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The Left Forum was held at CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

= Friday, May 29th =

== The Internet and the World's Struggle for Survival: the Next Five Years ==

Juan: Where will the internet and humanity be five years from now? Our
world is a struggle between large corporations. Drug cartels have
taken control of local governments.1 The internet is a strategic part
of social struggle. In a market economy, trade + money = control. We
would prefer a solidarity economy, based on the exchange of equivalent
work. Social welfare is a human right, independently of how it's
funded.

Ecology is the right to life for future generations. Scientific
discoveries are universal property. We need social, political, and
economic justice.

Right now, much of the internet is effectively governed by a small
number of large corporations. Marketing is not the best use of the
internet. We would be better off to use the internet for
education. Corporations will not give us an internet that liberates
society.

Alice: Net Neutrality is some cause for optimism. In the US, we don't
have equal access to the internet. Access is controlled by a few large
internet service providers.

We use the internet for many things, and underrepresented communities
are really being left out. For example, Facebook is effectively trying
to control internet access with their internet.org project.

Net neutrality is a civil rights issue. It redistributes power and
access. Demonstrations that take place online and on the ground are a
powerful way to bring about change. We can't do that with a closed
internet.

We're starting to recognize the need to protect our own data.

There is another round of elections coming, and executive appointments
are going to matter. For example, the elections might bring in a new
FCC chairperson who's less interested in enforcing net neutrality.

Shezad: We're living in an age of unprecedented
censorship. Governments are trying to outlaw certain
technologies. Individuals are targeted by hate speech. Western powers
are attempting to colonize the internet. We don't understand how
corporations and governments are working together. Governments are
pushing censorship as a governance model for the internet.

Shamika: I'm a tech chaplain; I study technology and theology, social
media and social justice, and the intersection between technology and
religion. In the digital space, what we say and do really
matters. Ethics are important. All of us need to be as uncomfortable
as possible, as often as possible.

Joe: A year ago, the FCC was championing a two-tiered internet. The
first black newspaper was founded in 1827, right here in New York
City. The founders felt they needed to get their voices heard, in
order to fight social injustice. Too often, we have a popular press
that supports injustice, by not speaking out against it.

Does government regulate industry according to the voices of the many,
or the voices of the few. Traditionally, they regulate for the voices
of the few. Net neutrality was a marked departure from this. Companies
will continue to fight against net neutrality, and we will continue to
fight against them. Public awareness of net neutrality makes it harder
for corporate groups to oppose it. Spreading public awareness is one
more reason why we need an open internet.

Jackie: We need to keep building a movement to grow net neutrality,
and to figure out what the internet should look like. We are active
producers and defenders of this technology.

Defend the knowledge commons. Put your work under a creative commons
license, and use open access publishing.

Question: If a mobile provider allowed unlimited bandwidth, how much
of a burden would it be?

Data storage is becoming a big application, and that's going to
require access. If capacity is such an issue, then why would carriers
allow zero-rated applications? Which data is worth transmitting?

Question: What would it take to get wifi access everywhere?

There are narratives around this. Google and Facebook are trying to
provide "free" access, but we all know that their version of "free"
doesn't come without costs.

We have to break up some of the monopolies, or we'll never make any
headway towards a free internet. A monopoly over the internet is a
monopoly over information. In Mexico, the federal government is
trying to set up internet access points around government
buildings. We suspect that has more to do with control than with
providing free access.

Question: Why did many organizations side with the cable companies
over net neutrality?

In the 1980s, AT&T was sued for workplace discrimination. That's where
AT&T's relationships with various civil rights groups began. Now, AT&T
lobbies these groups to support its position, or provides funding to
them. Money allows AT&T to influence their position. People are
starting to understand the role that companies play, and they're
beginning to challenge them. The big civil rights groups haven't
separated themselves yet, so more work needs to be done.

If you support free speech you should support net neutrality.

Question: How do we get internet to the global south, particularly to
indigenous communities?

Ideally, internet access would come from local groups, who understand
the needs of those communities. We need service providers that are
part of social movements, to

develop infrastructure where these communities are. Commercial
corporations, and even local governments aren't interested in doing
this.

Question: How do you ensure that open source and open access continue?
Start agitating with universities to integrate FOSS into their
programs, and to get rid of Microsoft monopolies.

Comment: Be wary of Google. Google is making it harder for people to
find things. We have all of humanity's knowledge to a private
corporation, and we don't know how we're going to get it out.

Question: Is anyone trying to research how Google has changed their
ranking algorithm over time? Or the relationship between addictive
behaviors and technology?

== Friday Plenary ==

What does it mean if capitalism is past its prime?

It's time to stop treating corporations as people, and people as
numbers.

The European Union is undergoing US-style neo-liberalism. It's been
happening very quickly there, as opposed to a 30-year period in the
US.

Austerity can only prevail when democracy fails, and we are left with
a dictatorship of debt.

When we are talking about the 99% and the 1%, we are talking about
class. There is inter-generational solidarity in this movement.

On the subject of debt, we have a political system that betrays us,
rather than representing us. We need to rescue ourselves from the
International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and other such
organizations.

Solidarity is our weapon. Through this process, we communicate that
our problems can't be solved individually.

Parties have to fulfill two functions: they have to engage with social
movements, and they have to fight for social programs and
non-reformist responses. There are lots of people who want to
participate, but aren't doing that yet. We have to go out and get
them.

Persistence is important. Persistence prevents the dialog from
stopping.

In May of 2011, many people lost confidence in the two major political
parties. People are starting to see problems as collective issues,
rather than as individual issues. Things like unemployment.

There are no logical steps in politics. You make moves and you take
changes, but there's no logic to it.

Corruption is the capturing of democracy. If the system is corrupt,
then democracy is not possible.

In Greece, never have so many people been deprived of so much in so
short a period of time. This disaster is unequally distributed. We
believe in continuous progress, but progress has stopped. Nobody
believes in progress anymore. Europe tells us that it's our own damn
fault, but it's really a failure of the capitalist system.

= Saturday, May 30th =

== Organizing in the Internet Era: Building an All-purpose Democratic Platform on the Web ==

We do lots of things online: discussion, event planning, and decision
making. There's not a lot of transparency about who's planning or
running events. You just get to know that it happened. Open Street Map
was used in Egypt, to plan protests. Our goals is a democratic plan
of action, where we can see process, discussions, transparency, and
allow others to get involved.

Many organizations are large, but most members are
uncommitted. They're not actively involved in the organization's work.

There was an effort to bring Mechanical Turkers (Amazon) together, and
collectively object to the semi-exploitative conditions of Turk
work. This is a struggle between oppressors and oppressed. This sort
of thing has gone on for years.

There's no single place where lessons about activism and organizing
are collected. Everyone ends up learning by trial and error. No other
field - dentists, doctors, short order cooks - have to learn by trial
and error.

Rating and review systems have given people new voices. In some cases,
these systems have influenced decisions.

When you communicate intentions (via email), include at least three
other people. This establishes a written record of your intent.

There are organizing tools that don't require full HTML
capabilities. For example, signing up for text alerts.

Organizations have ideas, and ideas can are usually refined over
time. At some point, members of an organization can vote to decide
whether an idea becomes a concrete project. Once an idea becomes a
project, you need a set of project management tools.

The presenters have been working on a combined decision making and
project management solution, available via
https://github.com/wannabeCitizen/projectsystem.

Instead of writing one letter to your congressman, get 300 people in
your district to sign, and then send the letter. Use this as a way of
starting a dialog, and putting a statement of position in front of
your legislators. For wider impact, try similar efforts across
congressional districts.

== Radical Elections: How to Organize and Win ==

''New York Green Party''

Independent and third-party campaigns are typically under-resourced
with respect to our two corporate parties. There needs to be a lot of
trust between a candidate and their campaign manager. The candidate's
job is to recruit supporters, recruit donors, and to get votes. The
campaign manager's job is to deal with logistics, fight with the
database, work on literature, and supervise campaign volunteers. You
can set achievable goals at the local level. At the end of the
campaign, you want a list of people that support you.

Every campaign needs a good campaign plan. Your goal can be to get
elected, to increase party enrollment, or to engage people on an
issue. In the Green party we like to use "smart" goals. A smart goal
is

* (S)pecific
* (M)easurable
* (A)ttainable
* (R)ealistic
* (T)ime bound

Make your goals specific. Specific goals tell your volunteers what you
want to do, and what your expectations are. Specific goals also help
with planning. For example, a specific goal allows you to determine
that you'll need x volunteers for y hours per day, starting z days
before the election. Writing a week-by-week plan will help keep you on
track with concrete actions.

Try out your messages and issues on people that aren't activists in
your group. Back stories are good. They help to humanize you as a
candidate. Volunteers are gold. Decide what you'll need volunteers
for (i.e., what work you want them to do, and what roles you want them
to fill). Training volunteers is critically important. Always work to
recruit more volunteers.

What offices to do you want to run for, and what candidates are
available to run?

What are the candidates credentials? Be careful of bad candidates.

During a local election, you might not get much media coverage, but
you can knock on a lot of doors.

What voters are likely to support you? How have the last few elections
gone? Which areas have high turnout; low turnout?

Who are you running against? Can you mount a credible campaign against
them? Make a list of potential donors, and call them. No one enjoys
doing this, but you have to do it.

For large races, some of your campaign funds have to be dedicated to
staffing. Campaign manager should be a full-time paid position.

Have a budget. Consider staffing costs, printing costs. When
fundraising, tell people (specifically) how you're planning to use the
money.

Figure out who your volunteers are. Colleges may give you interns for
credit. You'll need a platform and a campaign slogan. Start with
three main points, and work from there.

What are your opponents issues and positions? How will you
differentiate yourself from your opponent?

Develop a relationship with the media. Call them, and send press
releases. Maintain your media list, and be aware that there is a news
cycle.

It's rare for third parties to get in televised debates. If you don't
get in the debate, figure out how to protest it.

Make your literature look as professional as possible. If necessary,
hire a graphic design firm. Make sure the candidates name is always
large and legible.

In larger elections, you'll need to spend a portion of your budget on
advertising. TV ads can be pretty expensive. Radio ads are much more
affordable.

Always ask people for money. Hold fundraisers on a regular basis.

Get out the vote. What will you do the last month, the last week, and
the last day before the election.

Special elections take place on very compressed timeframe. In some
cases, they can come up by surprise. You won't have the luxury of
extensive preparation time, and you'll have to make decisions very
quickly.

Have tiers of campaign goals, depending on how the election turns
out. Even if you don't win, you want to end up in a stronger position
than when you started. Even if you don't win, you still want to gain
something.

Try to inject some radical ideas into electoral races.

Candidates have to be very open and effusive. Campaign managers have
to be very focused on strategy, and on the nuts and bolts of running
the campaign. Being a candidate is hard. Candidates need a lot of
encouragement and support.

Develop an editorial calendar. What topics do you want to talk about
during your campaign, and when (i.e., on what specific dates) do you
want to talk about them. For example, you can pick events from
history, and provide your own perspectives on those events.

Pay to play exists. Buying ad space in a newspaper will likely make it
easier for you to get editorial coverage from that newspaper.

At times, you'll feel like you're in the printing and shipping
business. Know how many pieces of literature are in a one-inch stack.

Cast a wide net when looking for endorsements. For example, you can
approach democratic leaning groups, who might not be happy with your
democratic opponent.

Comment: We should talk about what we stand for. Don't be afraid to
say "radical" or "left" or "socialist".

When introducing new words to the general population, try to put the
word in context. Consider the person who's hearing the word for the
first time.

Talk to people about concrete things, more than abstract ideas. Be
ready to talk about socialism in concrete ways.

Comment: What makes a good novice candidate? Someone who's willing to
listen and learn. Campaigning involves doing a lot of things that
don't feel natural, like making lists of people, calling them up, and
asking for money.

Comment: When using social media, try to drive people to your main
website. Get their contact info, and try to get donations. Don't be
disappointed if you try something and it doesn't work. Keep trying;
eventually something will work out.

Question: Does NYC have proportional representation?

NYC had proportional representation until the 1930s. We (the Green
Party) like it. How hard is it to get proportional representation into
your town or city? This depends on your town or city. Proportional
representation can be an uphill struggle, but it does have an impact.

How can you make connections between structural issues in government
and things like police violence?

Comment: Focus on issues more than on the candidate. Different voters
react differently to different things. Some react to issues and some
react to personalities. Like it or not, that's a reality you'll have
to deal with.

== Foreign Policy for All: Re-thinking US Foreign Policy in the 21st Century ==

US foreign policy has always been about benefiting the privileged, and
especially the corporate interests. The United States has worked to
spread fracking all across the globe. How can this possibly promote
national security? During the cold war, Russia's redistribution of
land to the poor was seen as a security threat.

The United States facilitates around 50% of global weapons trade. In
many cases, foreign governments use these weapons to keep their own
populations in check, often to the benefit of US interests.

Many in congress are beholden to PACs, businesses, and wealthy
individuals for financial contributions. Originally, lobbying was seen
as a positive thing - a way for citizens to spread views to their
representatives. Money has badly distorted this process. We need ways
in which we, as ordinary citizens, can affect foreign policy.

Here are some values that should guide discussions of foreign policy.

* Policy should come from ordinary people; not the elites, and not the wealthy. No single country should control others.
* Peace and international co-operation. Respect the values of other countries. Massachusetts was founded with the ideology of "come over and help us". Today, we have the idea of American exceptionalism. The US played a significant role in starting the UN, but doesn't want to follow the UN's charters. For example, we don't follow the charter that states "no use of force, except in self-defense".
* Justice for all. Militarism is unjust. We'd like to see a return to the international court of justice.
* Human Rights for Everyone. The US initiated the universal declaration of human rights, but we never ratified some of the resulting treaties.
* Sustainability. This is the opposite of capitalist exploitation.
* Security. People have a right to safety from aggression and dehumanization. Security includes social and economics aspects.
* Community. There's only one world, and we have to share it. In addition to these values, we also propose some policies.
* Nuclear disarmament. The number of nuclear weapons poses an immediate danger, which threatens the survival of humanity.
* Limit the military to a strictly defensive role.
* Arms trade. The US should stop being the world's largest arms exporter. For example, we developed the F-35 fighter jet with the intention of selling it to many countries.
* Peace building abroad and at home. There are many areas where the US will have to change its regional policies.
* Climate Justice. Climate change is another way in which humanity might destroy itself.

Comment: Some of the current trade agreements show that other
countries are no longer interested in America.

Comment: We need to recognize harms that the US has done, and we need
to make reparations.

Comment: Athens adopted democracy in order to gain support for a
war. Peace and democracy don't necessarily go hand in hand.

Comment: When addressing military spending, ask people what their
sources of insecurity are. Will a military address these sources of
insecurity?

== Equality through Transportation and Infrastructure ==

The speaker founded Kentucky Bikes after being cited eight times, and
arrested once, for riding her bicycle on public roadways. She commutes
to work by bicycle, because she's a single mom, and can't afford a
car.

Many places in the US have a "if you don't have a car, you don't
belong here" mentality. Under pressure from the auto industries, our
roads have become autoonly; other modes of transportation are shut
out.

Transportation alternatives is an NYC-based group. Our mission is to
reclaim NYC streets from the automobile. NYC has six thousand miles of
streets, and twelve thousand miles of sidewalk. This is 80% of our
public space, and it's not well allocated to people traveling by
bicycle, mass transit, or walking.

Take 50 single-occupancy vehicles, and put those people in buses or on
bicycles. This opens up a ton of space on our streets.

In 2013, NYC had 286 traffic deaths vs. 194 gun murders. One in three
voters knows someone who's been injured or killed in an automobile
accident. Traffic accidents are the #2 cause of death for seniors, and
the #1 cause of death for children.

There are inequities in our transportation infrastructure. Lower
Manhattan (the wealthier part) has plenty of bicycle lanes. Upper
Manhattan has very few of them.

If you're a low income worker, you can find yourself spending 44% of
your income on transportation. If you make $25,000 a year, the cost of
owning a car is a significant portion of your income. Longer commute
times tends to correlate with lower income.

We advocate for complete streets. There's typically a 34% reduction in
accidents where complete streets have been implemented. All of our
neighborhoods deserve safe streets, not just the well-to-do ones.

When cycling, be a PAL: (P)redictable, (A)ware, and (L)awful. We have
a PAL campaign in the DC area.

Aside from infrastructure, we can focus our efforts on education. For
example, having schools teach bicycle ed in addition to driver's
ed. We can teach drivers to practice safe driving habits. We might
also require periodic re-taking of the written motor vehicle test (not
the road test). This would help people stay on top of their
responsibilities as drivers.

If you're on the road, you must follow the rules of the road. We can
propose new laws to benefit cyclists. For example, a law that would
allow cyclists to treat red lights like stop signs. We can also
advocate for the use of comparative negligence (rather than
contributory negligence) as the basis for determining fault. An
automobile can cause much more damage than a bicycle can. Motor
vehicle laws are intended to keep motorists safe; they're really not
concerned with pedestrians or cyclists.

Ultimately, we advocate for a three-pronged approach: Education,
Legislation, and Infrastructure.

Vision zero is a philosophy of designing streets, so that they're
safer for all users of the roadway.

= Sunday, May 31st =

== We Can't Breathe: The Connection Between Movements ==

(This session was more dialog than presentation, and I only have
sketchy notes).

OccuEvolve is an NYC group that grew out of Occupy Wall Street. We
help immigrants get jobs and start unions.

Articles to read:

* http://hopesandfears.com/hopes/city/city/168899-homelessness-essay
* http://epi.org/blog/the-unemployed-exceed-job-openings-in-almost-every-industry
* http://scottandrewhutchins.wordpress.com

The NYC area has many political clubs. These clubs have a significant
influence on politicians.

Potential research topics: How do judges dole out punishment? How do
the states determine what is and is not a felony?

Movies to watch:
* Eyes on the Prize
* Revolution of Values: Housing, Education, Healthcare

"Quality of life" ties many of these concepts together.

Our goal is to identify and connect movements. Go to different
meetings. Keep talking about these issues; keep bringing them
up. Respect the viewpoints of different groups.

== Resisting Technology Privatization and Surveillance: Roles for Scholar Activists ==

Scientists and technologists choose what they wish to develop. No
technology can be used only for good, and no technology can be used
only for bad. But some technologies are more easily aligned with
certain goals. For example, encryption aligns well with
privacy. Teachers need to address the ethical aspects of
technology. There are also differences between a technology and its
use. "Pfizer" and "vaccine" are not the same thing.

Publishing can spread information, or it can spread propaganda. In the
past, it took effort to record and preserve information. Digital
technology makes this much easier to do.

Technology can provide a counterpoint to the concentration of wealth
and power.

Technology for end to end encryption exists. Further adoption is
mostly a matter of deployment.

Copyright and patents are an impediment to social work, and an
impediment to progress.

People make false distinctions between government and corporate
surveillance. The Snowden revelations showed collaboration between the
government and corporations. The government piggybacked on what the
corporations were doing.

We live in a world where you can't undo your connection to the
network. You need the ability to trust organizations that have your
data.

Is targeted surveillance better than untargeted surveillance? This
depends on who is targeted, and how the targeting is done. Mass
surveillance is targeted surveillance where the target is everyone.

Self-defense tools aren't readily available to many marginalized
communities. What does is mean for a community to be surveilled, and
what would the community see as solutions?

Social service recipients are often a test bed for new surveillance
technologies.

http://mexicoleaks.mx was created by five journalistic entities and
NGOs. It's an encryption system for whistleblowers. We produce stories
(aka "leaks") on a regular basis. We also provide digital security
training. We want to put leaking technologies in the hands of the
general public, and we want to teach people to use these tools.

We spend $500 billion/year on academic research. Much of this research
is published in commercial journals, who restrict access to academic
papers. 85% of research is wasted because it's not published in an
accessible way. Private industry gives money to researchers and
publishers; this influence what research is done, and what research is
published.

The right to read is the right to mine. If I'm able to read research
papers, I should be able to download them, and analyze the papers with
a computer program.

Academic publishing is in very bad shape. Bad enough that any fixes
will likely have to come from outside the industry. Read your author
agreements and retain your rights. They're deeply embedded in the
academic industrial complex.

As the creator of a work, you have all rights. Don't let a publisher
take them away. If possible, publish in an open access journal, and
make sure your work is accessible to other. Write for a broad
community. Advocate, organize, teach.

See http://contentmine.org and http://openaccessnetwork.org.

As scholars, one of your goals should be to ensure research is open
and available, so that others can take advantage of it.

[[Category:Notes]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:03, 4 July 2015
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	The Left Forum was held at CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.		The [http://www.leftforum.org/ Left Forum] was held at CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. There were hundreds of panels and workshops; these notes are just a small sample of the conference.


	= Friday, May 29th =		= Friday, May 29th =

Left Forum 2015 - Revision history

SteveR: link to left forum website

SteveR: initial revision