"A new world racing towards us"

"A new world racing towards us"

 December 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON OCTOBER 28, 2013, Spencer A. Leonard interviewed Bill Ayers, former member of Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground and author of the memoirs *Fugitive Days* (2001) and Public Enemy (2013). What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation. The Weather Underground symbol on the cover of *Prairie Fire*. About the letters to police and journalists that would accompany Weather Underground bombings in the 1970s, Ayers writes in *Fugitive Days*, 'Each letter had a logo hand-drawn across the page -- our trademark thick and colorful rainbow with a slash of angry lightning cutting through it. [Read More]
Bill Ayers  Weather Underground  SDS 

The 90s and 2000's Left Today

 March 31, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Panel held on March 31st, 2012 at the Fourth Annual Platypus International Convention, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Daniel Dulce (Crimthinc) Thodoris Velissaris (Platypus) Nick Kreitman (Platypus, Formerly new SDS) Mike Ely (Kasama) Joshua Moufawad-Paul (Supporter, Parti communiste revolutionnaire - Revolutionary Communist Party (Canada) Description The two decades of the 1990s-2000s form a cycle containing certain common as well as differing concerns. [Read More]
Occupy  Platypus International Convention 2012  1990s  /2000s  90s  Black Bloc  Communisation  Crimthinc  Empire  Kasama  Neoconservatism  Neoliberalism  New SDS  Parti communiste revolutionnaire  Platypus  RCP Canada  Resistance  Revolution Communist Party -- Canda  Rhizomatic  Rhizome  SDS  Social justice 

The Marxist turn

The New Left in the 1970s

 May 19, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

On May 19, 2011, Platypus invited Carl Davidson, formerly of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Guardian Weekly, Tom Riley of the International Bolshevik Tendency, and Mel Rothenberg, formerly of the Sojourner Truth Organization, to reflect on “The Marxist turn: The New Left in the 1970s.” Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcript in Platypus Review #40 Panelists Carl Davidson (former Students for a Democratic Society) [Read More]
Guardian weekly  IBT  International Bolshevik Tendency  Leftism  SDS  Sojourner Truth Organization  Students for Democratic Society 

Rethinking the New Left

 December 1, 2010  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

_ON NOVEMBER 9, 2010, Platypus hosted the public forum, “Rethinking the New Left,” moderated by Spencer A. Leonard. The panel consisted of Osha Neumann, a former member of the New York anarchist group in the 1960s, Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers; Mark Rudd, former member and national secretary of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and later a member of the Weather Underground; Tim Wohlforth, founder and national secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance in 1959; and Alan Spector, a full-time organizer for SDS for more than five years in the 1960s. [Read More]
Che Guevara  James P. Cannon  Max Shachtman  New Left  Progressive Labor Party  SDS  SNCC  Socialist Workers Party  The Motherfuckers  Weather Underground  Young Socialist Alliance 

Rethinking the New Left (Chicago, 11/9/10)

 November 9, 2010  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Public forum organised by the Platypus Affiliated Society on November 9th 2010 at the University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by The Global Voices Lecture Program of International House, with the support of the University of Chicago Student Activities Fund Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Mark Rudd Alan Spector Osha Neumann Tim Wohlforth Moderated by Spencer A. Leonard Description The memory of the 1960s, which has long kindled contestation and debate on the means and ends of freedom politics, is rapidly fading into the political unconscious. [Read More]
1960s  Anarchism  Marxism  Movement  New Left  Politics  SDS  Socialism 

'You don't need a Marxist to know which way the wind blows'

'You don't need a Marxist to know which way the wind blows'

 June 10, 2010  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON THURSDAY MARCH 11, 2010, Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief Spencer A. Leonard interviewed the prominent 1960s radical and last National Secretary of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Mark Rudd, to discuss his recently published political memoir, Underground. In April, Leonard’s interview with Rudd, prepared in conjunction with Atiya Khan, was broadcast in two parts on “Radical Minds” on WHPK-FM 88.5 Chicago. Podcasts are available at the above link . Below is an edited transcript of the interview. [Read More]
1960s  Mark Rudd  SDS 

You Don't Need to be a Marxist to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

An Interview with Mark Rudd

 March 11, 2010  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

On Thursday March 11, 2010, Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief Spencer A. Leonard interviewed the prominent 1960s radical and last National Secretary of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Mark Rudd, to discuss his recently published political memoir, Underground. In April, Leonard’s interview with Rudd, prepared in conjunction with Atiya Khan, was broadcast in two parts on “Radical Minds” on WHPK-FM 88.5 Chicago.

Audio Recording

Part One

Part Two

Transcript in Platypus Review #24

Radical Minds  SDS  Students for a Democratic Society  Underground 

Politics of the contemporary student Left

 September 30, 2009  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

AT THE LEFT FORUM hosted by New York’s Pace University in April of this year, a panel discussion was held on the subject of Politics of the Contemporary Student Left: Hopes and Failures. Organized by Alex Hanna of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the panel consisted of Pam Nogales of Platypus, Carlos J. Pereira Di Salvo of USAS, and Laurie Rojas of Platypus. What follows is a transcript of each panelist’s formal presentation and the subsequent Q & A session. [Read More]
Activism  Exchanges  Identity Politics  Left Forum  New York  NYU  SDS  SEIU  Student politics  Students  Unite Here  USAS 

Politics of the Contemporary Student Left

Hopes and Failures

 April 18, 2009  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Video Recording Transcript in Platypus Review #15 Panelists Alexander L. Hanna (chair): former organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops Atlee McFellin: Students for a Democratic Society, New School Radical Student Union Pam Nogales: Platypus (New York) C. J. Pereira Di Salvo: former organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops Laurie Rojas: Platypus (Chicago), former member of Students for a Democratic Society Description Young people’s heightened participation in politics in the run-up to the election of Barack Obama was crucial to his election and cannot be ignored. [Read More]
Left Forum  Left Forum 2009  New School Radical Student Union  SDS  Student Left  Student movement  Student organizations  Students for Democratic Society  United Students Against Sweatshops  USAS 

What is a Movement?

A discussion on the Meaning and Direction of Left Political "Movements" Historically and Today

 October 16, 2008  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

On October 16, 2008, a panel discussion titled What is a Movement? A Discussion on the Meaning and Direction of Left Political “Movements” Historically and Today was held in Chicago. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcript in Platypus Review #14 Panelists Luis Brennan (new Students for a Democratic Society) Elena Davis (Pomegranate Health Collective) Chuck Hendricks (UNITE/HERE) Jorge Mujica (Movimiento 10 de Marzo) [Read More]
Leftism  Movement  Movimiento 10 de Marzo  SDS  Student movement  Students for a Democratic Society  Unite Here