The (Im)Possibility of Revolution – Five Vidz

Dateline: SOAS, London, UK, 19:15-21:30, Thu 21 Jan 10 – At that current hotbed of radicalism, the School of Oriental and African Studies, in a packed-to-capacity room in the Brunei Gallery, three marxist public intellectuals were posed the question "Revolution: Possibility or Impossibility?" You can see and hear how William Dixon, Chris Knight, and Hillel Ticktin fielded this issue in the following videos.

Vidz at YouTube

• (Im)Possibility of Revolution -- 1. William Dixon begins
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekj6DyM7lwg

• (Im)Possibility of Revolution -- 2. William Dixon continues
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMQDExwJNrY

• (Im)Possibility of Revolution -- 3. William ends, Chris begins
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAnW-Arjns8

• (Im)Possibility of Revolution -- 4. Chris Knight concludes
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_szZlJBsOkc

• (Im)Possibility of Revolution -- 5. Hillel Ticktin begins
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQevkSpt8RU

This was my first public meeting since beginning to recover from an episode of depression that's kept me out-of-action since before the Climate Camp in London last autumn. I packed my monopod, camera and two sets of batteries, but it seems one set was half full at best and the rechargeables performed uncharacteristically poorly. So I apologise for the lack of battery juice cutting Hillel Ticktin off in his prime.


If Not Us, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When?
In the Q&A and discussion which followed, the necessity of consigning capitalism to the dustbin of history was pretty uncontentious, but opinion varied as to the likelihood of revolution, its timescale, and how much difference our individual efforts could make. With the spectre of anthropogenic catastrophic climate chaos hanging over humanity and our biosphere, and the criminally negligent squabbling exhibited by ruling class apparatchiks at the Copenhagen COP15 Summit last month, some raised the question of which might occur first – the collapse of capitalism hastened by the environmental catastrophe its own creating, or its overthrow by folk determined to build an ecologically sustainable egalitarian society.

In their closing speeches, one of the panel passionately advocated taking to heart the epitaph on a certain grave stone up in Highgate Cemetery:
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."
~ Karl Marx (1818–1883), Theses on Feuerbach, No. 11, 1845
Chris Knight urged all present to get active politically, which could well begin with joining the 'Election Meltdown Mobilisation' weekend – and what finer cue for a subheading could there be?


Whatever Next?
There's a Big Shout Out going around for...

• ELECTION MELTDOWN MOBILISATION
• You are cordially invited to attend...
• An open-ended meeting, arranged so people can consider how a coalition of groups and tendencies might mobilise together in 2010, for a new society. It's suggested this should be in the context of the general election, and on the strategy for an effective, decentralised movement in response, but the agenda is not fixed. All groups and individuals committed to a world free of oppression, very welcome.
• And please forward this invitation to key networks.
• Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January 2010, 15:00-19:00 on both days
• Downstairs at The Foundry, Old Street tube, 80 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3JL‎
• Location: Map
» Election Meltdown on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288264051071
» Election Meltdown Mobilisation: Facebook Event – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=288526091857

...and you're encouraged to pass this info around, to help encourage a grassroots upswing in radical mass actions in this Bosses' Election year.

Up the Revolution,

Tim Dalinian Jones


Speaker Links

William Dixon
• Mute Magazine contributor
» http://www.metamute.org 
• Senior Lecturer Economics @ London Metropolitan University
» http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/lmbs/subjects/economics/staff/william-dixon.cfm
» http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/depts/efib/staff/william-dixon/home.cfm

Chris Knight
• Professor of Anthropology
» http://www.chrisknight.co.uk
• Radical Anthropology Group
» http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org

Hillel Ticktin
• Editor of 'Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory'
» http://www.critiquejournal.net 


Footnote

All these videos are 'CopyLeft'
This means you are free to copy and distribute any of my videos you find linked here, under the following license:
• Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
» http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
» Accreditation: tim.dalinian.jones@gmail.com

Contact email: tim.dalinian.jones@gmail.com