SocialistWorker.org invites you to join us at Socialism 2009 conferences in Chicago on June 18-21 and San Francisco on July 2-5--for three days of political meetings, entertainment and discussion.
More than 160 talks in two cities...
Radical ideas and political discussion,
music, and more...
Register today!
The world economic crisis has shattered the free-market consensus that has dominated politics for the last generation. Meanwhile, the end of the conservative era and the election of the first African American president have raised expectations among working people that long overdue change is at hand. With capitalism in crisis, even some in the mainstream media are admitting that Karl Marx was right.
There has never been a better time for those who want to see fundamental change to get together to debate, discuss and organize for a new society—a society based on the needs of the many instead of the whims of a few. We need to organize a new left to meet the challenge of this new era.
That’s the purpose that Socialism 2009—expanded to two sites,Chicago and San Francisco, this year—has set for itself. Gather with activists from around the world to take part in dozens of discussions about changing the world: How can we end racism? What kind of organization do we need? What would a future socialist society look like?
Yes we can organize for socialism in the 21st century! ¡Sí se puede!
For more information, write to info@socialismconference.org or call us at 773-583-7884.
Debut of Workers' Republic: Workers' Republic is a 60-minute documentary that chronicles one of the most important labor victories in recent memory. Three weeks before Christmas 2008, in the depths of the economic crisis, Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors company told its workforce that the factory was closing. What those workers did next reverberated around the world, reminding the working class it possesses a power long forgotten. They occupied the doomed factory 24-hours a day for nearly a week, declaring they would not leave until they were given what their employer owed them.
Filmmaker and union steward Andrew Freund has assembled the accounts of several of the main fighters in the Republic struggle, including front line workers, the organizers of their tiny union United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, and a few of the thousand people that supported them through small acts of solidarity. Freund presents a pre-distribution rough-cut of the film in progress in this special screening at Socialism 2009.
To hear first hand about the Republic struggle, catch Armando Robles, president, United United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) Local 1110, in the panel, A New Era for Labor?
Just added...
Mumia-Abu Jamal call in: Former Black Panther and Pennsylvania death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has served close to 20 years behind bars, wrongfully-convicted of the killing of a Philadelphia police officer. He is the author of numerous books, including We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party and Live From Death Row, as well as weekly radio commentaries on Prison Radio.
China Miéville, award-winning author of King Rat and Perdido Street Station, will speak on Science Fiction, Fantasy and Utopia.
Rafael Feliciano Hernández, president of the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico and Katherine Adames of the Organización Socialista Internacional, discuss The Class Struggle in Puerto Rico.
Dr. Alan Jackson, of Physicians for National Health Program, Helen Redmond of Chicago Single-Payer Action Network and Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743 (invited), representing workers at the University of Chicago Hospitals, will take up different aspects of the health care crisis in the panel, In Critical Condition: Health Care in the U.S.
Immigration and workers' rights advocates Jorge Mújica, author of the political commentary column, México del Norte, and Martín Unzueta of the Chicago Workers Collaborative and Margarita Klein of the Workers United Union will join discussions on immigration reform and the role of immigrant workers in the labor movement.
Defending Academic Freedom Today: Three professors facing harassment for their outspokenness and committed scholarship discuss how we can organize to defend free speech and open inquiry on campus today. With Loretta Capeheart, Northeastern Illinois University; Margo Nankoe, Ithaca College and Nagesh Rao of The College of New Jersey.
Entertainment...
Son of Nun: Political hip hop artist, former Baltimore City high school teacher, activist, cancer survivor, sickle cell battler, and recipient of praise by Public Enemy's Chuck D as "[Leaving] a mean look on somebody’s face" for being "More than relevant!," S.O.N.doesn't just entertain his crowds he empowers them.
S.O.N. has shared the stage with artists like Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, and Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine as well as activists like Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, Rosa Clemente, and Liam Madden from Iraq Veterans Against the War. Music from his 2004 debut cd Blood And Fire has earned him spots on compilations with iconic artists ranging from The Last Poets to Sonic Youth, won him a Best of Baltimore award from the Baltimore City Paper, and took Best Song of the Week on NPR's website. S.O.N.'s forthcoming cd, The Art of Struggle, is a collaboration with producer DJ Mentos and will be released in early 2008.
Chuy Negrete, with guitar in hand, performs traditional "corridos," the folk music of his native Mexico. The son of migrant farmworkers who later settled in Chicago, Negrete went on to become one of the nation’s foremost musicologists and interpreters of Mexican and Chicano music. Chuy sets Chicano and working-class history to music and audiences can't help but sing, clap and laugh along.
The Last Internationale: Hailing from Long Island, New York, The Last Internationaleis a radical folk duo (Edgey and Delila) whose music brings together influences as disparate as Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, KRS-One and the Zapatistas. Rejecting the belief that musicians should be mere entertainers or controversial only for the sake of healthy political discourse, the group prefers to mix music with (dis)organized resistance. Their intent isn't simply to change your mind, but to inspire acts of rebellion that will bring down empires. Their self-titled debut album was recently released onManifesta Records.
Phillip Morris, born and raised in Chicago, has been described as "one of the ultimate word smiths of hip-hop" according to Skope magazine. He is a revolutionary thinker trapped inside of an emcee’s frame. A man whose passion for multi-syllabic rhyming borders an obsession.
The mixture of Phillip’s unique voice, complex rhyme schemes, anomalous subject matter, coherent freestyles, and comprehensibility has forced the underground hip-hop community to abruptly take notice, helping catapult Phillip into a steady cascade of live performances at various bars, venues, and political events.
He has been featured in the 2008 documentary I Am Hip-Hop (directed by Geoff Harkness) and is one of the 9 main stars of the upcoming 2009 documentary Roof Top Hip Hop (created by Oliver Holmberg, directed by Paul Moriarity Jr.)
Politics...
Paul D'Amato, author of The Meaning of Marxism and associate editor of theInternational Socialist Review, on The Real Lenin: Beyond Demonization and Mythmaking.
Laura Flanders, host of the daily progressive news show GRITtv, on Prospects for Progressives in the Obama Era.
Joel Geier, associate editor of the International Socialist Review, on The Economic Crisis: How Bad Will It Get?
Dahr Jamail, journalist and author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq and a forthcoming book on GI resistance, onEyewitness From Iraq—The Real Story.
Claudio Katz, professor of economics at the University of Buenos Aires and the author of Problems of Autonomism: Strategies for the Latin American Left, on The Impact of the World Crisis on Latin America.
Alan Maass, editor of Socialist Worker, on Abraham Lincoln and the Abolitionists.
Marlene Martin, director of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the editor of the New Abolitionist, on Fighting the Death Penalty: Yes We Can Win Abolition!
Ken Riley, president of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422 in Charleston, S.C., on A New Era for Labor?
Sharon Smith, author of Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the U.S. and Socialist Worker columnist, on The Role of Radicals in the Working-Class Struggle.
Ahmed Shawki, editor of the International Socialist Review and author of Black Liberation and Socialism, on How Are Revolutionary Parties Built?
Sherry Wolf, author of the forthcoming Sexuality and Socialism and editorial board member of the International Socialist Review, on Sexuality and Socialism.
Dave Zirin, renowned sportswriter and Socialist Worker and Nation columnist, joins with Chicago activists to speak on Just Say No to the Olympics 2016 in Chicago.
Saturday evening panel on
Building a New Left Internationally.
No comments:
Post a Comment