A follow-up to the event in December at the Brecht Forum with Brandon and Marianne, to continue and expand the discussion on movements in Greece, Spain, and Portugal, and our relationship to them here in New York.

Monday January 7th 2013 – 7PM
Spectacle Theater
124 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

We’ll be showing HD versions of the following:

Madrid on the Brink
September 2012 (8 minutes, 50 seconds)
Produced By Brandon Jourdan, Marianne Maeckelbergh, and Carlos Delclos

This short film chronicles the events of September 25-29th in Madrid, Spain where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand the resignation of the government and an end to police brutality. Many of the protests ended in clashes with the police. This film tells the story of why so many people took to the streets and follows these events as they unfolded.

Greece’s Uncertain Future
November 2012 (10 minutes, 30 seconds)
Produced By Brandon Jourdan and Marianne Maeckelbergh

This mini-documentary looks at the current social crisis in Greece, the growth of alternative economies, general strikes, and the rise of the anti-fascist movement in response to violent attacks by the far-right Golden Dawn party. After six years of recession, the situation in Greece is growing increasingly dark. As the unemployment rate continues to rise and salaries continue to drop, the country has descended into an increasingly unpredictable situation.

Lisbon Calling: November 14 in Portugal
November 2012 (13 minutes, 16 seconds)
Produced By Brandon Jourdan, Luhuna Carvalho, and Marianne Maeckelbergh

On November 14th 2012, thousands of people took to the streets of Portugal as part of a European wide general strike. Until recently,Portugal was held up as an ideal example of the effectiveness of austerity policies, but today, its economy is heading in the same direction as Greece and Spain. This short documentary details the week of the November 14th strike in Lisbon and the events surrounding it.

They will be joined via Skype by Luhuna Carvalho for an update on the current situation in Lisbon, Portugal. Luhuna is a filmmaker and activist based in Lisbon, Portugal. His film and video work have shown at several festivals in Lisbon and Barcelona. He is one of the publishers of Edicoes antipaticas, a collectively-run independent project in Lisbon. He also is one of the organizers of Regueirão Dos Anjos, a social and cultural center in Lisbon.

The shorts program will be followed by a special screening of the classic documentary Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal by Robert Kramer & Philip Spinelli, 1977, 85 minutes

“Whatever one’s perspective on what took place in Portugal in mid-70s, it is one of very few times a “developed”, core European capitalist country came very close to an anti-capitalist revolution.” – Michael Lardner

As mentioned in December, Portugal, Spain, and Greece share the common experience of having fascist dictatorships into the mid-70’s. Their stories of overcoming differ drastically, which was proposed as one explanation for the differences seen in the forms of political and social organizing they’re practicing today.

The Our Lives Are Not Negotiable reading group recently looked back on Portugal’s Carnation Revolution with Loren Goldner’s text, “Class Struggle and the Modernization of Capital in Portugal”. In September 2011, the Anti-State Communist reading group organized a screening of Thomas Harlan’s Torre Bela (1975), on the same subject.

Suggested Readings:
–Letter to Afonso Monteiro – Guy Debord, May 1975: http://www.notbored.org/debord-March1975.html
–Letter to Afonso Monteiro and friends – Guy Debord, 15 November 1975: http://www.notbored.org/debord-15November1975.html
–“Class Struggle and the Modernization of Capital in Portugal” – Loren Goldner, 1976, 59 pages: http://bthp23.com/Portugal-Spain.pdf
–Portugal: The Impossible Revolution? – Phil Mailer, 1977: http://libcom.org/library/portugal-impossible-revolution-phil-mailer