28 September, 2011
celebs who pledged support for the students
Does anyone reading this know what happened to this proposed fund?
‘They announced, in Dazed and Confused magazine this week, that 90 signatories - including fellow artists Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread and Marc Quinn; musicians from Clash legend Mick Jones and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie to Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes; the fashion world’s Lily Cole and Stella McCartney; comedian Noel Fielding and actor Dougray Scott - have pledged works and memorabilia for an auction to create a fund to pay the fines of prosecuted student protesters and support “the continuing campaign of civil disobedience”.’
Please contact me at infinitethought[at]hotmail.co.uk if you do!
UPDATE: Found this from the Chapman Brothers.
28 September, 2011
defend the right to protest: fundraising
As a new term kicks off, many students and other protesters are still facing serious charges relating to the protests of last academic year. Defend the Right to Protest is asking anyone who supports the campaign to donate something, anything, so we can help campaign around their cause, increase awareness of the government crackdown on protest and dissent, and support the families of protesters. There’s a Paypal donate button on the site here. Thank you.
25 September, 2011
defend the right to protest next public meeting
[Come to this if you can: I’ll be speaking a bit as well!]
PUBLIC FORUM, TUES 11 OCT, 7pm, ULU, MALET STREET
Launch of Autumn Campaign to defend protesters with short introductions from key campaigns, discussion and organising. Spread the word. Bring ideas for the campaign.
Joe Sellers –Free Frank Fernie Campaign
Liam Burns –NUS President
Jody McIntyre – victim of police brutality
Fortnum & Masons occupier
Mark Campbell UCU NEC
Louise Christian & Mike Schwartz – campaigning lawyers
Jonnie Marbles – imprisoned for throwing a pie at Murdoch
Zita Holbourne PCS/ BARAC
Sara Tomlinson Brixton Defence Campaign/Stop Kettling Our Kids
Over the coming months many students who were arrested last year will be going to court charged with serious offences for their part in demonstrating against £9000 fees and the scrapping of EMA. These include Alfie Meadows who was injured so badly by police that he had to undergo three hours of brain surgery to save his life –he is now charged with violent disorder.
UK UNCUT activists who took part in the peaceful occupation of Fortnum and Masons during the TUC March for the Alternative will also see their trial for “aggravated trespass” begin on 9 November.
So far, harsh sentences have been handed down to anti-cuts protesters. These include Frank Fernie, a 20 year old student with no previous convictions, who is now serving a year in prison instead of beginning his studies at Sheffield University.
This meeting will be critical in launching an autumn campaign to defend arrested protesters and organise against attacks on our right to protest at a time when students, trade unionists and others are preparing for a new round of strikes and demonstrations against the cuts.
25 September, 2011
lecturers defending students
This is a message to UK College/University lecturers and other staff in FE and HE:
This Autumn will see many of the students and other protesters from the last year charged with public order offences (particularly violent disorder, which carries a maximum five year prison sentence) in court. Cases will be heard over the next few months, and some trials are expected to last a few weeks. Some of those that have pleaded guilty have already received sentences of course, so now it’ll be the turn of those pleading not guilty to have their cases heard (most of them will be in Kingston Crown Court).
Living with the worry of prosecution and having to spend time talking to lawyers, attending court and so on is incredibly stressful and isolating. Gathering character references and contacting those willing to defend those charged in court takes a lot of work, and some students will be asking their lecturers (if they haven’t already) to put their names forward to do this. Defend the Right to Protest want to ask lecturers and other FE/HE staff who are willing to defend their students by attending court, offering moral support, writing articles etc. to come forward. We’ll shortly be compiling a list of the institutions that accused students attend to make it easier (without naming individual students), although if you are already aware of someone at your institution awaiting trial please get in contact.
Many lecturers attended the education protests in November and December and the TU protests and strikes this year, and are aware that the criminalising of students, protesters and those involved in the recent civil unrest is happening at high speed under the current government. If you believe in the reasons behind the protests, please get in touch to help us organise lecturers who want to defend their students in the months ahead.
Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we’ll arrange a meeting in the next few weeks for those lecturers and other staff who want to give support to their students in whichever way they can.
21 September, 2011
new pli: contingency
We are pleased to announce the publication of Pli Volume 22: Contingency. To purchase the volume and to see a list of currently available past volumes please visit our website.
Table of Contents, Volume 22
Contingency
QUENTIN MEILLASSOUX: Metaphysics, Speculation, Correlation
FABIO GIRONI: Meillassoux’s Speculative Philosophy of Science: Contingency and Mathematics
ELIE AYACHE: The Medium of Contingency
ANNA CUTLER AND IAIN MACKENZIE: Critique as a Practice of Learning: Beyond Indifference with Meillassoux, towards Deleuze
GIUSEPPE MOTTA: Five Meanings of ‘Contingency’ in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
RALPH SHAIN: A Defence of Aristotle’s ‘Sea-Battle’ Argument
J.D. SINGER: From a ‘History of Being’ to a ‘History of the Present’, Radical Possibility in Heidegger and Foucault
Varia
FRANÇOIS LARUELLE: From the First to the Second Non-Philosophy
NICK SRNICEK: François Laruelle, the One and the Non-Philosophical Tradition
20 September, 2011
oh yes
[Islington, a couple of weeks ago]
19 September, 2011
march ban cartoon
By Edd Baldry.
19 September, 2011
bread and roses prize
[I’m one of the judges for this (more info here). If you’re a publisher, send your suggestions in now!]
The Bread and Roses Prize will be first awarded in 2012 for the best radical book of 2011. Nominations for books published in 2011 are now open and will close at the end of December 2011. Nominations are invited from national and international publishers.
A prize of £1000 will be given to a writer of fiction (including work aimed at young people), non-fiction, graphic material or poetry.
A shortlist of up to six books will be announced in March of each year and promoted through bookshops and the radical press. Shortlisted books will:
be informed by socialist, anarchist, environmental, feminist and anti-racist concerns
inspire, support or report on political and/or personal change
be accessible and readable by the interested reader
relate to global, national, local or specialist areas of interest
An award ceremony will be held around May 1st in London.
17 September, 2011
capitalism is crisis
I took this photo at Climate Camp two years ago. That ‘IS’ just seems to be getting bigger every time I look at it…
13 September, 2011
update on the march ban
The legal challenge worked!
Mr Gulamhussein challenged the ban when he realised that a march he wished to attend, organised by the
University of East London Students’ Union to the Excel Centre in East London in protest against the arms
trade, would be prohibited. He said:
“There appears to be an increasing and worrying tendency by the state to attempt to silence legitimate
opposition in the form of peaceful protest.”
The ban, which came into force on 2 September 2011, was originally believed to have been put in place
following concerns about a march planned by far-right group the English Defence League (EDL) in Tower
Hamlets on 3 September 2011. However, activists and lawyers raised concerns when they noted that it
extended far beyond the area where the EDL intended to march, and was due to be in force for a period of
30 days.
Kat Craig, who specialises in bringing challenges against the police for interfering with the right to
peaceful protest, said:
“The ban was patently disproportionate and excessive. Leaving to one side its initial purported aim, it
would have prevented any march in the five boroughs, regardless of why and by whom it had been
organised. It was a clear and flagrant infringement of the right to freedom of expression.”
12 September, 2011
artleaks
Well overdue, this:
Finally a platform to denounce abuses and precarious working conditions in the art world.
Only by drawing attention to concrete abuses can we underscore the precarious condition of cultural workers and the necessity for sustained protest against the appropriation of politically engaged art, culture and theory by institutions embedded in a tight mesh of capital and power.
Please feel free to contribute and make it circulate!
9 September, 2011
more on the march ban
Following the 30-day blanket ban on marches, East London LGBT Pride is thankfully allowed to go ahead on the 24th Sept under the ‘it happens every year’ clause. The biannual protest against the Arms Fair is in a more difficult situation, though they will go ahead (see here for details). On the legal situation, the organisers write:
‘Legal info:
Note that this march complies with the notification requirements for processions under sec.11 Public Order Act 1986. It may, however, breach a 30-day blanket ban on processions in the City of London and several east London boroughs. The organiser of this march reasonably believes that the ban is a serious, disproportionate and unreasonable infringement of Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into domestic law through the Human Rights Act 1998.
Please get in touch to publicly pledge to defy the ban.’
Given that the police tend to be particularly harsh at this protest anyway (I mean, God, after all, we can’t have people getting in the way of a f***ing arms fair now, can we? Sales of deadly weapons are the only thing keeping the wolves from the bleeding door, don’t you know!), I wonder how this will unfold. Talking to lawyers yesterday, the good kind, they are certain that we are seeing an increased and massive crackdown on protest. March bans could become the new normal - persecuting protesters already is. Defy the ban.
UPDATE: Looks like the arms fair, or at least those who run seminars for it, are running scared:
‘The seminar is entitled Middle East: A vast market for UK defence and security companies . It comes ahead of one of the world’s largest arms fairs, Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi), which will take place in London next week.
The conference has been labelled as a “seminar of shame” by CAAT, who criticised the sale of arms to oppressive regimes in the region in the wake of the Arab Spring. Armoured vehicles made by BAE in Newcastle were recently used to repress peaceful protests in Bahrain.
...
A wave of protests are expected to greet the DSEi arms fair, which will run at London’s Excel Centre from Tuesday 13 - Friday 16 September.’
7 September, 2011
hypatia editing job
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy is seeking an editor, co-editors, or an editorial team to serve a five year term, beginning July 1, 2013. The journal issues a call for nominations for editor(s) every five years in order to consider new directions for the journal and to encourage others to get involved. We encourage self-nominations as well as nominations of others. Self-nominations will be accepted until May 1, 2012; those wishing to nominate others should submit your nominations no later than March 1, 2012.
Hypatia is the preeminent journal for feminist philosophy; it has a wide international readership
and a robust institutional subscription base. It serves as an important resource not only for
philosophers, but for all those interested in philosophical issues raised by feminism, including
interdisciplinary women’s and gender studies scholars. The journal publishes work covering a
wide range of philosophical traditions and topics, and therefore we encourage nominations of
editors who have diverse interests and expertise in sub-areas and methodologies of Philosophy
and Feminist Studies.
Candidates should have a record of publication in feminist philosophy; some previous editorial experience is desirable. Hypatia is committed to the inclusion of the scholarship of feminists of color, trans-feminists, transnational feminists, queer, and differentlyabled feminist philosophers. Individuals constituting an editorial team need not be members of the same institution. Candidates (or at least one member of an editorial team) should be at an institution with graduate students in Philosophy or Gender/Women’s Studies who can serve as managing editors and editorial assistants. Candidates who prefer to co-edit and/or construct an editorial team should indicate how they would share the work of the journal. Candidates should also indicate what kinds of institutional support they expect to receive. If you are nominating yourself (or co-editors, or a team), please send a CV (or CVs for each member of the editorial team), a brief statement of the directions in which you would like to take Hypatia, and a brief account of your relevant experience. If you are nominating a team please also include a statement that indicates how the work of editing the journal will be shared and where the journal will be housed. If you are nominating others, please send a letter briefly stating your reasons for nominating them, as well as their institutional/postal addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. We will contact them and request that they provide the same materials as self-nominators should they wish to be considered.
Initial applications received by May 1, 2012 will be reviewed and a subset of applicants invited to submit a full proposal. The full proposals must be sent by October 1, 2012. All proposals will be judged on their merits. Instructions for preparation of full proposals will be posted on the Hypatia website.
Please feel free to contact Lori Gruen .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Alison Wylie
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with any questions.
Nominations should be sent to: Lori Gruen .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Editorial Search Committee: Elizabeth Anderson, Lori Gruen (chair), Falguni Sheth
6 September, 2011
the assault on universities
More details here.
With funding cuts well under way and many institutions already promising to charge the maximum £9,000 yearly tuition fee, university education for the majority is under threat. This book exposes the true motives behind the government’s programme and provides the analytical tools to fight it.
Widespread student protests and occupations, often supported by staff, unions and society at large, show the public’s opposition to funding cuts and fee increases. The contributors to this sharp, well-written collection, many of whom are active participants in the anti-cuts movement, outline what’s at stake and why it matters. They argue that university education is becoming increasingly skewed towards vocational degrees, which devalues the arts and social sciences – subjects that allow creativity and political inquiry to flourish.
Released at the beginning of the new academic year, this book will be at the heart of debates around the future of higher education in the UK and beyond, inspiring both new and seasoned activists in the fight for the soul of our universities.
About The Author
Michael Bailey is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex. He is the author or editor of The Uses of Richard Hoggart (2011), Mediating Faiths (2011) and Narrating Media History (2008). He has held visiting fellowships at Goldsmiths, the LSE and the University of Cambridge.
Des Freedman is Reader in Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London and an editor of the journal Global Media and Communication. He is the author or editor of The Politics of Media Policy (2008), Television Policies of the Labour Party (2003) and War and the Media (2003). He is secretary of the Goldsmiths branch of the University and College Union.
6 September, 2011
work after fordism, queen mary, 12-13 sept
Work after Fordism: A workshop on theorizing organisational diversity and dominant trends in contemporary capitalism
The workshop will have presentations by:
• Professor Benjamin Coriat (Université Paris XIII)
• Professor Rick Delbridge (University of Cardiff)
• Professor Ulrich Jürgens (University of Berlin)
• Professor Paul Thompson (University of Strathclyde)
• Professor Karel Williams (University of Manchester)
• Dr John Buchanan (University of Sydney)
• Dr Sarah Jenkins (University of Cardiff)
• Dr Marco Hauptmeier (University of Cardiff)
• Dr Giuliano Maielli (Queen Mary, University of London)
• Dr Matt Vidal (King’s College London)
Full details and a schedule can also be found here.
The workshop is free and will provide a light lunch. To reserve a place, please contact Ade Alele a.alele[at]qmul.ac.uk.
5 September, 2011
riot research job
Job Details (more details here):
Reading the Riots - Researchers
Job Description
The Guardian and London School of Economics are looking for researchers to conduct confidential interviews with people who took part in the riots, their families, and other members of their communities. The interviews will form part of a collaborative study, co-funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, into the causes and consequences of the riots that took place across England in August.
Advanced skills in academic research or surveying are not essential, although both would be welcome. Experience of conducting interviews however is crucial - shorthand skills would be advantageous. It is expected candidates will have a background in journalism or academia, but prior work experience might also include youth, charity or community work.
It is important for applicants to have great communication skills, empathy, solid judgment and an ability to think on their feet. We also ask that they demonstrate a strong link to a community affected by the riots. Terms and conditions are yet to be finalised, but applicants should provisionally be available to work full-time during the month of October paid on a per diem rate. Researchers will also required to attend a weekend training session in late September.
The deadline for the submission of applications is Sunday 18th September 2011.
5 September, 2011
gary younge on study of detroit riots of ‘67
Here:
‘[The study] showed that, contrary to popular belief, there was no correlation between economic status or educational levels and propensity to riot. Nor had the riots been the work of recent immigrants from the south. The main grievances were police brutality, overcrowded living conditions, poor housing and lack of jobs.’
5 September, 2011
next mutiny event, drugs on trial, oct 10th
5 September, 2011
annual procession against deaths in police custody, oct 29
[This fortunately falls outside of the current ban on marches (unless the government decide to extend it yet further of course - there is a legal challenge to the government ban in the works which I’ll write about in future if it happens). The counter-demo against the EDL was very encouraging on Saturday, with hundreds if not thousands of people from Tower Hamlets and all over the UK out to show the EDL that they are not welcome. The didn’t manage to get into the borough at all (well - the one coachload of EDL that provocatively drove down Whitechapel Road in the evening shouting a jeering racist chants received an appropriately angry response). All day the police used the situation to harass mainly Muslim youth in the area. There are serious on-going issues about police harassment in the UK, not the least of which is remembered in this march below].
Facebook group here.
Saturday, October 29 · 12:30pm - 3:30pm
South side of Nelsons Column. Trafalgar Square. London. WC2N 5DN
Who We Are
The United Families and Friends Campaign is a coalition of families and friends of those that have died in the custody of police and prison officers as well as those who are killed in secure psychiatric hospitals. It includes the families of Roger Sylvester, Leon Patterson, Rocky Bennett, Alton Manning, Christopher Alder, Brian Douglas, Joy Gardner, Aseta Simms, Ricky Bishop, Paul Jemmott, Harry Stanley, Glenn Howard, Mikey Powell, Jason Mcpherson and Sean Rigg to name but a few. Together we are building a network for collective action to end deaths in custody.
What we believe
• That failure of State officials to ensure the basic right to life is made worse by the failure of the State to ever prosecute those responsible for custody deaths.
• That the failure to prosecute those responsible for deaths in custody sends the message that the State can act with impunity.
What We Demand
• Deaths in police custody must be investigated by a body that is genuinely independent of the police.
• Prison deaths must be subject to a system of properly funded investigation that is completely independent of the Prison Service.
• Officers involved in custody deaths be suspended until investigations are completed.
• Prosecutions should automatically follow ‘unlawful killing’ verdicts at inquests.
• Police forces are made accountable to the communities that they serve.
• Immediate Legal Aid and full disclosure of information be made to the relatives of the victims for investigations, inquests and subsequent prosecutions.
• Officers responsible for deaths should face criminal charges, even if retired.
• CCTV to be placed in the back of all police vehicles
5 September, 2011
behind the riots: new series of posts
Starts here at the Guardian:
‘The looting, discussed by some as an ironic critique of consumerism – “shopping riots” – was often more directly explained as a response to repeated stop-and-search, racist policing, deprivation, poverty, unemployment, cuts to the educational maintenance allowance (EMA), anger, and inequalities between the haves and the have-nots.
Many interviewees identified deprivation and inequality as root issues. Some spoke about the lack of work opportunities and access to education, as well as the EMA cuts. Some believed that getting an education was the key to the golden gate, but a year after graduation they were still struggling to find work. For others, also out of work, a university degree had never been on the cards.
But much of the anger was directed at the police. Young people spoke of incessant stop-and-search accompanied by rudeness, arrogance and racism. Some young people talked of Duggan’s death not as a unique injustice, but as yet another example of police murder. Young people spoke of the riots as a means of “sticking two fingers up” at the authorities, and for a couple of nights relishing having the upper-hand.’
5 September, 2011
policing the crisis to be reissued
I am reliably informed that Stuart and the other authors of Policing the Crisis are close to completion on a ‘revised’ edition: that is, a reprint with extra front and back matter, placing the original work in context, and developing issues relevant to the contemporary conjuncture. Not sure exactly when it’ll be out, but if you’ve already downloaded the pdf I linked to the other day, make sure you also buy the revised edition of this vitally important book.
2 September, 2011
excellent reflections on media coverage of riots
Here, by Ryan Gallagher on Tony Evans:
‘The presenter turned to Kelvin Mackenzie and said to him, “don’t you think we should try to understand these riots?”
He said, “no I don’t think we should”. And there we have it. The lack of understanding; the wilful ignorance. To try and come to terms with what’s caused this trouble in our society and this alienation where one large section of society just doesn’t want to think about the people who are involved in it [the rioting]. And wants to write them off, criminalise them, and put them in to a sort of box where they don’t have to be thought about.
I think that is what has characterised the coverage of the riots. I think it has been a particularly grim period for journalism. It was led that way, in many ways, in the initial outburst of violence by the 24hr rolling news.
I found it staggering, the way news presenters were editorialising. They were showing film of what was going on in Tottenham, and they were saying: “there is no political element to this, this is just vandalism, this is just people looting” ... without any sense of what the background to this was. Without any attempt to put it in its context.’
1 September, 2011
rp in ny
Radical Philosophy Conference 2011
Columbia University, New York
Friday 21st October 2011, 9am – 7.30pm.
Radical Philosophy will be visiting New York for its 2011 conference, held in collaboration with Columbia University. The event is free but advance registration is essential: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Sessions:
Postcolonial Worlds - Representing Capitalism - Biocapital and Security - Temporalities of Crisis - Politics of Information
Speakers:
Claudia Aradau – RP/International Relations, King’s College London
Souleymane Bachir Daigne – Philosophy, Columbia University
Tim Bewes – English, Brown University
Antonia Birnbaum – Philosophy, University of Paris 8
Finn Brunton – Information, University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Marilena Chaui – Philosophy, University of São Paulo
David Cunningham – RP/English, University of Westminster
Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui – Workshop on Andean Oral History, Bolivia
David Golumbia – Media, University of Virginia
Harry Harootunian – Literature, Duke University
Esther Leslie – RP/English, Birkbeck, University of London
Rosalind C. Morris – Anthropology, Columbia University
Mark Neocleous – RP/Politics, Brunel University, London
Peter Osborne – RP/Philosophy, Kingston University London
Kristin Ross – Comparative Literature, New York University
Kaushik Sunder Rajan – Anthropology, University of Chicago
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak – Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Further details including conference programme and abstracts at: http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/uncategorized/radical-philosophy-conference-2011
Register at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
