Register for post-election conference next saturday
Via mapa-nuclear-disarmament <mapa-nuclear-disarmament@googlegroups.com>
After the Elections: The Next Two Years and Beyond
A Movement Building Conference
Saturday, November 17, 2018, 9am-5pm Simmons University, 300 the Fenway, Boston, MA 02115
Confirmed speakers:
 John Nichols is national affairs correspondent ofThe Nation. His most recent book is Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America |  Rev. Karlene Griffiths Sekou organizes with Black Lives Matter Boston |  Phyllis Bennis is director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. The seventh edition of herUnderstanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict : A Primer was just published |  Nika Elugardo defeated a powerful incumbent to become State Representative- Elect from Jamaica Plain and nearby areas of Boston |  Gabe Camacho directs Project Voice at American Friends Service Committee |
 Paul Shannon is active with AFSC and MAPA and organizes the Raytheon Antiwar Campaign |  Michele Brooks is Community Outreach Coordinator with the Massachusetts Sierra Club |  Jessica Tang is President of the Boston Teachers Union, representing 10,000 active and retired educators. |  Carl Williams is a movement lawyer whoteaches at Cornell Law School and is a fellow at Political Research Associates |
The return of the Democratic Party to control of the House of Representatives opens new possibilities for holding the Trump administration accountable and to block its attacks on labor and working people, tax cuts for the rich, sharply increased military spending, anti-immigrant and xenophobic policies, and escalated racism, sexism, and attacks on LGBTQ people. But the election also served to consolidate the Republican Party as a powerful white supremacist Christian nationalist force. The reactionary forces that have been unleashed and organized by Trumpism are determined to continue their offensive in the years to come. The far right still controls the Senate, the Supreme Court and most state governments. Thus the struggle for planet survival, decent living standards, social justice, democracy, the environment and peace moves into a period of still greater intensity. This is a time to redouble our commitments, organizing and advocacy.
A wave of progressive candidates were among the Democrats who won election to Congress and other offices. They represent the best of the movement that is resisting Trumpism, exemplified by Black Lives Matter, the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, Poor Peoples Campaign, Womens Marches, Fight for $15, March for Our Lives, and the responses to Charlottesville and to the separation of migrant families.
The resistance to the reactionaries is divided between the progressives, who seek fundamental changes in the economy and social structure to the benefit of working and oppressed people, and the neoliberals or centrists, who seek the stabilization of the corporate order and accept austerity and militarism. Although we need to join with the centrists to fend off the reactionary assault, we also seek to build an independent, powerful, coherent and energetic progressive movement that seeks fundamental solutions and that will contend for national power in 2020 and in the years to come.
A major weakness of the progressive wing is a tendency to avoid confronting U.S. militarism, particularly the dangers of nuclear war and of war with Iran, Korea, and Russia.
The goal of this conference is to take stock of the political landscape after the midterm election, chart the path towards a unified progressive movement over the coming years, and educate and motivate our supporters towards more effective and more unified efforts.
See the Conference Schedule
Registration: $35 general admission; $25 for member of a cosponsoring organization; $10 student or low income. Includes morning coffee and lunch. Register online at next-two-years.brownpapertickets.com, or mail check to Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund, 11 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 and write "Next Two Years" on the memo line.
Endorsers: Organizations are invited to endorse the conference. Endorsers can set up a literature table, will be acknowledged at the conference, and are encouraged to publicize the event to their members. A sliding scale contribution between $25-100 is requested to help offset our expenses. Endorsers can sign up at next2yrs-endorse.bpt.me/.
For information on transportation, parking, childcare and other important details, go to:http://masspeaceaction.org/event/the-next-two-years-and-beyond/
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