Saturday 27 November 2010

Two SOAS seminars

‘THE GLOBALISATION LECTURES’
Organised by the Department of Development Studies School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London Convenor: Prof. Gilbert Achcar 2010-2011

WORLD LITERATURE AND WORLD LANGUAGES
TARIQ ALI
Wednesday 1st December, 6:30pm
SOAS, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre Free entrance
TARIQ ALI is an internationally acclaimed writer and commentator who regularly speaks all over the world. He has written more than a dozen books on world history and politics, and has won awards and accolades for his fiction. Ali is also a celebrated filmmaker and has written scripts for the stage and screen; most recently he co-wrote and appeared in Oliver Stone’s South of the Border. He is an Editor of New Left Review and lives in London.

'Marxism and the Alternatives to Crisis'
A seminar hosted by International Socialism the quarterly journal of socialist theory

It has been three years since the economic crisis first manifested. The credit crunch has given way to financial crash and the Great Recession. The ruling classes of Europe, faced with a growing crisis in the eurozone, have embraced austerity and cuts in order to shift the cost of the crisis to workers, students and the unemployed. In response, we have seen movements of resistance right across Europe. In countries like Greece, France and Ireland, strikes and protests have been complemented by alternative programmes and debates about the way forward for the movement. In Britain, the student revolt has marked a turning point in the struggle. This seminar will bring together academics and activists to discuss the current situation and what lies ahead.
with
Alex Callinicos(Editor of International Socialism and Professor of European Studies at Kings College London)
Jane Hardy (Author of Poland’s New Capitalism and Professor of Political Economy at the University of Hertfordshire)
Stathis Kouvelakis (Author of Philosophy and Revolution and lecturer at Kings College, London)
Costas Lapavitsas (Member of Research on Money and Finance and Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies)
Tuesday 7 December, 6.30pm Brunei Lecture Theatre,
School of Oriental and African Studies,
Russell Square campus,
London,
WC1H 0XG
Free entry – All welcome
www.isj.org.uk * isj@swp.org.uk * (020) 7819 1177

Sunday 21 November 2010

Remembering Slavery

The North East Region Tyne & Wear Remembering Slavery website is now online

'Hidden' exhibition by Red Saunders

Red Saunders's 'Hidden' exhibition is on at the Museum of London - Its free and runs to April 2011

Peoples History Museum campaign

As you may have read in Tribune, the People's History Museum (formerly known as the National Museum of Labour History) and seven other museums are to loose their funding from central government. Please sign the online petition which calls for a reversal of these cuts here

Those on facebook should support this campaign to save the Peoples History Museum.

Sunday 14 November 2010

James Vernon on The End of the Public University in England

Well worth a read

Remembering Tim Mason

EUROPEAN STUDIES CENTRE
St Antony’s College ▪ University of Oxford
Workshop
10 – 11 December 2010
EUROPEAN STUDIES CENTRE
70 WOODSTOCK ROAD, OXFORD

Politics, Economy and Class in Nazi Germany: A Reassessment

This international workshop has its starting-point in the historical legacy of Timothy Mason (1940-90), pioneering historian of Nazi Germany, research fellow at St Antony’s College in the late 1960s and a founding editor of History Workshop Journal. Twenty years after Mason’s untimely death, the workshop will consider and relocate his contributions to the history of National Socialism and fascism at a point when some of the premises with which he worked seem to be re-emerging in new historical directions.

It will include panels on Labour and Social Policy; Hitler and Regime Dynamics; Race and Class; Women and Gender; War, Economy and Plunder; and a roundtable on Comparative Fascisms.

Speakers include: Claudia Baldoli, Richard Bessel, Jane Caplan, Gustavi Corni,

Geoff Eley, Neil Gregor, Rüdiger Hachtmann, Susanne Heim, Nicole Kramer,

Christiane Kuller, Alf Lüdtke, Hans Mommsen, Jeremy Noakes, Eve Rosenhaft,

Carola Sachse, Jonathan Steinberg, Adam Tooze, Mary Vincent, Perry Willson

Registration £30 (reductions for graduate students). Space is limited; pre-registration is essential. For enquiries and further details, please email the ESC Administrator

anne-laure.guillermain@sant.ox.ac.uk

The workshop is supported by the John Fell OUP Research Fund, History Workshop Journal, St Antony’s College and the Modern European History Research Centre

Raphael Samuel Memorial Lecture

The Raphael Samuel Memorial Lecture

‘Searching for the Gleam’: the quest for a new order in 1930s Britain
Juliet Gardiner
6.30pm, Friday 3rd December 2010, followed by a wine reception
Room B33, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX
No booking necessary, all welcome

History Workshop: Doing Progressive History in a Digital Age

Socialist Historians might be interested in this new website of the History Workshop Journal - I have also added a link to a blog promoting another journal Twentieth Century Communism

Edited to add: The History Workshop Journal editorial collective is launching History Workshop Online, a website devoted to the practice of politically-engaged public history. Affiliated to the journal but entirely separate in its content, the site will serve as a forum, laboratory, and virtual coffeehouse for participants in radical public history projects worldwide. In the spirit of the original history workshop movement, we're keen to explore the diverse (and now multi-media) ways in which progressive history is being "done", in and out of universities and the museum and heritage sector.

We welcome all pertinent contributions: reports on public history initiatives; multimedia essays and articles; flagged events for our noticeboard; fulminations, rants, and raves. For further information please contact the site’s editor, Marybeth Hamilton, at marybeth@historyworkshop.org.uk

A reader writes

Dear friends,

I have been using London Socialist Historians Group site for pertinent news and conferences in connection with my History of Economic Thought and Political Economy classes at the University of Minnesota. Would it possible for you to post the two items that I have produced on the current crisis and two items on the post-election Iran and US Foreign Policy, the total of 4 pieces on your site. These items have dimension in both history and theory.

On the Current Crisis

Cyrus Bina, "Economic Crises, Marx's Value Theory, and 21st Century Capitalism," Radical Notes, May 9, 2010

Cyrus Bina, "Globalization, Value Theory and Crisis," Radical Notes, October 15, 2010--a 27-minute video, addressed to the Second International Conference on Political Economy (Development and Crisis), September 16-18, 2010, Turkey

On Post-Election Iran

Cyrus Bina, "Post-Election Iran: Crossroads of History and a Critique of Prevailing Political Perspectives," Journal of Iranian Research and Analysis, Vol. 26 (2), November 2009 [PDF file]

Cyrus Bina, "U.S. Foreign Policy and Post-Election Iran," CounterPunch, March 12, 2010

Thanks you very much in advance,
Comradely,
Cyrus
Cyrus Bina, Ph.D.
Distinguish Research Professor of Economics
University of Minnesota (Morris Campus), USA
E-mail: binac@umn.edu
Website: http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~binac/index.htm

Saturday 13 November 2010

After the mass education protest where next?

After mass education protest

WHERE NEXT TO DEFEAT FEES AND CUTS?
With speakers from the demonstration, Millbank protest and across the movement
Education Activist Network London Meeting
Monday 15 November, 6pm, Kings College, Rm K4U.12, Strand WC2


Over 50,000 students and lecturers marched this Wednesday, making it the biggest education protest since 1985. In the context of the miners’ strike, the student revolt forced Margaret Thatcher to back down from her plans to introduce tuition fees. Now, the issue of tuition fees threatens to turn into Cameron and Clegg’s poll tax.

Thousands of students broke away from the official route of the demonstration to march on the Tory HQ in 30 Millbank and occupied.

This represents a real turning point in the resistance to the coalition government’s austerity programme, bringing the spirit of the French and Greek general strikes to the UK. Now there is a real opportunity to build on Wednesday’s mobilisation with protests, student walkouts and occupations on every university and college campus.

The protests have also opened up a lively debate inside our movement about which strategies and tactics are most appropriate and effective. This is to be welcomed – tens of thousands of people are joining our struggle, bringing a wealth of different perspectives.

But we firmly reject the attempt by the right-wing press to witch-hunt protesters and activists. The real vandals are the Tory and Liberal politicians who are wrecking our education. Over 50 protestors have already been arrested, some for nothing more than entering the building. This is an attempt to scare and divide our movement at a time when we most urgently need to unite.

The Education Activist Network has organised a co-ordinating meeting on Monday evening. There will be speakers from education workers’ and students’ unions, but this will not just be a rally. It will be a forum for university and college activists to digest the week’s events and discuss the next steps for our movement.

Coordinating meeting: where next after the demonstration?

6pm Monday 15th November, King’s College London, Rm K4U.12

With speakers from the demonstration, Millbank protest and across the movement.

We need unity - stand with the Millbank protesters

Defence statement to sign and circulate

http://teneleventen.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-need-unity-defend-the-Millbank-protestors/128397300550227
teneleventen@googlemail.com

Monday 8 November 2010

SHS meeting on Sexuality and Private Life in East Germany

Next Socialist History Society Public Meeting:
2pm, Saturday 13th November 2010

Love in the Time of Communism: Sexuality and Private Life in East Germany
A talk by Josie McLellan, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Bristol University.

A specialist in the social and cultural history of the German Democratic Republic, Josie’s publications include Antifascism and Memory in East Germany: Remembering the International Brigades 1945-1989(2004) and Visual dangers and delights: nude photography in East Germany, (Past and Present, August 2009).
Time: 2.00 p.m. Venue: Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, London EC2 (opposite Liverpool Street Station).

All welcome.

http://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/
http://socialisthistory.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18830367272

Friday 5 November 2010

Save the Education Maintenance Allowance/ Stop education cuts

There is an online petition organised by NUS/UCU to go to the government demanding that they reverse their decision to scrap EMA.

You can sign the petition opposing the axing of the Education Maintenance Allowance here

The NUS and UCU are also organising a national demonstration Fund Our Future - Stop education cuts on Wednesday 10 November in London.

Earl Lovelace in London

EARL LOVELACE IN CONVERSATION WITH BILL SCHWARZ AND READING FROM HIS NEW NOVEL IS JUST A MOVIE

TUESDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2010
6.00 pm
ARTS LECTURE THEATRE
ARTS BUILDING
QUEEN MARY,
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

The Trinidadian, Earl Lovelace, is one of the Caribbean’s most distinguished writers. He is author of The Dragon Can’t Dance and of Salt. He is too a prominent public figure in Trinidad and in the wider Caribbean region. He is making a rare trip to London to coincide with the publication of his new novel, Is Just A Movie, which is due out from Faber and Faber in January – although advance copies will be available on the 16th November.

The People's Farm by Malcolm Chase

Dear friends,

I am writing as I run a small press, called Breviary Stuff Publications, dedicated to radical history and have recently brought back into print Malcolm Chase's The People's Farm: English Radical Agrarianism 1775-1840. I think this may be of interest to the readers of your blog so I writing to bring it to your attention in the hope that you will give it a mention.

Thanks in advance,
with regards
Paul Mangan

-- Breviary Stuff Publications
BCM Breviary Stuff, London WC1N 3XX, UK
www.breviarystuff.org.uk

Wednesday 3 November 2010

New edition of Marx's Political Writings book launch

EVENT: V40/MARX’S POLITICAL WRITINGS IN 1970 AND 2010

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Verso is publishing new editions of Marx’s Political Writings. Join us at the Marx Memorial Library to launch the books with a talk from the editor, David Fernbach, on editing Marx in 1970 and 2010.

Wednesday 10 November, 7-8.30pm, Marx Memorial Library, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London , EC1R ODU

Admission is FREE, all welcome.