conferences * coming soon
Ernest Mandel Study Centre: Paris symposium on the Russian revolution
Two years ago, having lost our regretted comrade and friend, Ernest Mandel, we pledged to carry on the task of updating Marxism and enriching it which had been one of the main concerns of his life writes Salah Jaber. It is with this duty in mind that the Ernest Mandel Study Centre was launched (see Sept. 1995 issue.) In July 1996 the Centre organised a seminar dedicated to an evaluation and discussion of major aspects of Mandel's contribution to Marxist theory. (see Sept. 1996 issue).
Given the success of this first undertaking, we resolved to organise a yearly event, focusing on one of the key problems of Marxist theory in contemporary world, with a non-exclusive preference for topics to the study of which Ernest Mandel had contributed.
For 1997, the Centre planned to organise a seminar on the balance sheet of the 1917 October revolution, an issue to which Ernest devoted many writings, the latest and most complete being Coup d'état or Social Revolution (IRE, 1992).
It turned out, however, that a symposium devoted to the same topic was being organised in Paris by Espaces Marx, a pluralistic Marxist research foundation linked to the French Communist Party and co-administered by some of the Parisian fellows of the EMSC like Michael Löwy and Catherine Samary. It was therefore decided to merge the two projects. The EMSC joins with Espaces Marx, the research centres of Paris VIII and Dijon universities and journals including La Pensée and Critique communiste in organising the symposium, to take place at Université Paris VIII on November 14-16.
This event is likely to be one of the major international gatherings of Marxists scholars and thinkers held in recent years. More than forty contributors (from France, Russia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Spain, and the USA) will discuss a varied list of topics related to the study of the October Revolution and its historical legacy. Scheduled participants include Samir Amin, Daniel Bensaid, Robin Blackburn, Samuel Farber, Marc Ferro, Janette Habel, Boris Kagarlitsky, Paul Leblanc, V.P. Volobuyev, and Claudie Weil.
The proceedings will be translated simultaneously into English, French and Russian. The registration fee is quite affordable (FF100 for individuals, FF200 if an institution is paying for you, FF50 for students and unemployed and so is the cost of accommodation: beds in 2-to-3bed rooms at a nearby hostel for only FF50 ($9) per night
If you want to attend this important event, write to Espaces
Marx (64 Bd Blangul, 75013 Paris, France), attaching heck tor the registration tee, plus accommodation il needed (in that case, specify which nights you are booking for). The check will be kept as a deposit and given back to you against payment in French cash on arrival. Meals will be paid on the spot International LaborMedia '97 (Seoul, Korea, 10-12 November 1997)
In spite of a total lack of financial resources and experiences, we, Korean activists are trying to organise a conference on "Labour Movement and Media: Workers, Information Technology and Solidarity" and an international labor video and film festival in Seoul, Korea. The recent South Korean general strike showed not only the energy of the working class who want to fight against the capitalist attack on the global level, but also our ability to use communication media such as the Internet and video for information-sharing and strengthening solidarity on the national and international level, (See http://kpd.sing-kr.org/strike)
The conference will coincide with the annual mass rally organised by the KCTU (Korean confederation of trade unions, which organised the general strike in January). This will be a great opportunity to see and feel the impetus of the struggle of the Korean labour movement. Registration Fee: evening of November 8 - morning of Nith all meals and participating in Worker mass nights November 13-- Including accommodation for five nights Private room: 130 $ • Pension: 250 $ (30% discount for Underdeveloped Country, 10% discount for registration before 15 October). Organisers (As of August 22nd): Labour News Production (LNP), Truenet, Task Group for Labour Information(TGLI), Social Information Networking Group (SING), Solidarity for Democracy and Progress (SP), Korea research institute for worker's human rights and justice (KRIWRJ Organising Sponsor (As of August 22nd): Korea Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU). Contact: Seoul International LaborMedia '97 Committee tel: +82-2-855-1913, fax: +82-2-858-1913 e-mail: [email protected] [To join conference mailing list write to [email protected] Internet: http://kpd.sing-kr.org/labormedia South Asia and the diaspora 50 years after the end of British colonialism School of Oriental and African Studies* Malet St, London. 18-19 Oct. 1997
Organised and co-ordinated by the British-based South Asia Solidarity Group, this unique conference will bring together key academics and activists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Europe and North America. We will discuss the effects of globalisation on South Asia, and the intense organised struggles waged by powerful people's movements: a feature of all countries in the region today.
Speakers and participants will examine the new strategies and theoretical approaches emerging in these movements, and the identities of class, caste, gender and nationality which these struggles are heightening and reshaping. Many of these speakers are well known activists in South Asia, but speaking for the first time in Britain.
Sessions include: workers struggles in the context of industrial restructuring and structural adjustment • globalisation, the nation state, militarisation and refugees communalism (religious sectarianism) and fascism • gender and identity in S. Asia and the Diaspora • the relationship between people's movements and NGOs • globalisation and South Asian culture and art • the changing nature of racism in the context of the new world order • the left in South Asia and strategies for the future.
Speakers include: Uma Chakravarti, feminist scholar and civil liberties activist (India) • Hassan Gardezi, editor of "Pakistan: the roots of dictatorship -political economy of a praetorian state" • Rustom Bharucha, theatre director and critic, writer on globalisation and culture (India) • Randhir Singh, influential Marxist thinker (India) • Anu Muhammad, writer on alternative strategies for development (Bangladesh) • Dalip Swamy, writer on India's New Economic Policies and civil liberties activist • Dipankar Bhattacharya, representative of the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) and trade union organiser • Salma Ali, legal activist with women workers in the Dhaka Free Trade Zone (Bangladesh) • Shahnaz Rouse, writer on women, nationalism and fundamentalism in Pakistan • Nirmala Rajasingham, Sri Lankan Tamil teminist writer and activist • Mrinal Chakma, activist from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (India) *Sponsored by SOAS, De Montfort University and Luton University Registration: £3/day for students, low and unwaged £10/day for waged individuals, and £25/day for institutions. Cheques payable to SASG,, c/o Londec, Instrument House, 205-217 Kings Cross Rd, WC1X 9DB. For further details tel./fax +44 171 354 8744 or 713 7907 Raise your banners '97 31 Oct.-2 Nov. 1997, Sheffield, England
Following the enormous success of the '95 festival, plans are under way for a bigger, better, even more exciting celebration of political music.
Invitations have gone out to some of the best known British and international names in political music. An extensive programme of films, drama, performance poetry, workshops, children's events, exhibitions and discussions will complement the more than 20 concerts which are planned for city centre venues, large and small. To receive a programme send a SAE to the Festival Office, RYB, PO Box 44, Sheffield, S4 7RN
35
well read A very incomplete review of the radical press Monthly Review Summer 1997 Special double issue: Rising from the ashes? Labor in the age of "global capitalism." Edited by Ellen Meiksins Wood and guest editors Peter Meiksins and Michael Yates. Contents include: Zapatismo and the Workers Movement in Mexico at the End of the Century by Edur Velasco Arregui, and Richard Roman • Organizing the Unorganized: Will Promises Become Practices? by Fernando Gapasin and Michael Yates • Notes on Labor at the End of the Century: Starting Over? by Sam Gindin • Race and Labor Organization in the United States by Michael Goldfield • Talking About work by Doug Henwood • Same As It Ever Was? The Structure of the Working Class by Peter Melksins • American Labor: A Movement Again? by Kim Moody • The French Winter of Discontent by Daniel Singer • The "Late Blooming" of the South Korean Labor Movement by Hochul Sonn • Labor, The State, and Class Struggle by Ellen Meiksins Wood US$7 from Monthly Review, 122 West 27th St., New York, NY 10001, USA. MasterCard/Visa orders call +1 212691 2555. fax: 727 3676 <[email protected]> Socialist Challenge Summer 1997 issue includes: Reds and Greens — Allies against a common enemy • BC Premier pits workers against environmentalists • Homophobic bigots are repelled, but the tactic raises a debate • Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation • No! to APEC • Unity. talks between Socialist Challenge/Gauche Socialiste and the New Socialist Group Socialist Challenge is the English language publication of Socialist Challenge/Gauche Socialiste, the section of the Fourth International in the Canadian state. For a sample copy or subscription ($12 for four issues in Canada), please contact Socialist Challenge, Box 4955, Main Post Office, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 4A6 Canada or email <[email protected]>
International Viewpoint
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