FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: May 8, 2008
Armenians and Progressive Politics
PO Box 419, New York, New York 10108
Contact: Laura Boghosian
Tel: 917-428-1918
Website:
"Armenians and Progressive Politics" Announces Program for May 30-31
May 30 plenary to discuss "The New Imperialism"
NEW YORK’British journalist and activist Tariq Ali will lead a
panel discussion on "The New Imperialism: Old Problems, New
Challenges" in New York on Friday, May 30. Joining Ali will be
David Barsamian, founder and Director of the Colorado-based
Alternative Radio, and Neil Smith, Distinguished Professor of
Anthropology and Geography at the City University of New York.
This event will serve as the opening plenary of the third annual
"Armenians and Progressive Politics" conference. The three
panelists will examine the contemporary politics of empire,
superpower rivalries, globalization, trade and monetary policies,
the exploitative nature of capitalism, and the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. In addition, the destructive effects of imperialism on
small nations will be discussed, as well as alternatives to the
current structure.
Conference Panels on May 31
Friday’s plenary will be followed by six panels on Saturday, May
31. These panels will consider topics such as changing Armenian
gender roles; the anti-Defamation League and the Armenian G
enocide; foreign assistance to Armenia; an Armenian global
progressive agenda; unrest in Armenia; and a youth panel on
political activism.
Saturday’s schedule will conclude with a plenary entitled
"Coalition-Building Among Dispossessed Groups" featuring Ali,
Barsamian, and additional panelists.
Friday’s session takes place at 7:30 pm at Mason Hall, Baruch
College Performing Arts Center, 17 Lexington Avenue (at East 23rd
Street), New York City. Admission is free.
Saturday’s panels and the 5:30 pm closing plenary will all be held
at CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), New York
City. Panels run from 10 am to 5 pm, with registration beginning at
9:30 am and a one-hour lunch break at noon. Registration costs $15,
$10 for students (lunch is not included).
Distinguished Speakers on Imperialism
Tariq Ali is the author of numerous books, including Pirates of the
Caribbean: Axis of Hope; Conversations with Edward Said; Bush in
Babylon; and Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and
Modernity. He is a contibutor to BBC Radio, the Guardian, and the
London Review of Books. He is also editor and a board member of New
Left Review.
David Barsamian is also an author, journalist, and lecturer, whose
books include Speaking of Empire and Resistance: Conversations with
Tariq Ali; Propaganda and Iran; and The Decline and Fall of Public
Broadcasting. Barsamian’s articles and interviews appear regularly
in the Progessive and Z Magazine.
Neil Smith’s book American Empire: Roosevelt’s Geographer and the
Prelude to Globalization won the 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
in biography. His most recent work is The Endgame of Globalization.
Armenians and Progressive Politics (formerly "Armenians and the
Left") is an initiative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-
Eastern USA. The conference is co-sponsored by the Armenian
National Committees of New York and New Jersey, The Nation
Institute, and CUNY’s Center for Place, Culture, and Politics.
Previous participants include Noam Chomsky and Robert Fisk.
For more information, visit the conference website at:
.