WITH THE 4TH OF JULY HOLIDAY upon us, predictably, a deluge of jejune articles, interviews, and Twitter threads admonishing the revolutionary credentials of the American Revolution (or the American War of Independence to be more concise) will inevitably come out in full force, brimming with vim, vigour, and pomp.
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Over June and July 2020, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a lecture series titled “The Legacy of the American Revolution”. The lectures were given by Platypus members James Vaughn, Chris Cutrone, Pamela Nogales, Spencer Leonard and Reid Kotlas. To conclude the lecture series, the lecturers convened a roundtable discussion on the fate of the American Revolution. What follows is an edited transcript of their discussion.
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A CERTAIN CHANGE CAN BE SENSED in Latin America’s remaining bastions of left-wing rule. The once popular governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—together with their charismatic and populist leaders—have been forced to the defensive as widespread protests show signs of disillusionment with unfulfilled promises of prosperity and change.
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On May 23, 2020, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a virtual panel discussion with Dick Howard (Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University), Chris Nineham (founding member and vice chair of the Stop the War Coalition), Shane Mage (former senior editor of Economics and Social Science for Collier’s Encyclopedia), Leo Panitch (Distinguished Research Professor of political science at York University), and Chris Cutrone (founding member of the Platypus Affiliated Society and professor of art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago).
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On July 18, 2020, Daniel Jacobs and Luc Bronder-Giroux interviewed Gerald Horne, author and Moores Professor of History and African-American Studies at the University of Houston, to discuss the legacy of what Horne refers to as the “American Revolution” and the settler colonial project in light of the recent wave of protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by police and against the backdrop of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. What follows is an edited transcript of this discussion.
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