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Advisory Board


Felix Arroyo

former City Councilor
Boston

Kathy Casavant

former Secretary-Treasurer
Mass AFL-CIO

Jackie Cefola

Nonprofit Center Program Coordinator
Third Sector New England

Noam Chomsky

Author & Linguist
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Joseph Gerson

Program Director
American Friends Service Committee

David Himmelstein

Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Co-founder
Physicians for a National Health Program

Richard Krushnic 

Department of Affordable Housing
City of Boston

Dorotea Manuela

Co-Chair
Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Coalition

Betsy Rueda Gynn

Operations Director
The City School

Chuck Turner

City Councilor
Boston

Ellen Wallace

Attorney at Law

Stephanie Woolhandler

 

Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Co-founder
Physicians for a National Health Program

Noam Chomsky's 11/19/08 Talk

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Derber: Marx's Ghost - Midnight Conversations on Changing the World sticky icon

Thursday, February 9, 2012, 7:00 p.m. Author, activist and BC sociologist Charlie Derber speaks to his most recent book, Marx's Chost: Midnight Conversations on Changing the World. He will be joined by Alexandra Pineros Shields, Brian Kwoba and Genevieve Butler. From the publisher: An American sociologist (Derber) travels to London's Highgate cemetery, where Karl Marx is buried. A surprise encounter with Marx's ghost, which reveals insights into the great revolutionary’s personality and biography, leads to a night-long conversation between Derber and the ghost on important issues of the day: the economic crisis, globalization; climate change, war, racism, left- and right-wing politics, the future of capitalism, new economic models emerging in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, and revolutionary activism by citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya—even Wisconsin. The ghost reconsiders his theories as he speaks eloquently about American labor, environmental, peace, social justice, civil rights, immigrant, and gender and anti-racist struggles. Their engrossing, funny, and provocative conversation, interrupted by appearances from ghosts such as John Maynard Keynes, offers a new vision of the stunning relevance and tragic flaws of the historical Marx, who now reveals a surprising Great Transition to a transformed future. Watch this space for a review coming soon!

Bernard & Ness: From Occupy to Workers Control

Friday, January 20, 2012, 6:00 p.m. Join Immanuel Ness and Elaine Bernard for a panel discussion on From Occupy to Workers Control sponsored by the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series and hosted by encuentro 5.

The Occupy Movement is taking new and exciting steps as it continues to reshape political possibilities (such as reclaiming foreclosed homes).

The discussion of how to organize a society that represents the interests and aspirations of the 99% is a debate that is being held across Occupy sites. What would it mean to really take the Occupy Movement into the workplace? Into the heart of the economic system itself? And how to do it?

All of those invited to speak at this event contributed to a recent Haymarket Book "Ours to Master and to Own."

Rosen, et al: Principles for a New Economy

PRINCIPLES FOR A NEW ECONOMY

Preamble
 
The purpose of an economic system is to help organize human activities in ways that create healthy and resilient human communities and ecosystems for both present and future generations.
 
To achieve these purposes, deep system-wide change is urgently needed to reverse conditions typical of contemporary global, regional, national and local economies that exhibit one or more of the following serious flaws. They are:
 
·      Unsustainable: They over-consume and degrade the resources upon which their long-term prosperity depends.
·      Unfair: They multiply financial advantages to those already advantaged at the expense of those most in need. 
·      Unstable: They lack resilience in a time of growing volatility and rapid social, political and technological change.
·      Undemocratic: They operate with inadequate democratic control and accountability on the part of their most powerful economic organizations - corporations, financial institutions and governments.
 
At the root of these conditions is an implicit, dominant theory of economic purpose: namely to achieve continuous economic growth, as measured principally by GDP, by relying on “free markets”, without regard to the impact on overall human and ecological well-being. At the core of a New Economy is the need to decouple the achievement of well-being from limitless economic growth, by structuring economies that:
·      Fully realize individual potential through the advancement of human rights, including the right to thriving livelihoods, freedom from unjust persecution, quality education, effective social safety nets, affordable nutritious food, clean water, secure health care, and adequate shelter. 
 
·      Protect and nurture the richness of the natural world in ways that confront and rectify intensifying threats to humans and other species, including those associated with climate change, biodiversity loss, eco-system degradation, and polluted air and water
 
 The following Principles are designed to guide the actions of all economic actors and organizations whose decisions and actions affect, or are affected by, the pursuit of a New Economy.
 
Principles
1. Measuring progress - Economic progress shall be measured in terms of the well-being of all living species and ecosystems.  
2. Respecting natural limits - The economy shall draw from, and inject into, ecosystems only what is compatible with maintaining a sustainable healthy and resilient natural world. 
3. Democratizing the economy – All institutions that manage, regulate and execute economic activity, including private corporations, shall be democratically controlled in order to serve long-term societal goals.
4. Ensuring economic progress - Governments shall work to ensure prosperous and resilient economic outcomes by making adequate investments in research, education, physical infrastructure, and technology, whenever markets fail to do so. .
5. Localizing control - Economic policy shall favor subsidiarity, i.e., the localization of economic decision-making and control to the greatest extent possible consistent with democracy, equity, and efficiency.
6. Taming finance - All monetary systems and financial institutions shall be regulated as essential public utilities for the benefit of society as a whole.
7. Reducing inequality - Increasing economic inequality shall be understood to be inherently and profoundly antithetical to achieving human and ecological well-being, and shall be rapidly reversed.
8. Providing adequate livelihoods - Individuals shall be ensured of opportunities for decent paid work, employee ownership and the right to organize, and accorded recognition for work performed outside the formal wage economy that is fundamental to enriching  community and family well-being.
9. Re-defining globalization - International economic relations that impinge upon human and ecological well-being shall rest upon the same principles as those applicable to economic activities within nations so that economic justice becomes enshrined in such relations.
10. Fostering new values - Economic values shall be diverted, by all fair and reasonable means, away from the materialism fostered by promoters of a consumer society, and shifted toward values that prioritize flourishing communities, individual happiness, and a healthy and resilient natural world.
The editors of the Principles for a New Economy are Neva Goodwin, Richard Rosen, and Allen White. Principles for a New Economy was co-authored by the Core Principles Working Group, with the support of the New Economy Network. The members of the Working Group are: Gar Alperovitz, David Brodwin, Peter Brown, John Cavanagh, John Fullerton, Neva Godwin, Richard Heinberg, David Korten, Asher Miller, Noel Ortega, Richard Rosen, Gus Speth, Sarah Stranahan, Stewart Wallis, Allen White, and Susan Witt.
For questions and comments please contact: neva.goodwin@tufts.edu; rrosen@tellus.org or awhite@tellus.org
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After the Elections: Where Do We Go from Here?

Monday, November 15, 2010, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. The “One Nation Working Together” rally brought together an unprecedented progressive coalition in Washington on October 2. Nationally, One Nation plans to continue its ambitious collaboration effort after the November election -- when such collaboration between labor, civil rights, environmental, social justice, housing, peace and youth groups will be more important than ever.

Brazil's MST - On Political Education

Thursday, July 8, 2010, 6:00 p.m. Ana Justo has been a leader of Brazil 's Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST) for 23 of its 25 years. The largest social movement in Latin America, the MST has 1.5 million members. The MST struggles for land reform, access to healthcare, schools, organic production and infrastructure by promoting ground-up sustainable development based in the needs of all Brazilians. Ana coordinates the Secretariat of the MST's Florestan Fernandes National School located in Guararema, Sao Paulo. This event is sponsored by Grassroots International.

Concert: Labor Notes or Bust!

Saturday, April 3, 2010, 6:30 p.m. Labor organizers, musicians and friends come together for a night of music and activism to support a local youth contingent to the 2010 Labor Notes Conference.

6:30-7:30: Labor Notes Co-Director, Mark Brenner about the conference and this year’s themes: Defending Jobs and the Public Sector, Holding the Line, Organizing and Building our Unions, Examining Labor’s Political Agenda, the Next Generation, Making Sense of Our Movements, and Connecting Our Fights

Music 7:30-11pm: Pat Keaney, Jake & The Infernal Machine, and Labor Power

Let us know you're coming on Facebook and invite your friends...

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Indigenous Virtue – Beyond Green Capitalism

World Social Forum Opening MarchSaturday, February 13, 2010, 6:00 p.m. Join Victor Wallis and Sylvia Escarcega in a discussion concerning the potential political and ethical contributions of indigenous thought and social movements to building alternatives to capitalism. Victor's paper, "Beyond 'Green Capitalism'" recently published in Monthly Review (61:9, February, 2010) provides a starting point for the conversation. In it, he notes the connection between the present economic recession, the crisis-ridden character of capitalist economy and the ecological limits to the capitalist growth model. But he goes on to observe that most of the world is still caught up in capitalist institutions and does not yet recognize the link between socialism and ecologically appropriate responses. He finds hope and examples in the Global South, insurgent socialism and indigenous resistance.

Workers Rights with Steve Early, Dorotea Manuela & Camilo Viveiros

Thursday, February 4, 2010, 7:00 p.m. In the face of a deepening economic crisis and continuing brutal raids on immigrant workers and their communities, this event brings together union workers, immigrant organizers and community activists. It is part of the campaign by the Boston May Day Committee and its affiliates to unite workers across sector and borders. Join the conversation and help build toward May Day 2010!

Visit BostonMayDay.org for more information 

Recent Labor Events at encuentro 5 (July 2009)

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Anti-Immigrant Raids: Organizing Radical Solutions

Sunday, April 26, 2009, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. This is a follow up meeting. The first was convened by Mata Hari and drew together a broad range of pro-immigrant organizations to discuss responses to the continuing raids on immigrant communities.

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Outrage about the Raids: Radical Solutions Needed

Sunday, April 5, 2009, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Mata Hari and a broad range of pro-immigrant organizations are meeting to discuss responses to the continuing raids on immigrant communities.

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The Need for Real Economic Alternatives

An Evening with Marco Berlinguer

Friday, November 21, 2008, 6:30 p.m.Join us to discuss the current crises and concrete work being done to build effective global alternatives to the winner-take-all economy. The evening will provide an update on preparations for the world social forum 2009 activities connecting the labor movement with the global solidarity economic movement. Light snacks and a wine & cheese-style reception follows.

European Social Forum Report

Report on the ESF and the Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy Seminar

encuentro 5 on 10/23/08

Pasqualino Colombaro reported on the ESF to a gathering of activists and social forum organizers. He provided an overview of the forum, its themes, organization and attendees. Then he described the Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy workshop organized by the Global Economic Alternatives Network (GEAN). His presentation closed with a review of the Labor & Globalization Network (L&G). [a podcast of his presentation will also be available soon]. Click on the titles below to read Pasqalino's presentation.