Anarchism, Marxism,

       In spite of my pocking a little fun, a night worth marking in your diary, I'm sure it will be both informative and interesting, as well as lively. 

       Friday 10^th May, with Ben Franks: 'Between Anarchism and Marxism: The beginnings and ends of the schism?'Discussion 6.30-8.30pm. Social 8.30pm onwards at Kinning Park Complex, 40 Cornwall St, Glasgow G41 1AQ

https://www.facebook.com/events/558999170798205/?ref=ts&fref=ts

      Benjamin Franks will introduce his recent work, 'Between Anarchism and Marxism: The beginnings and ends of the schism? (2012), which will be followed by group discussion of the questions posed. 
     "The standard approach, endorsed by orthodox Marxists and many anarchists, is to see an irreconcilable difference between anarchism and Marxism. However, the historical record shows that whilst Marx opposed – and was opposed by - leading anarchists prior to 1917 there was considerable positive interaction between diverse Marxist and anarchist groups. The division between the two, viewed as fundamental, I argue, is in fact the product of a particular form of political structure that dominated the revolutionary-left in the last century. Now that these hierarchical forms of organisation have been discredited, rediscovered and revised forms of Marxism have arisen that, once again, actively engage with anarchism."

     Hosted by The Strickland Distribution, with the support of Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Radical Independent Bookfair, Clydeside IWW.
All welcome!
(Refreshments available. BYOB.)
Kinning Park Complex, 40 Cornwall St., Glasgow G41 1AQ
http://www.kinningparkcomplex.org

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HISTORY FROM BELOW.

All Knees and Elbows of Susceptibility and Refusal: 

Reading History From Below

Saturday 24th November 2012 | Transmission Gallery | 4.00pm onwards

      The book All Knees and Elbows of Susceptibility and Refusal: Reading History From Below began as a discussion between two friends, Anthony Iles and Tom Roberts, about the politics of writing history. Neither are trained historians. They have assembled a critical and necessarily partial picture of the practice of ‘history from below’: historiographical tendencies which sought to uncover the agency of ‘ordinary people’ in challenging capitalism and developing different forms of social organisation. All Knees and Elbows surveys the work of a number of British and international left historians and groups, including Silvia Federici, History Workshop, Eric Hobsbawm, C.L.R James, Peter Linebaugh, Sheila Rowbotham, Jacques Rancière and E.P. Thompson.

   “The completed study is not intended to be comprehensive. We’ve veered towards the subjects, areas and materials which interest us. These include questions of sources and their uses, working class education and self-education, welfare and the wage, language, historical authenticity and literary inventiveness, and contemporary political instrumentalisations of radical history. The book attests to the importance of reading history critically against the present.”

Authors: Anthony Iles & Tom Roberts
Illustrations: Artwork by Rachel Baker
Publishers: Transmission Gallery, The Strickland Distribution, Mute Books
Format: Paperback, H 182mm x W 118mm
ISBN: 978-0-9565201-3-5 (paperback) / 978-0- 9565201-4-2 (ebook)
Book price: £8.99

Film Screening & Introduction - 4.00pm

     The Luddites (53 mins) is a film directed by Richard Broad for Thames TV in 1988 as if it were a contemporary documentary. The Luddites were a social movement of textile artisans from around Northern England and the Midlands, who banded together in 1812 in secret societies and destroyed the machines which were putting them out of work.

Discussion - 5.30pm-6.30pm

     A discussion of The Luddites led by authors Anthony Iles and Tom Roberts informed by some of the All Knees and Elbows themes, including: The definition and redefinition of the working class in History from Below • Critical re-examination of ruptures in the social relation • Techniques developed within struggles to control and convey their own history • Struggles over the marketisation of research • Critical struggles over authenticity • The market for working class memoirs and hardship porn • Determinism and/ or the potential for action.

Book launch - 7.00pm

      Authors Anthony Iles and Tom Roberts will give a short introduction to their new book All Knees and Elbows of Susceptibility and Refusal: Reading History From Below critically appraising tendencies and debates in history from below. A sample chapter is available here: http://strickdistro.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Members_Unlimited_blog-sample-version.pdf  

The book will be available for purchase at the launch.

For further info see:

http://strickdistro.org/2012/10/31/all-knees-and-elbows-of-susceptibility-and-refusal-reading-history-from-below/

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All Knees and Elbows of Susceptibility and Refusal: Reading History From  Below is organised by The Strickland Distribution as part of its knowledge is never neutral programme with Transmission Gallery.

    The Strickland Distribution, September 2012 – June 2013 with/at Transmission Gallery

knowledge is never neutral is a series of projects organised by The Strickland Distribution taking place from September 2012 to June 2013 within and outside the gallery space. Taken together, these projects set out to explore the circumstances that surround cultural and knowledge production. We look to situate this production within a wider set of social and historical relations, and to reflect on our practices across these relations. We invite you to join us in these processes.

     Creating spaces for participatory dialogue – for listening and being listened to – the projects include a public walk, co-research inquiry, facilitated workshops, film screenings, reading and discussion groups, publication launches and the ongoing documentation and reconsideration of outcomes deriving from these projects.

     The Strickland Distribution is an artist-run group supporting the development of independent research in art-related and non-institutional practices. Art-related includes research forms that directly implement artistic practice as a means of research method. Non-institutional includes forms of grass-roots histories, social inquiries and projects developed outside of academic frameworks and by groups and individuals normally excluded from such environments. The Strickland Distribution operates in the public sphere, seeking to stimulate and contribute to public education, discourse and debate around the topics and themes addressed through its projects.

Transmission Gallery 28 King Street Glasgow G1 5QP Scotland

Tel.:+44 (0)141 552 7141 info@transmissiongallery.org www.transmissiongallery.org

The Strickland Distribution contact@strickdistro.org http://strickdistro.org

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AUSTERITY URBANISM.

    As an old wrinkly who has lived practically all his life in Glasgow I have seen many changes, and it is with hand on heart I can say that very few of the changes were made with the welfare of the ordinary people in mind. Our elected crooks and liars have always been business orientated, always looked to placate the big buck corporate world. Sometimes the ordinary people have benefited, but mostly they have seen their communities devastated or simple wiped out. It could have been so different, but then again, the people are not in control. 

 

 

 

This from Strickland distribution:

 

austerity urbanism: 

A walk through the fictional city 

Saturday 15th September 2012

 

Ah fancy a walk'n a talk.

 

      As part of a series of projects for Transmission Gallery, The Strickland Distribution is hosting a public walk on Saturday 15th September to investigate contemporary forms of cultural (de)generation. Led by writer & researcher Neil Gray, with contributions from housing & community groups; activists & artists, the walk will take a circular route beginning and ending at the Speirs Wharf canalside ‘cultural quarter’, via the post- industrial and brown-field landscapes of North-West Glasgow.The writer, Iain Sinclair once said of regeneration that “any puddle will do”, referring to the frequency of waterside regeneration in the UK – no matter how bitter the climate or inauspicious the view.

       The canalside Masterplan for the cultural quarter is a neoliberal mixture of soft policy options borrowing from Charles Landry’s ‘creative city’, Richard Florida’s ‘creative class’, Andres Duany’s ‘new urbanism’, and so-called ‘smart growth’ principles. The masterplan is specifically framed in the language of austerity, admitting the partial, fragmentary nature of the regeneration approach in a time of economic crisis.

      While apparently less bullish than other large-scale gentrification projects in Glasgow, ultimately ‘smart growth’ is about the extraction of value from land and property, and the increase of a socio-spatial tax base, making the ‘new urbanism’ a strategy for the few at the expense of the many despite its green pretensions and community participation rhetoric. The new urbanism is a separate, privileged spatial project with limited boundaries. This walk will cross those boundaries exploring the wider spatial relations of the area, revealing the planning blight and social contradictions that are a direct result of an underlying ideology of growth which the new urbanism not only leaves unchallenged but actively supports. 

 

 

 

     The walk will critically illuminate the ‘arts-led property strategy’; the rent-gap and blight; the continuing crisis in housing, and the commodification of social spaces. Rather than present gentrification as an inevitable process, the walk will explore the possibility that capitalism is increasingly unable to reproduce the most basic conditions of everyday life for a majority of the population, deferring a crisis of productivity to a crisis of urbanism. This walk in the fictional city will examine urban reality against the urban myths of city boosters.

     The walk is proposed as an investigative history from below: a critical exploration of gentrification in the context of austerity urbanism. City boosters and planners promote top-down solutions to urban crisis, yet radical social change can only ever come from broad-based pressure from below. This walk aims to provide the means for collaborative exchange, instigating & sustaining wider solidarity & activity between anti-gentrification researchers, activists, community groups & artists. We welcome all those with such an interest.

      Saturday 15th September, (1–5pm): Meet outside Cowcaddens subway entrance at 1pm. Please bring appropriate footwear and clothing. The ground will occasionally be rough.

Transmission Gallery 

28 King Street 

Glasgow G1 5QP 

Scotland

Tel.:+44 (0)141 552 7141 

info@transmissiongallery.org 

www.transmissiongallery.org

 

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