Anonymous Comrade writes:

"Beyond Capitalism: Marx's Concept of an Alternative"
Five Discussions Beginning Jan. 23, 2005 in New York City

What concepts can help break through the prevailing notion that there is no alternative to existing society? Is it possible today to develop an alternative to all forms of capitalism, whether in its "free market" or statist varieties? Can a concept of a new society that transcends value production animate today's forces of revolt to go beyond reformism and one-sided critiques of U.S. imperialism that fail to articulate what we are for?

These five meetings will address these questions by exploring a work by Karl Marx that contains his most extensive discussion of a new society — his “Critique of the Gotha Program.” We will explore Marx's Critique in light of ongoing theoretic and practical debates in the radical movement.

Rethinking Foucault, Rethinking Political Economy

March 17–18, 2005, University of Leicester, UK

Workshop Theme:

Foucault was clearly concerned with rethinking political economy. This
concern ranged from his direct engagement in The Order of Things with the
formation of the economic subject in relation to political economy, and
also involved him in all manner of debates throughout his life about how
one might understand the political economy. After his death these debates
continued as his work has been extended in a variety of different attempts
to rethink political economy both in general terms and also in terms of
the analysis of specific politico-economic micro-practices and related
technologies of subjectification.

KnoMad writes

Anti-Inaugural Ball #2

New York City, Jan. 22, 2005

George W. Bush won.

Well NYC, what are you going to do about it?

First we party, then we fight.

Admission is $5 before 11 pm, $10 after. $5 All night if you RSVP (RSVP to my email).

Admission Includes:
Free Beer, Issue 2 of Propaganda 101, displays from uprising political artists, DJ Knomad and Alias 036 spinning live all night, a mock inauguration at 1 AM with your chance to throw eggs and protest (bring your own eggs), and Free Speech Zones.

Location:
This is all taking place at 347 Maujer St. in East Williamsburg.

Directions:
Take the L to the Grand St. stop. Exit the train and walk towards the school on Grand St. Walk along the school until you reach Waterbury. (If you see Olive, you are on the wrong side of the street). Make a right onto Waterbury. From Waterbury, make a left
onto Maujer. There will be signs posted.

See www.propmag101.net for more details.

Feel free to bring flyers and info from your own organizations to post
up on the walls (no nails please). This will be a good opportunity to network.

The Parade Must End

NY Counter Inaugural Cluster

A call for an Anti-Authoritarian Bloc for the January 20, 2005 protest of the Presidential Inauguration in Washington D.C.

In August of 2004 the Republican National Convention came to New York City. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country marched peacefully and followed the law. This did not stop the police from illegally arresting people in mass while the Bush administration ignored one of the largest marches in NYC history. In January, if the police again attempt to forgo their own laws and arrest demonstrators, we will defend ourselves against this unlawful state repression. It is not enough to merely demonstrate against Bush or the war in Iraq. We must take action against the everyday war that is the system and for a new one based on mutual aid and cooperation.

"Not My President" — Video and Discussion

Monday, January 17 at 7:00 pm

at the NYC IMC, 34 E. 29th St, 2nd Floor

Get ready for the GWB inauguration! Double screening of 2000 counter-inaugural
flicks including IMC Video's "Not My President" and Deep Dish TV’s “Raining on
The Parade.” The event will be followed by discussion of what people will be
doing for this year’s protests against the second term of George W. Bush. This
will be the final meeting of the NYC Counter Inaugural group. For more
information, visit here or visit
here.

Anti-Inaugural Demo Planning

New York City, Jan. 12, 2005

Citywide Meeting to Discuss the Presidential Inauguration

7PM on January 12th At Judson Memorial Church,

55 Washington Square South, New York, NY

Bush may have been elected, but we didn’t elect him and we won’t obey him! We
cannot wait another 4 years to stand against the war and rampant social
injustice of another Bush Administration. On January 20th, thousands of
activists will descend on Washington, DC to protest the second inauguration on
George Walker Bush.

Join a citywide discussion on protests around the upcoming Presidential
inauguration in the garden room at Judson Memorial Church (side entrance). The
meeting is a place for different organizations, collectives, affinity groups,
and groups organizing for the January 20th inauguration to share resources and
ideas. We will also discuss transportation to DC, what DC-based groups already
have planned for the inauguration, and what groups staying in NYC are doing for
local-based actions on J20th. For more information, e-mail
nyc-counter-inaugural@lists.riseup.net.

Sixth Annual Montreal Anarchist Bookfair

May 21-22, 2005

Callout for Workshops and Presentations at
Montreal's Anarchist Bookfair (May 21, 2005)
and Day of Workshops (May 22, 2005)

Deadline for proposals is February 15, 2005!

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair collective is currently planning the next
Anarchist Bookfair (our sixth in a row!). This year's bookfair will take
place on Saturday, May 21, 2005, to be followed on Sunday, May 22, 2005 by
a full day of anarchist-themed presentations, panels, debates and
workshops. We will return to the same venue as last year: The CEDA Adult
Education Center at 2515 Delisle (near Lionel Groulx metro) in the Little
Burgundy neighborhood, just west of downtown Montreal.

25th Anniversary New Year's Eve Benefit for ABC No Rio

Friends, Patrons & Supporters —
This coming spring ABC No Rio will celebrate its 25th Anniversary!!!

On New Year's Eve 1979 more than thirty artists occupied an abandoned
building on Delancey Street and mounted The Real Estate Show. On New Year's
Day 1980 the police shut down the exhibition and locked-up the artwork. The
subsequent press and publicity resulted in the City offering the storefront
and basement at 156 Rivington Street. This space became ABC No Rio.

Media and Belief in an Interdependent World

4-5 March 2005, The American University of Paris

An international conference organised by the Department of International Communications at The American University of Paris

This small international conference will explore the relationship between media practice and various definitions of belief.

Contemporary developments in media have made us aware of how interdependent media and cultures are in our world. The Internet has made media from other cultures and languages available to us with relative ease but also has broken down the traditional systems of authorisation of news and made rumours more powerful, global and faster. These rumours have powerful effects and depend on the gullibility or incredulity of media audiences. Events are increasingly organised in order to be reported, for their media exposure. In a type of inflation of the media event, they become more and more macabre and frightening perhaps in attempt to make themselves believable.

Media globalisation may have given way to international media regionalisation. Different parts of the world now look at different media and read each other's media in different ways. The most striking example of this has been the rise of Arabic language satellite news networks which tell very different stories. Given the sudden perceived importance of media in the relations between the various civilisations, the question of belief and how and why people believe has become a central and important question for understanding the role of media in various societies

The rise of reality television provides publics with whole new ways of dealing with television, cutting the barriers between the old genres of fiction, drama, documentary and game. The circulation of reality television formats is very important indeed. American Idol has been followed by Arab Idol; Big Brother by the French Loft Story. The way the real is being represented has radically changed not only in news but also in other programming.

Corporations increasingly spend larger and larger budgets on building brand identities around aesthetic choices but also value systems. Branding is more and more a process of making believe in a possible world associated with the brand. Political parties in some countries have indulged in complex branding.

What then is happening to belief? Do audiences believe media in new ways? How does it differ according to religious or cultural background or national tradition? How does the decline of public broadcasting and the development of huge media corporations through mergers affect these questions? What are the permutations of media belief in contemporary Western society? What is the role of celebrity? How do pleasure, identity and belief mesh together?

s0metim3s writes:

"Wombling Free? Anarchists and the European Social Forum"

Geoffrey Brown

The 2004 European Social Forum, held in London on 15-17 October, attracted more than 20,000 participants. The event featured 500 plenaries, seminars, workshops and cultural events, with more than 2,500 speakers representing every shade of opinion within the global justice movement. The ESF concluded with a 70,000-strong demonstration calling for an end to war, racism and privatisation, and for a Europe of peace and social justice. Hundreds of volunteers gave their services for free. The whole event was made possible by financial support from the Greater London Authority, who also provided free travel for the participants and cheap accommodation at the Dome.