Starting Date: 11-08-2008 Seattle Central Community College Broadway And Pine, Room 1110 Seattle, Washington 98122 United StatesThe World financial system is in the grip of the most severe crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s—and there's worse to come. Working Class people will be paying for this economic disaster for years to come in a number of ways—higher prices for food and other necessities, millions of foreclosures and evictions, greater unemployment, growing poverty, government programs cut back or eliminated, and rising tensions throughout society.
Concerns about the economy are intimately tied to political priorities in the wars abroad. The federal government could get the whole sum for the AIG takeover from the Pentagon budget and still leave the U.S. military with more money than any other country in the world. To raise some quick cash, they could end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan—and not only cover the cost of the Fannie and Freddie takeover in a year-and-a-half at most, but, more importantly, begin to right a terrible injustice committed halfway around the world in the name of ordinary people in the U.S.
The present crisis is laying bare the failure of the system for more and more people to see—and opening up opportunities to make the case for a socialist society, where the blind and irrational pursuit of profit and power is replaced by a commitment to freedom and equality for everyone in it.
Such a society won't be achieved by dreaming about it. Those who are convinced that an alternative is necessary to end the injustices of this world need to be organized to struggle for another one. In this context discussions of political theory and history are crucial to shaping struggles around the world.
THE 2008 NORTHWEST SOCIALIST CONFERENCE aims to provide space to debate and clarify strategies for change, learn from the history of previous struggles, and put forward a vision for the future. Join activists, progressives and socialists from across the region to discuss the key issues facing the Left today, as well as how we can build a revolutionary alternative to the capitalist system of war, racism and poverty that our society has produced.
Workshops include:
Unite and Fight Oppression: Marxism and Identity Politics
Economic Meltdown: Capitalism on Trial
Why Workers are Key to Transforming Society
Leninism: Why We Need a Revoljtionary Party
War and Capitalism: The Marxist Theory of Imperialism
and --Evening Panel " Fighting the War Abroad and At Home: Class Struggle and Resistance in the U.S"
at Langston Hughes Center ( 17th and Yesler) featuring Camilo Mejia, national president of Iraq Vets Against the War
Website for more info:
http://internationalsocialist.org
Contact Person:
Darrin
Contact Email:
info@seattleiso.rog
Contact Ph. Number:
206-931-2922Geographical Scope: Metro Conference |
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