Voices from the Front and a Vision of a New Society

Through a panel presentation followed by discussion and dialogue, this workshop will explore how the economic and social crisis that confronts our country is beginning to give rise to a movement that will eventually demand a new society free of poverty and oppression. Invited panelists include Cheri Honkala, Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign; Gerardo Espinoza, Centro Obrero; General Baker, a leader of the 1960's Detroit rebellion, Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Mich.; Shamako Noble, Hip Hop Congress, Bob Lee, People’s Tribune editor; and Laura Garcia, Tribuno del Pueblo editor. The workshop will consider the situation we face in various currents of struggle such as housing/homelessness, poverty, immigration, jobs, health care, education and the justice system, and how those struggles are playing out in the context of a failing capitalist economy. The presentation will also explore the experience of two people's presses, the People's Tribune and the Tribuno del Pueblo, and the importance of the movement being able to use a press and related media to communicate with itself and to put forward a vision of a new society and a strategy for achieving it. There will also be a cultural interlude by Raise It Up Youth.