Resistance and Revolution: Machete at Occupy Philadelphia

Saturday, 15 October, 2011 at 6pm

Philadelphia City Hall

As part of what we hope will be a new series on Public Pedagogy in suppport of the Occupy Together Movement, the Machete Group proposes a collective symposium on “Resistance and Revolution.” Convinced that in the era of corporate media and the academy as big businness it is absolutely necessary to cultivate alternative forms of public pedagogy, the Machete Group would like to orchestrate a series of public conversations around the theme, “Confrontations.” In these events, two or three authors or points of view are confronted (from the Latin, “face together”) on the very issue ofconfrontation. The events dramatize the need for us to all “face together” the necessary confrontations with our failing economic and political systems. For the first symposium, we will explore the relationship between Henry David Thoreau's call for resistance to government in the 19th century and Cornelius Castoriadis” endeavor to redefine the very nature of revolution in the 20th century. These two reference points will allow us to generate a collective discussion based on brief presentations–by Avi Alpert and Gabriel Rockhill–of the basic stakes of these two texts.

Although it is not a requirement for participation, the texts of reference are available for download below. A limited number of hardcopies will also be made available at the Occupy Philly Library tent by Wednesday night.

Download Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance to Civil Government” (136 KB)

Download Paul Cardan, a.k.a. Cornelius Castoriadis, “Redefining Revolution” (1.9 MB)