TO READ A COPY OF THE ICSS CRISIS GROUP'S ON THE CURRENT CAPITALIST CRISIS PLEASE LINK TO

http://www.csulb.edu/~eruyle/icsscrisis.htm

Attention: On Tuesday evening May 5th at 7pm the capitalist reading group will begin with volume 3.  All interested are welcome.  This promises to be an exciting project. 

Sunday August 2nd 10am - Noon

“The optimal condition of science is one foot in the university and one in the community in struggle, so that we have the richness and complexity of theory coming from the particular and the comparative view, and generalizations that only some distance from the particular can provide. It also allows us to see the combination of cooperative and conflicting relations we have with our colleagues and ways in which political commitment challenges the shared common sense of professional communities.”

R. Levins
(emphasis added – APS) 
( On p. 98 in “Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health”, by R. Lewontin and R. Levins, Monthly Review Press, New York, (2007))

STL (Science, Technology, and Labor) and the Progressive Movement
Unquestionably, the engine of progress today is scientific socialism. As a scientific worker, I’ve spent the later half (~40 years) of my life working to integrate my life with the class conscious scientific practice at the level of “the community in struggle” . The principal contradiction of this effort has been between ESTM (Expert, Elitist, Exclusive, Science, Technology and Management) at the retrogressive pole, and STL at the affirmative, progressive pole. I will discuss this conflict, generally in the light of  the S&T (Science and Technology), and GGPR (Great Globalized Proletarian Revolution) developments of the 20th century, and its concrete manifestations in my Indian, and IITK (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur) contexts.

My basic method of analysis will be that of the combined social determination of S&T practice through the following 4 H_Z_R factors, so called after the names of Boris Hessen, Edgar Zilsel, and Steven Rose (see Wikipedia):-

1. Expert paradigmatic practice of specialists.
2. Technological ambience defining experimental, and other professional practices.
3. Politico-economic power controlling rewards and punishments.
4. Cultural-philosophical ambience certifying and legitimating community struggles, and scientists’ participation in them.

I will also discuss the methodological contradiction spanned by the poles of empowered status quo of mechanistic reductionism on one hand, and the progressive, synthetic dialectical naturalism at the other.

Lastly, I will share my conjecture of a vision of a future natural order, a firm commitment to which is absolutely necessary for persevering in any radical community struggle.

We offer classes and workshops on Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, for educators, activists, artists, organizers and the general public.  No prior acting or TO experience is required.

Please contact us if you would like to be put on our mailing list for future classes or workshops.

Every Tuesday Evening
Dates: ongoing, 7 - 9 p.m. • We will read Marx's work together and make sure we understand it. • For information, e-mail Kosta at bagman-at-sfsu.edu.