Monday, July 02, 2007
Marxism 2007 posted by Richard Seymour
It starts this Thursday, and all the stars are coming: Tony Benn, Mark Thomas, Craig Murray, Gary Younge, Paul Gilroy, Moazzam Begg, Giuliana Sgrena and Yvonne Ridley (on the reporting of the Iraq war), Michael Albert, Billy Bragg (who will be grilled on his Progressive Patriotism), Susan George (on the neocons), Mike Rosen (who will be plugging Lenin's Tomb for the most part, but may have a word or two to say about children's literature), China Mieville (who will be talking about rubbish), Victoria Brittain, Rose Gentle, Nick Broomfield (with his new documentary), Zizek on liberalism etc. And... what's this? Tom Stoppard? Surely a mistake? Apparently not - he and David Edgar and Michael Billington will talk about theatre in revolt. There is a good sprinkling of trade unionists such as Mark Serwotka and Geoff Martin. The excellent David Harvey will be there to talk about neoliberalism. There are some great speakers from the Middle East, including Lebanese socialist Bassem Chit, Egyptian socialist Kamal Khalil, Hassan Jumaa of the Iraqi oil workers union, Palestinian activist Ghada Karmi and independent Egyptian MP Hamdeen Sabahi. Playwright Alistair Beaton is doing a show, demanding to know what's so funny about politics. Ian Birchall will talk about how the Russian Revolution was lost. Oh, and there's me. I'm speaking on 'What's Wrong With Conspiracy Theories?' - oh, don't even ask, I'm not giving anything away. But if you want to come see me squeak and cough and sweat and curse under my breath, you can come find me at 3.45pm on Saturday afternoon. If you want to come and heckle, please bring a container for your vital organs. You can purchase a ticket for either the weekend or the full week, and prices vary depending on whether you're employed or a student. The timetable is here, and the booking form is here.
Labels: anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, marxism, socialism