In Solidarity: Rethinking Political Friendship

"Their world is collapsing. Ours is being built," said Marie Le Pen in a chilling statement after Trump's win. With upcoming elections in France, Austria and the Netherlands, and far-right governments in power in Erdogan's Turkey, Modi's India and Netanyahu's Israel, the far right is on the rise. It's time to riot.

Join us for a public dialogue on what needs to be done. Dr. Çubukçu will open this session with her thoughts on the politics of transnational solidarity. Drawing on examples of Erdogan's brutal crackdown on dissidents – recently Kurdish MPs – and Trump's chilling victory, she will engage with us on a conversation on thinking through how we can build a counter to the powerful networks of the International Right, and the potentialities and challenges of organising with and for others. This will be followed by an open dialogue on resisting the right after Trump.

Tuesday 15 November 5pm
Mill Lane Lecture Theaters Room 1

Dr Ayça Çubukçu is Assistant Professor in Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she leads a research group on Internationalism, Cosmopolitanism and the Politics of Solidarity. She is also a co-editor of Jadaliyya’s Turkey page.

Recommended: 13th Historical Materialism Conference in London

For the program and all practical informations see:
http://conference.historicalmaterialism.org

After Corbyn's (re)elections: strategies for the Left and the Labour Party

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour's first radical socialist leader, but he came to power at a time of grave inherited weaknesses for the Left. It is clear that his leadership represents the beginning of a process, rather than the end. It will take time for the promise of his win to bear its most important fruit. The Left needs to be cognisant of the serious impediments in the way of success, and take seriously the need to war-game failure in the short-to-medium term so that it can make the most long-term advantage of this unique, fragile moment. This talk will address the sources of Corbyn's unlikely win, in the context of social-democracy's crisis, the difficulties he will inevitably face, and the most effective ways for the Left to intervene.


Richard Seymour is a writer, broadcaster and socialist, raised in Northern Ireland and currently based in London. He is the author of The Liberal Defence of Murder (2008), Unhitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens (2012), Against Austerity (2014) and Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics (2016). A contributing editor of Salvage, he also writes for The Guardian, the London Review of Books, and many other publications. He currently presents a programme, ‘Media Review’, for TeleSur, and has previously appeared on BBC, Al Jazeera and C-Span. He is finishing a PhD at the London School of Economics, where he also teaches.