January 29th, 2011 | admin
Copenhagen, Wednesday, February 16, 7-10 pm
Politicians, ordinary citizens and some activists like to talk about “us” and “our nation”. They talk about the unquestionable benefit of community and the necessity to make sacrifices for it. Using the nation as justification seems to be so self-evident that almost every political tendency does it: bankers are critiqued for putting themselves before the community, students remind the government how useful they are for the nation and right-wingers have a very principal suspicion that everybody else aims to undermine the nation.
We want to discuss how, in a society where the pursuit of one’s own self-interest is a necessity and encouraged, people galore arrive at the conclusion that their nation deserves appreciation and sacrifice. We also want to discuss why this nationalistic conclusion is a bad one.
The talk and discussion will be held in English.
Organised by: Arbejde og Rigdom, Copenhagen
Event in London, UK, on Sunday 24 January, connecting the struggles of refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK, Israel, Palestine and elsewhere. Details here.
From Engage:
Reflections on the Antinomies of Capitalist Modernity: History, the Holocaust, and the Left
Moishe Postone Professor in the History Department at the University of Chicago
The author of Time, Labour, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory, his research and teaching focus is on critical social theories of capitalist modernity. He is particularly interested in self-reflexive theories of historical context — theories that seek to grasp social, economic, and cultural processes in ways that illuminate the relation of such processes to the theories themselves. His work also focuses on the problematic of modern anti-Semitism and questions of history, memory, and identity in postwar Germany, as well as on the issue of the global transformations of the past three decades and their implications for understanding the historical trajectory of the 20th century.
‘History and Helplessness: Mass Mobilization and Contemporary Forms of Anticapitalism’ by Moishe Postone is available for free download on the Engage website here
This event is co-hosted by the Unit for Global Justice at Goldsmiths and the Centre for Jewish Studies at SOAS
Event to be held at 7.00pm, Monday 15 June 2009,
Room G50,
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London
Thornhaugh Street
Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG
Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe:
comparisons/contrasts/connections
22nd – 24th June 2008
Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies
University College London
Organised by: Edge Hill University, Goldsmiths College, UCL
Aims
The aim of this conference is to explore the connections, commonalities and differences between Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe through a broad geographical and historical lens.
Papers will focus on contemporary and historical flashpoints, such as Britain, Germany, France, Iberia, Austria, Russia, the Balkans, and the Netherlands. In addition to ‘national’ case studies, the conference will attempt to gain a broad ‘European’, transnational perspective on this complex question or will at least consider whether such a thing can or should be attempted.
Given the acute relevance of the subject today, we aim to give equal attention to contemporary as well as historical research. At the same time, however, the importance of looking at Antisemitism/Islamophobia in the longue durée is critical, and papers will be included that go back to the medieval period.
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