Israel : Next Weekend in Tel-Aviv/ Eighth Annual Marx Conference

The Eighth Annual Marx Conference, devoted to "Marxism in Israel and Palestine," will take place in Tel-Aviv next Saturday, November 22, under the auspices of the Hagada Hasmalit (Left Bank) Alternative Cultural Center. Summaries of the lectures given during the conference will be published on the Hebrew website of Hagada Hasmalit.
The conference will be held in the auditorium of Hagada Hasmalit, 70 Ahad Ha'am Street, Tel-Aviv. Among the participants in the various panels to be convened:  'Issam Makhoul (Former MK, director of the Emil Touma Institute), MK Dr. Dov Khenin (Hadash), Tamar Gozansky (Former MK and activist), Prof. Dani Filc (Department of Political Science, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Uri Weltmann (Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel), Prof. Avishai Ehrlich (Tel-Aviv College), Architect Nati Marom, Joshua Simon (curator, lecturer, and filmmaker) and Dr. Efraim Davidi (Tel-Aviv University).
Not every day does such a sizable forum of academicians and activists meet to engage in debate, to develop a dialog, and to cooperate in furthering their common goal of maintaining and advancing the intellectual and political status of Marxism in Israel. Among the subjects to be discussed by the panel participants will be: the ongoing crisis of capitalism; the danger of fascism in Israel; and Marxism the occupation of the Palestinian territories. In addition, lectures will be given on Marxism and the city, Marxism in Palestine; Marxism and the LGTB movement Marxism in Israel; Arab workers and the Israeli capitalism; and Politics, the environmental crisis, and Marxism.
While the planned agenda is admittedly ambitious for the framework of a single-day, there is a sense that the annual Marx conference has become a valuable asset for the work of the left in Israel. The organizers have received several requests for the analysis of a number of additional subjects, and hope to involve other academicians in future Marx Conferences. The Conference is being organized by activists from academia and the Left Bank College. The Hagada Hasmalit (Left Bank) is an alternative cultural space which has been active in Tel Aviv for more than a decade and is supported the Communist Party of Israel and Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality). The Left Bank also maintains the leading alternative Hebrew-language site of the militant left in Israel.