Saturday, April 26, 2014

Marx Memorial Library:

Marx Memorial Library

MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY: POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR TRADE UNIONISTS

There is a series of four classes entitled Political Economy for Trade Unionists taking place in April and May as follows:

Tuesday 29 April - Today's Capitalist Crisis: Banks, Profits, Wages and Austerity
Tutor:  Jonathan White

Tuesday 6 May - The Assault on the Workplace: Rights, Conditions and Pay
Tutor: John McGee

Tuesday 13 May - The Law and Industrial Relations
Tutor: John Hendy QC

Tuesday 20 May - The Assault on Democratic Rights: The threat to labour's collective voice
Tutor:  Professor Marj Mayo

All classes begin at 6.30 in the Lecture Hall at the Library.  The Registration fee for four classes is £12.

Dr Laura Miller
Administrator
Marx Memorial Library
37a Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0DU
(Tel)  0207 253 1485

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‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

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Marx Memorial Library

Marx Memorial Library

MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY: THE HERITAGE OF RALPH MILIBAND

These lectures at the Marx Memorial Library celebrate the contributions of sociologist and political thinker Ralph Miliband to Marxist thought and politics.

The Heritage of Ralph Miliband
Convened and presented by Mike Newman

Tuesday 17 June - Labour and the New Left: Parliamentary Socialism

Tuesday 24 June - Marxism and Politics: The State in Capitalist Society

Dr Laura Miller
Administrator
Marx Memorial Library
37a Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0DU
(Tel)  0207 253 1485

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

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Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

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Thursday, April 24, 2014

International Education Research Seminar on Marxism, Critical Pedagogy and Education


INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH SEMINAR ON MARXISM, CRITICAL PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION

Wednesday 9th July 2014 3.00pm-7.30pm
Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, England
Department of Education
International Education Research Seminar on Marxism, Critical Pedagogy and Education
(Followed by social event / eating out near Chelmsford Station
Room: SAW 005 or other room (tbc)

Introduced by Alpesh Maisuria (University of East London, England) and Professor Dave Hill (Anglia Ruskin University, England)

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Ayse Elitok (Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey)`Village Institutes’ in Turkey- the development of secular education in rural Turkey and their demise in the face of landlord and religious opposition’
Dr. Tom Griffiths (Newcastle University, NSW, Australia) `Critical Education and World-Systems Analysis’
Dr. Lilia Monzo (Chapman University, Orange, California, USA) A Critical Pedagogy for Democracy: Confronting Higher Education’s Neoliberal Agenda with a Critical Latina Feminist Episteme
Dr. Paolo Vittoria (Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Popular Education and Social Change in Latin America: another school is possible?


**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

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Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

How Capitalism Survives: Historical Materialism London Conference 2014

HOW CAPITALISM SURVIVES: HISTORICAL MATERIALISM LONDON CONFERENCE 2014
How Capitalism Survives
Eleventh Annual Historical Materialism London Conference
6-9 November 2014
Vernon Square, Central London*

This year marks the first of a series of centennial commemorations and anniversaries, starting with that of the first worldwide inter-imperialist conflict. Centuries of colonialism and imperialism served as a preparatory phase for the catastrophe. Indeed, while the main parties of the Second International trampled the revolutionary socialist tradition in trench-mud, the First World War destroyed the illusion that imperialist violence could be wreaked on the colonies while leaving Europe untouched. If capital came into the world ‘dripping from head to toe, from every pore, with blood and dirt’, Marx’s analysis of ‘primitive accumulation’ has certainly not been confined to a pre-history of capital.

And yet, contrary to all expectations, despite these tremors and shocks, despite the terrifying glances into the abyss of destruction, capitalism has survived. Not only has capital muddled through; it has mutated, adapted and, by some criteria, emerged stronger than before. At the same time, however, new contradictions and crises have appeared, expanding the spaces of critique to the ecological and the ideological terrains and opening up new possibilities of revolutionary breakthrough.

In recent years, the crisis and the movements emerging in response have re-opened an opportunity to envision, and fight for, substantive alternatives. But these movements have remained fragmented and have faced increasing state repression and imperialist aggression. And the on-going crisis is now raising the stakes. It is clear that this crisis is indeed global, leading to deepening austerity in the North and undermining the conditions for sustained growth in the South. If, in the North, the ‘war on terror’ manifests itself in intensified state racism and Islamophobia, the crisis is also intensifying and bringing to the surface underlying international rivalries. The winds of war from the South are reaching Europe once again. But from the South, movements worldwide also bear witness to countless examples of struggle and resistance.

At this year's conference, we want to explore capital's capacity to survive in order to explore, first and foremost, how it can be overcome. We are interested in investigating contemporary geographical reconfigurations of accumulation and interrogating theories of imperialism, hegemonic succession, and capital’s tendencies towards increasing inter-state rivalries. On the other hand, we want to delve into theories and practices of class struggles, social movements and resistance which create possible alternatives to neoliberalism, crisis and war by constantly challenging the smooth reproduction of capitalism in its gendered, social, economic, political, racial, ecological, cultural and ideological dimensions. In doing so, we also want to enrich our understanding of a Marxian analysis of ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ with an analysis of current developments of Marxism in the South in general and in the BRICS economies in particular. We also hope to continue the theme on Race and Capital inaugurated last year.

We welcome abstract proposals of 200 words on these themes or any others, in all disciplines, from all continents and from all perspectives within Marxism. The deadline for proposals is 15th May 2014.

Please register your abstracts here: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/conferences/annual11/submit

Separate calls go out for the following streams: Marxism and Feminism, and Ecology and Climate Change.

* Please note that this year the conference will not be taking place at the main SOAS buildings at Thornhaugh Square.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

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Thursday, April 17, 2014

Mass Intellectuality

MASS INTELLECTUALITY

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO A BOOK ON ‘MASS INTELLECTUALITY: THE DEMOCRATISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION’

Joss Winn (University of Lincoln, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Educational Research and Development) at: http://josswinn.org/2014/02/book-proposal-mass-intellectuality-the-democratisation-of-higher-education/  

Through our work on the Social Science Centre, Richard Hall and I have been approached to produce a book which documents and critically analyses ‘alternative higher education’ projects in terms of their being critical responses to ‘intellectual leadership’ in mainstream higher education. The book is intended to be part of a series already agreed with Bloomsbury Academic Publishing that focuses on ‘intellectual leadership’. The series editors have encouraged us to develop a proposal for an edited volume. A brief statement about the series is:

‘Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education’ is a research-level series comprising monographs and edited collections with an emphasis on authored books. The prime purpose of the series is to provide a forum for different and sometimes divergent perspectives on what intellectual leadership means within the context of higher education as it develops in the 21st century.

This is an invitation to attend a workshop where we aim to collectively design a book proposal that is submitted to Bloomsbury. As you can see below, we have drafted a proposal, which the series editors and their peer-reviewers have responded very positively to, but it has always been our intention to ultimately produce the book in a collaborative way with all its authors.

[UPDATE: Just to be clear: we welcome contributions from authors who are not based in the UK and can offer a perspective from outside the UK. It is our intention that the book have an international focus. Attendance at the workshop is preferred but not obligatory.]

We hope that from the workshop, a revised proposal is produced with confirmed authors and chapter summaries, which we will then submit to Bloomsbury for final approval.

We are very optimistic that it will be accepted, but of course we are at liberty to submit the proposal elsewhere if Bloomsbury decide not to go ahead with it. Either way, we are confident of getting the book published.
Hopefully, the draft proposal below is largely self-explanatory. The chapters headings are only indicative in order to get us this far. We expect a fully revised proposal to come out of the workshop with input from all authors.
If you are interested in writing a chapter for the book, you are strongly encouraged to attend the workshop. We will be seeking international contributions to the book, but would like as many authors as possible to help design the book through attendance at this workshop.

We welcome anyone who is involved with and/or working on alternative higher education projects such as free universities, transnational collectives, occupied spaces, and co-operatives for higher education. We hope that this book will provide a lasting critical analysis of recent and existing efforts to develop alternatives to mainstream higher education in the UK and elsewhere. We expect it to encompass chapters which focus on all aspects of these initiatives including, for example, governance, pedagogy, institutional form, theory, disciplinary boundaries, subjectivities: ‘academic’, ‘teacher’, ‘student’, ‘researcher’, and the role and nature of research outside of mainstream universities.

The workshop will be held on Thursday 5th June in Leicester, UK. Exact details of time and place will be sent to participants nearer the date. If you would like to attend, please email Joss Winn prior to 10th May, with a brief abstract of your anticipated contribution. This will help us get a sense of direction prior to the workshop and organise it more effectively. If you are unable to attend the workshop but would like to contribute to the book, please tell us.

OUTLINE:
1. Book Title and Subtitle.
‘Mass Intellectuality: The democratisation of higher education’
2. Summary
Drawing on the activism of academics and students working in, against and beyond the neo-liberal university, this book brings together for the first time, both an analysis of the crisis of higher education and the alternative forms that are emerging from its ruins.
3. Description (marketing)
Higher education in the UK and elsewhere is in crisis. The idea of the public university is under assault, and both the future of the sector and its relationship to society are being gambled. Higher education is increasingly unaffordable, its historic institutions are becoming untenable, and their purpose is resolutely instrumental. What and who have led us to this crisis? What are the alternatives? To whom do we look for leadership in revealing those alternatives?
This book brings together critical analyses of the failures of ‘intellectual leadership’ in the University, and documents on-going efforts from around the world to create alternative models for organising higher education and the production of knowledge. Its authors offer their experience and views from inside and beyond the structures of mainstream higher education, in order to reflect critically on efforts to create really existing alternatives.
The authors argue that mass higher education is at the point where it no longer reflects the needs, capacities and long-term interests of society. An alternative role and purpose is required, based upon ‘mass intellectuality’ or the real possibility of democracy in learning and the production of knowledge.
4. Key features
1. The book critiques the role of higher education and the University in developing solutions to global crises that are economic and socio-environmental. In this way it grounds an analysis of the idea that there is no alternative for higher education but to contribute to neoliberal agendas for economic growth and the marketisation of everyday life. The restrictions on the socio-cultural leadership inside the University are revealed.
2. The book describes and analyses several real, alternative forms of higher education that have emerged around the world since the ‘Great Recession’ in 2008. These alternatives emerged from worker-student occupations, from engagements in civil society, and from the co-operatives movement. These projects highlight a set of co-operative possibilities for demonstrating and negotiating new forms of political leadership related to higher learning that are against the neo-liberal university.
3. The book argues that the emergence of alternative forms of higher education, based on co-operative organising principles, points both to the failure of intellectual leadership inside the University and to the real possibility of democracy in learning and the production of knowledge. The place of ‘Mass Intellectuality’ as a form of distributed leadership that is beyond the limitations of intellectual leadership in the University will be critiqued, in order to frame social responses to the crisis.
5. Table of Contents
Chapters to be negotiated in a dedicated workshop for the book. However, examples indicative of actual content are as follows.
1. Introduction: Leadership and academic labour: the failure of intellectual leadership in Higher Education [Joss Winn and Richard Hall]
This chapter will introduce the book by offering a perspective on the different types of ‘intellectual leadership’ that exist within higher education i.e. the state, university management, and academic. It will establish a critical framework for understanding the role of each, focused upon their interrelationships, and the tensions and barriers that arise. The chapter aims to introduce and provide a review of the term ‘intellectual leadership’, and then offer a different way of conceiving it as a form of social relationship. In doing so, the authors will briefly question the role, purpose and idea of the university and ask what is it for, or rather, why is it being led? For what purpose? If there has been a failure of leadership, whom has it failed? The authors will then draw on other chapters in the book to offer further responses to these questions, which are themselves developed through the structure of the book: in; against; and beyond the university. We will review the aim of each section, how they are connected and why they point to the need for alternatives. We will address whether it is possible to define alternatives for higher education as a coherent project, and if so how can they be developed and what is the role of leadership in that process?
First section: inside the University
This section sets up the problems of intellectual leadership, historically, philosophically and politically. The co-editors suggest the following indicative areas, which will be defined at the workshop.
·           The failures of intellectual leadership: historical critique (including militarisation and financialisation)
·           The failures of intellectual leadership: philosophical critique
·           Intellectual leadership and limits of institutional structures: managerialism and corporatisation against academic freedom
·           Technology: enabling democracy or cybernetic control?
·           The recursive ‘logic’ of openness in higher education: Levelling the ivory tower?
Second section: against the University
This section documents responses to the first section, in the form of recent critical case studies from those working and studying within and outside the academy. The co-editors suggest the following indicative areas, which will be defined at the workshop.
·           Leaderless networks, education and power
·           Student intellectual leadership: models of student-academic and student-worker collaboration
·           Forms of co-operation: case studies of organisational democracy in education
·           Historical examples of leaderless organisation
·           Historical examples of resistance to intellectual leadership
·           Regional examples of alternatives: Latin America, etc.
·           A review of recent initiatives: Student as Producer, SSC, FUN, Free University Brighton, Liverpool, Ragged, P2PU, Brisbane, Edufactory, etc.
Third section: beyond the University
This section provides a critical analysis of the responses described in section two and draws out generalisable themes related to the purpose, organisation and production of higher education, in terms of the idea of Mass Intellectuality, relating it to leadership.  The co-editors suggest the following indicative areas, which will be defined at the workshop.
·           Co-operative higher education. Conversion or new institution building?
·           Other models: Open Source ‘benevolent dictator’; heroic leader; radical collegiality, co-operatives
·           Critiques of horizontalism, P2P production, forms of co-operation, radical democracy, etc.
·           Beyond/problems with/critique of ‘Student as Producer’ (Lincoln)
·           General intellect, mass intellectuality: New forms of intellectuality
·           Higher and higher education: Utopian forms of higher education
·           Intellectual leadership and local communities
·           Public intellectuals and public education
Conclusion. The role of free universities: in, against and beyond [Joss Winn and Richard Hall].
The concluding chapter will aim to synthesis key points from the book into an over-arching critical, theoretical argument based upon evidence from the preceding chapters. We will question whether the examples of alternatives to intellectual leadership inside and beyond the university are effective and whether they are prefigurative of a fundamental change in the meaning, purpose and form of higher education. We will reflect on the concept of ‘mass intellectuality’, and attempt to develop this idea in light of our critique and preceding evidence. We will attempt to identify a coherent vision for alternatives to mainstream higher education and assess the role and form of ‘intellectual leadership’.

6. Chapter by chapter synopsis
This needs to be determined at our workshop, but the text below is indicative.
Section one collects chapters which discuss the historical, political-economic and technological trajectory of the modern university, with a particular critical focus on the ‘imaginary futures’ of post-war higher education in the UK and elsewhere. In the context of the current social and economic crises, the chapters lay out the failures of universities and their leaders to provide an on-going and effective challenge to neo-liberalism and question why.
Section two collects chapters which focus on recent and historical attempts by students and academics to resist, reinvent and revolutionise the university from within. Looking at UK and international examples, they examine the characteristics of these efforts and assess the effectiveness of critical forms of praxis aimed against what the university has become.
Section three collects chapters which reflect critically on recent student and academic activism that goes beyond the institutional form of the university to understand higher education as a form of social relations independent of mainstream disciplines and structures. They examine several inter-related and complementary forms of practice as well as reflecting critically on their own practice.

7. Indicative Submission date
·           Workshop to define content and structure in 5th June 2014
·           First draft of all chapters by October/November 2014.
·           Peer-review of chapters completed by February/March 2015.
·           Final draft chapters to co-editors by May/June 2015.
·           Manuscript delivered by September 2015.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

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Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academic.edu/GlennRikowski
Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Angela Davis, Harry Belafonte, Cornel West, Kshama Sawant, Amy Goodman, David Harvey, and Stanley Aronovitz to speak at Left Forum 2014

David Harvey
ANGELA DAVIS, HARRY BELAFONTE, CORNEL WEST, KSHAMA SAWANT, AMY GOODMAN, DAVID HARVEY, AND STANLEY ARONOWITZ TO SPEAK AT LEFT FORUM 2014

Left Forum 2014
May 30th – June 1st
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York
524 West 59th Street New York, NY, 10019

Left Forum is the largest annual conference in the United States of the broad spectrum of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, organizations and the interested public. Each year thousands of conference participants come together in New York City to discuss pressing local, national and global issues; to better understand commonalities and differences, and alternatives to current predicaments; or to share ideas to help build social movements to transform the world. This year's theme is "Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice." Panels can be proposed until the deadline of April 27th.




Left Forum: www.leftforum.org

CONTACT:
Marcus Graetsch
Left Forum 2014
T: (212) 817-2002
New York, NY

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academic.edu/GlennRikowski
Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

Monday, April 14, 2014

Beyond Capitalism - Critical Theory for Radical Democracy

Heathwood Press

BEYOND CAPITALISM: CRITICAL THEORY FOR RADICAL DEMOCRACY
Open Call for Papers
Heathwood Press: An Independent Critical Organisation for Social Progress

Call for Papers: We are seeking contributions from a diversity of authors and researchers concerning discussions on post-capitalist society and the development of radical (participatory) democratic alternatives. This project is broad in scope, and we welcome papers and articles from across all disciplines: from economics and law to education, social sciences and the environment. We prefer works that directly emphasize an interdisciplinary approach and express an understanding of the aims of our critical theoretical project. One example of a proposal already received is a paper on 21st Century critical theory and radical (participatory) grassroots politics. Another example is a project that aims to establish a fundamental critique of violence in education, with a mind toward a foundational alternative philosophy of education.
Papers will be published online.
Before contacting us, please familiarize yourself with our project and past publications: http://www.heathwoodpress.com/advancing-frankfurt-school-critical-theory/
To contact us about this open call, please write to: enquiries[at]heathwoodpress.com
Heathwood Institute & Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com/

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academic.edu/GlennRikowski
Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

Monday, April 7, 2014

Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues (MERD)

MARXISM AND EDUCATION: RENEWING DIALOGUES (MERD)
Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford Campus
Wednesday 21 May 2014,
3pm – 6pm, Room: Saw 005
Education, Marxism and Society
Update: 7th April 2014
---
3pm
Welcome by Dave Hill and Alpesh Maisuria

3.05pm
Deirdre O'Neill (InsideFilm.org/)
Film, Prisons, Social Class and Radical Pedagogy: A Marxist Analysis

4.05pm
Glenn Rikowski (Visiting Scholar, Anglia Ruskin University)
Crisis and Education

5.05
Ravi Kumar (South Asian University, India)
Marxism and Education: An Indian Perspective

6.05
Social event

In association with Anglia Ruskin University Department of Education Research Seminars

Full address: Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford: Bishop Hall Lane, CM1 1SQ.


**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academic.edu/GlennRikowski
Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

Marx's Early Writings on Transcending Capitalism

MARX'S EARLY WRITINGS ON TRANSCENDING CAPITALISM
SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2014
6:00-8:00 PM
Westside Peace Center
3916 Sepulveda Blvd., near Venice Blvd. (free parking in rear)
Suite 101-102, press #22 at door to get into building
Culver City (LA area)

Speaker:
ALI KIANI, Iranian Marxist activist and translator

In contrast to the traditional view that Marx's work is restricted to a critique of capitalism and does not contain a detailed or coherent conception of its alternative, this presentation will focus on aspects of his early critiques of political economy, from the POVERTY OF PHILOSOPHY (1847) through the GRUNDRISSE (1857-58). We will discuss the notion, developed recently in Peter Hudis's MARX'S CONCEPT OF THE ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM, that Marx was committed to a specific concept of a post-capitalist society that informed his critique of value production, alienated labor, and capitalist accumulation. Instead of focusing on the present with only a passing reference to the future, Marx's emphasis on capitalism's tendency towards dissolution is rooted in a specific conception of what should replace it. We will critically re-examine that conception in the context of the quest for an alternative to capitalism, something that has taken on increased importance today.

Suggested reading: Ch. 2 of Peter Hudis, MARX'S CONCEPT OF THE ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM (Haymarket Books, 2013)

Sponsored by the West Coast Chapter, International Marxist-Humanist Organization

Here is the link to the online announcement of the meeting for posting via email, Facebook, etc.: http://www.internationalmarxisthumanist.org/events/los-angeles-marxs-early-writings-transcending-capitalism 
Join our new Facebook page: "International Marxist-Humanist Organization" https://www.facebook.com/groups/imhorg/

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academic.edu/GlennRikowski
Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com