GLOVES OFF SPONSORS TWO EVENTS IN NYC AT THE BRECHT FORUM, JUNE 23 AND 27, 2009
The current president of the United Nations General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto (a priest in the liberation tradition and Foreign Minister for a decade in the first Sandanista administration) has seized on the occasion of the economic crisis to push for a Summit June 24-26 at the UN. The Gloves Off Collective, in collaboration with Social Watch, is sponsoring two events at the Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (between Bank St. and Bethune St.) in NYC.
A Round-Table with WSF Founding Activist François Houtart
Saturday, June 27th, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
For activists in the US, the UN conference on the Economic Crisis represents an "eruption" into the usual politics of the General Assembly. What does it mean to the Left in the US? How are we to relate to it?
This panel looks at the origins of this unique conference — both in it's challenge to the G20's handling of the economic crisis and in the context of the history of recent Latin American liberation struggles, from Nicaragua to Venezuela to Bolivia. In his time as a Sandinista Foreign Minister in the 1980s d'Escoto successfully brought the United States before the International Court of Justice for its paramilitary activities in Latin America. He also openly criticized both Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories and US policy under the 2nd Bush administration for "acts of aggression" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This round-table is a chance for activists and scholars organizing around the global economic crisis to engage with one of General Assembly President d'Escoto's personal representatives to the experts UN council and to look beneath the surface of conference politics.
Panelists: François Houtart, Marxist priest, founder of Centre Tricontinental, member of the World Social Forum International Council, and d'Escoto-appointed member of the UN/Stiglitz Experts Commission on the Global Economic Crisis, Michele Kervyn, writes on the history and political economy of Latin America, David Wilson, co-author The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers, and Chris Rude, Gloves Off, currently engaged in a theoretical proposal toward a democratic socialist nationalization of the US financial system.
[Past event] Towards a People-Centered Economy: Alternative Responses to the Economic Crisis
Tuesday, June 23rd, 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
This event will be a warm up to the UN conference and features social movements organizing for solutions to the economic crisis, against the G-20 and for the “G-192” (all countrys in the United Nations).
Panelists: Pedro Paez, Former Minister of Economic Coordination, Ecuador and member of UN Commission of Experts on the crisis
• Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies
• Arjun Karki, LDC Watch (Nepal)
• Steve Suppan, Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy and Our World is Not for Sale Network
• Diana Aguiar, International Gender and Trade Network
• Larry Holmes, Bail Out the People Movement (NYC)
• Jana Silverman, Social Watch will be the moderator.
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