[Marxism] Full agenda for World At A Crossroads conference, Sydney April 10-12

[Fred Fuentes <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

[Please forward onto your networks]

 *World at a Crossroads - Fighting for Socialism in the 21st Century*
*Easter 2009, April 10-13***

*Venue**: **Sydney** **Girls** **High School**, **Sydney***

* *

*REGISTER NOW AT www.worldatacrossroads.org/register*

* *

*FULL CONFERENCE AGENDA*



The full conference agenda is inserted below, or visit the following links
to view the various topic streams:

** Global economic crisis* http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/economiccrisis
* *Climate change & environmental crisis*
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/envirostream
* *Latin American revolution: alternatives to capitalism*
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/latinamerica
* *Resisting imperialism & war *
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/warandimperialism
* *Struggles in Asia and Africa*
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/asiaandafrica
* *Australian radical history & politics*
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/australianradicalhistoryandpolitics
* *Left unity: alliances, movement building & revolutionary organisation*
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/leftunity
* *Marxist fundamentals*
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/marxistfundamentals



*Hosted by Green Left Weekly. Organised by the Democratic Socialist
Perspective & Resistance*

*For more info, email dsp@xxxxxxxxxx or sydney.resistance@xxxxxxxxx, or
phone 02 9690 1230*



*FULL AGENDA*

*FRIDAY, APRIL 10*

9.30am FEATURE SESSION:* Capitalism's crises and our solutions*

  *Reihana Mohideen*, feminist and labour activist in the Philippines,
leader of the newly formed Party of Labouring Masses
  *David Spratt*, co-author of *Climate Code Red*
  *Michael Lebowitz*, Centro Internacional Miranda in Venezuela, and author
of *Build it now: Socialism for the 21st century*

11am – WORKSHOPS*:*

*Sexism and the system: A rebel's guide to women's oppression* - Reihana
Mohideen, feminist activist from the Philippines; Kavita Krishnan, national
secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association; and Jay
Fletcher, Resistance activist

*Challenges of building a climate change movement* - David Spratt, co-author
of *Climate Code Red*; Simon Butler, *Green Left Weekly* journalist on
environmental issues and People for a Safe Climate activist

*South Korea**: A view from the left* – South Korean socialist Yongsu Won

*Iraq** and **Afghanistan**: The **US**'s unwinnable wars for oil* – Alex
Bainbridge, DSP; and anti-war activist from the Labour Party Pakistan

*Working-class responses to the economic crisis* - Jody Betzien, activist in
the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Roger Annis, activist in the
International Association of Machinists in Vancouver, Canada, and delegate
to the 2008 Canadian Labour Congress convention

*Marx, Engels and Darwin: Evolution and historical materialism* - Ian Angus,
author of forthcoming book on Darwin and materialism

*Understanding Marxist economic theory* – Graham Matthews, DSP national
executive member and *Green Left Weekly* journalist on economic issues

1pm – LUNCH

2pm – FEATURE SESSION: *Obama**, **US** imperialism and the "war on terror"*
  *Salim Vally*, spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Committee (South
Africa)
  *Labour Party Pakistan *anti-war activist
  *Rob Stary*, civil liberties lawyer
  Hosted by *Pip Hinman*, DSP national executive member and activist in Stop
the War Coalition

3.30pm – WORKSHOPS:**

*Public ownership and workers' control* – Dave Kerin, heading up initiative
to establish worker-run cooperatives to build solar panels; and Michael
Lebowitz on the experiences and lessons of self-management in Yugoslavia and
Venezuela

*Evo Morales and **Bolivia**'s Indigenous revolution* – Federico Fuentes,
editor of *Bolivia Rising* and co-author of *MAS-IPSP: A political
instrument which emerged from the social movements*

*Boycott **Israel** campaign* – Discussion hosted by Salim Vally, involved
in the recent actions by South African dockworkers to boycott Israeli ships
and involving activists in the BDS campaign against Israel

*Political struggle in Timor Leste: The global, regional and local
context*– Tomas Freitas, socialist activist involved in Timor's
clandestine movement
against Indonesian occupation and a founding member of Luta Hamutuk (Fight
Together), a research and advocacy institute focussing on economic issues

*The politics of Che Guevara* – Duncan Meerding, Resistance

*Understanding the economic crisis A* - Jamie Doughney, senior researcher at
the Work and Economic Policy Research Unit at Victoria University of
Technology

*Why be a Marxist today?* Introduction to Resistance and the DSP –
Resistance activist Mel Barnes and Brianna Pike, DSP Sydney organiser

5.30pm – FEATURE SESSION: *Confronting the climate change crisis: An
ecosocialist perspective*
  *Ian Angus*, founder of the Ecosocialist International Network, editor of
*Climate and Capitalism* and associate editor of *Socialist Voice* (Canada)
  *Dick Nichols*, author of *Environment, Capitalism and Socialism*,
Socialist Alliance national co-convenor
  Hosted by *Stuart Rosewarne*, co-editor of *Capitalism, Nature, Socialism*

*7.30pm Dinner with music, poetry and film footage from struggles around the
world*

*SATURDAY, APRIL 11*

9.30am FEATURE SESSION: *The spectre of 21st century socialism*
  *Michael Lebowitz*, Centro Internacional Miranda, Caracas, author of *Build
it Now: Socialism For the 21st Century* and *Beyond Capital: Marx's
Political Economy of the Working Class*, winner of the Isaac Deutscher
memorial prize (2004)

11am – WORKSHOPS:

*Marxism, Islam and national liberation* – anti-war activist from the Labour
Party Pakistan, M. Saraswathy, founding member and deputy chairperson of the
Socialist Party of Malaysia; and Tony Iltis, DSP activist

*Climate refugees and the "overpopulation" debate* – Kamala Emanuel, DSP
national committee member

*Philippines: Developments on the left* – Reihana Mohideen, long-term
activist in the women's and labour movements in the Philippines, involved in
the recent formation of the Party of the Labouring Masses, and formerly
vice-chair for international affairs at the socialist labour centre Bukluran
ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers)

*Haiti** today: Five years of UN military occupation* – Roger Annis, Canada
Haiti Action Network, visited Haiti on a human rights fact-finding mission
in 2007

*Production and consumption as a source of global warming: Beyond capitalism
and toward a democratic ecosocialism* - Hans Baer, Development Studies
Program and Centre for Health and Society at the University of Melbourne,
author of *Global Warming and the Political Economy of Health*

*Understanding the economic crisis B* – Dick Bryan, Department of Political
Economy, University of Sydney

1pm – LUNCH

2pm – FEATURE SESSION: *Building a worker-green-community alliance for
sustainability
*  *Tim Gooden*, secretary of Geelong and Regions Trades and Labour Council
  *Dave Kerin*, convenor of Union Solidarity and heading up initiative to
establish worker-run cooperatives to build solar panels
  *Mel Barnes*, Resistance activist in the Stop the Pull Mill campaign in
Tasmania

3.30pm – WORKSHOPS:

*Indigenous resistance from invasion to intervention* – Sam Watson,
Aboriginal leader from Brisbane and Socialist Alliance national spokesperson
on Indigenous rights; and an activist from the Northern Territory Rollback
Intervention Working Group

*The struggle for same-sex marriage rights* – Simon Margan, Greens gay and
lesbian rights activist; Farida Iqbal, DSP activist and campaigner for
same-sex marriage rights in the ACT; and an activist from Community Action
Against Homophobia, Sydney

*The left in **Malaysia* – M. Saraswathy, founding member and deputy
chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, and long-term organiser of
plantation workers, urban settlers and women workers in Malaysia

*Crisis and resistance in Africa* – Salim Vally, long time anti-apartheid
campaigner in South Africa; and Soubhi Iskander, Sudanese Communist Party

*Experiences of left unity: The New Anti-capitalist Party in France and
Socialist Alliance in Australia* – Sam Wainwright, international observer at
the NPA founding congress; and Sue Bolton, Victorian Socialist Alliance and
DSP Melbourne secretary.

*El Salvador** after the elections: Where next for the FMLN?* – Activists
from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in Australia

*History of Resistance and the DSP* – Resistance activist Mel Barnes and
Stuart Munckton, DSP national executive

5.30pm – FEATURE SESSION: *Latin America: Revolt, revolution and socialism
in the 21st century*
  *Abelardo Curbelo*, veteran of the Cuban revolution, central committee
member of the Cuban Communist Party, currently Cuban ambassador to Australia
  *Nelson Davila,* founding member of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolutionary
Movement (MBR-200), currently head of Venezuela's diplomatic mission to
Australia
  *Luis Bilbao*, long-time socialist activist on the Latin American left,
participant in the construction of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela
and in the formation of the Union of South American Nations

*7.30 pm CONFERENCE DINNER & FIESTA*
*Celebrating revolution: 50 years of Cuban Revolution, 10 years of
Venezuelan Revolution*. With toasts by Cuba's ambassador to Australia,
Abelardo Curbelo, and Venezuela's charge d'affaires, Nelson Davila

*SUNDAY, APRIL 12*

9.30am FEATURE SESSION: *Neoliberalism and resistance in Asia*
  *Kavita Krishnan*, Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist), editor of
*Liberation*, the CPI-ML's magazine in English, and national secretary of
the All India Progressive Women's Association
  *Yongsu Won*, socialist activist from South Korea

11am – WORKSHOPS:

*Cultural dissent - The politics of art and resistance* - Ian Angus on
Racism, resistance and the blues; Jill Hickson from Actively Radical TV; and
Phil Monsour, progressive folk singer

*Capitalism, agribusiness and sustainable agriculture* – DSP members Trish
Corcoran, Kate Stockdale and Nick Soudakoff

*Has racism always existed?* – Resistance activist Dom Hale

*Australia**'s hidden radical tradition* – DSP national executive member
Dave Holmes

*Understanding the economic crisis C* – Dick Nichols, Socialist Alliance
national co-convenor

*The Cuban economy and Latin American integration* – Tim Anderson, lecturer
in political economy at Sydney University just returned from Cuba, and
producer/director of *The Doctors of Tomorrow*

1pm – LUNCH

2pm – FEATURE SESSION: *Revolution in Venezuela - Communal councils, the
workers' movement and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela*
  *Luis Bilbao*, participant in the construction of the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela and in the formation of the Union of South American
Nations, founding editor of the Latin America-wide monthly magazine *América
XXI*, and author of 16 books, most recently *Venezuela in Revolution: the
Rebirth of Socialism*

3.30pm – WORKSHOPS:

*Young socialists fighting back* – Kavita Krishnan, former president of the
All India Students' Association (1999-2006); Resistance national
co-organiser Jess Moore and high-school activist Felix Donovan

*Sustainable cities: The transition to public transport, accessible housing
and liveability* – Ben Courtice, DSP environment movement activist; and John
Rice, Adelaide Ecosocialist Network

*Israel**, Hamas, Hezbollah and the right of **Palestine** to exist* – Issac
Shuisha, Israeli-born Palestine solidarity activist; and DSP member Rupen
Savoulian

*Argentina: The key to the region* - Luis Bilbao, Union of Militants for
Socialism, Argentina, author of recently published Argentina as the key to
the region

*Imperialism, nationalism and financial collapse: The Canadian experience* –
Roger Annis, associate editor of *Socialist **Voice*, Canada

*The Tamil struggle for self-determination* - Brian Senewiratne, Sinhalese
activist involved for more than four decades in exposing the human rights
abuses perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government and Sinhalese militias;
author of various books on the Tamil struggle that have been banned in Sri
Lanka

*Building a revolutionary alternative in **Australia** today* – Resistance
activist Mel Barnes and Ruth Ratcliffe, DSP Adelaide organiser

5.30pm – FEATURE SESSION: *Revolutionary organising and internationalism in
the 21st century*
  *Peter Boyle*, Democratic Socialist Perspective national secretary
  *M. Saraswathy*, deputy chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia
  *Daphne Lawless*, Socialist Worker-New Zealand central committee member
and editor of *Unity* journal

*7pm** Resistance gig with funky tunes from Dhopec and others*

** Some session times and speakers listed in this agenda may change. Please
visit www.WorldAtACrossroads <http://www.worldatacrossroads/> for the most
up to date agenda.*

-- 
REGISTER NOW AT www.worldatacrossroads.org/register

World at a Crossroads - Fighting for Socialism in the 21st Century

Easter 2009, April 10-13, Sydney Girls High, Sydney, Australia

A conference that brings together socialist and progressive activists and
thinkers from around Australia, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and North
America to discuss the urgent questions of our time.

For more info, email dsp@xxxxxxxxxx or sydney.resistance@xxxxxxxxx, or phone
(02) 9690 1230.

Organised by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and Resistance. Sponsored
by Green Left Weekly.
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu