Please forward widely! New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education)
Fall 2006 Courses FIGHTING SUPPRESSION OF DISSENT: ANOTHER LEFT IS POSSIBLE Andrea Fishman, Joshua Howard, Anne Jaclard, Andrew Kliman and Seth G. Weiss (the New SPACE Organizing Committee) 4 Sessions: Alternate Thursdays, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m, Nov. 2 - Dec. 14. REASON IN HISTORY: HEGEL AND MARX REPLY TO THEIR POST-RATIONAL CRITICS Alex Steinberg 8 Sessions: Tuesdays, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Oct. 24 - Dec. 12 PREFIGURATIVE POLITICS: WORKERS SELF-MANAGEMENT FROM ARGENTINA TO THE BALKANS Andrej Grubacic and Marina Sitrin 8 Sessions: Tuesdays, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m., Oct. 24 - Dec. 12 ______________________________________ See course descriptions below. Please see the New SPACE website for additional information on courses and registration. The New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education) http://new-space.mahost.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 1 (800) 377-6183 _______________________________ REASON IN HISTORY: HEGEL AND MARX REPLY TO THEIR POST-RATIONAL CRITICS Alex Steinberg 8 Sessions: Tuesdays: 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Oct. 24 - Dec. 12 Tuition: $90 - $115, sliding scale Hegel famously said that "Reason rules the world." Was this little more than an expression of Eurocentric imperialism, racism and patriarchy? Marx turned Hegel's equation upside down but maintained an optimism about human rationality when he said: "The coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity can be conceived and rationally understood only as revolutionary practice." The horrors of the 20th century have witnessed a great disenchantment towards such optimistic sentiments. Adorno began the turn away from "reason in history" when he said that, "After Auschwitz, poetry was no longer possible." Others like the postmodernist Lyotard have said that History, either as a rationally comprehensible entity, or as a guide to action, is no longer possible. While there has been much criticism of the "meta-narratives" of Hegel and Marx in recent years, there has been scant attention paid to just what those "meta-narratives" are. Instead, a superficial caricature of the ideas of Hegel and Marx has become a convenient punching-bag in these discussions. Was Marx stuck in the outmoded conceit of a "totalizing meta-narrative," one that obliterates Difference and the Other? Or is there something of lasting value in the heritage of the radical wing of the Enlightenment for those committed to fundamental change? Does human history have a goal? Is progress a discernable phenomenon in history (or is this just another illusion bequeathed to us by the Enlightenment)? We will examine these questions as we read Hegel's most famous single work, his Introduction to the "Philosophy of History." We will then read selections from Marx to see how he both overturns and preserves the core of Hegel's idea of Reason in history as a practical guide to human emancipation. Finally, we will reconstruct the replies that Hegel and Marx might have made to some key essays of the contemporary post-rational critics -- Lyotard, Foucault, Baudrillard, Mouffe and Laclau. Alex Steinberg taught a course on _Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit_ last fall at the New SPACE. He is facilitator of a philosophy and literature discussion group in Brooklyn and author of several essays, including "The Case of Martin Heidegger." He has also served as a member of the WBAI Local Station Board (2004) and as Chairperson of the WBAI LSB Programming Committee. ________________________________________ PREFIGURATIVE POLITICS: WORKERS SELF-MANAGEMENT FROM ARGENTINA TO THE BALKANS Andrej Grubacic and Marina Sitrin 8 Sessions: Tuesdays, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m., Oct. 24 - Dec. 12 Tuition: $90 - $115, Sliding scale We will explore prefigurative politics through the lens of contemporary and historical experiments in workers self- management. Prefigurative politics, the weaving of the present with the future, will be discussed as a part of the anarchist tradition and grounded in various movements that are explicitly or implicitly anarchist. We will look at experiences in Spain in the 1930s and the system of self-management in the former Yugoslavia. We will, also, examine the contemporary experiences of recuperated workplaces in Argentina and some of its unemployed workers movements, such as Solano and Allen. We may address current formations in Venezuela, linked to this history while also distinguished from it. Michael Albert and Robin Hanel's work on participatory economics will be examined, as well, in our exploration of self- management and prefigurative politics. Andrej Grubacic has specific experience living self-management in Yugoslavia. Andrej, a historian and social critic, works with the Planetary Alternatives Network, Z Communications and Peoples Global Action. As a result of his political activism, Andrej was forced to leave the University of Belgrade and move to SUNY Binghamton. Marina Sitrin is an anti-authoritarian activist, writer, teacher and dreamer. Marina has spent time in Argentina working with the autonomous social movements and compiling an oral history, _Horizontalidad: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina_. _____________________________________________ FIGHTING SUPPRESSION OF DISSENT: ANOTHER LEFT IS POSSIBLE Facilitators: Andrea Fishman, Joshua Howard, Anne Jaclard, Andrew Kliman, and Seth G. Weiss (the New SPACE Organizing Committee) 4 Sessions: Alternate Thursdays, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m, Nov. 2 - Dec. 14. Tuition: $45 - $60, sliding scale "[T]he most important effect of suppression is not on the dissident ... but on others who observe the process. Every case of suppression is a warning to potential critics not to buck the system. And every case in which suppression is vigorously opposed is a warning to vested interests that attacks will not be tolerated." - Brian Martin This four-session workshop will provide tools for recognizing, understanding, dealing with, and combating suppression of dissent, and it will serve as a support group for victims of suppression. Drawing on New SPACE organizers' extensive experiences during the last several years, we will often focus on suppression of dissent within the Left. Yet suppression of dissent on the Left generally takes the same forms and has the same dynamics and motivations as suppression of dissent elsewhere. Thus, everyone who has been a victim of suppression and/or who wants to fight suppression anywhere in society is encouraged to participate in the workshop. It will be of value to you as well, and your own experiences and thoughts will be most relevant and welcome. (Proponents of suppressive practices are also invited to come and argue with us!) The basic premise of the workshop is that "diversity" is not enough. New, liberatory ideas and ways of life develop through the engagement of opposing ideas and perspectives, and cannot develop without this. It is necessary to encourage, protect, and engage with dissident voices within our own groups and communities, and to fight suppression of dissent. It is also vital that, in order to help show that "another world is possible," we begin to prefigure this other world by fighting suppression of dissent within the forums, publications, e-mail lists, and other institutions of the Left itself. Recognition that suppression of dissent is quite prevalent on the Left is a crucial component of the workshop. Leftists tend to view themselves as victims, but not also perpetrators, of suppression. As we will discuss, however, the Left frequently internalizes and reproduces within its institutions the suppressive practices, and the authoritarian attitudes that foster these practices, that prevail elsewhere in this society. The main classes of suppression identified by Brian Martin, an important anti-suppression activist and anarchist thinker -- "direct suppression" (attempts to stop or penalize dissidents), "indirect suppression" (ignoring dissidents, denying them access to resources and opportunities, etc.), and "self-censorship" (in order to avoid ostracism, harassment, rumormongering, etc.) -- are all very common within Left groups and institutions. Of course, these groups and institutions currently lack the power to deprive their internal dissidents of freedom of expression and movement elsewhere in society - i.e., if they go away. Thus, as we shall discuss, a key objective of the suppressive practices employed within the Left is precisely to force or "encourage" dissidents to go away. Internal democracy, protection of internal dissent, and internal means to challenge those who wield power, which are needed in order to ensure engagement of opposing ideas and perspectives, are frequently absent. Countering attempts to justify this exclusionary behavior is another crucial feature of the workshop. For instance, we will examine the argument that people should be able to associate with whom they want. We will argue that exclusionary behavior toward dissidents is in fact a new form of enclosure, a monopolization of scarce social resources. Denying or limiting dissidents' access to these resources is very different from associating only with those you want. We will also argue against monopolization of scarce social resources on the ground of the "right" to private property, and we will show how the "freedom of association" gambit has historically been used to justify racial discrimination in housing, employment, and education. Recognizing and dealing with the "blaming the dissident" tactic is a third crucial component of the workshop. On the Left, and in general, suppression is almost never admitted to. Instead, the suppressors and their apologists try to justify their actions against dissidents by blaming the dissidents' performance, personality characteristics, methods ("you're going about this the wrong way"), motives, etc. We will discuss Brian Martin's "double standard test" and how to apply it in order to expose the hypocrisy and illegitimacy of the "blaming the dissident" tactic. We will also discuss its authoritarian character, noting that, when dissidents are blamed and actions are taken against them, they are frequently deprived of the right to confront their accusers, to refute charges against them, to an impartial hearing, and other democratic rights. Most of the readings for the workshop will be taken from Brian Martin's invaluable "Suppression of Dissent" website, www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent, available free of charge. For the first session, participants should have read and be prepared to discuss "Suppression of dissent: what it is and what to do about it" (www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/ intro/DNAleaflet.html). _______________________________________________ New SPACE classes and talks meet at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center: 107 Suffolk Street, NYC (located between Rivington and Delancey Streets). F train to the Delancey Street station or J, M, Z to Essex Street station. See the New SPACE website for a map. The New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education) http://new-space.mahost.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 1 (800) 377-6183 ________________________________________________ The New SPACE teachers, speakers, and organizers include: Stanley Aronowitz, Erika Biddle, Roz Bologh, Jack Z. Bratich, Stephen Eric Bronner, Andrea Fishman, Jeannette Gabriel, Loren Goldner, David Graeber, Andrej Grubacic, Robin Hahnel, Jesse Heiwa, Charles Herr, Joshua Howard, Anne Jaclard, Andrew Kliman, Louis Kontos, Joel Kovel, Eric Laursen, Houzan Mahmoud, Len Mell, Alan W. Moore, Bertell Ollman, Howard Seligman, Stevphen Shukaitis, Marina Sitrin, Tom Smith, Alex Steinberg, Bill Weinberg, Seth G. Weiss ___________________________________________ The New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education) http://new-space.mahost.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 1 (800) 377-6183 Mail: P.O. Box 19, Planetarium Station New York, NY 10024-0019 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
