Building a new left in a new era

[dcsmart]

Eric Ruder reports on the Socialism 2009 conference in Chicago.

MORE THAN 900 activists gathered in Chicago June 18-21 for the first stage of Socialism 2009--which continues in San Francisco July 2-5. The conference brought together people from across the U.S. and from all walks of life--teachers, students, bus drivers, military veterans, civil rights movement participants, independent journalists and activists from the U.S. and internationally.
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SEE FULL ARTICLE ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/23/new-left-in-a-new-era

[readmoreoften]

1. I was there. It was fantastic. /nt

[dcsmart]

2. cool

i'm jealous....did u attend the semiars....post some info about it i would love to hear about it

[readmoreoften]

3. Yes. I learned more in 4 days than I have in years. The sessions are being turned into podcasts.

I believe they will be free or pretty damn close.

There was close to 1000 people there, and the conference (first time splitting into two) on the West Coast has about 400 pre-registrants. The movement is growing.

1) I attended Wolf's Sexuality and Socialism, which covers LGBT history and its relationship to socialism, its importance to working class history and its depoliticization by postmodern, queer theory political movements.

2) Lenin and Luxemburg. The talk on Luxumburg was much better than the one on Lenin, which was a little too pedantic.

3) The Origins of Class Society. A really, really brilliant talk and discussion on original communism.

4) The art of the WPA. Fascinating!

5) Tom Paine and the American Revolution. A lot of discussion was given to the importance of bourgeois revolutions in light of the events in Iran.

6) There was an emergency session on Iran. Big stuff. A lot of clarifications on the backgrounds of Ahmedinejad, Rafsanjani, Mousavi, Khameni, etc. and possible readings on the revolt. A stance in solidarity with the uprisings was clearly decided.

7) Socialists from Venezuela came to discuss the Bolivarian revolution and there was a solid critique of Chavez mixed with realpolitik.

8) I went to Anand Gopal's lecture on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The information was astounding. I now have a good grasp on who the Taliban are in both Afghanistan and Pakistan (not the same group) and the insanity of this new imperial war.

9) Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill. Jeremy gave brutal information on the Obama administration: bullying and threatening junior members of congress to get money for war expansion, the absolutely absurdity of the charade of withdrawal (we're building an embassy the size of 80 football fields in Iraq--we're going to just abandon that?!) Amy was more watery. Her info was the least interesting of the conference in my opinion. She had some good stories about Ken Sarowewa, though.

10) The role of soldiers in a revolution. That session wasn't recorded. It was a very good analysis and discussion comparing US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan with the soldiers in the Russian Revolution. IVAW members participated.

11) "The Real Lenin" by Paul D'Amato was excellent. Good clarification of Lenin's actual historical positions.

12) Various ad hoc meetings on Academic Freedom occurred as well.

I'm sure I'm missing something! What was really amazing to me was the overall solidarity between ages, races, sexes, sexual orientations, and nationalities. Those who were well-known in "leadership" positions and well-known "intellectuals" were doing physical labor alongside everyone else. There was talk about reaching out to anarcho-syndicalist movements and social democrats. I was very impressed.

I wanted to do more than just bitch, so I joined back in, I guess, February. If a member can't afford to make it funds are raised, so impoverished members can afford to attend. That was pretty cool! I had my airfare and hotel taken care of!

[dcsmart]

4. Wow...very cool

that sounds like a great schedule and a terrific time. what a great experience. keep us up to date about the pod casts. we can post them here. i read D'Amato's book, but it would have been great to see him in person. well, i'm still jealous. thanks so much for the info...



:toast:

[Blue_Tires]

5. thanks for the updates!