The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 242-4201 (212) 741-4563 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail) ***** Out from under the Bell Curve: A Teach-in on Confronting Right-wing Ideology and Social Policy Saturday, April 1, 9 am-6 pm at Public School 41 Sixth Avenue and Eleventh Street Manhattan Registration: $12 preregistration $15 at the door $5 students/low-income What is the ideology that underpins the "Contract on America" and Giuliani's "Reality Therapy"? What is behind the massive gutting of educational and social programs that is dramatically reshaping the lives of New Yorkers and people in cities across the country? Why is all of this happening now? This one-day teach-in will use Murray and Hernstein's much-debated book as a case-in-point. It will bring together activists and analysts to look at: --how _The Bell Curve_ supports particular political, social, and economic agendas; --how it provides deceptive explanations for widening class, race, gender, and ethnic divisions; and --how it erodes basic democratic values. Panels and workshops will take apart the ideology embodied in _The Bell Curve_, and discuss how it works and strategies to combat it. Keynote Speakers: ***Charmaine Bailey, student, Bronx Community College ***Linda Burnham, Director, Women of Color Resource Center and an editor of _Crossroads_ magazine. ***Stephen Jay Gould, Professor of Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and author of _The Mismeasure of Man_ and _Ever Since Darwin_ ***Tony Mazzocchi, Presidential Assistant, Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), AFL-CIO ***Richie Perez, National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights ***Don Rojas, former Communications Director, NAACP; editor at the _Amsterdam News_; former press secretary to Maurice Bishop of Grenada's New Jewel Movement Performances: ***Randy Credico ***Rainbow Voices Partial List of Workshop Participants (list in formation) ***Mimi Abramovitz, Professor at Hunter College School of Social Work ***Jose Alfaro, public school social worker ***Norma Allen, Wingate High School Advocates for Education ***Sam Anderson, Network of Black Organizers ***Ellen Braune, New Channels Communications ***Eleonora Castano Ferreira, Brecht Forum, Institute for Popular Education ***Marilyn Clement, Health Care: We Gotta Have It! ***Bob Fitch, author, _The Assassination of New York_ ***Andy Humm, member, Chancellor's Multicultural Advisory Committee ***Danny Kessler, public school teacher ***Eli Messinger, child psychiatrist, Associate Professor, New York Medical College ***Gerald Meyer, coordinator, Hostos Action Committee ***Don Murphy, People About Changing Education (PACE) ***Stuart Newman, Council for Responsible Genetics ***Marie-Claire Picher, Brecht Forum; Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory ***Suzanne Ross, public school psychologist ***Nan Rubin, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice ***Greg Tewksbury, _School Voices_ ***Ethel Tobach, co-editor, _Challenging Racism and Sexism: Alternatives to Genetic Explanations_ ***Lou Turner, editor and "Black World" columnist for _News and Letters_ ***Juliet Ucelli, People About Changing Education (PACE) ***Joel Washington, Network of Black Organizers ***Margaret Willig-Crane, Economic and Social Human Rights Advocacy Network Partial List of Workshops (list in formation) ***_The Bell Curve_: Unmasking "Scientific" Arguments ***_The Bell Curve_: Unmasking Ideology ***Race and Racism ***Dismantling the New Deal ***Analyzing the Contract on America ***Fundamentalism, the Religious Right, and Violent Right-wing Movements ***Public Education and the Contract on America ***Student Activism and the Struggle for Democratic Education: Organizing for the 1990s ***NYC Reality Therapy: Jobs and Unemployment ***NYC Reality Therapy: Dismantling the Safety Net-- Welfare and Healthcare ***Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, Violence, and Immigration Policy ***Environmental Racism ***Psychiatrists against _The Bell Curve_ ***The Role of the Media and Ways to Confront It ***Challenging Racism in Biology ***Popular Education Workshops ***Sexism and Attacks on Women Sponsoring Organizations: The Brecht Forum (initiator); Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR); Council for Responsible Genetics; Educators for Social Responsiblity; Health Care: We Gotta Have It!; Genes and Gender Collective; Jews for Racial and Economic Justice; The Learning Alliance; Network of Black Organizers (NOBO); New Channels Communications; New York Committees of Correspondence; People About Changing Education (PACE) To pre-register, please make checks or money orders payable to *The Brecht Forum* and send to The Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, New York, New York 10001. Fees are $12 regular pre-registration rate ($15 at door) and $5 for students/low-income. //end
