Left Forum; NYC March 16-18, What's it About?

SETH ADLER, Conference Coordinator  for Left Forum was a founder of the national Jobs With Peace Campaign and is a long time peace and justice activist. He taught courses in Sociology, Community Studies, and Political Economy at the University of California at Santa Cruz and at New College of California and now teaches Social Movements/Civic Participation at Pace. He recently received his Ph.D in sociology from UC Santa Cruz and his most recent published article is on unconscious politics, alienation on the left, and prospects for left unity. He was a single parent for many years and a jazz, classical and soul/rhythm & blues musician and composer.

leftforum.org

theme of conference this year--  Occupy the System, confronting global capitalism. 

Eighth year

1400 speakers, over 4000 attendees, fri-sunday at Pace University

conference, experience, dialog, 

talk about challenging problems and prospects for progressives 

main 

michael moore, Chris Hedges, John Holloway, Elaine Bernard, Arun Gupta, 

Roseanne DeMoro, head of California Nurses United, Marina Sitrin of occupy, William Strickland, an associate of Malcolm X, William Tabb" Michael Clare, Phyllis Bennis, Barbara Ehrenreich, Wallace Shawn, Cornel West, Frances Fox Piven. 

History-- came out of history of socialist scholars-- 

Seth is at the crossroads of literally thousands of intellectuals, organizations, strategies-- it enables him to see, hear, take in and be sensitive to all the changes and challenges--- that one doesn't usually get through usual sources. 

Unconscious politics or alienation or forms of challenges for building social movements-- I look at differences and commonalities-- 

To what degree are what people are saying to each other are related to their commonalities or not--- 

Many times orgs and groups talk past each other and don't realize how they talk past their intentions. 

rob: What about unconscious politics?

Was active with US social forum-- 18,000 in Detroit last year. 

has a class and race focus. 

denial of issues-- like race" 

people end of talking past each other, unconscious