Ideas for Freedom: a weekend of socialist discussion and debate
Workers' Liberty | 18.05.2007 12:58 | Globalisation | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | London
Ideas for Freedom is a weekend of socialist debate and discussion hosted by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty: from the evening of Friday 29 June through to Sunday 1 July. Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7.
Our major theme this year is what it actually means to be on the left, and to be a socialist. As much of the left, from the SWP and Respect to the Labour Party, continues to move ever further away from socialist politics and decay politically, we want to reassert the themes of human freedom, consistent democracy and working-class struggle as the basics of any socialism worthy of the name.
We will also be running a number of sessions "Introducing Marxism". Ideas for Freedom is a space in which young activists can come and learn about Marxist ideas in a friendly atmosphere where questioning and debate are encouraged.
Sessions will include:
- "Introducing Marxism", including:
Are revolutionaries violent?
Why do we need political parties?
'Working class', 'multitude' or 'people of good will'?
What does it mean to be left-wing?
- After Gordon Brown's coronation: how can workers win a voice in politics? A panel on working-class political representation including John McDonnell MP, left challenger for leader of the Labour Party
- Workers' Liberty debates Nick Cohen, Observer journalist and author of What's left? on "Does socialism have a future?"
- Anarchism and Marxism in the Spanish revolution 1936-7
- Newsnight journalist Paul Mason reads from and leads a discussion on his new book on workers' struggles across the world, Live Working or Die Fighting
- How can we get the trade unions to fight? A debate with trade union speakers and Sheila Cohen, author of Ramparts of Resistance
- Debate with the Aegis Trust on Darfur and the left's attitude to humanitarian intervention
- Robin Blackburn, author of The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, on the real history of the abolition of slavery
- Priya Gopal, author of Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence, and Camila Bassi of Workers' Liberty take part in a panel on anti-racism and multiculturalism
- Sessions on queer politics and LGBT liberation
- Understanding Marx's Grundrisse
- Do Labour councils have to make cuts? Janine Booth of Workers' Liberty speaks about the lessons of the 1921 Poplar Council struggle, and an activist talks about the current anti-cuts campaigns in Lambeth
- A film showing and speakers on women and workers' struggles in Iran
Friday 29 June: film night and social, Bread and Roses, 68 Clapham Manor Street, London SW4, from 7.30pm-late. (Clapham Common tube or Clapham High Street rail)
Saturday 30 June and Sunday 1 July: at the Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7. (Holloway Road tube)
Saturday evening social with live music
Creche provided, free accommodation in London arranged. We may also be able to help you with transport, depending on where you are coming from.
Tickets are £25 (waged), £18 (students and low waged) and £13 (unwaged). However, they are £3 cheaper if bought in advance. One day tickets are also available.
More details about the event: email
awl@workersliberty.org or phone 020 7207 3997.
Or you can register online at www.workersliberty.org/ideas
We will also be running a number of sessions "Introducing Marxism". Ideas for Freedom is a space in which young activists can come and learn about Marxist ideas in a friendly atmosphere where questioning and debate are encouraged.
Sessions will include:
- "Introducing Marxism", including:
Are revolutionaries violent?
Why do we need political parties?
'Working class', 'multitude' or 'people of good will'?
What does it mean to be left-wing?
- After Gordon Brown's coronation: how can workers win a voice in politics? A panel on working-class political representation including John McDonnell MP, left challenger for leader of the Labour Party
- Workers' Liberty debates Nick Cohen, Observer journalist and author of What's left? on "Does socialism have a future?"
- Anarchism and Marxism in the Spanish revolution 1936-7
- Newsnight journalist Paul Mason reads from and leads a discussion on his new book on workers' struggles across the world, Live Working or Die Fighting
- How can we get the trade unions to fight? A debate with trade union speakers and Sheila Cohen, author of Ramparts of Resistance
- Debate with the Aegis Trust on Darfur and the left's attitude to humanitarian intervention
- Robin Blackburn, author of The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, on the real history of the abolition of slavery
- Priya Gopal, author of Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence, and Camila Bassi of Workers' Liberty take part in a panel on anti-racism and multiculturalism
- Sessions on queer politics and LGBT liberation
- Understanding Marx's Grundrisse
- Do Labour councils have to make cuts? Janine Booth of Workers' Liberty speaks about the lessons of the 1921 Poplar Council struggle, and an activist talks about the current anti-cuts campaigns in Lambeth
- A film showing and speakers on women and workers' struggles in Iran
Friday 29 June: film night and social, Bread and Roses, 68 Clapham Manor Street, London SW4, from 7.30pm-late. (Clapham Common tube or Clapham High Street rail)
Saturday 30 June and Sunday 1 July: at the Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7. (Holloway Road tube)
Saturday evening social with live music
Creche provided, free accommodation in London arranged. We may also be able to help you with transport, depending on where you are coming from.
Tickets are £25 (waged), £18 (students and low waged) and £13 (unwaged). However, they are £3 cheaper if bought in advance. One day tickets are also available.
More details about the event: email
awl@workersliberty.org or phone 020 7207 3997. Or you can register online at www.workersliberty.org/ideas
Workers' Liberty
e-mail:
awl@workersliberty.org
Homepage:
http://www.workersliberty.org/ideas
Comments
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Fuck the Imperial Left
18.05.2007 13:53
Debating Iraq; Explaining ourselves
At least there are two people in their organisation putting up some kind of opposition to their defence of the occupation of Iraq, no doubt they will soon be driven out.
The AWL are supporting the Empires next war: Iran, one of the few journalists ringing the alarm bells about this impending war, John Pilger, is targeted:
Does John Pilger back Iran?
Consider this article:
Questions and answers on Iraq
"Isn't partition the answer, as suggested in Peter Galbraith's new book?
No, if only because of Baghdad."
Well, wake up comrades the occupation forces are building walls and carving the city up -- will you support the sectarian division of Iraq once all the walls have been built? See this article for more on the walls: Baghdad : This Wall is their Grave - Stop the walls; stop the occupation!
""troops out now" - would be demagogic"
What about the 140,000 mercenaries? There are six times more British mercenaries in Iraq than regular troops -- are they also defending the Iraqi workers movement? Are you opposed to the withdrawal of Blackwater as well?
What about the Depleated Uranium -- is that only going to be killing the "sectarians"?
What about the Democrats pathetic (not serious in any way) attempt to set a timetable for a withdrawal to start in October and end by March 2008 -- did you support Bush vetoing this?
What about Afghanistan -- do you also support that occupation?
Before the Berlin wall fell you slagged off elements of the left for seeing Eastern Eurpoean countries as progressive relative to the West -- "deformed/degenerated workers states" (as others on the left described them) created by "Russian tanks rolling across Eastern Europe" was not someting you saw as progressive. Yet now deformed/degenerated colonial states such as we have in Iraq and Afganistan are considered progressive because you fear self determination would lead to the fake spector of "islamo fascism".
What about the polls showing that 90% of people in Iraq oppose the occupation and 60% support attacks on the troops of the occupation, at least 1 million dead due to the occupation, 4 million driven from their homes and you think that the occupation is defending the workers movements? Where is your evidence that the working class supports the brutal occupation?
Please learn something from history:
"The blood of eight million Iraqi civilians on the hands of the Anglo-American axis since the early twentieth century, and still counting…"
The history of the Anglo-American Empire is a history of Imperial Genocide:
It's an Imperial WAR FOR OIL: you have been taken in by the neocon psyops.
(A)