Socialism connects the dots

SOME 1,450 people from across the U.S. and beyond attended Socialism 2014 in Chicago over June 26-29.

Sponsored by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change (CERSC) and co-sponsored by the International Socialist Organization (ISO), the annual conference is one of the largest gatherings of the left in the U.S. This year's attendance topped last year's by more than 100 people--and an expanded schedule allowed close to 150 sessions offered during the four-day event.

But more important than attendance figures were the struggles represented at Socialism 2014: Palestinian rights, LGBT equality, the labor movement, anti-racism, education justice, women's rights and the environment, to name just some.

Sara Rene, a young activist who attended for the first time, felt a special connection to the sessions on Native rights and history:

I wasn't expecting so many Native activists come forward, and it was amazing to see someone chairing a conversation about Native feminism, and then in [another meeting] seeing people coming out and we started to gather and decided to meet and exchange information and really start something--which is something I've been craving.

Iymen Chehade, a Palestinian activist and professor at Columbia College in Chicago--who had to fight for his right to teach after a complaint about a showing of the Oscar-nominated documentary 5 Broken Cameras led to the cancellation of his course--spoke at one of a number of sessions dedicated to the fight for academic freedom and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. As he said of the conference:

I had an opportunity to meet some people that I've been in contact with over the years, who I've never actually met in person. Collectively, it's just an amazing place. There are some brilliant ideas, and people who really want to do something about the major issues that are out there. The Palestine issue and other social justice issues are all basically the same, in that they're an attempt to rectify a wrong. We all have commonality here, whether you're an advocate of one particular issue or another.

Remi Kanazi, a spoken-word artist and Palestinian activist, participated in a panel discussion with cultural writer Alex Billet on the topic of "People's art and political struggles"--and performed his work during a late-night bill of stand-up comedy, poetry and music.

"This is my first Socialism conference, and I thought it was amazing," Kanazi said. "I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was dynamic. There was intense critical engagement, where people would present on stage, and people would come in and give alternative theses or critiques, and there wasn't a defensiveness. It was about movement building."

GLENN GREENWALD, whose revelations about the Big Brother state based on information from NSA leaker Edward Snowden, was supposed to end his national speaking tour with a keynote speech at the Socialism conference, but had to return home to Brazil because of a family emergency.

Radical journalist Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now! was as an amazing replacement. "We need a media that acts like the fourth estate, not for the state," she told the opening night crowd. "That actually covers power, not covers for power. And we need a media that covers movements that create static and make history."

One of the most moving sessions of the conference was "No justice, no peace: Families of police brutality victims speak out." The panel featured Jeralynn Blueford, the mother of Alan Blueford, who was killed by Oakland police in 2012; Wanda Johnson, the mother of Oscar Grant, killed by a BART transit officer in Oakland in 2009; LaKiza Fowler, the sister of Larry Jackson Jr., killed by Austin, Texas, police in 2013; among others. The packed room of some 150 people was brought to tears numerous times as the audience drew inspiration from stories of loss, and the fight to win justice.

"I think the conference is great," Jeralynn Blueford said following the meeting. "I'm very impressed by the people here and all of the connections being made. I think what's going on here at the conference and in the sessions this weekend will ignite people to go back to their communities and to fight for change--not just say they're going to go back and do some things, but they're going to take action and be about it."

Other speakers during the conference also emphasized the sense of collective solidarity. A Saturday night forum featuring Antonis Davanellos, a journalist and Central Committee member of the left-wing SYRIZA, which won its first national election a month before; and Ahmed Shawki, veteran member of the ISO; began with leading socialists from Egypt, who moved the crowd with descriptions of their determination to continue the struggle despite the severe repression of the past year.

"As revolutionaries, we never let our eyes go from what should be done," one of the comrades from Egypt told the crowd. "We'll never quit fighting for what we believe the people deserve. We're not giving up."

ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT for many was the session featuring CeCe McDonald, an African American transgender woman, who was imprisoned in Minnesota for the "crime" of defending herself from a racist and anti-trans hate crime. Thanks to an activist campaign demanding she be freed, McDonald was released from prison in January of this year after serving 19 months.

At Socialism, McDonald brought the crowd in the packed-to-overflowing room to its feet multiple times as she explained her own evolution as an activist--including how her experiences with the prison system have shaped her attitudes. "I don't care if you put me in a men's prison, a women's prison, a trans prison or a unicorn prison...I'm a prison abolitionist," McDonald said.

In an interview after the session, she said:

I thought that the conference was awesome. It felt like a wonderful big queer family reunion. I felt like there was no holds barred--this is the place where people can express themselves freely, talk about the issues in our country, and be surrounded by loving and caring advocates, and people who are involved in the issues. I'm really, really glad that I came, and that I got to speak, and that I got to meet such wonderful, lovely people.

Explaining the importance of building solidarity, McDonald explained:

As a trans woman, I feel like my issues go beyond just trans issues. When it comes to prison abolition, immigration, women's rights, the policing of our bodies, reproductive rights, voting rights--all of this is connected to me, someway, somehow. I feel like I can't just say I can only be concerned about trans issues and not be concerned about those other issues as well. We have to understand that every issue, every struggle, is our issue and our struggle.

That sentiment was echoed by Rousemary Vega, an education justice activist in Chicago. Vega said she made a special point of attending a session on "The social construction of race," given by Brian Jones, a socialist and the Green Party candidate for lieutenant governor of New York. "It was amazing," Vega said. "It's something that you learn every day--you think know all about race, you think you know why racism is happening, and then you learn a little bit more, and it opens your mind a little bit wider to the problem."

At almost every session, there was talk about books to read to learn more--and Haymarket Books was on hand to provide them. The radical book publisher, a project of CERSC, sold more books than at any prior Socialism conference.

Anita, an activist from New York City who was attending Socialism for the first time, was impressed by the breadth of the political discussion. "I think what it does is that it broadens your aspect, because we all live in communities where you can feel a little bit like you're stuck in your own little region--where your problems, specific to your locale, are all you think about," Anita said. "To come to a conference like this really widens things up."

Underlining the importance of the conference in contributing to a political alternative that can change the world, ISO member Jen Roesch reminded the crowd at the final rally, "One of the roles of organization is to connect struggles, to connect fights and draw lessons from that. The second one is having politics and convictions and comrades who carry you through."