Global Balkans: Revolutions in the Balkans and Eastern Europe

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The New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic
Anti-Capitalist Education) presents:

"Global Balkans: Revolutions in the Balkans and
Eastern Europe"

A talk by Andrej Grubacic
Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m.

The Balkans, we can say with some pride, are back in
style. Once again, we can partake of uninformed
inanities about Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia and other
"permanent focal points of crisis," areas in which, on
the edges of Europe, "insanity giggles" in the "black
hole of our own Middle East," where peoples
"imprisoned by history" still await their
"de-balkanization."

Such discourse goes back many decades and can be
traced to a cultural-imperialist fixation with
"Balkanism," particularly as developed in the work of
George Kennan. One of the founders of American Slavic
Studies and a leading architect of Cold War era
foreign policy, Kennan located the roots of the
region’s troubles in a “distant tribal past” and
warned that it may be necessary to occupy, militarily,
these "agitated peoples" until such time as they "calm
down” and “grasp their problems in the right way."

While ideological perceptions remain little changed,
new modalities of domination have emerged. The
so-called "revolutions" in the Balkans and Eastern
Europe, from Serbia to Georgia and the Ukraine,
disclose a new pattern of American intervention.
De-balkanization now takes the form of “humanitarian
intervention,” promotion of "democracy" and the
building of a "friendly civil society."

Understanding and confronting the contemporary process
of de-balkanization and the systematic effort to
curtail genuine democracy in the region presents a
burning challenge for the new global social movements.
 
Andrej Grubacic, a historian and social critic, works
with the Planetary Alternatives Network, Z
Communications and Peoples Global Action. Grubacic has
been active in the post-Yugoslav movement, a coalition
of anti-authoritarian collectives called DSM! and is
currently the European convener of the Peoples Global
Action Network. As a result of his political activism,
Grubacic was forced to leave the University of
Belgrade and move to SUNY Binghamton.

Suggested Donation: $7 - $10

New SPACE classes and talks meet at the Clemente Soto
Vélez Cultural & Educational Center: 107 Suffolk
Street, NYC (between Rivington Street and Delancey
Street).  F train to the Delancey Street station or J,
M, or Z to the Essex Street station.

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Spring 2006 Talks at the New SPACE

THE IRAQI FREEDOM CONGRESS AND IRAQ’S CIVIL RESISTANCE
A talk by Houzan Mahmoud
(Cosponsored by the National Organization for the
Iraqi Freedom Struggles)
Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQ’S FREEDOM STRUGGLES

A Film Screening & Discussion with Bill Weinberg
(Cosponsored the National Organization for the Iraqi
Freedom Struggles)
Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m

THE WHOLESALE CRIMINALIZATION OF IMMIGRANT
COMMUNITIES:
MASS DETENTIONS, TORTURE AND EXILE
A talk by Jeannette Gabriel
Thursday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND MODERN-DAY SLAVERY IN NEW YORK
CITY
A talk by Crystal DeBoise
Thursday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m.

Suggested donation for talks: $7 - $10.

Please see the New SPACE website for additional talks
and Spring course offerings.

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The New SPACE
(The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist
Education)
http://new-space.mahost.org
new-space-PGoXL7RWzLCWVfeAwA7xHQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: 1 (800) 377-6183
Mail: P.O. Box 19, Planetarium Station
New York, NY 10024-0019


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