Democratic Socialism and Civilizational Crisis Conference (Vancouver)

The conference will consider what role democratic socialism could have in addressing our current situation. Environmental crisis, climate emergency, pandemics, neofascism, unjust and destabilizing inequalities, and the escalating threat of nuclear war pose existential challenges to global civilization. It seems clear that that the gaps between party politics, social movements and intellectual life have widened, and that the political system is not responding adequately. In that light, can the practices and philosophy of democratic socialism offer a way forward? Does the project of democratic socialism require radical renewal if it is to have any relevance today? How do we address the legacy of colonialism? What could the future of democratic socialism look like? These questions will be addressed by activists, academics and parliamentarians in the form of discussion and debate from a variety of perspectives.

• Panel 1, October 21, 10am: “The politics and philosophy of democratic socialism” Speakers: Mary Mellor, Roberta Lexier, Natalie Fenton, Steve McBride
• Panel 2, October 21, 2pm: “Democratic socialist approaches to the environment/economy relationship” Speakers: Bill Carroll, Shannon Daub, Marjorie Cohen, Bianca Mugyenyi, Jim Stanford
• Panel 3, October 22, 10am: “Facing New Realities in an Era of Crisis and Reckoning” Speakers: Glenn Coulthard, Matthew Green, Anjali Appadurai, Avi Lewis
• Panel 4, October 22, 2pm: “Roundtable: Moving Forward” Speakers: Dimitri Lascaris, Ben Issitt, Libby Davies, Ashley Zarbatany, Bob Williams (all times are local Vancouver)

The conference is sponsored by the SFU Institute for the Humanities through the Joanne Brown Symposium on Violence and Its Alternatives endowment, the SFU Labour Studies Program, and the SFU VanCity Office of Community Engagement.