Final Workshop List as of October 11 2012

(All workshops will be held at Madison College (Wisconsin Avenue Entrance)  For Directions and Map – see here.

To look up more details on the workshop time and location with  a powerful but simple search tool – click here.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Social and Economic Justice 

The Fair Share Economy—Maine’s Campaign to Make Jobs, Healthcare, and Education Human Rights - Room 333

Given the tremendous problems of governing and allocating resources, concerned citizens’ movements and initiatives must ensure a fair tax system and a fair allocation of resources to guarantee the necessities of life. Resources should be utilized to ensure people’s basic rights to healthcare, education, and meaningful work. The “Fair Share Economy” reverses the policy of regressive local and state taxes, in which the bottom income earners pay far higher proportional rates than the very wealthy. The Fair Share plan would increase the tax rate of the richest 10% while lowering the rate for the bottom 70% and direct taxes to pay for free pre-K through college education, universal single-payer healthcare, and a $1 billion jobs program.

Jesse Graham is the Executive Director of the Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) and the Maine People’s Resource Center (MPRC), graduate of University of Vermont in Environmental Studies and English. He has served at MPA/MPRC as Field Director, Community Organizer, Associate Director, and liaison to many environmental coalitions.

Alex Jackimovicz, licensed Master Electrician. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, where he studied Social Thought and Political Economy and Concepts of Identity in Social Theory. He is an avid student of alternative economics, an advocate of people’s rights initiatives, and a volunteer organizer with the Maine People’s Alliance.

Jill Reese is the Associate Director of the Alliance for a Just Society. Jill joined the Alliance staff team in April 2003 after serving three years with the Alliance’s affiliate, Idaho Community Action Network. From 2009-2011, Jill directed the Health Rights Organizing Project, a coalition of 35 organizations in 23 states that was instrumental in winning inclusion of health equity provisions in the Affordable Care Act. She currently oversees the Alliance’s policy department as well as its efforts to develop the leadership, skills and political analysis of affiliate staff and leaders.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Local Economies Room 229

Understanding of Local Economies: Knowledge Gaps and Educational Needs among Community Members Room 229

This workshop presents a synthesized local economy framework and the results of research to understand educated people’s knowledge of factors that contribute to the development of local economies. Beyond the tangible basics (e.g., local ownership), there was little understanding of the processes and essential factors of local economies. Research suggests that there are considerable knowledge barriers to the development of local economies, making necessary educational efforts to overcome these barriers. The workshop will address growing local economies many other aspects of economic democracy

Jeremy Solin is the interim director of the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education at UW-Stevens Point where he leads K-12 environmental education programs and teaches undergraduate courses. He is a doctoral student in sustainability education at Prescott College.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Transforming Institutions Room

Restructuring the Economy: Transforming Manufacturing to a Green, Sustainable Model  Room 229

How can we achieve economic democracy in the United States, and globally?  First we must know, what an economy is, and second, we must present a vision of what a democratic economy would look like. A thriving economy is based on manufacturing, particularly the production of machinery. Therefore, a democratic economy will have a thriving manufacturing sector, will be based on employee ownership and control, and will be environmentally sustainable, just, and equitable.

Jon Rynn, author of “Manufacturing Green Prosperity: The power to rebuild the American Middle Class”, has blogged for Grist.org, NewDeal20.org, and Alternet.org.  Jon has worked for 20 years with the late progressive economist Seymour Melman of Columbia University and is a visiting scholar at the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Recapturing Ethics

Sacred Sites versus Corporate Rights:  The threat to Bad River’s Ancient Rice Beds. Room  225

This session looks at the cultural, spiritual, economic, and environmental significance of wild rice to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and anxiety over plans by out-of-state corporate interests to site a large taconite mine at the headwaters of the Bad River. Pollution caused by the mine could damage and perhaps destroy this “relative” of the Ojibwe people, a plant vital to the economy of the Bad River band and essential to our way of life.

Patty Loew, Ph.D., a University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication professor and documentary producer and an award-winning author of Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal and Native People of Wisconsin, a middle school textbook.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Transforming Institutions Room 433

Transforming the Media

The panel will assess the decrepit state of corporate media and the failure of the Internet to magically solve the problem. The panel will make the case for the central role of quality news media for economic and political democracy. The panel will discuss alternative structures and policies for democratic media, and the political steps necessary to bring them about.

Robert W. McChesney teaches at the University of Illinois. He is a co-founder of Free Press and has written or edited 25 books on media and politics. His work has been translated into 29 languages.

John Nichols, correspondent for The Nation magazine, contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times, and associate editor of the Capital Times. Author of many books including Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street and The ‘S’ Word: A Short History of an American Tradition…Socialism. With Robert W. McChesney, Nichols helped found Free Press, the nation’s media-reform network.

Norman Stockwell serves as WORT’s Operations Coordinator, and has hosted programs covering issues such as the murder of the Jesuits in El Salvador, the Gulf War and its aftermath, the pro-democracy movement in Nepal, and the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico and has worked as as a journalist in U.S., Cuba, Nicaragua & Mexico, and in collective management of the Lakeside Press and Mifflin Street Co-op.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Local Economies-Madison  Room 40

Homelessness and Affordable Housing in Madison and Dane County

Panelists will describe homelessness in Dane County including the lack of affordable housing in Madison, the number of foreclosures in the Madison area, and other factors that contribute to homelessness. The ongoing effort to obtain a day-center for the homeless and the obstacles being encountered and suggestions for long-term strategies to eliminate housing disparities that will require building a democratic economy will also be discussed.

Brenda Konkel: is the Executive director of Tenant Resource Center, has served four terms on the Madison City Counsel, and serves on the Board of the Social Justice Center.

Heidi Wegleitner is the District 2 supervisor in Dane County, attorney at Legal Action of Wisconsin, board member of the Public Interest Law Section at the State Bar of Wisconsin, and is a board member of the Tenant Resource Center.

Linda Ketcham is the Executive director of Madison Urban Ministry and is a certified alcohol and other drug addiction counselor with 27 years experience in human services.

Z! Hawkeness:  Organizer at Wisconsin Alumni Association, Activist with Operation Welcome Home, a local grass-roots group working for racial justice, associated with Take Back the Land.

Allen Barkoff: is active in Socialist Party-USA, Occupy-Madison, presented workshops at National Association of Biology Teachers Convention, Socialist Party of South Central Wisconsin, and Socialist Potluck.

Session-1 Fri 2:00-3:15pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

Economics, Politics, and Movements: Why Inequality isn’t Inevitable  Room 240A

Discussions of economics can bore, confuse, and disempower. Understanding how we can move toward economic democracy requires an understanding of the economy we have today, to see that it is not a natural inevitable result of hidden “natural” economic forces, but is in fact, a social creation that is deeply and increasingly anti-democratic. American economic outcomes – explosive inequality and the proliferation of bad jobs – are essentially political outcomes and the result of years of bad policy and weak popular movements. Turning the economy around will require a movement focused on economic democracy.

Laura Dresser is Associate Director of COWS at UW Madison. A labor economist and expert on low-wage work, Laura has written and spoken widely on low-wage jobs, the restructuring of labor markets, and American political economy. She is co-editor of The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Local Economies-Madison

Toward a Deep Green Economic Democracy Room 225

Taking into account both the structural economic crisis of global capitalism and environmental-ecological problems such as resource depletion, pollution and climate change, David Williams and Carl Sack will offer visions of a Deep Green Democratic Economy on both the national and local level as alternatives to a corporate capitalism ruled by the dictates of private profit and market mechanisms. Their “eco-socialist” visions will offer perspectives on such questions as: the respective roles of public and private property forms, democratic public planning and market mechanisms, economic re-localization, and the organization of industries essential for a democratic and sustainable economy.

David Williams is a retired librarian who has been active in social movements and grassroots progressive education since 1968 when he joined in the Vietnam antiwar struggle at UW. In 2004 he founded the Peregrine Forum of Wisconsin which organizes film screenings, forums, and other educational events in a variety of community venues.

Carl Sack is a UW grad student (member AFT-3220/TAA), Board Member of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, and member of Socialist Action, a revolutionary socialist party that fights for social and environmental justice and workers’ power. He is currently active in struggles for labor rights, against mining, and for indigenous rights.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Social and Economic Justice

Housing as a Human Right:  The Take Back the Land Movement Room  329

Without housing people cannot live, and because housing is fundamental to life, all people deserve access. The crisis of housing is a crisis of the right to live. We live in a unique period of time where we can identify and address who’s doing this and target the large banks. The purpose of a house should be as a home, not as a profit center for corporations to speculate, and not as a profit center for predatory lending. Take Back the Land movement says,“no more, these are our houses.”

Monica Adams works with Freedom, Inc. as a Queer Youth of Color Organizer, serves as the Middle School Program Assistant at the Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools (GSAFE), is involved with the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, the Madison chapter of Take Back the Land, the National Leadership Core, and other projects.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Transforming Institutions

Economic Democracy Requires Union Democracy  Room 40

Economic Democracy requires both democracy in the workplace and democracy in trade unions. The great need for union democracy, transparency and accountability will be the subject of this breakout session on. This workshop will be facilitated by Marty Kehrein, past president of AFSCME Local 333 and other labor activists.

Brian Rothgery has been active in the Wisconsin labor movement for more than a decade, as an activist, a union member, steward, elected officer, student mentor, and working as a union organizer, and for labor news media. He has also managed the election campaigns of underdog candidates for statewide and local union offices. Brian is currently the boycott organizer for the Palermo Workers Union, whose members have been on strike since June 1st.J. Eric Cobb, Labor Activist and Journeyman Painter International Painters and Allied Trades, Local 802

Fred Higgins is a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 in Wisconsin.

Carmen Clark has been involved in grass-roots organizing, unions, mainstream business unions, but a member of the IWW for many years. She is an Organizing 101 trainer for IWW and a government worker.

Anne Habel is a retired dishwasher in a University Laboratory 31 years. She was an activist in AFSCME Local 171. Serving as a steward, Past President of Local 171 and Executive Board Member of the Wisconsin State Employees Union.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Transforming Institutions

Building a Democratic Media Infrastructure Room  240B

The Internet has provided new opportunities for breaching the wall of mainstream media and informing the public about issues typically not covered including the reality of economic inequality and poverty. This panel will discuss how anyone can effectively use citizen journalism to get out the important stories from the street.

Jesse Russell is a producer at Workers Independent News and the founder of dane101.com. Jesse has presented at panels on independent media’s role in the Wisconsin Uprising, at labor conferences and media reform conferences, and other venues.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Recapturing Ethics

Changing What we Measure from Wealth to Well-being  Room 429

Using media, exercises, and discussion we will learn why we need to change, how to measure progress to insure the economy provides what we really want — well-being and happiness for people and the planet. We will present how new indicators are used to encourage discussion on Measuring What Matters and how this discussion can drive action on building a new economy. Account will be given of Vermont’s adoption of the Genuine Progress Indicator in 2012.

Tom Barefoot is a founder and co-coordinator of the Gross National Happiness USA project. Tom has worked in a variety of roles advancing the public good in Vermont, has presented at the Slow Living Conference, the VNRC Environmental Activism conference, and at national conferences on alternative indicators.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Social and Economic Justice

Climatic Changes in Activism  Room 240A

The existential threat from global warming remains the crisis that dare not speak its name as the fossil fuel industry owns and controls one of the two political parties and has neutered the other. 350.org’s White House protests over the Tar Sands Pipeline last year marked a new wave of grassroots activism, rejecting the Washington-centric focus of the national environmental groups, which spent close to $400 million in the prior session to see even the worthless bill passed by the House sunk in the Senate. In this grassroots battle, those under 30, who will live with the terrible consequences of this generation’s abdication, will need to take the lead.

Harry Bennett is Marketing Coordinator for the Kansas Organic Producers Association, has operated a small organic farm in Kansas for 30 years before moving to Madison in 2011. He and his wife served as Peace Corps volunteers in Belize C.A., working with indigenous farmers in rural community development and sustainable agriculture programs. .

Peter Anderson founded the environmental group Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade in 1970. In 1989 began to champion recycling and oppose landfilling, a major source of greenhouse gases. To make an example, after the birth of his late-in-life son, he along with over 1000 protesters, were jailed by the White House for three days in 1998.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Social and Economic Justice

Considering Community before Economy  Room 433

Currencies. Tax policies. Investment. Redistribution. These are examples of economic tools offered to address social stress. We’ve generally operated on an assumption that economics is the foundation of society; fix the economy and a better society will follow. What if we invert this equation? Rather than starting with economic exchanges from which society emerges, what if we consider social relations from which economies emerge? What if instead of reconsidering economic forms we reconsider social forms?

Marc Brakken, is a PhD candidate in geography at UW-Madison, with interests in complexity theory, theoretical ecology, critical theory, cooperative economics, and political philosophy. He also works on the Time For the World project and is developing the Build For the World platform.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

PROUT: a Holistic Approach for Social and Economic Empowerment  Room 229

This workshop will explore PROUT’s contributions to creating a more fair and just socioeconomic system. Solutions will be offered to chronic unemployment; excessive private wealth; and gender, racial and psychological oppression. The workshop will include a discussion of policies intended to guarantee minimum necessities for all.

Ame Johnson is an activist and community organizer. She is the CEO of Cooperative Capitalism Worldwide. Local projects include: CSRA Vegetarian Society, People For Coops, Central Brooklyn Food Coop, Food Coop Alliance, and Mid-Atlantic Food Coop Alliance.

Mirra Price is a writer, editor, tutor and retired English teacher. She organized against the Viet Nam War, convened consciousness-raising groups, and has advocated against relocation and for the Northern Cheyenne against Conoco. She also works with Women Proutists of North America, co-ops, teaches classes, and writes newsletters.

Dr. Tapan Mallik is Global Planning Manager at DuPont, where he helps design processes for efficient use of resources and productivity improvement. Mallik uses econometric models to analyze economic scenarios, the impact of currency fluctuations, and the tax and economic policies of different countries.

Nada Khader is the executive director of WESPAC Foundation, a peace and justice action network, is on the steering committee of the United National Anti-War Coalition, has represented the US Palestinian Community Network at the US Social Forum, and is a board member of United for a Fair Economy.

Session-2 Fri 3:30-4:45pm  Local Economies

SEED: Solidarity Economy and Ecological Design.  Room 333

Present conditions require that building models of a sustainable and empowering democratic economy must be local in nature. How to get local initiatives started? The SEED model takes the approach of creating a nucleus of development which begins to catalyze increased democratic participation in a process of organic growth. SEED also seeks an integrated, holistic approach to local development, including infrastructure, basic necessities, grassroots economy, service, education, community, culture, and perennial values. The PROUT Institute is in its second year of a five year effort to demonstrate the SEED model in Eugene, Oregon, with inspiring success to date.

Jason Schreiner is President of the PROUT Institute, a non-profit organization based in Eugene, Oregon (USA) that provides people and communities with empowering resources to envision and enact sustainable and equitable solutions to social, economic, and ecological challenges.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Recapturing Ethics

The Ethical Need for Revolutionary Change  Room 433

Global capitalism is unjust and exploitive. It excludes more people than it benefits, causing nearly half the world’s population to live, suffer and die in poverty. This materialistic outlook breeds corruption and dishonesty at every level of society, draining economic resources and breaking apart communities. Our moral responsibility is not to wait for gradual patchwork reforms that might take forever; rather we need to struggle unitedly to end injustice as fast as possible. This moral compass, this ethical foundation, is needed for economic democracy to succeed.

Bill Ayers is a retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois, a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and a co-founder of the Weather Underground.

Dada Maheshvarananda, activist, writer and monk, founder and director of the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela. Author of After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Transforming Institutions

Triple Hits for Economic Democracy: With You, a Home Run Room 225

J.W. Smith will explain how Henry George’s idea of taxing unearned income can make taxing earned income unnecessary and promote a world of peaceful prosperity. William Kötke will explain how to save our planet. And Bob Blain will introduce Cooperation, the Wealth of Nations Game, which simulates economic democracy beyond political democracy..

J. W. Smith is the author of Economic Democracy: The Political Struggle of the Twenty-First Century and founder of The Institute for Economic Democracy.

William Kotke is the author of Final Empire and Garden Planet.

Bob Blain is the author of The American Iceberg: Debt, Inflation and Money and Money Facts: Simple, Obvious but Neglected. He has a PhD from the University of Massachusetts and has taught sociology at Ohio State University and Southern Illinois University.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Social and Economic Justice 

Assembly to End Poverty: Madison Room 40

The Assemblies to End Poverty and the People’s Movement Assembly give a forum and a process to the issues of poverty locally and nationally. An overview presentation includes the current state of poverty in the US and the challenges and opportunities for organizing the anti-poverty movement beyond the fight for reformist policy changes. A facilitated discussion will cover the issues involved with the anti-poverty movement in Madison.

Sylvia Orduño is an organizer with the US Social Forum, Poverty Working group, People’s Movement Assemblies to End Poverty, and an organizer with the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, a union of public assistance recipients and low-income workers.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

End Corporate Personhood– Move To Amend Room 429

Huge corporations are not merely exercising power; they are ruling us. “Corporate Personhood” and “Money Equals Speech” are two lynchpin legal doctrines — both illegitimately created by courts — that are used by the ruling elite to steal our sacred right to self-government. Move To Amend is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition that is demanding a constitutional amendment to legalize democracy by abolishing ALL corporate constitutional rights, as well as money equals speech. This workshop will describe our grassroots strategy to successfully amend the Constitution.

David Cobb is a co-founder of the Move To Amend coalition, a lawyer and engaged citizen who has sued corporate polluters, lobbied elected officials, and run for political office. He ran for Attorney General of Texas in 2002, pledging to revoke the charters of corporations that repeatedly violate health, safety and environmental laws. In 2004, he ran for President on the Green Party ticket and campaigned for the Ohio recount.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Local Economies

Fire Your Boss! – The Power of Co-ops for Reclaiming Economic Democracy Room 240B

2012 is the United Nations International Year of the Co-op. More people actually work for cooperatives than corporations worldwide. This workshop will give a brief overview of cooperative principles, a history of co-ops with a special focus on worker collectives in the U.S. and Madison, and discuss the challenges and opportunities that this democratic economic structure poses for consumers, tenants, farmers, and workers in a time of global crisis.

John Conowall is a worker-owner and driver with Union Cab in Madison WI and actively does co-op outreach and development with Madison Worker Cooperatives.

John E. Peck is the executive director of Family Farm Defenders and is a part-time economics instructor at Madison College. He has attended numerous international gatherings as a U.S. delegate, including the Nyeleni Food Sovereignty Forum in 2007 in Mali and the Fifth La Via Campesina Conference in Mozambique in 2008.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Local Economies-Madison 

Healthy Community Economy Here and Now Room 240A

This workshop will present an ecological system of cooperative economic tools, including time-banking, mutual credit, complementary currencies, and community granting and lending. We will discuss the social/economic functions of each one and how they can interrelate to create greater impact.

Stephanie Rearick is the founder and director of the Dane County TimeBank and Project Coordinator of Time For the World/Build For the World. She is a co-owner of Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse. She has also worked for Greenpeace, helped launch Madison Hours local currency, and served on the steering committee of the local political party, Progressive Dane.

Marc Brakken, is a PhD candidate in geography at UW-Madison, with interests in complexity theory, theoretical ecology, critical theory, cooperative economics, and political philosophy. He also works on the Time For the World project and is developing the Build For the World platform.

Session-3 Sat 11:15-12:30pm  Transforming Institutions

Rebuilding Local News  Room 333

Local newspapers are in decline, but they are still the source for the lion’s share of local news, information, and investigation.  We’ll look at the causes and consequences of this decline in the local communication ecosystem, but also at alternative models drawn from other cities. We’ll pay particular attention to new forms of web-based news, including transformed newspapers that partner with local news sites (Seattle); newspaper alternatives (San Diego, Minneapolis); labor-supported online local (British Columbia); and hyper-local or mid-range sites (Oakland, Madison).  We’ll ask how these different models (potentially) change local news, and whether they are sustainable.

Lew Friedland is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He studies how communication impacts civic and public life, and the changing communication ecologies in local communities and investigates for a Federal Communications Commission the critical information needs of communities.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Social and Economic Justice

Supporting Our Missions Room 433

This workshop will share ideas and explore fundraising strategies to support the development of nonprofit organizations with economic democracy missions. Participants will refine and share their own case for support, and pool collective knowledge towards new strategies for raising money. Participation and group work are key components of this workshop.

Suzanne Bowles is Director of Development at Alliance to Develop Power/ADP, a grassroots non-profit with the working economic democracy model. Suzanne has also provided resource development and fundraising support for environmental, social, and economic justice organizations.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

Industrial Democracy, Direct Action, and the One Big Union  Room 333

The Industrial Workers of the World is an “industrial union.” where membership goes with the person, not the employer or industry.  Direct action in the workplace is how workers and other 99%-ers get power to make change. Solidarity is the antidote to a divide-and-conquer capitalist order. Learn about the economics and strategies of grass-roots unionism, organizing the unemployed, underemployed, immigrants and others. We can transform society and its power relationships into a social order that serves the aspirations and needs of the many. This workshop presents the vision and shows how to get started in organizing direct action.

C. Estelle Clark is a grass-roots organizer working with unions, mainstream business unions and IWW member. She is an Organizing 101 trainer for IWW and a government worker.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

Economic Democracy and Workplace Justice  Room 240A

Traditional methods that once gave a voice to workers have been gutted: legislatures and courts are hostile to collective action, and regulators have been rendered impotent. Change that includes progress toward reducing economic wage and wealth inequality and the restoration of a vibrant voice to the American worker requires adopting a specific agenda that clearly states these shared objectives. Both short and long-term goals are needed– at the local level or by administrative agencies at all levels of government, and those that require new legislation. Clauss will identify some goals that can easily lead to real progress toward economic democracy, as well as identify some longer-term plans.

Carin A. Claus is an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she held the Nathan P. Feinsinger Chair in Labor Law. She continues pro bono work seeking to improve the wages and working conditions of women, minorities and low-wage workers.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Transforming Institutions

Democratic Wealth Generation: Moving From Theory to Practice, Bronx to the Beltline Room 229

Mobilizing to elect representatives is only one avenue for citizen participation in governance. Equally important is participation in civic institutions and organizations whose democratic practices also play a role in defining democracy. Arguably the most important focus of community participation and governance is the planning, production, distribution, and protection of goods and resources needed for human survival and development.

Justice Castaneda is a native Madisonian currently working as an advisor to the City of Madison in his capacity with MIT Colabs, which explores the intersection between how urban planning and technology increase peoples’ abilities to participate in determining the future of their communities.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Transforming Institutions

Peace Economics Room 40

Bob Reuschlein has been working on Peace Economics since 1985, publishing books “Peace Economics” in 1986, “Real Economy” and realeconomy.com in 1999, with a new dvd and booklet on Peace Economics in 2011. Reuschlein has a doctorate, MBA, CPA, and engineering degrees, teaching at the University of Oregon and Radio For Peace International and countless conferences and radio appearances including the Hague Peace Conference in 1999. On the Democratic electoral college slate in 1984 in Oregon.

Session 4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Local Economies

A Comprehensive Framework for Universal Economic Empowerment  Room 429

Capitalism is dying. A new economic vision, derived from theory and practice, is urgently needed. PROUT provides solution-oriented design principles to guide development in a sustainable, empowering, post-capitalist economy. Different principles of development apply to local, regional, national, and global contexts, and form a cohesive framework that economically empowers people and communities. This workshop covers how to transition to a post-capitalist economy.

Ravi Logan is the Executive Director of the PROUT Institute, author of PROUT: A Solution-Oriented Paradigm of Development, the lead instructor for the Institute’s Community Transformations training program, and the principle organizer for the visionary SEED (Sustainable Economic and Ecological Design) project in Eugene, Oregon.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Local Economies – Madison

The Politics of Getting Community Gardens in Downtown Madison  Room 225

This workshop describes the political process that created community gardens in downtown Madison including interactions with community folk, elected representatives, community groups, and city staff and the obstacles, successes, and lessons learned. We will show how our group has helped build democracy through shared leadership and decision-making and the mentoring of inexperienced activists, and how our grassroots efforts have contributed to the transformation of local institutions. We will emphasize the ways in which community gardens offer citizens access to the commons, help insure food security, and build democracy through cooperative action and shared decision-making.

Sue Rosa worked as a course instructor and administrator in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Occupational Therapy Program where she taught courses and presented numerous workshops. She has testified before many City of Madison committees and commissions. She is an organic gardener in a local community garden.

Session-4 Sat 2:15-3:30pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

The Role of Revenue in Re-Organizing Our Economy  Room 240B

As a country we are in the midst of a rare political moment when arcane tax policy can be front page news.  With the ‘fiscal cliff’ debate shaping up in Congress and revenue crises still gripping states, taxes will be the talk of the town for much of the next year.  We will present of comprehensive vision of the role of adequate, fair, and interconnected tax revenue solutions in building a democratic economy. In our workshop we will discuss opportunities the current moment presents, innovative policy options, and a vision of the role revenue plays in organizing a new economy.

Chris Conry is the Organizing a New Economy Program Manager at TakeAction Minnesota. He has worked as a union, community, and political organizer since 2002 training hundreds of grassroots leaders and has presented on tax policy and political strategy.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Policy and Political Initiatives

Advancing Economic Democracy through Grassroots Organizing  Room 240 B

The implementation of Economic Democracy concepts requires more than committed individuals. It requires groups of people effectively organized at local, regional and state levels. The Wisconsin Grassroots Network is actively involved in both founding and assisting grassroots organizations coming together to address policy initiatives and progressive political causes. The panel will discuss the role and function of regions (e.g., multi-county Congressional Districts) and will describe their success in rural strategy and messaging. The importance of personal relationships and community building will also be emphasized.

Nathan Timm is a co-chair of Wisconsin Grassroots Network (WGN) and a retired professional educator. His grass roots organizing includes: Founder of Wisconsin Grassroots Festival, Founder of Dane County Grassroots Network, and District Chair Alternate Democratic Party 2nd Congressional district.

Jan Moore is the Chair of the WGN Video Work Group, a retired sales manager, and has been active in several organizations including the Madison Area Coordinator for Move-On, and an Alternate Democratic Vice-Chair of the 2nd Congressional District (WI).

Leigh Wagner is the Co-Chair of the WGN 72-county Regional Strategy Work Group. In addition to her 25 years as a programmer and data analyst, Leigh is a long time activist for racial and social and economic justice, recently with the Richland County, WI, Democrats and WGN.

Roger Springman, a co-chair of WGN Messaging Work Group, is a retired Environmental Resource Manager with 20 years as a steward and union activist. He currently serves on the Columbia County, WI, Democratic Party Executive Committee, and is a co-founder of the Columbia-Marquette Co, WI, Grassroots Organization.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Recapturing Ethics 

Close Your Eyes and Open Your Mind — Meditation for Activists  Room 225

Working for a social or economic justice cause often involves great sacrifice with little material reward. Failure to address this issue can lead to personal suffering and even the failure of a social movement. Meditation can be a powerful tool for maintaining our mental and emotional health and for tapping into our inner source of inspiration.

Using music and a simple guided visualization exercise we will learn a meditation technique anyone can practice daily.

Dada Nabhaniilananda is a monk, musician, author, and meditation teacher with the spiritual movement Ananda Marga. He is the author of Close Your Eyes & Open Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Meditation. He teaches a course in “Meditation and the Way of Tantra Yoga” at UC Berkeley.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Local Economies

Cooperatives Room 240A

This interactive workshop will focus on cooperatives as democracies within an economic context and will highlight the historic tradition of democratic decision-making in cooperatives. Examples of local and national cooperatives, and data collected from the UW Center for Cooperatives ongoing Cooperative Business Survey will be included.

Anne Reynolds is Assistant Director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives. She develops courses, conferences and educational programs at the Center, and has led workshops on board leadership, responsibilities, and strategic planning. She has worked with cooperatives in agriculture, food, energy, and purchasing.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Transforming Institutions

Ecology Democracy Network Room 229

This workshop will present the case for structural change in the economy, in the way we vote, and in who influences our government by making the case for mandates to establish an ecology-based economy, adopt proportional representation, and remove the influence of private money and corporate interference on our government.

Ken Pentel has been a grassroots organizer and candidate for public office in Minnesota, and has worked as an organizer for Greenpeace in Minnesota and with the Green Party of Minnesota. Ken was endorsed for Governor four times by the Green Party of Minnesota in 1998, 2002 and 2006, and by the Ecology Democracy Party in 2010.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Transforming Institutions

Health Care for All Room 333

This presentation will discuss methods of creating affordable health care delivery systems for all people, based on such models as single payer insurance and medical cooperatives. These models are population based, and depend on the full cooperation of the community being served, as well as the medical community doing the serving.

Dr. Steven Landau is a family practice and holistic medicine physician. He has provided disaster relief care in Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, New Orleans, and the Dominican Republic and has presented ideas on universal medical by summarizing the community consensus for President Obama. He is a member of Physicians for a National Health Plan.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Recapturing Ethics

How Consciousness Can Help to End the Subversion of Democracy Room 329

The term democracy has been co-opted by the neo-liberal capitalist regime as a justification for war, occupation, and state terrorism. This workshop will demonstrate that we have been lied to and brainwashed; how democracy and capitalism are falsely equated; and invite participants to dialog about definitions of democracy, socialism, and spirituality. Drawing principles from Spiritual Science (Yoga, Spiritism, and the Perennial Philosophy) will outline a new frame for an economic paradigm as a viable conceptual alternative to capitalism, and how it may be applied in daily life.

Yogi Victor “Vyasa” Landa is the founder/director of Shanti Yoga Ashram Center for Harmony; Global Coalition for Peace; Spiritual Food for the New Millennium, and The Essene Church of Peace. He is a native of Peru and has been working for outer and inner peace since 1981.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Local Economies Madison

New Approaches to Science and Industry  Room 433

New approaches to science and industry show a way to do-it-ourselves economic democracy, sustainability, and re-localization. Chris Meyer of Sector67 discusses domestic manufacturing, hackerspaces, David Boetcher of UW-Madison discusses the use of community digesters, solar, energy efficiency – focusing on community funding and multibusiness approaches - and Justice Castaneda of MIT Colabs, Advisor to the City of Madison, discusses cooperative approaches to building local wealth.

Chris Meyer is founder of Sector67 Hacker space / Makerspace / Collaborative Environment in Madison, WI.

Session-5 Sat 3:45-5:00pm  Social and Economic Justice

There is No Food Justice Without Food Sovereignty!  Room 40

The conventional food/farm system is broken. Our current food policy, dominated by powerful agribusiness corporations, imposes hidden costs in the form of contamination and malnutrition for consumers; exploitation of family farmers, farm workers, and other food workers; erosion of democratic institutions and local control; abuse of factory-farm animals; loss of biodiversity; and pollution of air, water, and soil. In 1996 La Via Campesina, coined the term “food sovereignty” to challenge the globalization of food insecurity. This workshop covers the basic principles of food sovereignty and explores how these principles are being implemented at the community level.

John E. Peck, a longtime member of the IWW and involved in the cooperative movement for over two decades, is currently Executive Director of Family Farm Defenders and teaches economics part-time at Madison College. He frequently gives community workshops on food sovereignty.

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