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IS[R]A Newsletter, May 200725 Years Research Centre for East European Studies in Bremen Ceremonial speech: Prof. Dr. Bronis?aw Geremek, Member of the European Parliament 1 p.m. 5:30 p.m.
CONFERENCE The Other Europe - from the 1960s to the 1980s. Dissent in Politics and Society, Cultural Alternatives.
Friday, June 15th
Opening speech by Wolfgang Eichwede, Research Centre for East European Studies at University of Bremen Contradictions of the Systems, Dissent in the Societies
Panel 1: Political Systems: Functional Deficiencies, Reform Fragments and Patterns of Repression Chair: Dieter Senghaas, University of Bremen
Klaus von Beyme, University of Heidelberg Modernization in the 1970s and 1980s. Necessities and Constraints Peter Reddaway, George Washington University, Washington Patterns in Soviet Policies towards Dissent. 1956 - 1988 Ji?í P?ibá?, Cardiff University Political Dissent and Legality in Communist Regimes Ivo Bock, Research Centre for East European Studies at Bremen University Institutional Change of Censorship: USSR and Czechoslovakia in the 1960s to the 1980s
Panel 2: Conformity and Dissent in Socialist Societies Chair: Martin Schulze Wessel, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich
Boris Dubin, VTsIOM, Moscow Rossija kak adaptirujuscijsja socium. Massovaja udovletvorennost’, formy nedovolstva, granicy protesta.( Russia as an Adapting Society. Mass Contentment, Forms of Discontent, Limits of Protest) Malte Rolf, Humboldt-University, Berlin White Shirts on the 1st of May! Cultural Conventions and Unconventional Cultures in the Postwar Soviet Union Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, BStU, Berlin Society and Opposition in the GDR Tomáš Vilímek, Institute for Contemporary History, Prague Becoming a Dissident. Pathways into Confrontation with the Regimes in Czechoslovakia and the GDR
Saturday, June 16th
Panel 3: Pluralisation of Public Spheres Chair: Dietrich Beyrau, University of Tuebingen
Egbert Jahn, University of Mannheim The Cautious Pluralization of the Political Meaning in the Soviet Union since the 1960s Jan Pauer, Research Centre for East European Studies at Bremen University Dissent and Independent Public Spheres in GDR and Czechoslovakia Ann Komaromi, University of Toronto Samizdat Periodicals and Publics Wolfgang Kissel, University of Bremen Samizdat and the Erosion of the Soviet Canon of Literature
Panel 4: Resistance Movements and Cultural Alternatives from a Historical Perspective Chair: Wolfgang Eichwede, Research Centre for East European Studies at Bremen University
Melanie Tatur, University of Frankfurt a.M. ”Learning“ through Social Movement? - The Solidarno?? as „Symbolic Breakthrough “ - from Today’s View Barbara Falk, University of Toronto Between Past and Future: Central European Dissent in Historical Perspective Benjamin Nathans, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Historicizing Soviet Dissent: Between Embeddedness and Seclusion Georg Witte, Free University, Berlin Interference-writing. Samizdat as Poetical Medium
Concluding remarks: Wolfgang Eichwede
Call for papers TACTICS of RESISTANCE: LIMITATIONS & POSSIBILITIES
An interdisciplinary graduate conference hosted by the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario, Canada
October 12-13, 2007
The aim of this conference is to discuss various forms of resistance. Considering late capitalism's ability to accommodate sites of resistance and the ensuing incapacitation of revolutionary tactics and impulses, we are faced with the questions: Where can we find sites of resistance today? How do social, cultural and political constraints impact on the prospects of emerging forms of resistance? Must tactics always remain 'marginal,' situational and contextual?
We are looking for papers addressing alternative conceptions and frameworks of resistance, and their potential for revolutionary change. We welcome students, professors, artists and activists to re-think resistance through an interdisciplinary alliance. Accordingly, we are seeking contributions in the form of papers that question, re-articulate and address a variety of issues, including (but not limited to) citizenship, belonging, community, integration, dissent, consensus, avant-garde and political subversions. Presentations will emerge from (and beyond) the following fields: anthropology, political science, sociology, nationalism and transatlantic studies, first nations and diaspora studies, critical theory, postcolonial studies, law, philosophy, feminist and gender studies, comparative literature, architecture, film and media studies, and visual arts.
The following is a selection of perspectives this conference will attempt to bring together for fruitful dialogue:
- interdisciplinarity as an academic tactic - redefining nationhood - issues of resistance: class, citizenship and migration - dissemination of local resistance - global, local and transnational dynamics of resistance - First nations and the politics of citizenship - feminist critiques of the narratives of resistance - tactics of engagement - humour, mimicry, parody, irony as tactic - visual culture as a site of confrontation - the power of subaltern knowledge - the political unconscious - resisting/existing queer identities - artistic interventions - resisting resistance - the (im)possibility of transgression.
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words by August 6, 2007 to: confrontationsconf[at]gmail.com. Please include your academic or activist affiliation in your proposal, as well as keywords and an applicable area for your topic.
Unfortunately, the conference cannot cover travel or accommodation costs for the presenters. We strongly encourage our participants to apply for funding at their home institutions. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Yours truly, Conference organizers.
Centre for the Study of Theory & Criticism The University of Western Ontario Room 2345, Somerville House London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada http://www.uwo.ca/theory
2nd Call for Papers REVISITING PERESTROIKA - PROCESSES AND ALTERNATIVES November 29 - December 1, 2007 http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007
NEWS
The Aleksanteri CULTURAL FORA: Parallel to the academic conference, participants and guests will enjoy a new international series of cultural events - artistic, documentary, archival, literary and cinematic. See the website for the 6 fora already confirmed: http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007/cultural_fora.htm
POSTER: A new pdf poster may be found at the below link from our website. It is designed for A3 printing, although A4 is also possible. Please send your postal address to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to receive a hard-copy colour print: http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007/files/poster_alexconf.pdf
DEADLINE
It is less than two weeks to our first deadline for submissions: June 1, 2007.
Ivor A Stodolsky Researcher, Russian Culture and Theory Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki University Aleksanteri Conference Coordinator / Curator of the Aleksanteri Cultural Fora http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007 http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2007/cultural_fora.htm Institute: +358 3 191 23631
INTERNET REVIEW
From SAMIZDATA.NET
De-nazification and de-communisation http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2007/05/denazification.html
Perry de Havilland (London)
In Poland a court has ruled that the governments attempts at de-communisation are unconstitutional. The law required some 700,000 people, including school directors and board members of public companies, to submit statements declaring any contact they had had with the communist secret services. The court rejected key aspects of the law including the requirement for journalists to submit declarations. [...] "A state based on the rule of law should not fulfill a craving for revenge instead of fulfilling justice," he said. "Screening must not be used for meting out punishment." But surely justice cannot be served by allowing the communist era and above all, the role of the people who made it all possible, to vanish down the memory hole. If people did despicable things during the communist era, why should they escape punishment? I cannot imagine a German court being allowed to stop the process of de-nazification in German, so why tolerate something similar in Poland in the aftermath of communism? Forgiveness can not come before repentance and a lot of people have yet to repent. I wonder if there are any senior judges who might have an embarrassing file on their communist era activities that they would rather not see the light of day? Just wondering.
A jiggsaw puzzle of historical importance
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2007/05/a_jiggsaw_puzzl.html
Adriana Lukas (London)
I thought this is one of the cases where technology is nothing but good news... German researchers said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerized algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders. Some 16,250 sacks containing pieces of 45 million shredded documents were found and confiscated after the reunification of Germany in 1990. Reconstruction work began 12 years ago but 24 people have been able to reassemble the contents of only 323 sacks. Using algorithms developed 15 years ago to help decipher barely legible lists of Nazi concentration camp victims, each individual strip of the shredded Stasi files will be scanned on both sides. The data then will be fed into the computer for interpretation using color recognition; texture analysis; shape and pattern recognition; machine and handwriting analysis and the recognition of forged official stamps Until I read the final paragraph. Putting the machine-shredded documents together requires analysis of the script on the surface of the fragments. The institute has already had success putting together similarly destroyed documents for Germany's tax authorities. But then, it is never the technology that is at fault, but people and the uses they put it to... No matter, I am very pleased to hear that there is some work somewhere being done on the past of former communist countries. http://www.komotv.com/news/national/7423656.html
ITEMS TO BIBLIOGRAPHY
Solidarno?? 1980-81. Karnawa? z wyrokiem. Solidarity 1980-81. A Carnival under sentence
Thanks to understanding between the strikers and the authorities - in the midst of „social realism" in Poland - the nation experienced a brief experience of freedom during the period from September 1980 to December 1981. „Carnival time" is a description of the euphoria of that period, seen from the perspective of martial law. In comparison to the realities of life after 13th December 1981, that period seems like a holiday of freedom, a time to voice out loud all manner of truths. However, can one really use the word „Carnival" to describe a time when every moment of joy, every ray of hope turned out to be just an illusion...? More about KARTA publications: http://www.karta.org.pl/ksiegarnia_produkty.asp?DzialID=5
The INTERNATIONAL SAMIZDAT [RESEARCH] ASSOCIATION (IS[R]A) NEWSLETTER calls on all IS[R]A members and other researchers and specialists working on topics related to samizdat and alternative culture, dissent, opposition and protest movements in the XX century to submit items for our next issue. We welcome announcements on archival and museum acquisitions, news regarding the processing of collections, calls for papers, project updates, and announcements on new publications and exhibitions. We also invite articles on the themes above. Please email your submissions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Zaslavskaya Olga IS[R]A Newsletter Editor |