A symposium to coincide with the publication of Michael Hardt’s The Subversive Seventies
Presented by: the Centre for Social Change and Justice, University of East London; the Raphael Samuel History Centre; The Centre for Cultural Studies Research, University of East London
December 9th 2023
Room MAL B34, Birkbeck main building (entrance on Torrington Square), London, WC1E 7JL
Free, open to all, no need to book.
This event will not be streamed, although audio recordings will be podcast as part of the Culture, Power and Politics podcast feed.
The event will not be catered, but refreshments can easily be purchased locally during breaks.
Hosted by Jeremy Gilbert (UEL) and the Raphael Samuel History Centre. For any queries please contact Katy Pettit at RSHC k.pettit@bbk.ac.uk
Michael Hardt is a leading radical philosopher, best known for his scholarship on Deleuze and his long history of collaboration with Antonio Negri, including their best-selling 2000 volume, Empire. His new book The Subversive Seventies examines the 1970s from an international perspective, considering the many revolutionary movements that erupted during what was arguably the last decade of sustained resistance to global capitalism: from feminist and queer movements to struggles against colonialism and autocratic militarism. This event will consider this subject from a largely UK based perspective, addressing topics from Women’s Liberation to Punk, with guest speakers from two of the European countries within which these struggles were most bitterly fought out: Portugal and Italy.
NB: Michael will give the annual lecture of the Barry Amiel and Norman Melbourne trust, the previous evening, and tickets for that can be booked here. It won’t be assumed that anyone attending the symposium on December 9th has heard the lecture on December 8th, but we imagine some people will wish to attend both events.
Schedule
December 9th 2023
9:00-9:15 Arrival
9:15-9:30 Introduction
9:30–10:40 Subversion and Sexuality in the 1970s
Michael Hardt (Duke) on the Subversive Seventies
Lucy Robinson (Sussex) on Gay Liberation
10:40-11:00 Break
11:00–12:10 Feminism and Women’s Liberation in the 1970s
Lynne Segal (Birkbeck) on Women’s Liberation
Hilary Wainwright (Red Pepper) on Socialist Feminism
12:10–13:10 Lunch Break
13:10-14:20 International perspectives
Pedro Ramos Pinto (Cambridge) on the Portuguese revolution and its implications
Sandro Mezzadra (Bologna) on the Italian experience
14:20-14:40 Break
14:40–16:10 Race, Class and Resistance in the 1970s
Sundari Anitha (Lincoln) & Ruth Pearson (Leeds) on the Grunwick dispute and its wider implications
John Narayan (KCL) on Black Power and anti-racist activism in the UK
16:10-16:30 Break
16:30-17:40 Music, Counterculture and Radical Consciousness in the 1970s
Matthew Worley (Reading) on Punk
Jeremy Gilbert (UEL) on the connections between cultural and political radicalism in the 1970s
17:40 -18:10 The Radical Seventies and Us – final discussion