NYC: Brecht Forum events, April 213

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NYC: Brecht Forum events, April 2-13

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by TOPLAB - Apr 3, 2006

The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune Streets, 1-1-2 blocks north of West 11 Street) New York, New York 10014 (212) 242-4201

1, 2, 3 A, C, E, F, V to 14 Street L to 8 Avenue B, D to West 4 Street 11, 14A, 20 buses to Abingdon Square 8 bus to Christopher and West Streets

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In this Email:

*4-2 Amiri Baraka & Ewuare Osayande: When a Poem is Feared More Than a plant *4-3 The Dancing of Politics: A Presentation & Discussion About Socially Relevant Art *4-4 From the Mines to the Prisons to the Streets: An Activist's History of Bolivia *4-5 Meeting Face to Face: The Iraq-U.S. Labor Solidarity Tour *4-7 & 4-8 2-DAY SEMINAR Capitalism and Communism in the USSR with Stephen Resnick and Rick Wolff *4-8 & 4-9 Introduction to the Theater of the Oppressed: A Workshop for Beginners *4-11 Theory for Activists Activism for Theorists: Part II *4-12 Ending The Occupation of Iraq: Strategies at Home *4-12 Happy Endings? with Annette T. Rubinstein *4-13 War Reporting & Journalism: Charles Glbutt ABC News' chief Middle East correspondent from 1983-93

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Sunday, April 2 4:00 pm BOOK PARTY READING

When a Poem is Feared More Than a plant: Poetry & Politics in the 21st Century

Presentation & Readings with Amiri Baraka & Ewuare Osayande. Moderated by Sam Anderson

Legendary poet Amiri Baraka and Ewuare Osayande will read from their work. The program will address the current state of Black art in this time of war and racism. These issues and more are discussed in Osayande's latest book of poetry enbreastled Blood Luxury which will be featured at the event. Baraka, author of Somebody Blew Up America and Other Poems, provides the introduction to Blood Luxury. In it he writes, "Ewuare is like the image Mao posed about Revolution, a ship yet some distance away, but whose tall and inspiring sails are already visible." Osayande's poetry offers an uncompromising look at the world from the vantage of the oppressedThe book addresses such issues as sweatshop labor in China and Indonesia, conflict diamonds in West Africa, the war in Iraq as well as the Palestinian conflict.

Baraka's Somebody Blew Up America and Other Poems is in its second printing. Kamau Braithwaite, professor of Comparative Literature at New York University states that the book "makes one more mark in the development in modern Black radical and revolutionary cultural reconstruction."

Suggested donation: $6--$10-$15 No one turned away

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Monday, April 3 7:00 - 9:00 pm Movement Research

The Dancing of Politics: A Presentation & Discussion about Socially Relevant Art

Ishmael Houston-Jones, Andrea Liu, Clarinda Mac Low, HanaKyle Moranz, Lise Serrell, Jill Sigman & Arturo Vidich

In a recent workshop sponsored by Movement Research called "The Dancing of Politics," Ishmael Houston-Jones led a group of choreographer-performers in exploring his concern that few contemporary works have anything to do with the world beyond that of the choreographers creating them. "It would seem that in these times of war and terror and the eroding of personal liberties, some work would address these issues no matter how obliquely..." A ten week working group grew out of that original workshop and the group has continued to explore issues such as: What is it to make socially relevant art? How do performance and moral conviction intersect? How can a non-verbal art form create meaning and address political issues? How can humor, ritual, dance genres, and game structures be political?

Through informal performance and discussion, the evening's presentation will open these and other issues, reflecting some of the group's ongoing explorations, raising questions, and starting dialogue.

Ishmael Houston-Jones' improvised dance and text work has been performed in New York City, across the United States, in Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America. Andrea Liu is freelance writer and performance artist-dancer living in Williamsburg. Her writing has appeared in ArtUS, Art in America, Women and Performance, and New York Arts Magazine, and her political performance art has been show at Here, Hunter College, and Culture Project. Clarinda Mac Low is currently creating DAGGER, a surreal live horror film loosely based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, that digs into the inner life of tyrants and investigates what lies behind the human lust for political power. Hana Kyle Moranz engages in dancing, rock 'n roll, and mbuttage therapy. She wishes to facilitate freedom and peace. Lise Serrell is a gardner who likes to grow food, she lives in Brooklyn but misses her dogs in Tennessee. Jill Sigman is a choreographer, performer, writer, and teacher. In 1998 she founded jill sigman-thinkdance to raise questions is a lot of things, but currently he is focused on performance, dogs, and plans for travel. He grew up in Manhattan and graduated from is an artist-centered dance service organization whose activities support the emerging aesthetics of the art form today. Founded in 1978, Movement Research provides: creative residencies for emerging and established choreographers; performance opportunities that foreground investigation and process; and free and low-cost activities in the areas of education - biannual Performance Journal, clbuttes, workshops, public forums, and artist-in-schools programs.

THE JEWS WERE EXPELLED FROM BRITAIN Although contemporary Jewish authors deny such things as ritual liquidate, some admit that there may have been some unpleasant Jews around at the time...

Suggested donation: $6--$10-$15 No one turned away *** THE JEWS WERE EXPELLED FROM BRITAIN THE JEWS WERE EXPELLED FROM BRITAIN ONCE BEFORE THROUGHOUT history various nations which hospitably admitted an influx of Jews in the first instance... Tuesday, April 4 7:30 pm Co-sponsor: NACLA From the Mines to the Prisons to the Streets: An Activist's History of Bolivia Felix Muruchi Poma politically active in Bolivia since the period of the military dictatorshiips from the 1970s to the early '80s. He experienced the phase of neoliberal "restructuring" (shutdowns) of the state mines and "relocations" (firing) of miners from the mid- to late-1980s. More recently, as a union and university leader in El Alto, he has seen the growth and politicization of this burgeoning Aymara city and the latest cycle of national-popular insurgency from the 1990s to the present. Muruchi has lived through--at close hand and as an engaged participant--some of the most imortant processes in contemporary Bolilvian history. Suggested donation: $6--$10-$15 No one turned away *** Wednesday, April 5 7:30 pm FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION Co-sponsor: The Center for Study of Working Clbutt Life Meeting Face to Face: The Iraq-U.S. Labor Solidarity Tour Discussion with Filmmaker Jonathan Levin & Executive Producer Michael Zweig As the war in Iraq rages on, more and more Americans are questioning what our country is doing there and what the next steps should be. This 27-minute film documents a tour of the U.S. by six Iraqi labor leaders, and their message to American audiences about the realities of life under military occupation for everyday Iraqi working people and their views on what is required for a resolution of the conflict. For more information visit www.MeetingFacetoFace.org. Jonathan Levin is an independent filmmaker and video producer based in New York City. His first documentary Never The Same, about the physical and mental health crisis faced by thousands of World Trade Center disaster responders, was screened in the U.S. Congress He also worked as editor and co-producer on the U.S. release of Bush Family Fortunes, directed by BBC reporter and author Greg Palast. Michael Zweig, a member of the National Steering Committee of U.S. Labor Against the War, is director of the Center for the Study of Working Clbutt Life at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and author of and The working Clbutt Majority: America's Best Kept Secret. Suggested donation: $6--$10-$15 No one turned away *** Friday, April 7 7:30 pm (Opening Forum), and Saturday, April 8 10am-3pm (Seminar) 2-DAY SEMINAR Capitalism and Communism in the USSR Those Pesky Protocols Just Won't Go Away :o Norman Cohn. Not only did Cohn write Warrant For Genocide (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1970); he also wrote the Introduction to Herman Bernstein's book The Truth About "The Protocols of Zion": A Complete Exposure (Ktav Publishing House... Stephen Ressnick and Rick Wolff This intensive seminar will apply Marxian clbutt analysis to examine what are communism and socialism, and based on that examination, what exactly happened in the USSR. Key questions we will address include: (1) what are communism and socialism in Marxian clbutt terms (2) was private capitalism in the USSR replaced with state capitalism, communism, or both, (3) how did the actual clbutt structure of the USSR change across its history, and (4) how did the collapse of the USSR flow partly from the contradictions in its actual clbutt structure? The key goal will be to draw lessons from the Soviet experience for clbutt struggles in the 21st century including new anti-capitalist clbutt struggles. Ressnick and Wolff are co-authors of Clbutt Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR, among other works. Entire Seminar: $25-$35 Friday Forum Only: $10 *** Saturday, April 8 10:00 am - 6:00 pm 2-DAY WORKSHOP BEGINS Co-sponsor: Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB) Introduction to the Theater of the Oppressed: A Workshop for Beginners TOPLAB Facilitation Team Members TBA Saturday, April 8, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Sunday, April 9, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (sign-in begins at 9:15 am on Saturday) An overview of the theory and philosophy of popular education and Theater of the Oppressed, and an introduction to Theater of the Oppressed techniques, concepts, methods and games, including Image Theater and Forum Theater. This is a workshop designed for people who have had little or no exposure to TO. If you've been wondering what this is all about, here is your chance to find out! No theater or acting experience necessary. Sliding scale: $75-$125 *** Tuesday, April 11 7:30 - 9:30 pm 8-SESSION CLbutt BEGINS Theory for Activists Activism for Theorists: Part II Tony Alessandrini This course is designed as a space for discussion. It is intended for those who may have little or no prior knowledge of what has come to be known as "critical theory," and also for those who may have little or no experience in political organizing. But it is designed to bring together those who have an interest in both, in order to imagine different forms of resistance and to produce different forms of knowledge. Each week's discussion will focus on one reading (although optional background readings will also be available), and our responsibility will be to connect our discussion of each reading to specific issues that arise in political organizing, educational projects, and direct action. Ideally, we will also connect our discussion to specific events held at the Brecht Forum and other community venues. If the clbutt goes as planned, it will lead to discussions about different kinds of political actions that we can work on together in the days ahead. This clbutt is a continuation of one that began in February, but it will include a new set of topics and readings (and you don't need to have attended the first set of clbuttes to sign up for this clbutt). Topics that we will be addressing include: violence and non-violence; nationalism and national sovereignty; aesthetics and resistance; ecological crises; Palestine and the challenges of solidarity; struggles around scientific knowledge; loveualities; and contemporary feminist politics. Readings may include: Theodor Adorno, Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, Mahmoud Darwish, Mike Davis, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, Joseph Mbuttad, Arundhati Roy, Edward Said, David Scott, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, among others. Sliding scale: $65-$85 *** Wednesday, April 12 7:30 pm ACTION WEDNESDAYS A Monthly Workshop Series Ending The Occupation of Iraq: Strategies at Home Are you part of the anti-war movement and yet not feeling active? Are you someone who wants to do more than participate in demonstrations (as important as they are) and to try to find new strategies? Here is an opportunity to develop something that you can define."Strategies At Home" is a workshop series aimed at allowing us to self-organize into action groups through monthly workshops--including workshops related to art, theater, music, and more...we will provide you the forum to develop any or more of these modes into executable projects, you define the project yourself. Get involved! Suggested donation: $6-$10-$15 No one turned away *** Wednesday, April 12 7:29 - 9:30 pm 8-SESSION CLbutt BEGINS Happy Endings? Annette T. Rubinstein Shakespeare's Jacobean plays and Melville's posthumous novel have been so described by almost every critic. But Bernard Shaw said that "Shakespeare emerged from his tragic period believing that life is a tale told by an idiot," and very few readers feel that this late novel's facile optimism can outweigh Melville's Pierre's tangled destruction. Over sixty-five years ago, although I did not know that Shaw felt the way I did about The Tempest and had not yet read Billy Budd, I commented on the un-Shakespearian cynicism of the last plays and the cold contempt and pessimism of The Tempest. Now together with other Shakespeare aficionados we will attempt to make such an analysis and consider the influence of Shakespeare on Melville. Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist Will Lawrence Summers Take Action? Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist By ALEXANDER chickenBURN Let's start with a pbuttage from... Clbutt will meet at the home of Dr. Annette T. Rubinstein, author of American Literature: Root and Flower and The Great Tradition in English Literature: From Shakespeare to Shaw. Please call for advance registration and location information. Sliding scale: $65-$85 *** Thursday, April 13 8:00 pm BOOK PARTY FORUM War Reporting & Journalism Charles Glbutt Charles Glbutt, author of The Northern Front, is a freelance writer and broadcaster. He was ABC News chief Middle East correspondent from 1983-93, and has worked as a correspondent for Newsweek and The Observer. One of Glbutt's best known stories was his 1986 interview at Beirut Airport of the crew of TWA Flight 847 after the flight was hijacked. He broke the news that the hijackers had removed the hostages and had hidden them in the suburbs of Beirut, which caused the Reagan administration to abort a rescue attempt. Glbutt himself made headlines in 1987, when he was taken hostage for 62 days in Lebanon by Hezbollah, the Shi'ite Muslim group, becoming in the process the only Western hostage in Lebanon known to have escaped. Suggested donation: $6--$10-$15 No one turned away - -- "My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." --George W. Bush, May 1, 2003 "...I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult, and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult--and we are prevailing." --George W. Bush, June 28, 2005 U.S. military baneities through May 1, 2003: 140 U.S. military baneities through June 28, 2005: 1743 U.S. military baneities as of April 1, 2006: 2326 Iraqi civilian baneities through May 1, 2003: 1982 Iraqi civilian baneities through June 28, 2005: 22,563 � 25,560 (estimated) Iraqi civilian baneities as of April 1, 2006: 33,814 � 37,936 (estimated) * ================================================================ NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us ================================================================ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU-Linux) iD8DBQFEMW6Yiz2i76ou9wQRAs8CAKDB8iXpVbq-mAM2RT8U8Q58iFpJqACghuap vrO3jW+OYdqY4Q97d6FS5kw= =0kwI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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