"Life After Capitalism" Conference
New York City, August 20-22, 2004

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) — also linked at the
top of zmag. The site will be updated every week in terms of speakers,
sessions and a full schedule of the conference should be posted by August
1st.

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. 800
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 free
registration slots which will be extended specifically to activist
communities who have been traditionally marginalized from these kinds of
gatherings and debates. For information regarding a waiving of trhe
conference fees and any other questions, please contact:

info@lifeaftercapitalism.org or call (212) 591-0083.

REGISTER ASAP!
We have heard from hundreds of people around the country who are planning
on attending but registration has been slow. We realize that many of you
are planning on registering when you arrive but we ask that if you can you
please take 5 minutes and register online ( You can pay by calling the
CUNY Grad Center during business hours). The website has just been updated
and it really easy to follow the registration steps. Early registration is
especially important to us because ALL of our money (for flying out
speakers, printing materials, getting food for all of you, paying for huge
space costs etc) comes from registration and our opening Friday night
event on August 20th (see downloadable flyer on the website) The website
continues to be updated regularly and if you have not been to it yet
please check it out at: www.lifeaftercapitalism.org

Updated list of participants (this is a VERY partial list)

* Elizabeth 'Betita' Martinez

* Robin D.G. Kelley

* Naomi Klein

* Michael Albert

* Ruthie Gilmore

* Vijay Prashad

* Chris Crass

* Starhawk

* Cindy Milstein

* Adolph Reed

* Genevieve Vaughan

* Steve Shalom

* Andrej Grubacic

* Jaggi Singh

* Helen Luu

* Clare Bayard

* Graciela Monteagudo

* David Solnit

* Tiokasin Ghosthorse

* David Graeber

* Michael Hardt

* Monami Maulik

* Eddie Yuen

* Kazembe Balagoon

* Lisa Fithian

* Bilal El-Amine

* Kai Barrow

* Valery Alzaga

* Jose Schiffino

* Lynne Stewart

* Janine Jackson

* Grace Chang

* Arthur Manuel

* Antonia Juhasz

* Ted Glick

* Ana Nogueira

* Jason West


4. Updated list of participating organizations or networks*

* Anti-Racism for Global Justice

* Argentinian Social Movements

Neighborhood Assembly of Colegiales

Unemployed Workers Movement of La Matanza

Unemployed Workers Movement of Solano

* Argentina Autonomista Project

* Bring The Ruckus!

* California Prison Moratorium Project

* Catalyst Project

* Central California Environmental Justice Network

* Colours of Resistance

* Critical Resistance

* Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM)

* Direct Action to Stop the War

* Domestic Workers United

* Estación Libre

* Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)

* Green Party USA

* Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade

* International Forum on Globalization

* Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS)

* Institute for MultiRacial Justice

* Institute for Social Ecology

* Jews Against the Occupation (JATO)

* League of Pissed off Voters

* Left Turn

* MADRE

* No one is Illegal (Canada)

* NYC Indymedia

* National Youth & Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC)

* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)

* Peoples Global Action (PGA)

* Project South

* Racial Justice 911

* RANT Collective

* ROC-NY

* Sista II Sista

* SmartMeme Strategy & Training Project

* Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM)

* Taxi Workers Alliance

* ZNET

* For identification purposes only

5. Topics covered in the conference.

Life After Capitalism 2004 is made up of four main sections:

1. Contours of Capitalism (including such discussions as The changing face
of capitalism, Capitalism & Democracy, Hip hop & Capitalism, Class
struggle in the 21st century, Is Neoliberalism unraveling, What is
Capitalism?)

2. Perspectives on Power (The role of the State, Migration, the state &
capitalism, Possibilities & Limitations of electoralism, Alternative
Media, Popular Education, Zapatismo in your community, Post-Party
politics, Art & Revolution)

3. Visions for a Post Capitalist Society (Envisioning Direct Democracy,
Participatory Economics, Life beyond the prison economy, Gift Economies,
Perma-culture, the Barter system in Argentina, Indigenous perspectives)



4. Organizing Strategies (A look at the anti-capitalist movement, Networks
& Coalitions, Multi-Racial Coalition building, Towards new politics of
solidarity, Radical queer politics, Anti-capitalist summit protests,
Peoples Global Action (PGA), The revolution will not be funded,
Alternative media strategy, The role of social forums)

We hope to have a full schedule posted w/ speakers by AUGUST 5th,
please keep checking the website for updates

6. Tabling at the conference

We have a strict tabling policy at Life After Capitalism for three main
reasons:

1. There is very little space for tabling

2. The space that is available we want to make sure to extend to the
participants and organizers of the conference.

3. Life After Capitalism
will try to remain a space free of sectarian left groupings (you know who
you are). Tables will NOT be offered to these groups and those who try to
sell papers or other forms of literature without the consensus of the
organizing body will be asked to leave.

Please respect these guidelines, most of the tabling space has already
been reserved but for those who are still interested please contact:
info@lifeaftercapitalism.org


7. We need financial support !



This conference has been a huge undertaking for the small group of us who
have been working on it since last September. Although it has been an
amazing organizing experience and the energy around the conference has
taken off in a big way, we still need your support heading into the last
few weeks of craziness.



Some things you can do:

1. Please register early and if possible pay the full amount of the
conference fee. This helps us out as any money that comes in early we can
use for outreach materials, transportation costs of participants etc.



2. Donate online to the organizing efforts — all donations will go
directly to conference costs (food, literature etc). On the front page of
our website (www.lifeaftercapitalism.org) there is a donation icon.



3. Raise funds for and travel to New York together with other organizers
from your area who would like to attend the conference but are unable to
because of transportation costs.

4. Find housing early — we are currently unable to organize housing for
everyone coming to New York City. For more info on free housing, check out
the housing board at www.counterconvention.org or in an emergency you can
always email us at: info@lifeaftercapitalism.org

FINAL PROGRAM TO BE UP ON THE WEBSITE BY AUGUST 5TH

We hope to see you all in New York for what should be an amazing weekend!

stevphen shukaitis

Guest Editor, "Life Beyond the Market" issue

www.greenpeppermagazine.org

Greenpepper Magazine

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