"Life After Capitalism" Conference

New York City, August 20-22, 2004

www.lifeaftercapitalism.org

The protests around the Republican National Convention taking place in New
York City later this summer are shaping up to be perhaps the largest this
country has ever seen.

As folks from all over the United States have
started booking their flights, organizing their local communities into
busses and vans, and collecting that last bit of gas money from in between
the pillows of their couches — organizers are quietly discussing the
possibility of having over 1 million people converging in the streets of
New York City during the week of Aug 28th-September 2nd....While these protests will give us the chance to collectively raise our
voices in opposition to the direction that this government is taking us —
many of us realize that the problems that we face run much deeper then
simply the Bush administration, the Democrats, or this upcoming current
election cycle. What we face are institutional problems, problems which
will only be challenged and ultimately overcome by imaginative and broad
based social movements — not ballot boxes.

Life After Capitalism 2004 aims
at contributing to this process by providing a space for activists — in the
run up to the intense mobilization period — to reflect on the importance
of long term vision, strategy, and face to face relationship building.

This is an invitation, asking activists from around the country to come
into New York City a week prior to the major demonstrations and
participate in what should be an exciting and energizing weekend - a
weekend that seeks to bring together and give voice to the (non-sectarian)
anti-capitalist left in the United States. Below you will find a list of
both speakers as well as topics of discussion which should hopefully give
you an idea of what this conference is trying to accomplish.

Check out the website (www.lifeaftercapitalism.org) — which will be
completely re-designed by mid July, complete with full schedule, links to
related sites and resources, cheap places to stay in New York City etc.

The site briefly outlines the basic areas of focus within the conference
but more importantly allows you to register online, something we encourage
folks to do as soon as possible due to space restrictions of approx. 700
participants. We have worked very hard to keep all costs to a minimum
($15-25 sliding scale) — all registration fees go directly into making
this weekend happen as our only funding comes through the opening Friday
evening event and conference fees. We also have a number of scholarships
available for people who are interested in attending. These scholarships
will be extended specifically to activist communities who have been
traditionally marginalized from these kinds of gatherings and debates. For
any and all questions/suggestions please contact
info@lifeaftercapitalism.org or call (212) 591-0083.

Childcare will be provided by the Radical Teachers

"We are educators, teachers, childcare providers, and activists who feel
that children and adults with children play an important role in the
movement toward social change. Our mission is to encourage increased
participation by children and parents in community events such as
meetings, teach-ins, workshops and protests by providing a fun, safe,
well-organized space for children and their families to gather with
educational, enriching and empowering events and activities. We are
committed to providing a fun, creative, collective environment where
children's voices can be heard. For more information contact the Radical
Teachers at info@radicalteachers.net."

Confirmed participants (partial list)

* Elizabeth 'Betita' Martinez

* Robin D.G. Kelley

* Naomi Klein

* Michael Albert

* Vijay Prashad

* Bill Fletcher

* Chris Crass

* Suheir Hammad

* Starhawk

* Cindy Milstein

* Adolf Reid

* Steve Shalom

* Andrej Grubacic

As well as representatives* from:


* Critical Resistance

* Direct Action to Stop the War

* Colours of Resistance

* Root Cause

* Left Turn

* Estación Libre

* Jews Against the Occupation (JATO)

* National Youth & Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC)

* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)

* Institute for Social Ecology

* Peoples Global Action (PGA)

* Domestic Workers United

* Coalition of Immokalee Workers

* Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS)

* Argentinian Social Movements

* International Forum on Globalization

* TransAfrica

* For identification purposes only

In addition to the basic framework of the conference, discussion will
include:

* Revolution & Reform

* Transforming internalized oppressions

* The role of the State

* Towards a new politics of solidarity (local & international)

* Perma-culture

* Hip-Hop & Capitalism

* Coalition building between communities of color

* History of anti-capitalist networks in the US

* Gift economies

* Life without prisons

* Co-optation of social movements

* Role of Social Forums

* Palestinian solidarity movements in the US

* Zapatismo

* Building multi-racial organizations/networks

* Art & Revolution

* NGO's & Funding within the movement

* Intersections of oppression: organizing to end all domination

* The future of summit protests

* Direct action strategies