Last Meeting and Links

Hey all,
Here are the links for next month's reading:
Marcuse
situationistmanifesto

http://libcom.org/library/art-form-reality-herbert-marcuse
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/manifesto.html

Next meeting is Sunday, Nov. 7 at 11 am

My thoughts on the readings from last month and notes from our conversation (you can either email or post additional comments on the blog):

The SCUM manifesto, though full of some funny and often clever anti-male invective, fell short in my view as a guide for revolutionary struggle because of its overly narrow focus--i.e. its identity politics. Much of the criticism, though, if it were viewed as a criticism of modern society in general and not "just" men, would be spot on. And I liked that her ideas for female liberation focused on living outside of the system rather than, like too many other minority movements, about getting your fair share of the pie. That said, there is perhaps a real basis to a criticism of society that focuses on patriarchialism. You could make a good case that oppressive civilizations don't need racism or homophobia or xenophobia or religious zealotry, but they do need patriarchy (and of course classism)--that there is something fundamentally anti-female, or anti-female as the embodiment of wild nature, in the concept of hierarchical rule. I also think it's important that whatever we decide "revolutionary art" means, it should be informed of the feminist critiques of earlier revolutionary art movements.

The info. about the Kronsdadt revolt is especially interesting in light of what's happening today in Latin America. The "new" socialist revolution seems to have learned much from past mistakes: the Soviet model of top-down imposed hegemony seems to have been abandoned in favor of work collectives and grassroots bottom-up organizational methods. That's great, but the Kronsdadt revolution (not to mention some of the Maoist "experiments") reminds me that state power is always a potential monopolistic threat, even when it's in the hands of socialists who talk the talk of equality and freedom.