2011
Joe Allen — People Wasn't Made to Burn: A True Story of Housing, Race, and Murder in Chicago
December 17, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Lincoln Park Public Library
1150 W. Fullerton, Chicago
Corner Racine Ave., across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
Activists and academics have long battled to revise the history of the Civil Rights movement by adding the rich and courageous story of anti-racist struggles "up north." Indeed, residential and employment segregation in post-World War II Chicago, Detroit, and other cities was often more rigorously and violently enforced than in the South. Working-class neighborhoods experienced the crises of housing shortages and deindustrialization amidst rising tensions of anti-communism and anti-labor union hysterics. Violence towards African Americans became common; in 1949, neighbors even attacked a white Englewood couple for sponsoring an interracial union meeting.
What were the sources of militant racism in post-war Chicago? What social factors compelled white working-class men and women to blame and attack non-whites? Who fought for racial solidarity in the North, who fought against racist housing and employment practices, and why is this story only now being revealed?
OUL welcomes writer Joe Allen, author of People Wasn't Made to Burn: A True Story of Housing, Race, and Murder in Chicago (Haymarket Books, 2011). The book uncovers the remarkable, forgotten story of Chicagoan James Hickman, who shot and killed the landlord he believed was responsible for a tragic fire that took the lives of four of his children on Chicago’s West Side. Prosecutors hung the death sentence over Hickman's head, but a vibrant defense campaign exposed how working poverty and racism led to his crime and helped win Hickman's freedom.
Joe Allen previous book is Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost (Haymarket Books, Chicago, 2008). A frequent contributor to the International Socialist Review, Allen is a former member of the Teamsters and has written extensively on union issues, including When Big Brown Shut Down: The UPS Strike Ten Years On. He has also helped renew public interest in the case of Gary Tyler, writing Three Decades of Injustice: Gary Tyler Still Sits in Angola Prison.
Dr. Jerry Harris — Global Capitalism, Democracy and Repression
Saturday, November 19, 2:30 pm
Lincoln Park Public Library
1150 W. Fullerton, Chicago
Corner Racine Ave., across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
What is the relationship between nation-states and democracy in the era of finance capital and globalization?
OUL welcomes sociologist Jerry Harris, who argues that global capitalism the ruling elites have become a transnational capitalist class no longer invested in a single nation-state.
Under such a world system the economic social contract that arose in the industrial era has been abandon, and the democratic influence over government weaken and restricted. We may be entering a new period of authoritarian capitalism, and experiencing the end of the national bourgeois democratic era that was born in the American and French revolutions.
The Occupy Wall Street Movement is a powerful response to these political conditions and defining the rebirth of social resistance.
Jerry Harris is National Secretary of the Global Studies Association and on the International Board of the Network for Critical Studies of Global Capitalism. He is the author of Dialectics of Globalization: Economic and Political Conflict in a Transnational World (Cambridge, 2008), and a professor of history at DeVry University, Chicago.
Dr. Norman LaPorte — Communism in Weimar Germany: What was it? Why did it fail?
The Institute of Working Class History presents Dr. Norman LaPorte, author and Senior Lecturer at the University of Glamorgan-Cardiff (Wales).
Saturday, November 5, 6:00pm–9:00pm
Wicker Park Art Center
2215 W. North Ave., Chicago
(This event is co-sponsored by the Open University of the Left)
The origins of the KPD were in a diversity of German workers' radicalism, from social democracy to syndicalism. Yet, by the late 1920s, the KPD had become a Stalinist party of a new type. Using the life-story of Ernst Thälmann, the party chairman since 1925, Dr. LaPorte will look at why a radical German worker chose Bolshevism in the early years of the Weimar Republic (1918/19–23).
In short, the KPD's Thälmann faction believed that, as the German Revolution of 1918/20 had shown they could not defeat their own bourgeoisie, the revolution at home depended on the international role of the Red Army backed by Soviet power. Dr. LaPorte will sketch out the domestic political consequences of the party's growing dependence on Moscow and how this prevented a more flexible response to the crises of the Republic's final years (1929–33).
Paul Street & Anthony DiMaggio—Crashing the Tea Party: Mass Media and the Campaign to Remake American Politics
September 17, 2011, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Public Library
1150 W. Fullerton, Chicago,
Corner Racine Ave., across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
The mainstreaming of the American right-wing fringe suggests a strong popular movement favoring draconian austerity and a fanatical commitment to free market principles. But a rigorous analysis of Tea Party politicking reveals a different picture, one that significantly clashes with the beliefs of working-class and most middle-class voters. What social factors account for the success of hard right politics? What elements are responsible for the dominance of free market ideologies?
Open University welcomes Paul Street and Anthony DiMaggio, authors of Crashing the Tea Party: Mass Media and the Campaign to Remake American Politics, (Paradigm Publishers 2011). Crashing the Tea Party challenges conventional dogmas related to the most recent "movement" of choice of conservative America and the mass media. The authors undertake a critical journalistic and scholarly examination of the Tea Party at the national and local level. Through firsthand observation of local Tea Party chapters, Street and DiMaggio uncover details about the Tea Party that have remained largely unexplored. Is the Tea Party a genuine social movement or a top-down interest group created largely by the mass media, Republican Party, and corporate funding? Street and DiMaggio explore this question systematically, closely documenting their results. They show how mass media reporting and commentary affect public opinion of the Tea Party and its preferred policy whipping boy, health care reform, in particular. This book fills the gap in public understanding of how social movements fit within the larger political ideologies on the left and right, and the growing role of media in influencing public opinion on major issues of the day.
Paul Street (www.paulstreet.org) is the author of The Empire's New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2010). His earlier books include Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008); Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid in the Post-Civil Rights Era (New York: Routledge, 2005); and Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008). His articles, essays, reviews, chapters and editorials are published globally in mainstream and left periodicals. He served as Director of Research and Vice President for Research and Planning at The Chicago Urban League from 2000 to 2005 and Visiting Professor in U.S. History at Northern Illinois University during 2005–2006.
Anthony DiMaggio is the author of Mass Media, Mass Propaganda (Lexington Books, 2008), and When Media Goes to War (Monthly Review Press, 2010). His journalism has appeared in Z Magazine, Counterpunch, Truthout, Black Agenda Report, Common Dreams, Alternet, Project Censored, and elsewhere. He has taught U.S. and Global Politics at Illinois State University and North Central College, and is an expert in the fields of political communication and public opinion.
"This acute and highly informed analysis of the Tea Party phenomenon brings to light the reality that lies behind excited media portrayals, crucially distinguishing the 'movement' itself from the far larger and more significant popular sectors that are misled into believing that it responds to their authentic grievances, which are unaddressed in the mainstream political system. It is a dangerous mix, as history reveals. This lucid and careful study could hardly be more timely."
—Noam Chomsky
"Essential reading for anyone concerned about the changing nature of American politics and the emergence of diverse authoritarian ideologies and political orthodoxies at the heart of the current Tea Party movement. Street and DiMaggio are two of America's most important social and political critics, and this book goes a long way in reflecting their insights and understanding of the politics of siege and anger now gripping the United States."
—Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University
Dr. William A. Pelz—The Modern Marx: A World Still Wanting to be Won
June 11, 2011, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Public Library
1150 W. Fullerton, Chicago, corner Racine
Across from DePaul University (Red Line: Fullerton)
"The interest in Marx seems a vindication," the historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote in 2008 as the global economic crisis unfolded. "His analysis of capitalism put its finger on globalization and periodic crises and instabilities. Over the past few decades people thought the market would sort everything out, which seemed to me a statement of theology rather than reality." (The Sunday Times, 11/21/08.)
Indications of Marx's relevancy abound, from Fukushima to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Arab Spring to Wisconsin, from anti-austerity social movements in Europe to the austerity legislation that threatens Chicago's public school students and teachers.
Yet, Marxist thought remains on the historical margin. Can a reinterpretation of Marx challenge the legitimacy of market theology? What can be learned from Marx's own political struggles, his sense of history, his political mark on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?
Open University welcomes historian Dr. William A. Pelz, author of the new biography, Karl Marx: A World to Win (Pearson, 2011). The book covers the important aspects of his life and the major theoretical arguments of his work. It also explores the Industrial Revolution through the lens of Marx's view of socialism, not simply as an ethical idea but also as a way of framing the industrial system and its impact on workers. (Copies of the book will be available from the author.) Karl Marx is part of Pearson’s Library of World Biographies series, which includes books on Simon Bolivar and Sun Yatsen.
A Chicago native, Bill Pelz is an academic historian and specialist in European and comparative labor history. His previous books include Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March (2007); The Spartkusbund and the German Working Class Movement (1988), and Wilhelm Liebknecht and German Social Democracy (1994). His articles have appeared in the American Historical Review, Film & History, German History, German Studies Review, International Labor and Working Class History, International Review of Social History, Labor Studies, Journal of European Studies, Science & Society, Soviet Studies, Sozialismus, JahrBuch fuar Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung, and International Labor History Yearbook, among others. Verso Press will publish his forthcoming book, a history of the European working class, next year.
Film: Over Stone's South of the Border
May 14, 2011, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
Open University screens Oliver Stone's rarely seen 2009 documentary examination of the social and political transformations in South America. The filmmaker roadtrips across five countries to explore the movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting developments in the region.
Written by Tariq Ali and Mark Weisbrot, the film was predictably panned by establishment media, but remains an important introduction to the post-Bush era of American Foreign Policy in Latin America.
"...naively idealistic..."
—New York Times
"...A predictable compendium of Fox News clips on one side and peasants glad-handing their leaders on the other..."
—Variety
"...amateur night as cinema..."
—Time
"...Oliver Stone comes off as a kind of political sob sister..."
—L.A. Times
"The film is heavy in political mumbo-jumbo..."
—Detroit Examiner
"It’s dull to be told what to think."
—Boston Globe
Bill Chambers and Joe Iosbaker—FBI Repression Past and Present
April 16, 2011, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
State repression of labor and social movements is an endemic part of American history. Concentrated waves of policing and spying occurred in the 1910s–1920s, 1950s–60s, and again in the 1980s. What is the salience of this history for trade unionists, peace activist, and social justice movement organizers? In light of recent FBI raids against anti-war and international solidarity activists in the Midwest, is a new era or repression underway?
Join Open University of the Left as it welcomes activist Bill Chambers to review the history of social movement repression in the U.S., including socialist, anti-war, civil rights, black liberation, American Indian Movement, Irish republican, Sanctuary and Latin American Solidarity, Puerto Rican independence, and Palestine solidarity activists.
Bill is a forty year anti-war, anti-racism and Irish republican activist who is currently a lead member of the Palestine Solidarity Group – Chicago. He has traveled extensively to Ireland and Palestine.
SEIU Local 73 steward Joe Iosbaker will discuss the current repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists, including the FBI raid and those targeted, the grand jury investigation and its repressive character, and legal and support activity status.
Joe's home was searched by the FBI, and he has been subpoenaed in the recent grand jury investigation. He is a twenty year civil service employee at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a veteran labor activist, and a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
A New Age of Austerity & Resistance in Wisconsin
March 5, 2011, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
The mass actions opposing Wisconsin's anti-union legislation have catapulted labor unions and union members into the political arena to a degree not seen in the U.S. since the 1990s. Can this defensive labor movement be transformed into a more permanent and offensive feature within the American polity? Will this push the staid official labor movement in the direction of trade union activism? How can union members and non-members propel and use this remarkable momentum to organize around economic and social justice issues in their locals, communities, and beyond?
Open University of the Left welcomes veteran activists David Williams and Earl Silbar. David is a founder of the Open University of the Left in Chicago, David is a Madison resident and active in the local of the Industrial Workers of the World and a proponent of the concept of the General Strike. He has joined with many union members and activists in the recent labor solidarity demonstrations in Madison against Governor Walker's attack on the working people of Wisconsin. A participant in the Vietnam anti-war movement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1968 until 1972 — the "War At Home" — David served on the Executive Board of AFSCME Local 1215 in Chicago. He is an activist in the anti-war, Palestine solidarity and other movements, and is a founder of the Madison Peregrine Forum.
Earl Silbar is a retired GED teacher and served as AFSCME 3506's chief steward. In the early '60s, he became active in the civil rights movement and then served 5 years in the antiwar movement with independent antiwar committees, SDS, and the Progressive Labor Party. His activism includes antiracist groups, international labor and anti-imperialist solidarity campaigns, in-plant factory union organizing drives, and helping organize adult education teachers in the City Colleges.
Fabricio E. Balcazar: A Crisis of Consciousness: The Lack of Critical Education in Our School System
February 19, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
Using public education to affect social change became a widely held praxis within progressive and leftist social movements in the 20th century. Indeed, contemporary social movements are raising the same question: how can we challenge standard educational practices, curriculums, and methodologies? What would radical education transformation entail, and how can it be implemented?
The legacy of popular education, pioneered by the Brazilian theorist Paulo Freire and others, held that students need to develop a critical view of the world that would allow them to recognize societal forces of oppression and alienation in their lives.
Open University welcomes Dr. Fabricio E. Balcazar, who will examine some of the basic tenets of Freire's views on traditional educational practices, and the consequences for students and society at large. He will also present a case study of critical awareness development in a school, and discuss how this process could be implemented elsewhere.
Fabricio E. Balcazar, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Over the past 20 years Dr. Balcazar has conducted research on the development of systematic approaches for promoting the empowerment of minorities and under-served populations, including Latinos with disabilities and their families. He is the co-author of Race, Culture and Disability: Rehabilitation Science and Practice (2009: Jones and Bartlett), along with many articles addressing minority and disability issues. His research has included the development and evaluation of approaches for promoting empowerment approaches to vocational rehabilitation service delivery, school-to-work transition planning, dropout prevention, the promotion of the ADA in Latino neighborhoods, and career development leading to employment opportunities. He currently serves as the director of the new Center for Capacity Building on Minorities with Disabilities Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
2010
Keith Mann: France—Forging Political Identities
November 20, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
Are the recent rebellions in France more than expressions of anger at austerity? How do struggles for democracy today parallel the struggles throughout 20th century France? How have working class traditions and politics remained infused in French social and cultural institutions?
Open University welcomes historian and sociologist Keith Mann, an authority on the labor and social processes of modern French history. His most recent book, Forging Political Identity: Silk and Metal Workers in Lyon, France 1900–1939 is newly published by Berghan Books.
Keith Mann is Associate Professor of Sociology at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He specializes in 19th- and 20th-century French social and labor history. His work has appeared in the International Review of Social History, International Labor and Working Class History, Labor History, and Le mouvement social.
"Forging Political Identity casts the politics of the Popular Front era in a strikingly original light."
—Geoff Eley, University of Michigan
"Keith Mann has written an important book that should be read not only by historians and social scientists but by all interested in movements for social change."
—Gerald Friedman, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Paul Street: The Empire's New Clothes: A Leftist's Guide to Barack Obama in the Real World of Power
November 6, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
The Obama era's hallmarks—continuation of epic mass unemployment, poverty, and foreclosures even while Wall Street salaries rebound to record levels—make evident the administration's centrist, business-friendly drift. Has the president betrayed his progressive roots? Or is this an example of the bipartisan nature of the American business system?
Open university welcomes author and activist Paul Street to review the Obama record thus far.
Paul Street (www.paulstreet.org) is the author of The Empire's New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2010). His earlier books include Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008); Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid in the Post-Civil Rights Era (New York: Routledge, 2005); and Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008). His articles, essays, reviews, chapters and editorials are published globally in mainstream and left periodicals. Paul is currently completing a book titled Crashing the Tea Party, co-authored with Anthony Dimaggio.
Paul Street served as Director of Research and Vice President for Research and Planning at The Chicago Urban League from 2000 to 2005 and Visiting Professor in United States History at Northern Illinois University during 2005-2006. He can be reached at paulstreet99 AT yahoo DOT com.
Kim Scipes: The AFL-CIO's Secret War on Developing Country Workers: Solidarity or Sabotage?
September 18, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
The topic of the official U.S. labor movement's support of U.S. foreign policy is rarely discussed. Kim Scipes' new study presents a historical-sociological examination of the foreign policy program of the American labor movement, beginning with its origins in the 1880s and through today. Kim examines themes of imperialism, empire and democracy, in particular around the AFL-CIO's operations in Chile in the early 1970s, the Philippines in the mid-late 1980s, and Venezuela in the early 2000s. He also discusses efforts within the labor movement to challenge this labor imperialism, as well as efforts by the government to use the labor movement for its purposes in a number of countries around the world. Ultimately, Kim argues, foreign policy leaders of the AFL-CIO believe the U.S. should run the world, and have been long working to make this happen, and that activists need to transform this into a project to help create social and economic justice around the world with working people of the world.
Kim Scipes, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University North Central in Westville, Indiana, although he lives in Chicago. His new book, The AFL-CIO's Secret War on Developing Country Workers: Solidarity or Sabotage? is recently published by Lexington Books. Scipes is a former Sergeant in the US Marine Corps (1969–73), and has been a member of several unions, including the National Writers Union where he is today chair of the Veterans Committee. Scipes has published over 130 articles in publications around the world and served on the Board of the Research Committee on Labor of the International Sociological Association for 2006–2010.
Anthony DiMaggio: The More You Watch the Less You Know
August 28, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
What is the effect of America's extensive dependence on mass media as a source of information? Author, editor and educator Anthony DiMaggio takes a candid look at how "the news" is creating a confused and ill-informed polity.
Scholars and intellectuals across the board (not to mention business leaders and political officials) publicly claim that an informed citizenry is necessary in order for representative government to function. Democracy clearly requires that the citizenry pay close, regular attention to political, economic, and social matters. But is "following the news" really enough to hold our political leaders accountable. Anthony DiMaggio takes a novel approach to the study of the effects of media on the populace: the more you follow the news when it comes to major issues, the less you actually know. DiMaggio charts this relationship empirically in his most recent book, When Media Goes to War, and will be discussing the problem of media misinformation and propaganda, and its negative effect on the most politically attentive of the American people.
Anthony DiMaggio is the editor of media-ocracy (www.media-ocracy.com), a journal committed to the study of media, public opinion, and censored news. He has taught U.S. and Global Politics at Illinois State University and North Central College, and is an expert in the fields of political communication and public opinion. He is the author of Mass Media, Mass Propaganda (Lexington Books, 2008), When Media Goes to War (Monthly Review Press, 2010), and a forthcoming book on the Tea Party, Republican politics, mass media, and public opinion (spring 2011, Paradigm Publishers).
He has written for various media outlets, including Z Magazine, Counterpunch, Truthout, Black Agenda Report, Common Dreams, Alternet, and Project Censored, and can be reached at: mediaocracy AT gmail DOT com.
FILM: Inside the CIA: On Company Business
June 12, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
As the Obama administration pursues a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in the Middle Ease and elsewhere (New York Times, 24 May 2010), it extends the tradition of using covert action to further U.S. policy abroad.
Open University revisits the history of the CIA and U.S.-government sponsored covert activities with a screening of On Company Business, a unique, rare and at one time suppressed documentary history of the CIA, by the late documentary filmmaker Allen Francovich. Released in 1980, and five years in the making,On Company Business was so revealing that the CIA tried to suppress the film. A recipient of the New Cinema Award at the 1980 Berlin International Film Festival, the film has not been released in DVD format and has not screened in Chicago in many years.
The documentary includes detailed interviews with Philip Agee, James Wilcott, William Colby, Victor Marchetti, John Stockwell, David Atlee Phillips, Joseph B. Smith, and many others. On Company Business was made by Allen Francovich in collaboration with his partner, Kathleen Weaver, a feminist pioneer, editor of one of the first anthologies of international women's literature, and translator of numerous important Latin American works, including Omar Cabezas' Fire from the Mountain: The Making of a Sandinista.
From the original introduction: "The CIA is the US government's most controversial branch—with a controversial mission to match. This clandestine organization's top secret methods of political warfare and undefined goals have been the topic of much speculation...until now! Inside the CIA: On Company Business is a long and penetrating look inside one of the world's most powerful secret organizations. This long suppressed, award-winning documentary consists almost entirely of insider eyewitness accounts of CIA Covert Operations and their role in the political intrigues of the late 20th Century. In Part 1: The History: What part did the CIA play in the Cold War? How instrumental were they in Cuba's 1961 Bay Of Pigs invasion? Did they cause the overthrow of President Allende in Chile? This volume starts at the end of World War II when 'The Company' was formed out of the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and takes us through the various political incidents that the CIA has played a major role in for forty years from the 1940s to the 1970s."
A discussion will follow the screening. There is no admission charge for this event.
U.S. Labor in the Crisis: Resistance or Retreat?
May 15, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
(Red Line: Fullerton)
What are the prospects for intensifying labor's resistance? Labor journalist Lee Sustar takes a candid look at how unionized and non-unionized workers are resisting in the current crisis.
Remarkably, sparks of strength, struggle and success continue to radiate from our labor movement. From the Philadelphia transit works to the University of Illinois graduate employees, old fashioned organizing and labor/community unity have secured the rare successes in the current recession.
Organized labor, however, faces difficult circumstances. With high unemployment, employers in both the public and private sector feel that they can extract concessions and disregard worker opposition. According to the government, in 2009 work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers decreased 95 percent over 2008, and are at the lowest level since records were first kept in the 1940s. Since the victory of the Republic Windows factory occupation in Chicago, labor has seen the demise of the Employee Free Choice Act, increasing attacks on immigrant rights and non-Anglo workers, and the death of 29 Upper Big Branch coal miners. Real unemployment and underemployment rates remain above ten percent, and are much higher for African Americans and teenagers. Many union leaders remain fearful of militancy, and mired in Democratic Party politics.
Open University welcomes veteran labor journalist Lee Sustar. He is the labor editor of Socialist Worker and a contributor to International Socialist Review and Counterpunch. His is co-editor, along with Aisha Karim, of Poetry and Protest: A Dennis Brutus Reader (Haymarket Books, 2005).
Rage, Ressentiment and the Right: How Do We Understand the Teabag Mobilizations?
April 10, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
Open University welcomes Loyola University of Chicago sociology professor Lauren Langman, who takes a close look at the Teabag mobilizations.
Careful analysis and scrutiny of poll data suggests that the contemporary teabag movements represent disenchanted Republicans—especially the more rural, Protestant, Caucasian, lower middle classes. Since most of these people tend to be lower middle class, we should be reminded that the lower middle classes have always been the bedrock for fascism. This segment typically works in small businesses or lower echelons of the state. Many of these people have suffered genuine pain as a result of the policies of the government in the current crisis. Finally, a typical theme in right populism has been an attempt to redress the decline and restore what has been, and in the case of the teabag movement this includes patriarchy, hegemonic masculinity, white privilege, and a Protestant "morality."
How then do we understand the teabag mobilizations? Right populist mobilizations have long been an inherent part of the American body politic, such as the Know Nothing party of 1841, or more clearly the rise of the KKK after the Civil War. Today conspirators name the Templars, Masons, lluminati, Bilderbergs, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and others. Of course no collection of conspiracies can ignore the Jews—often referred to in code words such as "internationalists," " banksters," "the liberal media" and sometimes "intellectuals."
There are several key elements in a right populist ideology. Following Berlet, these include producerism, demonization, and scapegoating. Producerism is a belief that the good people are the people who work hard and are economically successful, and those who are lazy and, of course, unsuccessful fully deserve the misery of their conditions. Demonization is the process whereby the so-called "enemies" lose their human qualities and slowly but surely morph into vile monsters, some of whom may be socialists. Finally, scapegoating cast the blame for the deterioration of the society and its moral decay on lower status groups who cannot only be blamed for the crisis, but surely deserve to be punished.
While it is clear that the lower middle classes, especially those vulnerable to economic crises, are likely to embrace various right populist ideologies, it also becomes necessary for us to understand that there are various psychological reasons that make certain ideologies readily embraced—despite the fact that they can never be proven—and that the claims and understandings of the populists are clearly wrong. Wilhelm Reich and later the Frankfurt school attempted to bring Freud's understanding of character structure into the Marxist critique of domination. The major outcome of this work was the study of authoritarianism, psychologically, the tendency to structure human relationships in terms of domination and subordination; as well as anti-intellectualism, the projection of aggression, valuing conformity and obedience, and thinking in terms of black-and-white categories.
Authoritarians, in general, accept authority rather than oppose it. The teabag groups also show a great deal of ressentiment, which is, in fact, an expression of repressed envy for that which is consciously disdained. In this case, the ressentiment toward the elites, who are indeed rich and powerful, represent the very qualities denied the lower middle classes, who so much value of the American dream, but for whom that dream has become more and more distant. Thus, do these authoritarians feel a ressentiment to the existing elites, but they are seen as either agents of evil, (40% of Republicans believe that Obama is the antichrist) or the puppets of an evil cabal.
There are two intertwined forms in which the self attempts self reparation and these are narcissistic rage and paranoia. These are often ways of masking underlying shame, guilt, anger and depression. Anger directs feelings and consciousness away from the self that may fear its own inadequacies, shortcomings and failures, but anger and rage can often be ways of dealing with unconscious shame so that self-esteem is preserved. This is especially true in an individualistic society like our own, in which workers might blame themselves for adversities. Thus, narcissistic rage is often intertwined with paranoia, imagining various "outside" forces are to blame for misfortune and one's own self is thereby exonerated.
The Teabaggers live in very different worlds, in which they are far less able to remain in various privileged positions. But given how their views ultimately support conservative elites, they get far more media attention than they might deserve.
Lauren Langman is a professor of sociology at Loyola University of Chicago and a veteran activist: organizing against the war in Vietnam, co-chairing the Midwest Radical Scholars and Activists Conference, serving on the national council of advisors of Tikkun Community, and the organizing committee of Chicago Social Forum. He has been a delegate to United for Peace and Justice and is a regular participant in the World Social Forum.
He received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He has long worked in the tradition of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, especially relationships between culture, politics and the psychosocial. He is past chairman of Marxist Section of the American Sociological Association and current President of Research Committee 36, Alienation Research and Theory, of the International Sociological Association. He is co-founder and organizer of the Global Studies Association-North America. He has served on the editorial boards of Sociological Theory, Current Perspectives in Social Theory and Critical Sociology.
Publications include a special issue of American Behavioral Politics devoted to the presidency in a television age, the social psychology of nationalism for the Handbook of Nationalism, alternative globalization movements in Sociological Theory. Other publications have looked at Islamic fundamentalism, cyberporn, and American national character and its propensity for imperialism. Recent publications include his volume Trauma, Promise, And The Millennium: The Evolution Of Alienation as well as a special issue of Current Sociology on the body. His forthcoming book, The Carnivalization of America, looks at the role of the alienation of youth .
FILM: The Chicago Conspiracy
April 3rd, Saturday, 4:00 pm
Note different location: Decima Musa, 1901 S. Loomis, Chicago
The Chicago Conspiracy is a new documentary from Chile that explores the legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship and the current political conflict. Produced by Subversive Action Films, a discussion with the director will follow the screening. The screening will be accompanied by a photo exhibition of social struggle in Chile.
The concept for The Chicago Conspiracy was born with the death of the former military dictator, General Augusto Pinochet. The film takes its name from the approximately 25 Chilean economists who attended the University of Chicago and other prestigious universities beginning in the 1960s to study under the neoliberal economists Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger. After embracing Friedman's neoliberal ideas, these economists returned to assist Pinochet's military regime in imposing free market policies. They privatized nearly every aspect of society, and Chile soon became a classic example of free market capitalism under the barrel of a gun.
The Chicago Conspiracy is a new vision of the military coup that does not focus on the story of the Salvador Allende government. Even before Allende's election, there were armed revolutionary organizations throughout Chile, such as the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). During the course of Allende's rule, some factions believed that a reformist government would never bring an end to the capitalist system. This was the main group to lead an armed defense against the military once the coup was initiated. As the dictatorship took hold, the number of nationwide armed organizations grew to include MAPU-Lautaro and the communist Patriotic Front of Manuel Rodriguez (FPMR) in addition to the MIR.
Following a national plebiscite in 1988, Pinochet ended his rule in 1990. The political classes in Chile only allowed the country to vote an end to the dictatorship out of growing fear of armed insurrection. 1990 brought a democratic government to Chile that continues to further the same neoliberal economic policies that were put into place by the dictatorship. Throughout the film, we follow the social discontent that exists to this day. We explore the legacy of a dictatorship.
The Chicago Conspiracy is about the students who fight a dictatorship-era educational law put into place on the last day of military rule. Over 700,000 students went on strike in 2006 to protest the privatized educational system. Police brutally repressed student marches and occupations. The film also examines the neighborhoods lining the outskirts of Santiago. They were originally land occupations, and later became centers of armed resistance against the military dictatorship. A number of them, such as la Victoria and Villa Francia, continue as areas of confrontational discontent to this day.
Finally, the film looks at the Mapuche people, who valiantly resisted Spanish occupation, and continue to resist the Chilean state and the multinational corporations who strip Mapuche territory for forestry plantations, mines, dams, and farming plantations. The government has utilized the dictatorship-era anti-terrorism law to jail Mapuche community members in struggle.
Open University is a co-sponsor of this event, along with the Chicago branch of Solidarity, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, and many others.
FILM: Waiting to Inhale
March 27, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
The award winning documentary Waiting to Inhale examines the heated debate over marijuana and its use as medicine in the United States. Though many states now have legislation to protect patients who use medical marijuana, opponents claim the medical argument is only a justification to legalize marijuana for recreation and profit. What claims are being made, and what are the stakes? What are the stakes in Illinois?
The film looks at patients who have been forever changed by illness, and the evidence that marijuana can alleviate some of the devastating symptoms of AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis. It also takes on the question of marijuana as a gateway drug. Award-winning independent filmmaker Jed Riffe—who has produced films for PBS, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Museum of the American Indian—has created an important and persuasive film on how marijuana may hold a big stake in the future of medicine.
"Compelling…"
—Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
"…goes beyond a pro-drug propaganda piece … a convincing argument for how pot can help those in pain who have explored every pharmaceutical drug available."
—Medill Reports Chicago
"…shows how much the medical marijuana debate is about completely different approaches—corporate/government versus homeopathic."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"…provocative and powerful…"
—Berkeley Media
Remembering Daniel Bensaïd
Feb 13, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton, corner Racine, across from DePaul University
The French radical philosopher and political leader, Daniel Bensaïd, who died in January 2010, was one of the most prominent figures of the European Left of the last half-century. To review his life and work, Open University welcomes two of his colleagues, Dr. Keith Mann and Patrick Quinn.
A leader of the French student revolt of 1968, Bensaïd maintained a vigorous Marxist critique of politics. He was an outspoken proponent of the 1995 revival of labor and student movements in France, an incisive and internationalist critic of neo-liberal globalization, and was especially involved in developments within the radical left in Latin America. Most recently Bensaïd worked to found, in 2009, the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) in France.
A prolific writer, his most important theoretical work, Marx l'intempestif, was published in 1995. The book was translated into English and published in 2002 under the title A Marx for Our Times: Adventures and Misadventures of a Critique (Verso Books, www.versobooks.com/books/ab/b-titles/bensaid_marx_times.shtml). He was also a frequent author of op-eds in Le Monde and Libération, and appeared regularly on radio and TV.
A bibliography of Bensaïd English language writings may be viewed at: www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article9410.
In 2009, he wrote: "The specific historical form of Stalinism has died, but the lessons to be drawn from this experience are actually more relevant than ever. It is a matter of ensuring the development of socialist democracy at all levels ... The "short twentieth century" has ended and a new cycle of class struggles is just beginning. Crucial new questions are being raised, beginning with the ecological challeng ... [We must] bring together a range of experiences and currents on the basis of the events and tasks of the new period. To go the distance, though, [we] will need history and memory."
Open University welcomes Historian and author Dr. Keith Mann. A Solidarity member in Milwaukee, he is a former staff writer for International Viewpoint and a monthly columnist for the Swiss revolutionary socialist newspaper L'anticapitaliste. His articles have appeared in International Labor and Working Class History, the International Review of Social History, Labor History, and the French social science journal le movement social. His new book, Forging Political Identity: Silk and Metal Workers in Lyon, France 1900-1939 (Berghahn Books, www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=mannforging), is scheduled for publication in April, 2010.
Open University also welcomes veteran activist Patrick Quinn, who is Northwestern University Archivist Emeritus, a novelist and frequent contributor to The Wisconsin Magazine of History, and a colleague of Daniel's in the international socialist current Fourth International (www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article351).
FILM: Capitalism hits the Fan
Feb 27, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today's economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself.
Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s when wages began to stagnate, and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown. By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government "bailouts," stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis, in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes.
Richly illustrated with graphics and charts, this video is a superb introduction that allows ordinary citizens to comprehend, and react to, the unraveling crisis.
Richard Wolff has been a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts since 1981. He is a member of the editorial board of several academic journals including Rethinking Marxism. He also publishes regular analyses of current economic events on the websites www.globalmacroscope.com and www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine. He has co-authored several books with Stephen Resnick, including The Economics of Colonialism: Britain and Kenya; Rethinking Marxism: Struggles in Marxist Theory; Knowledge and Class: A Marxian Critique of Political Economy and Economics: Marxian versus Neoclassical. He also co-authored Bringing it all Back Home: Class and Gender in the Modern Household with Harriet Fraad and Stephen Resnick.
"…a rich and much needed corrective to the views of mainstream economists
and pundits. It would be difficult to come away from this viewing with
anything but an acute appreciation of what is needed to get us out of this
mess."
— Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban
Education, City University of New York
"…a real tour de force."
— Hobart Spalding, Socialism and Democracy
"…electrifying explanation of how the 'American Dream' evolved into the
'Nightmare on Wall Street.'"
— BuzzFlash
FILM: American Casino
Jan 30, Saturday, 2:30 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Open University presents the new award-winning documentary from Leslie and Andrew Cockburn that explains the sub-prime mortgage crisis, how Wall Street traders created it, how it has impoverished homeowners, and how the banks intend to make us pay for it.
"Investigative reporters Leslie and Andrew Cockburn have spent nearly 30
years uncovering major stories (for PBS, CBS Reports, 60 Minutes, et alia),
but with American Casino they take on the biggest economic crisis of our lifetime: the subprime mortgage meltdown that has caused more than a million Americans to lose their homes. The Cockburns interview Wall Street wizards who are as nervous about revealing their identity as any mobster in the witness protection program; they rewind to Phil Gramm (R, Texas) calling us '"a nation of whiners … (facing) a mental recession"; they replay Alan Greenspan's admission that his ideology was "flawed"; and they put a human face on the victims of bankers who targeted minority communities with no income verification loans, adjustable rates (that adjusted upwards, dramatically), and complex language that even the pros can't fathom. Out of this mess, the filmmakers build a case against those who used government deregulation to make a fortune for the few and create havoc for the many."
— IndieWire.com
"… powerful and shocking look at the subprime lending scandal. If you want
to understand how the US financial system failed and how mortgage companies ripped off the poor, see this film."
— Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize-winning economist
"… this smart, touching documentary traces the connections between Wall
Street’s high-flying practices and the countless citizens on Main Street who
now face bankruptcy and eviction."
— John Powers, Fresh Air
"A damning documentary which makes a convincing case that neither the
federal government nor the corporate elite could care less about the plight
of the working class."
— NewsBlaze.com
"Terrific…the Cockburns fill in the lines of connection.… The movie is a
lucid and comprehensive picture of a rotten system."
— David Denby, New Yorker
"… a real gem of a movie…a fascinating, and occasionally heartrending,
morality play of predatory greed in the crazy world of derivatives and
collateralized debt obligations and its brutal impact on hardworking
African-American home owners in Baltimore."
— Lloyd Grove, Daily Beast
"A meticulously structured film…The dire financial statistics paraded in the
documentary American Casino are infuriating…"
— New York Times
"For those who ever been mystified by what the terms collateralized debt
obligation or credit default swaps mean (including me most of the time),
The American Casino will bring you up to speed … Although the movie focuses exclusively on Bush's role, attention must be paid to the failure of the new administration in keeping people in their homes."
— Louis Proyect, The Unrepentant Marxist
2009
FILM: Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority
Nov 16, Monday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Open University presents a powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Occupation 101" presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.
The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.
The film covers a wide range of topics — which include — the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy.
Released in 2006, "Occupation 101" has won eight international film awards.
"One of the best documentaries."
— Los Angeles Journal
"... easily a film one would recommend to those seeking to make sense of the increasingly bloody headlines that come out of this complicated part of the world."
— Electronic Intifada
Privatizing the Airwaves, Presenters: Scott Sanders and Steve Macek
October 12, Monday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
From the Telecom act of 1997 through the recent switch to Digital TV, Americans have unknowingly acquiesced to a massive government giveaway to a handful of powerful media conglomerates.
Where are the digital channels for women and people of color, and the set asides to support independent programming by and for youth and other less advantaged groups? Where are the new public affairs programs designed to showcase the perspectives normally marginalized on commercial TV? What are the opportunities for diversity on the airwaves?
OUL welcomes Steve Macek, an associate professor of speech communication at North Central College. His books include the award-winning Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City (University of Minnesota Press, 2006).
Open University welcomes two experts to discuss these issues.
Filmmaker Scott Sanders is a co-organizer for the media reform group Chicao Media Action, and a longtime Chicago media and democracy advocate.
Steve Macek is an associate professor of speech communication at North Central College. His books include the award-winning Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City (University of Minnesota Press, 2006).
Ramp Rats: Baggage Handlers and Their Labor Unions, Presenter: Liesl Miller Orenic
September 24, Thursday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Of the thousands of unskilled workers employed at Chicago airports through the years, baggage handlers played a key historical role in obtaining union wages and benefits for their members. How did baggage handlers forge alliances with skilled coworkers such as aircraft mechanics? What role did federal regulations play? How were these powerful unions built?
Open University welcomes historian Liesl Miller Orenic, author of On The Ground: Labor Struggle in the American Airline Industry (University of Illinois Press, 2009). Liesl's study is the first to detail the development of baggage handler unions.
Liesl Orenic is Director of American Studies and Associate Professor of History at Domincan Univeristy. Her articles have apperaed in the Journal of Social History, the Journal of Urban History, and elsewhere.
"A superb portrait of the real 'baggage handler' in the industry..."
— Randy Canale, former president and general chairperson, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Air Transport District 141
Revolt on Goose Island, Presenters: Kari Lydersen and Jerry Mead-Lucero
September 8, Tuesday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
The electrifying strike at Republic Windows & Doors last December has introduced a new generation of journalists to labor activism in the U.S. What is the role of print and electronic journalism in the rapidly evolving labor movement? How has labor journalism evolved?
Days after getting a $45 billion bailout from the U.S. government, Bank of America shut down a line of credit that kept Chicago's Republic Windows & Doors factory (located on Goose Island) operating. The bosses, who knew what was coming, had been sneaking machinery out in the middle of the night. They closed the factory and sent the workers home. Republic's workers — organized by United Electrical Workers Local 1110 — then occupied the factory and refused to leave.
Kari Lydersen's new book, Revolt On Goose Island: The Chicago Factory Takeover, and What it Says About the Economic Crisis (Melville House 2009), grew out of the "live book" series hosted by Moby Lives, the Melville House publishers blog. For the series Kari tracked unfolding events in the Republic Story and reported daily on the takeover. The book component of the project was reported and written from the start of the occupation in early December 2008 through mid-April 2009.
The Republic Windows strike also produced some of the most exhilarating video imagery in recent memory. Labor Beat radio's Jerry Mead-Lucero will present video highlights from the audacious Republic Windows workers.
Journalist Kari Lydersen has plunged deeply into such issues as immigration, globalization and free trade, environmental racism, human trafficking, the sex industry, civil liberties, Iraq, media analysis and criminal justice. Writing for such publications as the Washington Post, Alternet, the Chicago Reader, Punk Planet, The New Standard News and LiP Magazine, she highlights the connections between these issues and strives to put a much-needed human face on policy debates. Kari teaches journalism workshops in Chicago high schools, alternative schools, public housing projects and after-school programs through the Urban Youth International Journalism Program. Her previous books include Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun (City Lights Publishers 2008), co-authored with Wafaa Bilal.
Pilsen-based Jerry Mead-Lucero is an educator, activist and journalist in the labor, immigrant rights, global justice, anti-gentrification, Latin American solidarity, and ecology movements. He is the host/producer of Labor Express Radio, Chicago's only English language labor news and current affairs radio program.
"There is much talk about 'audacity' these days, but true chutzpah is when the workers take over the factory and take on the bank. Kari Lydersen's invaluable account of the Republic sit-down strike is an instruction manual for worker dignity."
— Mike Davis, author of Buda's Wagon and City of Quartz
"Revolt clocks in at only 161 pages, but it manages to tell the story of the six-day occupation, its historical precedents, and what it could mean for the future of the labor movement in full. For a book turned around in such a short time, it digs ably into the nuances of the closure, including the questions regarding the blame."
— Jonathan Messinger, TimeOut Chicago
The Obama Debate: Is President Obama a Progressive?
August 27, Thursday, 6:45 pm
Television Broadcast Taping: this event will be recorded for broadcast on CAN-TV, Chicago Cable Access Television
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
So far, the President has made numerous choices relative to military conflicts and foreign policy, the economy and unemployment, and health care and social services. From Left to Right, where does the Obama Administration fall?
Open University presents a debate between two prominent writers, and welcomes audience members to join this critical discussion.
Paul Street is the author of Barack Obama and the Future of Politics (Paradigm Press, 2008), among others. Paul was a civil rights researcher and advocate on the south side of Chicago (2000–2005), and served as a campaign activist in Iowa during the Iowa primary (caucus) season of 2007–2008. He was Director of Research and Vice President for Research and Planning at the Chicago Urban League from 2000 to 2005.
John K. Wilson is the author of President Barack Obama: A More Perfect Union, (Paradigm Press, 2009), among others. He is the founder of obamapolitics.com and collegefreedom.org and editor of Illinois Academe, the newspaper of the Illinois AAUP.
Europe Turns Left: The Crisis of Social Democracy and the Rise of the Anti-Capitalist Left, Presenter: Bill Pelz
August 12, Wednesday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Recent European elections have seen voters abandon the once dominant Social Democratic parties and a reject its embrace of neo-liberal policies. Though some far right parties have benefited, most significant is the rise of anti-capitalist electoral movements throughout Western Europe. What are the origins and class character of these movements? How do labor unions and social justice movements relate to these new left parties?
Open University welcomes Historian and author Dr. William A. Pelz, whose forthcoming book is a biography of Karl Marx (Spring 2010). His most recent publication is Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March (2007). Other books include The Spartkusbund and the German Working Class Movement (1988), and Wilhelm Liebknecht and German Social Democracy (1994). He also edited the Eugene V. Debs Reader (2000, 2007). Bill's articles and book reviews have appeared in the American Historical Review, International Labor and Working Class History, German History, Sozialismus, JahrBuch fuar Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung, and International Labor History Yearbook, among others.
The Global Economic Crisis and the Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg, Presenter: Peter Hudis
Sunday, August 9, 9:00 am, CAN-TV Channel 21
Available to Comcast And RCN Chicago area customers.
This event was recorded on July 7, 2009 at the Open University of the Left.
Rosa Luxemburg wrote what is widely regarded as the first systematic analysis of the globalization of capital in her 1913 work, The Accumulation of Capital. What is Luxemburg's analysis of the global character of capitalist accumulation? Can her theory of capitalist crisis illuminate any features of today's financial-economic crisis?
Born in Poland, Rosa Luxemburg was a revolutionary and labor leader who played a key role in the founding of the Spartacus League, which grew into the Communist Party of Germany. She wrote extensively on the theory and practice of Marxism, and is regarded as among the most influential of twentieth century thinkers. She was murdered during the German revolution of 1919.
Open University welcomes Peter Hudis, Luxemburg scholar and co-editor of The Rosa Luxemburg Reader (Monthly Review Press). Peter has published numerous essays on Luxemburg, Marxian theory, and contemporary social and political philosophy. He is a member of the U.S. Marxist-Humanists.
Economic Crisis: Captial & Labor — The 1930s & Today, Presenter: Dan La Botz. Open University Television Broadcast Premier
July 26, Sunday, 11:30 am, Chicago Cable Access Television, Channel 21
July 30, Thursday, 8:00 am, **Chicago Cable Access Television, Channel 19
Available to Comcast and RCN customers in the Chicago Area
This Open University event was taped on May 28, 2009. Additional broadcast dates to be announced.
Presented by: Open University Of The Left
Co-sponsor: Chicago Solidarity
Is the labor movement and the left prepared to respond to the world economic crisis? Today's economic crisis and labor's response cannot be a replay of the 1930s, but what can we can learn from that historical experience? As the global left finds itself in a difficult position without, in most places, a strong socialist organization or a powerful labor movement, what is key to the development of the these movements in the United States and Europe?
OUL welcomes author and labor activist Dan La Botz, who argues that solutions to the current crisis will be, as it was in the early 1930s, the development of militant minorities in the workplace and unions, in communities, and in the various fronts that challenge the status quo.
Dan La Botz, a Cincinnati-based teacher, writer and activist, writes on labor and politics for such publications as Labor Notes, Against the Current, Multinational Monitor, NACLA, MRZine, Counterpunch and others. He is the author of several books on labor in the U.S., Mexico and Indonesia. He is a leader of Solidarity and a member of the editorial board of New Politics. Learn more about his work at DanLaBotz.wikidot.com.
Film: The Fever
July 23, Thursday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Vanessa Redgrave stars in Carlo Nero's 2004 film of Wallace Shawn's brilliant, biting, incisive play on the ever-widening gap between those who have and those who have not.
What, if anything, is a morally consistent way to live in the world as it is? A nameless woman from a privileged world, suffering from a sense of disconnection from her comfortable life, travels to a country (also nameless) in the throes of civil war. Suddenly ill, she collapses and confronts an internal chorus of conflicting voices: dreams of comfort from her past, images of physical and economic violence, accusations of indifference, and cold-blooded arguments in favor of oppression. It is the brutal realization that we are deeply connected to the condition of so many other people that lies at the core of The Fever.
Co-stars include Michael Moore, Joely Richardson and Angelina Jolie. Vanessa Redgrave received a Screen Actors Guild best actor nomination for her role in The Fever.
"... a well-to-do Westerner comes to terms with world poverty, exploitation and Karl Marx ... Radical politics have rarely been debated so openly" — Variety
"An intense, harrowing monologue..." — The London Times
Healthcare and Reproductive Rights in the Era of Obama: Progress or Regression?, Presenter: Karen Kubby, Emma Goldman Clinic
July 20, Monday, 6:30 pm
Note Different Location:
Acme Artworks
2215 W. North Ave, Chicago
What is the outlook for reproductive health and rights in the era of the Obama administration?
As the healthcare debate gains momentum, join a provocative presentation with Karen Kubby, former executive director of Iowa City’s Emma Goldman Clinic, a full-service women’s health clinic.
Karen Kubby was an activist member of the Iowa City Council for 11 years. There she worked to support local labor unions, environmental protection, women’s rights, affordable housing, and the public library. She is also an experienced trainer for independent local political campaigns.
The Emma Goldman Clinic is a not-for-profit independent organization founded in 1973 by a group of women driven by feminist ideals. The clinic seeks to empower women and men in all life stages through the provision of quality reproductive health care that includes abortion services, gynecology services, safer sex promotion, and active education (www.emmagoldman.com).
This event is sponsored by the U.S. Marxists-Humanists.
Co-sponsors include: Open University of the Left, the Chicago Socialist Party, and others.
Bastille Day Party!
July 18, Saturday, 2 pm
Quencher's Saloon
2401 N. Western Ave., corner of Fullerton
Off with their heads! Join Open University members as we imbibe, fraternize, and toast the era when the ruling class had to run for their lives. Help us escape the friendly confines of the library for the even friendlier Quencher's Saloon for an afternoon of la vie, à la liberté et la poursuite de vin rouge.
This event is co-endorsed by Solidarity-Chicago, Chicago Socialist Party, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, U.S. Marxist Humanists, and others.
The Global Economic Crisis and the Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg, Presenter: Peter Hudis
July 7, Tuesday, 6:45 pm
Television Broadcast Taping: this event will be recorded for broadcast on CAN-TV, Chicago Cable Access Television
Open University Of The Left
www.openuniversityoftheleft.org
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Rosa Luxemburg wrote what is widely regarded as the first systematic analysis of the globalization of capital in her 1913 work, The Accumulation of Capital. What is Luxemburg's analysis of the global character of capitalist accumulation? Can her theory of capitalist crisis illuminate any features of today's financial-economic crisis?
Born in Poland, Rosa Luxemburg was a revolutionary and labor leader who played a key role in the founding of the Spartacus League, which grew into the Communist Party of Germany. She wrote extensively on the theory and practice of Marxism, and is regarded as among the most influential of twentieth century thinkers. She was murdered during the German revolution of 1919.
Open University welcomes Peter Hudis, Luxemburg scholar and co-editor of The Rosa Luxemburg Reader (Monthly Review Press). Peter has published numerous essays on Luxemburg, Marxian theory, and contemporary social and political philosophy. He is a member of the U.S. Marxist-Humanists.
Mass Media, Iran, & the Dangers of the Faith-Based Presidency, Presenter: Anthony DiMagigo
June 25, Thursday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
How has the mainstream media's discussion of Iran and the WMD question corrupted public opinion? What are the consequences of this fanatic belief in Iran's "threat"? Despite the consistent findings of international and national intelligence that in reality Iran poses no threat, political and media officialdom continues to put forward the patently false paradigm that places Iran at the center of what the Bush regime called the "axis of evil."
Author and activist Anthony DiMaggio teaches U.S. and International Politics at Illinois State University. His book Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Examining American News in the "War on Terror" (LexiMasngton) was published last year. His next publication is When Media Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (Monthly Review Press, forthcoming in 2010). His editorials continue to appear in Z Magazine and Counterpunch, among others.
Economic Crisis: Captial & Labor — The 1930s & Today, Presenter: Dan La Botz
May 28, Thursday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W Fullerton
Is the labor movement and the left prepared to respond to the world economic crisis? Today's economic crisis and labor's response cannot be a replay of the 1930s, but what can we can learn from that historical experience? As the global left finds itself in a difficult position without, in most places, a strong socialist organization or a powerful labor movement, what is key to the development of the these movements in the United States and Europe?
OUL welcomes author and labor activist Dan La Botz, who argues that solutions to the current crisis will be, as it was in the early 1930s, the development of militant minorities in the workplace and unions, in communities, and in the various fronts that challenge the status quo.
Dan La Botz, a Cincinnati-based teacher, writer and activist, writes on labor and politics for such publications as Labor Notes, Against the Current, Multinational Monitor, NACLA, MRZine, Counterpunch and others. He is the author of several books on labor in the U.S., Mexico and Indonesia. He is a leader of Solidarity and a member of the editorial board of New Politics. Learn more about his work at DanLaBotz.wikidot.com.
A Chicago native, Dan's most recent article in The Nation is a contribution to the essential Re-Imagining Socialism series, titled "Militant Minoriities." Dan is best known in the labor movement for his book The Troublemaker's Handbook, a rank-and-file activist organizing manual, and for Rank and File Rebellion: Teamsters for a Democratic Union, an account of the Teamster reform movement. He has written several other books on labor and politics in Mexico including The Crisis of Mexican Labor, Mask of Democracy: Labor Suppression in Mexico Today, and Democracy in Mexico: Peasant Rebellion and Political Reform. He is also the author of a study of labor in Southeast Asia, Made in Indonesia: Indonesian Workers Since Suharto, a book he wrote with assistance from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. In 2005 Peason Longman published his biography César Chávez and La Causa. He is the editor of Mexican Labor News and Analysis (MLNA), a monthly electronic report on workers and unions in Mexico.
Co-Sponsored by Solidarity.
The Struggle for Palestine: What does the Future Hold? with Gilbert Achcar & Moshé Machover
May 16, Saturday, 4 pm
DePaul University, Schmitt Academic Building (SAC) Room 161
2320 N Kenmore
Gilbert Achcar grew up in Lebanon and is currently Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is author of Eastern Cauldron: Islam, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq in a Marxist Mirror, The Clash of Barbarisms and Perilous Power with Noam Chomsky. He is also a frequent contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique.
Moshé Machover was born in Tel-Aviv, studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and currently teaches in the Philosophy Department at King's College London. As a long-time campaigner against Zionism, he coauthored the classic essay, "The Class Character of Israel" with Akiva Orr and cofounded the radical left Matzpen (Israeli Socialist Organization) group in 1962.
Sponsors: DePaul University International Studies Program, International Socialist Organization, Solidarity
Co-Sponsors: Chicago Jewish Voices for Peace, Chicago Socialist Party, Open University of the Left, Students for Justice in Palestine-DePaul
May Day Party!
May 2, Saturday, 1:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Quencher's Saloon
2401 N Western (corner of Fullerton)
Live music from the anti-capitalist jazz band UnDerTow
Plus
— Cold Beer! Great conversation! More cold beer!
Sponsored by: Chicago Socialist Party
Co-sponsors: Open
University of the Left, Solidarity-Chicago, Chicago Democratic
Socialists of America-Chicago, U.S. Marxist Humanists
The Battle for EFCA — Employee Free Choice Act
April 30, Thursday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W
Fullerton
The Employee Free Choice Act — EFCA — was the major political priority of the U.S. labor movement in the 2008 elections. Needless to say, Corporate America is not taking kindly to EFCA, and has spent hundreds of millions mobilizing all its forces to defeat the legislation. EFCA isn't dead yet — but it is in danger.
What strategy has the U.S. Labor movement used, and how could it be more effective?
OUL welcomes journalist Adam Turl. Adam is a socialist living in Chicago and a frequent contributor to SocialistWorker.org, CounterPunch.org and the International Socialist Review.
Forum: Labor Organizing During Hard Time, Presenter: Joe Oliva, Policy Coordinator, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
April 15, Wednesday, 6:45 pm
Open University Of The Left
Lincoln Park Library
1150 W
Fullerton
Back to Marx: Left Opposition in East Germany
Thursday, March 12th, 6:30 pm
St. Paul Cultural Center
2215 W. North Ave. Chicago
Dr. Axel Fair-Schulz discuses left-wing dissent to East German authoritarianism.
Dr. Fair-Schulz was born and raised in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). He holds a BA in History and Anthropology, an MA in European History, and a Ph.D. in German History. Dr. Fair-Schulz's research focus is on dissident influences and reform-minded Marxists in the former GDR. He currently teaches history at the State University of New York - Potsdam.
This event is sponsored by the Chicago Socialist Party, and co-sponsored by the Open University of the Left, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, the Institute of Working Class History, the Marxist Humanist Committee, Solidarity (Chicago branch), and the Chicago GDR Friendship Society (retired).