Political Disobedience vs. Revolution: An Exchange and Debate on the Significance and Implications of the Occupy Movement between Bernard Harcourt and Raymond Lotta

Friday, December 2, 2011, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Sullivan Galleries Conference Room, Sullivan Galleries, 33 S. State Street, 7th floor

Bernard Harcourt, writing in the Opinionator blog of the New York Times, described the Occupy Movement as marking a "political paradigm shift": a new form of "political disobedience" involving a "leaderless" organization refusing to embrace "old ideologies"—whether of free markets or communism. In the editorial, Harcourt specifically engaged Raymond Lotta, an advocate of Bob Avakian's new synthesis of communism, who had recently spoken at Occupy Wall Street. Lotta responded: the question is not whether there will be ideology or leadership—these are in play one way or another—but what kind of ideology and what kind of leadership are needed to overcome oppression and exploitation.

NOW THE DEBATE CONTINUES: COME, ASK QUESTIONS, AND PARTICIPATE IN THIS DEBATE AND EXCHANGE ON THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT. The recent police attacks on the Occupy Movement underscore the importance of these questions.

Bernard Harcourt is Chairman of the Political Science department and professor of law at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The Illusion of Free Markets. Raymond Lotta is a political economist and contributor to Revolution newspaper. He is an advocate of Bob Avakian's new synthesis of communism.

NOTE TO READERS: The previously announced dialogue at Harvard University between Raymond Lotta and Tim McCarthy has been postponed until early Feburary.

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