“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” – Isaiah 2.4 “I wasn’t disturbing the peace, I was disturbing the war.” – Ammon Hennacy Sixteen years ago three Catholic Workers, Adi Leason,…
Category: Public Lecture
Ghosts of the Millennial Left – An Online Seminar w/ C Derick Varn
“There is today in the world a dominant discourse […] This dominating discourse often has the manic, jubilatory, and incantatory form that Freud assigned to the so-called triumphant phase of mourning work. The incantation repeats and ritualizes itself, it holds forth and holds to formulas, like any animistic magic. To the rhythm of a cadenced…
Summer of Discontent – Two Years on from the Parliament Protests with Tom Smith
Join Federation member Tom Smith in a public discussion about the significance of 2022’s parliament occupation. In the present moment, the Parliament protests serve as an indicator of the interregnum. This protest, characterized by its diverse ideological factions, serves as an expression of popular discontent, particularly concerning government mandates and perceived overreach. The COVID-19 pandemic…
Waitangi – Colonial Capitalism Comes to New Zealand with Tony Simpson (hosted by Nīkau Wi Neera)
The Wellington Socialist Society is pleased to once again welcome writer and historian Tony Simpson to Bedlam & Squalor for the highly relevant talk ‘Waitangi – Colonial Capital Comes to New Zealand’. When Tony first encountered the Treaty in the 1970’s he was puzzled by certain aspects of its text and context. Over the succeeding…
Reality Captured; Reality Imagined: Politics and Gender Through the Lens of Kati Horna
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Amelia Byrnes will survey the life and work of Hungarian-born photographer, Kati Horna, and explore photography as documentary, as art and as a political tool. Amelia will discuss documentary photography in reference to Horna’s work as a photojournalist, with particular focus on her work documenting the lives of women…
CSS Guest Speaker – Paris Marx: The Radical Philosophies of Silicon Valley Elites
Canterbury Socialist Society are thrilled to welcome Paris Marx back to Christchurch. In one of our best and busiest events last year Paris, host of the popular podcast “Tech Won’t Save Us”, joined us to discuss power of Big Tech, the impact of automation on the job market, and the urgent need for democratic control…
Our New Prometheans – WSS presents: The Radical Philosophies of Silicon Valley Elites w/ Paris Marx
“The reform of consciousness consists only in making the world aware of its own consciousness, in awakening it out of its dream about itself, in explaining to it the meaning of its own actions… Hence, our motto must be: reform of consciousness not through dogmas, but by analysing the mystical consciousness that is unintelligible to…
Capital After Covid – NZFSS Online Seminar w Guest Speaker Michael Roberts
“Hitherto men have always formed wrong ideas about themselves, about what they are and what they ought to be. They have arranged their relations according to their ideas of God, of normal man, etc. The products of their brains have got out of their hands. They, the creators, have bowed down before their creations.” Karl…
WSS Presents – It’s Not You, It’s Me: Seeing the Real Problems in New Zealand Politics
For our last educational event of 2023, the Wellington Socialist Society are happy to host Danyl McLauchlan, one of Aotearoa’s most thought-provoking writers, for the talk ‘It’s Not You, It’s Me: Seeing the Real Problems in New Zealand Politics’. As Danyl explains: “There’s an Ursula le Guin quote that I often come up in online…
Confronting Fascism: Socialist Knowledge and the Far-Right in Interwar Europe
“Fascism attempts to organize the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves. The masses have a right to change property relations; Fascism seeks to give them an expression while…