Socialism 2019: Full Schedule

3:00pm CDT

“Seize the Plant, Save the Planet”: Organizing for a Green New Deal in the Rust Belt

Donald Trump won office in part because he promised to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., especially in the Rust Belt. Not only have these jobs not materialized so far, but the U.S. auto industry continues to suffer and sputter. Join organizers from the DSA in Rust Belt cities to discuss what the Green New Deal could look like on the ground.

Speakers

Natasha Fernández-Silber

Sean Crawford

Thursday July 4, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Climate Justice

3:00pm CDT

Edward Said: Culture and Resistance

Edward W. Said emphasized the importance and centrality of popular resistance in the framework of culture, history, and struggle. His thoughts on the war on terrorism, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, lay out a compelling vision for a secular, democratic future in the Middle East with a promise of reconciliation and peace for both peoples. Both Said and David Barsamian dissect the role of media propaganda and its golden rolodex of pseudo-experts in shaping public opinion.

Speakers

David Barsamian

One of America's most tireless and wide-ranging investigative journalists, David Barsamian has altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio show Alternative Radio—entering its 34th year year—and his books with Noam Chomsky, Eqbal Ahmad, Howard Zinn, Tariq... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Culture

3:00pm CDT

Sex Work and Sex Trade: Policing in the Carceral State

SESTA/FOSTA has changed the landscape of how sex workers are able to relate to their work, reversing many of the positive ways the internet had increased independence. Not only interfering with work directly these draconian legislative measures have made harm reduction, like sharing information about safer practices with other people in the sex trade, illegal. Attempts to scapegoat sex workers for the ills of society are not new. From sexist laws about unaccompanied women in public, profiling of trans Black women as prostitutes by law enforcement using condoms as evidence, racist immigration policies, and carceralism are about controlling bodies and public space more than keeping anyone safe from "traffickers." Making sex work illegal makes all workers more vulnerable to threat from the state.

Speakers

Dominique McKinney

Carol Leigh

Carol Leigh has been an artist and sex worker activist since the late seventies when she coined the term 'sex work.' http://www.bayswan.org/sexwork-oed.html Leigh’s activism spans decades, as a COYOTE member, founding member of (Bay Area) ACT UP and SWOP, and co-founder of B... Read More →

Kelli Dorsey

Kelli Dorsey was born and raised in Wheaton, MD outside of the DC metropolitan area. This is where she learned harm reduction, how to organize and developed her radical analysis. She's participated in many aspects of the harm reduction community, organizing for people who trade sex... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Clark B/C

Gender Liberation

3:00pm CDT

Can we Organize Amazon?

The growth of behemoth employers like Amazon, which utilizes logistics to maintain record profits at the expense of a hyper-exploited, low-wage workforce, raises questions about whether or not it's possible for those workers to engage in traditional union-organizing campaigns. This talk examines the potential and what it would mean to strike a blow against Amazon.

Speakers

Joe Allen

I’ve been a socialist for over four decades and a member of DSA since last summer. I’ve been most active in the Labor Working Group but recently joined the Environmental Justice Working Group to work on the ‘Democratize ComEd’ campaign. My work life has largely revolved different... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Labor

3:00pm CDT

Highlander: From Rosa Parks to Today's Struggles

Founded in the depths of the Great Depression as a labor organizing school, Highlander grew with the struggles to organize the working class in the 1930s and 1940s, transforming into a vehicle for civil rights organizing in the 1950s and 1960s. As a space for rural adult education, located in the Appalachian Mountains in the US south, by looking at the history of Highlander we gain an understanding of the radical traditions of working class, poor, and rural whites and the connections of solidarity forged with Black workers, eventually taking on struggles for civil rights beyond the workplace. Today, Highlander continues to fight for justice and equality, supporting organizing and leadership development among Latino immigrants and young people, encouraging the use of culture to enhance social justice efforts, and helping organizations develop new strategies and alliances.

Speakers

André Canty

André Canty is a native of Knoxville and is the former President the 100 Black Men of Greater Knoxville. He is a writer with publications in the Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville Writers’ Guild, Huffington Post, and various other sources. Canty also serves on the board for KnowHow... Read More →

Elizabeth Wright

A Tennessee native, Elizabeth is the founder of KnowHow, an organization which supports leadership development and community engagement among Knoxville's youth, celebrating art, culture, and media as vital tools to cultivate their agency and amplify their voices. As part of the Highlander... Read More →

Erik Wallenberg

Erik Wallenberg is a socialist activist and teacher from New York City who has written for Climate and Capitalism, Jacobin, and Socialist Worker.

Thursday July 4, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Field B/C

US Politics

5:00pm CDT

Opening Plenary

Whether this is your first Socialism conference or your twentieth, Socialism 2019 is the place to meet new comrades and encounter new ideas. Come hear the welcoming message from the Socialism conference sponsors and get oriented for a weekend of radical politics, debate, and entertainment!

Sponsors

Socialism 2019 Sponsors

Thursday July 4, 2019 5:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Ballroom

Plenary

7:30pm CDT

Education, Black Power, and the Radical Imagination

Radical history--especially the history of Black activists fighting for their own liberation--is often deliberately obscured and denied in schools. But teaching that history is a powerful tool in helping people claim their rights. Hear how in this session.

Speakers

Russell J. Rickford

Russell Rickford is an associate professor of history at Cornell University. He specializes in African-American political culture after World War Two, the Black Radical Tradition, and transnational social movements. His current book, We Are an African People: Independent Education... Read More →

Brian Jones

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Black Liberation

7:30pm CDT

Sometimes the Severed Head Rolls Left: A Political History of the Modern Horror Film

The accessibility and mass appeal of filmmaking has long attracted politically minded artists. This has been more-true for Horror than any other genre. This talk will sift the muck and gore of b-movies and block-buster slashers to identify the political anxieties that stalk our nightmares, and will make the case that the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of monsters.

Speakers

John McDonald

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Culture

7:30pm CDT

Bolsonaro, the New Right, and Class Struggle in Brazil

Brazil's leader, the fascist Jair Bolsonaro, is part of the same frightening tide of right-wing populism that also lifted Trump to victory in the U.S. As Bolsonaro threatens workers and political activists, what does his rule signify in the rest of Latin America, and how can his policies be resisted?

Speakers

Valerio Arcary

Valerio Arcary is recently retired as a professor from the Federal Institute of São Paulo (FSP) and holds a Doctorate in History from the University of São Paulo. He has been a revolutionary socialist organizer since the Portuguese Carnation Revolution and is a leading member of... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Field B/C

International

7:30pm CDT

All-American Nativism: How to End the Bipartisan War on Immigrants

The Trump administration has escalated the war on immigrants, consciously whipping up and leveraging a racist, nativist populism. But today's war on immigrants was developed under the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations. Mainstream immigration politics played a lead role in the demonization of "illegal immigrants," the scapegoating of migrant labor for the harms caused by mobile capital, and the construction of a gargantuan deportation pipeline linked into the core the carceral state—and thus, mainstream establishment politicians played a lead role in making Trumpism possible. This talk will examine that history and how Trump's barbarity has indeed heightened the contradictions, simultaneously deepening the hardship faced by immigrant communities and creating historic openings for the immigrant rights movement. The socialist left has a key role to play in this moment of establishment crisis by putting a radical defense of migrant worker rights at the center of anti-capitalist politics.

Speakers

Dan Denvir

Daniel Denvir is the host of The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin magazine, and the author of All-American Nativism, forthcoming from Verso. He writes about politics, criminal justice and immigration and, before stumbling into podcasting, was a reporter at the Philadelphia City Paper... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

Migrant Justice

7:30pm CDT

Colonialism, Slavery, and the Origins Of Capitalism

Colonialism, settler colonialism, and the transatlantic slave trade were intertwined with the rise of capitalism in Europe. However, these processes are often seen as completely distinct in many academic and activist discussions. Exploring Marxist frameworks and debates, this talk asserts the need for a globally integrated history of capital that resists all Eurocentrism.
This presentation builds off Pranav’s Socialism 2018 talk, “Marxism, Colonialism, and Revolution”
https://wearemany.org/a/2018/07/marxism-colonialism-and-revolution

Speakers

Pranav Jani

Pranav Jani is Associate Professor of English at The Ohio State University and a member of the AAUP. Pranav's research and teaching is in Postcolonial Studies and US Ethnic Studies, with a transnational, intersectional, and Marxist approach and a focus on South Asia. Along with... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Racism and Anti-Racism

7:30pm CDT

The Rise of Islamophobia from the War Abroad to the War at Home

The brutal Islamophobia weaponized by politicians as part of the U.S.-led "war on terror" continues to impact Muslims across the U.S. and beyond. That anti-Muslim hate is becoming further entrenched with the growth of right-wing populism. This talk will examine how Islamophobia is used to bolster U.S. government aims and how we can oppose it.

Speakers

Rozina Ali

Rozina Ali is a journalist based in New York. She was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, and was a senior editor at the Cairo Review of Global Affairs in Egypt from 2013 and 2015. Her work focuses on the War on Terror, Islamophobia, Middle East and South Asia, and culture... Read More →

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Grant Park B

Racism and Anti-Racism

7:30pm CDT

Independent Media in a Time of Crisis

Speaking truth to power is a crucial job of the media in times of political volatility. Pioneering journalist Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now!, reflects on the role of independent media in today's climate.

Speakers

Amy Goodman

Thursday July 4, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

US Politics

8:30am CDT

DSA Meet N Greet

Grab your coffee, wear your chapter's DSA swag, and come meet DSA comrades from across the country.

Friday July 5, 2019 8:30am - 9:30am CDT

Meet-Up

9:30am CDT

Transfeminism and the Politics of Solidarity

Most feminists now agree that explicitly excluding trans people from feminists spaces and movements is the wrong thing to do, but what does including trans people in a feminist analysis look like? How can more intentional inclusion of trans people in feminist politics and movements strengthen feminism as a whole?

Speakers

Chris Legere

Friday July 5, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Clark B/C

Gender Liberation

9:30am CDT

Are you a Settler?: Settler-Colonialism, Capitalism and Marxism in North America

The development of U.S. capitalism was only made possible through slavery and the settler-colonialism. There are debates on the left around the definition of settler-colonialism and its relationship to capitalism. With the rise of the Idle No More movement in Canada and the struggle at Standing Rock, the question of who is and is not a settler has come up in the movement. Is the U.S. still a settler-colony? If not, when was it no longer a settler-colony? What was and is the driving force of the stealing of indigenous land? What are the real lived experiences of Indigenous people in North America. This talk attempts to open up the debate and discussion on what Socialists should and should not say about settler-colonialism in North America.

Speakers

Brian Ward

Brian Ward is an educator, socialist and indigenous rights activist. His writing has appeared in The Nation, Truth-Out.org and more. He contributed to the book 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals who Changed US History (Haymarket, 2012). Brian lives in Madison, Wisconsin and has... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Grant Park C/D

Indigenous Liberation

9:30am CDT

Iran on the Brink

The Trump administration's recent moves toward Iran may signal a renewed interest in "regime change" that could escalate into all-out war. This talk will examine what's behind the current sabre-rattling against Iran.

Speakers

Behzad Tehrani

Saman Sepehri

Saman Sepehri is an a long time activist of Iranian descent. He has written on Middle east politics, the internal dynamic of Iran, and questions of world energy and geopolitics of oil. He currently a member of Chicago DSA.

Friday July 5, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Dusable B/C

International

9:30am CDT

The Sleep of Reason: Misuses and Distortions of Biology

The panel will highlight two aspects of biological determinism.

1) "Stolen Voices: Who's Using the 'Science' of Race and Sex?"

In the 1960s and 1970s, there were fundamental debates about biological determinism. Key figures in the debates included the inauguration of Science and Society and People's Science in India, including Marxist historian Irfan Habib, and and critiques of E.O. Wilson's work by Lewontin, Dobzhansky, Gould, Keller, and others.

In the contemporary context, since many of the scientific discussions about race and sex are happening off-stage in peer-reviewed studies, the most publicly available work involves work written deliberately for a broader audience. Someone who is looking for information about what biology has to say (if anything) about "race" and "sex" might find a plurality of references to sources including an increasingly obstreperous group of people in public journalism, science, and policy who want to make grand claims about race and sex as a biological variables that can predict behavior, intelligence, and so on. Even if peer reviewed studies are made available, there is the problem of 'translating' them for those not trained in scientific writing and assessment. Some of the current 'translations' are co-opting scientific work.

This is the perfect context for a return of Science for the People! The talk will include discussion of key SftP texts from the 60s and 70s, including Biology as a Social Weapon, and will conclude with a call to action for the current SftP.

2) "The Biotech Juggernaut and the Commodification of Human Biology"
Whether or not it can be accurately performed, the disassembly, reassembly, and reconfiguration of human organisms by CRISPR and other gene- and embryo-modifying technologies is underway. The relevant methods are being developed with anticipation of great wealth from the sale of new products. These could be replacement tissues and organs, model systems for testing the effects of new drugs or, more ambitiously, children with biological features that their parents are otherwise unable to provide. As with other organisms and their tissues, human parts and part-humans are now raw materials of the industrial system. And similarly to other high-stakes manufacturing and commercial ventures, there has been little democratic control over these technologies and no shortage of academic and other opinion makers (many of them financial beneficiaries) set on normalizing them and diverting attention from their potentially radical civilizational implications.

Speakers

Lydia Patton

I work (increasingly) in climate organizing, and with Science for the People. Looking forward to talking about both.

Stuart Newman

Stuart Newman is a professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College. Hisresearch focuses on developmental biology and the evolutionary origin of biological forms. Hewas a member of the New University Conference, and Science for the People, at the Universityof Chicago... Read More →

Sponsors

Science for the People

Friday July 5, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Field B/C

Science and Society

9:30am CDT

The American South and the Left

The American South is often considered a bastion of reaction where progressive forces have never taken hold. This view, however, obscures a long history of working class resistance and struggle. Joel, Destiny, and Alex will examine this history in order to identify patterns to inform contemporary perspectives on organizing the South, and illustrate why the Left as a whole should take this project seriously.

Speakers

Alex Macmillan

Alex Macmillan is a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro, and active in the labor and immigrant rights movements.

Joel Sronce

Joel Sronce is a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill, and an anti-racist and campus-worker activist.

Destiny Blackwell

Destiny is an anti-racist activist based primarily in Winston-Salem, NC.

Friday July 5, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Burnham A/B/C

US Politics

9:30am CDT

Using Elections to Build Class Power

DSA’s electoral wins have made news, and made for lively discussions within and around the organization. What can the left hope to accomplish through electoral work? How can we best use electoral campaigns to galvanize our base? Elected officials and campaign organizers, all DSA members, will discuss lessons from their recent election campaigns, focusing on how such campaigns can be used to raise class consciousness — by naming class enemies and raising the expectations of the working class — and build on grassroots movements.

Speakers

Lillian Osborne

Jack McShane

Friday July 5, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Adler A/B/C

US Politics

11:30am CDT

Socialist Feminism: The Fight for Bodily Autonomy

For too long, Marxism viewed feminism with hostility, seeing it as incompatible with the fight for socialist liberation. At a time when reproductive rights hang by a thread, what can intersectional feminists and socialists bring to a conversation about the fight for women and the oppressed to control their own bodies?

Speakers

Taylor Edwards

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Gender Liberation

11:30am CDT

Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism Today

Debates over the position the Left should take to the war in Syria exposed deep divisions over understanding the nature of imperialism and anti-imperialism. Has an internationalist, anti-imperialist vision been abandoned by today's Left?

Speakers

Emma Wilde-Botta

Emma Wilde Botta is a socialist activist and writer based in the Bay Area.

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Field B/C

Imperialism

11:30am CDT

The Rise of the Far Right in the US and Europe

The political polarization of recent years has given rise not only to a surging Left, but also a disturbing right-wing, both in the streets in the US and in governments in Europe. What is driving this far-right growth? How did we get here? And how can the Left organize to take it on?

Speakers

Kathleen Belew

Kathleen Belew is a historian at the University of Chicago and author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Her book explores how white power activists wrought a cohesive social movement through a common story about warfare and its weapons, uniforms... Read More →

Alex de Jong

Alex de Jong is co-director of the International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) in Amsterdam, and editor of the Dutch socialist website Grenzeloos.org.

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

International

11:30am CDT

Black, Red, Brown Solidarity in the Age of Trump

A talk focused on the current and historic marginalization of Black, Latinx, and Muslim communities focused on the intersections of state surveillance, repression, mass incarceration and deportation.

Speakers

Lupita Romero

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Grant Park B

Racism and Anti-Racism

11:30am CDT

The Life and Thought of Rosa Luxemburg

One hundred years after her death, Rosa Luxemburg remains one of the most important theoreticians of revolutionary socialism, and one of the most overlooked. New information regarding Rosa Luxemburg strengthen our understanding of her relationship with other revolutionary comrades (such as Lenin), and – along with more familiar views – provide insights into the classical Social Democracy within which she did battle around issues of reform and revolution. Each of the five presenters, Peter Hudis, Paul Le Blanc, Dana Mills, Sandra Rein, and Helen Scott, will address an aspect of Luxemburg’s work that has been illuminated by the newly translated materials for the Verso Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg project.

Speakers

Helen Scott

Helen C. Scott is Associate Professor of English at the University of Vermont whereshe teaches contemporary global anglophone literatures. She has published broadly inpostcolonial literature and theory, including the monographs Caribbean WomenWriters and Globalization: Fictions of... Read More →

Paul Le Blanc

Paul Le Blanc’s books on the labor and socialist movements, in which he has been active formany years, include: A Short History of the US Working Class; A Freedom Budget for AllAmericans; and Lenin and the Revolutionary Party. He is one of the editors of the Versoedition of The... Read More →

Dana Mills

Dana Mills is a writer, activist and dancer based In Oxford, UK. Her first book:Dance and Politics: Moving beyond Boundaries was published by Manchester University Pressin 2016. Her next book is a biography and critical study of Rosa Luxemburg, forthcoming withReaktion Press in 2020... Read More →

Peter Hudis

Peter Hudis is a Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at Oakton Community Collegeand author of Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism (Brill, 2012) and FrantzFanon: Philosopher of the Barricades (Pluto Press, 2015), and has published innumerous journals on issued related... Read More →

Sandra Rein

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Revolutionary History

11:30am CDT

Socialism 101: Socialism from Below

What lies at the heart of the idea of "socialism from below"--the concept coined by socialist theorist Hal Draper to describe an emancipatory vision socialism led by working people? How does that differ from what we are told is socialism? What kind of socialist vision is worth fighting for? Come to this talk to find out.

Speakers

Anton Ford

Anton SFB Handout pdf

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Socialism & Marxism

11:30am CDT

Housing Justice and Rent Control: An Organizer's Roundtable

Across the U.S., rents are rising, gentrification is rampant, and displacement rates are high. Campaigns for rent control have emerged as a response to this issue, and they’re a solid step on the way to truly just housing. On this panel, housing organizers from across DSA will discuss lessons from their experiences and take on the question of how the left can use the demand for rent control today to build toward a more robust and comprehensive demand for social housing in the future.

Speakers

Ryan Hall

Ryan Hall currently serves as co-chair of the Iowa City DSA and is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa in Environmental Planning and Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. They are one of the founding members of the newly-formed Iowa City Tenants Union.

Allen Axelrod

Brian Sullivan

Sarah Richmond

Friday July 5, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

US Politics

2:00pm CDT

Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry

The work of African American playwright and author Lorraine Hansberry highlighted the struggles in the lives of Black Americans for dignity and liberation. Imani Perry examines Hansberry's life and work.

Speakers

Imani Perry

Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, where she also teaches in the Programs in Law and Public Affairs, and in Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and spent much of her youth in Cambridge... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Clark B/C

Black Liberation

2:00pm CDT

Social Reproduction Theory and Gender Liberation

Scholars and activists are paying increased attention to social reproduction theory--the idea that child care, education, family life and the roles of gender, race and sexuality, are central to understanding the relationship between economic exploitation and social oppression. But what does social reproduction theory have to say about the social construction of gender, and how can this theory guide the struggles for trans liberation and liberation from all gendered oppressions? This session will examine these questions.

Speakers

Corrie Westing

Corrie is a longtime queer socialist feminist activist based in Chicago working as a home birth midwife.

Rachel Cohen

Rachel Cohen is an organizer with Chicago Feminist Action and has been active in movements for reproductive rights, immigrant rights, and education justice and against police violence, sexual assault, and war.

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Gender Liberation

2:00pm CDT

Palestine and the Global Struggle for Justice

The founder of Electronic Intifada and the author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine looks at the current state of the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and asks where the struggle should go from here.

Speakers

Ali Abunimah

Ali Abunimah is director of the widely acclaimed publication The Electronic Intifada, an independent nonprofit publication focusing on Palestine. He is the author of One Country, A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (2007) and The Battle for Justice in Palestine... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Imperialism

2:00pm CDT

Revolution in Sudan and Algeria: The Arab Spring Then and Now

This year in Sudan and Algeria, people's uprisings won momentous victories for the first time since 2011 Arab Spring Revolutions, overthrowing the heads of the regimes in both countries. But the people have vowed to go beyond the overthrow of their dictators, to take down the entire structure of the old regimes and replace them with governments that represent the people. There are many lessons to be gleamed from these ongoing struggles.

Speakers

Shireen Akram Boshar

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Field B/C

International

2:00pm CDT

What is the Rank and File Strategy and Why Does it Matter?

The unionization rate in the U.S. has sunk to historic lows--even as a wave of struggles led by rank-and-file activists have challenged union officials to remain relevant. What is the rank-and-file strategy, and what can it mean for reviving the U.S. labor movement?

Speakers

Barry Eidlin

Associate Professor of Sociology, McGill University

Barry Eidlin is an Associate Professor of Sociology at McGill University, a longtime member of Solidarity, and more recently a member of DSA. He is a comparative historical sociologist who studies class, politics, social movements, and social change.His book, Labor and the Class Idea... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Labor

2:00pm CDT

Marxism and Human Nature

"Socialism can't work because people are naturally greedy." We've all heard pundits on the
right declare that socialism is doomed to failure because of a supposedly inbuilt human nature
that drives people to focus primarily on their own narrow self-interests. There are also
those on the left who believe the capitalism can be reformed but never abolished because of
innate limits to human cooperation and collective action. Is "human nature" really a barrier to
building a socialist society? This talk will explore what the Marxist understanding of "human
nature" means for those fighting for a better world.

Speakers

Bill Keach

Bill Keach was a member of DSA from 1976 to 1988 and of the ISO from 1989 to 2019.He lives in Boston and teaches in the English Department at Brown University in Providence. His articles have appeared in Socialist Worker, the International Socialist Review, and International Socialism... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Socialism & Marxism

2:00pm CDT

Which Base? Marxist Centers' Perspective on Basebuilding

The Marxist Center has emerged over the last few years. New and diffuse in political traditions and thoughts, what has united the Marxist Center is a commitment to basebuilding and revolutionary politics. However, the entirety of the Left seems to claim to be engaging in basebuilding. This talk offers a window into what the Marxist Centers' perspective on basebuilding is

Speakers

Andrew Joung

Andrew Joung has served on Philly Socialists' Central Committee, and on the Editorial Collective of its journal, The Philadelphia Partisan. Prior to Philly Socialists, he was a campus-organizer for Students for Justice in Palestine

Kate Doyle Griffiths

Sponsors

Marxist Center

Friday July 5, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Grant Park B

US Politics

4:00pm CDT

Ecosocialism Against the Market

Ecosocialism starts with the premise that environmental destruction and social injustice stem from the same source: a world where profit is valued over human need and a sustainable ecosystem. This session will argue the emancipation of people goes hand-in-hand with the emancipation of the earth from the cancer of capitalism.

Speakers

Kate Aronoff

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Climate Justice

4:00pm CDT

Birth Strike: Why Reproductive Freedom is Under Attack

The U.S. birth rate is plummeting as women conduct a spontaneous "birth strike" against conditions that include a lack access to child care, family leave and health care. Author Jenny Brown argues that U.S. women have not yet realized the potential of their bargaining position, but can use the low birthrate to push for expanded access to reproductive services and social programs.

Speakers

Jenny Brown

Organizer, National Women's Liberation

Jenny Brown is an organizer with National Women's Liberation and author of Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women's Work just out in March from PM Press. She is co-author of this article and this article for Jacobin. She co-authored the Redstockings book, Women's Liberation and National Healthcare: Confronting the Myth of America, and is a former editor at Labor Notes... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Clark B/C

Gender Liberation

4:00pm CDT

A Socialist View of the Arab Spring

How do we understand, and what are the lessons of the protests, uprisings, rebellions, and wars that shook the Arab world beginning in 2011? Pulitzer-Prize nominated journalist Anand Gopal discusses his experience covering this region of the world.

Speakers

Anand Gopal

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Imperialism

4:00pm CDT

Socialists and the Teacher Strike Wave

The teachers' strike wave that rolled across the U.S. in 2018-19—which included "red states" like West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona, as well as "blue states" like California—has changed this country's political landscape and raised the possibility of reconnecting labor with the Left for the first time in generations. This panel will explore the role of socialists in these strikes and the strategic and tactical lessons that the Left should take from this historic upsurge. Some of the questions to be addressed include the following: What role did DSA members and Berniecrats play in leading or supporting these strikes? How does effective rank-and-file organizing look different in "red" and "blue" states? What is the relationship between these mass strikes and the rebirth of a mass socialist movement, the 2020 elections, and the fight for transformative changes like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal?

Speakers

Gillian Russom

Eric Blanc

Author of the book Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics (Verso 2019), Eric Blanc is a journalist and a former high school teacher. He has appeared on Democracy Now and has written for The Nation and The Guardian. During the Los Angeles, Wes... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Field B/C

Labor

4:00pm CDT

The Socialist Case for Open Borders

Socialists are often accused of being "utopian" when they insist on the fight for open borders. In the context of the current migration crisis, why is the call for open borders necessary, and what does it mean to fight for it?

Speakers

Justin Akers Chacón

Justin Akers Chacón is an educator, socialist activist, and writer from the San Diego-Tijuana region. His recent works include No One is Illegal, co-authored with Mike Davis, and Radicals in the Barrio. His forthcoming book is called The Border Crossed Us, which will make the case... Read More →

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Migrant Justice

4:00pm CDT

Abolish the Police: Liberal vs. Revolutionary Perspectives

The Black Lives Matter movement has helped expose widespread police brutality. It's also helped raise new debates about whether are necessary at all--and whether they have the potential to be a force for good, or need to be abolished.

Speakers

brian bean

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Grant Park B

US Politics

4:00pm CDT

What would happen if Bernie wins? Learning from history and looking forward

For the first time ever, it's possible we could have a socialist sitting in the White House. Will a political revolution be strong enough to withstand inevitable confrontation from elites? This discussion will offer perspectives on these questions, as well as drawing on lessons from history (Sweden's Meidner plan and and Chilean Socialist Salvadore Allende's Presidency).

Speakers

David Duhalde

David Duhalde is a DC-based political and socialist activist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and East Asian studies from Bowdoin College and masters degrees in public policy and nonprofit business administration from The Heller School at Brandeis University. Duhalde... Read More →

Mike McCarthy

Friday July 5, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

US Politics

7:30pm CDT

Welcome to Red Chicago

A radical wave is sweeping Chicago. This spring six socialists were elected to city council, racist cop Jason Van Dyke was convicted of manslaughter for murdering Laquan McDonald, Chicago charter school teachers went on strike and won not only raises but demands around sanctuary schools and educational justice.
Chicago has planted a flag “for the many” all over the country. Join us at the plenary to hear from the many of Chicago’s leading left voices on the grassroots movements that made this possible, what it will take to take on corporate power, and their visions of a just future.

Speakers

Kevin Coval

Carlos Rosa

Jesse Sharkey

Rossana Rodriguez

Alyxandra Goodwin

Jeanette Taylor

Friday July 5, 2019 7:30pm - 9:00pm CDT
Ballroom

Plenary

9:00pm CDT

DSA Reception

Join the DSA for a reception after the plenary and before the Friday night DJ set.

With cash bar.

Friday July 5, 2019 9:00pm - 10:00pm CDT
Ballroom Foyer

Meet-Up

10:00pm CDT

DJ Set

Sasha mixes a blend of disco, r&b, and pop to keep bodies moving all night

Speakers

Sasha No Disco

Sasha Tycko a.k.a. Sasha No Disco is a DJ, sound artist, and writer based in Hyde Park/Chicago. IG: @t_ckoWebsite: www.sashatycko.net

Friday July 5, 2019 10:00pm - Saturday July 6, 2019 2:00am CDT
Ballroom

Entertainment

9:30am CDT

The Global Resistance to Extraction

Forces on the right -- from Bolsonaro to Trump -- are pushing forward with a pro-extraction agenda that threatens to uproot our communities and destroy our planet. This panel will highlight and build solidarity with the urgently-needed struggles against fossil fuels and extractive industries across the globe. From the battles against climate crisis, the fight against pipelines and for indigenous rights, resistance is taking a wide range of forms, posing opportunities and challenges for linkages between the Global North and South, and a society that puts people before the extraction of profit.

Speakers

Valerio Arcary

Jennifer Marley

Jennifer Marley is 23 years old and from the Pueblo Of San Ildefonso. She has been organizing with the Red Nation for 4 years, and currently holds the position of Political education desk on the central governing committee. Jennifer will be entering the American Studies Ph.D. program... Read More →

Lee Wengraf

Lee Wengraf is the author of Extracting Profit: Imperialism, Neoliberalism and the New Scramble for Africa. She is a writer and activist in New York City. Her articles have appeared in International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, Review of African Political Economy, Pambazuka... Read More →

Sponsors

Science for the People

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Grant Park C/D

Climate Justice

9:30am CDT

The Disability Politics of Marta Russell

The late author and activist Marta Russell wrote a number of groundbreaking essays on the nature of disability and oppression under capitalism, including the effects of capitalism on the living and social conditions of people with disabilities. Hear Keith Rosenthal, editor of a forthcoming collection of Russell's essays, discuss her life and work.

Speakers

Keith Rosenthal

Keith Rosenthal has written extensively on the topics of disability and socialism. He is the editor of a forthcoming book, Capitalism and Disability: Essays by Marta Russell (Haymarket Books, 2019). He lives in Syracuse, New York.

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Clark B/C

Disability

9:30am CDT

Trans Liberation, Biological Determinism, and Sports

A recent ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport targeting Olympic runner Caster Semenya would force the athlete to take drugs to limit the naturally occurring testosterone in her body. This talk will look at the controversy surrounding this and similar issues, and the larger implications for trans athletes and how their bodies are policed as part of competition.

Speakers

Isabelle Bartter

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Field B/C

Gender Liberation

9:30am CDT

We Won't Go Back: The Fight to Defend Abortion Rights

With a court packed with conservatives, abortion rights are in more peril today than at any point since abortion was legalized with Roe v. Wade in 1972. How did we get to this point, and what will it take to rebuild the fight to allow people to control their own reproductive rights and prevent a return to the days of the back alley?

Speakers

Ella Mahony

Anne Rumberger

Anne Rumberger is an organizer with NYC For Abortion Rights and NYC DSA Socialist Feminist Working Group.

Mandy Medley

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Gender Liberation

9:30am CDT

Palestine and the Left

This talk will focus on how the Left, and Socialists in particular, can build support for Palestinian liberation struggle in the U.S. context. It will offer ideas and strategies for building a stronger Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement against Israel, and for drawing people away from the Democratic Party and its traditional support for Israel.

Speakers

Bill Mullen

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Adler A/B/C

Imperialism

9:30am CDT

Problems of the U.S. Left: The Cases of Cuba and Nicaragua

Popular rebellion and revolution have toppled oligarchs and pro-U.S. puppets throughout Latin American history, providing inspiring examples of national sovereignty and radical social reforms. However, these revolts have often empowered governments that rely more on bureaucracy than democracy. This session will explore the roots of this contradiction and argue that peoples' revolutions and democracy must go hand in hand.

Speakers

Dan La Botz

Sam Farber

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Grant Park A

International

9:30am CDT

The Experience of Podemos in Spain: Balance Sheet and Perspectives for Anticapitalists

Spain's social democratic Podemos party grew rapidly over the past several years to become one of the country's largest parties. In recent months, however, disagreements between leaders Pablo Iglesias and Íñigo Errejón raise questions about how the party will perform in upcoming elections. What is causing the crisis in Podemos, where is the party headed--and what are the lessons for activists in Spain and beyond?

Speakers

Alex Merlo

Alex Merlo is a member of Anticapitalistas in the Spanish State who has worked over the last five years as a parliamentary assistant in the Podemos delegation to the European Parliament.

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Grant Park B

International

9:30am CDT

Strike Support for Socialists

Recent educators' strikes helped a new generation of activists learn how to approach strike support. The East Bay chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America played a critical support role in the recent Oakland teachers' strike, joining picket lines, feeding striking teachers and out-of-school students, and spreading agitational content. Come hear East Bay DSA members talk about their strike support efforts and lessons learned.

Speakers

Tim Marshall

Tim Marshall is a 22 year veteran teacher in the Oakland Public Schools, a member of East Bay Democratic Socialists of America, and a Cluster Leader in the Oakland Education Association.

Emma Gagliardi

Emma Gagliardi is co-chair of East Bay DSA's Public Education Committee and helped lead the chapter's Oakland strike support efforts in feeding out-of-school children and striking teachers.

Nick French

Nick French is co-chair of East Bay DSA's Political Education Committee and co-editor of Majority, the chapter's official publication. He is also a shop steward for UAW Local 2865, representing student-workers in the University of California system.

Saturday July 6, 2019 9:30am - 11:00am CDT
Dusable B/C

Labor

11:30am CDT

Never Again: Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League

The growth of the far-right and fascists in the UK in the 1970s sparked Rock Against Racism, which brought punk and reggae bands together as a weapon against the right, and the Anti-Nazi League, which mobilized hundreds of thousands as part of the anti-fascist struggle. David Renton, author of Never Again: Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League, 1976-1982, discusses the lessons of that experience.

Speakers

David Renton

David Renton is a British barrister, historian and author, and longstanding anti-fascist activist.

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Field B/C

Anti-Fascism

11:30am CDT

System Change, Not Climate Change: Youth Climate Activists in conversation with Teen Vogue

In demonstrations across the globe, it increasingly is young activists bringing attention to the fight against the policies that drive climate change. This session, sponsored by Teen Vogue, will look at how young activists are leading the fight for climate justice.

Speakers

Haven Coleman

Youth Climate Strike

Sally Taylor

Sunrise Movement

Lucy Diavolo

editor, Teen Vogue

Lucy Diavolo is an editor at Teen Vogue.

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Climate Justice

11:30am CDT

Literature as a Tool for Abolition and Transformative Justice

“No more ashes. No more fires. Only love. And the unbridled urgency to build a world where the edges are imagined as the starting place for black liberation now and always.”
― Darnell L. Moore, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America

Speakers

Darnell Moore

Darnell L. Moore is the author of No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America, an Editor-at-Large at CASSIUS (an iOne digital platform) and formerly a senior editor and correspondent at Mic. He is co-managing editor at The Feminist Wire and an editor of The Feminist... Read More →

Dao Tran

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

Culture

11:30am CDT

Walking While Trans: Profiling, Policing, and Prisons

According to Lambda Legal, nearly one in six trans Americans, and one in two trans African Americans, has been to prison. This talk will examine how the issue of gender identity impacts policing and incarceration.

Speakers

Camille White-Avian

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Gender Liberation

11:30am CDT

The Original Red Scare: Revolutionary Socialism with The Red Nation

In addition to leading some of the most important Indigenous liberation movements of today, Native organizers are helping deepen a discussion about what socialism is and it’s importance to Native Liberation. This session, featuring members of Red Nation, will discuss the intersection of Native rights and the fight for socialism. Panelists will discuss the two newly formed Red Nation caucuses, the “Beyond Borders caucus” and the “Pueblo/a/x Feminist Caucus”.

Speakers

Jennifer Marley

Hope Alvarado

Hope Alvarado is 23 years old and is Diné and Mescalero Apache. They have been organizing with the Red Nation for 4 years and currently hold the position of Treasurer of the Albuquerque freedom council. They recently graduated from The University of New Mexico with a BA in Native... Read More →

Sponsors

The Red Nation

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Indigenous Liberation

11:30am CDT

Latinx: The New Force in American Politics and Culture

“Latinx” (pronounced “La-teen-ex”) is the gender-neutral term that covers one of the largest and fastest growing minorities in the United States, accounting for 17 percent of the country. Over 58 million Americans belong to the category, including a sizable part of the country’s working class, both foreign and native-born. Their political empowerment is altering the balance of forces in a growing number of states. And yet Latinx barely figure in America’s ongoing conversation about race and ethnicity. Remarkably, the US census does not even have a racial category for “Latino.”

In this groundbreaking discussion, Ed Morales explains how Latinx political identities are tied to a long Latin American history of mestizaje—“mixedness” or “hybridity”—and that this border thinking is both a key to understanding bilingual, bicultural Latin cultures and politics and a challenge to America’s infamously black–white racial regime.

Speakers

Ed Morales

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Grant Park B

Racism and Anti-Racism

11:30am CDT

Tiananmen Square 30 Years Later

30 years ago, a student protest set forces in motion that threatened the Chinese state and the Chinese government began its massacre of hundreds of student and worker activists at Tiananmen Square. What were the dynamics that produced the struggle? Why did a “socialist” government send soldiers in to shut it down? How has the underlying structure of China’s society produced similar conflicts since then?

Speakers

Dennis Kosuth

Dennis Kosuth is a socialist and a member of the Chicago Teachers' Union.

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Grant Park A

Revolutionary History

11:30am CDT

The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality

Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara is helping popularize socialism for a new generation. Hear him discuss his new book, The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, and what it will take to build the fight for socialism.

Moderators

Jason Farbman

Speakers

Bhaskar Sunkara

Saturday July 6, 2019 11:30am - 1:00pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Socialism & Marxism

2:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Abortion Defense

Saturday July 6, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

Meet-Up

2:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Educators and Education Workers

Saturday July 6, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Meet-Up

2:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Palestine Solidarity Organizing

This meeting will bring together activists and organizers interested in building new networks and strategies to advance justice in Palestine. We will share ideas for reading groups, solidarity events, union campaigns, and public rallies in solidarity with Palestinian freedom struggle. We will devote part of the meeting to strategies for building and supporting Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions initiatives in schools, unions, workplaces and community organizations.

Saturday July 6, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Meet-Up

2:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Science for the People

Saturday July 6, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Meet-Up

2:00pm CDT

Meet-Ups: Migrant Solidarity Organizing

Saturday July 6, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Field B/C

Meet-Up

3:00pm CDT

Reparations for Our Time

A once-taboo notion, the case for reparations for the ongoing legacy of the historic economic and social brutality imposed by slavery has gained ground in recent years, even amongst some mainstream politicians. What is the case for reparations, and what kind of movement would it take to win them?

Speakers

Aislinn Pulley

Todd St Hill

Todd St Hill is an organizer and Chicago resident. He was a part of the 2014 We Charge Genocide delegation to 53rd session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture. Todd is a writer, contributing to the Chicago Defender, Jacobin Magazine, and Socialist Worker, covering... Read More →

Ashli Giles-Perkins

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Black Liberation

3:00pm CDT

#MeToo in our Movements

#MeToo has begun a much-needed conversation about sexual and gender violence. What lessons can activists draw from #MeToo to apply to our own communities? And how do we begin to have those conversations and take accountability? What does justice in our movements look like? This talk will examine these issues.

Speakers

Maryam Abidi

Kate Doyle Griffiths

Ann Russo

Ann Russo is an Associate Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies who focuses on queer, antiracist, and feminist movement building to end violence and to build socially just and caring communities. Her scholarly and activist work engages transformative justice theories and practices... Read More →

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Gender Liberation

3:00pm CDT

China and the US: Inter-Imperial Rivalry or Class Struggle and Solidarity?

The intensifying rivalry between the US and China fills the daily news. The US remains the world’s predominant political and economic power, but it now views China’s growing economic influence as a potential geopolitical challenger, leading it adopt Barack Obama’s Pivot to Asia and Donald Trump’s trade war and threats of a new Cold War. This panel will discuss the nature and roots of the rivalry and the importance of building international solidarity between the workers movements of both countries.

Speakers

Elaine Lu

Elaine Lu is the Program Officer at China Labor Watch (CLW), a New York-based NGO advocating for workers’ rights in China. CLW conducts undercover investigations into the factories of multinational companies and places pressure on the companies to improve working conditions and... Read More →

Kevin Lin

Kevin Lin is an activist and researcher of China's labor movement, and has worked to build international labor solidarity between Chinese and American workers and activists. He coordinates the China Program at the International Labor Rights Forums in Washington DC, and co-edits the... Read More →

Ashley Smith

Ashley Smith is a socialist writer and activist in Burlington, Vermont. He has written in numerous publications including Truthout, The International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, ZNet, Jacobin, New Politics and many other online and print publications. He is currently working... Read More →

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Grant Park A

Imperialism

3:00pm CDT

Elections, Mass Politics, and the Left

Debates about the electoral prospects of the left--and the limits of left-wing change coming through the ballot box--have been revived, in part because of recent electoral victories by some on the left in both the U.S. and abroad. This talk will discuss the hopes, prospects, and debates in Spain, Mexico, and here over each country’s unique central left figure and the movements around them in the electoral arena.

Speakers

David Duhalde

Alex Merlo

Alex Merlo is a member of Anticapitalistas in the Spanish State who has worked over the last five years as a parliamentary assistant in the Podemos delegation to the European Parliament.

Luis Rangel

Luis Rangel is active in the student movement in Mexico City, a member of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), and editor of Bandera Roja.

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

International

3:00pm CDT

Square One: How to Unionize Your Workplace

Interested in learning about how to organize a union in your workplace? Come to a discussion with two people who have done it in the media and brewing industries and what they did to win successful organizing campaigns.

Speakers

Brace Belden

Brace Belden works on the line at Anchor Brewing Company. With the help of DSA, he & his coworkers organized one of the biggest manufacturing facilities in San Francisco to join the ILWU.

Caitlin PenzeyMoog

Caitlin PenzeyMoog is the managing editor at The A.V. Club, part of the Onion Inc. company along with The Onion and ClickHole, where she served on the union's organizing committee.

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Field B/C

Labor

3:00pm CDT

Teachers Unions and Anti-Racist Struggle

As young people move into activism, what role do educators have in the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice movements that take up fighting racism? How does supporting these movements play into the fight for stronger teachers' unions?
What’s the role of socialists in teachers unions in explaining and defending racial justice commitments?
How does anti-racist struggle relate to building union consciousness, school site solidarity, and
democratic, militant local, state, and national unions?
This panel discussion, featuring teachers and education activists, will explore the topic.

Speakers

Lois Weiner

Lois Weiner writes for a wide range of popular publications and scholarly journals aboutteachers’ work, urban education, and labor, focusing especially on teacher unionism.Her writing is informed by her two careers in education, the first as a career teacherand union activist and... Read More →

Gillian Russom

Angela Crawford

Tia Kurtisnger-Edison

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

Labor

3:00pm CDT

STEM in the Service of Empire: Scientists' and Educators' Complicity in US Militarism

Speakers

Michael Gasser

Michael Gasser is an independent researcher in computational linguisticsand an activist working on environmental justice,anti-imperialism/internationalism, and language justice. He retired in 2012after teaching for 24 years at Indiana University in cognitive science andcomputer science... Read More →

Clifford Connor

Cliff Conner is a historian of science. His books include “A People’s History of Science” and the forthcoming Haymarket title, “The Tragedy of American Science: From Truman to Trump.”

Sepehr Vakil

Charles Xu

Charles is a PhD student in physics at the California Institute of Technology and a founding member of Socialists of Caltech. In addition to on-campus political education and anti-imperialist organizing, he is active in the Pasadena Tenants Union and Pasadena Tenant Justice Coali... Read More →

Sponsors

Science for the People

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Grant Park B

Science and Society

3:00pm CDT

We won! Now what? A Town Hall with Chicago's Socialist Alderpeople

The most recent election brought the total of socialists in office in Chicago up to six. Now what? Join activists and elected officials to talk about what's on the socialist agenda in the city, what the socialist electoral victory in Chicago can mean for others, and what the ongoing relationship of activists and elected officials can look like going forward.

Moderators

Miles Kampf-Lassin

Speakers

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa

Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez

Saturday July 6, 2019 3:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

US Politics

5:30pm CDT

Racial Capitalism, Opioids and the Drug War in the Age of Trump

This talk will speak to a larger debate about the current opioid crisis and its relationship to the successive wars on drugs in the United States. Core to my approach is thinking about racial capitalism as a critical framework for understanding both the deregulation of Big Pharma and our ongoing punishment campaigns about drugs and gangs.

Speakers

Donna Murch

Donna Murch is associate professor of history at Rutgers University. She is currentlycompleting a new trade press book entitled Crack in Los Angeles: Policing the Crisis andthe War on Drugs. She also has a forthcoming books of essays that will be published laterthis year entitled... Read More →

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Black Liberation

5:30pm CDT

What Would Sports Look Like In A Socialist Society

Some Marxists believe sports wouldn't (or shouldn't) exist in a socialist society. Dave Zirin, sports editor of TheNation.com, asks how sports--and the competition that lies at their heart--would be different in a society that was based on meeting human needs instead of making profit for the few.

Speakers

Dave Zirin

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Culture

5:30pm CDT

Your Commander in Chief is Lying to You

Spenser Rapone made headlines at his 2016 graduation from West Point for displaying a protest message against U.S. imperialism. Rory Fanning is a former Army Ranger who became a conscientious objector and walked across the country following the death of Pat Tillman. These dissident veterans talk about the need for military resisters in the age of Trump.

Speakers

Rory Fanning

Spenser Rapone

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Field B/C

Imperialism

5:30pm CDT

Genocide of the Rohingya: An Indigenous Peoples Struggle in Burma

As a ethnic minority in Myanmar that is also Muslim, we will examine how the Rohingya's struggle has been overlooked or downplayed by international players and how global Islamophobia has affected perception of their struggle. We will examine the role China has played and look at where the Burmese "darling of democracy" Aung San Suu Kyi stands and how she's contributed to this genocide.

Speakers

Khadija Y. Mehter

Khadija Mehter is an activist who grew up in Syracuse, New York, to parents who immigrated from Burma. She has worked on issues of social justice for well over a decade, including Palestine solidarity work, Black liberation and indigenous liberation. Throughout her career as activist... Read More →

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Grant Park B

International

5:30pm CDT

Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump

Whether class or race is the more important factor in modern politics is a question at the heart of recent history’s most contentious debates. Asad Haider, author of Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump, will discuss the concept of identity politics and what it represents regarding the fight to build solidarity between the oppressed.

Speakers

Asad Haider

Asad Haider is a founding editor of Viewpoint Magazine and the author of Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump (Verso, 2018).

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Racism and Anti-Racism

5:30pm CDT

Marxism and the Capitalist State: Socialist Theory and Strategy

The renewal of socialism in the United States has sparked renewed debate and discussion on socialist strategy in the advanced capitalist world. Once again, the relative weight of elections and mass struggle, and whether or not socialists can use (parts) of the existing state to effect a rupture with capitalism is being debated on the left. This talk will assess the Marxian theories of the capitalist state which inform different strategic orientations.

Speakers

Charlie Post

Charlie Post has been a revolutionary socialist since the early 1970s. He is active in the faculty union at the City University of New York and has written on the origins of capitalism, crisis theory, class consciousness and socialist strategy and history.

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

Socialism & Marxism

5:30pm CDT

Reclaiming the Future: Democracy and Socialism

There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. In Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone, Astra Taylor shows that real democracy—fully inclusive and completely egalitarian—has in fact never existed. Is democracy a means or an end, a process or a set of desired outcomes? If democracy means rule by the people, what does it mean to rule and who counts as the people? Join Astra Taylor in conversation with Shawn Gude for a discussion of these too often unnamed and unrecognized paradoxes.

Speakers

Astra Taylor

Shawn Gude

Saturday July 6, 2019 5:30pm - 7:00pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Socialism & Marxism

8:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Anti-War Organizing

The U.S. has been at continuous war for the past 18 years since the start of the "War on Terror". In that time the U.S. has invaded, occupied and toppled the regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and waged an unprecedented drone war around the world. The Trump administration has brought us to the brink of a shooting war with Iran as recently as June 20th. That threat is still there. Sanctions have wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy and civil society. Iran's currency is worth 1/15 of what is was in 2012, before the sanctions were imposed by the Obama administration. The "Joint and Comprehensive" agreement in 2016 gave a respite and a way out to resolve the nuclear and military tensions in the region, as well as the economic burden placed on Iran. The Trump administration's withdrawing of the U.S. out of the "Iran deal", and the re-imposition of sanctions, has put the U.S. on a war path with no other option in sight. Please come to this meet up to discuss how to organize and coordinate efforts, to "Return to the Deal" and "Lift the Sanctions"- to prevent this war as well as discuss ongoing efforts to rebuild a visible anti-war movement. We will discuss ideas on how to raise awareness, potential resolutions in city councils (i.e. Chicago can't afford another War), and how to reach out to various groups (e.g. Immigrant vets who face deportations, Iraq/Afghanistan vets , Unions, homeless coalition, etc.).

Saturday July 6, 2019 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT
Field B/C

Meet-Up

8:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Antifascist Organizing

Saturday July 6, 2019 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Meet-Up

8:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Climate Justice Organizing

Saturday July 6, 2019 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT
Clark B/C

Meet-Up

8:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: Housing Justice

Join us for a discussion of how socialists are combating the housing crisis, landlord greed, and developer profit. We encourage anyone involved or interested in the housing struggle to attend and contribute to building a revolutionary and anti-oppressive socialist housing politics.

Saturday July 6, 2019 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

Meet-Up

8:00pm CDT

Meet-Up: People of Color

Saturday July 6, 2019 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

Meet-Up

9:00am CDT

Building Organizational Accountability for Sexual Violence

This workshop seeks to create a space to reflect on what needs to change within left organizing to create accountable movement communities that are willing and capable of fully supporting all those impacted by sexual violence. We will explore what it would take to create organizations willing to name, understand, and shift the power lines that enable sexual harassment and assault. This would include creating an environment where people would be more willing to support those harmed as well as to work with those doing the harm to take accountability and commit to change. We will also discuss how this accountability work is part of organizing for social change, rather than as something separate from it. The goal is for participants to leave the workshop with some ideas on how to begin the steps toward creating accountability within organizations for support, intervention, accountability, and prevention.

Speakers

Ann Russo

Sunday July 7, 2019 9:00am - 10:00am CDT
Adler A/B/C

Meet-Up

10:30am CDT

The Rise of the Far Right in India

The recent re-election of Narendra Modi is a sign of the entrenchment of Hindu nationalism and the far-right in India, as Modi's BJP party continues to engage in a series of attacks against the rights of religious and political minorities. This talk looks at the rise of the Indian far right today, and what it will it take to push back against this growing threat.

Speakers

Rohit Prajapati

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Grant Park B

Anti-Fascism

10:30am CDT

Pipeline Resistance, Climate Change, and Decolonization

In 2016, the heroic struggle of the water defenders at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline brought attention to the connections between pipeline resistance, Indigenous rights, and the fight for ecological and social justice. This session with organizers in Twin Cities DSA, examines these issues in depth.

Speakers

Mysti Babineau

Jessica Garraway

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Dusable B/C

Climate Justice

10:30am CDT

Capes, Abs, and Asses: Body Dysmorphia, Toxic Masculinity and Comics

From the Marvel and D.C. comics mega-blockbusters to independent and even dystopian visions of "caped crusaders," superheroes are everywhere. This talk will examine what these cultural icons tell us about ways we view gender, masculinity, and identity.

Speakers

Krystal Kara

Krystal Kara is the creator of the organization Be Super. Be Super uses comic book and sci-fi characters as educational tools to understand social injustice. She is also the co-founder of But Here You Are an online community connecting people through mental health stories helping... Read More →

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Grant Park A

Culture

10:30am CDT

Sexual Violence and the State

While the question of interpersonal dynamics, particularly in workplaces and on campuses, has permeated discussions of sexual violence, less attention has been given to the question of the state. From the horrors committed by the United States in Abu Ghraib to the ways in which this country’s carceral system fails survivors and destroys the lives of Black, Brown, and working-class people, the state is not an adequate tool for addressing—and is often a perpetrator of—sexual violence in society. Legal frameworks don't recognize the complexities of desire, sex, and sexuality, nor of the violence of capitalism and oppression. But we’re still left with the sticky, unavoidable, and wholly significant question: In a world that was not built for the well-being of most of us, what does justice mean?

Speakers

Rachel Caïdor

Deana Lewis

Camila Valle

Camila Valle is a socialist living in NYC. Her work focuses on gender and Latin America.

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Clark B/C

Gender Liberation

10:30am CDT

Roots of Social Crisis and Struggle in Latin America

Across Latin America, social democratic forces are contending with right-wing populism--including vicious repression in some cases. What are the lessons we can learn about our common struggles for workers' rights and democracy in Latin America and beyond?

Speakers

Valerio Arcary

Evelyn Zepeda

Luis Rangel

Luis Rangel is active in the student movement in Mexico City, a member of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), and editor of Bandera Roja.

Michelle Manjunattu

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Adler A/B/C

International

10:30am CDT

Jewish Politics and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism

The Trump presidency has abetted a horrifying wave of anti-Semitsm--most notably in the Tree of Life and Poway synagogue shootings. This talk will examine what it will take to combat this scourge of bigotry.

Speakers

Jonah ben Avraham

Jonah ben Avraham is a socialist activist and member of the Tempest Collective based in Columbus, Ohio. His work on Jewish politics, Zionism, and the fight against antisemitism can be found in Tempest, Truthout, Rampant, New Politics, and more.

Benjamin Balthaser

Benjamin Balthaser is Associate Professor of Multi-Ethnic Literature at Indiana University-South Bend. He is the author of Anti-Imperialist Modernism. His work has also appeared in Boston Review, American Quarterly, Jacobin, and elsewhere. He is a member of Chicago DSA... Read More →

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Field B/C

Racism and Anti-Racism

10:30am CDT

An Introduction to Marx's Capital

Marx's Capital remains the key groundbreaking theoretical work to understanding the economic structure and function of a capitalist economy--but the three volume work is understandably intimidating to many. Author David Harvey will help illuminate key concepts of Marx's economic work.

Speakers

David Harvey

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Grant Park C/D

Socialism & Marxism

10:30am CDT

How We Win Medicare for All

The U.S. has the highest per-capita spending for healthcare in the world, and some of the worst health outcomes. Health insurance companies profit from denying people care. DSA has been organizing and leading a campaign for Medicare for All that is showing how the left can articulate and agitate for a universal demand that will also deal a large blow to capital. What does the fight for Medicare for All look like on the left? How can we use the campaign to build toward more expansive demands?

Speakers

Michael Lighty

Activist, Healthy California NOW

Michael Lighty is considered a preeminent spokesperson and expert on Medicare for All. For over 25 years, Lighty has organized, written and spoken on the subject. He was a lead policy analyst for a single-payer bill, SB 562, the Healthy California Act.

Donna Cartwright

Donna Cartwright is a member of the National Executive Board of Pride at Work (the LGBT constituency group of the labor movement) and a retired member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

Sunday July 7, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Burnham A/B/C

US Politics

1:00pm CDT

Care and Repair: The Revolutionary, Democratic Power of a Global Green New Deal

“There is a grand story to be told here about the duty to repair — to repair our relationship with the earth and with one another, to heal the deep wounds dating back to the founding of the country. Because while it is true that climate change is a crisis produced by an excess of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it is also, in a more profound sense, a crisis produced by an extractive mindset — a way of viewing both the natural world and the majority of its inhabitants as resources to use up and then discard.”

-Naomi Klein, The Intercept, February 13, 2019

Speakers

Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, documentary filmmaker and author of the international bestsellers No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the... Read More →

Astra Taylor

Sunday July 7, 2019 1:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
Ballroom

Plenary