COMMUNISM, A NEW BEGINNING?
Major NYC Conference organised by ALAIN BADIOU and SLAVOJ ZIZEK
Cooper Union, New York, October 14th-16th 2011
Livestream at: www.versobooks.com
———————————
A new conference with leading thinkers to discuss the continued relevance of
the communist idea.
“The long night of the left is coming to a close” wrote Slavoj Zizek
and Costas Douzinas in their introduction to THE IDEA OF COMMUNISM. The
continuing economic crisis, the shift away from a unipolar world defined by
American hegemony, and the ecological crisis mean that growing numbers of people
are keen to explore an alternative, and to re-discover the idea of communism.
With the advent of the Arab awakening millions have sought new ways to overcome
corruption and dictatorship.
Responding to Alain Badiou’s proposition of the ‘communist hypothesis’, the
leading thinkers of the left convened in London in 2009 to discuss the
perpetual, persistent notion that, in a truly emancipated society, all things
should be owned in common. Two years later, the discussion continues—this time
in New York.
Organised with Verso Books, eight leading thinkers will be discussing
COMMUNISM: A NEW BEGINNING? at Cooper Union on the weekend of October
14th-16th.
Verso is glad to announce that we will live stream the conference on our
website, from Friday, Oct 14th at 6pm. You’ll need to log in to access the
video page, so please register now if you don’t yet have an account.
———————————
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME:
FIRST SESSION: Friday Oct 14, 6-9 PM (moderator: ZIZEK)
Slavoj Zizek: SHORT INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Frank Ruda: REMEMBERING THE IMPOSSIBLE. FOR A META-CRITICAL ANAMNESIS OF
COMMUNISM
Alain Badiou: POLITICS AND STATE, MASS MOVEMENT AND TERROR (read by Bruno
Bosteels)
SECOND SESSION: Saturday Oct 15, 10AM-1PM (moderator: ZIZEK)
Bruno Bosteels: ON THE CHRISTIAN QUESTION
Susan Buck-Morss: COMMUNISM AND ETHICS
THIRD SESSION: Saturday Oct 15, 3-7 PM (moderator: BOSTEELS)
Adrian Johnston: FROM SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM TO SOCIALIST SCIENCE. NATURDIALEKTIK
THEN AND NOW
Jodi Dean: COMMUNIST DESIRE
Etienne Balibar: COMMUNISM AS COMMITMENT, IMAGINATION, AND POLITICS
FOURTH SESSION: Sunday Oct 16, 10AM-1PM (moderator: BOSTEELS)
Emmanuel Terray: COMMUNISM: WAYS AND MEANS OF THE RECONSTRUCTION
Slavoj Zizek: CONCLUSION: FREEDOM IN THE CLOUDS
———————————
UPDATE: Alain Badiou unable to attend
With great regret we have to announce that, due to illness, Alain Badiou will
not be able to attend the conference Communism, A New Beginning? this weekend.
We are all extremely disappointed but we hope you’ll join us in wishing Alain a
swift recovery. He has prepared a text to be read (by Bruno Bosteels) so will
still be able to contribute to the conference, and we still expect the
conference to be an extraordinary event.
———————————-
For more information on the Verso livestream from New York:
http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/706-communism-a-new-beginning-alain-badiou-and-slavoj-zizek-with-verso-books-at-cooper-union-new-york-october-14th-16th-2011