Los Angeles Premiere
Vietnam: American Holocaust

Narrated by Martin Sheen

Saturday, November 8^th, 7:30 PM
Culver Plaza Theatre
9919 Washington Blvd., Culver City 90232
Across the street from Sony Studios and the Kirk Douglass Theatre   Click for map

Tickets $10 at the Door

With Special Guests

Director/Producer Clay Claiborne and Ron Kovic (Author of Born On The 4^th of July)  

Frank Dorrel will Host a Discussion Following the Film ~

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clay Claiborne, Producer

Linux Beach

116 Rose Ave, Ste. 9

Venice Beach, CA 90291

(310)581-1536

cjc@CosmosEng.com

(323) 219-6507

Southern California Socialist Conference

Building a Revolutionary Alternative to War, Crisis, and Racism

 

Saturday, November 8^th - Noon to 9:00 PM

United Teachers Los Angeles** Building

3303 Wilshire Blvd (cross street: Berendo)

Two blocks west of the Wilshire/Vermont Red Line Stop

 

For more information, please call the Los Angeles branch of the International Socialist Organization at (213) 309-2713 or email: lacityiso@yahoo.com

 

 

Guest Speakers:

 

Laila Al-Arian

Is a freelance journalist and co-author, with Chris Hedges, of Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians (Nation Books, 2008). She has written for The Nation, USA Today, United Press International, The Huffington Post, and The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

 

Paul D’Amato

A revolutionary socialist for over 30 years, Paul D’Amato is the managing editor of the International Socialist Review (www.isreview.org) and is the author of The Meaning of Marxism, published by Haymarket Books (www.haymarketbooks.org).  Paul writes a regular column, also called The Meaning of Marxism, for Socialist Worker newspaper (www.socialistworker.org).

 

Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz is a Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University and author of War Without End: The Iraq War in Context, published by Haymarket Books.  Michael is also a regular contributor to several progressive online and print publications, including Against the Current, Z Magazine, Asia Times, www.TomDispatch.com, and www.MotherJones.com.

 

Registration:

 

$10 - all day

$5 - single session

 

Schedule:

 

(All sessions include a period for open discussion among the audience.)

 

Opening Plenary: (Noon)

 

Capitalism in Crisis: Building the Revolutionary Alternative

Speaker: Paul D’Amato

 

Breakout Session I: (2 p.m.)

 

Socialists and Unions

From the nineteenth century fight for the eight-hour day to the sit-down strikes of the 1930s to the rank-and-file movements of the 1970s and today, unions have always been a critical front in the fight for workers’ rights, and socialists have been at the heart of the union movement. However, today the labor movement has been severely weakened by three decades of a ruling class offensive against the working class, both in the United States and internationally. Find out why working people today still need unions to bring us together to fight, and why we need socialist organization to win.

Why does capitalism go into crisis?

The economic meltdown of 2008 is easily the worst crisis to face the capitalist economic system since the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Mainstream economists always try to describe these crises as the avoidable result of bad government policies or unusually corrupt business practices.  Socialists, on the other hand, see economic crisis as an inbuilt feature of the capitalist system.  The bosses’ beloved free market lurches into chaos over and over again, each time causing millions of ordinary people to face unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and hunger.  Can the madness of the capitalist “business cycle” be explained?

 

The New Deal and the 1930’s

In school, we are taught that President Franklin Roosevelt responded to the Great Depression by passing a host of programs to help working people — known as the “New Deal.”  The truth is quite different: FDR’s priority was rescuing big business, and it took massive and hard-fought struggles by working people to gain the Social Security, unemployment insurance, and union rights that came out of the 1930s.  Socialists and Communists played a key role in these struggles.  What can we learn from the 1930s about how to fight for working people in a time of economic crisis?

 

Breakout Session II: (4:30 p.m.)

 

What’s wrong with the war on terror?

 

40 Years Since the Blowouts: Lessons of Chicanismo

 

Do Americans consume too much?

 

Why We Need a Revolutionary Party

 

Closing Panel: (7 p.m.)

 

Resisting Empire at Home and Abroad

Part of a national anti-war speaking tour (www.resistingempire.org)

Speakers: Laila Al-Arian, Michael Schwartz, and local activists

 

Sponsored by:

 

Socialist Worker newspaper (www.socialistworker.org)

Haymarket Books (www.haymarketbooks.org)

International Socialist Organization

 

**UTLA is not a sponsor of this event.

 

For more information, please call the Los Angeles branch of the International Socialist Organization at (213) 309-2713 or email: lacityiso@yahoo.com

Film Night

Friday, November 7^th

The Topanga Peace Alliance Presents:

The Road to Fallujah
With Director Mark Manning

Snack Potluck at 7:45 PM – Film Starts at 8:00 PM
at
 Yoga Desa in the Pine Tree Circle Shopping Center
 120 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga 90290 

In the Pinetree Center (across from the Post Office).  Located 4 miles north of Pacific Coast Hwy, on the right and 8 miles south of the 101 on the left (across from Old Topanga, the Post Office, and Abuelita’s).

Please bring wine, cheese, dip, fruit or crackers.

RSVP to Julie at: 310-455-9389

THE ROAD TO FALLUJAH follows the story of Mark Manning, the only westerner to live with the people of Fallujah, Iraq immediately following the November 2004 battle that destroyed their ancient and holy city.  With unique access to both sides of the conflict, the film gives a voice to the people directly involved and affected by the war and takes an in-depth and humanizing look at the issues in Iraq, breaking through the myths and misconceptions surrounding the violence and offering alternative solutions to war.

Disillusioned with the lack of unbiased information about the war in Iraq , Manning leaves his job as a diver on the offshore oil rigs of California and travels to the Middle East, where he meets and joins forces with an Iraqi woman, Rana Al-Aiouby, a humanitarian aid worker and journalist from Iraq .  Together, they travel into the heart of the Iraq war, un-embedded and without armed security, to experience and document the reality of war from the perspective of the Iraqi people. 

As one Military Commander said, "As went Fallujah, so went Iraq ."  THE ROAD TO FALLUJAH gives a detailed analysis of the circumstances that led to the siege of Fallujah, the actual events of the siege itself, and the consequences of the battle that have shaped the present situation in Iraq and beyond.  With a clear presentation of the reality on the ground in Iraq , the film provides a human perspective of U.S. policy in the Middle East , offering a new direction towards solutions to the current crisis and a guide for future foreign policy decisions.

Mark Manning is a friend to Topanga and to the Topanga Peace Alliance, and is delighted to be pre-screening his completed film with us:
 
“When I first got back from Fallujah I was devastated by what I had seen in Iraq and at a loss of how to put the story together and get it out to people here in America . The people of The Topanga Peace Alliance came together after viewing a short documentary I had made and offered their assistance and support in getting a full feature documentary film made on the subject of the suffering in Iraq .  It was a long struggle and without the initial support from the people of Topanga the film might not have ever been completed. Their support and friendship was invaluable. I am honored to be able to screen this sneak preview in Topanga where the initial work began to the people who had the compassion and generosity to offer their support. I will always be grateful to the Topanga Peace Alliance and look forward to showing the film there and reconnecting with my old friends.”