The two historical precedents for #Occupy are Seattle in 1999 and Paris in May 1968. The 1960s and 1990s saw the rise of anarchism against otherwise predominant liberal, social-democratic and Marxist tendencies. One difference in 2011 is democratic discontents in a period of economic crisis, whereas the mid- to late-20th century crises of the Fordist state and alterglobalization took place in periods of prosperity. How does the history of two preceding historical generations of the Left inform the present movement, and how might the present movement go beyond them? How is this a time for renewal on the Left? What might be the challenges for continuing Occupy Wall Street during deepening crisis and in the time of a general election in the U.S.?
Brooke Lehman is a faculty member at the Institute for Social Ecology and a longtime activist. She is on the Board of Smartmeme, the Brecht Forum, and Yansa, and spends most of her time organizing with Occupy Wall Street.
Dave Haack is an organizer of Occupy Your Workplace.
What began as an exhilarating dawn of possibility in the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt has turned, a year later, into a sobering revelation of limitations on change and deepening dangers ahead. How has the Left received the democratic upsurge in the Arab world, and how can greater progressive potential be realized? How does the Arab Spring fit into the rising uncertainty in global politics, and how can a conservative reaction be avoided? What are the needs to be met, and how is the Left able (or not) to provide a critical contribution to the course of unfolding events?
Siyaves Azeri is the spokesperson of the Committee of International Relations of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. He is also a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Philosophy, Queen's University, Kingston Canada. Azeri has taught as an assistant professor at Koc University in Istanbul; he has also taught at University of Ottawa and as a guest lecturer at Istanbul Technical University.
Maria Rohaly is a coordinator for Mission Free Iran, an international organization that emerged during the 2009 uprising in Iran to amplify the demands and struggle for the goals and objectives of the revolution: freedom, equality, and humane society. These objectives are the line that divides the revolution from the counter-revolution in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Tunisia and beyond. Mission Free Iran places special emphasis on the radical demands of students, workers, refugees, and fundamentally women. Mission Free Iran recently launched a special campaign to save Sakineh Ashtiani, the Iranian who was to be stoned to death on basis of allegations of adultery.
Video of Platypus panels at the Left Forum can be found on Vimeo on the Platypus channel.
March 16-18 at Pace University
Session 1 W402 Finance Capital and Occupy: Marxist Perspectives Sat 10:00am
Session 3 W623 Impossible Occupations: Marxism and Psychoanalysis Sat 03:00pm
Session 3 W605 The Significance of Art in the Occupy Movement Sat 03:00pm
Session 3 W617 Arab Spring into Winter? Challenges to the Left one year on Sat 03:00pm
Session 5 E308 2011, 1999, 1968 -- and 2012? The history of the Left and #Occupy Sun 10:00am
Session 5 E329 Technology, Un/Employment, and the Left: From Future Shock to OWS Sun 10:00am
Session 5 E326 The Environmentalism of Occupy Sun 10:00am
Session 7 E320 Third Parties and the Left: Problems and Prospects Sun 03:00pm
Drop by the Platypus table!
PROMETHEUS IN DRIFT
an evening of modernist readings, featuring:
G o e t h e | H ö l d e r l i n | R e n a r d | K l e i s t | W a l s e r | V a l e r y | B e c k e t t | K a f k a | S t e v e n s | Y e s e n i n | B a u d e l a i r e | M y a k o v s k y | C e l a n
friday, 03.02, 7pm | nyu kimmel, rm 909, 60 washington sq s
if you would like to volunteer to read one of the selections or have any questions about the event, please contact nyu@platypus1917.org.
<div><strong></strong><strong>PART 1: </strong> Reds (1981)</div>
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<a href="http://newyork.platypus1917.org/film-screening-series-second-international-radicals/image/" rel="attachment wp-att-1440"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1440 alignleft" title="reds" src="http://newyork.platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/image-300x270.png" alt="" width="300" height="270" /></a>A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.</span>
<h3><strong>NYU:</strong> Sunday, January 15th 1PM
NYU Sociology, Puck Building, 4th Floor
295 Lafayette St.</h3>
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<div><strong>PART 2:</strong>Rosa Luxemburg (1986)</div>
<div><a href="http://newyork.platypus1917.org/film-screening-series-second-international-radicals/rosa/" rel="attachment wp-att-1441"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1441" title="rosa" src="http://newyork.platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/rosa-221x300.png" alt="" width="221" height="300" /></a>
Polish socialist and pacifist Rosa Luxemburg dreams about revolution during the era of German Wilhelminism. While Luxemburg campaigns relentlessly for her beliefs, getting repeatedly imprisoned in Germany as well as in Poland, lovers and comrades betray her until the ambitious leader is assassinated after World War I in 1919.</div>
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<h3><strong>NYU:</strong> Sunday, January 22nd 1PM
NYU Sociology, Puck Building, 4th Floor
295 Lafayette St.</h3>
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Please join Platypus for this film screening series, a lead-in to our reading group on the "Second International Radicals," Lenin, Luxemburg, and Trotsky. At its highest peak in the early twentieth century, what were the problems and potentials of Marxism? What did the group of radicals represent in the face of the massive, international. Marxist movement of the Second International? What did they seek to achieve and how? For they are not dead and buried, as both friends and enemies have claimed. They continue to insist on the question: Can capitalism be overcome?
Contact: <a href="mailto:newyork@platypus1917.org" target="_blank">newyork@platypus1917.org</a>
