Disaster Capitalism: Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys
International House
Assembly Hall
1414 East 59'th St.
OCTOBER 1, 7PM
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the international and New York Times bestseller The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007). The six-minute companion film, created by Alfonso Cuaron, director of Children of Men, was an Official Selection of the 2007 Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and a viral phenomenon as well, downloaded over one million times. Klein's regular column for The Nation and The Guardian is distributed internationally by The New York Times Syndicate. In 2004 her reporting from Iraq for Harper's Magazine won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. The same year, she released a feature documentary about Argentina's occupied factories, The Take, co-produced with director Avi Lewis. The film was an official selection of the Venice Biennale and won the best documentary jury prize at the American Film Institute's Film Festival in Los Angeles. Klein is a former Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics and holds an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws from the University of King's College, Nova Scotia.
Co-sponsors:
Platypus, Studentsfor a Democratic Society, International House Global Voices Lecture Program, Center for Gender Studies, and 3CT (Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory).
A discussion held by the Platypus Affiliated Society and News & Letters (Marxist-Humanists) on Thursday, January 17th, 2008, at the University of Chicago.
Andrew Kliman on his new book "Reclaiming Marx's 'Capital'"
Marx's critique of political economy: the relation between price and social value in proper context
Andrew Kliman is Professor of Economics at Pace University, New York
http://akliman.squarespace.com/
A lecture by Platypus Affiliated Society member Chris Cutrone on the history of the Left between 1905 to 1919, given on August 19th, 2007. Part of the History of the Left lecture series held in the summer of 2007.
A lecture by Platypus Affiliated Society member Chris Cutrone on the history of the Left that led up to the 1917 Russian Revolution, given on August 12th, 2007. Part of the History of the Left lecture series held in the summer of 2007.
