The Brecht Forum was an independent Marxist educational and cultural center in Brooklyn, New York, named after German writer

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. Throughout the years, the Forum offered a wide-ranging program of classes, public lectures and seminars, art exhibitions, performances, popular education workshops, and language classes.http://brechtforum.org/nyms . The Brecht Forum closed in 2014. Many of the teachers and activists from the Forum have continued offering classes and discussions through the Marxist Education Project, which was founded following the Forum's closure and operates out of the Brooklyn Commons in the

Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either S ...

neighborhood.

History

The Brecht Forum was founded in 1975, as the New York Marxist School by a collective of civil rights, community, labor, and student activists. It was named after Bertolt Brecht, who once argued that those who fight for Communism must be able to both fight and renounce fighting. Brecht Forum has been described as one of the governing directorate of the subculture that emerged out of New York's complex Marxist underworld. In 2004, it moved to Westbeth, 451 West St.,

New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, formerly Serge’s Gym where its program also included the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory, the Institute for Popular Education, and Neues Kabarett series. In 2012, it moved to the Commons in Brooklyn at 338 Atlantic Avenue, where its successor organization, the Marxist Education Project, now hosts many events each year. The Brecht Forum's website is being maintained as an archive at brechtforum.net. The site contains videos and audio recordings of programs over its close to 40-year history. Additional archival material is gradually being digitized and added to the site. At the Brecht Forum, people communicate, meet, and display their art.

Financial crisis discussion

On October 6, 2008, a discussion panel “An Offer We Can’t Refuse?” was held, on the

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

included Naomi Klein,

Arun Gupta Arun may refer to: People * Arun (given name), including a list of people with that name * Ila Arun, Indian actress * Priya Arun (born 1967), Indian actress * Bharat Arun (born 1962), Indian Test cricketer Places * Arun, Badakhshan, Afghanist ...

Frances Fox Piven Frances Fox Piven (born October 10, 1932) is an American professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she has taught since 1982.

William Greider William Harold Greider (August 6, 1936 – December 25, 2019) was an American journalist and author who wrote primarily about economics. Early life and education Greider was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 6, 1936, to Harold William Greider ...

, and

Doug Henwood Doug Henwood (born December 7, 1952) is an American journalist, economic analyst, author, and financial trader who writes frequently about economic affairs. Until 2013 he published a newsletter, ''Left Business Observer'', that analyzes economics ...

. In the discussion moderated by Christopher Hayes, the panel of progressive intellectuals and activists proposed radical solutions in response to the crisis.

References

External links

The Marxist Education Project website
*
Brecht Forum Archive
'
Brecht Forum Introduction video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brecht Forum Alternative education Socialist organizations in the United States Theatre in the United States Theatrical genres Arts organizations based in New York City Culture of New York City Organizations based in Brooklyn Organizations established in 1975 1975 establishments in New York City