New Fascisms? - One Day Workshop
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
No booking required
'Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.' (Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1948, p.350)
'The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us.' (Michel Foucault, 'Preface' to Anti-Oedipus, 1977, p. xiii)
It has been just 80 years since the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by Nazi German and Italian Fascist troops in support of Franco's Nationalist Government in Spain. It has been just 80 years since Picasso finished his anti-war and anti-fascist painting 'Guernica', capturing the destruction that had fallen upon Guernica. And whilst we may have hoped that we would not witness any fascist rising since the end of World War II we are more and more witnessing the rise of nationalist/fascist parties (with some gaining representations in Parliaments (i.e, Golden Dawn/ELAM/) or being in Government (AKP-Turkey, BJB , India PiS, Poland), corporate take over of the State, racist and vitalist rationalities, fabrication of facts/news and a rise in the popularity of authoritarian personalities.
This workshop brings together scholars at from law, philosophy and sociology (this time) to reflect on the particularities of this rise in fascism by looking into the relations between the financial crisis, neo-liberalism, tight legal regulations, real estate, property and dispossession, fanaticism, democracy and para-state agencies in the hope that we could build solidarities in contesting fascism's rise.
Participants: Brenna Bhandar (School of Law, SOAS); Miguel Beistegui (Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick); Chiara Bottici (Philosophy, The New School for Social Research, New York); Basak Ertur (School of Law, Birkbeck); Elena Loizidou (School of Law, Birkbeck); Rose Parfitt (Lecturer, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne); Mayur Suresh (School of Law, SOAS); Alberto Toscano (Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths)
This is a free event, however booking is required.
Please be advised that photographs may be taken at the event for use on the Birkbeck website and in Birkbeck marketing materials. By attending this event, you consent to Birkbeck photographing and using your image for these purposes.
New Fascisms?
Organiser: Elena Loizidou (School of Law, Birkbeck)
10:00 10:10 Coffee/tea
10:10 10:30 Welcome and Introductory Remarks (Elena Loizidou)
10:30 12:00 Capitalism, Property, Incorporation
(20 minutes presentation and then ambit time for discussion)
'Possessive Nationalism: property logics and authoritarianism' - Brenna Bhandar (School of Law, SOAS)
'The Politics of Incorporation' - Chiara Bottici (Philosophy, The New School for Social Research, New York)
12:00 1:30 State, Sovereignty, Authority
(20 minutes presentation and then ambit time for discussion)
'Reclaiming the state: towards a multivalent theory of sovereignty' - Mayur Suresh (School of Law, SOAS)
'(Un)thinking Fascism and the Promise of Transgression' - Basak Ertur (School of Law, Birkbeck)
1:30 2:30 Lunch (sandwich lunch will be provided by the school)
2:30 4:00 Anti-Fascist Alliances And The Limits Of The Critique Of Mass Psychology
'Fascism and the International' - Rose Parfitt (Kent Law School, University of Kent)
'Late Fascism and the Limits of Mass Psychology' - Alberto Toscano (Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths)
4:00 5:00 Open Discussion, Speakers and Participants
Contact name:
Law Events