Sydney meeting on the economic crisis

Hey comrades,

if any of you are interested in this (the callout has been endorsed by the Mutiny collective-

http://jura.org.au/mutiny) ...

I'd love to hear people's thoughts & ideas.

x tim

The Global Economic Crisis & Radical Class Responses: Callout for Conference

This is a callout and invitation to be involved in organising a conference to discuss and debate strategies and responses to the global economic crisis. The first meeting is to be held on the 14th of April, at 6:30pm at Jura Books, 440 Parramatta Road, Petersham.

The governments, capital and the bosses are trying to make us pay for their crisis. We can't pay and we won't pay. We think that it is crucial that all people outraged and motivated to respond to the crisis come together to work on establishing common political grounds from which to fight back and turn the bosses' crisis into a working class offensive. We think it would be useful to come together based in a politics of respect both for different strategies, diverse tactics and open constructive debate.

Class antagonism and resistance are always evident in the daily routine of life under capital, and it should be expected to intensify in the coming years. Various forms of radicalisation have already been seen. Never the less, it will be helpful for those engaged in anti-capitalist and class struggle, to look for ways in which struggle is not recuperated and bound to the logic and ends of productivity for capital. Finding ways to articulate a common struggle beyond these compromises is a task that confronts us all, and requires us to look beyond the ALP and the union leadership

There are a number of problems and challenges that confront the class immediately, and which will only become more pronounced as the global economic crisis plays out. It is obviously foolish to celebrate the crisis as a potential moment of liberation, as if hitting bottom will produce emancipation. Capital has used, and always will use crisis to impose increased austerity, to roll back previous victories of struggle, and ultimately strengthen its hold. In this sense, crisis opens an opportunity for capital in the class struggle.

Thus, the only real challenge that capital faces comes through our refusal to submit to its logics, our rejection of compromise through social democracy, and the expression and intensification of our own desires and struggles beyond the limits of capital. It is only in this sense that we should use the term crisis for our own ends, as one of transformation arising from the struggles of the class. In this instance the global economic crisis confronts us with two options: recuperation within the logic of capitalist accumulation, or radical transformation from the ground.

With these challenges in mind, questions and problems of strategy and tactics immediately arise. Responding to this situation requires a strong class response, which will need to be based upon a commitment to solidarity. In the interests of attempting to achieve such we believe it will be in our collective interests to meet and discuss and debate our thoughts on a radical way forward for class struggle. Moving further, it will be good to work towards the establishment of a common ground, which allows for difference and debate, which can inform our response to the crisis.

Some proposed ideas for workshops:

history of unemployed workers' struggle, unemployment and race, refusal of work & right to work struggles in periods of economic downturn, workfare and welfare, critiques of social democracy and the tendency towards it within the left, recession and racism, resisting nationalism, these are just some ideas obviously...

All welcome, Tuesday 14th April, 6:30pm Jura Books, 440 Parramatta Road, Petersham