Program - rosa luxemburg stiftung nyc

OFFICIAL OPENING
ROSA
LUXEMBURG
STIFTUNG
NEW YORK OFFICE
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
2-9 PM
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street, New York
A B OUT THE ROSA LUX EM BUR G F O U N D A TION
The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung is an internationally operating, progressive non-profit institution for civic education affiliated with the
German Left Party (Die Linke). Active since 1990, the foundation
has been committed to the analysis of social processes and developments worldwide. In cooperation with organizations around the
globe, it works on democratic and social participation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups, alternatives for economic and social
development, conflict prevention, and peaceful conflict resolution.
Its international activities aim to provide civic education by means
of academic analyses, public programs, and projects conducted together with partner institutions. In order to be able to mentor and
coordinate these various projects, the foundation has established 17
regional offices around the world.
The foundation’s New York Office, located at 275 Madison Avenue,
opened its doors in 2012. It serves two major tasks: to work on issues
concerning the United Nations, including collaboration with people
and political representatives from the Global South, and to work with
U.S. and Canadian progressives in universities, unions, social movements, NGOs, and think tanks. The office’s co-directors are Stefanie
Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg.
AB O UT TH E GENER AL SO C IETY
OF MECHANI CS AND TR AD ES M EN
Founded in 1785, the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of
the City of New York was established to provide cultural, educational,
and social services to the families of skilled craftsmen. In 1820, the
Society founded one of the first free schools in New York City, and
also the city’s second-oldest library. To this day, the General Society
continues to provide tuition-free technical education. The building
currently housing the General Society Library was constructed
in 1892.
SCHED ULE OF EVENTS
2:15-2:20 WELCOME
Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg, co-directors
of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation New York Office
2:20-2:30
INTRODUCTION
Wilfried Telkämper, director of the foundation’s Center
for International Dialogue and Cooperation
2:30-3:45
INTERNATIONAL PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
A discussion with foundation directors:
- Joanna Gwiazdecka (Warsaw)
- Torge Löding (Mexico City)
- Armin Osmanovic (Johannesburg)
- Klaus Sühl (Brussels)
3:45-4:15 THE ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE EU An interview with Helmut Scholz, member of the
European Parliament, and Klaus Sühl, head of the RLS
Brussels office
4:15-4:45
Coffee Break
4:45-5:30
PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE OF GERMANY’S LEFT PARTY
A conversation with Cornelia Möhring and Stefan
Liebich, members of the German Federal Parliament
5:30-6:30
KEYNOTE SPEECH: Opportunities and Challenges for
Left Politics in Germany and Europe, by Gregor Gysi
6:30-7:30
Reception
7:30-8:00
THE LETTERS OF ROSA LUXEMBURG (ACT I)
performed by Kathleen Chalfant
8:10-8:15
Intermission
Piano by Stephanie Wu
8:15-8:45
THE LETTERS OF ROSA LUXEMBURG (ACT II)
KE YN O TE SP EECH by GR EG OR G Y S I
Gregor Gysi is the chairman of the Left Party (Die Linke) in the German Federal Parliament, the Bundestag. He holds a doctoral
degree in law from the Humboldt University in Berlin and has for many years worked
as an attorney in Berlin.
Gysi played a critical role in the democratic
transition of East Germany in 1989/1990,
when he was elected chairman of the Party
of Democratic Socialism (PDS) that would later, in 2007, merge with
the Electoral Alternative (WASG) to become Die Linke. From 1990 to
2002, as well as since 2005, he has been a member of the Bundestag.
Gysi is the best-known left politician from East Germany and popular
for his witty critiques of the failures of the German government, in
particular with respect to German unification, the deindustrialization
of East Germany, the various “reforms” of welfare policies, as well as
German and European austerity policies.
SP EAKERS
Stefanie Ehmsen, PhD, Co-Director of RLS Office in New York
Before her appointment in 2012, Ms. Ehmsen was guest
professor of gender and diversity at the Beuth Hochschule in
Berlin. From 2006 to 2011, she was a member of the executive
board of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Joanna Gwiazdecka, PhD, Director of RLS Office in Warsaw
Ms. Gwiazdecka obtained a doctoral degree in philosophy from
the University of Warsaw. Last year, the Association of Jewish
Ex-Combatants and Victims of World War II awarded her the
Honorary Medal of the “Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.”
Stefan Liebich, Member of the German Federal Parliament
(Bundestag)
Mr. Liebich is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
German Bundestag. He was the Berlin chairman of the “Party
of Democratic Socialism” (one of the two parties that merged in
2007 to become “Die Linke”), as well as its state representative.
Torge Löding, Director of RLS Office in Mexico City
Mr. Löding, director of the Mexico City office since 2010, is a
professional journalist and editor.
Cornelia Möhring, Member of the German Bundestag
Ms. Möhring is deputy chairman of the parliamentary group
of Die Linke in the German Bundestag. She used to work as a
consultant for workers’ councils (Betriebsräte).
Armin Osmanovic, PhD, Director of RLS Office in Johannesburg
Mr. Osmanovic was lecturer for geography, political science
and African studies at the University of Hamburg, as well as a
research assistant for development policy for Die Linke.
Albert Scharenberg, PhD, Co-Director of RLS Office in New York
Mr. Scharenberg was lecturer for politics and North American
studies at the Free University of Berlin. From 2004 to 2011,
he worked as an editor and associate of the monthly journal
“Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik.”
Helmut Scholz, Member of the European Parliament
Mr. Scholz is a member of the European United Left/Nordic
Green Left in the European Parliament. He serves on the
parliament’s Committee on International Trade and is a member
of its delegation for relations with the United States.
Klaus Sühl, PhD, Director of RLS Office in Brussels
Prior to being head of the Brussels office, Mr. Sühl was
under-secretary of state for Die Linke in the German states of
Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
Wilfried Telkämper, Director of the Center for International
Dialogue and Cooperation (CIDC)
Prior to becoming the director of CIDC in 2010, Mr. Telkämper
worked with Capacity Building International (InWEnt). From
1987-1999, he was a member of the European Parliament for
the Green Party.
THE LETTER S OF R OSA LUX E M B U R G
July 16, 1897. Leo Jogiches (1867-1919): prominent figure in
Russian, Polish, and German labor movements; Luxemburg’s lover
from early 1890s to 1907; co-organizer of the International Group
(Spartacus Group); arrested and murdered in prison.
June 23, 1898. Robert Seidel (1850-1933): social democrat, teacher,
and journalist; moved from Saxony to Switzerland, where he was
active in Zurich politics.
October 3, 1901. Karl Kautsky (1854-1938): influential theoretician
of Second International; chief editor of journal Die Neue Zeit (18821917); once colleagues and friends, Luxemburg broke from him in
1910 over issues of reform politics.
December 17 and October 27, 1904. Henriette Roland Holst (18691952): Dutch writer and socialist; active in proletarian women’s
movement; leading advocate of revolutionary socialism during
World War I.
February 5, 1906. Karl and Luise Kautsky.
May 23, 1907. Kostya Zetkin (1885-1980): physician and son of Clara
Zetkin; Luxemburg’s lover for several years after her breakup with
Jogiches in 1907.
August 31, 1914. Paul Levi (1883-1930): Luxemburg’s lawyer and
publisher of her book The Russian Revolution; adherent of the
Spartacus Group; later expelled from the German Communist Party
and rejoined the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
October 12, 1914. Karl Moor (1852-1932): Swiss social democrat
and communist; supported Luxemburg’s antiwar views during
World War I; in 1917 helped Lenin and others travel through
Germany; sometime after 1918 became agent for the German
government.
April 15, 1917. Luise Kautsky (1864-1944): wife of Karl Kautsky and
longtime friend of Luxemburg.
January 11, 1919. Clara Zetkin (1857-1933): close friend of
Luxemburg; leader of proletarian women’s movement and
initiator of practice of holding International Women’s Day; in 1932
became chairperson by seniority of the German Reichstag for the
Communist Party.
PE RFORM ED by KATHLEEN C HA L F A N T
A founding member of the Women’s Project, Kathleen Chalfant is a board member
of The Vineyard Theatre and Broadway
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and an advisory
board member of the NY Foundation for
the Arts. Chalfant has served as Artist-inResidence at the Weill College of Medicine
of Cornell University and as a Beinecke
Fellow at the Yale School of Drama. She
was awarded an honorary Doctorate of
Humane Letters from the Cooper Union in
June 2010. In 2009, Chalfant performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film based on Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the
United States.
Chalfant has earned numerous awards for her performances. She
won Drama Desk, Obie, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards
for starring in the original Broadway production of Wit. She received
a Tony nomination for her role in the New York premiere of Tony
Kushner’s Angels in America. Chalfant’s New York stage credits also
include the New York premiere of Racing Demon, M. Butterfly, Spalding
Gray: Stories Left to Tell, Talking Heads (for which she won a second
Obie Award), Great Expectations at Theatreworks/USA, Guantanamo
at the Culture Project, and Henry V at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Her film work includes Tony Gilroy’s Duplicity, Whit Stillman’s The
Last Days of Disco and Bill Condon’s Kinsey. In addition to her Drama
Desk, Obie, and Lucile Lortel honors, Chalfant has received the Drama League and Sidney Kingsley Awards for her body of work, as well
as a 1996 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance.
Readings excerpted from “The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg,” edited by Georg
Adler, Peter Hudis, and Annelies Laschitza, Verso Books: Brooklyn, NY, 2011
(in cooperation with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung).
ABOUT R OSA LUX EM BU R G
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation bears
the name of one of the greatest women of
the 20th century. Rosa Luxemburg (18711919) was an outstanding representative
of the European socialist movement. As
a member of the Social Democratic Party
and later of the Spartacus League and the
Communist Party, she was deeply committed to changing the world on behalf of the
exploited and disadvantaged. Luxemburg
was an outspoken critic of German militarism and struggled to prevent World War I,
which then raged from 1914 to 1918. She also was a passionate critic
of capitalism, drawing strength for radical action from her critique.
Luxemburg welcomed the Russian Revolution with hope, but as a
revolutionary democrat she remained critical and alert: with great
prescience, she attacked the Bolsheviks’ dictatorial policies from very
early on.
Rosa Luxemburg belonged to multiple disadvantaged, often-persecuted minorities her entire life: she was Jewish—and could not escape
anti-Semitism even though she had no interest in religion; she was
Polish—and as a Pole she was subjected to both German and Russian
rule. But at the same time, her indomitable will led her to determine
the course of her own life, contrary to the narrow conventions of her
time.
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is indebted to this brave democratic
socialist.
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