> On Jun 13, 2011, at 3:15 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>> On Jun 13, 2011, at 3:35 AM, Joel Schalit wrote:
>>
>>> David McNally was on my thesis committee at York. I can't say enough things about him, or his work. He's great.
>>
>> I don't know him as well as that, but I've always liked and admired him. That whole York gang is pretty terrific.
>
> Yeah, the graduate faculty in Political Science, and those affiliated with the Social and Political Thought program, have always been outstanding.
I've only watched about half but already find it helpful and stimulating - especially his thinking and examples around the changing nature of the working class and what that means for organising, especially in light of the requirement for theorizing from a futural perspective (my understanding of which I owe largely to Carrol). I think I'm too far removed to comment usefully on the US context, but that seems to me like a very helpful way of thinking about the political challenge posed to theorizing by the changes of the past few decades and current conditions. Is anyone aware of good material on-line oriented toward that sort of project? Or have I misunderstood?
A meta-level question about the list: Several of the most frequent posters clearly have a long history, and I have no wish to interfere with whatever that means in terms of the purpose and function of the list for them, but is this sort of project - collectively and concretely trying to advance both theory and practice, constructively and in a spirit of solidarity - not the sort of thing a list like this can / should be used for? The list feels like such a minefield sometimes, and I fear even that question will be taken more provocatively than I intend it to be. So, at the risk of seeming overly cautious, I extend apologies in advance for any offense.
"There’s a piece you know that explains this innate spitefulness of people coming from the militant left: 'If you like big ideas, then try talking about kindness and fraternity at a leftist meeting. They specialize in all forms of carefully calculated animosity, in greeting anybody, present or absent, friend or foe, and anything they say, with aggressiveness and put downs. They don’t want to understand people, but to check them over....' Weird ambition, bit like a cop, to be someone’s guilty conscience." – Gilles Deleuze, Letter to a Harsh Critic (Negotiations: 4)