cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2965266

The People's Forum is hosting summer school for people interested in becoming revolutionary organizers! I think this class is incredibly important and relevant in our current moment, and I wanted to plug it here because I think a lot of you will be interested in it as well. The classes are hybrid in-person (NYC) and virtual (Zoom), and recordings of previous classes as well as other materials are available online.

Classes are Tuesday/Thursday from 6:30pm-8:30pm ET, and Saturday at a time I don't fully remember, but I think is 1pm-3pm ET. And of course, you can always review the recordings at a time that works better for you! That means the next section is tonight (Thursday, July 11th)!

I saw the first class on Tuesday, and it was immediately obvious that the content and presentation of this material are extremely valuable, and I hope you all feel the same.

Register for free at the link below:

https://peoplesforum.org/events/revolutionary-summer-school-2024/

This study investigates the struggle for solidarity between the left in an oppressor nation and rebellions against that nation from the oppressed. The research explores political questions of pro-capitalist classes and opportunism, of euro-centrism and settler colonial privilege amongst groups and entities striving to steer revolutionary resistance.

https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/112/532/403/376/736/943/original/8f91652d572c65f8.mp4

Marcuse, a Marxist philosopher, critiques the concept of tolerance in liberal societies, arguing that it can be used to maintain existing power structures and suppress radical change. He calls for a more discriminating form of tolerance that favors progressive movements.

Archive.org link

"The second element of this Trotskyist fantasy focuses on the existence of Matzpen, a joint Arab-Israeli socialist party which at its height had roughly twenty members. The party centered around Akiva Orr, Jabra Nicola, and Moshe Machover, and was active from 1967 until about 1982, after which many died, were exiled, or split into multiple other tiny factions. The strict focus on ideology instead of praxis effectively put the cart before the horse and made them irrelevant to the actual concrete struggle for Palestinian liberation."

This line reminds me of a line Walter Rodney made in Decolonial Marxism, where he says something like "Every road looks appealing when you are not even moving!"

This video has decent AI generated english subtitles (added by the uploader). I think it's a fantastic lecture, including some references which are quite apropos as we think about contemporary events.

CNN comes out with an article saying that economy is doing great because a whole bunch of jobs were created.

https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/jobs-report-january-02-02-24/index.html

On the surface that sounds great, but then we can look at other factor, such as the fact that most people in US can't afford an unexpected $1,000 expense.

https://fortune.com/2024/02/01/emergency-1000-expense-most-americans-broke-debt-bankrate/

This implies that people are being paid subsistence wages, and aren't able to meet their needs. This is further supported by data from Monster showing that 37 percent of people have two full time jobs now in order to pay their bills.

https://www.denver7.com/news/national/more-americans-report-being-over-employed-by-working-2-full-time-jobs

Turns out that this precise dynamic was identified by Marx in the first volume of Das Kapital:

To me, this is a great example of theory being an invaluable tool for understanding what's actually happening in the world.

The concept of generating employment holds little significance when businesses are not mandated to pay their workers an equitable and livable wage.

To sum up, read theory!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/10636098