Chicago, USA June 18-21; San Francisco, July 2-5, 2009: Building a new left for a new era

The world economic crisis has shattered the free-market consensus that has dominated politics for the last generation. Meanwhile, the end of the conservative era and the election of the first African American president have raised expectations among working people that long overdue change is at hand. With capitalism in crisis, even some in the mainstream media are admitting that Karl Marx was right.

There has never been a better time for those who want to see fundamental change to get together to debate, discuss and organize for a new society—a society based on the needs of the many instead of the whims of a few. We need to organize a new left to meet the challenge of this new era.

That’s the purpose that Socialism 2009—expanded to two sites this year—has set for itself. Gather with activists from around the world to take part in dozens of discussions about changing the world: How can we end racism? What kind of organization do we need? What would a future socialist society look like?

Yes we can organize for socialism in the 21st century! ¡Sí se puede!

Join these invited speakers at Socialism 2009:

John Riddell on Clara Zetkin

Ian Angus on Darwin & Marx

Robert Brenner on Marxist Theories of Crisis

Dennis Brutus on Israeli apartheid

Dahr Jamail on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and veterans' resistance

James Green on Haymarket

Claudio Katz on Latin American Left

Michael Klare on the Geopolitics of Oil

Leo Zeilig on Africa

Heather Rogers, author of Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage

Christian Parenti on Afghanistan

Camilo Mejía, war resister

Barbara Becnel, fighter against the death penalty

Anuradha Mittal on the Global Food Crisis

Laura Flanders on prospects for progressives in the Obama era

What previous conference participants have to say about Socialism:

"The young people at the conference took me back in time to when you were ready to stand for what was right. It lets you know that what you may have planted years ago will come to reality today. I feel great to have become a part of it."

--Dr. John Carlos, 1968 Olympic bronze medalist who raised the Black Power salute

"Socialism conferences are exciting gathering places for students and young activists, for revolutionary scholars, and fighters for social justice to share ideas and experiences that can help us understand and change the world. I've been to a couple – it's not enough. I'm coming again."

--Paul LeBlanc, scholar and activist

A weekend of revolutionary politics, debate and entertainment

Sponsored by Center for Economic Research and Social Change, publisher of International Socialist Review and Haymarket Books.