Beyond the Ballot: Whole Weekend Schedule

Friday

6:00-7:00         Registration

7:00-8:30         Struggle in the Big Apple: The Stella D’Oro Strike (Plenary #1)

 

Saturday

9:00-10:00       Breakfast/Registration

10:00-10:30     Icebreaker/Review of Program

10:30-12:00     Now the Hard Part: Movement Building Under Barack Obama (Plenary #2)

12:00-1:25       Workshop Block A

- The Need For An Organized Socialist Voice Today: Advanced Democratic Socialism

- Confronting Neoliberalism: The Pink Tide in Latin America

- Beyond Prop. 8: Queer Politics from the Left

- The Struggle Continues: Anti-Racism Under a Black President

1:25-2:25         LUNCH

2:30-4:00         Student Debt: The New Indentured Servitude (Plenary #3)

4:00-4:15         BREAK

4:15-5:30         Workshop Block B

                        - What We Believe: Democratic Socialism For Beginners

- WTF is Going On? A Primer on the Financial System and the Economic Crisis

- Gender, Race, and Class: A Socialist-Feminist Response To Patriarchy

- Strike While the Iron Is Hot: How to Build a YDS Chapter

5:30-5:45         Wrap-up/Directions to dinner & party

7:30-11:00       PARTY at the Sixth Street Community Center

 

Sunday

10:00-11:00     Breakfast/Registration

11:00-11:15     Review of Program

11:15-12:30     Workshop Block C

- Labor’s Armageddon? The Employee Free Choice Act and the Future of U.S. Labor

- Obamacare or Single-Payer? Prospects for Real Universal Healthcare Under Obama

- Global Pressures, Local Impact: What’s Next for the Immigrant Rights Movement?

12:30-12:45     BREAK

12:45-2:15       The Economic Crisis and the Wars (Plenary #4)

2:15-3:15         LUNCH

3:15-4:30         Workshop Block D

                        - Obama the Dove? The Peace Movement Under Obama

                        - Organizing as Radicals: Building Power and Transforming Policy

                        - Planet Over Profit: The Future of the Green Movement

4:30-5:15         Closing Session: We are an Intergenerational Movement!

5:15-5:45         Farewells/Final Networking

 

 

Now, the Hard Part: Movement Building Under Barack Obama

Obama is in the White House and Democrats enjoy an expanded majority in Congress. That was the easy part. What comes next? How should the left respond to the new political realities? How can we the constructively use the partially misguided, but nonetheless real, expectations for change Obama’s victory has unleashed among youth, students, people of color and labor? And what are our prospects of building social movements that can really bring about “change we can believe in” in a time of war and economic crisis?

 

Speakers: Joseph Schwartz

          Bill Fletcher, Jr.

          Amy Goodman

Struggle in the Big Apple:  The Stella D’Oro Strike

Election seasons come and go but the struggle for workers’ rights is constant. To kick off the conference, Mike Filippou will discuss the ongoing Stella D’Oro cookie workers strike, a strike that has been ongoing since August 13th of last year. This plenary will be a first hand account of one of the many struggles happening right here in New York City.Election seasons come and go but the struggle for workers’ rights is constant. To kick off the conference, Mike Filippou will discuss the ongoing Stella D’Oro cookie workers strike, a strike that has been ongoing since August 13th of last year. This plenary will be a first hand account of one of the many struggles happening right here in New York City.

Speakers: Mike Filippou

The Economic Crisis and the Wars: Seeing Through the Misdirection

Since our economic problems transformed from mere hiccup into full blown crisis, most American eyes have turned away from the Iraq War, the former cornerstone of the Obama campaign, and instead focused on their leaking pocketbooks.  But are these issues unrelated or are they different sides of the same coin?  This plenary will examine relationship between the economic crisis and the wars.  How are the trillion dollar plus price tags on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affecting our financial system and efforts to fix it?  With this much money devoted to military endeavors is the “Green Revolution” really possible and will there be enough left over to truly stimulate the economy, let alone fix our failing social services?  How does the mismanagement of tax payer dollars by private corporations in Iraq compare to the raging speculation and subsequent bonus allocation of the corporations on Wall Street?    

 

Speakers: Mark Levinson

                Frances Fox Piven

                Christian Parenti 

 

Student Debt: The New Indentured Servitude?

As higher education becomes ever more a prerequisite in the American job market, tuition, fees, and other expenses at our nation’s colleges and universities continue to skyrocket, forcing students to take on debt that can take decades to pay off. Not only is this a financial drain on graduates, but it severely restricts their career choices, distorts the goals of college education, especially in the liberal arts, and reinforces the dominance of capital. This plenary will examine the scope of student debt in the U.S., the corporatizaton of the university, how students can build a movement to take on the student debt industry, and the ways that the financial crisis might inhibit access to higher education.

 

Speakers: Jeffrey Williams

          Christine Kelly

Closing Session: We are an Intergenerational Movement!

To wrap up the conference, seasoned activists will describe some of their experiences as youth in the movement and impart wisdom to the next generation of people working for social change.

Speakers: Steve Max
Liza Featherstone

Workshops

 

What We Believe: Democratic Socialism For Beginners

 

It’s no secret that most people in the U.S. have some interesting misconceptions regarding socialism. During the Cold War, it was identified with mustachioed tyrants, breadlines, and prison camps. And during the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama was bizarrely accused by the Right of being a red when he called for increased regulation of finance and a slight increase in income taxes for the wealthy. But just what is socialism – particularly democratic socialism? This workshop will provide an explanation of basic democratic socialist theory and a brief overview of the history and purpose of our organization, Democratic Socialists of America.

 

Speakers: Erik Rosenberg

                Chris Maisano

 

Confronting Neoliberalism: The Pink Tide in Latin America

 

After decades of living under U.S. political and economic dominance, many Latin American countries are charting a new course for their peoples under the leadership of a multi-tendency Left. This panel will examine the effectiveness of Left governments and their relationships to popular movements, discuss how the Latin American example can influence movement building in the U.S., the Obama administration’s possible approaches to the region, and how the economic crisis might affect the leftward surge.

 

Speakers: Tatiana Guerrero

                Mark Engler

                Kevin Watkins

 

Beyond Prop. 8: Queer Politics from the Left

While the recent passage of anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 was a blow against the LGBT movement for full equality, queer activists on the left have long argued for an agenda well beyond the right to marry.  In this workshop panelists will lead a discussion on how queers and our allies can best fight homophobia and transphobia while working for racial, gender, and economic justice.  The workshop will address debates within the LGBT activist community and strategies for taking advantage of the changing political climate.

Speakers: Eliyanna Kaiser

                Kenyon Farrow

                Lucas Shapiro

 

Gender, Race, and Class: A Socialist-Feminist Response To Patriarchy

 

While some currents within the feminist movement identify the many intersecting structures of women’s oppression, a critical analysis of the ways in which the political economy of capitalism enforces this oppression is usually not as prominent. In this workshop, speakers will explore the relationship between capitalism and patriarchy, discuss the ways in which Bush set back the gains of the movement, and new organizing possibilities under Obama.

 

Speakers: Maria Svart

                Amanda Singer

                Raybblin Vargas

 

The Need For An Organized Socialist Voice Today: Advanced Democratic Socialism

 

For those who have already attended the Democratic Socialism for Beginners workshop. In this workshop, panelists will offer a deeper analysis of the theory and practice of democratic socialism that draws from a number of traditions on the Left and discuss the political role of an explicitly democratic socialist organization in this age of war and economic crisis.

 

Speakers: Joseph Schwartz

                Corey Walker

                Katie Romich

 

Planet Over Profit: The Future of the Green Movement

 

Driven by the increasingly dire reports of environmental scientists, in recent years socialists have begun to formulate an analysis of the ways in which the political economy of capitalism threatens to fatally undermine the health of our ecosystem. This panel will offer an introduction to this analysis, the attempted corporate co-optation of “sustainability,” and how socialists can work to reverse the environmental damage wrought by the Bush administration.

 

Speakers: Will Emmons

 

The Struggle Continues: Anti-Racism Under a Black President

                                              

Conservatives and many liberals have hailed Obama’s election as somehow signaling the end of racism and public policies intended to combat it, particularly affirmative action. In this workshop, speakers will debunk this myth, explain the ways in which racism continues to operate institutionally and historically, and highlight the need for society to affirmatively redress the continuing oppression of people of color.

 

Speakers: Komozi Woodard

                Maria Svart

                Emahunn Campbell

 

Global Pressures, Local Impact: What’s Next for the Immigrant Rights Movement?

 

There’s a lot of talk in the U.S. about immigration, but unfortunately much of it is very shallow when it is not outright xenophobic. Socialists have a comprehensive understanding of the international political economy that helps us explain how and why people are forced to migrate from poor to rich countries. The newest demand of a global immigrant rights  movement, “the right to not migrate”, illuminates the need for a more just global economy. This panel will describe “push” and “pull” factors, the growing immigrant detention industry, and the possible effects of the economic crisis on immigration trends in the Americas and around the world.

 

Speakers: Carlos Jimenez

                Christine Lewis from DWU

                David Duhalde

 

Obamacare or Single-Payer? Prospects for Real Universal Healthcare Under Obama

 

President Obama likes to claim that his healthcare plan achieves universal coverage, but it doesn’t. Fortunately, there’s a better alternative: universal, government-sponsored single-payer health insurance. This workshop will identify the weaknesses of Obama’s plan, make the case for single-payer and illustrate its success in other countries, and discuss the possible effects that the economic crisis and the administration’s stimulus plan might have on the struggle to win real universal healthcare for all.

 

Speakers: Flavio Hickell

                Billy Wharton

                Martha Livingston

 

Strike While the Iron Is Hot: How to Build a YDS Chapter

 

The onset of the economic crisis, combined with the increased hopes of youth and students inspired by Obama’s election, have given us a unique opportunity to organize our campuses and communities on a much larger scale. These opportunities don’t come very often, so let’s make the most of it. This workshop will give participants the skills to start a chapter, maintain good group dynamics, and incorporate democratic socialist education into your organizing program. YDS chapters are highly recommended to send newer members to attend this workshop.

 

Speakers: Mike McCabe

                David Duhalde

                Natalie Green

                Emahunn Campbell

 

Obama the Dove? The Peace Movement Under Obama

 

President Obama gained his initial popularity by opposing the Iraq war, and he owes his victory in large part to anti-war voters. While he seems committed to removing (most) troops from Iraq, he has pledged to deepen U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This workshop will address some important questions regarding the direction of the peace movement under Obama: How to make sure the U.S. fully withdraws from Iraq? How to deal with popular support for deeper intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan? How does a Democratic president and Congress affect our anti-war strategy?

 

Speakers: Erik Rosenberg

                Leia Petty   

                Matthis Chiroux

Labor’s Armageddon? The Employee Free Choice Act and the Future of U.S. Labor

 

While still in decline after thirty years of sustained class war from capitalist America, the labor movement contributed millions of dollars and thousands of committed activists to the Obama campaign. The new administration has shown little commitment to advancing a serious labor agenda, but there is a decent chance that the unions can win the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) during Obama’s first term. And because of massive corporate opposition, it will be a fight. This workshop will explain what EFCA is, why it is so important, and teach participants how to run a pro-EFCA campaign on their campuses and in their communities.

 

Speakers: Maria Svart

                Katie Romitch

                Maria Escobar

 

WTF is Going On? A Primer on the Financial System and the Economic Crisis

 

Yeah, we know it’s bad. But the financial system is so complex that it makes it hard for most of us to understand what’s actually going on in the economy, why it’s in crisis, and what can be done about it. Panelists will tackle these matters as well as the big one: how democracy is ultimately incompatible with capitalism and why we need radical change if we want to avoid more misery.

 

Speakers: Joseph Schwartz

                Corey Walker

                Seth Hutchinson

 

Organizing as Radicals: Building Power and Transforming Policy

You know what you want, you know why you want it, and you know who you want on your side. But exactly how do you go about organizing a campaign to fight for and win your issue? This workshop will offer practical training on social justice organizing models.  The panel of advocates will share experiences and explore how leftists can both work within and up against the system to empower communities and enact meaningful reforms on or off campus.

 

Speakers: Lucas Shapiro

                Mike McCabe

                Michelle O’Brien

                Margarita Hernandez