10/26: Psychology and Economy, a seminar (NYC)

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The Brecht Forum

451 West Street

New York, New York 10014

info@...

http://www.brechtforum.org

Psychology and Economy

a seminar with Harriet Fraad and Wolff

Sunday, October 26, 2008 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

at the Brecht Forum

451 West Street*

New York City

* travel directions below

Psychology and Economy will focus on how the continued economic

deterioration (credit crisis, rising food and energy prices, falling home

prices, looming recession, fiscal crises of states and cities, etc.) is

interacting with the psychological stresses and strains of US life today

(isolation, loneliness, anxiety, depression, violence, child neglect,

etc.). One goal of our discussion will be to explore whether a potentially

explosive convergence of economic and psychological crises is now under

way. A second goal will be to explore the likely evolution of these twin

crises. A third goal will be to analyze the possibilities and strategies

of left political mobilization around these twin assaults on the US

quality of life.

Dr. Harriet Fraad is a practicing psychotherapist-hypnotherapist in

Manhattan.

Wolff is a Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts,

Amherst.

They are co-authors (with S. Resnick) of the book Bringing It All Back

Home: Power, Gender, and Class in the Modern Household.

Tuition--sliding scale: $10/$15/$25

*****

Travel Directions

The Brecht Forum is at 451 West Street (West Side Highway) in Manhattan,

between Bank and Bethune Streets, 1-1/2 blocks north of West 11 Street.

IND Eighth Avenue A, C, or E train to 14 Street or BMT Canarsie L train to

8 Avenue (take a few minutes to look at " Life Underground " , Tom Otterness'

series of whimsical bronze sculptures scattered throughout both sections

of the station); walk down 8 Avenue to Bank Street, turn right, walk west

to West Street, turn right.

IRT Seventh Avenue 1, 2, or 3 train to 14 Street; get off at south end of

station, walk west on 12 Street to 8 Avenue, left to Bank Street, turn

right, walk west to West Street, turn right.

New Jersey PATH train to Street; walk north on Greenwich

Street to Bank Street, left to West Street, turn right.

#8 bus to West Street; walk up West Street to 451.

#11, #14A or #20 bus to Abingdon Square; walk west on Bank Street to West

Street, turn right.

#14D bus to 8 Avenue and 14 Street, walk down 8 Avenue to Bank Street,

turn right, walk west to West Street, turn right.

===

The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB)

toplab@...

http://www.toplab.org

" My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the

battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. "

-- W. Bush, May 1, 2003

" ...I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult, and

that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult--and we are

prevailing. "

-- W. Bush, June 28, 2005

" Our cause in Iraq is noble and necessary....America is engaged in a new

struggle that will set the course for a new century. We can and we will

prevail. "

-- W. Bush, January 10, 2007

" Prevailing in Iraq is not going to be easy. "

-- W. Bush, March 19, 2007

+U.S. military fatalities through May 1, 2003: 140

+U.S. military fatalities through June 28, 2005: 1743

+U.S. military fatalities through January 10, 2007: 3017

+U.S. military fatalities through March 19, 2007: 3217

+U.S. military fatalities as of October 20, 2008: 4185 (this figure

exceeds the number of people killed in all of the incidents that occurred

on September 11, 2001)

+Iraqi deaths due to the US invasion, as of September 2004 (estimated by

The Lancet): 100,000+

+Iraqi deaths due to the US invasion, as of July 2006 (estimated by The

Lancet): 654,965

+Iraqi deaths due to the US invasion, as of October 20, 2008 (estimated

by Just Foreign Policy): 1,273,378*

*These figures are based on the number of deaths estimated in The Lancet

(the British medical journal) study through July 2006, and then updated

based " on how quickly deaths are mounting in Iraq " . To do that, Just

Foreign Policy multiplies The Lancet figure as of July 2006 by the ratio

of current deaths reported by Iraq Body Count (IBC), divided by IBC deaths

as of July 1, 2006. The IBC numbers, considerably lower than those cited

by The Lancet, Opinion Research Business (a British polling firm which

estimated 1.2 million Iraqi deaths as of September 2007), and even the

Iraq Ministry of Health, are based on the number of fatalities cited in

various news reports and have been criticized, with much justification,

for not giving an accurate assessment of the real Iraqi death count. The

much more rigorous and statistically-reliable study, conducted by teams

from s Hopkins University, Columbia University and Al-Mustansiriya

University, and published in The Lancet in September 2004, put the figure

at around 100,000 civilians dead. However, that data had been based on

" conservative assumptions " , according to research team leader Les ,

and the actual count at that time was credibly assumed to be significantly

higher. For example, The Lancet study's data greatly underestimated

fatalities in Fallujah due to the surveying problems encountered there at

that time. The second Lancet study, released on October 10, 2006,

indicated that 654,965 " excess " deaths of Iraqis have occurred since the

outbreak of the aggression and genocide committed by the United States

against the people of Iraq. The current figures provided by Just Foreign

Policy seem to be logically consistent with the increasing rates of death

from 2003 to 2004, and 2004 to 2006.

Sources: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

http://icasualties.org/oif/

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

http://www.zmag.org/lancet.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/Iraq_war.html

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6271

http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20041025/008279.html

http://www.thelancet.com/webfiles/images/journal/lancet/s0140673606694919.pdf