****BUILDING A REVOLUTIONARY ALTERNATIVE****

November 15-16 * Chicago * DePaul University
(Munroe Hall, 2312 N. Clifton)

****2008 MIDWEST SOCIALIST CONFERENCE****

On November 15, join hundreds of socialists and activists from across the Midwest to discuss today's struggles and building a movement for revolutionary change at the 2008 Midwest Socialist Conference.

****SESSIONS & WORKSHOPS

*Saturday Morning Plenary
Capitalism in Crisis: Building the Revolutionary Alternative

*Saturday Evening Plenary
Resisting U.S. Empire

*Saturday Workshops
From Boom to Bust: The Economic Crisis Today
Is a Revolution Possible in the U.S.?
What's next in the Struggle for Immigrant Rights?
From New Deal to Raw Deal: Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
Afghanistan: The Right War?
Lock 'em up and Throw Away the Key: Capitalism: Crime and Punishment
Radical Black Workers Struggles of the 1960s
Environment in Crisis: Can the Planet Be Saved?
Capitalism and Sexuality
Harvest of Empire: Globalization and Immigration
How Can We Organize to Fight Back? The Politics of Mass Protest and Direct Action
Marxism versus Anarchism
The Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 1970s
Lenin and Buhkarin on the Theory of Imperialism
After the Elections: The Democratic Party and War
The Fight for Single-Payer Health Care (Patients and Health Care Workers Speak Out)
Why Do We Need a Revolutionary Party?
From Unemployed Councils to Factory Occupations: The Class Rebellion of the 1930s
Introduction to the International Socialist Organization (ISO)

*Sunday "Socialist School" Workshops
Why Capitalism Doesn't Work: The Marxist Theory of Economic Crisis
World Revolution: The First Five Years of the Communist International
The Russian Revolution: When Workers Ran Society
Rosa Luxemburg's The Mass Strike
The Myth of Lenin's Elitism

****SPEAKERS INCLUDE (SO FAR)

SHARON SMITH author of Subterranean Fire: A History of Working Class Radicalism in the United States

CAMILO MEJíA of Iraq Veterans Against the War (*for id only)

ACTIVISTS form the front-lines of the struggles against the death penalty, for immigrant rights, for single-payer health care and against the war.

JOE ALLEN author of Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost

PHIL GASPER columnist for the International Socialist Review and editor of The Communist Manifesto: A Road Map to History's Most Important Political Document

KEEANGA TAYLOR frequent contributor to Counterpunch, International Socialist Review and Socialist Worker on questions of race and class

ELIZABETH SCHULTE journalist for Socialist Worker newspaper and Socialist Worker Online

ADAM TURL contributor to Socialist Worker and Socialist Worker Online.

DAVID WHITEHOUSE reviews editor for the International Socialist Review

****CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Saturday

9-10am Registration
10-11am Opening Plenary
11:30-1pm Workshops
1-2pm Lunch
2-3:30pm Workshops
4-5:30pm Workshops
5:30-7:30pm Dinner
7:30-9pm Evening Plenary

Sunday "Socialist School"

11am-1pm Workshops

****REGISTRATION is on a sliding scale of $15-50 (solidarity) donation

****FOR MORE INFORMATION contact your local branch of the International Socialist Organization, call 773-370-4575 or e-mail contact@internationalsocialist.org.

SPONSORED BY THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION

http://www.internationalsocialist.org/
http://socialistworker.org/

Direct Action workshops by the Pittsburgh Organizing Group.

Sponsored by the Kent State Anti-War Committee.

330 998 5432

kentantiwar@gmail.com

All events are in Rm. 318 of the Kent State Student Center
Saturday, August 9th

Direction can be found here
http://kentstate.kent.edu/directions/kent/travel.asp

11am-1pm: Mass Action 101 Workshop
"This workshop geared towards activists preparing to participate in a
mass action.
We’ll talk about several different types of action frameworks you might
run into and introduce common organizational structures that you’re
likely to see including affinity groups, clusters, and blocs.
Additionally we’ll offer suggestions for mental preparation and a
rundown of basic legal and health and safety questions."

1-2pm: Potluck

2-3/4pm: Lockboxes and Lockdown Devices
"This training, by POG's tactical training initiative, is an
introduction to the use of 'lockboxes' and other lockdown devices in
protest situations. For decades, activists have been using handcuffs,
chains, pvc piping, steel tubing, and all sorts of other devices to help
secure space in a protest situation. First made popular to North
American activists during the anti-nuclear movement, these tactics were
further developed and defined during forest defense campaigns in the
Pacific Northwest through the 80's and 90's. By the late 1990's
sophisticated lockdown devices made it out of the woods and back into
the streets as global justice activists confronted trade summits and
corporate targets. Today, lockdowns remain an important and effective
tactic, employed by a myriad of social justice organizations around the
world.

This training will concentrate on the logistical and safety issues
involved in planning actions and supporting our friends who are locking
down, but will also provide participants with an opportunity to 'try
out' a few popular lockdown. Many of the skills we will explore are
applicable in all sorts of lockdown and other protest situations."