Left Forum 2008

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Cracks in the Edifice

Moderator: *Heather Rogers, Journalist and filmmaker

Resistance is fertile: Changing the World from the Ground Up

Moderator: *Eddie Yuen of the San Francisco Art Institute

Africa

Popular Struggles for Democracy in Kenya: Lessons from the 2007 Elections

  • Mukoma wa Ngugi of the University of Wisconsin: "African Leadership in Crisis"
  • Caroline Elkins of Harvard University: "Historical Legacies and Kenya's Contemporary Crises"
  • Micere Githae Mugo of Syracuse University, "What went wrong? A class analysis of the pitfalls of the democratic project in Kenya"
  • Tavia Nyong'o of New York University, "Perverse Neoliberalism"

Moderator: *Horace G. Campbell of the 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.

Moderator: *Victor Wallis of Socialism and Democracy

Southern Africa - Southern African Feminist Review (SAFERE), Zimbabwe

Moderator: *Thomas Ponniah of Harvard University

Speaking Truth to Power: Africa's Independant 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?

Moderator: *Milton Allimadi, of Black Star News, and the 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.

Moderator: *Lawrence Davidson of Middle Eastern History, West Chester University, Pennsylvania

Race & Racism: 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.

Moderator: *Peniel Joseph of 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.

Moderator: *Cleo Silvers of the For A Better Bronx

Radicalizing Human 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?

Moderator: *Meredith Tax of Women's World Organization for Rights, Literature & Development, Womens WORLD, "Some Strategic Questions about Human Rights"

Race and 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" one for peoples of African descent, the other for everybody else, including Asians and light-skinned Latinos.

Moderator: *Alyson M. Cole - Political Science, Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Why Have the Women's and Blacks' Movements Stalled? What Can Be Done to Restart Them?

Moderator: *Kazembe Balagun of the 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.

Moderator: *Jack McCallum and 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.

Moderator: *Ashanti Alston of the 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 original sin of counting African Americans as 3/5ths of a man.

Moderator: *Lourdes Hern·ndez-Cordero of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University and the 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.

Moderator: *Makani Themba-Nixon, Executive Director of The Praxis Project, (Center for Immigrant Families)


Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the DeMobolisation of African 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.

Moderator: *Andrew Hsiao of 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?

Moderator: *Lisa Bhungalia, Geography, Syracuse University Moderator: *Jenna Loyd of 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 of the 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 of Wuhan University, China, Gender in China
  • Wu Xinwei of Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìGramsci in Chinaî
  • Li Dianlai of Wuhan University, China, Purdue University, ìHabermas in Chinaî
  • Wang Xinyan of Wuhan University, China, "Keeping a Foothold on Concrete Reality in Chinese Marxist Philosophy"

Discussant: *Peter Hudis of Oakton Community College Moderator: *Kevin B. Anderson of Purdue University Moderator: *Josh Howard of the Graduate Center, CUNY


China: Economic Crisis, Environmental Collapse, and Workers Struggles in Chinas' 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 Catastrophe
  • Stephen Philion, Sociology, St. Cloud State University, "The Ideology of Rights and Workers Resistance to Privatization in China"
  • Yan Sun of Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY, "Corruption, growth and reform, the Chinese enigma"

Moderator: *Magali Sarfatti Larson of Temple University (emerita)


Tariq Ali on Pakistan

Culture

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.

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 of Rice University, "The Politics of 'Intersectional' Feminism"

Moderator: *Barbara Foley, English, Rutgers University, Newark, Science and Society


Left Perspectives on Psychoanalysis

  • Isis Leslie, "Romantic Individualism, Existentialism, and Melancholia: The Case of Richard Wright"
  • Stanley Aronowitz of the Graduate Center, CUNY, "Can We Grasp the Social World with Psychoanalysis?"
  • 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, a Psychotherapist, New York, "The Class Analysis of Caring Labor"
  • 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 you're 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

Moderator: *Marco Ceglie of Billionaires for Bush Moderator: *Susie Day, Columnist


Transformative Thinking, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Future of Capatilism

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 of Rutgers University

Moderator: *James Trimarco, Writer


The Left Analyzes Everyday Life

Moderator: *Harriet Fraad, Psychologist, "Laborers in the Field of Emotion: What is Emotional Labor and Why Is It Unpaid?"

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.

Moderator: *Ashanti Alston, of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Ecology and Environment

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.

Moderator: *Barbara Garson, Writer


Daniel Singer Essay Prize: Eco Socialism in the Time of Global Warming

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."

Moderator: *Frank Fried, Activist, 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.

Moderator: *Joel Kovel, author and editor of Capitalism Nature Socialism


China: Economic Crisis, Environmental Collapse and Worker's Struggles in China's 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, China's Capitalist Catastrophe
  • Stephen Philion, Sociology, St. Cloud State University, "The Ideology of Rights and Workers' Resistance to Privatization in China"
  • 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.

Moderator: *Natalie Jeremijenko of New York University, (Climate Crisis Coalition)

Education

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.

Moderator: *Makani Themba-Nixon, Executive Director of 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.

Moderator: *Rosemary Mealey, Writer and educator


Education Vs. Schooling - The Roles of the Political Intellectual In and Out of Academia

  • Stanley Aronowitz, Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, "Against Schooling"
  • C. Ricardo Brown, Cultural Studies, Pratt Institute, "The 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, "Doing Philosophy and confronting its consistent depoliticization in the academy - restoring historical materialism"
  • Edwina Stokes, Long Island University, Brooklyn

Moderator: *Dominic Wetzel - Graduate Center, CUNY, Situations Journal

Electoral Politics

Left Political Parties, Left Electoral Successess and the Strategic Challenge of NeoLiberalism and Right Wing Populism

  • Michael Krotke, 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 of the 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.

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.

Moderator: *Nancy Holmstrom of Rutgers University, Newark

Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the Demobolization 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.

Moderator: *Andy Hsiao of The New Press


Anarchism and the 2008 American 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?


Looking Presidential? Symbols and Substance, Obama and Clinton

How race and gender have been used, abused and misunderstood in the primaries.

Moderator: *Gary Younge of The Guardian and The Nation

Europe

Building the Left in Northern Core Capitalist Countries

  • Frank Deppe, Political Science, University of Marburg, Germany, "The crisis of neoliberal hegemony and the emergence of authoritarian capitalism"
  • Javier Navascues, Management Science and Industrial Organisation, University of Seville, Spain, "United Left in Spain - Its current difficulties and former successes"
  • Mimmo Porcaro, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, "Building a new Left party into a populist society: Is the 'Italian Case' back?"
  • Thomas Seibert, Interventionist Left, Germany, Party and movements, moderates and radicals. Lessons learned from Cologne 1999 to Heiligendamm 2007

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.

Moderator: *Tamara Vukov, McGill University


Understanding 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 Krotke, 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?

Moderator: Julia Wrigley - Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY

Women, Gender & Sexuality

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 people's real life concerns.

Moderator: *Meredith Tax, President, Women's WORLD, "What I've Learned"

The Pleasure Frontier: An Intergenerational Dialogue On Sex in Feminism An interrogation of sex and sexuality through various generations of feminisms

Moderator: *Marcia Gillespie, Ms. Magazine

Dangerous Liason: 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, "Feminism Seduced? The Uses Of Feminist Ideology For Corporate Elites In The Age Of Terror"
  • Iris Nowak, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, "About the conservative German Secretary of Family Affairs and other feminists. Why feminism is (not) a Left issue"
  • 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.

Moderator: *George Friday, National Coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network

Sex Work, Trafficking and Left Politics: Towards a New Vision on Prostitution and Justice

This panel will unite sex workers, rights activists and professional intellectuals working on queer theory, feminism and progressive sexual politics to discuss the relationship between sex work and the Left.

Moderator: *Antonia Levy, Graduate Center, CUNY

Is a Radical Homosexual Agenda Possible?

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?

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

HEALTHCARE

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

labor

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

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) LATIN AMERICA

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

marxism & theory

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

MEDIA

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

middle east

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)

MOVEMENT BUILDING

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

political economy

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

religion & spirituality

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)

UNITED STATES

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

URBAN ISSUES

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)

1968 - 40 years later

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"

MIGRATION

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.

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