Immanuel Wallerstein.wmv

"... Immanuel Wallerstein: "Upsurge in Movements Around the Globe: 1968 Redux?" special talk by Immanuel Wallerstein, distinguished scholar and author of the essential "The Modern World System," a classic three volume study of the emergence of capitalism, which has recently been republished alongside a brand new fourth volume. Dr. Wallerstein, currently Senior Research Scholar at Yale University, is not only one of the most respected sociologists of our times, but has been, for decades, a tireless ally of struggles in the global South, and a major theorist of the radical potential of antisystemic movements to challenge the global capitalist status quo. Analyzing the chaotic and unpredictable historical conjecture in which we find ourselves, Dr. Wallerstein highlights the instability of a world-system far from equilibrium, where our actions may very well be the factor that decides whether the planet succumbs to the spirit of Davos, home of the World Economic Forum and its vision of capitalism without democracy, or, on the contrary, accedes to the spirit of Porto Alegre, home of the World Social Forum and a vision of a global, participatory, and anticapitalist civil society. talk at 2640 examines the current wave of global protest, from Tahrir Square to Wall Street and our own Mckeldin Fountain, evaluating the historical significance and future possibilities of the antisystemic movement in the midst of which we find ourselves. Responding to his talk will be Beverly Silver, author of "Forces of Labor: Worker's Movements and Globalization Since 1870," herself a major contributor to the study of the world system and the implications for a radical politics, as well as William Connoly, author of "A World of Becoming," and a theorist of the politics of complexity. 2640, a volunteer-run center for arts, culture, political education and community organizing, housed at 2640 St. Paul St., - sponsored by Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, with the support of the Johns Hopkins University Department of Sociology. More info about Dr. Wallerstein: http://www.iwallerstein.com