InkriT-conference / report

>Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 11:09:25 +0200 (MEST)
>From: hkwmred@zedat.fu-berlin.de
>Subject: InkriT-conference / report
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>[Please read & circulate]
>
>A WORKSHOP OF INDEPENDENT SOCIAL CRITICISM
>
>On the fifth international InkriT-conference
>by Wolfgang Kuettler 
>(Max-Planck-Institut f. Geschichte)
>
>Remarkable international and interdisciplinary workshops in
>marxist-oriented socio-critical scholarly work have been realized in recent
>years by the Berlin Institute of Critical Theory (INKRIT). This impression
>was confirmed by the INKRIT conference 2000, the fifth since the
>institution's foundation in 1996. It was heldlast weekend (June 1-4) in
>conjunction with the Institute of Philosophy of the Freie Universitaet
>Berlin and the US-American journal "Boundary 2". These conferences are
>linked to the Historico-Critical Dictionary of Marxism (HKWM), edited by
>the InkriT-chairman Wolfgang Fritz Haug. The Dictionary, a venture designed
>to comprise a total of 15 volumes, has advanced to four volumes so far
>published.
>
>This year's conference attracted more than one hundred participants from
>all parts of Germany, from fourteen European countries, from Australia,
>Canada, the USA, Mexico and India. They represented experts of many
>disciplines, among them philosophers, computer scientists, sociologists,
>theologians. A gratifying proportion of those attending the conference and
>making contributions were of the younger generation on whose commitment the
>future of the venture depends.
>
>General subject of the conference 2000 was "Justice/Violence/Hegemony:
>Putting Marxist Concepts to the Test". In four plenary sessions and nearly
>30 workshops selected entries appertaining to volume 5 of the
>Marxism-Dictionary ("Counterpublic" to "Hegemony") were submitted for
>discussion. Problems of violence were viewed against the background of
>neoliberally oriented global capitalism and its barbarian effects. The
>debate on justice and hegemony drew attention to the predicament of the
>left in respect of the meaning of hegemony and how to achieve it under
>"postmodern" conditions. 
>
>Basic issues of historical interdependence and individual agency were
>raised in connection with the intermarxist controversy on determinism and
>overdetermination. They were also focused on in the discussion of the
>articles on laws of history, philosophy of history, society, and gender
>relations. The unbiased approach to general practical and philosophical
>discourses on issues outside the general orbit of Marxism but connected
>with it in the past and present deserves a special mention: Entries in the
>dictionary discussed comprised spirit (Geist), parish/community
>(Gemeinde/Gemeinschaft), common sense, various matters relating to the
>so-called computerised world, e.g. the entry on hacker (here the debate
>focused on germinal elements of an alternative mode of production, fostered
>by computer + internet, and tendentially transcending capitalism).
>As for the practical relevance of the discussions, it was felt that much is
>achieved, if --to take up a remark by Haug-- amidst the debris of lost
>certainties elements of knowledge are recovered and re-thought under the
>new conditions, and if background analyses can be developed for the actual
>political struggles. To make such scholarly works available was considered
>an invaluable contribution by Dr. Evelyn Wittich, head of the
>Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation. 
>
>A great deal still needs to be done to acknowledge and critically evaluate
>philosophy and social sciences in the socialist countries prior to 1989,
>often too globally and derogatorily subsumed under Marxism-Leninism. On the
>other hand, their still active representatives should show more readiness
>to cooperate. Another urgent task of the editorial committee of the
>Dictionary is to expand cooperation between scholars from the North and the
>South. Even in its problems, however, the Historico-Critical Dictionary of
>Marxism reveals the enormous usefulness of its successfully practiced unity
>of publishing, networking, and organising international conferences.
>
>A most enjoyable evening entertainment was provided to the InkriT-fellows
>by Guenther Mayer and a number of young contributors to the
>Hanns-Eisler-Edition who presented a musical and poetic collage on Eisler,
>Brecht and the 17th June 1953. 
>(From: "Neues Deutschland", June 10-11, 2000, p. 18; translated by Hanna
>Behrend)
>
>
>