Ecosocialist Conference 2013 - Los Angeles
SYSTEM CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE! Saturday, September 21st - 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Registration/Refreshments - 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM At The Mayme Clayton Library & Museum 4130 Overland Avenue, Culver City 90230 $15 Early Registration: www.escla2013.brown <http://www.escla2013.brownpapertickets.com/> papertickets.com - $20 at Door. $5 Students/Unemployed/Retired. No one turned away for lack of funds. _______________________________________________________________ ECOSOCIALIST CONFERENCE 2013 - LOS ANGELES 9:00 AM Registration/Refreshments 10:00 AM Opening Plenary: Capitalism is Killing the Planet - David Klein, Lisa Lubow 11:00 AM Session 1 Workshops: - Food Justice, Local and Global - Luis Rivas, Miguel Diaz, Cheri Rae - Environmental Racism & Indigenous Resistance - Kimberly King, Ragina Johnson, Lydia Ponce - Fracking, KeystoneXL, Tar Sands - Lauren Steiner, Jack Eliot, TBA 1:00 PM Large Marge Lunch 1:50 PM Session 2 Workshops: - Art, Consciousness, and Protest - Carol Wells, Nadia Conenrs - Both Red & Green: A History of the Green Left - Scott Tucker, Mike Powelson - Sustainability and Technology - Eric Rehder, Gene Warren 4:00 PM Session 3 Workshops: - A Debate on Electoral Politics - Mike Feinstein, Kwazi Nkrumah, Craig Toennies - Natural Allies: Labor and Climate Justice - Andrea Nicholls, TBA - Effects of Capitalism: Alienation & Liberation - Ben Manski, Mark Lipman, Alan Peck 6:00 PM Dinner Break 6:45 PM Coordinating Committee Penultimate Theatre 7:00 PM Closing Plenary: What is Ecosocialism and How Might We Get There Jill Stein, Richard Larios, Chris Williams SOME OF THE ENDORSERS/ PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS: Socialist Party USA, Socialist Party USA-Los Angeles Local, International Socialist Organization-Los Angeles Branch, Democratic Socialists of America-Los Angeles Chapter, Valley College Socialists, Occupy Los Angeles Freedom School, News and Letters-Los Angeles Branch, News and Letters-San Francisco Branch, Cal State Northridge Greens, San Fernando Valley Greens, Solidarity-Los Angeles Branch, Green Shadow Cabinet of the United States, Large Marge Sustainables. * To Endorse Contact: ecosocialis...@gmail.com ** More Information: www.escla2013.wordpress.com ************************************************************************************************************************ ORIGINAL UNIFYING STATEMENT System Change, Not Climate Change! Statement from the Ecosocialist Contingent for the Forward on Climate February 17, 2013 www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/events/about Tens of thousands of activists, including students, indigenous leaders, religious groups, and community organizations will assemble in DC on February 17 for one of the largest climate and environmental justice demonstrations ever. The climate extremes of 2012 have shifted public opinion in favor of change, despite Obama’s electoral silence. The rise of Idle No More has further energized the movement and internationalized perspectives. February 17th should mark the beginning of a more united, grassroots climate movement with no illusions in the free market or the Democratic Party. We ecosocialists are honored to stand with so many and say no to the Keystone XL! No to extreme energy! Ecosocialists believe capitalism is killing the planet. The drive to increase profits assumes endless growth on a finite planet. Capitalism depends on cheap oil and gas, and shuns energy conservation and a swift switch to renewables as unprofitable. The US war machine has devastated the Middle East in the service of ExxonMobil. Fossil Fuel corporations continue to scour the planet for ever-more oil, gas, coal and profit. This must change. We must bring human society back into balance with nature. Politicians such as President Obama are beholden to corporate interests and refuse to do what’s necessary to avert ecological catastrophe. Only the self-organization of the 99% can turn society around. Mobilizations like those of the First Nations people, farmers, and towns who are blocking pipeline construction through their lands offer a way out of the crisis. Progressives, radicals, the labor movement, and First Nations must unite. We demand President Obama reject the Keystone XL permit. We demand a massive public works campaign, green jobs and cuts to defense spending. We support broad action campaigns for free and publicly-owned mass transit, public ownership of renewable energy, as well as an end to racism, sexism, homophobia, and oppression. The capitalist system is in fundamental conflict with the climate system. Capitalist exploitation of nature is the flip side to the exploitation of human labor. Ultimately therefore, to solve the ecological and social crisis, we need a revolutionary movement that creates a new society free of exploitation, oppression, and the profit motive. A society which measures the quality of life not through the competitive acquisition of things, but by our relationship to each other and nature, that acts to protect and restore our planet for future generations. ■No to the Keystone XL Pipeline, fracking, mountaintop removal, nuclear power and extreme energy ■Respect indigenous rights ■Tax the polluters! Build a renewable infrastructure with union labor ■Another World is Possible! For a society based on human need, not profit. —————————– Initiated by Solidarity and the International Socialist Organization. To endorse, please contact: <mailto:ecosocialistconfere...@gmail.com> ecosocialistconfere...@gmail.com Endorsing Organizations and Individuals: Editorial board, New Politics Chicago Socialist Party West Queens Green Party, NYC Green Party Manhattan Local Bronx Green Party Bronx County Green Party Ecosocialist Horizons International Socialists (Canada) Shut Down Indian Point Now! Socialist Action Red Wedge Magazine Mike Davis, Professor, Creative Writing, UC Riverside; author of Planet of Slums, In Praise of Barbarians, Late Victorian Holocausts Ian Angus, Editor, ClimateandCapitalism.com Toronto Bolivia Solidarity Sherry Wolf, Author, Sexuality & Socialism Sharon Smith, Author, Subterranean Fire: A History of Working Class Radicalism in the United States Phil Gasper, Associate Editor, International Socialist Review Bhaskar Sunkara, editor & publisher of Jacobin magazine, senior editor In These Times. Tarak Kauff, Board of Directors, Veterans for Peace Lance Selfa, Author, The Democrats: A Critical History Sam Gindin Victor Wallace, Managing Editor, Socialism & Democracy Chris Williams, Professor, Pace University; author, educator, activist Paul LeBlanc, La Roche College; author, Marx, Lenin, and Revolutionary Experience; activist Scott McLemee, New Politics editorial board Michele Bollinger, co-editor of 101 Changemakers Patrick Bond, Director, Center for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban Deepa Kumar, Professor, Rutgers University, activist, author, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire Michael Lowy, Member, editorial board of Ecologie Politique, Paris, France Gregg Shotwell, author of Autoworkers Under the Gun Joanne Landy, Co-Director, Campaign for Peace & Democracy; editorial board member, New Politics John Riddell, Canadian socialist and environmental activist Alan Wald, editorial board, Against the Current Subhankar Banarjee, photographer, writer, and activist John Stachel, *Director, Center for Einstein Studies, Boston University Kevin Hengehold David Schwartzman, Professor Emeritus, Biogeochemistry, Howard University; www.solarUtopia.org and www.redandgreen.org Lois Wilcken, La Troupe Makandal, Inc Ernest Boyd, Asheville, North Carolina Rory Short, Quaker/Yogi/Buddhist/Environmentalist John Sharkey Lance Newman, Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Professor of English and Environmental Studies. Westminster College Sue Udry, *Executive Director, Defending Dissent Foundation David Barsamian, Director, Alternative Radio Mark A. Lause, Professor of History, University of Cincinnati Ann Montague, Co-Chair, Lavender Caucus,SEIU 503 (Oregon) Greg Albo, Professor of Political Economy, York University Ellis Boal Dana Bisignani, Women’s Studies Instructor, Poet, Graduate Student, Purdue University Michael Friedman, Biologist, member Professional Staff Congress (CUNY), AFT local 2334 Michael Rubin, State Coordinating Committee, Green Party of California Howie Hawkins, Teamsters local 317, 2010 Green party candidate for NY Governor Sandy Boyer, Radio Free Eireann Ron Lare, UAW Local 600 member, retired, former Executive Board member Cindy Moeckel, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University Elizabeth Carroll, Associate Professor, Writing Center Director, Appalachian State University Donna Cartwright, *Pride at Work, CWA local 31003 member, retired Kamran Nayeri, Political Economist emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, editor of Our Place in the World: A Journal of Ecosocialism Monthly Review, independent socialist magazine Fred Magdoff, author and professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont Robert “Gabe” Gabrielsky, NJ 2000 Green Party candidate for Congress Cecile Lawrence, NY 2010 Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Fleming, editor and publisher, Autonomedia Al Weinrub, Coordinator of the Local Clean Energy Alliance and author of Community Power: Decentralized Renewable Energy in California Bolivarian Circle Alberto Lovera NYC Laurens R. Hunt Freedom Socialist Party The Green Party of the State of New York The Young Democratic Socialists Socialist Project (Canada) Centre for Social Justice (Toronto) The National Lawyers Guild The Democratic Socialists of America CUNY Divest Artists for Equality NY News & Letters Committee * affiliation noted for identification purposes only.
