The Brecht Forum
                           presents
                               
                 ** Communist Manifestivity **
                               
                    Friday, October 30 and
                     Saturday, October 31
                               
                      Schedule of Events
                                
         150th Anniversary of the Communist Manifesto
            to be held at Cooper Union's Great Hall
                               
             Third Avenue and East Seventh Street
                         New York City
                               
                   For more information call
                        (212) 802-9276
                           or access
                 <http://www.brechtforum.org>
                               
                               
    ** Karl Marx and Frederick Engels to Haunt Cooper Union
    on the 150th Anniversary of the Communist Manifesto **
                               
         ** Amiri Baraka, Wallace Shawn, Tony Kushner,
            Vinie Burrows, Sandra Maria Esteves and
         Louis Reyes Rivera in cultural performance **
                               
    ** Cornel West, Stephen Jay Gould, Maria Helena Alves,
    Ellen Meiksins Wood, Barbara Fields, Richard Levins and
              Sam Gindin in special roundtable **
                               
       ** Bread and Puppet Theater performance, day-long
     poetry jam, marathon film showings, economics panels,
     small-group discussions and workshops...and more! **
                               

"In place of the old bourgeois society." wrote the two
young German revolutionists in 1848, "there will be an
association in which the free development of each is
the condition for the free development of all."


On Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31, the Great
Hall at Cooper Union, 3rd Avenue and 7th Street in New
York City, will be the site of a MANIFESTIVITY in which
artists, scientists, activists, scholars, trade
unionists and social justice activists will revisit the
Communist Manifesto on its 150th Anniversary.

In a special opening program on Friday evening at 7:30
pm, poets, writers and performers including Amiri
Baraka, Wallace Shawn, Tony Kushner, Vinie Burrows,
Sandra Maria Esteves and Louis Reyes Rivera will
combine music and poetry with dramatic readings from
the Manifesto itself. The event will culminate in a
Saturday evening roundtable in which theologian Cornel
West, scientists Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Levins,
Brazilian Workers Party founder Maria Helena Moreira
Alves, _Monthly Review_ editor Ellen Meiksins Woods,
historian Barbara Fields, and Sam Gindin of the
Canadian Auto Workers discuss our society's dilemmas on
the eve of the 21st century and the epochal challenge
presented by the Manifesto to go where we've never gone
before.

The Manifestivity is one of many events taking place in
over 60 countries this year and several anniversary
editions of the persistent best-seller have drawn wide
attention. Event organizer Eric Canepa notes that
economic turbulence from Wall Street to East Asia seems
to heighten interest in the book. "There is an eerie
resonance in their treatment of what would now be
called globalization." Even some staunch conservatives
begin to wonder if Marx and Engels might have been
right about capitalism after all, he said.

Throughout the day on Saturday, beginning at 10:00 am,
an array of activities and discussions of culture and
politics are planned: a performance by the Bread and
Puppet Theater; a panel of economists looking at how
the Manifesto's diagnosis of capitalism and it's crisis
stands up today; a day-long poetry jam and film
showing; and small-group discussions on the Manifesto
in the light of New York City's labor conflicts and
battles over public education, medical services,
workfare and housing.

This will not be the first time that the spirit of Karl
Marx has been present at Cooper Union. At the time of
his death in 1883, overflow crowds filled the Great
Hall in what was at the time the largest memorial
meeting in the world. The organizers of the meeting,
the Central Labor Union of Greater New York and
Vicinity, used the proceeds to publish an edition of
the Communist Manifesto. Each union that had helped
organize the event received 300 free copies for
distribution to their members.

The Manifestivity is organized by the Brecht Forum in
cooperation with numerous other New York area
organizations and individuals. The Brecht Forum, home
of the New York Marxist School since 1975, offers a
regular program of political and cultural events and
study groups, including long-term study of the writings
of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. For tickets and
further information call 212-802-9276 or check the
Brecht Forum's web site at <http://www.brechtforum.org>

Tickets are $20 (advance purchase) for both days, or
$25 at the door. One day tickets are $10 for either day
(advance purchase), or $10 for Friday and $15 for
Saturday at the door. For credit card orders (Visa and
MasterCard) call (212) 802-9276.

The Brecht Forum offers lectures, workshops, and
classes, film showings and cultural events. It is a
place for people who are working for fundamental social
change and a new culture that puts human needs first.
To be placed on the Brecht Forum's mailing list write
to the Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, New
York, New York 10001-6281.


                          **********
                               
                *** Manifestivity Schedule ***
                               
                   Friday, October 30, 1998

         Opening cultural program: 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm

** Multimedia presentation of "If You Want to Know Who
We Are", a poem by Carlos Bulosa; Readers: Jodi Barias,
Regie Cabico, Erna Hernandez, & Julman Tolentino, with
musicians Willie Everich & Kali Ramirez

** Presentations/performances including a dramatic
reading from the _Communist Manifesto_ by Amiri Baraka,
Vinie Burrows, Sandra Maria Esteves, Tony Kushner,
Louis Reyes Rivera and Wallace Shawn

** Music by Hot Pstromi

** Friday, October 30, from 10:00 pm on ... The
Manifestivities continue with a party at 137 Avenue B
(between 8 and 9 streets). $5.00 admission includes
music, snacks, and your own Marx mask. Very cheap
drinks. Very much fun. Call: (212) 420-7893 for more
information or the Brecht Forum at (212) 802-9276.


                              ***

                     Saturday, October 31
                               
                     10:00 am to 11:30 am


** What Are Revolutionary Politics Today? with Nancy
Holmstrom, Peter Kwong, Tony Monteiro, Leo Panitch,
Daniel Singer, Brenda Stokely and Carmen Vazquez. 
Moderator: Sam Anderson


                         ** All Day **
                               
                           Film room
                               
                          Poetry room
                               
                              ***


                      11:45 am to 1:15 pm

** Can We Go from Cultural Imperialism to World
Culture? with Amiri Baraka, Aijaz Ahmad, Joseph
Buttigieg, Annette Rubinstein, Sonia Sanchez and N'Gugi
Wa Thiongo. Moderator: Colleen Roach

** Women's Liberation: Seneca Falls to the Present;
with Anannya Bhattacharjee, Leslie Cagan, Dawn
Crandell, Rosalind Petchesky, and Sofia Quintero.
Moderator: Diane Greene Lent

** Problems of the 21st Century Color Line, part 1:
Challenging White Supremacy; with Roger Dennis, John
Garvey, Joan Gibbs, Joe Kaye, Louis Reyes Rivera,
Suzanne Ross. Moderator: Merle Ratner

** Radical Organizing, Then and Now; with Cherrene
Horazuk, Steve Duncombe (Lower East Side Collective),
August Nimtz, Maisha Perez, Victor Wallis, Monique
Washington and Michael X. Moderator: Ron Hayduk

** Strikes: Signals of New Struggles; with Bairavi
Desai, Dan Georgakas and Jose Matta

                              ***


                1:30 pm to 2:30 pm: Lunch Break
                               
                              ***


                      2:30 pm to 4:00 pm

** Today's Capitalist Crisis; with Dennis Brutus, Judy
Claude, Sylvia Federici, Neftali Garcia, Joan
Greenbaum, Doug Henwood and Boris Kagarlitsky.
Moderator: Harry Magdoff


** Popular Culture vs. Class Culture; with St. Claire
Bourne, Paul Buhle, Steve Duncombe, Tony Medina, Tricia
Rose, Brooke Webster. Moderator: Yusuf Nuruddin

** The Communist Manifesto--Now; with Mary Boger, Lynne
Chancer, Bogdan Denitch, August Nimtz, Vijay Prashad,
Marshall Berman. Moderator: Randy Martin

** The Problem of the 21st Century Color Line, Part 2:
People of Color and the Struggle for Unity; with Daniel
Avila, Jan Carew, Esperanza Martell, Louis Reyes Rivera
and Sybil Wong. Moderator: Paul Washington

** Trade Unions: New Times, New Struggles; with Hector
Figueroa, Lian Hurst Mann, Pricilla Murolo and Brenda
Stokely. Moderator Maureen La Mar

** Reclaiming Knowledge: Science for the People; with
Richard Levins, Marilyn Frankenstein, Sam Anderson,
Bertell Ollman and Ethel Tobach. Moderator Sean Sweeney

                              ***


                      4:15 pm to 5:45 pm

** Performances with the Bread and Puppet Circus,
Changing Times Tap, Ngo Thanh Nhan and Stephen Smith

** Health, Environment and Human Survival; with Neftali
Garcia, Joel Kovel, Rosemari Mealy and Suzanne Ross.
Moderator: Eli Messinger

** The Ruling Ideas: Media and Ideology; with Ellen
Braune, Alexander Cockburn, Janine Jackson, Dred Scott
Keyes, Samori Marksman, Andrea Lockett and Dee Dee
Hallek. Moderator: Steve Brier

** Globalization, Labor and International Solidarity;
with Radhika Lal, Biju Mathew, Maria Helena Moreira
Alves, Peter Kwong, Michael Simmons and Manuel
Villanueva. Moderator: Lisa Maya Knauer

** Labor and Unemployment: How Capitalism Works to make
You Not Work; with Helen Lachs Ginsburg, Myra Diaz,
Berta Gaitan and Jim Haughton. Moderator: Sylvia Aron

** Prisons: Repression and Class War; with Pam Africa,
Vicente "Panama" Alba, Bruce Franklin, Bob Lederer and
Cleo Silver

                              ***


                               
               6:00 pm to 7:30 pm: Dinner Break
                               
                              ***


            Closing Program -- 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm


** Reading of excerpt from Bertolt Brecht's _The Life
of Galileo_ with Wallace Shawn

** A Conversation with Maria Helena Alves, Barbara
Fields, Sam Gindin, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levins,
Cornel West and Ellen Meiksins Wood

                              ***


The Manifestivity is sponsored by The Brecht Forum.

Individual Endorsers: Maria Helena Alves; Samir Amin;
Sam Anderson, NY Metro Black Radical Congress; Sylvia
Aron, Adelphi University School of Social Work; Amiri
Baraka; Rosalyn Baxandall; Annanya Bhattacharjee; Betsy
Blackmar; Carl Bloice; Augusto Boal; Robert and Frances
Boehm; Mary Boger; Ellen Braune; Stephen Brier; Dennis
Brutus; Paul Buhle; Vinie Burrows; Joseph Buttigieg;
Leslie Cagan; Eric Canepa; Luciana Castellina; Noam
Chomsky; Julie Christie; Andrew Comer; Angela Davis;
Ossie Davis; Ruby Dee; Martin Duberman; Mary Dugan; Ann
Druyan; Terry Eagleton; Ghassan Fawzi; Rabbi Michael
Feinberg, New York Labor-Religion Coalition; Hector
Figueroa; Eric Foner; Mike Fuller, Prensa Latina & Jose
Marti International Institute of Journalism, Havana,
Cuba; Eduardo Galeano; Neftali Garcia; Dan Georgakas;
Sam Gindin; Norman K. Gottwald; Stephen Jay Gould; Joan
Greenbaum; John Hanlon; Sandra Harding; David Harvey;
Ron Hayduk; Bill Henning, CWA Local 1180; Cherrene
Horazuk; Boris Kagarlitsky; Lisa Maya Knauer; Bill
Koehnlein; Karen Kurenski; Tony Kushner; Maureen La
Mar; Peter Laarman, Judson Memorial Church; David
Laibman, _Science and Society_; Francette Lazard,
EspacesMarx, Paris; Roger Leisner, Radio Free Maine;
Jerry Lembcke; Diane Greene Lent; Hanna and Les
Lessinger; Richard Levins; Susan Lowes; Michael Lowy,
EspacesMarx, Paris; Elizabeth Macklin; Harry Magdoff;
Victoria Maldonado; Manning Marable; Peter and Frances
Marcuse; Samori Marksman, WBAI Radio; Esperanza
Martell; Biju Mathew, Forum of Indian Leftists; David
McReynolds; Alice Meaker, Lower East Side Collective;
Eli Messinger; Liz Mestres; Gerald Meyer; Jakob Moneta;
Vicente Navarro; Manny Ness; Ngo Thanh Nhan; Yusuf
Nuruddin; Shivaun O'Casey; Bertell Ollman; John Pierre
Page, Confederation Generale de Travail, France; Grace
Paley; Leo Panitch, _The Socialist Register_; William
A. Pelz, Ph.D., Institute of Working Class History;
Renee Pendergrass; Charles Post; Victor Quintana; Sofia
Quintero; Tajudeen Abdul Raheem, Global Pan African
Movement; Merle Ratner; Jeremy Raw; Colin Robinson;
Mimi Rosenberg; Frank Rosengarten; Sheila Rowbotham;
Nan Rubin, Community Media Services; Annette T.
Rubinstein; Sungur Savran, Party of Peace and
Solidarity, Turkey; Hermann Scheer, member, Bundestag,
Social Democratic Party, Germany; Pete Seeger; Anwar
Shaikh; Joel Shufro; Daniel Singer; Greg Smith; Hobart
Spalding; Bill Tabb; Studs Terkel; Sheila Thimba; Rene
Toback; Carmen Vazquez; Lise Vogel; Michael Wallace;
Victor Wallis; Joel Washington; Paul Washington; Cornel
West; Michael Yates; Ethan Young; Mike Zielinski
(Organizations for Identification Only).

Organizational Endorsers: Action for Community
Empowerment; Catholic Worker; City College of New York
SLAM (Student Liberation Action Movement); Coalition
for a District Alternative (CODA); Committee Against
Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV); Committee for Humanitarian
Assistance to Iranian Refugees; Committee in Solidarity
with the People of El Salvador (CISPES); Committees of
Correspondence; Communist Party of the Philippines;
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA); El Centro
Salvadoreno; Freedom Road; Freedom Socialist Party;
Guyanese-American Workers United; Haiti
Anti-Intervention Committee; Immigrant Workers
Association; International Federation of Iranian
Refugees; Jews for Racial and Economic Justice; _Left
Business Observer_; Lower East Side Community Labor
Coalition; Monthly Review Press; National Lawyers
Guild; National Nicaragua Network; New York Metro Black
Radical Congress; North American Congress on Latin
America (NACLA); Philippine Forum; Radical Women;
_Rethinking Marxism_; _Samar_ Magazine; _Science and
Society_; _Socialism and Democracy_; The Socialist
Party USA; _The Socialist Register_; Solidarity; The
Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory; Verso Press; War
Resisters League; Workers Communist Party of Iran

Manifesto Commemoration Committee: Eric Canepa,
coordinator; Sam Anderson, Sylvia Aron, Steve Brier,
Mary Boger, Kira Brunner, Andrew Comer, Peggy Crane,
Steve Duncombe, Peter Filardo, Rosa Garcia, Dan
Georgakas, Joan Greenbaum, Ron Hayduk, Bill Henning,
Diane Greene Lent, Danny Luce, Bill Koehnlein, Biju
Mathew, Eli Messinger, Liz Mestres, Yusuf Nuruddin,
Adele Oltman, Ed Ott, Leo Panitch, Renee Pendergrass,
Merle Ratner, Colin Robinson, Rosina Rodriguez, Frank
Rosengarten, Rob Saute, S. Shankar, Sean Sweeney, Kit
Wainer, Paul Washington, Juanita Webster, Ethan Young


Very Special Thanks To: Larry Geddes and Ermena Vinluan
for producing the opening cultural program; Sheena
Calvert and Parlour Graphics for design services; and
the many volunteers who worked behind the scenes to
make this event possible.


Louis Proyect

(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)



Reply via email to