You are invited to the Democracy Teach-In Organizing Conference
WHAT: Democracy Teach-In Organizing Conference
WHEN: Friday-Sunday October 31- November 2nd
WHERE: University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
WHO: Students, Education Workers, Community and International Human Rights, Democracy and Environemental Activists
** COSPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS **
Alliance for Democracy http://www.igc.apc.org/alliance/ Center for Campus Organizing http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/cco Earth First! Education for the People Free Burma Coalition http://wicip.org/fbc Free Nigeria Movement http://www.FreeNigeria.org Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Student Commission National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy Speak Out http://www.vida.com/speakout/ Student Environmental Action Coalition http://www.seac.org/ Teachers for Democratic Culture United States Student Association
******************************************************************************* Democracy Teach-Ins Oct.31-Nov.2 "In the Belly of the Beast" Chicago
evolving SCHEDULE
Friday
12-3 Meeting and greeting workshop leaders 2-3 workshop leaders gathering-- to explain goals of conference, suggestions for workshop leading. 3-4 registration 4-6 small group discussions of fascinating topics (if possible) 7-9 RALPH NADER 9 Plenary 1
Saturday
9:30 - 10:45 Workshop Session I 11:00 - 12:00 LUNCH Noon - 2:00 Plenary II - Gathering Plenary 2:00- 2:45 ACTION 3:00 - 4:15 Workshop Session II 4:30 - 5:45 Workshop Session II 6- 7 Dinner 7:00 "Global Immediacy: Campuses in Solidarity" - Tunde Okorondudu (Free
Nigeria), Zar Ni (Free Burma), and Mojgone Azemun (Free Tibet) 9:00 Poetry/ Music-- Dennis Brutus 9:00 Council Meeting
Sunday 9-10:30 Workshop Session IV or strategizing session 10:30- 12:00 Strategizing 12-1:00 Lunch 1-2:30 Richard Grossman 2:30- 4:30 The Plenary to End all Plenaries ? various hugs and good-byes
First meeting of new DTI Council on Sunday afternoon, following Summary Plenary.
****************************************** Detailed Schedule FRIDAY-- -- Our opening speaker at 7:00 is Ralph Nader -- Our Plenary will include a history of where DTI has come from and the
beginnings of discussion of where it is going as well as an outline of the conference
SATURDAY-- -- Saturday is the most extensive day of workshops including * Campus to Community Connections: Solidarity * Democratic Education vs. Corporate Instruction * University Cutbacks: The Globalizing Process * Getting the Word Out About Your Activism: Using Campus and Community Media * What Shape are You In?: Psychogeometrics * Proposition 209 Threats to Affirmative Action in Higher Education * Taking to the Streets: Street Theatre * ......and more in the morning
Then at 11:00 we'll break for lunch at 12:00 we'll be back on track for the second plenary at which we'll be
sharing campus success stories, taking nominations for the next round of
the Teach In Council, and more
1:00- 3:00 We put our words into action with a direct action!
The later afternoon we'll be back to workshops including-- * Discussion and Skill Sharing for Progressive Campus Journalists * Where are the Connections?: Researching Your Campus * Tales from the Inside: An Activist's Story from Inside the Corporate Structure * Women, Power Issues, and the Movement * The University is Ours: Students in University Governance * FICTION * GROW (Grassroots Organizing weekend) * Targeting Investment/ Targeting Procurement * Reawakening Imagination: Creativity In the Movement * School to Work, Welfare Reform, and Prisons- Connections * Students Combating Community Racism: An Idea Sharing Session * Creativity in the Movement: Using Creative Writing * Students as Allies: Coalition Building Around Labor Support * .... even more
6:00 we'll break for dinner 7:00 Tunde Okorodudu (Free Nigeria Movement), Zarni (Free Burma Coalition), and Mojgone Azemun (Free Tibet) are the featured speakers for the evening. 9:00 some free time to just be or join friends to enjoy poetry and music
with Dennis Brutus
SUNDAY--
Sunday morning will bring more workshop opportunities including-- * Boards of Regents, Boards of Trustees * Monsters in the Closet: Researching Your Favorite Corporate Nasty * ACORN, SEIU, local 880: Together for the Living Wage Campaign * .....and more many more to be announced Sunday morning also brings our third speaker--- Richard Grossman.
After lunch we'll have the plenary to end all plenaries-- the big one. Here we will be pulling together what we've learned, electing a new DTI council, and setting the groundwork for a successful DTI in 1997-1998, including setting the stage for our next conference.
Then we bid our farewells, until our next gathering **************************** Please read through this notice. The Democracy Teach-Ins are an exciting project in the works. You may want to take an active part in this wave of campus organizing.
Call us today! 617-547-4953, 617-354-9363, 608-262-9036 Let us know that you'll be a part of the next wave of Democracy Teach-Ins.
Contents: I - New Push: Campus Democracy vs. Corporate Control II - The Email Listserv III - Full Schedule of Coordinated Events IV - Lists of Cosponsoring Organizations
I - New Push: Student Democracy vs. Corporate Control
"Can we pursue democracy & social justice when corporations are allowed to control so much power and wealth?"
In the last year, more and more folks have learned that the answer is no. Students in particular, in our many struggles to reform education, expand civil rights, defend human rights, build the labor movement, and protect the environment, have learned that the giant corporation is a great obstacle to social change.
Following on last year's highly successful Democracy Teach-In (October 13-19, 1996), a new wave of Teach-In's are planned for the Spring of 1998, March 1-7. Last fall, some 40+ campuses and thousands of students across North America participated in a coordinated series of mass educational events and actions that exposed and explored how giant corporations are ruining our educational system, and our world at large. The new wave of Teach-Ins will be even larger and better organized.
---> Why Democracy? What can we achieve without it? In a society where corporations rule, the goals of justice, peace, equality, and sustainability are more a dream than reality. We students & education workers can see the effects of corporate rule in our daily lives: Tuition hikes, aid cuts, corporate sponsorship, unrepresentative governing boards, investments in criminal companies . . . Can you imagine what the world would be like if real people, not corporate officers, really did run things?
---> Why a Teach-In? When students in the civil rights, anti-war, environmental, out-of-apartheid, labor, and other major struggles of the past have sought to begin truly mass movements, they've gone with Teach-Ins. Teach-Ins are more accessible to the students on the street. It's an educational event, it's easy, so people feel safe in checking it out. Maybe they'll join. We need the "student on the street" to join us if we're going to grow a mass movement. So it's time for a Teach-In.
II - The Democracy Teach-In Listserv To get in the loop re: the ongoing organizing for the Democracy Teach-In, all you need to do is subscribe to our listserv. Currently there are several hundred students, educators, and community activists across North America participating in this listserv, and message load varies from light to heavy, depending on subject matter and time of year. To subscribe, send the following message:
to: listproc@envirolink.org from: subject: ----------------------------------------------- subscribe corporations <<your name>>
III - Full Schedule of Coordinated Action for the Teach-In
Oct 31 to November 2 - Organizing Conference - Univ. of Chicago A continental organizing conference of students, education workers, and community activists intended to bring together upwards of 300 folks to: PLAN out, CROSS-TRAIN for, and PUBLICIZE the . . .
March 1-7 - Democracy Teach-In, 1998 - Your Town A second wave of the Democracy Teach-In, larger and better prepared than the first, more inclusive in its organization: A Teach-In which can make possible the founding of a new student movement, a movement which understands diverse issues within the common rubric of popular democracy.
May 1 - May Day of Action Against Corporate Domination - Global Students and community members will use the tools and information they have learned in the Teach-In to take direct action against transnational corporate control of our communities and our society.
IV - Cosponsoring Organizations as of September 22nd, 1997 Alliance for Democracy Center for Campus Organizing Earth First! Education for the People Free Burma Coalition Free Nigeria Movement Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Student Commission National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy Speak Out Student Environmental Action Coalition Teachers for Democratic Culture United States Student Association
* * * * * Again, to get in the loop, subscribe to the Democracy Teach-In listserv and join along. And Call the Democracy Teach-In Clearinghouse - Outreach Division today at 617-547-4953.
Get on the bandwagon.
* * * * DEMOCRACY TEACH-IN '97-'98: Wave II * * * *
DTI Organizing Conference: Oct 31-Nov 2nd - University of Chicago Democracy Teach-Ins: March 1-7 - Your Campus! Your Town! May Day of Action: May 1 - End Corporate Dominance - Your Town!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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