Fanon: On Interracial Utopia and Anti-Colonialism

A teach-in led by Sunit Singh

Where: Quinlan Life Science Center, Room 312, 1032 W. Sheridan Road.

When: February 1st, 7pm.

Free and open to the public.

Suggested Readings:

David Macey – Franz Fannon

Fanon – Wretched of the Earth – Conclusion

Fanon – Black Skin White Masks (Introduction) (Conclusion)

“The Negro, however sincere, is the slave of the past. None the less I am a man, and in this sense the Peloponnesian War is as much mine as the invention of the compass. Face to face with the white man, the Negro has a part to legitimate, a vengeance to exact; face to face with the Negro, the contemporary white man feels the need to recall the times of cannibalism… Some men want to fill the world with their presence. A German philosopher described this mechanism as the pathology of freedom… The problem considered here is one of time. Those Negroes and white men will be disalienated who refuse to let themselves be sealed away in the materialized Tower of the Past. For many other Negroes, in other ways, disalienation will come into being through their refusal to accept the present as definitive. I am a man, and what I have to recapture is the whole past of the world… In no way should I derive my basic purpose from the past of the peoples of color. In no way should I dedicate myself to the revival of an unjustly unrecognized Negro civilization. I will not make myself the man of any past. I do not want to exalt the past at the expense of my present and of my future.”

General

Ian Morrison interviews Homayoun Pourzad, a representative for the Network of Iranian Labor Unions, on the current crisis and the effects of “anit-imperial” ideologies on understanding the character of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ben Blumberg discusses the history of the American Left and the still unmet challenge of theorizing and abolishing race and racism.

Tim Barker reviews Jeffrey B. Perry’s biography of Hubert Harrison, whose interactions with the Socialist Party are an example of the way in which racial and class questions became fatally separated on the American Left.

Max Elliot Katz reviews David Renton’s Dissident Marxism, taking the author to task for neglecting the regression of the 20th century and the liquidation of adequate theory and action.

General

Ian Morrison offers an answer to the question: Why was it that the revolutionary potential of the working class seemed to melt into air?

Atiya Khan recounts the impoverished politics of the Pakistiani People’s Party.

David Black comments on Chris Cutrone’s review of Karl Korsch’s Marxism and Philosophy.

Ryan Hardy reviews this past summer’s Public Enemies: Johnny Depp as the popular thief writ large and the problems with the politics therein.

General

Check out the audio recording of the Workers in a Time of War event.

General

A demonstration in Lahore, 2008, led by the Labour Party Pakistan.

A moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A bringing together three leading figures of the Pakistani labor movement to talk about workers rights, women’s rights, the struggle to organize in the shadow of the Taliban, and the impact of the ongoing war in Afghanistan on the workers of Pakistan.  These topics will be explored in light of the increasingly pressing need to reconstitute an international Left.

For background reading, see The Failure of Pakistan: A Concise History of the Left.
Also checkout the event on Facebook, and the flier.

Co-sponsored by the International House Global Voices Lecture Program and the Center for International Studies.
No Admission fee. Free and open to the public. Persons with disabilities that may need assistance should contact the Office of Programs & External Relations in advance of the program at 773-753-2274.

General

The Decline of the Left in the 20th Century :

Platypus banner at anti-war demonstration, Chicago, March 19, 2008

Toward a Theory of Historical Regression

A Platypus Review Special Edition

(issue 17: November, 2009)

Based on a panel discussion held by Platypus at Pace University last year, The Platypus Review traces in this special issue the slow death of the Left in our time, precisely as a means of identifying the conditions necessary for its reconstitution. Centered around four crucial years—2001, 1968, 1933, and 1917—The Decline of the Left in the 20th Century is an important step in Platypus’s attempt to advance a coherent perspective on the Left’s incoherencies, past and present.

Introduction by Benjamin Blumberg
The origin of and impetus for Platypus, in summary.

2001 by Spencer A. Leonard
A pointed argument against the prevalence of romantic Third Worldism, the lack of internationalism, and the actionist character of protest culture in today’s “Left.”

1968 by Atiya Khan
The politically restless and disoriented 1960s analyzed, with respect to the diremption of theory and practice, through the lens of the Marcuse–Adorno correspondence.

1933 by Richard Rubin
An elegiac rumination on the lives of Leon Trotsky and Walter Benjamin, who provide the basis for a discussion of what the 1930s have come to mean for Left politics today.

1917 by Chris Cutrone
Examines the work of Georg Lukàcs and Karl Korsch, whose intellectual trajectories provide a key to understanding the “brilliant failure” of 1917, without taking its failure for granted.

General

While New York City might be the most suitable point for observing the world’s panorama in every respect, Chicago’s not so bad, either.

General

A moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A on the legacy and effects of the Islamic Revolution for the Left, both in Iran and internationally, addressing the still-vexing questions of the relationship of anti-imperialism, democracy, and religious fundamentalism for potential responses to this year’s election crisis and protests.

General

Rosa, behind bars.

Come watch a film about radical Second International intellectual Rosa Luxemburg.

It’s a potluck, so bring food.  Eat food.  Talk about the movie, Rosa, the latest Platypus Review, the Sexual Liberation Event.  Check out the Mess Hall space.  Have a good time.

(This) Friday the 23rd, at the Mess hall from 7:30- 10:30.

General

Recall how Red Chicago was, a book review of Randi Storch’s new history.

Read about (and listen to) drone music.

Smell your way to Rosa Luxemburg’s corpse and the decaying left in Germany.

Learn about Unite Here’s recent civil disobedience action, downtown.

And check out a review of a new take on Adorno’s philosophy and intellectual life.

General