Seven study sessions held every other Sunday, starting Jan.22 through Apr. 9
Click on "Read More" for more information about this exciting new study series from Studies for Global Justice.
CONVERGING STORMS:
THE CRISES OF ENERGY, CAPITALISM, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
WHEN:
Every other Sunday
Jan 22 - Apr 9, 2006
9:30 am - 1:00 pm
(with time for refreshments)
FIRST SESSION:
Sunday, January 22
(See below for schedule)
WHERE:
675 S. Park View
(UCLA Downtown Labor Center,
between Wilshire and 7th Street)
TO REGISTER:
Call: (323) 297-1983
Then: Mail Reg Form to: SGJ, 3405 Glendale Blvd #12, L.A., CA 90039
OR: Click Here to Register Online
Advance registration suggested due to limited space and materials
REGISTRATION FEE:
$30 Reg Fee/$10 Low Income (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Checks payable to: A. Wallace (please note SGJ in memo)
Study series and materials are included in fee
SCHEDULE OF STUDY SESSIONS:
Jan 22: How Did We Get to this Place? Establishing Historical Context
Feb 5: Energy as A Critical Environmental Problem
Feb 19: Climate Change, Resource Depletion, and Global Toxification
Mar 5: Problematics of Capitalism Facing Activists Today
Mar 19: The Limits of Alternative Sources of Energy
April 2: Current Responses to the Environmental Crises
April 9: Possible Future Scenarios and Strategies for Progressive Change
**Note: A systemic, historic, and class analysis will be integrated throughout the series.
DESCRIPTION OF STUDY SERIES:
"Converging Storms" is a new SGJ study series on the intersection of peak oil, global capitalism, and environmental crises. We will examine issues associated with a global system whose petroleum dependency and imperative to expand is precipitating, and colliding with, the ecological realities of diminishing fossil fuels, global warming, resource depletion and contamination (food, water, land, etc), species extinction, and over-population. What is the nature of the environmental crises now challenging the global system as we know it, and what is its systemic relationship to capitalism? Why do we think this issue should influence our analysis of everything from Hurricane Katrina to the political economy to the War in Iraq? And what should activists be doing about it?
While too many environmental reforms never fully address the global and systemic dimensions of current ecological problems, too many systemic, anti-capitalist analyses never fully address the centrality -- or urgency -- of the energy and environmental crises. Can lifestyle politics and incremental policy reforms adequately deal with the scope of, and power behind, such vast and deeply-rooted challenges as peak oil and global warming? Can socialists afford to wait for the end of capitalism to "fix" things, and how would that system's demise really solve the immediate and scientific realities of finite resources in a finite (and life-threatened) global habitat? SGJ invites all of you to join us in considering whether, and how, we should centrally position the earth's ecological crises in our overall assessment of global capitalism today, as well as in the development and application of our current strategies for progressive social change.
SPONSOR:
Studies for Global Justice is a Los Angeles-based group of socialist-minded activists that coordinate study sessions on the history, nature, problems, and complexities of 21st- century capitalism. Our mission is:
--To provide an inclusive and respectful space for the discussion, debate, and systemic and multidisciplinary analysis of capitalism that uses popular, participatory, and collective learning.
--To create an educational atmosphere that bridges activism and study.
--To encourage participants to use this learning not only for their own intellectual development, but also as a means for generating power for political and social change in their communities, and for creating viable democratic socialist alternatives to the capitalist system.
CONTACT:
To contact SGJ, please call (323) 297-1983
or send email to info@studiesforglobaljustice.org