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***Forward Widely*** War, Poverty, Racism: Time for An Alternative Northeast Socialist Conference Saturday, November 5; City College; 138th St & Convent; New York City Join Malik Rahim, Barbara Becnel, Alejandro Abarca, Ahmed Shawki, Victor Paredes, Jeremy Scahill, Tariq Khan, Charles Petersen, and Son of Nun at this year’s Northeast Socialist Conference. A new opposition is being born. In DC hundreds of thousands turned out in the biggest anti-war demonstration since the start of the Iraq war. The anger and outrage against Bush’s policies at home and abroad were summed-up in the slogans, “Make Levees Not War” and “No Iraqis Left Me on a Rooftop to Die.” Millions of people are asking fundamental questions about, in Time Magazine’s words, “system failure.” The free market at home and abroad has produced savage inequalities. Instead of addressing these, the US government has imposed free trade policies that have further impoverished the world’s workers and peasants and pursued vicious attacks on our living standards here at home. To back up its reactionary economic agenda, Bush has diverted hundreds of billions of dollars to war and occupation leaving a trail of devastation in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Haiti. These horrors have laid the foundation for the new opposition and a new left. Cindy Sheehan’s stirring protest outside Bush’s ranch in Texas re-galvanized the anti-war movement. Katrina then sealed the end of what remained of Bush’s post-9/11 consensus. The hurricane’s devastation and the government’s callous, repressive and racist response exposed all that’s wrong with American society. In the wake of Camp Casey, Katrina, and the DC March, Bush has gone from winning an election in a polarized country to now becoming the least popular reelected President since Nixon, with solid majorities opposed to all his policies. With increasing urgency, a new generation of activists is looking for an alternative that can explain the crisis in our world and help galvanize a fight for a better society. This year’s North East Socialist Conference, “War, Racism, and Poverty: Time for an Alternative,” addresses today’s burning issues, how to fight for immediate reforms, and organize for a new society, a socialist society built to meet human needs from New Orleans to Baghdad. What you can find at the Conference: Featured Speakers: Malik Rahim, former Green Party Candidate for Mayor of New Orleans, veteran of the Black Panther Party, long time community activist, and leader in efforts for aid and reconstruction in New Orleans. Barbara Becnel, author and advocate for California death row prisoner and Nobel Prize nominee, Stan “Tookie” Williams, currently facing execution date of December 13th. Alejandro Abarca, Casa Freehold Organizer for Day Laborer Rights, leader of a victorious struggle to win a $10/hour minimum wage, 5 hour minimum day and the right to gather in town for immigrant workers, and organizer of protests against anti-immigrant bigotry. Ahmed Shawki, editor of the International Socialist Review and member of the steering committee of the National Council of Arab Americans. Victor Paredes, brother of war resister Pablo Paredes. Jeremy Scahill, a correspondent for the national radio and TV show "Democracy Now, author of recent Nation cover-story about New Orleans repression, "Blackwater Down: Fresh From Iraq, Private Security Forces Roam the Streets of an American City With Impunity." Son of Nun, up and coming radical rapper. Tariq Khan, George Mason University anti-war activist and victim of police repression during counter-recruitment. Charles Petersen, activist in the Anti War Coalition at Holyoke Community College, leader in counter-recruitment, and victim of police repression. Sarah Hines, eyewitness and participant in Venezuela’s World Youth Festival. Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, activist in NYU’s Antiwar Coalition and the Campus Antiwar Network and frequent author on the counter-recruitment movement on ZNet, Counterpunch, and Lefthook. Brian Jones, toured the country performing in Howard Zinn’s one-man Play, Marx in Soho, teacher in NYC Public Schools, and activist in his union. Plenary Panels: War, Racism, Poverty: The Case for Socialism Turning the Tide: Taking on Bush’s Wars at Home and Abroad Workshops on Organizing: Fighting the Racist Criminal Injustice System; Abortion Rights and the Fight for Women’s Liberation; An Army of None: Building the Counter-Recruitment Movement; Overcoming the Crisis in Education. Workshops on Marxism: System Failure: Why the Free Market Doesn’t Work; What is Imperialism?; Why We Need a Revolution; What is the Real Marxist Tradition?; Why We Need a Revolutionary Party; What Would Socialism Look Like?; Is Socialism Against Human Nature?; Why the Working Class Can Change Society; Slavery and the Origins of Racism. Workshops on Today’s Pivotal Questions: Can the Democrats Be the Party of the People?; The New Bigotry: Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Racism; Che’s Revolutionary Legacy; Chavez, Venezuela, and the Fight For Socialism; War Resisters: from Winter Soldier to Camp Casey; Blood for Oil: US Imperialism in the Middle East; The Struggle to Free Palestine; Unnatural Disasters: Capitalism’s Destruction of the Environment; Rebels with a Cause: SNCC, SDS, and 60’s Youth Radicalization; “They Died Because They Were Black and Poor:” Race and Class in America Today; Iraq for Iraqis: Why You Should Support the Iraqi Resistance; No Human Being is Illegal: The Fight to Defend Immigrant Rights; Barry Sheppard on “Lessons of Building Revolutionary Organization in the 1960s.” Party with Radical Rap Star Son of Nun Conference Schedule 9:00am: Registration opens 10:30am: Opening Plenary: War, Racism, Poverty: The Case for Socialism Noon: Workshop Session I 1:45pm: Lunch 3:15pm: Workshop Session II 5:15pm: Workshop Session III 6:45pm: Dinner 8pm: Final Plenary: Turning the Tide: Taking on Bush’s Wars at Home and Abroad 10pm: Party! City College, NAC Building, 137th St. & Convent Avenue 1/9 trains to 137th St., A/B/C/D trains to 145th Street Registration in NAC Ballroom: $5 for those outside NYC and $10 in NYC For more info: call (212)502-0707 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or visit http://www.nesocialistconference.net To reserve free on-site childcare, please call by Friday, October 28th Sponsored by: The International Socialist Organization, publisher of Socialist Worker & The Center for Economic Research and Social Change publisher of the International Socialist Review and Haymarket Books YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
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