Noam Chomsky Speaks

Chomsky on Global Crises and the Unipolar Moment
It is widely felt that the fall of the Soviet Union left a unipolar world, dominated by the remaining superpower, and that the "moment" is coming to a close with the collapse of the Anglo-Saxon "free market" economic model. Investigation of this two-decade "moment" can provide considerable insight into what came before, and possibilities for shaping the future.

Sixth Historical Materialism Annual Conference

Sixth Historical Materialism Annual Conference
‘Another World is Necessary: Crisis, Struggle and Political Alternatives’
27–29 November 2008 at the School of Oriental and African Studies and Birkbeck College, London, WC1
In association with Socialist Register and the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize Committee
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

The annual Historical Materialism conference is organised by the editorial board of Historical Materialism in association with the Deutscher Memorial Prize committee and the Socialist Register. The conference has become an important event on the Left, providing an annual forum to discuss recent developments on the agenda of historical-materialist research and has attracted an increasingly high attendance over the past four years. The Editorial Board of Historical Materialism welcomes attendance and active engagement in discussion with panellists from new as well as prior participants with an interest in critical-Marxist thought. One of the principal objectives of the conference has been to build bridges among the various Marxist communities, including the breaking down some of the linguistic and intellectual barriers which continue to hamper the circulation and expansion of critical-Marxist thought. The sixth annual Historical Materialism Conference, under the banner of ‘Crisis, Struggle and Political Alternatives’, promises to continue and take forward this objective. The conference is organised around three plenary sessions (the Deutscher lecture, the launch of the Socialist Register 2010, and Historical Materialism’s plenary) and a host of workshops dedicated to specific themes.

Amongst the many speakers: Gilbert Achcar * Gregory Albo * Robert Albritton * Kevin B. Anderson * Ricardo Antunes * Jairus Banaji * Robin Blackburn * Wendy Brown * Alex Callinicos * Vivek Chibber * Hester Eisenstein * Ben Fine * Robert Fine * Lindsey German * Peter Hallward * Chris Harman * Fredric Jameson * Bob Jessop * * Randy Martin * David McNally * Angela McRobbie * Kim Moody * Leo Panitch * Alexei Penzin * Moishe Postone * John Rees * Sheila Rowbotham * Alfredo Saad-Filho * Thomas Sekine * Julian Stallabrass * Hillel Ticktin * Alberto Toscano * Hilary Wainwright *

THE FULL TIMETABLE WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON

For more details, please contact: historicalmaterialism@soas.ac.uk

Attendance is free, but participants must register in advance online (if this is not possible, please contact historicalmaterialism@soas.ac.uk ). However, the conference is largely self-funded and we will depend on voluntary donations by attendants and participants to support the organisation and running of the event. The suggested advanced online donation is £40 for waged and £15 for unwaged < http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/conference2009.htm >, and the suggested donation on the door is £50 for waged and £20 for unwaged. For logistical and other support, Historical Materialism would like to thank the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Centre for International Security and Diplomacy. For sponsorship, thanks to the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at SOAS, SOAS Student Union, Brill Academic Publishers, the Deutscher Memorial Prize committee, Socialist Register, Journal of Agrarian Change, the International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy and Bookmarks. The Editorial Board of Historical Materialism

THEMES FOR THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: A LEFT PROJECT: TRANSFORMING THE STATE? * AGENCY * AGRARIAN CHANGE IN CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM: TECHNICAL DYNAMICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL TRAJECTORIES * ALTHUSSER AND PHILOSOPHY * APOCALYPSE MARXISM * ART AGAINST CAPITALISM * ART AND CRITIQUE IN GERMANY BETWEEN THE WARS * BOOK LAUNCH: ALEX CALLINICOS'S IMPERIALISM AND GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY * BOOK LAUNCH: KARL MARX AND CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY * CAPITALISM, CITIZENSHIP AND CRISIS * CLASS AND CONFLICT IN ANCIENT GREECE * CLASS AND POLITICS IN THE ‘GLOBAL SOUTH’ * CLASS, CRISIS, DISTRIBUTION * COGNITIVE MAPPING, TOTALITY AND THE REALIST TURN * COMMODIFYING HEALTH CARE IN THE UK * CUBAN REVOLUTION AND CUBAN SOCIETY * DERIVATIVES * DEVELOPMENTALISM, THE STATE AND CLASS FORMATION * DIMENSIONS OF THE FOOD CRISIS * EASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE FROM TRANSITION TO EU ENLARGEMENT: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY * ECOLOGICAL CRISIS * EMPIRE AND IMPERIALISM * ENERGY AND GEOPOLITICS * ENERGY, WASTE AND CAPITALISM * EPISTEMOLOGY, DIALECTICS AND HISTORICAL MATERIALISM * EXTENDING THE MINERALS-ENERGY- COMPLEX * FEMINISM AND SOCIALIST STRATEGY * FINANCE, THE HOUSING QUESTION AND URBAN POLITICS * GLOBAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS: MARXIST REFLECTIONS * GRAMSCI RELOADED * GREEN CAPITALISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS * HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND LATE CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT * HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND SOCIAL RESEARCH * HISTORICISING HISTORICAL MATERIALISM * HM BOOK SERIES LAUNCH: MIKKO LAHTINEN ON ALTHUSSER AND MACHIAVELLI * HM BOOK SERIES LAUNCH: PETER THOMAS’S THE GRAMSCIAN MOMENT * IN MEMORY OF PETER GOWAN * INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE CRISIS * INTERPRETATIONS OF THE CRISIS * ISAAC AND TAMARA DEUTSCHER MEMORIAL PRIZE LECTURE: KEES VAN DER PIJL, NOMADS, EMPIRES, STATES * KNOWLEDGE, NATURE, PROPERTY * LABOUR * LABOUR AND THE ECONOMIC SUBJECT IN CONTEMPORARY ART * LABOUR BEYOND THE FACTORY * LATIN AMERICAN WORKING CLASSES * LEARNING FROM PAST CRISES * LINEAGES OF NEOLIBERALISM * LISTEN TO VENEZUELA SCREENING AND DISCUSSION * MARXISM AND LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY * MARXISM AND NATIONALISM TODAY * MARXISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE * MARXISM AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS * MARXISM AND TIME * MARXISM BETWEEN ETHICS AND UTOPIA * MARXISM, DEMOCRACY AND CLASSICAL POLITICAL THEORY * MIGRATION * MONEY * MORBID SYMPTOMS: HEALTH UNDER CAPITALISM * NEOLIBERALISM, AESTHETICS AND THE RECUPERATION OF DISSENT * ON THE OBJECTS OF COMMUNISM: A HACKING PANEL * PHILOSOPHY AND COMMUNISM IN THE EARLY MARX * PLANNING, LOCALISM AND THE LEFT * POSTNEOLIBERALISM * PRESENTATION OF THE JOURNAL CHTO DELAT/ WHAT IS TO BE DONE? * RACE, NATION AND ORIENTALISM * RED PLANETS: MARXISM AND SCIENCE FICTION * RE-EMBEDDING MARXISM: COERCION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY * REGISTERING THE CRISIS: A SOCIALIST REGISTER ROUNDTABLE * RESEARCH ON MARX * RESTRUCTURING, OUTSOURCING, DISTRIBUTION: DIMENSIONS OF THE GLOBAL CRISIS * REVOLUTIONARY THEORY, AUTONOMIST MARXISM AND THE CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY * SLAVERY AND CAPITALISM IN THE US SOUTH * SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA: THE CURRENT CONJUNCTURE * STUDENT MOVEMENTS AND YOUTH REVOLTS * THE ARTS AND CAPITALIST CRISIS: THE NEW DEAL EXPERIENCE * THE CRITIQUE OF RELIGION AND THE CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM * THE POLITICAL AESTHETICS OF REALISM * THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF WORK * THE POLITICS OF FINANCE * THE POLITICS OF THE WILL * THE POLITICS OF VALUE * THE RIGHT: RACE, NATION, IDENTITY * THE TURN TO ETHICS AND THE CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM * 'TURBULENCE: IDEAS FOR MOVEMENT', NEW ISSUE LAUNCH * UNION STRUGGLES * UNOISM, ECOLOGY AND CRISIS * UTOPIAS, DYSTOPIAS AND SOCIALIST BIOPOLITICS * WEBLOGS AND THE OPPOSITIONAL PUBLIC SPHERE: A DISCUSSION * WHAT IS ABSTRACTION? * WORKERS AND STRUGGLE TODAY * ZIONISM, ANTISEMITISM AND THE LEFT - A DEBATE

Gary Younge on the growth of the Nazi BNP under New Labour

An excellent article

There has always been more to the BNP than racism and always been more to racism than the BNP, which is merely the most vile electoral expression of our degraded racial discourse and political sclerosis. Under such circumstances setting Straw – and the rest of the political class – against Griffin is simply putting the cause against the symptom without any suggestion of an antidote.

This has been New Labour's problem all along. While they have long recognised that racism is a problem, it never seemed to occur to them that anti-racism might be the solution. This should not obscure some of the positive things Labour has done – most notably the Macpherson report and the Race Relations Amendment Act. But in the words of the late African American writer James Baldwin: "What it gave, at length and grudgingly with one hand, it took back with the other."

The BNP's victories are a product of our politics. Its defeat, when it comes, will necessarily be a product of a change in our politics. But since New Labour's politics enabled the BNP, it is in no position to disable it. The BNP is a bottom feeder. But the system is rotting from the head down.

Join the Demonstrations outside BBC centre today organised by Unite Against Fascism

From Bertolt Brecht's Tales from the Calendar

'If Sharks were people,' the landlady's daughter asked Mr K, would they be nicer to the little fishes?'

'Certainly', he said. 'If sharks were people they would have enormous boxes built in the sea for the little fishes with all sorts of things for them to eat in them, plants as well as animal matter. They would see to it that the boxes always had fresh water and, in general, the hygienic measures of all kinds. For instance, if a little fish injured one of its fins, it would be bandaged at once, so that the sharks should not be deprived of it by an untimely death. To prevent the little fishes from growing depressed there would be big water festivals from time to time, for happy little fish taste better than miserable ones...

'Moreover, if sharks were people, not all little fishes would be equal any more as they are now. Some of them would be given positions and be set over the others. The slightly bigger ones would even be allowed to gobble up the smaller ones. That would give nothing but pleasure to the sharks, since they would more often get larger morsels for themselves. And the bigger little fishes, those holding positions, would be responsible for keeping order among the little fishes, become teachers, officers, box-building engineers and so on. In short, the sea would only start being civilized if sharks were people.'

From Tales from the Calendar by Bertolt Brecht, tr. Y. Kapp.

See also Ian Birchall's review of Beware of Vegetarian Sharks by Richard Greeman.

The Wire: A Marxist Analysis

In probing the parameters of the intricate interactions between multiple individuals and institutions, the complex script, seen over all the seasons, excavates the underlying structures of power and stimulates engagement with overarching ideas. It bristles, even boils over, with systemic critique. While it offers no expectation of an alternative, it provokes reflection on the need for one and an aspiration towards one. It may not have been written by Marxists to dramatize a Marxist worldview, but it is hard to see how a series written on this terrain by Marxists would be much different from The Wire.
The Wire and the world: narrative and metanarrative by Helena Sheehan and Sheamus Sweeney, from JUMPCUT: A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA (hat-tip: ISJ)

International Socialism # 124

The new issue of International Socialism journal (issue 124) is out now. This issue includes:

Peyman Jafari on Rupture and revolt in Iran.

Special collection on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, featuring Gareth Dale on the East German Revolution and Adam Fabry on the fate of Eastern Europe since 1989.
Oliver Nachtwey on the rise of the German left party Die Linke, which recently has enjoyed some quite remarkable electoral success.
Interview with Michael Bradley and Charlie Kimber on the latest phase of class struggle in Britain - relevant after the vote for national industrial action to defend the post service and other struggles.
Plus, Andrew Kliman reviews Chris Harman's latest book, Zombie Capitalism,
John Molyneux gives his views on democracy and Leninist organisation, Neil Davidson examines Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, David Renton on the rise of the industrial tribunal system and Joseph Choonara on Goldman Sachs's estimates of profit rates.
Plus: reviews, analysis and pick of the quarter.

A note on The Battle of Cable Street

4 October 1936 - The Battle of Cable Street in East London

Just before Gordon Brown's vacuous, turgid and reactionary speech to Labour Party conference (effectively his farewell speech which explains why he got a moderately warm reception), conference delegates were treated to a video highlighting the fact that it was 'fighters and dreamers that change the world' or some such cliche, reminding people about the historic and victorious struggles for trade union rights, women's suffrage, against slavery and apartheid in South Africa and so on. Tellingly, the video praised those who stopped Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists marching through London's East End (then a predominantly Jewish area) in 1936 at The Battle of Cable Street...

It is true of course that individual Labour Party members were at Cable Street in 1936, though to do so they had to go against their Party leadership. As two historians note, 'Labour leaders, both nationally and locally, acted disgracefully'.

East London’s Labour councils supported the Jewish People's Council petition for an outright ban on the march, but George Lansbury, the Labour MP for Poplar and former party leader, could not even bring himself to demand that. He merely called on the Home Secretary to re-route one of the four BUF marches through a less "congested" area. "What I want is to maintain peace and order", Lansbury stated, "and I advise those people who are opposed to Fascism to keep away from the demonstration." This was "sound advice", counselled an editorial in the official labour movement paper, the Daily Herald. "Fascist meetings are in themselves dull.... The only attraction is the prospect of disturbances. Withdraw that attraction and Fascist meetings would die on the organisers’ hands." "If the procession does take place", the Mayor of Stepney told the local press, "I appeal to all East Londoners most earnestly to stay away."

Though it is good that the Labour Party today is willing and prepared to take a public stand against the British Nazi Party at the highest level, the fact that the Party not only continues to wrap itself up in the Union Jack and play the race card against migrant workers but is also willing to sanction Jack 'boot' Straw (a notorious racist who refused to talk with Muslim women constituents of him if they were wearing headscarves) to go and 'make an argument' against BNP Fuhrer Nick Griffin on Question Time highlights the danger of leaving 'anti-fascism' to the official leaders of the British labour movement (if the likes of Brown and Mandleson can even be so described today). Though the Labour Party today may like to bathe in the reflected glory of The Battle of Cable Street of over seventy years ago, the real lesson to remember from Cable Street is that mass direct action from below is critical to stopping fascist movements when they try and take to the streets.