[URPE] URPE at the Left Forum
Amit Basole
abasole at gmail.com
Fri Mar 2 22:11:42 MST 2012
I would also like to urge URPE members to attend the panel on political
economy of India organized by www.sanhati.com. It is on Sunday at noon (see
abstract and presenters below).
Amit
Capitalism in India: Glitter, Commodities, and Blood Panel Proposal
Information
Abstract:
India has recently been in the throes of an anti-corruption movement yet
the attack on livelihoods and people is unrelenting. Neoliberalism, the
current trajectory of technological change and draconian laws remain the
prime movers in silencing the voices of dissent. Indian elites are not
concerned with the collateral damage of this capitalist take-off. We
discuss the agrarian crisis and the phenomenon of farmer suicides, in
addition to mining and biotechnology. Since 1995, more than 253,000 farmers
have committed suicide in India, perhaps the largest wave of suicides in
the world today. The wave of suicides is a consequence of a deepening of
neoliberal policies. Mining threatens fragile ecosystems and tribal
populations but confronts a plurality of resistance in the face of
counter-insurgency operations. Capitalist biotechnology threatens the
commons and livelihoods. The latest effort by the state to appease
multinational corporations and Monsanto in particular is the Biotechnology
Regulatory Authority of India Bill. We explore these issues in the context
of emergent tensions between the state and capital in opposition to
people’s heroic resistances.
Sponsoring Journal:
Sanhati
*Name:* Sirisha Naidu View
Details<http://www.leftforum.org/participant/speaker-sirisha-naidu>
*Name:* Taki Manolakos View
Details<http://www.leftforum.org/participant/speaker-taki-manolakos>
*Name:* Siddhartha Mitra View
Details<http://www.leftforum.org/participant/speaker-siddhartha-mitra>
*Name:* Deepankar Basu View
Details<http://www.leftforum.org/participant/speaker-deepankar-basu>
2012/3/2 Al Campbell <al at economics.utah.edu>
> ******************
>
> Dear URPE members,****
>
> Below is the list (as of now) of the 9 panels that URPE will be
> sponsoring or co-sponsoring at the Left Forum March 16 – 18. For anyone who
> can make it to the Left Forum, we encourage you to attend these or others
> of the 400+ panels there, one of, if not the, largest gatherings of
> academic and activist Leftists in the ****US****. For those in URPE who
> cannot make it, this note is just to keep you up on some of the things URPE
> is continually participating in. We will send out a final listing with any
> (small) corrections to this in about 10 days.****
>
> ** **
>
> ***Union**** for Radical Political Economy (URPE) at the 2012 Left Forum*
>
> Pace University ● March 16 – 18 ●
> www.urpe.org****
>
> For a listing of all (400+) panels at the Left Forum, go to
> www.leftforum.org****
>
> ** **
>
> Community Economic Development and Worker Cooperatives****
>
> Saturday 12 pm Room W625****
>
> **Al Campbell** ● Fred Rose ● Djar Horn****
>
> *- Sponsored by the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (SEN) and URPE –*****
>
> When times get hard, people often are forced to create their own
> livelihoods. The current economic crisis has seen an upsurge, especially in
> poor and marginalized communities, of efforts to create worker
> cooperatives. This workshop will explore the potential of cooperatives to
> not only create jobs, but also to consciously contribute to community
> revitalization and inform alternative strategies of community economic
> development. This workshop will look at examples of cooperative development
> in low income communities from the **Jersey** **Shore**, NYC and ****
> Springfield**, ** MA****. We'll discuss lessons about replicating these
> models along with the economic and community impact of this work.****
>
> ** **
>
> Fair Trade as Justice****
>
> Saturday 12 pm Room E325****
>
> Tamara Stenn ● **Dean Cycon** ● Kerstin Lindgren ● ** Renee Bowers******
>
> Fair Trade is loosely defined, made up of different individuals and
> institutions each with their own guidelines. It is a multi-billion dollar
> model of cooperation between producers, traders and consumers to create
> meaningful products that benefit all. It is environmentalism (supporting
> sustainable farming), human rights (fair wages, decent working conditions)
> and empowerment - "respect and dignity for all." Tamara Stenn will give an
> intro to Fair Trade and talk about her 15 years working in Fair Trade with
> women of the ****Andes** ** Mountains**** and her ongoing academic
> studies on the effect of Fair Trade on indigenous women. **Dean Cycon**will speak of his model of direct trade – and how he develops long term,
> meaningful relationships with producers, without engaging a Fair Trade
> institution, and ensures higher than Fair Trade prices being paid for
> premium products. Kerstin Lindgren will speak about domestic fair trade
> (DFTA), the challenges to US farmers and farmworkers, and the DFTA model
> for uniting farmers, workers, businesses and NGOs under a common vision of
> a more just agriculture system. **Renee Bowers** will speak about the
> Fair Trade **Fede**ration, the largest institution of Fair Trade craft
> producers in the ****US****, and the important work being done to improve
> conditions and lives for Fair trade producers. She will address the ways in
> which Fair Trade goes beyond labor rights to address issues of economic
> justice. Time will be allocated for audience questions and participation.*
> ***
>
> ** **
>
> The Struggle for Full Employment, Past and Present****
>
> Saturday 12 pm Room W402****
>
> Trudy Goldberg ● **Chuck Bell** ● Helen Ginsberg****
>
> It has become clear that the issue of unemployment is the most important
> aspect of the current crisis to the majority of working Americans,
> surpassing the two other extremely important issues of home losses bank
> malfeasance. Helen Ginsberg will explore New Deal job creation efforts and
> FDR's Economic Bill of Rights and the two major post-WAR attempts to secure
> full employment. Full employment, the presentation shows, will take a
> fundamental break with neo-liberalism and a reorientation of power from big
> business and Wall Street to middle- and working-class people and will
> require the full-scale social movement that both earlier struggles lacked.
> Trudy Goldberg will identify, explore and suggest means for dealing with
> nine specific political and strategic challenges to government job creation
> sufficiently large and well-targeted to cope with mass unemployment. The
> presentation will consider if and how ****Occupy Wall Street****mitigates and modifies these challenges.
> **Chuck Bell** will speak on Building a Progressive Job Creation Agenda.
> The government has ceded the initiative it could use to champion a
> significant federal role in job creation to advocates of fiscal austerity.
> This presentation will review and critique current, pending job creation
> legislation, both small-scale and moving toward full employment. The
> presentation will also highlight opportunities to communicate a bolder
> vision, build cross-sectoral coalitions, educate the public and energize
> grassroots activists.****
>
> ** **
>
> The Impact of Tax Policy on Job Creation and Poverty****
>
> Saturday 12 pm Room W504****
>
> **Laura Ebert** ● Michelle Holder ● Christine D'Onofrio****
>
> “The Payroll Tax Cut, Tax Policy, & Job Creation”: The payroll tax cut
> became a highly politicized issue in 2011. What did it really mean for the
> average worker in ****America****, and how does tax policy affect job
> creation in general? “Policy Affects Poverty: Taxation and the Poverty
> Rate”: The talk will explain New York City’s alternative poverty measure
> and how this alternative measure clarifies the role that tax credits
> currently play in offsetting poverty. "Tax Policy as Economic Ideology":
> what is the theoretical foundation of GOP claims that cutting taxes on
> corporations and rich people creates jobs?? - An overview of Say's Law -**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> Transformative Strategies in a Time of Capitalist Austerity****
>
> Sunday 10 am Room E305****
>
> Michael Meeropol ● **Chris Rude** ● ** Sara Burke** ● Mario Candeias ●
> Ken Zinn****
>
> The dramatic failure of accountability—even the appearance of
> accountability—on the part of governments and the financial sector, which
> failed to grasp the historic injustice of saving banks at the expense of
> people, and which responded with calls for harsh austerity, culminated in
> 2011 and propelled the globalization of social protest, realized in
> revolutions in the Arab region and North Africa and in the Occupy Movement
> in Europe, Israel/Palestine and North America. The Occupy movement is a
> democratic truth-event, a call for radical equality. The movement has
> allowed those who previously had no voice in formal political discourse to
> be heard on their own terms by breaking with and dissolving the coerced
> orthodoxy that there are no alternatives to capitalist democracy. By
> exposing and questioning the stupefying inequity of existing social
> relationships, it has placed the possibility of a radical transformation of
> capitalism on the agendas of the Left, for progressives, radicals and
> revolutionaries of many tendencies. This panel seeks to raise a number of
> questions that are strategically important to the movement about a) the
> inequity and inequality that characterize contemporary capitalism, b) how
> the Occupy Movement’s revolutionary potential can be realized in practice,
> c) what is unique about today’s revolutionary practice and d) the role that
> rank-and-file workers as well as trade unions might play in this process.*
> ***
>
> ** **
>
> Occupy Wall Street, and ****Main Street****, and the White House, not
> just Physically, but Socially: Design Socialism!****
>
> Sunday 12 pm Room E327****
>
> **David Laibman** ● **Al Campbell** ● Renate Bridenthal ● Dario Azzellini*
> ***
>
> *- Sponsored by Science & Society and URPE –*****
>
> Even in periods when the political forces necessary to begin building
> socialist societies do not yet exist, the careful envisioning of socialism
> -- methods of coordination, principles of decision making, exact plans to
> raise solidarian consciousness, increase meaningful participation and
> overcome long-existing divisions -- is hugely important. Thinking grandly,
> but also rigorously, about alternatives to capitalist polarization and
> crisis helps the 99% do what needs doing in the present. It is time we
> begin comparing, critiquing and aligning our visions of what a
> post-capitalist society can and should be. This panel is presented in
> conjunction with the appearance of a Special Issue of Science & Society:
> "Designing Socialism: Visions, Projections, Models," Vol. 76, No. 2, April
> 2012.****
>
> ** **
>
> **Iran**: ****Current** ** State**** of Affairs****
>
> Sunday 12 pm Room 610****
>
> Hamideh Sedghi ● Tom O'donnell ● Hamid Zangeneh ● Reza Ghorashi****
>
> Four panelist will discuss current social, political, economic, and
> international affairs of ****Iran****.****
>
> ** **
>
> Occupy the Economy! Building a Solidarity Economy for People and Planet***
> *
>
> Sunday 3 pm Room W602****
>
> Emily Kawano ● Craig Borowiak ● **Al Campbell** ● Ana Margarida Esteves***
> *
>
> *- Sponsored by the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (SEN) and URPE –*****
>
> Occupy the economy! The time is now to push for an economy that serves the
> 99% instead of the wealthy and powerful elites. This workshop will provide
> an introduction to the solidarity economy - a growing global movement to
> build an economy that puts people and planet front and center. It is
> grounded in principles of solidarity, equity in all dimensions (race,
> class, gender, etc.), sustainability, participatory democracy and pluralism
> (ie. not a one-size fits all approach). The solidarity economy builds on
> many existing practices and policies - both mainstream and alternative -
> and seeks to strengthen and connect these stepping stones to a just and
> sustainable economic system. The solidarity economy believes that it is
> critical to both build and resist – that is, build and strengthen
> solidarity economy practices such as worker cooperatives, community land
> trusts, or social currencies and also resist the oppression of
> corporate-dominated capitalism. This workshop will provide an introduction
> to the conceptual framework, the global movement including the U.S.
> Solidarity Economy Network, and concrete examples of the solidarity economy.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Understanding the Essential Economic Role of the New York Times****
>
> Sunday 3 pm Room W603B****
>
> Preeti Paul ● Robert Chernomas ● Ian Hudson ● Chris Spannos****
>
> The New York Times can credibly be considered the most influential
> newspaper in the ****United States****, and arguably the world. The
> standard debate over its nature concerns its "bias," with some claiming
> that it is left wing or liberal and others arguing that it is right wing or
> conservative. This debate misses (and in fact obfuscates) its essential
> nature, supporting long run profitability for ****U.S.**** business,
> which involves both liberal and conservative policies in different
> contexts. This panel will discuss and document this essential economic role
> through a careful examination of the Times’ star commentators, and its
> coverage of the issues of macroeconomics, regulation, foreign policy, and
> the 2008–2009 economic crisis. Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson will both
> develop the above argument, drawing on their book that thoroughly details
> it, “The Gatekeeper: 60 Years of Economics According to The New York
> Times.” Chris Spannos will present on Unspinning Occupy Wall Street and the
> Struggle for Economic Justice. The session will allocate time for audience
> questions and participation.****
>
> ** **
>
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--
Amit Basole
Visiting Assistant Professor,
Department of Economics,
Bucknell University,
Lewisburg, PA
http://www.people.umass.edu/abasole/
http://thenoondaysun.blogspot.com/
http://vidyaashram.org/
http://sanhati.com/
http://www.edu-factory.org/
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