Date: Wed, 10 Aug 1994 10:39:00 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jonathan Beasley Murray <jbmurray-AT-csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Midwest Radical Schoolars and Activists (fwd)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 1994 03:49:20 -0700
From: Rust Gilbert <rgilbert-AT-Mcs.Net>
Subject: Midwest Radical Schoolars and Activists


                            Call For Papers & Panels
                                                 

     The Chiapas Uprising in Mexico, Gang Violence in Chicago, Student 
Streetfighting in France, Civil Wars
in Africa, the Slaughter oI innocents in Hebron, the Rise of the Russian 
Mafia--all these headlines of the past year
highlight the theme of the 1994 Midwest Radical Scholars and Activists 
Conference: Jobs, Poverty and Global
Disorder.

     These events only underscore the urgency of your participation in 
our 5th annual gathering, to be held
at Loyola University in Chicago, on the weekend of Oct. 14-16.  We are 
calling for proposals for the
presentation of papers and the organization of panels for debate and 
discussion.  

     These crises of today's world are only getting worse.  The rich are 
getting richer while the poor are
getting poorer, the gap between the countries of the Northern hemisphere 
and those of the South is getting
wider, environments and species important to the vitality and diversity 
of the biosphere are being ravaged and
endangered.

     Are there solutions to these problems?  We believe so.  Since these 
conditions were created by human
endeavors in the first place, they can be undone by human endeavors as 
well.  But any effective measures will
have to strike at the roots of institutionalized arrogance and greed; 
they will have to take human solidarity, along
with a respect for diversity and the interests of the majority, as their 
guiding values.

     This is especially true on the critical issue of jobs. Everyone 
agrees that every person should have the
opportunity of gainful employment, of work that can sustain one's self 
and one's family at a decent standard
of living.  Without work or the prospect of work, every human problem and 
source of suffering is heightened--
from hunger, to homelessness, to racial and ethnic hatreds and the 
battering of women and children, to lack
of security from crime, homophobic attacks or political repression. 

     Yet in every country, this opportunity for work is being eroded 
among the majority and denied altogether
for those most in need. Moreover, there are no "national" or "local" 
solutions to this problem. "Protecting" jobs
in one area at the expense of another is shortsighted at best; in the 
long run, it only heightens inequalities,
forced migrations and economic rivalries.  And these factors, in turn, 
are heightening the new global disorder
threatening  war and destruction. 

     We must look beyond the tepid reformism of the Clinton 
administration for answers. However accurate
its analysis of a given problem may be, any approach that only produces 
gutted half measures is no solution
at all. Fundamental structural changes are required to break up 
entrenched power and privilege, redistribute
existing resources more fairly, protect the environment and unleash new 
ways of generating new wealth and
knowledge. If this requires a powerful mobilization against the most 
parasitic and reactionary finance capitalists,
then so be it.

     "Getting to the root" of things in this way is the reason we call 
our annual conference a gathering of
radical scholars and activists.  We choose this word precisely because we 
want to dig deep, to expose
underlying causes and to point to thoroughgoing solutions. We are open to 
all trends on the left and among
progressive social movements who are themselves committed to open 
discussion.  

     We hope you join us in October and help build the conference by 
sending in your registration fee early.
$50 for sustaining registrations, $25 regular, $15 for students and 
low-income.  Make checks to Networking
forDemocracy, 3411 W Diversey, Chicago IL 60647, Tel: 312-384-8827. Fax: 
312-384-3904. E-mail:
cdavidson-AT-igc.org.  Donations are tax deductible.

     Initiated by Open University of the Left and Networking for 
Democracy: 
Co-Initiators at Loyola: Department of Sociology-Anthropology and 
Department of Philosophy.     The
5th Annual Midwest Radical Scholars  & Activists Conference Jobs, Poverty 
& Global Disorder

Oct. 14-16, 1994 Loyola University Chicago, Illinois 6525 North Sheridan Road
    
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