Excerpted below are some of the sessions from Radfest 2004 held in Wisconsin and part of this push to bring “socialism” to America through the Democrat party. I have the whole document and if you want to understand what “community organizing” has done to our country it is a perfect example. FR mail me and I will get the document to you.
Education B “TAKING THE SOCIAL IN SOCIALISM SERIOUSLY”
Socialism, in both its revolutionary and reformist traditions, has generally been viewed as a state-
centered project of socio-economic transformation. This is not simply because the state was seen as a
pivotal locus of power for overcoming opposition and enacting the relevant policies of social change,
but because the state was seen as the central site for organizing socialism itself. In this workshop I will
explore an alternative way of thinking about socialism in which the central issue of institutional design
is empowering civil society relative to both the state and the economy. The vision, then, is of a society-
centered socialism.
Erik Olin Wright, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lodge B “COMMUNITY -DRIVEN NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGE: LESSONS FROM
CHICAGO”
“The city that works” offers ample opportunity to examine successful st rategies and potential
opportunity for development of grassroots solutions to the perennial issue of resident input in
community change. Members of the non-profit organization We the People Media will present their
groundbreaking methods of implementing information-based
solutions to this problem and lead a
discussion about facilitating transparency in neighborhood development and community change.
10:30-12:00 SESSION II
Education A “SEIZE THE MEDIA!: HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR MEDIA JUSTICE”
This action-oriented workshop discusses the emerging “media justice” movement, which is
grounded in a power analysis of race, class, and gender and seeks to go beyond gaining greater access to
the existing media system to the creation of a radically distinct system that is democratic, diverse, and
community-oriented.
Karen Bond, Chicago Media Action
Bob McChesney, author of The Problem of the Media
Lodge B “A SONG WILL RISE:
TEACHING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THROUGH FOLK SONGS”
This workshop uses songs of struggle and protest to teach about radical politics and social movements.
Jim Pennell and Corey Dolgon are both sociologists and folk singers who will play a few songs and
discuss the ways they use performance to teach about the labor movement and other political struggles.
Corey Dolgon , Department of Sociology, Worcester State College
Jim Pennell, Department of Sociology, University of Indianapolis
Stevenson “UP AGAINST THE WALL: PUTTING PALESTINE ON THE AGENDA OF THE U.S.
PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT”
What is the future of the Israeli occupation of Palestine? And what should we as U.S. citizens — who
bankroll the Israeli military – do about it?
George Arida, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project
Norman Finkelstein, author of Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Ghada Hashem Talhami, Department of Politics, Lake Forest College
Gabriel Piemonte and Beauty Turner, We the People Media
Here is another part of the “Program” Do you recognize the name Medea Benjamin?
From Wikipedia:
Medea Benjamin (born Susan Benjamin on September 10, 1952) is an American politician, and political activist, famous for co-founding the anti-war group Code Pink and fair trade advocacy group Global Exchange.
7:00-9:00 PLENARY PANEL
Seabury “PROGRESSIVE STRATEGY IN 2004, AND BEYOND”
Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
Brenda Konkel, Madison City Council
Salim Muwakkil, Chicago Tribune, In These Times
Jamala Rogers, Black Radical Congress