Economic Democracy Conference

We would like to share a message with you from our partners at the “Economic Democracy Conference”

In the last year there has been resurgence in the struggle for a better world and a move toward meaningful democracy. Across the globe, from Madison to the Middle East, democracy was breaking free of shackles, people were beginning to agitate and assert themselves to strengthen their democracies, or to fight for them where they had none before. The historic moment remains to be seized, as the struggle for democracy must be extended to the economy. We need to take control of the economy to make it work for the interests of all. In early October, just three weeks before the national elections, there shall be a convergence of people to continue this effort and to focus on making practical a new vision for democracy, one extended beyond the political to encompass the economy, coming together in a conference: “Economic Democracy: In Vision and Action”.

Nearly forty people are involved in coming together to form an Economic Democracy Collaborative to organize the four day event October 11-14th in Madison, WI. Our desire is for here to be a plurality of perspectives presented, with many organizations sharing their work and focus, and where no one organization singly controls the message. Rather strategy and processes move forward in the principle of collective consensus. The conference shall consist of a broadranged discussion of issues from a variety of perspectives of organizations and people working toward the ideals and ideas of Economic Democracy. Moving from broad visions we will develop practical actions and strategies.

Our idea has been to locally and nationally connect many of the grassroots organizations to activist-minded academics, people from the Occupy movement, social and economic justice movements, environmental and sustainability movements, labor rights and other struggles, even grassroots political activists, cooperatives, and other people’s movements representing communities who often have no voice heard in the mainstream. We want to connect these groups with each other, support their work, shed light on and popularize the values and goals of their work as necessary ingredients to changing the world of corporate capitalism to an economics of the people.

Please join us in supporting and networking with each other in the desire to share experiences to begin a dialogue on what we want our economy to be, who we want it to serve, and HOW to get there. More information is available here.