Wed. October  5th

A New Generation, A New Politics: Contemporary Anti-Authoritarian Activism in the United States and Canada.
Talk by Chris Dixon
Wednesday, October 5th, 11:45 A.M. to 1 P.M.

Place: Library Lobby, Evergreen
Suggested reading by Chris Dixon, which is basis of his talk  – Building “Another Politics”

Description of talk: The last decade has seen the exciting convergence of anti-authoritarian radicalism and broader-based movements in the U.S. and Canada. Coming out of this convergence, a growing cohort of activists are developing shared politics, practices, and sensibilities based in overlapping areas of work. This cohort is a political tendency, the anti-authoritarian current, which cuts across a range of left social movements. What distinguishes this current is its commitment to combining anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist politics with grassroots organizing among ordinary, non-activist people. Drawing on in-depth interviews with organizers across North America, this presentation will trace the strands that have led into the anti-authoritarian current, explore the defining principles of its politics, and the discuss questions it poses for all of us committed to social transformation.

Biography:  Chris Dixon, an Evergreen alumnus, is a longtime anarchist organizer and writer who recently received his PhD from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1999, he helped launch the Direct Action Network and was deeply involved in organizing for the protests against the Seattle WTO ministerial. Dixon’s writing has appeared in numerous publications and collections, and he is currently completing a book based on interviews with anti-authoritarian organizers across the United States and Canada involved in broader-based movements. He serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the advisory board for Upping the Anti, and lives in Sudbury, Ontario, where he is involved with anti-war and indigenous solidarity organizing.

Sponsored by the TESC Academic Programs: Venezuela, Zinn and the Art of Protest, Power in American Society, and Reinterpreting Liberation; the Academic Deans; the Sustainability and Justice Planning Unit, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

For more info, contact bohmerp@evergreen.edu, or 867-6431