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This post has not been reviewed by the Halifax Media Co-op editorial committee.
Theory by Fire: a discussion series on Marxism as living theory
BLOG POST posted on May 26, 2010 by cole
Blog posts are the work of individual contributors, reflecting their thoughts, opinions and research.
Improve your Marx!
Theory by Fire: a discussion series on Marxism as living theory
June 12 - Why we are drawn to Marxism
July 3 - Marx’s theory of value
August 14 - Anti-state communisms
Discussions start at 8pm - short presentations to be followed by open discussions
Roberts Street Social Centre (5684 Roberts Street- little red house)
Backyard, around the fire pit
All Welcome
more info: seeing.red.halifax@gmail.com
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My interest in holding these discussions is first and foremost to gain a better understanding of Marxist theory and to create a forum for discussions that can help guide my political activity. Secondly I'm concerned that while the need to overthrow capitalism is arguably more pressing than ever, my impression is that basic Marxist theory is not widely understood in the (mostly young) activist scenes I engage with. Unfortunately anti-intellectualism is rampant. When my contemporaries do engage critically with theory - and this is to their credit - it is most often with identity politics and sociological oppression theories popular in the Academy which don't necessarily critique capitalism (which is not to say I think all of these theories are without value). Thirdly, what some call "activist-ism" is pervasive - the ideology that says it's our job to do (usually tiny and isolated) action, after action, after action and that's it until we burn out/grow up/get a real job. It's my view for instance that the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty (HCAP), an organisation of which I was a member for five years, suffered badly from activist-ism.
The discussions are open to anyone who has any interest in or commitment to Marxist theory, or to anyone who's simply hungry for new ideas about improving our lives in the here and now while working towards a new and better world. The idea is to start off with a presenter introducing some concepts and then to move to an open discussion loosely guided by a series of discussion questions.
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Comments
Sounds cool!
I'll try to come. Why Saturday nights?
Sounds cool!
I'll try to come. Why Saturday nights?
Sounds cool!
I'll try to come. Why Saturday nights?
I guess we're outing
I guess we're outing ourselves as the geeks we are in holding discussions on marxism on Saturday nights, eh?
I think our first choice was Thursday evenings but there's something else that goes on regularly at the RSSC those nights. We're thinking 8-10pm on Saturday is after most people eat supper and before most people go out to party.