Columbia University, Harlem & the World
Date & Time:
02/01/2008 - 19:30
Kicker:
1968 REVISITED
Description:
During the world-wide revolutionary upsurges of 1968, Columbia University was the site of a series of important and interconnected struggles. As the protest movements against the seemingly endless war in Vietnam continued to escalate in size and militancy, Columbia students and community members were simultaneously organizing against the Universities plans to expand into Harlem, displacing thousands of mostly black residents. These campaigns, targeting both the war at home and abroad, led to several interesting alliances and coalitions both on and off campus.
40 years later the world has changed dramatically, yet we still find ourselves fighting many of these same struggles. Another endless war, a new series of proposed expansions by Columbia, a new generation of activists and organizers who are pushing back on neo-liberalism and empire.
Please join us for a special evening, as we present an intergenerational dialogue between former and current student organizers who, drawing on a rich history and the current political context, discuss strategies for moving forward.
Bios:
Kazembe Balagun, a former student activist with SLAM (Student Liberation Action Movement) at Hunter College, now serves as the Brecht Forum's outreach coordinator and teaches classes ranging from Black history to Queer liberation movements.
Thulani Davis, an prominent organizer at Columbia University during the 1968 student strikes, is a journalist, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. Davis has been a staff writer and senior editor at The Village Voice and has written for an array of national publications including The New York Times, The Nation, Bomb Magazine, Quarterly Black Review, and Ms.
Bryan Mercer is a recent graduate of Columbia University and a member of the Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification who participated in the November 2007 hunger strikes.
Mark Rudd was a leader of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter at Columbia University during the 1968 student strikes and later became a member of the Weather Underground organization.
Bill Sales, a leader within the Black student movement at Columbia University in 1968, is a scholar and noted expert on Malcolm X. He is professor at Seton Hall University, where he chairs the Department of Africana and Diaspora Studies. He is the author of From Civil Rights to Black Liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
Minimum Fee:
6
Max Registration:
85
Fee:
Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers
OUR SPECIAL THANKS! The Brecht Forum owes its existence to a broad network of support. Our modest fees cover only a fraction of our costs and we rely on the progressive community for our financial survival. Hundreds of valued subscribers and donors provide steady contributions to all of our activities. Our programs are made possible with support from Manhattan Neighborhood Network, The Surdna Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
