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As rebellions against racism roil cities big and small across the country, demands for police abolition proliferate, and systemic injustices are suddenly front and center in the mainstream, it is more critical than ever for radical activists to come together for important political growth and strategic conversations.
This July 4th, we invite you to reject America as we know it and convene with activists and organizers from around the country and around the world at the virtual Socialism 2020 conference.
Five powerful online discussions will explore how we can radically transform politics and society from the ground up. Panels are in formation, and topics will include discussions of the state of crisis capitalism today, reparations for slavery and settler colonialism, the urgent fight for climate justice and a Green New Deal, and what these turbulent last few months mean for political organization and the capitalist state. This year our conference plenary will be themed “From Rebellion to Revolution.”
Jesse Hagopian
Black Lives Matter at School
Bill Fletcher Jr.
Author, They’re Bankrupting Us
Brian Jones
Educator and activist
Grace Blakeley
Author, Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation
Robin D.G. Kelley
Author, Race Rebels
Dina Gilio Whitaker
Co-Author, “All the Real Indians Died Off”
Eric Blanc
Author, Red State RevoltRobin D.G. Kelley, Grace Blakeley, and Brian Jones
We open the virtual Socialism 2020 with a panorama of our present political landscape: a global pandemic, racialized health disparities backed by racist police violence, and the likelihood of a major economic crisis. This panel will situate our moment and prepare us for what is to come by explaining the contours of the new world we are entering, and how it has been shaped by the racialized capitalist system we still have with us. The conference will open with a performance of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
1pm – 2:15pm CDT / 2pm - 3:15pm EDTChoose from three:
– Reparations for Slavery and Settler Colonialism
– Socialist Organization and the Capitalist State
– Toward a Green New Future
See Breakout tab above for details
2:30pm - 4pm CDT / 3:30pm - 5pm EDTJesse Hagopian, Amelia Blair-Smith, and other speakers TBA
The racist police murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others have catalyzed a massive nationwide rebellion like nothing experienced in many of our lifetimes. The rebellions of this summer have achieved immediate wins and also faced harsh repression. We know these upsurges are not going away, though, because the causes of oppression and police violence have not gone away. This panel will discuss how we build on the mass anger and mobilizations of the present rebellion to carry out a full-scale, revolutionary transformation of our society.
4:15pm – 5:30pm CDT / 5:15pm - 6:30pm EDTDina Gilio-Whitaker, Bill Fletcher Jr., and Symone Baptiste
The past few years has seen passionate political debate over what the United States government owes to the descendants of slaves as well as demands from Indigenous communities for rights to land that has been and continue to be taken from them by American settler colonialism. This discussion centers the voices of those most impacted by racism and settler colonialism in the conversation about what is owed and how we can repair the harm that has been done.
2:30pm - 4pm CDT / 3:30pm - 5pm EDTThea Riofrancos, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Syd Ghazarian
As the climate crisis escalates, the promise of a Green New Deal has captured the imagination of people across the world. Socialists know that a system based on extraction and exploitation is inherently unsustainable — we want climate justice, not green capitalism. What should be the key socialist demands of the Green New Deal, and how can we mobilize the power of the working class to win them?
2:30pm - 4pm CDT / 3:30pm - 5pm EDTJamie Peck and Eric Blanc
The first half of 2020 has covered more political ground than decades before it. From the end of the Bernie Sanders campaign, to the onset of a global pandemic and the catastrophic federal response to it, to the outbreak of a long-simmering rebellion against racism and police brutality, this year marks the beginning of a new period. Socialists must navigate new terrain, new challenges, and rethink old strategies, particularly when it comes to the role of political organization and the capitalist state in the 21st century United States. What have we learned? What strategies should be pursued? And what do we have yet to discover?
2:30pm - 4pm CDT / 3:30pm - 5pm EDTWhile this is event is freely available the Socialism Conference organizers ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our continuing to do this important work and cover the costs of putting on the event.
