From the Editors at Public Seminar

Share this post
Can We Stop Arguing and Organize?
publicseminar.substack.com

Can We Stop Arguing and Organize?

Anarchists in San Francisco, LGBTQ+ activists in Venezuela, and more

Public Seminar
May 19
Share this post
Can We Stop Arguing and Organize?
publicseminar.substack.com
George Bellows, Cliff Dwellers (1913). Los Angeles County Museum of Art / Public Domain

May 19, 2022

In this week’s issue of Public Seminar . . .


Russia’s Spiral of Silence

  • “Why do people have such an obsession with protests? Earlier there was an illusion: if one million people protested in Moscow, something would change. If something like this were to happen in Rome or Washington, one might expect the government would listen to the protesters. However, in Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement, officials cracked down. Why would anyone expect the Putin regime to listen to protesters?” Russian sociologist Maria Matskevich talks to Anastasia Shteinert about what Russians citizens really think about the “military operation” in Ukraine and how the West gets it wrong. (May 13, 2022)

Read More


Intersectional Action

  • In an intensely polarized political climate, Venezuela’s feminist and LGBTQ+ rights movements are successfully organizing across party lines. Activists Richelle Briceño and Yendri Velásquez join Daniel Fermín in a conversation about breaking down ideological barriers in the fight against discrimination. As Briceño explains, “I have a priority: what I want is for Venezuela to make progress on human rights issues.” (May 16, 2022)

Read More

  • Jo Freeman shares a photo essay of the recent Bans Off Our Bodies protest in Washington, DC, in which 20,000 people marched in support of abortion access.(May 16, 2022)

    Read More

  • “Antisemitism and homophobia are on the rise in Lublin and are often combined with other dangerous prejudices against the stranger, in particular anti-refugee hostility.” Tomasz Kitlinski examines the tension between hospitality and hate in his hometown in eastern Poland. (May 17, 2022)

Read More


Anarchist San Francisco

  • In 1916, San Francisco shook with clashes between radical workers and forces of authority, culminating in the bombing of the 1916 Preparedness Day parade. In an interview with Evangeline Riddiford Graham, author Joseph Matthews talks about fictionalizing the struggle in his new novel, The Blast, and the failure of anarchist groups to present an enduring opposition. “They were so fractured—among themselves and between themselves and trade unions, with the Wobblies somewhere in between—that they constantly shot themselves in the foot or, maybe more appropriately, blew off bombs on their own feet.” (May 18, 2022)

    Read More

  • “They were not truly workers, the mainstream unions said; they were just women who sometimes took on work.” Read an excerpt from The Blast, courtesy of Joseph Matthews and PM Press. (May 18, 2022)

    Read More


Enjoying our newsletter? Pass it on!

Share From the Editors at Public Seminar


The Museum on Fire

  • Historian Samuel J. Redman chats to Claire Potter about his new book, The Museum: A History of Crisis and Resilience, and how our historic institutions evolve. “A lot of early nineteenth-century museum building was essentially about urban and national boosterism, not preservation. Americans had seen or known about older institutions in Europe or even the United States, and they wanted to duplicate them.” (May 17, 2022)

Read More

Share this post
Can We Stop Arguing and Organize?
publicseminar.substack.com
Comments

Create your profile

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.

TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2022 Public Seminar
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing