"We Make Our Own History" Dublin launch event

national | worker & community struggles and protests | event notice Wednesday November 11, 2015 10:05 by Laurence Cox - MA Community Education, Equality and Social Activism

Discussing the state of Irish movements

How are social movements doing in Ireland? What kind of real change might be on the cards, here and in Europe or further afield? What are the key issues that we should be thinking about if we want to see it happen? The Dublin launch for "We Make Our Own History" will take the form of a discussion with Irish activists about these and related issues.

We Make Our Own History: Marxism and Social Movements in the Twilight of Neoliberalism by Laurence Cox and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (Pluto Press)
Dublin launch and discussion

Connolly Books, 43 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Wednesday 9 December, 6 pm

Chair
John Bissett (community worker and activist)

Speakers
Fergal Finnegan (MA Community Education, Equality and Social Activism)
Andrew Flood (Workers Solidarity Movement)
Margaret Gillan (Community Media Network)

About the book

Cox and Nilsen set themselves the audacious goal of reclaiming activist knowledge through filling a void in studies of social movements. They have succeeded: We Make Our Own History is recommended reading for activists serious about bringing into being a better world. – Pete Dolack, Counterpunch

At once handbook and provocation, We Make Our Own History will reach a broad spectrum of readers in many parts of the world, benefiting analysis, strategy, and action. – Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California

A stunning read, one that every activist – and anyone concerned with the world around us – should read. – Jai Sen, Critical Action: Centre in Movement, New Delhi

Readers will be vastly rewarded by this outstanding book and its understanding of the class struggles of social movements and their campaigns and projects across the past, present, and future transformations of capitalism. – Adam David Morton, Professor in Political Economy, Sydney

In We Make Our Own History the authors provide an inspiring analysis of the contradictions and struggles that have shaped our society under capitalism, with an emphasis on the social forces that have opposed one another and contributed to its concrete development. The result is an extraordinarily interesting and insightful book. – Asbjørn Wahl, International Transport Workers’ Federation

A hugely important book, a must-read for those interested in movement-relevant theorising with the goal of engaging in praxis leading towards a future beyond capitalism. – Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, Nottingham

Essential reading for labour and trade union studies students who wish to gain some sense of the historical and contemporary relevance and interrelationship of workplace inspired/based protest/action and wider protest/action/movements for social justice and of oppositional politics. – Ian Manborde, International Labour and Trade Union Studies, Ruskin College Oxford

We Make Our Own History by Laurence Cox and Alf Gunvald Nilsen makes a spirited case for the enduring relevance of Marxism to understand protest movements, however ‘new’ they may aspire to be. The strength of the writing however lies in the necessity the authors recognise for Marxism, and Marxists, to change if it is to retain its unique combination of analysis and action. – Mark Perryman, Philosophy Football