The Socialist Party of Canada
Presents
Socialism as a Practical Alternative
A discussion on the problems of society and how to solve them.
Saturday, August 22nd
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge (just north of Bloor)
Website: The Socialist Party of Canada
Email: sp@iname.com
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The Socialist Party of Canada on Facebook
Further to last Friday's post on the blog about an SPGB speaker at a session at Glasgow's Radical Independent Bookfair, 'News From Nowhere', the yahoo discussion list for SPGB members and sympathisers in the Caledonian area, carries a mini-report back of the meeting.
I've posted it in the comments of the blog through a mixture of respecting the comrades list privacy and because I want to hoover up the page views.
Bloggers with sitemeters will understand my reasoning.
PS - Don't quote on me this, but I'm pretty sure that the Benjamin Franks that was listed as one of the panel speakers is the same Benjamin Franks whose book, 'Rebel Alliances: The means and ends of contemporary British anarchists', was reviewed in the November 2006 issue of the Socialist Standard.
Last time I looked there was a secondhand copy of the book in the Left Section of a secondhand bookshop in the East Village. I'll have to see if it's still there the next time I'm in the Lower East Side.
"Recent media reports on the 40th anniversary of the student protests of 1968 recalled students' discontent with class inequalities, civil rights and the increasing beureaucratic control of education. In 2008, in the grip of neoliberalism, recession, temporary contracts, job losses and increasing emphasis on 'employability' in education, it has been reported that today's students no longer want to change society or the education system, but instead just want their education to enable them to get good enough jobs so they can pay their rent. The August RIB will host a symposium that looks at these and other issues surrounding how education policy and practice has developed and changed over the last 40 years, and student/teacher responses to them."
Timetable:
1pm- Angela McClanahan (worker in higher education): Introduction
1.45 start- Benjamin Franks (worker in higher education)
2.05-2.10 start: Gordon Asher (student and worker in higher education)
2.30 Break
3pm Christian Garland (author and activist)
3.20-25 start: Victor Vanni (Socialist Party of Great Britain)
3.40-3.45 start: Audience discussion, chaired by Angela
The Socialist Party of Great Britain will be hosting a special screening of the classic 1952 short film, 'Neighbours' by Norman McLaren. The film will be followed by a talk on the socialist attitude to war.
The Edinburgh Branch of the Socialist Party of Great Britain will be hosting a public meeting entitled "Will capitalism collapse? Economically? Ecologically?". The talk consists of two inter-related themes -- a talk on the economics of capitalism and why we need political action to get rid of it, and a talk on climate change and environmental stress and whether the ecosystem is being irretrievably damaged.
All Welcome - - - - - - - - - - - - - Admission Free
