Upcoming: From Crash to Catastrope – WPF Teach In
Published by Patrick October 28th, 2009 in House of Labour, Lower Mainland Tags: House of Labour.
Please see below for information regarding the 2009 World Peace Forum Teach in or visit www.peaceforumteachin.org
>> Note that the BC Regional Council voted to purchase up to 30 tickets for PSAC members who may be interested in attending. Please email braggp@psac.com or call 604 430 5631 and ask for Patrick for a ticket – they are available on a first come/first served basis <<
From Crash to Catastrophe …
The ‘Great’ Depression, the rise of fascism, the debates that shook the workers’ movement, the Spanish Civil War, the transformation from coal to oil, the rise of the American Empire, the origins of mass media, the birth of mass industrial unions, youth, anti-war and solidarity movements and much more-the ‘thirties’ were a decade that had a huge impact on the world we live in today and the tasks that face activists. Following the success of the 2008 World Peace Forum Teach-In, which looked at the impact of World War I, this gathering of academics, artists and activists will discuss and debate the decade between the great ‘crash’ of October 1929 and the official beginning of the Second World War in September of 1939.
With the goal of supporting peace, economic and social justice and ecological sustainability, the World Peace Forum is creating a program featuring speakers from across North America who will shed light on the roots of the present in the past. In plenary sessions and smaller workshops the lessons of history and the tasks of today will be discussed and debated. On Remembrance Day, November 11, there will be a special series of panels for young people-the generation who will decide what the future of humanity will look like and whether there will be one.
The World Peace Forum Society
presents:
1929 to 1939
FROM CRASH TO CATASTROPHE
A Teach-in on what happened and its lessons for today
November 7, 8 & 11, 2009
Maritime Labour Centre
1880 Triumph Street
- o -
Teach-in Program
|
SATURDAY |
NOVEMBER 7 Registration opens at 8:30am | ||||
| Morning Plenary
9:00–10:30 |
OPENING PLENARY-THEN AND NOW: Differences and Similarities between the Thirties and Our World.
Presenters INGO SCHMIDT & ANDREW MARSHALL |
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| Morning Sessions
10:45–12:00 |
The Great Debate:
Marx vs Keynes Presenter INGO SCHMIDT |
The Rise of Fascism
Presenter ALISON AYERS |
‘Fight Back:’ Strategies of workers’ and popular organizations Canada/US
Presenters MARK LEIER FRED GLASS |
Solidarity: Ethiopia,
Spain and China Presenters ELSPETH GARDINER TEKLA LIT CLAUDE SHEMA RUTAGENGWA |
Anti-war Art& Song in the Thirties: From Kanonensong to Guernica
Presenter GARY CRISTALL |
| 12:00-1:00 | LUNCH [Available on site] | ||||
| Afternoon Plenary
1:00–2:30 |
PLENARY-CLASS OR NATION? The Era of the Popular Front.
Presenters MIGUEL FIGUEROA & DAN LABOTZ |
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| New Deal/No Deal: The US and Canada in the Great Depression.
Presenter GREG ALBO |
The Canadian Left in the 30’s: CCF, CP and other popular movements. | In The Face of Crisis: Popular Responses In Europe.
Presenters STEVE MCBRIDE DAN LABOTZ |
Whose Promise? Whose Land?
The Evolution of Zionism From the Thirties to Today Presenter JOEL KOVEL |
Colonialism Begins At Home: First Nations in the Thirties
Presenters KAT NORRIS STEWART PHILLIP |
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| Saturday
End of Day Plenary 4:15–5:45 |
PLENARY-EITHER CAPITALISM GOES OR WE GO: From Coal to Oil to ??
Presenter JOEL KOVEL |
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| Evening
8:00 |
EVENING CULTURAL EVENT: A ‘THIRTIES’ CABARET
Presenters ELIZABETH FISCHER & FRIENDS . FRASER UNION . THE DIGGERS and others tba |
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| SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 8 Registration opens at 8:30am | ||||
| Morning Plenary
9:00–10:30 |
PLENARY-CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: The End of Impunity in International Politics
Presenter GAIL DAVIDSON |
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| Morning Sessions
10:45–12:00 |
Hurray! The Butter’s Gone: Militarization as Economic Salvation.
Presenter PETER PRONTZOS |
War and Law: The origins of ‘Human Rights’.
Presenter GAIL DAVIDSON |
The Birth of Rosie The Riveter: Women in the Workers’ Movement.
Presenters REGINA BRENNAN MARLEA CLARKE |
Memories of Militancy: Anti-war activism and youth in the thirties.
Presenters ELSIE DEAN; ELSPETH GARDINER |
|
| 12:00-1:00 | LUNCH [Available on site] | ||||
| Afternoon Plenary
1:00–2:30 |
PLENARY-OPPORTUNITIES & CONTRADICTIONS Elected Office and Social Change
Presenters |
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| Afternoon Sessions
2:30–4:00 |
Changing of the Guard: From British and French to American Empire.
Presenter BEVERLY SILVER |
“The Arsenal of Democracy:” How the ‘Just War’ was sold.
Presenter GEOFF MANN |
Junior Partners: Labour and The War
Presenter MARK LEIER |
Yanqui Go Home: Latin American Anti-imperialism in the thirties.
Presenters LORENA JARA GARY CRISTALL |
Japan in the Thirties
Presenter SAVE ARTICLE NINE COMMITTEE |
| Final Plenary
4:15–5:45 |
PLENARY-WHY DOES THIS MATTER? The Link to Today
Presenters BEVERLY SILVER & GREG ALBO |
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| WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 11-YOUTH DAY | ||||
| 12:00–6:00 | ACTIVIST CAREER FAIR: DISPLAYS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF ANTI-WAR AND RELATED ORGANIZATIONS | ||||
| 12:00–5:00 | War Toys to Peace Art Train and Peacemaker video game | ||||
| 1:00–2:30 | PLENARY-DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT: How We Are Changing the World and How You Can Too!
YOUNG ACTIVISTS TALK ABOUT THEIR ACTIVITES Presenters STEPHEN VON SYCHOWSKI & OTHERS |
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| 2:45–4:15 | I AIN’T MARCHING ANYMORE! War Resistance Today Presenter MARLA RENN |
BOOKS NOT BOMBS! Military Spending and What It Could Be Used For |
UNDER 19′S A Report on a Journey Presenter NEELAM & PEGGY |
IMAGINE! Write Your Own Anti-War Anthem: A Hands On Workshop with |
MOVING IMAGES Film, Video, etc. Hosted by |
| 4:30-5:30 | IT’S A WRAP: END OF TEACH IN PLENARY-WHAT DID WE LEARN? WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? | ||||
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Tickets are $30 for the whole Teach In.
Day Tickets are $20 for Saturday and Sunday
Saturday Evening Cabaret only is $10.
Low income is by donation
Youth (21 and under) are free for entire Teach-in.
Wednesday Nov. 11 is free to all.
Tickets can be reserved by e mail at info@worldpeaceforumbc.ca
Payment in advance can be made by cheque payable to World Peace Forum Society and sent to
3469 Commercial St. , Vancouver BC V5N 4E8
www.worldpeaceforumbc.ca www.peaceforumteachin.org
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WORLD PEACE FORUM TEACH IN 2009
Saturday and Sunday presenters’ short bios
Ingo Schmidt
Ingo Schmidt is originally from Germany. He is an economist and Academic Coordinator of Labour Studies at Athabasca University
Gary Cristall
Gary Cristall works in the arts as a teacher and artists’ manager. In a previous life he lived in Chile and studied Latin American history.
Lorena Jara
Lorena Jara came to Canada as a refugee from Chile. She has long been active in Latin American solidarity activities.
Joel Kovel
Joel Kovel is both a scholar and an activist. Two of his recent books are The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or The End of the World and Overcoming Zionism-Creating A Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine.
Miguel Figueroa
Miguel Figueroa is the leader of the Communist Party of Canada. He was first elected leader in December 1992 at the 30th Party Convention.
Alison Ayers
Alison Ayers is a Professor at Simon Fraser University specializing in theories of global/international political economy, globalization, imperialism and development, amongst other things.
Mark Leier
Mark Leier is a Canadian historian of working class and left-wing history. He is the director of the Centre for Labour Studies at Simon Fraser University, where he is also a Professor of Canadian History and the history of Marxism.
Fred Glass
Fred Glass is the communications director of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), and is currently teaching labor history at San Francisco City College.
Save Article Nine Committee
The Vancouver Save Article Nine Committee is a group of Japanese Canadians devoted to preventing a new rise of Japanese militarism.
Stewart Phillip
Stewart Phillip is an Okanagan Aboriginal leader who has served four terms as President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. The Fraser Institute, a neo-conservative think tank, has criticized Phillip, calling him a “well-known militant.”
Marlea Clarke
Marlea Clarke is a former instructor at McMaster in the Economic and Labour Studies program. She now lives in Victoria, BC.
Elspeth Gardiner
Elspeth Gardiner has been involved in movements for political change and social justice since the late nineteen thirties.
Elsie Dean
Elsie Dean is a retired teacher and lifelong activist. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the World Peace Forum Society.
Thekla Lit
Thekla Lit is founder and Co-chair of the Canada Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA) and President of its BC chapter
Claude Shema Rutagengwa
Claude Shema Rutagengwa is a Rwandan doctor and peace activist now living in Norway.
Greg Albo
Greg Albo is a community activist and professor of political economy at York University in Toronto. He is on the board of Canadian Dimension magazine and a member of Socialist Project.
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Gavin Marshall is a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is currently studying Political Economy and History at Simon Fraser University. A recent paper is Global Power and Global Government: Evolution and Revolution in the Global Political Economy
Jim Sinclair
Jim Sinclair is the President of the BC Federation of Labour, the umbrella organization that represents 54 unions and 450,000 private and public sector employees in the province. He was elected to that position in 1999 after serving more than 18 years in the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union – CAW.
Steve McBride
Stephen McBride is Professor and Director of the Centre for Global Political Economy at Simon Fraser University. He specializes in political economy, comparative public policy, and Canadian politics.
Dan Labotz
Dan Labotz teaches history and Latin American studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is the author of several books on labor in Mexico, Indonesia, and the United States.
Peter Prontzos
Peter Prontzos is a social activist and teacher at Langara College where he is currently teaching: Politics of Developing Nations, Contemporary Ideologies, International Political Economy, and Democratic Socialism. He ran unsuccessfully for the provincial legislature in 2001.
Gail Davidson
Gail Davidson is a member of the Law Society of BC. In 2001 she founded Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), a committee of Canadian lawyers that provides support internationally for human rights defenders. Gail also works with Lawyers Against the War (LAW), a Canada-based committee of jurists and others with members in 13 countries.
Regina Brennan
Regina Brennan is a full time worker for the Public Service Alliance of Canada when she is not singing. She is a labour educator and activist.
Beverly Silver
Beverly J. Silver is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University. Her most recent book-Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870- has won several awards.
Geoff Mann
Geoff Mann Teaches in the Geography Department of SFU where his interests include political economy, work/labour, money and monetary policy, inequality and unemployment, politics of race and gender, environment and natural resources. A recent article is “Should political ecology be Marxist? A case for Gramsci’s historical materialism”.
Kat Norris
Kat Norris is from the Lyackson First Nation and is of Coast Salish and Nez Perce ancestry. She is the coordinator for the Indigenous Action Movement which provides a voice for Indigenous people against injustice.
Mable Elmore
Mable Elmore is a former member of the Board of Directors of the World Peace Forum, former co-chair of Stopwar.ca and a union activist in the Canadian Auto Workers when she was driving a bus. Today she is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver for Vancouver -Kensington, the first Filipina elected to the legislature.
Jean Crowder
Jean Crowder is the Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Cowichan and holds the National portfolio as New Democrat Critic for Aboriginal Affairs. Previously, her portfolios covered such areas as Status of Women, Health, Community Economic Development, Deputy Critic of Western Fisheries and the West Coast Critic for Natural Resources.
Saturday Evening Cabaret
The Diggers are:
Earle Peach, a musician, social activist and the conductor of the Solidarity Notes,
Regina Brennan, a full time union representative for the Public Service Alliance of Canada and
Dan Keeton, who is a free lance journalist, and the host of The Union Made Show on Co-op Radio.
These three met in the Solidarity Notes Labour choir and from that experience, moved on to form their group.
Fraser Union is:
Dan Kenning, Henk Piket, Roger Holdstock, and Barry Truter. They formed more than 20 years ago to sing ’songs with a bite.”
Elizabeth Fischer is a Vancouver singer and visual artist known for her work with Animal Slaves. She is also a rare interpreter of the songs of Berthold Brecht, which she will present in the Thirties Cabaret.