Speakers, agenda announced for Ecosocialism 2024: Book your tickets now!

This year’s Ecosocialism conference, to be held in Boorloo/Perth, on Australia’s west coast, will be an invaluable opportunity to share experiences with activists from around the Indo-Pacific region and discuss how we can collectively campaign against war and climate catastrophe. 

Ecosocialism 2024 is being organised by LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal, Green Left and Socialist Alliance and will run from Friday June 28 to Sunday June 30. The conference’s theme is Climate action not war, and the Boorloo Activist Centre, in East Perth, is the main conference venue. Tickets for the event are available now via Trybooking.com.

Boorloo/Perth’s close proximity to neighbouring countries in the region means Ecosocialism 2024 will be able to count on the attendance of representatives from regional socialist and progressive organisations, as well as activists from a range of campaigns across Australia.

Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle will feature strongly, with iconic Palestinian revolutionary activist Leila Khaled set to address the conference. Khaled is a national committee member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a socialist organisation that advocates for the creation of a democratic, secular Palestine. Khaled is also a PFLP representative on the Palestine National Council, the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Zionist organisations and right-wing media outlets are campaigning to stop Khaled from addressing Ecosocialism 2024. The Australian Labor government has already said Khaled will be denied a visa and there is a push to prevent her from even addressing the conference by video link. In response, conference organisers are collecting messages of support from prominent Australian and international figures (If you would like to send a message of support, you can email it to editor@links.org.au). 

Khaled will be joined by human rights activist Salim Vally, from the South African Palestine solidarity movement and South Africa’s National Research Foundation’s Chair in Community, Worker and Adult Education, based at the University of Johannesburg. South Africa, over on the other side of the Indian Ocean, has been a shining light in the global struggle for Palestine, having lodged a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

Pakistani historian and socialist activist Ammar Ali Jan has also been confirmed to speak. He is general secretary of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP, Peoples’ Rights Party) and ran as a HKP candidate in Pakistan’s recent national elections. Jan is also a member of the Council of Advisors of the Progressive International.

Also attending will be Danaletchumi (Dana) Langaswaran, from the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Socialist Party of Malaysia, PSM). Dana first got involved in activism with the student group Jawatankuasa Kebajikan Mahasiswa/I (JKMI) between 2005–09. Since then, she has been campaigning for farmers’ and workers’ rights, including as an industrial relations officer for the Hospital Cleaners Union between 2019–21. Dana is the current coordinator of PSM’s Workers Bureau in Perak state, and helps run a workers’ helpline that was initiated by PSM and the Network of Government Contract Workers (JPKK).

Also confirmed is Aaron Pedrosa, from the Filipino socialist organisation Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses, PLM). Pedrosa is the Secretary General of Sanlakas, a national, multi-sectoral coalition of grassroots organisations fighting for genuine democracy in the Philippines. A former student activist, Pedrosa is a well-known public interest lawyer-activist who provides legal representation to marginalised sectors such as workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk, mining and coal-affected communities. At the same time, Pedrosa is a leader of the Filipino environmental movement through his involvement in the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) as lead counsel of its legal team and co-chair of its energy working group. Pedrosa is a board member of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) and the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).

Also speaking will be Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman and Indonesian-based research scholar Rebecca Meckelburg, and conference organisers are set to announce in the coming days  the names of three representatives from the Singaporean left as well as a leader from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation who will attend.

From outside the region, there will be Tabitha Spence, a United States climate justice activist. As a Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology at the American University (DC), Spence is researching the intersection of imperialism, militarism and climate change, with a particular focus on the political, environmental and ideological impact of US military bases across the world. Spence has worked extensively with social movements in Pakistan, Britain and the US, and has been active with the Democratic Socialists of America, the Asia Europe People’s Forum and the Progressive International.

Also confirmed are Jess Spear, a member of the steering committee of the Global Ecosocialist Network and activist with RISE in Ireland, and a Brazilian activist from Movimento Esquerda Socialista (Socialist Left Movement) current within the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (Socialism and Freedom Party, PSOL).

Several local speakers have been recently added to the bill, including Green Left editorial collective members Susan Price and Isaac Nellist, Socialist Alliance national co-convenor Sam Wainwright, Nova Sobieralski and Jasmine Noel from Queer Liberation Boorloo, Disrupt Burrup Hub activist Gerard Mazza, RTRFM Indymedia co-host Joni Boyd, disability rights activist Graham Matthews,  and Sydney-based Palestinian activist and author Khaled Ghannam.

The three-day event is set to kick off with an opening night panel on June 28, titled “From the river to the sea: Palestine will be free!” and featuring Khaled, Vally and Ghannam. The following day will have panel discussions on First Nations sovereignty after the Voice referendum, democracy and self-determination in Asia and the case for ecosocialism, while June 30 will see debates on the rise of the global far right and building people-to-people solidarity in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference will finish with a closing rally theme “A world to win”. Eight workshops covering diverse topics such as LGBTIQ+ liberation, organising workers in unorganised industries, human rights in Indonesia and West Papua, and winning climate justice are also scheduled for the weekend.

This will be the fifth annual Ecosocialism conference, and only the second to be held in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos of presentations given at last year’s conference in Naarm/Melbourne, as well as previous ones, can be viewed at ecosocialism.org.au.

[For more information visit ecosocialism.org.au. Book your tickets now at Trybooking.com.]