Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 12:12:22 -0500 (EST) From: ROBERT SAUTE <rsaute-AT-email.gc.cuny.edu> ***1998 SOCIALIST SCHOLARS CONFERENCE*** A World to Win: From the MANIFESTO to New Organizing for Socialist Change ***CALL FOR PANELS*** http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc Dear Friends, Scholars, Activists, The 1998 Socialist Scholars Conference will take place this year from Friday March 20 to Sunday March 22, at Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York City. This year's theme is "A World to Win: From the MANIFESTO to New Organizing for Socialist Change," and we encourage panels to address issues covered by it. We are also eager to have panels on any and all subjects of interest to socialists, radical democrats, activists and intellectuals who want a better world. Last year 1800 activists, scholars, socialists, and radical democrats from more than a dozen countries met for a weekend of dialogue and debate about changes in the labor movement at the top and bottom; independent politics; struggles for survival and justice in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; bringing culture back in; and dozens of others on race, ecology, gender, class, and the struggle for liberation. At more than 120 panels speakers and participants exchanged ideas, honed tactics, and discovered new ways to look at old problems. This year the aim of the Conference is modest: we would like to reintroduce organizing into the socialist project. The recent Teamster victory in the U.P.S. strike illustrates the efficacy of rank and file organizing: educating, agitating, and persuading. Yet, in this increasingly fragmented and complex world where virtual communities supplant face-to-face communication, where membership implies no commitment, organizing is a radical act. Two anniversaries will be important components of this year's Conference: the one hundred and fifty years since the birth of the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, and the thirty years since the events of 1968 -- the Prague Spring, Paris, Chicago, the Tlatelolco Massacre. We encourage wide-ranging discussion. Debates are more interesting for speakers and audience. Diversity of opinion and experience, as well as in race, class, and gender, give your panel and the Conference strength. We have participants organize panels rather than submit papers because panels with coherent themes are more interesting; they allow for meaningful debate and encourage participation from the audience. Panels are an hour and fifty minutes long and typically have three to five speakers, sometimes including a moderator. Talks of less than twenty minutes per speaker work best. They allow for exchange among and between panelists and the audience. Videos, slide presentations, and/or overhead projections can be accommodated with advance notification. **Deadline for panel submissions is February 27, 1998.** To submit a panel, please include a panel title, a list of panelists with one -and only one- affiliation per panelist, an address with email for each panelist, a sponsoring organization (if applicable) and a contact person with address, phone number, and email. Panels take place on Saturday March 21 and Sunday March 22, from 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM, 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM, and 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Please let us know your preference, and, given early notification, we will do everything possible to meet your needs. The cost of a panel is $100. The fee includes admission for each of the panelist for the entire three day conference. There are no additional charges for panelists. Please make your checks payable to: Socialist Scholars Conference c/o Dept. of Sociology/ CUNY Grad Center 33 West 42nd Street New York, NY 10036-8099 If you have further questions, please look for our web page at: http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc or contact us at the above address, phone us at (212) 642-2826, or email us at: socialist.conf-AT-usa.net
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