What we’re about
This is a group for anyone, regardless of their beliefs, who is interested in politics, economics, Marxist or Marxist-influenced philosophy, feminist theory, societal change, social and economic history and the history of ideas. You don't have to be a partisan for any particular philosophy to participate, but you do have to be willing to engage with the material critically and participate in discussions with an open mind. We meet for an assigned text or set of texts at least once a month, and have frequent informal coffee meetups as well.
We will sample ideas widely, reading some core Marxist thinkers as well as numerous others from diverse backgrounds and strands of critical thought. Our goal is to expand the thinking of every participant and stimulate vigorous, if structured and respectful, debate on serious topics.
Upcoming events (1)
See all- LMRG WORLD @ WAR 2025: The Gulf War Did Not Take Place [1991] , CHAPTER 3London Action Resource Centre, London
TEXT FOR THIS MEETUP: The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, Chapter 3
LINK: https://archive.org/details/the-gulf-war-did-not-take-place-jean-baudrillard/mode/2up
Hi all and welcome back for final instalment of our Baudrillard reading group! This time we're wrapping up with chapter 3.
As usual, we'll meet upstairs at London Action Resource Centre in Whitechapel for the main event of the evening, which should last about 2 hours. Afterwards we'll head to the Good Samaritan pub up the road to keep the convo going on a more informal level.
For context on the text and the LMRG reading series of which it will be the first of many, here's the background we provided in the description for our last meetup:
We're starting off with Jean Baudrillard's series of essays, collected in 1991 with the provocative title The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Rather than deny the literal reality of the Gulf War, Baudrillard challenged his readers to consider the non-reality of "The Gulf War" as it was then (and is now) known to mass-media consumer audiences in Europe and the Anglophone countries, i.e. as a spectacular, perfect war, over within weeks, in which all the death and destruction was suffered on one side while the other simply kicked back in their air-conditioned control rooms and cockpits, pressing buttons and unleashing hell with impunity. The text addresses questions of technology, media, and spectacle as they relate to modern conflicts; the Gulf War prefigured not only the subsequent US invasion of Iraq but also the entire contemporary model of how high-tech wars, in the minds of military planners and PR/psychological operations specialists, are supposed to go. Even today, decades on, as conventional conflicts rage across the globe, we can see how mass media and social media continue to mediate our relationship with conflict, especially as non-combatants but even (increasingly) as participants. FPV drones for example have not only revolutionised battlefield tactics but, perhaps as importantly, the way recruitment and propaganda materials are filmed.
Happy reading comrades and see you soon!
![LMRG WORLD @ WAR 2025: The Gulf War Did Not Take Place [1991] , CHAPTER 3 cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/e/2/e/event_527556398.webp "LMRG WORLD @ WAR 2025: The Gulf War Did Not Take Place [1991] , CHAPTER 3")
