Dr. Adam Kotsko presents: Neoliberalism’s Demons

Join Open University of the Left on Saturday December 15, at 2:30 pm at the Lincoln Park Public Library 1150 W. Fullerton Ave. (cross street Sheffield) Chicago, free parking, wheel chair accessible (Bus route: 74 Fullerton, Red line: Fullerton)

By both its supporters and detractors, neoliberalism is usually considered an economic policy agenda. This presentation argues that it is much more than that: a complete worldview, neoliberalism presents the competitive marketplace as the model for true human flourishing. It has enjoyed great success: from the struggle for “global competitiveness” on the world stage down to our individual practices of self-branding and social networking, neoliberalism has transformed every aspect of social life in the West and beyond. This talk explores the sources of neoliberalism’s remarkable success and the roots of its current decline. Neoliberalism’s appeal is its promise of freedom in the form of unfettered free choice. But that freedom is a trap: we have just enough freedom to be accountable for our failings, but not enough freedom to create genuine substantive change. If we choose rightly, we ratify our own exploitation. If we choose wrongly, we are consigned to the outer darkness and then demonized as the cause of social ills.

Adam Kotsko is on the faculty of the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College in Naperville where he teaches in the humanities and social sciences. He is the author, most recently, of “The Prince of This World,” a study of the political legacy of pre-modern Christian ideas about the devil, and “Neoliberalism’s Demons,” which argues that the contemporary political-economic order functions on the basis of a logic of moral entrapment that echoes the theological concept of demonization.

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Now Up on YouTube, Dr. Anthony DiMaggio, “The 2018 Election and Populism in the Era of Trump”

The YouTube video of Saturday November 10, 2018 is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of the Open University of the Left.
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Dr. Anthony DiMaggio at Open University of the Left

Join Open University of the Left on Saturday November 10 at 2:30pm at the Lincoln Park Public Library 1150 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago (cross street Sheffield), free parking, wheelchair accessible (Bus route: 74 Fullerton, Red Line: Fullerton)

Election and Populism in the Era of Trump

Open University of the Left welcomes back Dr. Anthony DiMaggio. Populism in the era of Trump includes both left and right wing components. The popular narrative in the U.S. media is that rising economic insecurity and anxiety is linked to the embrace of right-wing politics and to Trump voting.
DiMaggio takes apart this myth, explaining what factors are really driving the rise of left and right-wing protest in America. His discussion covers popular protests, including the Tea Party, the Madison protests, Occupy Wall Street, the Fight for $15, Trump and Sanders populism, the anti-Trump protests, and #MeToo. He will also discuss the just concluded outcome of the 2018 midterm election with an eye toward examining how citizen discontent and populism impacted voting in the House and Senate.

Anthony DiMaggio is a Assistant Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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Now Up on YouTube, Dr. Kim Scipes, “Can the CIO Help Us in Our Organizing Today?”

Now Up on YouTube, Dr. Kim Scipes, “Can the CIO Help Us in Our Organizing Today?”

The YouTube video of Saturday, October 13, 2018 is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of the Open University of the Left:

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Dr. Kim Scipes presents: Can the CIO Help Us in Our Organizing Today?

Join Open University of the Left on Saturday October 13, at 2:30 pm at the Lincoln Park branch of the Chicago Public Library at 1150 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago (cross street Sheffield), free parking, wheel chair accessible (Bus route: 74 Fullerton, Red Line Fullerton)

OUL welcomes back long-time political activist and professor of sociology at Purdue University Northwest Kim Scipes. Kim will talk about what he has learned from studying CIO labor organizing in Chicago during it’s years of greatest strength (1933-1955). He will compare this to what activist Jane McAlevey, a current organizer, is now proposing. Kim will speak specifically about current community work in Michigan City, Indiana. The intent here is to help deepen current organizing efforts in Chicago and beyond.

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Now Up on YouTube, Dr. Steve Macek: Higher Education Under Siege

The YouTube video of Saturday September 15, 2018 is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of the Open University of the Left.

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Dr. Steve Macek at Open University of the Left

Join Open University of the Left on Saturday September 15 at 2:30 pm at the Lincoln Park branch of the Chicago Public Library at 1150 W. Fullerton Ave. (cross street: Sheffield) Chicago, (Red Line: Fullerton) free parking, wheelchair accessible (Bus route: 74 Fullerton).

Dr. Steve Macek presents: Higher Education Under Siege

Since the late 1960’s, higher education has been under attack from the right as a breeding ground for leftist of various stripes. During this time, we’ve witnessed one wave after another of such attacks.

It is not a coincidence that this reactionary public relations campaign against higher education has coincided with the casualization of much of the university workforce, a political attack on the rights of faculty unions and dramatic cuts to government financial support for higher education. Though not as visible or well publicized as the right’s ideological attacks on the supposed “liberalism” of the academy, the decline in state support for post-secondary education, the corresponding rise in average tuition and student debt, and the increasing “adjunctification” of college instruction have also been part of a carefully coordinated campaign, which is funded and lead by many of the same right-wing organizations and wealthy individuals.

Open University of the Left welcomes back Steve Macek who is a Professor in Communication and Media Studies at North Central College and a member of the Executive Committee of the Illinois AAUP.

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Now Up on YouTube, Jerry Harris: Who Leads Global Capitalism? The Unlikely Rise of China

 

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Jerry Harris presents: Who Leads Global Capitalism? The Unlikely Rise of China

The Following Location Has Been Scheduled For This Event:
Join Open University of the Left on Saturday August 11, at 2:30 pm at the Logan Square Branch of the Chicago Public Library at 3030 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago, free parking, wheelchair accessible (Bus route:74 Fullerton)
Jerry Harris presents: Who Leads Global Capitalism? The Unlikely Rise of China
 
The idea that China, once the center of world revolutionary passion, should lead global capitalism is as unexpected as it is
ironic. Disappearing is the dominant position of the US, further undercut by the erratic nationalism of President Trump. With the US acting as if globalization is the unwanted step-child of its hegemonic power, the guardianship of transnational capital has fallen to the Chinese.
 
The Chinese TCC has been cautious in taking on the role of world leadership. But as China grew to the second largest world economy the CCP wanted to step-up the value chain ladder, develop a consumer middle class, and take the lead in key technologies such as robots, electric cars, green energy, and semi-conductors. With capital accumulation bulging out of the pockets of state banks and their sovereign wealth fund, President Xi’s call for “outward bound” investments opened a new door for accumulation. No longer would China simply be a platform for foreign investments, but a global power taking the lead on foreign direct investments (FDI) and sending their capital into the markets of the world.
 
 China has taken a number of distinct steps in its emergence as a leader of global capitalism. Some of the most significant were the creation of the BRIC’s bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the promotion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, their rapid development of wind and solar power, and the strategic economic plan for the One Belt Road (OBOR). The presentation will discuss this broad strategy and its contradictions. 
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Now Up on YouTube, Dr. Lee Artz, Bolivarian Venezuela in Defiance of the US Empire

The YouTube video of Saturday, July 14, 2018 is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of the Open University of the Left.

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