Marx @ 200: UP CIDS launched ‘Marx Bicentennial’ Lecture Series to honour Karl Marx

Starting this May 2018, the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS), through its Program on Alternative Development (AltDev), invites the public to the ‘Marx Bicentennial Project,’ a year-long lecture series that will commemorate the enduring global influence, impact, and relevance of the works of the well-known German philosopher Karl Marx.
This year marks the 200th birth anniversary of Marx who was born on May 5, 1818, or exactly 200 years ago. This UP CIDS commemorative event will feature at least 40 lectures from academics, social movement activists and civil society about Marx and his theory and practice. Marx as an economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist, and a poet, particularly has a huge influence on Philippine politics, culture, economy, literature, and society.
To kick off the UP CIDS year-long lecture series, economist Emmanuel de Dios provided a professorial lecture on “What the New Institutional Economics Owes to Marx”, on May 4, 2018, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM at the UP School of Economics.
On May 5, the actual birthdate of Marx, UP CIDS held an afternoon lecture-forum and cultural performances at the CIDS Meeting Hall in Diliman, Quezon City with keynote lectures by UP professors Roland Simbulan and Herbert Docena.


The lecture series aimed to: interrogate the diverse intellectual, political, and historical legacies of Marx and Marxism; revisit Marxist theory and practice in light of changing social, political, and economic contexts, such as technological development, the rise of social media, and the erosion of democracy across countries; assess the complex relationship of Marxism with other intellectual currents and disciplines, from gender, science, and biopolitics to literature, historiography, and political practice; determine how and to what extent Marxist theory and practice can inform, impede, and enrich questions of political and economic praxis.
The fora in the year-long lecture series will cover the following themes: Economy: Mode of Production; Marx’s Writings; Critical Theory; Art, Popular Culture and Social Media; Marx and the Working Class; State and Nation; Marxist influence on revolutionary movements; Marx and Gender; Civil, Social and Political Human Rights.
This bicentennial tribute is being coordinated by Eduardo Climaco Tadem, the convenor of UP CIDS Program AltDev, and a retired professor of Asian Studies at the UP Asian Center.
For inquiries, please email [email protected] or call the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies at 981-8500 loc. 4266-68. To receive updates regarding the schedules, topics, speakers, etc., please sign up on our mailing list: https://marxat200ph.wordpress.com.