[lbo-talk] clarification

[Liza Featherstone]

This is not necessarily of general list interest, but because this is a
public forum I feel like I should clarify...as a person very involved with
the Brecht Forum, I don't think most people thought that a cafe would
distract from the political mission. At least I hope not! It's just that the
space we found that was most affordable (and also in many other ways the
most fabulous) is located inside a residential complex with a lot of
restrictions on commercial activity that would make it hard to have a cafe.

The X-Mas party, however, I definitely cannot defend.

Liza


> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:21:51 -0500
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] The Rapture Index & "white trash"
> 
> Chuck0 wrote:
> 
>> This is an important thing that the Left has overlooked--we just
>> don't do a good job of creating community. Those of us who spend
>> lots of time trying to create alternative institutions such as
>> infoshops are berated for being lifesylists. What my critics don't
>> understand is that I've been operating on a strategy of
>> counter-insitution-building for the past decade based on my reading
>> of what the labor movement had available to it a century ago. You
>> can't make social change without resources and community. Meetings
>> are not resources and community. The radical movements in the USA of
>> a century ago were able to stand on a network of  radical cultural
>> institutions that ranged from union halls to free schools to
>> cooperatives. In many big cities today, we are so lacking in
>> resources that our activist groups meet in restaurants and people's
>> homes.
>> 
>> The right wing has churches, thinks tanks, and much more. What do we
>> have? Some people can diss me on my fucking infoshop, but at least
>> I've worked with activists in Kansas City to put together one
>> radical space!
> 
> I'm with you on this. There was an interesting fight inside the
> Brecht Forum in NYC as it was about to move into its new space. Some
> wanted a cafe/bar, and some thought that distracted from the
> "political" mission. At their Xmas party, they couldn't just have a
> party - they had to have an excruciating program with bad singing and
> bad readings. (Even Yoshie, who was there, had to concede the
> awfulness.) As Bob Fitch once said, socialism should be social.
> 
> Doug
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