May 22: Socialist Alliance NSW State Conference & Election Launch

Struggle, Solidarity, Socialism!

Saturday May 22, 11am -5pm Redfern Community Centre, 29-53 Hugo Street, Redfern.

Socialist Alliance members and supporters from Wollongong, Newcastle, Blue Mountains, Dubbo, Northern Rivers, Armidale, Sydney and Sydney West will gather to launch the Alliance's Federal Election campaign, and plan the Alliance's work in NSW. All-in sessions plus workshops on topics including Aboriginal and refugee rights; climate change action; union struggles; queer & womens rights + much more. All welcome.

Donation entry for the day $10/5.
Ph Paul 9690 1977, 0410 629 088.

Draft agenda:

11::00-11:15am Aboriginal community welcome

11:15am-12:15pm Opening panel: A socialist vision for the Federal Elections
Featuring Socialist Alliance NSW based election candidates Rachel Evans & Soubi Iskander (NSW Senate), Jess Moore (Cunningham), Zane Alcorn (Newcastle), Duncan Roden (Parramatta) & Pip Hinman (Grayndler) outlining a grassroots vision that puts people and the planet ahead of profit.

12:15-1:45 Educational & Campaign workshops
* Climate Action campaigning - the issue of our age
* Sexism & queerphobia under capitalism – our fightback
* Origins of racism & our campaigns for Aboriginal & refugee rights
* International Solidarity: Supporting red shirts: from Thailand to Venezuela

1:45-2:30 Lunch

2:30-3:45 Activist skills and Campaigns workshops
* Skills for using 21st century technology for social change
* How socialists get our ideas across
* Creative socialism - visuals and design to inspire change
* Lessons for community campaigning

3:45-4 – Afternoon tea

4-440 – Workshop report backs and adoption of proposals

440-5 – Organising and building Socialist Alliance


Conference After-Party! Food, drinks, & post-conference festivities!
From 6:30pm @ 17 Holmesdale St, Marrickville

Brisbane: Red, Green and In-between

Red, Green and In-between:

Reviewing Labour and the Environment in Historical Context

Please find attached a flyer (with registration form) for a Brisbane conference on unions and the environment, past and present, with keynote speakers Tony Maher, Jack Mundey, Ian Lowe (and many more). The one-day event is being hosted by the Brisbane Labour History Association (BLHA) and sponsored by, among others, the Qld Council of Unions and the Qld Conservation Council

Register now. See http://asslh.org.au/branches/brisbane for full details.

This conference will address:

* The history of the interface of environmental and union campaigns,

* How working people and unions can contribute to environmental campaigns,

* How the environment movement can engage more meaningfully with unions, and

* What kinds of red/green activism could be helpful for the future.

When: Saturday 6 February 2010 – registration 8.30am. Conference 9am – 6pm

Where: Queensland College of Art, 226 Grey Street, Griffith University, South Bank, Brisbane

Could you please distribute electronically to all friends and work colleages

Kind regards

Ross Gwyther

Brisbane Labour History Association

Australia: New era of left unity as DSP votes to merge with the Socialist Alliance

Made with Slideshow Embed Tool

[The following speech, to the opening rally of the seventh national conference of the Socialist Alliance on January 2, 2010, was delivered by Peter Boyle, former national secretary of the Democratic Socialist Perspective.]

Comrades,

My job tonight is to make the unusual – if not unexpected – announcement that the Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP) decided today at its 24th congress to effectively dissolve into the Socialist Alliance and to transfer all that it has built up, over some four decades of its existence, to the Socialist Alliance.

Sadly, it is an unusual and rare thing for socialist groups, like the DSP, to break from the idea that they are the “true” party of socialism, with the sole correct political program, and seriously embrace left unity.

I say this not to boast but more by way of an apology and excuse for the DSP taking so long to take this step. After all, the Socialist Alliance was launched in 2001 and now it is 2010! I want to thank Comrades Bea Bleile, Dave Kerin, Sam Watson, Pat Eatock, and our many other partners in the Socialist Alliance for their patience and encouragement.

We may have taken a long time to take this step, but at least we can say that when the decision was taken by the DSP today, it had overwhelming support from the DSP members. And this support was also so enthusiastic that we can anticipate that this enthusiasm will be felt in the seventh national conference of the Socialist Alliance over the next three days.

Energy

There's a lot of energy unleashed by this historic decision of the DSP – energy that will give the Socialist Alliance a big boost in the year ahead.

This was the right thing for the DSP to do.

The Socialist Alliance presents an historic opening for the left in Australia because it is an opportunity to unite in a new socialist party socialists from different political traditions, some from pre-existing socialist groups and others who are not members of those groups. And, among those proud members of the Socialist Alliance are some important leaders of the working class and other oppressed groups: people like Comrade Craig Johnston, who went to jail for fighting for workers' rights; and veteran Indigenous activists like Comrade Sam Watson and Pat Eatock ...

Indeed, in the Socialist Alliance today, thanks to our Indigenous comrades, we have an historic opportunity to restore the powerful collaboration between the socialist and the Aboriginal movement, a collaboration that made its mark on the history of Australia, through epic struggles like the Pilbara Aboriginal stock workers strike in the 1940s and the Gurindji walk-offs in the 1960s.

Campaign to link up with working-class leaders

If socialism is not just to be a good idea then it has to become a movement of the working class and other oppressed groups. And it flows from this that to build the socialist movement we have to wage a permanent campaign to link up with the activists and leaders of the working class and oppressed groups who are fighting capitalist oppression.

Of course socialist groups can and do link up with other activists in movement campaigns, in various “united fronts” around specific issues, such as the campaigns against “Work Choices” or Work Choices Lite, or for Aboriginal people's rights. But when the activists and leaders of such movements want to join us in the broader and ongoing struggle against the capitalist system itself then what is our duty? Surely it is to unite with them in a party to wage such a struggle, a socialist party.

To build such a socialist party we must be prepared to look for agreement before disagreement. That's just commonsense. And if we find – as we have in the Socialist Alliance – that we have 80-90% political agreement, then, it is a “no-brainer”: we need to be in a common political party!

But what about those outstanding differences among socialists? What about the 10% (or perhaps even less) that we don't agree on? Surely, the sensible thing is to not let this stand in the way of us working in a common party for real change. Surely, we have a better chance of resolving the differences that need to be resolved after we have gone through a period of collective struggle to advance what we agree on. Surely, in the process of that struggle we'll draw some lessons collectively that will deepen our political unity.

Blind Freddy can see that there is still a lot of work ahead of us before we unite the notoriously fractious left. If you roll up to any protest action in any major city, you will still be confronted with a smorgasbord of socialist groups, each harbouring the illusion that it is the true party of socialism with the correct socialist political program. What a sad sight!

DSP decision to merge

However, we've made a start in uniting more of the left in the Socialist Alliance. And today, another significant step towards unifying the left has been made with the decision of the DSP to merge into the Socialist Alliance.

In the wake of this decision, we can anticipate that more more people will join the Socialist Alliance or step up their commitment to the project. As Comrade Dave Kerin said tonight, the DSP's decision opens the way for others like him to take a further step in commitment to the Socialist Alliance.

Earlier today, the members of the DSP ended a stage in our political organisation and embarked on a new stage. This was both a break from our past as well as a change that grew out of our collective political experience. We said good bye to a party to which we have devoted a tremendous amount of loyalty, energy, sacrifice and indeed the life-long commitment of many comrades over many years. However, we are not mourning this end. Rather we are celebrating. We are celebrating our transfer of that same commitment and energy to the Socialist Alliance.

In his greetings to the DSP congress, Comrade Abelardo Cueda, the ambassador of revolutionary Cuba to Australia, summed up the broad political situation today in one poetic sentence: “Today the capitalists cannot sleep and they cannot dream ...” But we, he added, have a dream of a radically different world.

We embrace that profound reality. We have a dream of a radically different world, a world based on solidarity and sustainability. And at this seventh national conference of the Socialist Alliance, we have greater means to plan and organise the struggle to advance the transformation of that dream into a reality.

Long live the Socialist Alliance! Long live left unity! Long live the power of the people!

Socialist Alliance 7th National Conference, 2-5 January 2010

Fighting for socialism in the 21^st Century:

Towards Sustainability, Justice and People’s Power

Socialist Alliance 7^th National Conference

Sydney, January 2-5, 2010

Women’s College, University of Sydney

INITIAL AGENDA^*

SATURDAY, JANUARY 2

7.30pm Their Crises, Our Solutions. Public meeting to launch the conference

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3

9am Welcome to country

9.15am The Socialist Alliance’s perspectives for struggle in 2010 (panel of speakers and discussion)

10.30am Socialist election strategy and tactics: preparing for the next federal election (panel of speakers and discussion)

12.15pm Building the climate action movement (panel of speakers and discussion)

2.45pm The struggle for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights (panel of speakers and discussion)

4pm Multiple workshops to plan campaigning on: climate change, Aboriginal rights, same-sex marriage rights, anti-war and Latin America solidarity

7.30pm Green Left Weekly Fighting Fund rally. An evening of speakers, music and multi-media presentations to launch the 2010 fighting fund for Australia’s # 1 alternative newspaper.

MONDAY, JANUARY 4

9am Rebuilding the trade unions for the fights ahead (panel of speakers and discussion)

10.15am Building the socialist movement among young people (panel of speakers and discussion)

11.30am Refugee rights and internationalism (panel of speakers and discussion)

12.15pm The Latin American revolutions and solidarity (panel of speakers and discussion)

2pm Campaigning for environmental sustainability (panel of speakers and discussion)

2-4pm Challenges of building a radical alternative to Labor 1 (concurrent educational workshop)

3pm Getting Australia out of Afghanistan and Iraq (panel of speakers and discussion)

4pm Multiple workshops on building the Socialist Alliance and strengthening left unity, covering Green Left Weekly, election campaigning, internet activism, etc.

4-6pm Understanding the financial and economic crisis (concurrent educational workshop)

7.30pm International Cultural Night: Performances from many lands and peoples

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5

9am Campaigning for women’s and queer rights today (panel of speakers and discussion)

9.45am Socialist Alliance policy session 1 (discussion and voting on a range of policy proposals from members)

11.30am Taking action in 2010: discussion and voting on Socialist Alliance building resolutions

11.30am-1pm Ecology, socialism and human survival (concurrent educational workshop)

2pm Taking action in 2010: discussion and voting on Socialist Alliance resolutions on the climate movement, Latin America solidarity, anti-war, women's rights and LGBTI rights

2-3.30pm Building the Left-Indigenous alliance (concurrent educational workshop)

3pm Socialist Alliance policy session 2 (discussion and voting on a range of policy proposals from members)

3-5pm Challenges of building a radical alternative to Labor 2 (concurrent educational workshop)

4pm Socialist Alliance elections

All welcome

Whole conference: $60 solidarity / $50 waged / $30 unwaged

Two days: $40 solidarity / $30 waged / $15 unwaged

One day/session: $20 solidarity / $15 waged / $5 unwaged

Childcare will be available for a small fee if booked by November 30, 2009

* For more information, the latest agenda, or to register for the conference:

Visit: http://www.socialist-alliance.org or http://socialist-alliance.wikispaces.com/Seventh+National+Conference

Email: national_office@socialist-alliance.org

Phone: (02) 9690 2508

Or contact your local branch of the Socialist Alliance.

Latin America Solidarity Conference 2009

People´s Power is Changing the World
Latin America Solidarity Conference 2009

August 28-29, 2009 - Victorian Trades Hall

info@solidarityconference2009.org www.solidarityconference2009.org

Major cracks are appearing in the global capitalist system – cracks that are being forced open by the tide of rebellions and revolutions across Latin America.

From Cuba to Venezuela and Bolivia to El Salvador, people’s power is toppling neo-liberal governments, challenging multinational corporations, and constructing social and economic alternatives to the plunder, war and injustices of the old system. For 50 years, the Cuban revolution has inspired millions of people around the world struggling for independence, human rights and genuine democracy. Now, the Venezuelan revolution, with its vision of “socialism of the 21st century”, is continuing to provide examples of what a socialist government can achieve.

Imperialism is confronting an unprecedented challenge to its brutal rule. The Latin America Solidarity Conference will provide an open forum for all people wanting to learn about, learn from and build solidarity in Australia with the people’s power movements in Latin America.

This conference is being organised and sponsored by: Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (Australia), Centre for Latin America Solidarity & Studies, Peace and Justice & Colombia, Communist Party of Chile (Australia), Guatemalan Human Rights Committee, Australian Solidarity with Latin America, Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URGN), Communist Party of Australia, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Socialist Alliance, Australia-Cuba Friendship Society (Adelaide, Sydney)

Contact: info@solidarityconference2009.org

REGISTRATION AND CONTACT:
Friday*: Conc $5/ regular $10/ Solidarity $15 (* When registering for Saturday, Friday is free)
Saturday: Conc $15/ regular $40/ Solidarity $50

To register please fill in the online form on the website or send a registration forms to c/ PO Box 5421 CC Melbourne VIC 3001
For more information, please email info@solidarityconference2009.org or phone
Roberto 0425 182 994, Sean 0415 122 135, Oscar 0415 232 057, Paul 0413 072 137 or Lisa 0413 031 108
Payments can be made by Money order or Cheque payable to Solidarity Conference.
If you wish to endorse or help to promote this conference, please contact us to distribute leaflets or posters.

AGENDA: FRIDAY 7 pm • People’s power is changing the world: revolution and reconstruction in Latin America 50 years since the victory of the Cuban revolution and 10 years since the coming to power of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has shown that the continent is unwilling to bow to international capital. Over the last few years further victories have been added including Evo Morales in Bolivia and the FMLN in El Salvador. What does all this mean for a new socialism of the 21st century?

SATURDAY 9:30 am • Obama´s foreign policy for Latin America: militarisation, blockade& trade agreements The Bush administration supported death squads and mass killings in Colombia, an attempted coup in Venezuela, continued the blockade against Cuba, organised assassination attempts against Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales and reinforced trade agreements in favour of its multinationals. Will the empire be any different under the Democrat regime of Obama?

Simultaneous Workshops on various topics
2 pm • Latin America as alternative: new models of economic, social and political power After more than two decades of orthodox neoliberal doctrine and anti-democratic regimes, the tide has decisively turned across Latin America. Spearheaded by the Venezuelan revolution’s practical experiments in participatory economic and democratic models, the movement is impacting struggle from Bolivia to El Salvador and Ecuador. The “end of history” has itself ended; a new discussion and practice for human survival and justice is being pursued apace.

Simultaneous major Workshops: 1) The Venezuelan Revolution 2) Central America 3)Workers´ struggle in Latin America

5:30 pm • Their struggle is our struggle: Strengthening solidarity Campaigns, brigades and projects have been part of the process of globalising resistance to exploitation and inequality and building solidarity between Australia and Latin America.
Followed by a Latin Fiesta, featuring The Conch plus many Latin American Cultural performances. Food and drinks available.

GUEST SPEAKERS:
VENEZUELA

• Heryck Rangel Hernandez: National coordinator of the Venezuelan Eco-Citizens movement, student leader, radio broadcaster and activist with the PSUV Youth.
• Daniel Sanchez: Leader in Venezuela´s “people´s power” movement through the Rebirth of the South Commune, local councillor for South Valencia and activist in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)
• Nélson Dávila: Founding member of Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement and currently head of Venezuela’s diplomatic mission in Australia.

CHILE

• Jaime Gajardo: General Secretary of the United Workers Federation of Chile CUT, member of the Communist Party and a long time activist with the Teachers movement, also the head of this union. One of the most outstanding leaders of the teachers´ struggle in the last decade in Chile.

GUATEMALA

• Walter Rolando Félix: long time activist for human rights and better living conditions in Guatemala. Current parliamentarian for the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) and representative for the Commission for Peace and against field mines.

COLOMBIA

• Jesús González: Founding member of the United Workers Federation of Colombia, forced to leave his country as a result of his work as political leader, organiser and for his work documenting the assassination of trade union leaders in Colombia.

http://www.solidarityconference2009.org

Capitalism or Socialism? - A forum with Michael A. Lebowitz

2pm Wednesday April 8 @ the Holme Common Room, Upstairs in the Holme Building. This meeting will be presented by Resistance (phone Simon 0421 231 011 for more info).

As the world economy spirals down into its deepest crisis since the great depression, the ideas of Karl Marx have never been so relevant. Michael A. Lebowitz is one of the world's most renowned Marxist economists. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University, Canada, where he taught Marxian economics and Comparative Economic Systems.

Lebowitz has intimate knowledge of Venezuela's revolution: he is on the board of directors of the socialist government's think tank, Centro Internacional Miranda, in Caracas, where he directs a program on "Transformative Practice and Human Development". His writings have been widely published and distributed by the Venezuelan government.

A central theme of Lebowitz's work has been on Marx, methodology and crisis theory. He has also written extensively on the theory of a socialist economy, a topic attracting increasingly wide interest in the context of capitalism's current global crisis. He is the author of Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class (2003), which won the 2004 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize for the best and most innovative writing in the Marxist tradition. His other works include Build it Now: Socialism for the 21st Century (2006), El Socialismo no Cae del Cielo and El Camino al Desarrollo Humano, both widely distributed in Venezuela. His Following Marx: Method, Critique and Crisis will be published by Brill Academic Press in 2009.

Michael Lebowitz will also be speaking at the World at a Crossroads conference. Sessions include "Capitalism's Crises and the Solutions" Friday April 10, 9.30am and "The Spectre of 21st Century Socialism" Saturday, April 11, 9.30am. For more information go to www.WorldAtACrossroads.org

Int'l Speakers at "World At A Crossroads" conference

Below are just some of the international speakers at the forthcoming World At A Crossroads socialist conference, to be held this Easter at Sydney Girls High School. Visit http://www.worldatacrossroads.org for more information or to register...

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Michael Lebowitz, Venezuela & Canada

* Centro Internacional Miranda, Caracas
* Renowned Marxist economist
* Director of the program "Transformative Practice and Human Development" at the Centro Internacional Miranda, Caracas, Venezuela
* Author of "Build it Now: 21st Century Socialism" and "Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class", winner of the Isaac Deutscher memorial prize (2004)
* Professor Emeritus of economics, Simon Fraser University, Canada

• Socialism
• Marxism
• Latin America
• Venezuela
• Canada
• Bolivarian revolution
• International speaker

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Reihana Mohideen, Philippines

* Power of the Masses Party (PLM)
* Long-term activist in the women's and labour movements in the Philippines
* Vice chair, International Department, Power of the Masses Party (PLM)
* Chairperson of Transform Asia, a gender and labour institute in South East Asia
* Editor of "Socialist Dialogue", a bulletin which carries debates and discussions of the international socialist movement
* Formerly vice-chair for international affairs of the socialist labor centre, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers)

• Philipines
• Workers' rights
• Women's rights
• Asia-Pacific
• International speaker

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Ian Angus, Canada

* Eco-Socialist Network
* One of the founders of the Ecosocialist International Network
* Editor of Climate and Capitalism and associate editor of Socialist Voice
* Director of the Socialist History Project
* Author of: "Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada"; "Food Crisis: World Hunger, Agribusiness&the Food Sovereignty Alternative"; "How to Avoid Action on Climate Change: The fine art of greenwash in Canadian politics"; and "Confronting the Climate Change Crisis".

• Socialism
• Canada
• Environment
• Eco-socialism
• Global warming
• Climate justice
• International speaker

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Luis Bilbao, Venezuela & Argentina

* Long time activist on the Latin American left
* Participant in the construction of the mass United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the formation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
* Founding editor of the Latin American wide monthly magazine "América XXI"
* Author of 16 books, most recently "Venezuela in Revolution: the Rebirth of Socialism"
* Marxist professor of Political Economy and International Politics at TEA, School of Journalism, Argentina
* Member of Union of Militants for Socialism, Argentina.
Read Luis Bilbao's article 'Venezuela: Reasons to be alert'

• Socialism
• Latin America
• Venezuela
• Argentina
• Bolivarian revolution
• International speaker

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Kavita Krishnan, India

* Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist), All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA)
* A long-time leader of India’s student movement, including as President of the All India Students' Association from 1999 to 2006
* Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) and an editor of the party’s magazine in English, Liberation
* National Secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA)

• Socialism
• India
• Women's rights
• International speaker

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Salim Vally, South Africa

* Spokesperson of the Palestine Solidarity Committee
* Leading activist in the Palestine solidarity campaign in South Africa where dock workers recently boycotted Israeli ships. The PSC is directly working with the Council of South African Trade Unions on further solidarity and boycott actions
* Social justice and anti-apatheid activist since high school where he was a regional executive member of the South African Students’ Movement (SASM) until its banning in 1977
* Former member of COSATU’s National Education Committee
* Lecturer and senior researcher at the Education Policy Unit and the School of Education at Wits University, Johannesburg

• South Africa
• Palestine solidarity
• International speaker

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M.Saraswathy, Malaysia

* Socialist Party of Malaysia
* A founding member and currently Deputy Chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, and Chairperson of the PSM's Jelapang branch
* A long-term organiser of plantation workers, urban settlers and women workers in Malaysia, and founder of the Textile Union at Imperial Garment

• Socialism
• Malaysia
• Women's rights
• Asia-Pacific
• International speaker

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Abelardo Curbelo, Cuba

* Cuban Communist Party
* Veteran of the Cuban revolution
* Central committee member of the Cuban Communist Party
* Currently Cuban ambassador to Australia

• Socialism
• Latin America
• Cuba
• International speaker

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Daphne Lawless, Aotearoa (New Zealand)

* Socialist Worker - New Zealand
* Central committee member of SW-NZ
* Editor of the journal "Unity"
* Editorial board of Workers Charter newspaper
* Co-founder of Campus Left at Victoria University 2004
* Foundation member of NewLabour Party in 1989

• Socialism
• Aotearoa (New Zealand)
• Workers' rights
• International speaker

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Nelson Davila, Venezuela

* Venezuelan Charge D'Affaires in Australia
* Founding member of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200), the revolutionary group formed inside the armed forces
* Member of the ideological commission of the Maisanto Command, the coordinating body for the mass campaign to defeat the opposition’s attempts to recall Chavez in the August 2004 referendum
* Former instructor for the Centres for Ideological Formation
* Currently head of Venezuela's diplomatic mission to Australia

• Socialism
• Latin America
• Venezuela
• Bolivarian revolution
• International speaker

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Roger Annis, Canada

* Socialist Voice
* Editor of "Socialist Voice"
* Aerospace worker and member of the International Association of Machinists in Vancouver, Canada
* A coordinator of the Canada Haiti Action Network
* Travelled to Haiti in August 2007 as part of a human rights investigative delegation

• Socialism
• Canada
• Workers' rights
• International speaker

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Ammar Ali Jan, Pakistan

* Labour Party Pakistan
* Youth secretary, Labour Party Pakistan
* Member of various progressive student and youth groups in Lahore including National Student Federation and Progressive Youth Front.
* Previously involved in the Campus Anti-war Network at the University of Texas, Austin, USA.
* Regular contributor for the most widely circulated English magazine in Pakistan including the News International of Jang Goup, the largest chain of newspapers in Pakistan.

• Socialism
• International speaker
• Pakistan
• Anti-war
• Youth

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Soubhi Iskander, Sudan

* Sudanese Communist Party
* Active in the Sudanese Human Rights Committee
* Editor of "The Flame", monthly Arabic insert in Green Left Weekly
* Socialist Alliance member

• Socialism
• International speaker
• Sudan
• Africa

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Mericio Juvinal Dos Reis (Akara)

* Luta Hamutuk Institute
* Executive Director of the Luta Hamutuk Institute
* From 2002-2005 he was a researcher at La’o Hamutuk, The East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis.
* From 1999-2002, Mericio Akara was a Vice President of Timor Socialist Party, but he resigned from the position and from party membership in 2003.
* Prior to 1999, he spent 8 years in Jakarta-Indonesia as a student and as a pro independent activist.

• Socialism
• Timor Leste
• Asia-Pacific
• International speaker

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Reminder: World At A Crossroads conference this Easter

World At A Crossroads: Fighting for socialism in the 21st Century
Easter 2009, April 10-12, Sydney
Venue: Sydney Girls High School

World At A Crossroads is a conference that brings together hundreds of socialists, progressive activists and Marxist thinkers from around Australia, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and North America in dozens of panel presentations and workshops dealing with the urgent questions that confront us all: war, imperialism, food security, racism, workers' rights, sexism, the media and culture. Feature sessions and streams will include:

* The capitalist economic crisis: Putting people and planet before corporate profits
* Stopping global warming: Social change, not climate change
* Emerging alternatives to capitalism and war: The Venezuelan revolution and anti-imperialist rebellion in Latin America
* Organising to fight for a better world: Building mass movements, alliances and left parties

Most of all, however, this conference will be about creating solutions. The rising revolutionary movements in Latin America, which are posing the most serious challenge to global capitalist destruction for decades, are full of inspiration and lessons for people fighting for justice everywhere. Those struggles, and the alternative social systems they are creating, will be a big feature of this conference with the participation of guest speakers from Latin America.

The many struggles of the people in the Asia-Pacific region against imperialist exploitation and state repression, and for genuine democracy and social justice will be addressed by guest speakers from left parties, trade unions and social movements in the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Timor Leste, amongst others.

For more info, email dsp@dsp.org.au or sydney.resistance@gmail.com, or phone (02) 9690 1230. Alternatively, you can just sign up now!

Organised by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and Resistance.

Sponsored by Green Left Weekly.

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AGENDA:

FRIDAY, APRIL 10

9.30am Feature session
Capitalism's crises and our solutions
Reihana Mohideen, feminist and labour activist in the Philippines, leader of the newly formed Party of Labouring Masses
David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red
Michael Lebowitz, Centro Internacional Miranda, Venezuela, and author of Build it now: Socialism For the 21st Century

11am – Workshops

Sexism and the system: A rebel’s guide to women's oppression - Reihana Mohideen, feminist activist from the Philippines; Kavita Krishnan, national secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association; and Jay Fletcher, Resistance activist

Challenges of building a climate change movement - David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red; Simon Butler, Green Left Weekly journalist on environmental issues and People for a Safe Climate activist

South Korea: A view from the left – South Korean socialist Youngsu Won

Iraq and Afghanistan: The US' unwinnable wars for oil – Alex Bainbridge, DSP; and Ammar Ali Jan, Labour Party Pakistan

Working-class responses to the economic crisis - Jody Betzien, activist in the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Roger Annis, activist in the International Association of Machinists in Vancouver, Canada, and delegate to the 2008 Canadian Labour Congress convention

Marx and Engels and Darwin: Evolution and Historical Materialism - Ian Angus, author of forthcoming book on Darwin and materialism

Understanding Marxist economic theory – Graham Matthews, DSP national executive member and Green Left Weekly journalist on economic issues

1pm – Lunch

2pm – Feature session
Obama, US imperialism and the “war on terror”
Salim Vally, spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Committee (South Africa)
Ammar Ali Jan, anti-war activist from the Labour Party of Pakistan
Rob Stary, civil liberties lawyer
Introduced by Pip Hinman, DSP national executive member and activist in Stop the War Coalition

3.30pm – Workshops

Public ownership and workers’ control – Dave Kerin, heading up initiative to establish worker-run cooperatives to build solar panels; and Michael Lebowitz on the experiences and lessons of self-management in Yugoslavia and Venezuela

The Politics of Che Guevara – Resistance activist Duncan Meerding

Evo Morales and Bolivia's Indigenous revolution – Federico Fuentes, editor of Bolivia Rising and co-author of "MAS-IPSP: a political instrument which emerged from the social movements"

Boycott Israel campaign – Discussion hosted by Salim Vally, involved in the recent actions by South African dockworkers to boycott Israeli ships, with activists in the BDS campaign against Israel

Political struggle in Timor Leste: The global, regional and local context – Tomas Freitas, socialist activist involved in Timor’s clandestine movement against Indonesian occupation and a founding member of Luta Hamutuk (Fight Together), a research and advocacy institute focussing on economic issues

Understanding the economic crisis: why stable capitalism is not possible - Jamie Doughney, senior researcher at the Work and Economic Policy Research Unit at Victoria University of Technology

Why be a Marxist today? – Resistance activist Mel Barnes and Brianna Pike, DSP Sydney organiser

5.30pm – Feature session
Confronting the climate change crisis: an ecosocialist perspective
Ian Angus, founder of the Ecosocialist International Network, editor of Climate and Capitalism and associate editor of Socialist Voice (Canada)
Dick Nichols, author of Environment, Capitalism and Socialism, Socialist Alliance national co-convenor
Introduced by Stuart Rosewarne, co-editor of Capitalism, Nature, Socialism

7.30pm Dinner with music, poetry and film footage from struggles around the world

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SATURDAY, APRIL 11

9.30am Feature session
The specter of 21st century socialism
Michael Lebowitz, Centro Internacional Miranda, Caracas, author of Build it Now: Socialism For the 21st Century and Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class, winner of the Isaac Deutscher memorial prize (2004)

11am – Workshops

Marxism, Islam and national liberation – Ammar Ali Jan, Labour Party Pakistan, M. Saraswathy, founding member and deputy chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia; and Tony Iltis, DSP activist

The struggle for human rights in Guatemala - Raul Molina Mejia, long time Guatemalan human rights defender, Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Long Island University

Climate refugees and the “overpopulation” debate – Kamala Emanuel, DSP national committee member

Philippines: Developments on the left – Reihana Mohideen, long-term activist in the women's and labour movements in the Philippines, involved in the recent formation of the Party of the Labouring Masses, and formerly vice-chair for international affairs of the socialist labour centre, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers)

Haiti today: five years of UN military occupation – Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network, visited Haiti on a human rights fact-finding mission in 2007

Production and consumption as a source of global warming: Beyond capitalism and toward a democratic ecosocialism - Hans Baer, Development Studies Program and Centre for Health and Society at the University of Melbourne, author of Global Warming and the Political Economy of Health

Understanding the economic crisis: peculiarities of the 2008-09 crisis – Dick Bryan, Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney

1pm – Lunch

2pm – Feature session
Building a worker-green-community alliance for sustainability
Tim Gooden, secretary of Geelong and Regions Trades and Labour Council
Dave Kerin, convenor of Union Solidarity and heading up initiative to establish worker-run cooperatives to build solar panels
Mel Barnes, Resistance activist in the Stop the Pull Mill campaign in Tasmania

3.30pm – Workshops

From Invasion to Intervention: Indigenous resistance in Australia – Sam Watson, Aboriginal leader from Brisbane and Socialist Alliance national spokesperson on Indigenous rights; and Mitch, inspiring Arrernte/Luritja woman, author, poet and artist, who is fighting the federal radioactive waste dump proposed for her country.

The struggle for transgender and same sex marriage rights in Australia – Ben Cooperactive in Community Action Against Homophobia and in defense of queer refugee rights; Ryan Radclyffe Hall, involved in A Gender Agenda, a gender rights organisation from the ACT, was active in the Campaign for Civil Unions in the ACT, and since then has been concentrating on trans rights, attempting to unite the trans community of Canberra; and Farida Iqbal, from the Democratic Socialist Perspective and Resistance, active in the group Campaign for Civil Unions in Canberra, and former national queer officer for the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.

The left in Malaysia – M. Saraswathy, founding member and deputy chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, and long-term organiser of plantation workers, urban settlers and women workers in Malaysia

Crisis and resistance in Africa – Salim Vally, long time anti-aparthied campaigner in South Africa; and Soubhi Iskander, Sudanese Communist Party

Experiences of left unity: the New Anti-Capitalist Party in France and Socialist Alliance in Australia – Sam Wainwright, international observer at the NPA founding congress; and Sue Bolton, Victorian Socialist Alliance and DSP Melbourne secretary.

El Salvador after the elections: the struggle continues – Aristides González, Ismael Alvarado and Rafael Pacheco, activists from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in Australia

History of Resistance and the DSP – Resistance activist Mel Barnes and Stuart Munckton, DSP national executive

5.30pm – Feature session
Latin America: revolt, revolution and socialism in the 21st century
Abelardo Curbelo, veteran of the Cuban revolution, central committee member of the Cuban Communist Party, currently Cuban ambassador to Australia
Nelson Davila, founding member of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200), currently head of Venezuela's diplomatic mission to Australia
Luis Bilbao, long-time socialist activist on the Latin American left, participant in the construction of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and in the formation of the Union of South American Nations
Introduced by Lisa Macdonald, Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network national co-convener

7.30 pm Conference Dinner and Fiesta
Celebrating revolution: 50 years of Cuban Revolution, 10 years of Venezuelan Revolution
With toasts by Cuba’s ambassador to Australia, Abelardo Curbelo, and Venezuela’s charge d’affaires, Nelson Davila

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SUNDAY, APRIL 12

9.30am Feature session
Neoliberalism and resistance in Asia
Kavita Krishnan, Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist), editor of Liberation, the CPI-ML’s magazine in English, and national secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association
Youngsu Won, socialist activist from South Korea

11am – Workshops

Cultural dissent: the politics of art and resistance - Ian Angus on Racism, resistance and the blues; Jill Hickson from Actively Radical TV; and Phil Monsour, progressive folk singer

Capitalism, agribusiness and sustainable agriculture – DSP members Trish Corcoran, Kate Stockdale and Nick Soudakoff

Has racism always existed? – Resistance activist Dom Hale

The Great Depression, the ALP and communist organising: Lessons for today – DSP national executive member Dave Holmes

Understanding the economic crisis: what now? – Dick Nichols, Socialist Alliance national co-convenor; Dick Bryan; and Jamie Doughney

The Cuban economy and Latin American integration – Tim Anderson, lecturer in political economy at Sydney University just returned from Cuba, and producer/director of The Doctors of Tomorrow

1pm – Lunch

2pm – Feature session
Revolution in Venezuela - communal councils, the workers’ movement and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela
Luis Bilbao, participant in the construction of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and in the formation of the Union of South American Nations, founding editor of the Latin America-wide monthly magazine América XXI, and author of 16 books, most recently Venezuela in Revolution: the Rebirth of Socialism

3.30pm – Workshops

Young socialists fighting back – Kavita Krishnan, former president of the All India Students' Association (1999-2006); Resistance national co-organiser Jess Moore and high-school activist Felix Donovan

Sustainable cities: the transition to public transport, accessible housing and liveability – Ben Courtice, DSP environment movement activist; and John Rice, Adelaide Ecosocialist Network

Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah and the right of Palestine to exist – Issac Shuisha, Israeli-born Palestine solidarity activist; and DSP member Rupen Savoulian

Argentina: the key to the region - Luis Bilbao, Union of Militants for Socialism, Argentina, author of recently published Argentina as the key to the region

Imperialism, nationalism and financial collapse: the Canadian experience – Roger Annis, associate editor of Socialist Voice, Canada

The Tamil struggle for self-determination - Brian Senewiratne, Sinhalese activist involved for more than four decades in exposing the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government and Sinhalese militias; author of various books on the Tamil struggle that have been banned in Sri Lanka

Building a revolutionary alternative in Australia today – Resistance activist Mel Barnes and Ruth Ratcliffe, DSP Adelaide organiser

5.30pm – Feature session
Revolutionary organising and internationalism in the 21st century
Peter Boyle, Democratic Socialist Perspective national secretary
M. Saraswathy, deputy chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia
Daphne Lawless, Socialist Worker (New Zealand) central committee member and editor of Unity journal

7pm Resistance gig with beats from Dhopec and others

Pakistan eyewitness report: GPO150 and the spirit of March 15

By Ammar Jan Ali
Lahore: We all are ecstatic about what happened in Lahore on the March 15, 2009. This day will be remembered as one where the power of State seemed helpless in front of the power of the street. The most crucial moment during the day was the battle at the GPO chowk that galvanized the entire city into action. The scene of almost 150 people battling a repressive police and forcing it to retreat will remain in the collective memory of our nation for a very long time to come.
I happened to be part of that "GPO 150" when the police started using tear-gas. Here is a short description of how we managed to reach the spot and how we were able to inflict defeat on the State apparatus.

Beating the checkpoints

We had left Zaman park where Aitzaz had been placed under house arrest. Lahore gave the look of a deserted ghost town in the morning with the Mall road completely blocked. I was with the Labour Party Pakistan, Student Action Committee and civil society members. We decided to walk our way towards the High Court in pairs so that the police fails to notice us. Some of us succeeded while others, like Nauman Qaiser and Jalees Hazir, were arrested at the checkpoints. We saw civil society activists Feryal Gauhar and Hina Jilani once we reached the GPO chowk.
I have been to many protests in the past but I have never seen anything like the passion visible in front of the High Court. There was a consensus that if the Lahore High Court falls, the movement will fizzle out. Everyone knew that the police would use the most brutal measures to suppress the will of the people and were mentally prepared for an epic battle.
As the police started shelling tear-gas indiscriminately, many activists started falling unconscious. All of us panicked and started fleeing the scene to evade arrests. A man who must be in his 70s, started yelling to the fleeing crowd (which included me, as I could no longer breathe) that this was not a time to run but to fight. Eventually, the baba ji fainted as well but he encouraged all of us to come back and continue the fight.

Two-hour battle

We resisted the police for over two hours, pushing them back many a times. Express News
My friend Murtaza Khwaja (who was taking part in a violent protest for the first time) showed immense courage and we stayed on the front line throughout this epic battle. The protestors were also fighting with a spontaneous strategy that proved to be very effective. We had split in three groups. One on the Mall road, one towards the left of the GPO while one group stayed inside the High Court building. When the police would charge protestors on one side, they would be pelted by stones from the other side. This was the key to this street battle as the police was being hit by stones from three sides which is why they could not takeover the High Court. It didn't matter which political party or group one belonged to. Everyone was looking out for each other and we all wanted to win.
By this time, a lot of lawyers, political activists and civil society members had gathered at the gates and those of us who had been there since almost 12pm decided to leave as we felt dehydrated and could not breathe properly. When we went in the courtyard where all the activists had gathered (including Justice Tariq Mehmood, Advocate Anwar Kamal, Hina Jila, Tehmina Daultana etc), we had no idea what this battle at the GPO really meant. We were just looking for water and a place to sit. In fact, I was a little disappointed that the numbers in front of the GPO had not been big and that the Long March could be a failure.
It is here that we received the news that this battle had gripped the entire country's imagination. The news channels were constantly talking about the police high-handedness and the resistance by many activists. I even received a call from a friend in Karachi who said that he had read about the crazy fighting at the Lahore High Court. The tide was definitely turning. reported that 250 to 300 shells had been fired at the protestors. Express news reporter Rabia Mehmood and AAG channel correspondent Mani almost fainted and had to be taken away from the scene. Many were vomiting because of chemicals in the tear-gas which were worse than anything I have witnessed. However, this brought the best out of the Pakistani nation. Some people were carrying salt and water for those getting injured in the fighting. Others were helping carrying people to the diagnostic center in the High Court or on to Edhi ambulances. I was about to faint a couple of times and was almost blinded by the gas before some random people gave me enough water and salt.

People control the city

After this, the people were in complete control of the city. Thousands joined Nawaz Sharif's caravan as he defied detention orders to lead the procession from his house in Model Town. The High Court courtyard went ecstatic when we heard the news of the resignations of the IG,DIG, SP, DCO and deputy attorney general of pakistan. Crowds cheered wildly as some of these gentlemen joined us at the High Court. The most memorable part of the evening for me was when Aitzaz Ahsan defiantly entered the High Court building despite orders for his house arrest and the police officers stood in line to salute him. This meant a complete victory for the movement and from their onwards, it was just a matter of time before the government would be forced to accept our demands.
I feel that the way Taseer's goons were defeated at the GPO showed the weakness of this state apparatus. It represented the best of pakistan. On one side, it represented despair, state brutality and police repression. On the other, it reflected hope, resistance, the passions and the dreams of many Pakistanis. We had won not because of the generosity of the country's leadership, but because of the countless sacrifices of lawyers and activists for the past 2 years with 15th march 2009 becoming the grand finale in Lahore.
Here, I want to thank those comrades who stood their ground at the GPO chowk and showed Pakistan why should we be fighting this system. I will remember their support and courage for the rest of my life. This is the courage, confidence and spirit of sacrifice that we need if we want to continue our fight against the capitalist system. This has given us new confidence in our own ability to fight and in the revolutionary potential of our nation. Despite this success, our post-colonial state is still full of problems and oppression and there will inevitably be more resistance. In all of the future struggles, we shall remember and take with us the spirit of March 15.

Ammar Ali Jan, Youth Secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan Lahore (LPP), will be one of several international at the the World at a Crossroads conference in Sydney, Australia, April 10-12. For more information, or to book tickets, visit http://www.worldatacrossroads.org

• Pakistan

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