The rise in popularity of anti-austerity parties, responses to the global climate crisis and challenges in building alternatives to neoliberal capitalism will be explored at the Socialism for the 21st Century Conference, to be held in Sydney on May 13 to 15 next year.
Green Left Weekly is proud to co-host this conference — which will be held in our 25th year of publication.
This not-to-be-missed event will feature a host of international speakers, including Marta Harnecker, one of the foremost international exponents of the revolutionary process in Latin America today; Michael Lebowitz, a leading Marxist scholar who has tackled the problem of the possibilities of building a socialist alternative; and Ian Angus, a veteran of the socialist and environmental movements in Canada and internationally and founding member of the Ecosocialist International Network.
Marta Harnecker is a Marxist writer and activist of Chilean origin who has been director of the Centro Internacional Miranda in Caracas, Venezuela since 2002. Harnecker is one of the most widely read authors on the Latin American left. She has written extensively on the Cuban Revolution, and on the nature of socialist democracy and is the author of more than 80 works, including A World to Build: New Paths Towards 21st Century Socialism.
Michael Lebowitz worked in Venezuela from 2004 to 2010 as a director of the program for Transformative Practice and Human Development at the Centro Internacional Miranda. Lebowitz is the author of a number of books, including The Socialist Alternative: Real Human Development and his latest work, The Socialist Imperative: From Gotha to Now.
Ian Angus is editor of Climate and Capitalism, an online journal focusing on capitalism, climate change and the ecosocialist alternative. His many articles are essential resources for climate activists. His books include Too Many People? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis, co-authored with Simon Butler and The Global Fight for Climate Justice: Anticapitalist Responses to Global Warming and Environmental Destruction.
Participants have also been confirmed from Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Spain and Australia, with more to be announced over the coming weeks.
The conference will be organised around three major themes: Ecosocialism: People, planet, future; Social movements, parties and struggles for popular power; and 21st Century socialism: Applying Marx today.
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To register, or for more information about the conference, visit: socialismforthe21stcentury.org.
GLW will host the conference in conjunction with Socialist Alliance, Links Journal of Socialist Renewal, the University of Sydney Resistance Club and the Latin American Social Forum.
We are making a special appeal to readers for donations to our Fighting Fund, which will help us contribute to this important conference. Donations can be made on our toll-free line at 1800 634 206(within Australia) or to Green Left Weekly, Commonwealth Bank, BSB 062-006, Account no. 00901992. Otherwise you can send a cheque or money order to PO Box 394, Broadway NSW 2007.