2008 panels
Panels
Panels by Subject:
africa: race & racism : asia: culture: ecology and environment:
education: electoral politics : europe : women, gender & sexuality: healthcare: labor: latin america: marxism & theory: media :
middle east: movement building : political economy: religion & spirituality:
united states: urban issues: 1968: migration
PLENARIES
Opening Plenary
Friday, 6:30pm
CRACKS IN THE EDIFICE
Naomi Klein - Writer and filmmaker
Mahmood Mamdani - Columbia University
Tariq Ali - Journalist and author
Adam Hochschild - Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
Moderator: Heather Rogers - Journalist and filmmaker
Closing Plenary
Sunday, 5:30pm
RESISTANCE IS FERTILE: CHANGING THE WORLD FROM THE GROUND UP
Grace Lee Boggs - James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, Detroit
Maude Barlow - Chairman, The Council Of Canadians
Patricia McFadden - Southern African Feminist Review (SAFERE), Zimbabwe
Amy Goodman - Democracy Now!
Moderator: Eddie Yuen - San Francisco Art Institute
POPULAR STRUGGLES FOR DEMOCRACY IN KENYA: LESSONS FROM THE 2007 ELECTIONS
Mukoma wa Ngugi - University of Wisconsin, "African Leadership in Crisis"
Caroline Elkins - Harvard University, "Historical Legacies and Kenya's Contemporary Crises"
Micere Githae Mugo - Syracuse University, "What went wrong? A class analysis of the pitfalls of the democratic project in Kenya"
Tavia Nyong'o - New York University, "Perverse Neoliberalism"
Moderator: Horace G. Campbell, Syracuse University, "Kenyan political struggles and political transformation in Africa"
THE AFRICAN CRISIS: POLITICS, PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A ROUNDTABLE
Contributing authors to the November 2007 special issue of Socialism and Democracy will exchange ideas about the current prospects for popular progressive and revolutionary movements in Africa.
Nigel C. Gibson - Emerson College
Paget Henry - Brown University
Biodun Jeyifo - Harvard University
Judith Van Allen - Cornell University
Moderator: Victor Wallis - Socialism and Democracy
(Socialism and Democracy)
SOUTHERN AFRICA: POPULIST LEADERS AND THE LEFT
Patricia McFadden - Southern African Feminist Review (SAFERE), Zimbabwe
Patrick Bond - Center for Civil Society, South Africa
Dennis Brutus - Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Moderator: Thomas Ponniah - Harvard University
SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: AFRICAíS INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLES AROUND THE CONTINENT
How does the traditional press and new media forms, including blogs, websites, and text messaging, contribute to democracy movements on the continent and among the diaspora?
Sowore Omoyele - Journalist, Sahara Reporter
Kassahun Checole - Africa World Press and Red Sea Press
Míampela Mpela - UN Department of Public Information
Moderator: Milton Allimadi - Black Star News
(Global Information Network)
POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN DARFUR
This panel will focus on the debate around how to understand the political violence in Darfur since the start of the February 2003 rebellion.
Mahmood Mamdani - Columbia University
Stephen Eric Bronner - Rutgers University
Moderator: Lawrence Davidson - Middle Eastern History, West Chester University, Pennsylvania
REIMAGINING 1968: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT AND ITS LEGACIES
This panel critically analyzes the way in which Black Power radicalism impacted the local, national and international events of 1968.
Donna Murch - Rutgers University
Herb Boyd - Journalist, New York, Amsterdam News
Moderator: Peniel Joseph - Brandeis University
HARLEM IS SEIZED!
How do land issues manifest within black communities, what are their commonalities to other liberation struggles, what is the relationship between the struggle for specific local reforms such as tenants rights and the liberation of the ìimagined community", in what ways is Harlem a new manifestation of the diaspora of folks of African descent.
Nellie Hester Bailey - Harlem Tenants Council
Kamau Franklin - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Haja Worley - Community Gardens
RenÈ Francisco Poitevin - New York University
Moderator: Cleo Silvers - For A Better Bronx
RADICALIZING RIGHTS: BRINGING HUMAN RIGHTS HOME
In recent years, important sectors of the feminist movement and the left have adopted a strategy of using the language of international human rights to mobilize people for economic and social justice within the US; in what ways is this approach useful in winning reforms and building a movement and what are its possible limitations in terms of a radical strategy?
Cathy Albisa - National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, "Bring Human Rights Home"
Loretta Ross - SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, "Reproductive Justice"
Sangeeta Budhiraja - Queers for Economic Justice,"Immigration and Human Rights"
Moderator: Meredith Tax - Women's World Organization for Rights, Literature & Development, Womenís WORLD, "Some Strategic Questions about Human Rights"
RACE & ETHNICITY IN AMERICA: A LEFT PERSPECTIVE
An author/critic discussion of Stephen Steinberg's provocative new book, Race Relations: A Critique, which argues that social science has been complicit in advancing "an epistemology of ignorance" that glosses over racial oppression and denies the reality of a "dual melting pot" ó one for peoples of African descent, the other for everybody else, including Asians and light-skinned Latinos.
Jerry Watts - English and Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY
Stephen Steinberg - Urban Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY
Philip Green - Government, Smith College, and Political Science, New School for Social Research
Moderator: Alyson M. Cole - Political Science, Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
WHY HAVE THE WOMENíS AND BLACK MOVEMENTS STALLED? WHAT CAN BE DONE TO RESTART THEM?
Johanna Brenner - Sociology, Portland State University, ìWomen and the Politics of Classî
Bill Fletcher, Jr. - Center for Labor Renewal, Black Commentator
Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Kazembe Balagun - Brecht Forum
SPORTS AND THE CULTURE WARS
In a world where coverage of sports is increasingly pervasive, this panel examines the way that popular journalism address issues of race, gender and culture.
Dave Zirin - The Edge of Sports
Selena Roberts - New York Times, Sports Illustrated
David Aldridge - Philadelphia Inquirer, TNT
Moderator: Jack McCallum - Sports Illustrated
NON-DEGREED THEORIZINGS ARE POSSIBLE, NON-TRADITIONAL REVOLUTIONS ARE NECESSARY: MUSIC IS THE WEAPON
Lyrical Resistance/Action Planning: Fighting the criminalization of black youth. An interactive dialogue of artists and activists on the criminalization of black youth and how art intersects with scholarship to fight these racist ideologies, the potentials available in revolutionary music to mobilize communities and students to resist the criminalization and mass incarceration of black people.
Viviane Saleh-Hanna - University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Spiritchild - Poet and performer, Mental Notes
Stephanie Rooker - Party for the People
Not4prophet - Musician
Moderator: Ashanti Alston - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
THE THOUSAND-YARD STARE: PUBLIC HEALTH ON A CORRUPT TRAJECTORY
We propose that AIDS prevention and treatment have failed in the US as a consequence of the harms to thinking systems that resulted from the US ìoriginal sinî of counting African Americans as ì3/5ís of a man.î
Mehret Mandefro - Founding Director of TruthAIDS
Rodrick Wallace - Research Scientist, New York State Psychiatric Institute, "Concentration is NOT containment"
Robert E. Fullilove - Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, ìFinding the moral high groundî
Moderator: Lourdes Hern·ndez-Cordero - Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
RACIAL JUSTICE AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
Panelists will discuss the ways in which different communities are addressing the challenges they face fighting for decent and equitable education, how they have resisted and organized, and how their particular struggles speak to the larger political climate of the US.
Priscilla Gonzalez - Center for Immigrant Families
Donna Nevel - Center for Immigrant Families
Mona Eldahry - Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Adem Carroll - Muslim Consultative Network
Fatin Jarara - Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Moderator: Makani Themba-Nixon - Executive Director, The Praxis Project
(Center for Immigrant Families)
KEEPING DOWN THE BLACK VOTE: RACE AND THE DEMOBILIZATION OF AMERICAN VOTERS
New voters are trouble, so it is more efficient to work to suppress opposition voters, and blacks are the usual target of vote suppression, a tactic is used both by the Republican and the Democratic parties.
Lori Minnite - Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Major Owens - US Congress, retired
Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Andrew Hsiao - The New Press
BEYOND WALLS AND CAGES: LINKING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND PRISON ABOLITION MOVEMENTS
The criminalization of migration builds on the nearly three-decade long project of mass incarceration. How can we understand how walls and cages target different groups of people, yet with similar effects, and how can the prison abolition and immigrant justice movements learn from and support each other?
Andrew Burridge - Geography, University of Southern California, ìMight a theory and politics of open borders manifest themselves spatially and challenge current forms of border securitization and militarization?î
Trishala Deb - Audre Lorde Project, ìThe intersections of racism, transphobia, and homophobia for immigrant community members, particularly around issues of enforcement and incarcerationî
Micol Seigel - African American Studies, African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, ìZero Tolerance Goes South: focus on the international police consulting of former NYPD and current LAPD Police Chief William Brattonî
Seth Freed Wessler - Research associate, Applied Research Center
Fahd Ahmed - DRUM, Desis Rising Up and Moving
Moderator: Lisa Bhungalia - Geography, Syracuse University
Moderator: Jenna Loyd - Syracuse University
NEOLIBERALISM, CITIZENSHIP, AND LAND WARS IN THE "NEW INDIA"
As the Indian state attempts to bring into being a new consumer citizen, farmers, workers and cultural activists fight to retain a democratic notion of citizenship, located within specific political spaces and practices.
Leela Fernandes - Political Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick "The Political Economy of Lifestyle: Consumption, India's New Middle Class and Changing Development Regimes"
Dolly Daftary - Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, "Morphing dryland communities into 'India Shining': A critique of participatory democracy, watershed development and the postcolonial state"
Moderator: Kanishka Chowdhury - English, and Director, Program in American Culture and Difference, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, "Contesting Claims: Land Acquisition and Dispossession in Bengal"
MARXISM, FEMINISM AND CRITICAL THEORY IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA
A discussion of recent trends in Chinese philosophy and social theory, with participants from China and the US.
He Ping - Wuhan University, China, ìGender in Chinaî
Wu Xinwei - Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìGramsci in Chinaî
Li Dianlai - Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìHabermas in Chinaî
Wang Xinyan - Wuhan University, China, ìKeeping a Foothold on Concrete Reality in Chinese Marxist Philosophyî
Discussant: Peter Hudis - Oakton Community College
Moderator: Kevin B. Anderson - Purdue University
Moderator: Josh Howard - Graduate Center, CUNY
CHINA: ECONOMIC CRISIS, ENVIRONMENTAL COLLAPSE AND WORKERSí STRUGGLES IN CHINAíS MARKET STALINISM
The introduction of market reform in China has installed economic forces that are savaging Chinese society and driving the country toward ecological collapse ó trends which are exacerbated by Chinaís hybrid capitalist-communist social structure which has defeated all efforts at reform but provoked growing resistance from workers and farmers.
Richard Smith - Author, ìChinaís Capitalist Catastropheî
Stephen Philion - Sociology, St. Cloud State University, ìThe Ideology of Rights and Workersí Resistance to Privatization in Chinaî
Yan Sun - Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY, "Corruption, growth and reform, the Chinese enigma"
Moderator: Magali Sarfatti Larson - Temple University (emerita)
TARIQ ALI ON PAKISTAN
Tariq Ali - Journalist and Author
David Barsamian - Journalist, Alternative Radio
SPORTS AND THE CULTURE WARS
In a world where coverage of sports is increasingly pervasive, this panel examines the way that popular journalism address issues of race, gender and culture.
Dave Zirin - The Edge of Sports
Selena Roberts - New York Times, Sports Illustrated
David Aldridge - Philadelphia Inquirer, TNT
Moderator: Jack McCallum - Sports Illustrated
LITERATURE AND POLITICS: A SESSION IN MEMORY OF ANNETTE RUBINSTEIN
Marxist literary historians and theorists will discuss the red line of literary history and the continuing necessity for historical materialism in literary criticism and cultural critique.
Jacqueline DiSalvo - English, Baruch College and Graduate Center, CUNY, "William Blake's Revolutionary Socialism"
Alan Wald - English, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, "Humboldt's Gift: Annette Rubinstein, Charles Humboldt, and the Masses & mainstream writers in Cold War America"
Kimberly Macellaro - Rice University, "The Politics of 'Intersectional' Feminism"
Moderator: Barbara Foley - English, Rutgers University, Newark
(Science and Society)
LEFT PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOANALYSIS
Isis Leslie - ìRomantic Individualism, Existentialism, and Melancholia: The Case of Richard Wrightî
Stanley Aronowitz - Graduate Center, CUNY, ìCan We Grasp the Social World with Psychoanalysis?î
David N. Smith - ìResistance of the Wrong Kind: Probing the Psychological Roots of Resistance to Psychology"
Richard Lichtman - Critical Theory in Psychology, Sacramento, California, ìPsychology and Torture: Their Long Dark Historyî
Moderator: Harriet Fraad - Psychologist
CLOSED DOORS: HOUSEHOLD EXPLOITATION AND THE STRUGGLE FOR A NEW SOCIETY
The hidden class struggles that occur within contemporary households and their implications for understanding social change and politics today.
Harriet Fraad - Psychotherapist, New York, ìThe Class Analysis of Caring Laborî
Rick Wolff - Economics, University of Massachussetts, Amherst, "Households and Families, Class Analysis, and Revolutionary Strategy Today"
Moderator: Graham Cassano - Sociology, Oakland University, Michigan
POLITICAL SATIRE: SPEAKING SPOOF TO POWER
If youíre tired of Leftists over-analyzing everything, and just want a good, pain-filled laugh, see comics, writers and filmmakers present their ingeniously outraged work, inspired by what the US government is doing to us and to the world.
Billionaires for Bush
Alrick Brown - Filmmaker
Andy Bichlbaum - The Yes Men
Andrew Boyd - Author and humorist
Elissa Jiji - Billionaires for Bush
Moderator: Marco Ceglie - Billionaires for Bush
Moderator: Susie Day - Columnist
TRANSFORMATIVE THINKING, INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE, AND THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM
What role can indigenous or "precapitalist" forms of knowledge and spirituality play in this transformation, and what are the politics of mobilizing them, and does the recent (re)turn to consciousness mark a significant break from the distinction between idealism and materialism?
Jack Z. Bratich - Rutgers University
Tiokasin Ghosthorse - "First Voices Indigenous Radio," WBAI Radio
Daniel Pinchbeck - Author
Moderator: James Trimarco - Writer
THE LEFT ANALYZES EVERYDAY LIFE
Lauren Langman - Loyola University, Chicago, ìConsumption and the Colonization of Daily lifeî
Richard Lichtman - Critical Theory in Psychology, Sacramento, California, ì'Cry' Morality in American Lifeî
Chyng Sun - New York University, ìWhy Is Pornography a Left Issue?î
Moderator: Harriet Fraad - Psychologist, ìLaborers in the Field of Emotion: What is Emotional Labor and Why Is It Unpaidî
NON-DEGREED THEORIZINGS ARE POSSIBLE, NON-TRADITIONAL REVOLUTIONS ARE NECESSARY: MUSIC IS THE WEAPON
Lyrical Resistance/Action Planning: Fighting the criminalization of black youth. An interactive dialogue of artists and activists on the criminalization of black youth and how art intersects with scholarship to fight these racist ideologies, the potentials available in revolutionary music to mobilize communities and students to resist the criminalization and mass incarceration of black people.
Viviane Saleh-Hanna - University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Spiritchild - Poet and performer, Mental Notes
Stephanie Rooker - Party for the People
Not4prophet - Musician
Moderator: Ashanti Alston - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
WATER PRIVATIZATION: THE ULTIMATE THEFT
The campaign to make clean water accessible to all brings together socialists, environmentalists, wealthy suburbanites and the poorest people in the world in a fight that may save the planet.
Maude Barlow - Chairman, The Council Of Canadians
Alan Snitow - Author, Filmmaker
Patrick Bond - Center for Civil Society, South Africa
Moderator: Barbara Garson - Writer
DANIEL SINGER ESSAY PRIZE: ìECO-SOCIALISM IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL WARMINGî
The panel will feature comments on the essay of Arthur Mitzman, Dutch professor and the winner of the 2007 Daniel Singer Prize, on the theme of his paper, "The Eco-Socialist Challenge."
Michael Lˆwy - Sociology, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris
William Kornblum - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY
Eleni Varikas - Political Science, University of Paris VIII
Moderator: Frank Fried - Activist, Daniel Singer Foundation
(Daniel Singer Foundation)
RADICAL APPROACHES TO GLOBAL WARMING
Global Warming is not a technical problem, and cannot be solved within the terms of capitalism; we need, rather, a massive uprising and joining together of movements from below, dedicated to keeping carbon within the ground, and to the transformation of society accordingly.
Michael Lˆwy - Sociology, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris
Karen Charman - Managing Editor, Capitalism Nature Socialism
Moderator: Joel Kovel - Editor, Capitalism Nature Socialism, author
(Capitalism Nature Socialism)
CHINA: ECONOMIC CRISIS, ENVIRONMENTAL COLLAPSE AND WORKERSí STRUGGLES IN CHINAíS MARKET STALINISM
The introduction of market reform in China has installed economic forces that are savaging Chinese society and driving the country toward ecological collapse ó trends which are exacerbated by Chinaís hybrid capitalist-communist social structure which has defeated all efforts at reform but provoked growing resistance from workers and farmers.
Richard Smith - Author, ìChinaís Capitalist Catastropheî
Stephen Philion - Sociology, St. Cloud State University, ìThe Ideology of Rights and Workersí Resistance to Privatization in Chinaî
Yan Sun - Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY, "Corruption, growth and reform, the Chinese enigma"
Moderator: Magali Sarfatti Larson - Temple University (emerita)
CORPORATE VS. POPULAR SOLUTIONS TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS
In a warming world, corporate intransigence and government dithering are getting heat from grassroots movements around the world mobilizing to stop climate catastrophe.
Ted Glick - Climate Crisis Coalition, Coordinator, US Climate Emergency Council, ìBuilding a Mass Movement for Climate Solutions that Solve the Crisis and Advance Justice and Peaceî
Michael K. Dorsey - Environmental Studies, Dartmouth College, ìNeoliberal Bird Flu Infects Climate Policy Making: Unveiling Reactionaries, Responses, & Resistanceî
Anne Petermann - Co-Director, Global Justice Ecology, "Climate Change: Crisis and Opportunity"
Moderator: Natalie Jeremijenko - New York University
(Climate Crisis Coalition)
RACIAL JUSTICE AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
Panelists will discuss the ways in which different communities are addressing the challenges they face fighting for decent and equitable education, how they have resisted and organized, and how their particular struggles speak to the larger political climate of the US.
Priscilla Gonzalez - Center for Immigrant Families
Donna Nevel - Center for Immigrant Families
Mona Eldahry - Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Adem Carroll - Muslim Consultative Network
Fatin Jarara - Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Moderator: Makani Themba-Nixon - Executive Director, The Praxis Project
(Center for Immigrant Families)
BETWEEN TEACHING, FACILITATING AND PROMOTING: WHAT KIND OF WORLDS DO TEACHERS ENVISION?
Examining the Friere, the Free School and the Zapatista models, and questioning the responsibilities of teachers to students, this panel will explore these questions through both personal experience and professional critique, calling on those who work in all levels to participate in this critical discussion.
Fernando Reals - Teacher, Rikers Island
Ora Wise - Palestine/Israel Education Project
Matt Meyer - High School Teacher, New York City
Esperanza Martel - Community Organizing, Hunter College, CUNY
Moderator: Rosemary Mealey - Writer and educator
EDUCATION VERSUS SCHOOLING - THE ROLES OF THE POLITICAL INTELLECTUAL IN AND OUT OF ACADEMIA
Stanley Aronowitz - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, ìAgainst Schoolingî
C. Ricardo Brown - Cultural Studies, Pratt Institute, ìThe end of critical theory and the institutionalization of cultural studies asks for creating a new political culture in the universityî
Michael Pelias - Philosophy, Long Island University, Brooklyn, ìDoing Philosophy and confronting its consistent depoliticization in the academy - restoring historical materialismî
Edwina Stokes - Long Island University, Brooklyn
Moderator: Dominic Wetzel - Graduate Center, CUNY
(Situations Journal)
LEFT POLITICAL PARTIES, LEFT ELECTORAL SUCCESSES AND THE STRATEGIC CHALLENGE OF NEOLIBERALISM AND RIGHT-WING POPULISM
Michael Kr‰tke - Political Economy, University of Amsterdam, "The Origins of the Success of the Dutch Socialist Party"
John Sanbonmatsu - Philosophy, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts, "Building the Left in the United States"
Ingar Solty - Political Science, York University, Toronto, "Neoliberalism, Right-Wing Populism and Neosocialism: The Significance of the New German Left Party"
Asbjorn Wahl - Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees, "The Origin of the Success and the Experience With the Government Participation of the Norwegian Left Party"
Moderator: Leo Panitch - York University, Toronto
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
ELECTORAL REFORM IN THE US
The elections of 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 cast a spotlight on serious distortions in the American electoral system, exposing problems so serious that the term "vote suppression" had become commonplace in the press.
Regina Eaton - Associate Director,The Democracy Project at Demos, ìVoter Registration Reformî
Rob Richie - Director, Fair Vote
Mike Slater - Director, Project Vote, ìThe Promise and Politics of Voter Registrationî
Moderator: Lori Minnite - Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
THE INTERPLAY OF MOVEMENTS AND ELECTORAL POLITICS IN THE US
Focusing on particular movements, the perennial dichotomy between doing electoral work or movement work will be examined, as will what can we learn about the impact of electoral politics on political movements, and the impact of political movements on electoral politics.
Dorian Warren - Political Science, Columbia University, ìElectoral/movement dynamics in the labor movementî
Howard Hawkins - Teamster, Green Party, "A Green Party Strategy Debate"
Linda Gordon - New York University
Ron Scott - Member, Detroit Black Panther Party, TV producer
Ronnie Eldridge - Eldridge & Co., CUNY-TV, ìThe Second Wave Women's Movement, or How the Victims became Victorious - Women and Politicsî
Moderator: Nancy Holmstrom - Rutgers University, Newark
KEEPING DOWN THE BLACK VOTE: RACE AND THE DEMOBILIZATION OF AMERICAN VOTERS
New voters are trouble, so it is more efficient to work to suppress opposition voters, and blacks are the usual target of vote suppression, a tactic is used both by the Republican and the Democratic parties.
Lori Minnite - Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Major Owens - US Congress, retired
Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Andy Hsiao - The New Press
ANARCHISM AND THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Can anarchists shrug off the end of the Bush era and this particular U.S. presidential election as just the same old statecraft - and proceed to "shut down" the conventions - or do the race (Obama), gender (Clinton), and "hope" factors problematize our usual responses?
Cindy Milstein - Institute for Anarchist Studies
Ashanti Alston - Anarchist People of Color
Ariel - New York City Anarchist Bookfair Collective
Eric Laursen - New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists
LOOKING PRESIDENTIAL? SYMBOLS AND SUBSTANCE, OBAMA AND CLINTON
How race and gender have been used, abused and misunderstood in the primaries.
Amy Richards - Writer
Patricia Williams - The Nation
Peggy C. Davis - NYU School of Law
Moderator: Gary Younge - The Guardian and The Nation
(The Nation)
BUILDING THE LEFT IN NORTHERN CORE CAPITALIST COUNTRIES
Frank Deppe - Political Science, University of Marburg, Germany, ìThe crisis of neoliberal hegemony and the emergence of authoritarian capitalismî
Javier NavascuÈs - Management Science and Industrial Organisation, University of Seville, Spain, ìUnited Left in Spain - Its current difficulties and former successesî
Mimmo Porcaro - Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, ìBuilding a new Left party into a populist society: Is the 'Italian Case' back?î
Thomas Seibert - Interventionist Left, Germany, ìParty and movements, moderates and radicals. Lessons learned from Cologne 1999 to Heiligendamm 2007î
Moderator: Rainer Rilling - University of Marburg, Germany
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
THE BALKANS IN CRISIS: (1990-2008)
This panel will examine the history of the dismantling of Yugoslavia and the politics of "humanitarian intervention" and capitalist transition as seen "from below" through the struggles of workers, students, Roma and other political activists in the region.
Irina Ceric - York University, Toronto
Ziga Vodovnik - University of Ljubljana
Moderator: Tamara Vukov - McGill University
UNDERSTANDING TURKEY TODAY: CLASS DYNAMICS, STATE RESTRUCTURING AND POLITICAL ALTERNATIVES
An examination of the recent dynamics of Turkish capitalism in terms of the accumulation process, social classes and the state, with a specific focus on the post-2001 period.
Fuat Ercan - Economics, Marmara University, Turkey
Selime Guzelsari - Department of Public Administration, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Moderator: Sebnem Oguz - Trent University, Canada
LEFT POLITICAL PARTIES, LEFT ELECTORAL SUCCESSES AND THE STRATEGIC CHALLENGE OF NEOLIBERALISM AND RIGHT-WING POPULISM
Michael Kr‰tke - Political Economy, University of Amsterdam, "The Origins of the Success of the Dutch Socialist Party"
John Sanbonmatsu - Philosophy, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts, "Building the Left in the United States"
Ingar Solty - Political Science, York University, Toronto, "Neoliberalism, Right-Wing Populism and Neosocialism: The Significance of the New German Left Party"
Asbjorn Wahl - Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees, "The Origin of the Success and the Experience With the Government Participation of the Norwegian Left Party"
Moderator: Leo Panitch - York University, Toronto
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE: TIMELY OR ABSURD?
Bogdan Denitch - Sociology (emeritus), Graduate Center, CUNY
George Szamuely - Writer
Susan Woodward - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Julia Wrigley - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY
WHAT WOULD A FEMINIST LEFT BE LIKE?
The next wave of the left must integrate the experience and ideas of the feminist and queer movements with an understanding of class and race in order to build a social justice movement that is not only progressive but humane, and able to address peopleís real life concerns.
Amber Hollibaugh - Queers for Economic Justice, ìSex, Class, and Desireî
Sara Kershnar - Generation Five, "Transformative Justiceî
Vanessa Moses - Generation Five, "Transformative Justiceî
Patricia McFadden - Southern African Feminist Review (SAFERE), Zimbabwe, ìThe Need for a Radical African Feminism"
Moderator: Meredith Tax - President, Womenís WORLD, ìWhat Iíve Learnedî
THE PLEASURE FRONTIER: AN INTERGENERATIONAL DIALOGUE ON SEX IN FEMINISM
An interrogation of sex and sexuality through various generations of feminisms
Nona Willis-Aronowitz - Journalist
Rebecca Traister - Salon.com
Jennifer Baumgardner - Grassroots
Loretta Ross - SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, "Reproductive Justice"
Moderator: Marcia Gillespie - Ms. Magazine
DANGEROUS LIAISON: FEMINISM AND NEO-LIBERALISM
This panel explores the unexpected ideological and political points of convergence — in the US, Europe, and the Third World — between the economic orthodoxy of free market neoliberalism (privatization, welfare cuts, free access for capital everywhere) and mainstream feminism (individualism, women's autonomy).
Hester Eisenstein - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, ìFeminism Seduced? The Uses Of Feminist Ideology For Corporate Elites In The Age Of Terrorî
Iris Nowak - Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, ìAbout the conservative German Secretary of Family Affairs and other feminists. Why feminism is (not) a Left issueî
Kornelia Hauser - University of Innsbruck, Austria, Sociology of Education, Gender Studies, "Neocapitalistic Construction of the Self in Third Wave Feminism"
Moderator: Soniya Munshi - Queens College, CUNY
Moderator: Steve Brier - Graduate Center, CUNY
ADVANCING A LEFT FEMINIST AGENDA
This panel seeks to create an intergenerational, multiracial, multicultural left feminist analysis of global capitalism and patriarchy including intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, nationalism, sexuality, and class and to focus on the relationship between theory and practice and the need to build a broad-based feminist movement for social justice.
Patricia Blau Reuss - "The State of Reproductive Rights in the US Today"
Nkenge Toure - "Not All Panthers were Men"
Beverly Guy-Sheftall - "The Role of Women of Color in the Feminist Movement"
Andree-Nicola McLaughlin - "Feminist Resistance: An International Perspective"
Nancy Holmstrom - "The Role of Socialist Women in the Feminist Movement"
Luz Marquez - "Violence and Hate Crimes against Women"
Moderator: George Friday - National Coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network
* Workshop to follow during the lunch hour in the same room, with an open roundtable discussion to create and participate in a dialogue for women to deal with, define and develop solutions to their problems to result in a common agenda for social change, networking and collaboration.
SEX WORK, TRAFFICKING, AND LEFT POLITICS: TOWARDS A NEW VISION ON PROSTITUTION AND JUSTICE
This panel will unite sex workers rightsí activists and professional intellectuals working on queer theory, feminism and progressive sexual politics to discuss the relationship between sex work and the Left.
Audacia Ray - $pread Magazine
Kerwin Kaye - New York University
Elizabeth Wood - Nassau Community College
Amber Hollibaugh - Queers for Economic Justice
Ignacio Rivera - Queers for Economic Justice
Moderator: Antonia Levy - Graduate Center, CUNY
IS A RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA POSSIBLE?
Jessica Rechtschaffer - Radical Homosexual Agenda
Tim Doody - Radical Homosexual Agenda
Kaitlyn Tikkun - Callen Lorde Community Health Center Transgender Community Advisory Board
Josh Pavan - Q-Team
Moderator: Dominic Wetzel - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY
(Radical Homosexual Agenda)
A LABOR MOVEMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
What kind of labor movement is needed to deal with 21st century conditions of globalization, labor migration, widespread unemployment and a huge but largely unorganized service sector; and how do womenís rights and workersí rights, workplace issues and community issues, come together to build this kind of movement?
Willie Baptist - Union Theological Seminary Poverty Initiative, ìOrganizing the Poorî
Marisa Franco - Domestic Workers United, ìUnionizing Domestic Workersî
Katie Quan - University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center, ìWomen, Work, and Globalizationî
Moderator: Carol Barton - Womenís International Coalition for Economic Justice, ìEconomic Rightsî
WHY HAVE THE WOMENíS AND BLACK MOVEMENTS STALLED? WHAT CAN BE DONE TO RESTART THEM?
Johanna Brenner - Sociology, Portland State University, ìWomen and the Politics of Classî
Bill Fletcher, Jr. - Center for Labor Renewal, Black Commentator
Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Kazembe Balagun - Brecht Forum
MARXISM, FEMINISM AND CRITICAL THEORY IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA
A discussion of recent trends in Chinese philosophy and social theory, with participants from China and the US.
He Ping - Wuhan University, China, ìGender in Chinaî
Wu Xinwei - Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìGramsci in Chinaî
Li Dianlai - Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìHabermas in Chinaî
Wang Xinyan - Wuhan University, China, ìKeeping a Foothold on Concrete Reality in Chinese Marxist Philosophyî
Discussant: Peter Hudis - Oakton Community College
Moderator: Kevin B. Anderson - Purdue University
Moderator: Josh Howard - Graduate Center, CUNY
ORGANIZING FOR TAX JUSTICE
Mimi Abramovitz - Social Policy, Hunter School of Social Work, CUNY, ìTaxes are a Woman's Issueî
Lucy Komisar - Journalist, Tax Justice Network-USA, taxjustice-usa.org, ìTax Justice Activism: targeting the corporate & super-rich tax cheatsî
Stephanie Greenwood - Editor, 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes
Carol Barton - Womenís International Coalition for Economic Justice, ìEconomic Rights"
Moderator/Discussant: William Tabb - Economics, Queens College, CUNY
NOT POLITICALLY FEASIBLE? NOT SO FAST!: ORGANIZING FOR SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE IN AN ELECTION YEAR
Len Rodberg - Queens College, CUNY, ìBack to the Health Care Future: Why the Mainstream Candidatesí Proposals Canít Work, and Canít Winî
Ayana Jordan - Einstein College of Medicine, ìMedical student organizingî
Mary OíBrien - ìOrganizing in the Medical Professionî
Bill Henning - Vice-President, CWA Local 1180, ìLaborís roleî
Eric Sawyer - ACT UP, ìCommunity activismî
Moderator: Martha Livingston - SUNY College, Old Westbury
(Physicians for a National Health Program, New York-Metro Chapter)
THE THOUSAND-YARD STARE: PUBLIC HEALTH ON A CORRUPT TRAJECTORY
We propose that AIDS prevention and treatment have failed in the US as a consequence of the harms to thinking systems that resulted from the US ìoriginal sinî of counting African Americans as ì3/5ís of a man.î
Mehret Mandefro - Founding Director of TruthAIDS
Rodrick Wallace - Research Scientist, New York State Psychiatric Institute, ìConcentration is NOT containmentî
Robert E. Fullilove - Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, ìFinding the moral high groundî
Moderator: Lourdes Hern·ndez-Cordero - Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
REORGANIZING THE WORKING CLASS
The panel will address the profound crisis within the labor movement and the strategic dimensions of its potential revival as an oppositional force.
Kate Bronfenbrenner - Labor Education Research, Cornell University, ìThe Impasse in Unions and Union Organizingî
Ai-Jen Poo - Domestic Workers United, ìOrganizing Immigrant Workers in Non-traditional Union Sectorsî
Bill Fletcher, Jr. - The Black Commentator, co-founder of Center for Labor Renewal, ìFrom the Workplace to the Community: Re-strategizing Class Struggleî
Moderator: Jerry Tucker - Co-founder, Center for Labor Renewal, United Auto Workers
(Center for Labor Renewal)
IN THE SHADOW OF THE ANTI-LABOR LAW
This panel examines the state of US labor law 60 years after the passage of Taft-Hartley through critique and assesses alternative means of establishing a just labor law through innovative political and activist strategies by workers.
Sarumathi Jayaraman - Brooklyn College, CUNY and ROC-NY
James Gray Pope - Rutgers Law School
Steve Early - Union Activist, Writer
Harris Freeman - Western New England Law School, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Moderator: Harris Freeman
(Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society)
GENDER, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE: ORGANIZING ON THE MARGINS
In the context of the steady decline of organized laborís white male workers manufacturing jobs, this panel shifts the focus to organizing precarious employment and immigrant labor in an increasingly anti-immigrant climate.
Jennifer Klein - History, Yale University, "We Were the Invisible Workforce: Low-wage Labor in the American Welfare State"
Graham Cassano - Sociology and Anthropology, Oakland University, "Republicanism, class war, and the cultural struggle: Lou Dobbs and the new nativism"
Troy Rondinone - History, Southern Connecticut State University, "Republicanism, class war, and the cultural struggle: Lou Dobbs and the new nativism"
Nicole Trujillo-Pag·n - Sociology, Wayne State University, "Limits to Solidarity: The Case of Latina Organizers of Male Casual Laborers in Post-Katrina New Orleans"
Moderator: David Fasenfest - Editor, Critical Sociology, Sociology, Wayne State University
(Critical Sociology)
A LABOR MOVEMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
What kind of labor movement is needed to deal with 21st century conditions of globalization, labor migration, widespread unemployment and a huge but largely unorganized service sector; and how do womenís rights and workersí rights, workplace issues and community issues, come together to build this kind of movement?
Willie Baptist - Union Theological Seminary Poverty Initiative, ìOrganizing the Poorî
Marisa Franco - Domestic Workers United, ìUnionizing Domestic Workersî
Katie Quan - University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center, ìWomen, Work, and Globalizationî
Moderator: Carol Barton - Womenís International Coalition for Economic Justice, ìEconomic Rightsî
US MANUFACTURING: RESTRUCTURING OR DISAPPEARING?
The hollowing out of American manufacturing is an article of faith in much left analysis, but the truth is more complex and this has important organizing, bargaining, and political implications
Mark Brenner - Labor Notes, “Overview of job loss and restructuring in US manufacturing”
Nicole Aschoff - Sociology, John Hopkins University, “ New data on the net flow of jobs out of and into the US auto industry”
Stanley Aronowitz - Graduate Center, CUNY, long-time labor activist, “The shift to high tech manufacturing and the implications for organizing”
Moderator: Sam Gindin - York University, former Assistant to the President, CAW
(Socialist Register)
PRECARIOUS WORK, PRECARIOUS LIVES
Mia Son - Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Korea
Iris Nowak - Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Berlin
David Van Arsdale - Sociology, Hartwick College and Joseph S. Murphy Institute, CUNY
Moderator: Bill DiFazio - St. Johns University
HOW CAN STUDYING WORKERSí CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS HELPS TO RAISE IT?
An attempt to combine our research interests on this important topic with our political ones.
Bertell Ollman - New York University, ìAre Class Interests Part of What Workers Are or Part of What They Know (Or Donít)?î
Howard Horowitz - Howard Horowitiz Associates, ìReport on Two Focus Group Studies on Workersí Class Consciousnessî
Lee Levin - Public Administration, Baruch College, ìProblems of Class Consciousness in Working Class Womenî
Moderator: Michael Zweig - Economics, SUNY, Stony Brook
SEX WORK, TRAFFICKING, AND LEFT POLITICS: TOWARDS A NEW VISION ON PROSTITUTION AND JUSTICE
This panel will unite sex workers rightsí activists and professional intellectuals working on queer theory, feminism and progressive sexual politics to discuss the relationship between sex work and the Left.
Audacia Ray - $pread Magazine
Kerwin Kaye - New York University
Elizabeth Wood - Nassau Community College
Amber Hollibaugh - Queers for Economic Justice
Ignacio Rivera - Queers for Economic Justice
Moderator: Antonia Levy - Graduate Center, CUNY
The introduction of market reform in China has installed economic forces that are savaging Chinese society and driving the country toward ecological collapse ó trends which are exacerbated by Chinaís hybrid capitalist-communist social structure which has defeated all efforts at reform but provoked growing resistance from workers and farmers.
Richard Smith - Author, ìChinaís Capitalist Catastropheî
Stephen Philion - Sociology, St. Cloud State University, ìThe Ideology of Rights and Workersí Resistance to Privatization in Chinaî
Yan Sun - Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY, "Corruption, growth and reform, the Chinese enigma"
Moderator: Magali Sarfatti Larson - Temple University (emerita)
MILITANT PUERTO RICANS: DIASPORA, STRUGGLE & POLITICAL PRISONERS
This panel focuses on the role of the Diaspora in the struggle for Puerto Rican national liberation describing and evaluating the radicalization of communities, the differing forms of struggle, political prisoners and use of the grand jury today.
Mickey Melendez - Author, former Young Lord, ìTrends in community organizing from the Young Lords to actual Diaspora strugglesî
Michael Gonz·lez-Cruz - University of Puerto Rico, Mayag¸ez, "Militant Puerto Ricans: from Diaspora to Nation Building"
Juan Antonio Ocasio Rivera - LMSW, La Nueva Escuela, ìHistoric role of the Diaspora in the Struggle for Independenceî
Moderator: Ana Lopez - ìGrand Jury, Repression, and Resistance in Puerto Rico and the US"
THE LATIN AMERICAN RIGHT
Much attention in recent years has been devoted to the Latin American ìleft turnî with little attention focused on how right-wing politics has adjusted to meet new challenges to its dominance.
Steve Ellner - Political Science, University de Oriente, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela
Fred Rosen - NACLA
Forrest Hylton - New York University
Carlos Vilas - Political Science, Argentina
Moderator: Jack Hammond - Sociology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
(NACLA)
NEW PARTICIPATORY WORKING CLASS MOVEMENTS CHALLENGE LEFT REFORMISM IN LATIN AMERICA
Confronting Left Reformism in Latin America: Non-hierarchical, democratic, and participatory working class movements present challenges to social democratic and centrist governments
Jack Hammond - Sociology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, "Popular Movements and Left Governments: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela and Chile"
Peter Ranis - Political Science, Graduate Center and York College, CUNY, "Struggles of Worker Recuperated Enterprises and Cooperatives in Argentina"
Nancy Romer - Psychology, Brooklyn College, CUNY, "Indigenous and Workers Organizations in Bolivia"
Moderator: Renate Bridenthal - History, Brooklyn College
(International Committee of PSC-CUNY (AFT Local 2334))
EVALUATING CHAVEZ FROM THE LEFT
The international Left must address whether we should line up behind Chavez, is he a populist and/or a revolutionary, and is the opposition in Venezuela, perhaps, correct?
Steve Ellner - Political Science, University de Oriente, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela
Greg Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com
Fernando Coronil - Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Michigan
Moderator: Olivia Burlingame Goumbri - Director, Venezuela Information Office
URBAN ROOTS OF RESISTANCE AND THE NEW LEFT IN LATIN AMERICA
The historical antecedents of many of the leftist movements coming to power across Latin America today, the relationships of social movements with new Left leaders, and the current social movements and their historical roots will be examined.
Forrest Hylton - New York University, ìIndigenous Movements in Boliviaî
Marina Sitrin - New College, ìHorizontalism in Argentinaî
Alejandro Velasco - New York University, ìEl 23 de Enero in Caracasî
Moderator: Sujatha Fernandes - Queens College, CUNY, ìBarrio-based movements in Caracasî
CHANGING THE WORLD BY TAKING POWER? CHALLENGES FACING THE LATIN AMERICAN LEFT
Leftists have come to power in governments throughout Latin America, from Venezuela to Brazil to Cuba and beyond, and questions of the relationship between state power and social movements are a subject of heated debates: How do left forces relate to questions of electoral struggles, executive power and its contestation, parliamentary reform and revolutionary movements, socialism from above and below?
Carlos Vilas - Political Science, Argentina
Michael Lˆwy - Sociology, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris
Greg Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com
Moderator: Nancy Romer - Brooklyn College
NO NEOLIBERALISM WITHOUT 1968? THE CONTRADICTORY LEGACY OF THE CULTURAL REBELLION
Is it possible that the cultural upheavals of the ë60s paved the way for neoliberal policies to be not only implemented but accepted widely?
Ingar Solty - York University, Toronto
Barbara Epstein - University of California, Santa Cruz
Thomas Seibert - Interventionist Left, Germany
Leo Panitch - York University, Toronto
Moderator: Lisa Maya Knauer - Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
TOWARDS A SYNTHESIS OF ANARCHISM AND MARXISM?
Dave Berry - European Studies, Loughborough University, UK, "Towards a libertarian communism? Daniel GuÈrin and the synthesis of marxism and anarchismî
Ruth Kinna - Politics, Loughborough University, UK, ìBridging Differences Through Revolutionary Action: Aldred on Anarchism and Marxî
Moderator: Laurence Davis - Founding member, Anarchist Studies Network, ìAnarchism, Marxism, and the Ends of Revolutionî
DIALECTICS OF LIBERATION: PRAXIS FOR A NEW CENTURY
Utilizing over 90 years of collective movement experience, participants in this conversation will discuss using dialectics to explore ways that theorizing social change must change to fit the 21st Century.
Melanie Bush - Sociology, Adelphi University
Kazembe Balagun - Brecht Forum
Matt Birkhold - Independent scholar and writer
Moderator: Roderick Bush - Sociology, St. Johnís University
REAL UTOPIA: PARTICIPATORY SOCIETY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
This panel engages visions for what a future participatory society may look like while looking at real world examples in the US, Asia and Latin America, and the strategy and activism needed to take us there.
Michael Albert - Znet, ìParticipatory Society for the 21st Centuryî
Jessica Azulay - WebRoot Solutions, ìParecon in Practiceî
Brian Dominick - WebRoot Solutions, ìOrganizing for a Participatory Societyî
Richard W. Franke - Montclair State University, New Jersey, ìKerala. Indiaî
Chris Spannos - ZNet
Marie Trigona - ZMag, ìArgentinaì
Greg Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com, ìSocialism for the 21st Century/Venezuelaî
Moderator: Meaghan Linick-Loughley - New York Organization for a Participatory Society, Students for a Democratic Society
(Z Communications)
LENINíS RETURN?
While many have proclaimed ìGoodbye to Leninî since Communismís collapse, discussions and debates are re-emerging regarding his historical meaning, contemporary resonance and future relevance.
Paul Le Blanc - History, La Roche College, Pennsylvania
Lars Lih - Independent scholar and author
Helen Scott - English, Womenís and Gender Studies, University of Vermont
August Nimtz, Jr. - Political Science, African Studies, University of Minnesota
Moderator: Immanuel Ness - Brooklyn College, CUNY
(Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society)
CONNECTING GLOBALIZATION AND REVOLUTION
Marxís slogan about ìworkers of the world uniteî was premature such that only today are the conditions in place to make that possible, and how does contemporary globalization repose anew the strategic question, ìReform and/or Revolution?î
Maliha Safri - Drew University, ìThe Global Household: Immigration and Economics in Transnational Familiesî
John Manley - Political Science, Stanford University, ìGlobalization: Precondition of Socialist Revolution?î
Rick Wolff - Economics, University of Massachussetts, Amherst, ìReaction to Global Neoliberalism: Reform or Revolution?î
Moderator: Cathy Mulder - Economics, Washington College
RETHINKING MARXISM AND THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL STRUGGLES: CLASS THEORY, POLITICAL SUBJECTS AND CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM
Scholars associated with Marxism and with Rethinking Marxism will interrogate the journalís goals and accomplishments, Marxismís history in relation to political transformations in the world over the last 20 years, and the future of Marxism in the United States and abroad, as both a scholarly discourse and a form of political practice.
Rick Wolff - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Maliha Safri - Drew University
David Harvey - Graduate Center, CUNY
Joseph Buttigieg - Notre Dame
Moderator: David Ruccio - Notre Dame University, editor of Rethinking Marxism
(Rethinking Marxism)
* Reception in celebration of Rethinking Marxism's twentieth anniversary will immediately follow the panel in the same room.
HOW CAN STUDYING WORKERSí CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS HELPS TO RAISE IT?
An attempt to combine our research interests on this important topic with our political ones.
Bertell Ollman - New York University, ìAre Class Interests Part of What Workers Are or Part of What They Know (Or Donít)?î
Howard Horowitz - Howard Horowitiz Associates, ìReport on Two Focus Group Studies on Workersí Class Consciousnessî
Lee Levin - Public Administration, Baruch College, ìProblems of Class Consciousness in Working Class Womenî
Moderator: Michael Zweig - Economics, SUNY, Stony Brook
BEYOND THE INARTICULATE ó A "CONVERSATION" WITH STAUGHTON LYND ON ANARCHISM, MARXISM AND HISTORY FROM THE BOTTOM UP
An exploration of the contributions of historian and organizer Staughton Lynd.
Staughton Lynd - Historian and Author
Carl Mirra - Adelphi University
Daniel Gross - Co-author, Labor Law for the Rank and File
Moderator: Jerry Watts - English and Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY
MARXISM, FEMINISM AND CRITICAL THEORY IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA
A discussion of recent trends in Chinese philosophy and social theory, with participants from China and the US.
He Ping - Wuhan University, China, ìGender in Chinaî
Wu Xinwei - Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìGramsci in Chinaî
Li Dianlai - Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìHabermas in Chinaî
Wang Xinyan - Wuhan University, China, ìKeeping a Foothold on Concrete Reality in Chinese Marxist Philosophyî
Discussant: Peter Hudis - Oakton Community College
Moderator: Kevin B. Anderson - Purdue University
Moderator: Josh Howard - Graduate Center, CUNY
SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: AFRICAíS INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLES AROUND THE CONTINENT
How does the traditional press and new media forms, including blogs, websites, and text messaging, contribute to democracy movements on the continent and among the diaspora?
Sowore Omoyele - Journalist, Sahara Reporter
Kassahun Checole - Africa World Press and Red Sea Press
Míampela Mpela - UN Department of Public Information
Moderator: Milton Allimadi - Black Star News
(Global Information Network)
UNEMBEDDED FROM CORPORATE JOURNALISM AT HOME - GRASSROOTS MEDIA-MAKING
Panelists will share video and radio examples as they discuss media-making as a critical component of their community organizing, analysis and communications.
Nijmie Dzurinko - Media Mobilizing Project
Kat Aaron - Co-Director, People's Production House
Moderator: Lisa Rudman - Director of Making Contact, National Radio Project
THE IRAN CRISIS: CONTINUING THREAT OF WAR, POST-NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE
Our panelists will explore US-Iran relations and questions raised by the striking US Intelligence turnaround by looking at domestic politics in the US and Iran, the effects of trade sanctions on Iran's economy and its people, the connection to the war in Iraq, and the long-range energy ambitions of the US.
Reza Ghorashi - Richard Stockton College
Tom O'Donnell - Fulbright Scholar, CENDES Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, and The New School
Faramarz Farbod - Moravian College
(Union for Radical Political Economics)
LESSONS OF THE IRAQ OCCUPATION
This panel will explore a broad range of issues ó from mercenaries and outsourcing to counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq and the impact of the ongoing occupation for other conflicts, as well as the anti-war movement.
Jeremy Scahill - The Nation
AK Gupta - Editor, The Indypendent
Dennis Brutus - Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Frida Berrigan - Senior Program Associate, New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative
Moderator: Lisa Maya Knauer - Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
(The Indypendent and International Socialist Review magazine)
OIL AND POLITICS IN A NEOLIBERAL WORLD ECONOMY
The political economy of the international oil industry in the neoliberal world economy with special foci on the consequences of the rising cost of oil extraction and nationalization of the oil industry for Middle East politics and US foreign policy.
Michael Klare - Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College, "Oil, War, and Geopolitics: The Struggle Over What Remains"
Max Fraad Wolff - International Affairs, The New School, "Rising Petrol Prices and Redistribution"
Irene Gendzier - Political Science, Boston University, "Past Tense, Present Sense: Reflections on US Oil Policy and Middle East Politics from the start of the Good Old Days"
Moderator: Adolfo Doring
THE BACKLASH AGAINST DISSENT ON ISRAEL - STRATEGIES FOR RESPONSE
Drawing upon their own experiences, panelists will address how dissenting voices on Israel have been suppressed or silenced, and ways to respond politically to the backlash that is taking place against dissent on Israel.
Joel Kovel - Author, Overcoming Zionism, Founding Member, Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ)
Debbie Almontaser - Educator, Founding Principal, Khalil Gibran International Academy, New York City
Donna Nevel - Community Psychologist and educator
Alison Weir - Journalist, Founder of If Americans Knew
Moderator: Esther Kaplan - Investigative editor at the Nation Institute, Author of With God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right
(Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism)
WHITHER THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM?
This panel will reflect on the World Social Forum process over the last 8 years in terms of challenges, successs, ideologies and future possibilities.
Patrick Bond - Center for Civil Society, South Africa
Heather Gautney - Fordham University
Michael Menser - Brooklyn College
Marina Karides - Florida State University
Moderator: Thomas Ponniah - Harvard University
USABLE PASTS: APPROACHES TO MOVEMENT HISTORIES FOR TODAY'S STRUGGLES
This panel, featuring a range of younger scholar-activists, will stimulate discussion around creatively and critically bringing movement histories into contemporary struggles.
Sean Burns - History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz
Maia Ramnath - History, University of California, Santa Cruz
Marina Sitrin - New College of California
Eddie Yuen - San Francisco Art Institute
Moderator: Chris Dixon - History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz
POVERTY AND POOR PEOPLEíS MOVEMENTS - SOCIAL ANALYSIS AND REFLECTIONS ON STRATEGIES
This workshop analyzes the political economy of todayís poverty and discusses the potentials and difficulties of re-igniting sustainable poor peopleís movements today, looking at theoretical debates and the experiences of current anti-poverty movements in the US.
Willie Baptist - Poverty Initiative, Union Theological Seminary
Chris Caruso - Cultural Anthropology, Graduate Center, CUNY
Jan Rehmann - Co-editor, German Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism, Philosophy and Social Theories, Union Theological Seminary
Liz Theoharis - Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative, Union Theological Seminary
Moderator: Charlene Sinclair - Union Theological Seminary, Organizer in Poor People's movements
REAL UTOPIA: PARTICIPATORY SOCIETY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
This panel engages visions for what a future participatory society may look like while looking at real world examples in the US, Asia and Latin America, and the strategy and activism needed to take us there.
Michael Albert - Znet, ìParticipatory Society for the 21st Centuryî
Jessica Azulay - WebRoot Solutions, ìParecon in Practiceî
Brian Dominick - WebRoot Solutions, ìOrganizing for a Participatory Societyî
Richard W. Franke - Montclair State University, New Jersey, ìKerala. Indiaî
Chris Spannos - ZNet
Marie Trigona - ZMag, ìArgentinaì
Greg Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com, ìSocialism for the 21st Century/Venezuelaî
Moderator: Meaghan Linick-Loughley - New York Organization for a Participatory Society, Students for a Democratic Society
(Z Communications)
ORGANIZING FOR TAX JUSTICE
Mimi Abramovitz - Social Policy, Hunter School of Social Work, CUNY, ìTaxes are a Woman's Issueî
Lucy Komisar - Journalist, Tax Justice Network-USA, taxjustice-usa.org, ìTax Justice Activism: targeting the corporate & super-rich tax cheatsî
Stephanie Greenwood - Editor, 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes
Moderator/Discussant: William Tabb - Economics (emeritus), Queens College, CUNY
TOWARDS A REVOLUTIONARY STUDENT MOVEMENT: ORGANIZATION, VISION AND STRATEGY FOR A REVITALIZED LEFT
This panel is an opportunity for young radicals in the student movement to discuss and share their views on the role students can play in confronting the new challenges our society is faced with, how to transcend the errors of previous generations of revolutionaries, and the difficulties in creating a new new left.
Patricia Gonzalez - The New School, Students for a Democratic Society
Rachel Haut - Queens College, Students for a Democratic Society
Dave Shukla - UCLA, Students for a Democratic Society
Moderator: Pat Korte - The New School, Students for a Democratic Society
(Students for a Democratic Society)
THE EVOLUTION OF REVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND PRACTICE
Detroit City of Hope campaign points the way for twenty-first century cities.
Ron Scott - TV producer
Shea Howell - Co-founder and coordinator, Detroit Summer, columnist, Michigan Citizen
William Copeland - Poet, cultural worker
Moderator: Grace Lee Boggs - James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, Detroit
(James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, Detroit)
STUDY GROUPS IN SEARCH OF THE QUESTIONS
This panel is composed of several actual study groups who have been trying to confront the really difficult questions of revolution around consciousness-raising, organizational structure, ideology and the intersections of identity, class-race-gender-place and what ìif notî revolution as we have understood it.
Another Politics is Possible study group
Revolution & Evolution in the 20th Century study group
Resistance in Brooklyn study group
Party Study Part study group
Moderator: Edget Betru - Guant·namo Global Justice Initiative, Center for Constitutional Rights
MOVEMENT-BUILDING: FINDING COMMON GROUND
Drawing on organizing experience across race, ethnic, gender, and generational lines, panelists will discuss what kind of movement we need to build, how we can bridge theory and practice, how to raise difficult issues, and how older activists can make themselves useful to the young.
Howie Machtinger - Heirs to a Fighting Tradition, "Intergenerational Politics: Legacies of the Sixties"
Susan Wilcox - Brotherhood/SisterSol, "Youth Development for Social Change"
Moderator: Suzanne Pharr - Southerners on New Ground (SONG), "Let the Circle Be Unbroken"
RADICALIZING RIGHTS: BRINGING HUMAN RIGHTS HOME
In recent years, important sectors of the feminist movement and the left have adopted a strategy of using the language of international human rights to mobilize people for economic and social justice within the US; in what ways is this approach useful in winning reforms and building a movement and what are its possible limitations in terms of a radical strategy?
Cathy Albisa - National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, "Bring Human Rights Home"
Loretta Ross - SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, "Reproductive Justice"
Sangeeta Budhiraja - Queers for Economic Justice, "Immigration and Human Rights"
Moderator: Meredith Tax - Women's World Organization for Rights, Literature & Development (Women's WORLD), "Some Strategic Questions about Human Rights"
RE-CONSTRUCTING SOLIDARITY
Often invoked, rarely examined, this panel addresses the concept of solidarityówhat it is, why itís important, and the various reasons why it is blocked or flourishes in particular instances.
Barbara Epstein - University of California, Santa Cruz
Bill Fletcher, Jr. - Center for Labor Renewal, Black Commentator
Staughton Lynd - Historian and author
Moderator: Chris Dixon - History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz
AUTONOMY, SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE GLOBAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT
Panelists will present on urban and rural movements in Europe and North America, discuss how these local activities are linked to larger movements, and then raise questions about the modalities of feminist, anti-racist, and anticapitalist social change being offered by these actors that are both antagonistic and transformative.
Thomas Seibert - Interventionist Left, Germany
Brenda Biddle - Graduate Center, CUNY
Mike Menser - Brooklyn College, CUNY
Omar Freilla - Green Workers Cooperatives, New York City
Cindy Milstein - Institute for Anarchist Studies
Moderator: Jamie McCallum - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY
BUILDING THE LEFT IN NORTHERN CORE CAPITALIST COUNTRIES
Frank Deppe - Political Science, University of Marburg, Germany, ìThe crisis of neoliberal hegemony and the emergence of authoritarian capitalismî
Mimmo Porcaro - Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, ìBuilding a new Left party into a populist society: Is the 'Italian Case' back?î
Thomas Seibert - Interventionist Left, Germany, ìParty and movements, moderates and radicals. Lessons learned from Cologne 1999 to Heiligendamm 2007î
Moderator: Rainer Rilling - University of Marburg, Germany
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
A LABOR MOVEMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
What kind of labor movement is needed to deal with 21st century conditions of globalization, labor migration, widespread unemployment and a huge but largely unorganized service sector; and how do womenís rights and workersí rights, workplace issues and community issues, come together to build this kind of movement?
Willie Baptist - Union Theological Seminary Poverty Initiative, ìOrganizing the Poorî
Marisa Franco - Domestic Workers United, ìUnionizing Domestic Workersî
Katie Quan - University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center, ìWomen, Work, and Globalizationî
Moderator: Carol Barton - Womenís International Coalition for Economic Justice, ìEconomic Rightsî
THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY AS A PATH TOWARDS RADICAL ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
Speakers from the US and Canada, representing five different solidarity economy networks, including the recently founded US Solidarity Economy Network, will introduce the solidarity economy framework and debate key aspects of solidarity economy organizing.
Ethel Cote - Canadian Community Economic Development Network, International Network for the Social/Solidarity Economy, Solidarity Economy of Ontario
Emily Kawano - US Solidarity Economy Network, North American Network for the Solidarity Economy, Center for Popular Economics
Ethan Miller - US Solidarity Economy Network, Grassroots Economic Organizing
Carl Davidson - US Solidarity Economy Network, solidarityeconomy.net
Moderator: Julie Matthaei - US Solidarity Economy Network, Economics, Wellesley College
BUILDING THE LEFT IN NORTHERN CORE CAPITALIST COUNTRIES
Frank Deppe - Political Science, University of Marburg, Germany, ìThe crisis of neoliberal hegemony and the emergence of authoritarian capitalismî
Mimmo Porcaro - Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, ìBuilding a new Left party into a populist society: Is the 'Italian Case' back?î
Thomas Seibert - Interventionist Left, Germany, ìParty and movements, moderates and radicals. Lessons learned from Cologne 1999 to Heiligendamm 2007î
Moderator: Rainer Rilling - University of Marburg, Germany
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
OIL AND POLITICS IN A NEOLIBERAL WORLD ECONOMY
The political economy of the international oil industry in the neoliberal world economy with special foci on the consequences of the rising cost of oil extraction and nationalization of the oil industry for Middle East politics and US foreign policy.
Michael Klare - Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College, "Oil, War, and Geopolitics: The Struggle Over What Remains"
Max Fraad Wolff - International Affairs, The New School, "Rising Petrol Prices and Redistribution"
Irene Gendzier - Political Science, Boston University, "Past Tense, Present Sense: Reflections on US Oil Policy and Middle East Politics from the start of the Good Old Days"
Moderator: Adolfo Doring
DECLINE OF THE DOLLAR: DECLINE OR FLEXIBILITY OF THE EMPIRE?
Jane DíArista - Financial Markets Centre
David Harvey - Graduate Center, CUNY
Doug Henwood - Left Business Observer
Chris Rude - Writer
Moderator: Leo Panitch - York University, Toronto
(Socialist Register)
THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY AS A PATH TOWARDS RADICAL ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
Speakers from the US and Canada, representing five different solidarity economy networks, including the recently founded US Solidarity Economy Network, will introduce the solidarity economy framework and debate key aspects of solidarity economy organizing.
Ethel Cote - Canadian Community Economic Development Network, International Network for the Social/Solidarity Economy, Solidarity Economy of Ontario
Emily Kawano - US Solidarity Economy Network, North American Network for the Solidarity Economy, Center for Popular Economics
Ethan Miller - US Solidarity Economy Network, Grassroots Economic Organizing
Carl Davidson - US Solidarity Economy Network, solidarityeconomy.net
Moderator: Julie Matthaei - US Solidarity Economy Network, Economics, Wellesley College
THE HOUSING MELTDOWN
Panelists review the massive house price inflation (2001-2007), withdrawal of money and eventual decline of home prices, wealth and ownership.
Max Fraad Wolff - International Affairs, The New School, The Huffington Post, "How Big? How Bad? How Long?"
Doug Henwood - Left Business Observer, WBIA, KPFA, "The Building/Housing Boom, Bust and Response"
Kenneth Levin - Queens College, CUNY, "Middle Class Home Insecurity: Policy and Practice"
Moderator: Jason Ricciuti Borenstein - Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
THE COMING DEPRESSION?
Jack Rasmus - ìFrom Minsky to Marx and Beyond: Financial instruments and valueî
Hillel Ticktin - Critique - A Journal of Socialist Theory, ìWhy this downturn is different from all others since 1929î
Elizabeth Ramey - University of Massachussetts, Amherst, "The Commodity/Ethanol Boom and the Housing Bubble"
Moderator: Suzi Weissman
(Critique - A Journal of Socialist Theory)
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF OIL, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
How the changing oil industry affects recession in the US economy, energy politics, and the growing US inequality of income and wealth.
AK Gupta - Editor, The Indypendent, ìThe United States and the political-economy of the global oil orderî
Michael Tanzer - Tanzer Economic Associates, ìOil, Energy and Global Warming: The Disconnect between Scienceís Warnings and Proposed Solutionsî
George Caffentzis - Philosophy, University of Southern Maine, "Oil, the US Working Class and the Crisis of Neoliberalism"
Moderator: Cathy Mulder - Economics, Washington College
ORGANIZING FOR TAX JUSTICE
Mimi Abramovitz - Social Policy, Hunter School of Social Work, CUNY, ìTaxes are a Woman's Issueî
Lucy Komisar - Journalist, Tax Justice Network-USA, taxjustice-usa.org, ìTax Justice Activism: targeting the corporate & super-rich tax cheatsî
Stephanie Greenwood - Editor, 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes
Moderator/Discussant: William Tabb - Economics, Queens College, CUNY
DIMENSIONS OF THE FINANCIALIZATION CRISIS
David McNally - York University, Toronto, "Global Finance, the Current Crisis, and Challenges to the Dollar"
Michael Kr‰tke - University of Amsterdam, "The Financial Crisis has arrived in Europe - Europe`s share in the international bubble economy"
William Tabb - Economics, Queens College, CUNY, "The Minsky Moment and the Structure of Contemporary Finance"
Jane DíArista - Financial Markets Centre, "Broken Systems: the US Financial and Monetary Policy Framework"
Moderator: Rainer Rilling - University of Marburg, Germany
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
UP TO OUR EYEBALLS: AMERICA'S UNFOLDING CRISIS OF PERSONAL DEBT
An unregulated lending and financial services industry, crying out for rules far tougher than our political leaders (with their Wall Street bankrollers) will propose, will be examined, and solutions discussed.
Robin Blackburn - Committee on Historical Studies, New School for Social Research
Jose Garcia - Senior Research and Policy Associate at Demos
James Lardner - Journalist, Senior Fellow at Demos
Danny Schechter - Television Producer and Independent Filmmaker
Moderator: Heather McGhee - Economic Opportunity Program
TRANSFORMATIVE THINKING, INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE, AND THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM
What role can indigenous or "precapitalist" forms of knowledge and spirituality play in this transformation, and what are the politics of mobilizing them, and does the recent (re)turn to consciousness mark a significant break from the distinction between idealism and materialism?
Jack Z. Bratich - Rutgers University
Tiokasin Ghosthorse - First Voices Indigenous Radio, WBAI Radio
Daniel Pinchbeck - Author
Moderator: James Trimarco - Writer
THE RADICAL ROOTS OF THEOLOGY: WHAT LEFT MOVEMENTS CAN LEARN FROM RELIGION
Left movements tend to be skeptical (typically for good reasons) about religion, but are there theological approaches within contemporary religions that can not only be compatible with left politics but can contribute to leftistsí ability to understand the world and create social change?
Robert Jensen - University of Texas, Austin
Junaid S. Ahmad - College of William and Mary School of Law, Virginia
Fahd Ahmed - DRUM, Desis Rising Up and Moving, "Immigrant Rights Since 9/11"
Moderator: Reverend Jim Rigby - St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS SOLIDARITY: BREACHING THE BARRIERS
What keeps religious leftists and secular leftists from building coalitions, what keeps white religious leftists and religious leftists of color from true dialogue and understanding?
Noble Bratton - Trade Union activist
Reverend Osagyefo Sekou - National Coordinator of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq, Minister, Judson Memorial Church, New York City
Elliot A. Ratzman - Swarthmore College
Moderator: Juanita Webster - Religion & Socialism Commission of DSA
(Religion & Socialism Commission of DSA)
LEFT PERSPECTIVES ON IMMIGRATION CONTROVERSIES
This panel will focus on the impact of immigrant workers on the political and economic realities facing the US working class today.
Amy Sugimori - Executive Director, LaFuente
David Van Arsdale - Sociology, Hartwick College and Joseph S. Murphy Institute, CUNY
Immanuel Ness - Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Stephen Steinberg - Urban Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Marty Oppenheimer - Sociology, Rutgers University
THE BATTLE FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: FROM DIALOGUE TO ACTION
Join us for a dialogue exploring how we can respond effectively to tough questions about immigration, chip away at the anti-immigrant attitudes being amplified by the media, and support immigrants who are organizing against deportation, defending their labor rights and building community power.
Jane Guskin - Author
Aarti Shahani - Co-founder, Families for Freedom
Victor Toro - Founder, Vamos a la PeÒa del Bronx
Ana Maria Archila - Co-Executive Director, Make the Road, NY
Moderator: Adriana Rocha - Program Officer, New York Foundation
(Monthly Review)
TORTURE AND THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
Torture yields intelligence of dubious value, but its development and use is increasing by the US government as its grip on empire is challenged.
Michael Ratner - President, Center for Constitutional Rights
Alfred McCoy - University of Wisconsin
Marnia Lazreg - Sociology, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY
Naomi Wolf - Author
Moderator: Michael Steven Smith - Attorney and author
THE STATE OF THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT
There is an urgent need for analysis as to why the anti-war movement has faded from public view despite the fact that it was the burning issue of the 2006 election and that nearly 70 percent of Americans support a US withdrawal from Iraq. Also, we will discuss how the movement can get back on track and make an impact in 2008 and beyond.
AK Gupta - Editor, The Indypendent
Max Uhlenbeck - Brecht Forum, Editor, Left Turn
Max Elbaum - Journalist
Moderator: Susie Day - Columnist
BEYOND WALLS AND CAGES: LINKING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND PRISON ABOLITION MOVEMENTS
The criminalization of migration builds on the nearly three-decade long project of mass incarceration. How can we understand how walls and cages target different groups of people, yet with similar effects, and how can the prison abolition and immigrant justice movements learn from and support each other?
Andrew Burridge - Geography, University of Southern California, ìMight a theory and politics of open borders manifest themselves spatially and challenge current forms of border securitization and militarization?î
Trishala Deb - Audre Lorde Project, ìThe intersections of racism, transphobia, and homophobia for immigrant community members, particularly around issues of enforcement and incarcerationî
Micol Seigel - African American Studies, African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, ìZero Tolerance Goes South: focus on the international police consulting of former NYPD and current LAPD Police Chief William Brattonî
Seth Freed Wessler - Research associate, Applied Research Center
Fahd Ahmed - DRUM, Desis Rising Up and Moving
Moderator: Lisa Bhungalia - Geography, Syracuse University
Moderator: Jenna Loyd - Syracuse University
SOLDIERS RESIST: ORGANIZING AGAINST WAR
This panel features the testimonials of activists employing diverse viewpoints and strategies in order to rebuild a vibrant anti-war movement.
David McReynolds - War Resisters League
Anna Brown - Witness Against Torture and the Kairos Community
Bill Weinberg - Editor, World War 4 Report
Brian Moore - St. Pete (Fla.) for Peace Coalition, Socialist Party USA
Moderator: Billy Wharton - Socialist Party USA, New York City Local
IS THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT DEAD?
The coalition between economic and social conservatives seems kind of rocky coming out of the Bush Presidency that brought them together. Is the Christian Right dead?
Chip Berlet - Senior Analyst, Political Research Associates
Tarso Luis Ramos - Research Director, Political Research Associates
Michelle Goldberg - Author
Rich Meagher - Political Science, Marymount Manhattan College
Moderator: Esther Kaplan - Nation Institute
(The Public Eye, Political Research Associates)
ANARCHISM AND THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Can anarchists shrug off the end of the Bush era and this particular U.S. presidential election as just the same old statecraft - and proceed to "shut down" the conventions - or do the race (Obama), gender (Clinton), and "hope" factors problematize our usual responses?
Cindy Milstein - Institute for Anarchist Studies
Ashanti Alston - Anarchist People of Color
Ariel - New York City Anarchist Bookfair Collective
Eric Laursen - New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists
THE ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICAN POLICE STATE
However narrow and restrictive American bourgeois democracy was before 9/11, its juridical and institutional underpinnings have been transformed by the Bush administration (with the complicity of the Democratic Party) into what can now most accurately be described as a police state.
Heidi Boghosian - Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild
C. Clark Kissinger - Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience
Lynne Stewart - Attorney
Moderator: Michael Steven Smith - Law and Disorder Radio
KEEPING DOWN THE BLACK VOTE: RACE AND THE DEMOBILIZATION OF AMERICAN VOTERS
New voters are trouble, so it is more efficient to work to suppress opposition voters, and blacks are the usual target of vote suppression, a tactic is used both by the Republican and the Democratic parties.
Lori Minnite - Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Major Owens - US Congress, retired
Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Andy Hsiao - The New Press
A RIGHT TO THE CITY!
Communities throughout New York City are coming together to create a proactive, unified and strategic community-based response to gentrification and displacement, including through the development of a local and national alliance, Right to the City, that is working to build a broad-based urban movement fighting for housing, education, health, racial justice, and democracy.
Nayhshene Molina - Families United for Racial and Economic Equality
Nova Strachan - Mothers on the Move
Robert Robinson - Picture the Homeless
Rickke Mananzala - Fabulous Independent Radicals for Community Empowerment
Moderator: Laine Romero-Alston - Urban Justice Center
HOMELESSNESS & RESISTANCE IN NEW YORK CITY
An interactive discussion around critical themes relating to homelessness, housing exclusion and the housing market, and the implication for strategies of resistance in terms of race, class and gender.
Jean Rice - Board Member and civil rights leader, Picture the Homeless
Nikita Price - Organizer, Rental Subsidies Campaign, Picture the Homeless
Rogers - Housing Campaign, Picture the Homeless
Lynn Lewis - Picture the Homeless
Sam Miller - Picture the Homeless
Moderator: Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
(Picture the Homeless)
HARLEM IS SEIZED!
How do land issues manifest within black communities, what are their commonalities to other liberation struggles, what is the relationship between the struggle for specific local reforms such as tenants rights and the liberation of the ìimagined community", in what ways is Harlem a new manifestation of the diaspora of folks of African descent.
Nellie Hester Bailey - Harlem Tenants Council
Kamau Franklin - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Haja Worley - Community Gardens
RenÈ Francisco Poitevin - New York University
Moderator: Cleo Silvers - For A Better Bronx
THE EVOLUTION OF REVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND PRACTICE
Detroit City of Hope campaign points the way for twenty-first century cities.
Ron Scott - Detroit Black Panther Party, TV producer
Shea Howell - Detroit Summer, columnist, Michigan Citizen
William Copeland - Poet, cultural worker
Moderator: Grace Lee Boggs - James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, Detroit
(James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, Detroit)
REIMAGINING 1968: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT AND ITS LEGACIES
This panel critically analyzes the way in which Black Power radicalism impacted the local, national and international events of 1968.
Donna Murch - Rutgers University
Herb Boyd - Journalist, New York, Amsterdam News
Moderator: Peniel Joseph - Brandeis University
NO NEOLIBERALISM WITHOUT 1968? THE CONTRADICTORY LEGACY OF THE CULTURAL REBELLION
Is it possible that the cultural upheavals of the ë60s paved the way for neoliberal policies to be not only implemented but accepted widely?
Ingar Solty - York University, Toronto
Barbara Epstein - University of California, Santa Cruz
Thomas Seibert - Interventionist Left, Germany
Leo Panitch - York University, Toronto
Moderator: Lisa Maya Knauer - Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
(Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - Berlin)
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD: THE LEGACY OF í68
Tariq Ali - Journalist
Max Elbaum - Journalist
Frank Deppe - Political Science, University of Marburg, Germany
Frances Fox Piven - Political Science, Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Lori Minnite - Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
MOVEMENT-BUILDING: FINDING COMMON GROUND
Drawing on organizing experience across race, ethnic, gender, and generational lines, panelists will discuss what kind of movement we need to build, how we can bridge theory and practice, how to raise difficult issues, and how older activists can make themselves useful to the young.
Howie Machtinger - Heirs to a Fighting Tradition, "Intergenerational Politics: Legacies of the Sixties"
Susan Wilcox - Brotherhood/SisterSol, "Youth Development for Social Change"
Moderator: Suzanne Pharr - Southerners on New Ground (SONG), "Let the Circle Be Unbroken"
THE BATTLE FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: FROM DIALOGUE TO ACTION
Join us for a dialogue exploring how we can respond effectively to tough questions about immigration, chip away at the anti-immigrant attitudes being amplified by the media, and support immigrants who are organizing against deportation, defending their labor rights and building community power.
Jane Guskin - Author
Aarti Shahani - Co-founder, Families for Freedom
Victor Toro - Founder, Vamos a la PeÒa del Bronx
Ana Maria Archila - Co-Executive Director, Make the Road, NY
Moderator: Adriana Rocha - Program Officer, New York Foundation
(Monthly Review)
GENDER, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE: ORGANIZING ON THE MARGINS
In the context of the steady decline of organized laborís white male workers manufacturing jobs, this panel shifts the focus to organizing precarious employment and immigrant labor in an increasingly anti-immigrant climate.
Jennifer Klein - History, Yale University, "We Were the Invisible Workforce: Low-wage Labor in the American Welfare State"
Graham Cassano - Sociology and Anthropology, Oakland University, "Republicanism, class war, and the cultural struggle: Lou Dobbs and the new nativism"
Troy Rondinone - History, Southern Connecticut State University, "Republicanism, class war, and the cultural struggle: Lou Dobbs and the new nativism"
Nicole Trujillo-Pag·n - Sociology, Wayne State University, "From 'Gateway to the Americas' to the 'Chocolate City': The Racialization of Latinos in New Orleans"
Moderator: David Fasenfest - Editor, Critical Sociology, Sociology, Wayne State University
(Critical Sociology)
LEFT PERSPECTIVES ON IMMIGRATION CONTROVERSIES
This panel will focus on the impact of immigrant workers on the political and economic realities facing the US working class today.
Amy Sugimori - Executive Director, LaFuente
David Van Arsdale - Sociology, Hartwick College and Joseph S. Murphy Institute, CUNY
Immanuel Ness - Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Stephen Steinberg - Urban Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY
Moderator: Marty Oppenheimer - Sociology, Rutgers University
REORGANIZING THE WORKING CLASS
The panel will address the profound crisis within the labor movement and the strategic dimensions of its potential revival as an oppositional force.
Kate Bronfenbrenner - Labor Education Research, Cornell University, ìThe Impasse in Unions and Union Organizingî
Ai-Jen Poo - Domestic Workers United, ìOrganizing Immigrant Workers in Non-traditional Union Sectorsî
Bill Fletcher, Jr. - The Black Commentator, co-founder of Center for Labor Renewal, ìFrom the Workplace to the Community: Re-strategizing Class Struggleî
Moderator: Jerry Tucker - Co-founder, Center for Labor Renewal, United Auto Workers
(Center for Labor Renewal)
A LABOR MOVEMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
What kind of labor movement is needed to deal with 21st century conditions of globalization, labor migration, widespread unemployment and a huge but largely unorganized service sector; and how do womenís rights and workersí rights, workplace issues and community issues, come together to build this kind of movement?
Willie Baptist - Union Theological Seminary Poverty Initiative, ìOrganizing the Poorî
Marisa Franco - Domestic Workers United, ìUnionizing Domestic Workersî
Katie Quan - University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center, ìWomen, Work, and Globalizationî
Moderator: Carol Barton - Womenís International Coalition for Economic Justice, ìEconomic Rightsî
BEYOND WALLS AND CAGES: LINKING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND PRISON ABOLITION MOVEMENTS
The criminalization of migration builds on the nearly three-decade long project of mass incarceration. How can we understand how walls and cages target different groups of people, yet with similar effects, and how can the prison abolition and immigrant justice movements learn from and support each other?
Andrew Burridge - Geography, University of Southern California, ìMight a theory and politics of open borders manifest themselves spatially and challenge current forms of border securitization and militarization?î
Trishala Deb - Audre Lorde Project, ìThe intersections of racism, transphobia, and homophobia for immigrant community members, particularly around issues of enforcement and incarcerationî
Micol Seigel - African American Studies, African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, ìZero Tolerance Goes South: focus on the international police consulting of former NYPD and current LAPD Police Chief William Brattonî
Seth Freed Wessler - Research associate, Applied Research Center
Fahd Ahmed - DRUM, Desis Rising Up and Moving
Moderator: Lisa Bhungalia - Geography, Syracuse University
Moderator: Jenna Loyd - Syracuse University
New At Left Forum: InterActivist Workshops
on Saturday, March 15th
The INTERACTIVIST SPACE showcases the critical work of some of the local grassroots organizations fighting for a new world. On Saturday, March 12, each organization will conduct an hour-long workshop presenting their vision, strategy, and goals.
10am: North American New Humanist Forum - In thinking beyond borders and in international coalition with others, organizes grassroots actions against US bases in Europe.
11am: Jericho Amnesty Movement - A movement for gaining recognition of the fact that political prisoners and prisoners of war exist inside of the United States and fighting for their freedom.
12pm: Icarus - A network of people living with experiences that are commonly labeled as bipolar or other psychiatric conditions that envisions a new culture and language that resonates with our actual experiences of 'mental illness' rather than trying to fit our lives into a conventional framework.
1pm: Casa Atabex Ache - Women of color organizing to support the emotional, spiritual, physical and intellectual and revolutionary development of women and their health needs related to their experiences of abuse and neglect.
2pm: FIERCE! (Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment!) - A community organization for Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Queer, and Questioning (TLGBTSQQ) youth of color in New York City. who are dedicated to exploring and building power in our communities.
2pm: Domestic Workers United - An organization of Caribbean, Latina and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York, organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement to end exploitation and oppression for all.
3pm: No Bases - International anti-military base organizing against the presence and proliferation of foreign military bases in countries where demands for justice and self-determination are being thwarted by the expansion of foreign bases.
4pm: Al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is a broad-based, non-partisan, global, democratic association of grassroots activists and students.
5pm: New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists (NYMAA) - A broad organization of anarchists and anti-authoritarians who live in the New York metropolitan area. NYMAA is a social revolutionary organization.
6pm: The Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC NY) - Dedicated to winning improved conditions for restaurant workers and raising public recognition of restaurant workersí contributions to the city.
