From: Bill Koehnlein <nyms1-AT-nyxfer.blythe.org>
Subject: May Brecht Forum/NY Marxist School Events
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 1995 19:59:04 -0500 (EST)



The Brecht Forum
-New York Marxist School
-Institute for Popular Education
122 West 27 Street, 10 floor
New York, New York 10001
(212) 242-4201
(212) 741-4563 (fax)
nyms1-AT-nyxfer.blythe.org (e-mail)


May 1995 Events


*****

Friday, May 5; 7 pm ($6)
-The Stock Market: Theory and Empirical Evidence--A
Marxian Approach
-Anwar Shaikh
What drives the stock market? In the short run the
psychology of the market place plays a crucial role. But
the longer the time horizon, the more connected the state
of the stock market seems to be to the underlying health
of the economy as a whole. As John Campbell notes, the
"fact is both familiar...and surprisingly hard to
explain."

Anwar Shaikh, who has taught for twenty years at the
Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research,
is currently completing his forthcoming book, _The
Welfare State and the Social Wage: An International
Study_.

*****

Wednesday, May 10; 8 pm ($6)
-Can Progressives Use Capital Markets for Social Change?
-Peter Camejo
Peter Camejo will discuss the issue of using capital
markets for social and environmental change. Come and
hear a provocative exposition on the role of markets in
the class struggle and building alternative independent
social and political movements.

Peter Camejo is Chairperson of Progressive Assets
Management, Inc. and Earth Trade, Inc.

*****

Thursday, May 11; 7:30 pm ($6)
-A Report from the Social Summit: The "Free market" = -
Poverty, Unemployment, and Alienation
-Suzanne Paul, Jim Paul, and Margaret Willig-Crane
Suzanne Paul is Chair of the United Nations NGO Committee
on Aging and President of Global Action on Aging. Jim
Paul is Executive Director of Global Policy Forum.
Margaret Willig-Crane is Director of the Economic and
Social Human Rights Advocacy Network (ESHRAN).

*****

Tuesday, May 16; 7:30 pm ($6)
-Windows on the Workplace: Technology, Jobs, and Work
Organization
-Joan Greenbaum
Welcome to the age of insecurity--a return to the not-so-
romantic days of medieval freelancers. In the 1990s, jobs
are becoming more and more temporary in nature and the
traditional bonds between employer and employee are being
cut, turning increasing numbers of workers into
freelancers and homeworkers.

Joan Greenbaum is the author of _Windows on the
Workplace: Computers, Jobs and the Organization of
Officework in the Late Twentieth Century_.

*****

Monday, May 22; 7:30 pm ($6)
-Today's News: The Other Point of View
-Ellen Braune and Steve Rendall
Hosts Ellen Braune, Director of New Channels
Communications, and Steve Rendall, Senior Analyst at
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), will be
inviting independent and mainstream journalists and
others to join in monthly discussions of breaking news
and current events. These discussions analyze key issues,
critique media coverage, and identify ways to inject
alternative perspectives into the mainstream discourse.

TONIGHT'S TOPIC: Right-wing talk radio

*****

Thursday, May 18; 7:30 pm ($6)
-Fighting Giuliani and the Cuts: An Alternate City Budget
-Bob Fitch and Michael Letwin
Robert Fitch, author of _The Assassination of New York_
and _Reclaiming What Is Ours: A Proposal for a Fair and
Progressive New York City Tax Policy_ (written for Local
1180, CWA) and Michael Letwin, President of the New York
City Legal Aid Attorneys Union and battle-scarred recent
veteran of labor's first conflict with Giuliani, will
discuss their campaign to force the City Council to
consider an alternate city budget.

*****

Tuesday, May 23; 7:30 pm ($6)
-The Direction of History: What Can We Explain and
Predict?
-David Laibman
Despite recent calls for "weak" or "soft" versions of
historical materialism, Marx's theory of social
evolution--if formulated rigorously--does succeed in
capturing the trajectory of human existence. It does not
guarantee that we will survive!

David Laibman is Professor of Economics at Brooklyn
College, CUNY, editor of _Science and Society_ and author
of _Value, Technical Change and Crisis: Explorations in
Marxist Economic Theory_.

*****

Wednesday, May 24; 7:30 pm ($10; includes wine and cheese
reception)
-Legislative Acts: Mother Courage Goes to Rio
-Augusto Boal
Augusto Boal, founder of the Theater of the Oppressed and
a major innovator in post-Brechtian theater, was elected
to the City Council of Rio de Janeiro as a Workers' Party
(PT) deputy in 1992. Once installed in office, he adapted
his theater techniques for use in city politics--with
some hilarious, and sometimes rancorous, results.

NOTE: For more information about this event, or for
information about Theater of the Oppressed workshops with
Augusto Boal (to take place in New York from May 18-23)
please call the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory at
(212) 924-1858 or e-mail to toplab-AT-transfr.blythe.org.

*****

Thursday, May 25; 7:30 pm ($6)
-Grassrooting: Multicultural/Anti-racist Education
-Sam Anderson and DARE Youth Representative TBA
Speakers will examine how one community is struggling to
develop a progressive student-centered
multicultural/anti-racist curriculum. It will explore the
ideological and pedagogical foundations to a curriculum
that organically grows out of the various racial and
national backgrounds of the youth involved in creating
the new high school curriculum.

Sam Anderson is a math professor at CCNY Center for
Worker Education and author of _The Black Holocaust for
Beginners_.

*****

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Saturday, May 20; 11 am-3 pm ($35)
-Navigating the Internet
-Louis Proyect
This workshop will combine a demonstration of the
Internet system with a discussion of the political and
cultural implications of the "Information Highway."
Students will observe key Internet features including
user lists, electronic publications, and Internet tool
kit. This workshop is appropriate for beginning and
intermediate users.

Louis Proyect, a systems integrator at Columbia
University, is a former president of TECNICA, which sent
technicians to work with the Sandinistas and the ANC.

*****

alternate Wednesdays (ongoing) ($45 per 4 sessions)
-Political Economy Workshop
-Paul Cooney
This workshop uses a Marxist approach to explore such
topics as the implications of NAFTA and "free" trade, the
political economy of New York City, and the IMF and Third
World debt. Newcomers are welcome to join in this ongoing
group. A background in the study of _Capital_ or
political economy is recommended. The group meets every
two weeks for presentations and discussions. Political
economist Paul Cooney coordinates the workshop.

*****

UPCOMING IN JULY
The New York Marxist School Annual Summer Intensive in
Marxist Theory and Practice

Marxism vs. the Contract on America
Sunday, July 9 to Saturday, July 22; 6:30-10 pm ($95)

Learn the basics of Marxist methodology and how this can
contribute to an analytical grounding for political
strategies in the U.S. today.

The first week will focus on the process of
globalization--how it sets the basis for the emergence of
capitalism and how it is essential to all subsequent
development. We will cover basic concepts in Marx's
_Capital_, his analytical method, Gramsci's contribution
to understanding the formation of states and modes of
domination, and how these illuminate the rapid changes
now taking place.

In the second week, we will explore the development of
capitalism in the United States and the particular
character of the class and race relations that underpin
U.S. culture, the Contract on America, and U.S. politics
today.

Call the office at (212) 242-4201 for pre-registration,
advance reading materials, and further information.

Presenters include Mary Boger, Benedetto Fontana, Larry
Hanley, Kathy Kazanas, Robin D.G. Kelley, Harry Magdoff,
Annette T. Rubinstein, Sheila Thimba, and others TBA.

*****

Please note that fees listed only partially cover our
expenses. We need your donations to keep our doors open.
And, no one is turned away for inability to pay.

*****

All Brecht Forum lectures and seminars are available on
audiotape. Lecture tapes (single cassette) are $7 and
seminar tapes (usually 3+ cassettes are $20. To order,
make checks payable to *The Brecht Forum* and send to The
Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, New York, New
York 10001. Please enclose an additional $1 per order to
cover postage costs. For orders outside the U.S., please
send and international money order or bank check payable
in U.S. funds and enclose an additional US$5 to cover the
cost of air postage.

For a complete list of all available tapes, contact the
Brecht Forum at (212) 242-4201 or e-mail to
nyms1-AT-nyxfer.blythe.org.

Selected Brecht Forum events are available on videotape
from Turning the Tide, PO Box 631, Wilton, New Hampshire
03086. Contact TTT directly for a catalog or ordering
information.

//end


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