Tues Nov 5 2019, 7pm: LEARNING FROM THE ZAD

With the end of the revolutionary party, political struggles have become openly fractal. In the absence of a historical agent, where do they derive their cohesion? What replaces the directing organ of the Party? In the long run, having a common enemy is never enough to hold together the divergent forces, impulses, and aspirations that compose a population in struggle. How can one avoid ‘false’ solutions to the problem of the one and the multiple, the temptation of a growing power to crush or expel what it cannot assimilate?

Join us on Nov. 5th at 7pm for a discussion of two texts taking up the question of “composition” as a strategy for building movements. Although we will take the movement against the airport in Notre-dame-des-landes, France as our case study, our ultimate interest is in thinking about the potentials for struggle here in Chicago.

Assigned readings:

-Kristen Ross, “The Long 1960’s and the ‘Wind From the West'”   READ | PRINT

-Mauvaise Troupe Collective, “Defending the ZAD”   READ | PRINT

**

Further reading: 

Kristin Ross and Mauvaise Troupe, The ZAD and No-TAV, “Preface

Alessi del Umbria, “Being in the Zone. Concerning Conflicts Within the ZAD” 

John Jordan, “For the Love of Winning. An Open Letter to Extinction Rebellion”

CMDO (Conseil Pour le Maintien des Occupations), “ZAD Will Survive”

Tues Oct 15, 7pm: Gangs, the Left, and the Police State in 1960s Chicago

 

On Tuesday Oct 15th, we will be discussing two texts dealing with power and recuperation in 1960s Chicago:

J. Sakai, “Blackstone Rangers: A U.S. Experiment Using ‘Gangs’ to Repress Black Community Rebellion” (2017) . READ | PRINT

Toussaint Losier, “‘The Mortar Between the Bricks Will Be Blood’: Black Street Gangs, Labor Market Discrimination, and the Politics of Surplus Labor in Postwar Chicago”.  READ | PRINT  

This week will be our first meeting at a community space in Hyde Park, called Floods Hall, located at 1515 E. 52nd Pl (3rd Floor).