‘Feminism Today’ with Nina Power and Lindsey German

Saturday 6 March, 5pm to 6.30pm for International Women's Day

Author and academic Nina Power joins veteran socialist campaigner Lindsey German to discuss the state of contemporary feminism, with a focus on the rise of‘consumerist feminism’.

Nina Power’s latest book, ‘One Dimensional Woman’ charts the rise of ‘consumer feminism’, the cultural phenomenon according to which the height of female achievement consists of “the ownership of expensive handbags, a vibrator, a job, a flat and a man.” But how has it come to this?, she asks. Did the desires of twentieth-century women's liberation achieve their fulfilment in the shopper's paradise of 'naughty' self-pampering, playboy bunny pendants and bikini waxes?

Socialist activist and London mayoral candidate Lindsey German similarly examines women’s places within a consumer-capitalist economy in her 2007 publication ‘Material Girls: Women, Men and Work’, in which she argues that women’s relatively recent admission to the world of work has left them exposed to the worst exploitations of capitalism.

Join the authors in conversation at Housmans bookshop for a discussion of feminism’s possible futures.

Event information
Housmans Bookshop
5 Caledonian Road
King's Cross
London N1 9DX

Tel: 020 7837 4473. Free entry. Nearest tube: King's Cross

www.housmans.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7837 4473 Shop email: shop@housmans.com map: http://tinyurl.com/2oq9vv

"Support the shop that supports your campaigns!" To receive Housmans’ monthly events newsletter with all our events, please email nik[at]housmans.com and mark the subject ‘subscribe to newsletter’.

Swine flu is rubbish

I have just heard that the University of East Anglia has decided to stop office-based recycling in an effort to 'limit the spread of potential cases of H1N1 (Swine Flu)'.

I'm no scientist but this seems a tad over the top to me. My guess is that they want to get rid of that pesky recycling malarky and save a few pennies. Does anyone know whether there is any weight behind their reasoning?

In the meantime, here is a great article cutting through the spin that we get from the mainstream media.

Swine Flu: the real dangerous swine wear suits

Feature by Mike Davis, May 2009

With deaths mounting in Mexico authorities warn of a swine flu pandemic. Mike Davis argues that governments, pharmaceutical companies and agribusiness create the conditions for these health crises.

Read the rest HERE at Socialist Review

Check out Egpytian socialists blog

http://www.e-socialists.net/

Photos from Cairo

On steps, originally uploaded by solomonsmfield.

See more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/solomonsmfield/

Reports soon...

Anti-anti-feminism and a return to...?

Coming soon...

Here's a delightful video for you in the meantime.

Socialism or Zionism: a tale of two grandads

Socialism, not Zionism, was once the dominant political force among European Jews. It’s time to reclaim that tradition, writes Dan Mayer

I have two Jewish great-grandfathers, Leon Simon and Gustav Mayer. Their different political trajectories cast a light on the history of Jewish people in the first half of the 20th century.

Leon Simon’s family fled Russian antisemitism and came to Britain in the late 19th century. Leon became an active Zionist and took the minutes at the 1917 meeting of British Zionists where the Balfour declaration was drafted.

Gustav Mayer was a German social democratic historian who wrote a biography of Frederick Engels and attended the Zimmerwald conference of anti-war socialists in 1915.

Most Jews living in Europe at the time suffered from poverty and oppression. But there was a vibrant debate among Jews over how to fight this oppression. And Gustav’s response was more typical than Leon’s.

Of the four million Jews who left Russia between 1880 and 1929, just 120,000 emigrated to Palestine – and half of them didn’t stay. Meanwhile Jews were heavily involved in the socialist movements, and in the leadership of those movements.

Read the middle bit HERE

After the Second World War many Jews continued to join socialist movements and take a principled stand against Zionism, not least Ygael Gluckstein – also known as Tony Cliff, a Palestinian Jew who founded the Socialist Workers Party.

Many Jews who did not question Zionism nevertheless opposed what they saw as Israel’s “excesses”. But these currents were marginal to mainstream Jewish opinion.

Now things are beginning to change. The global anti-war movement, the breakdown of the “peace process” and Israel’s invasions of Lebanon and Gaza have created the first major cracks in Zionism’s domination of the Jewish community since the creation of Israel.

Gerald Kaufman, a Labour MP who was once a staunch Zionist, denounced Israel’s leaders as “mass murderers and war criminals” in parliament last week. “They bring shame on the Jewish people whose Star of David they use as a flag in Gaza, but whose morals go completely against what this Israeli government are doing,” he added.

Israel’s latest massacre in Gaza has created turmoil within the Jewish community. Many Jews, especially the younger generation, simply refuse to associate themselves with a country synonymous with racism, militarism and barbarity.

For some, participation in the mass anti-war demonstrations will lead them to the rediscovery of a rich Jewish tradition of socialist anti-Zionism, one that has lain nearly buried for decades.They will see that Leon Simon’s dream was destined to become a nightmare – and that Gustav was right all along.

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