Socialist Party National Organizing Conferences, which take place once every two years, provide a combination of workshops, panels, speakers, discussions, and theater to strengthen movements for socialist and radical politics in the United States and facilitate dialogue and education within them. This year's Socialist Party National Organizing Conference provides an especially compelling list of workshops and events on a range of topics relating to both theory and activism.
Although Not Visible from the Road, the ICC Education Center is Located Behind the Luther Cooperative House at: 1510 Hill St.
Special Event: Saturday July 12th. Howard Zinn's award-winning play Marx in Soho. Directed by Michael Fox Kennedy with Jerry Levy as Karl Marx.
"Imagine all Karl Marx would have to say after one hundred years of just being able to watch..."
Saturday July 12th 2008 7:00PM-9:00PM ICC Education Center 1522 Hill St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (Behind the Luther Cooperative House)
A People’s History of the United States,” Howard Zinn humanizes the man behind the ideas in “Marx In Soho;” casting a divergent light from the totalitarian movements his theories have often been associated with. Howard Zinn’s “Marx in Soho” portrays the return of Marx. Embedded in some secular afterlife where intellectuals, artists, and radicals are sent, Marx is given permission by the administrative committee to return to Soho London to have his say. But through a bureaucratic mix–up, he winds up in SOHO in New York. Responding to the fall of the Soviet Union and the conventional perception that Marx’s ideas are dead, Zinn resurrects this controversial historical figure, embraces democracy and passionately rejects the ideological rigidity of many of his followers with the phrase “I am not a Marxist.” Instead we come to know Marx as a complex character struggling to survive with his family as an impoverished immigrant in London. Marx returns to clear his name and tell us about his life with his wife, daughters, friends and enemies. In poignant , funny, and intimate narrative, Zinn convinces us not only that Marx is not dead but rather his critique of capitalism is more than relevant today.
Conference Suggested Minimum Donation: $25 No one will be turned away due to inability to pay
1. The Nuts and Bolts of SP and Coalition Organizing 2. Analyzing Capitalism Closely 3. Organizing for Healthcare
11:30AM - 1:30PM
Plenary -"Organizing for Socialism in an Election Year: Supporting Our Candidates, Building the Movement"
Plenary, moderated by Susan Dorazio (SP Women's Commission)
I. Opening remarks on electoral activity as an organizing tool-- Susan Dorazio
II. Background on socialists and the ballot box -- Eric Chester (historian, SP International Commission)
III. Major organizing issues of 2008, and how socialist candidates connect with them.
1. Brian Moore (SP candidate for U.S. President) on the anti-war movement as it can and should relate to socialist principles and platform (confirmed)
2. Courtney Campbell: Socialist Electoral Politics as an _expression_ of International Solidarity. Independent Socialist Electoral Action in the United States and Brazil.
III: Closing remarks on why independent socialist electoral action is important, what socialist campaigns can accomplish, and proposals for increasing the resources and visibility of socialist campaigns-- Matt Erard (SPMI candidate for State Representative)
1:00PM - 2:30PM
Lunch
2:45-4:00 p.m.
Workshops Session 2:
1. Working with the Peace and Justice Movement 2. The Role of Ballot Access in Our Electoral Strategy
4:15-5:30 p.m.
Workshops Session 3:
1. Rescuing Lenin from the Leninists 2. Breaking Down Walls: A Look at Immigration Policy in the United States
7:00PM - 9:00PM
Marx in Soho. Howard Zinn's award winning play, performed by Socialist Party Co-Chair Jerry Levy as Karl Marx. Fundraiser for the Socialist National Committee (Electoral Fund).
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Sunday July 13th
10:00-11:15 a.m.
Workshop Section 4:
1. Marxism 101 2. Animal Rights
11:30 a.m.- 1:15 p.m.
Workshop Session 5:
1. LGBTQ liberation 2. The U.S. and World Economy
1:30-2:15 p.m.
Workshop Session 6:
1. How Open Source/Free Software Can Revolutionize our Socialist Organizing Efforts 2. Our Agenda, Not Their's: Socialist Feminist Organizing in the Electoral ArenaSocialist Feminism 3. Electoral Alliances/Regroupment
Click: "Read More" for Workshop Descriptions, Transportation and Lodging information
The Socialist Party of Michigan has endorsed the Global Day of Action Against Starbucks Repression on July 5th. The Global Day of Action has been called by the IWW Starbucks Union in Grand Rapids, MI and CNT-AIT Starbucks Union in Sevilla, Spain over the recent firings of baristas in both cities over union activity. The Socialist Party of Michigan has been active in the Starbucks Union campaign and organized two Starbucks picketing events with the IWW in the past year over the company's union-busting practices. We stand in solidarity with our fellow workers at Starbucks in their struggle for the right to organize and, ultimately, for workers' control.
As part of the Global Day of Action, supporters are encouraged to participate in pickets at local Starbucks locations around the world. The main demonstration in Michigan will take place in Grand Rapids.
Starbucks Fires Outspoken Barista Over Union Activity
Grand Rapids firing comes in the midst of Unfair Labor Practice charges being investigated by the NLRB against Starbucks.
Grand Rapids, MI (06/06/2008)- Starbucks terminated a barista active in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union today as part of its ongoing effort to combat a growing movement of employees pushing for a living wage and secure work hours. The barista, Cole Dorsey, was fired after two years of service while he was coordinating a union recruitment drive at Starbucks stores in Grand Rapids. Starbucks' pretext for the illegal anti-union firing was that Dorsey was guilty of some months-old attendance infractions...
The Socialist Party is on the Coordinating Committee of the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation national public conference and Socialist Party members from Michigan and other states will be attending.
The goal of the National Assembly Conference is to help construct an active program for a democratic and unified antiwar movement. Everyone who attends the conference will have an equal vote in determining the future course of this united antiwar movement.
The Call March, 2008 ushered in the sixth year of the war against Iraq and an occupation “without end” of that beleaguered country. Unfortunately, the tremendous opposition in the U.S. to the war and occupation has not yet been fully reflected in united mass action.
The anniversary of the invasion has been marked in the U.S. by Iraq Veterans Against the War’s (IVAW’s) Winter Soldier hearings March 13-16, in Washington, DC, providing a forum for those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan to expose the horrors perpetrated by the U.S. wars. A nonviolent civil disobedience action against the war in Iraq was also called for March 19 in Washington and local actions around the country were slated during that month as well....
Saturday June 14th 2008 1:00PM Public Forum on Socialism and Anarchism Ypsilanti Public Library Meeting Room #1 229 W. Michigan Ave. Ypsilanti, MI 48197The Socialist Party of Michigan, Solidarity, and the Washtenaw Reds will be hosting a public forum on socialism and anarchism on Saturday June 14th at the Ypsilanti Public Library. The forum will include speakers on the role and nature of the state from both an anarchist and Marxist perspective - followed by open discussion. The forum will last until 3:00PM and be followed at 3:30PM with the June State Membership Meeting of the Socialist Party of Michigan in the same room at the library. Both events are free and open to the public and we welcome everyone interested to attend.
We will be meeting at 2:00PM at the couches in the main lobby on the first floor. Look for the red Socialist Party of Michigan banner. Meetings are open to the public and anyone interested is encouraged to attend!
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"Imagine all Karl Marx would have to say after one hundred years of just being able to watch..."
Saturday June 14th 2008
