Catastrophism Talk: Politics of Collapse & Rebirth | Mission

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Shaping San Francisco | City History Lectures

Shaping San Francisco is a series of free lectures, which aim to excavate the city’s lost history. It’s a place to meet and talk unmediated by corporations, official spokespeople, religion, political parties, or dogma.

Shaping San Francisco
Periodic Wednesdays | 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Eric Quezada Center for Culture & Politics | 518 Valencia St, SF
FREE

View 2020 Free Public Talks

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Catastrophism: Politics of Collapse & Rebirth | Shaping San Francisco | City History Lectures

Join Sasha Lilley, Eddie Yuen, and Jim Davis to go deeper into Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth.

From editor Sasha Lilley’s essay:
“By its very nature, capitalism is catastrophic. There should be no doubt that the multiple social, and especially ecological, crises of our time are genuine and cataclysmic. We are suggesting, however, that politics embedded within the logic of catastrophe – that the catastrophe will deliver a new world, or that it will create the conditions under which people automatically take action – do not serve the left and environmental movement. An awareness of the scale or severity of catastrophe does not ineluctably steer one down the path of radical politics, in spite of received wisdom on the left and many great – albeit frequently dashed – expectations. Those who believe that the system will crumble from crises and disasters lose sight of the ways that capitalism uses crises for its own regeneration and expansions. Likewise, a focus on spectacular catastrophes typically overlooks the prosaic catastrophes of everyday life that are the sediment upon which capitalism is constructed.”

Co-sponsored by PM Press.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.