WASHINGTON -- April 15 -- In the shadow of the Empire State Building, the largest annual gathering of the US and international Left in the United States starts tomorrow and runs through the weekend. 2005 Left Forum begins with an Opening Plenary entitled The U.S., the World, and the Next Four Years, featuring Tariq Ali, Barbara Ehrenreich, Frances Fox Piven, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Stephen Briar. Saturday and Sunday are filled with 60 panel discussions on topics ranging from The Western Left and Iraq to Resistance in the Military to We Got
Next: Youth Activism in Harlem. 2005 Left Forum will culminate in a Closing Plenary entitled The Future of the Left, with speakers Ralph Nader, Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange, Code Pink), Ron Daniels (Center for Constitutional Rights), Bill Fletcher (TransAfrica Forum), and Bogdan Denitch (Transition to Democracy).

WHAT: 2005 Left Forum, this year's successor to the Socialist Scholars Conference.

WHO: Confirmed speakers include: Ralph Nader, Tariq Ali, Barbara Ehrenreich, Joe Trippi, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Lynne Stewart, Manning Marable, Christian Parenti, Frances Fox Piven, Michael Albert, Robin D.G. Kelley, Michael Hardt, Ellen Willis, Gilbert Achcar, Stanley Aronowitz, Doug Henwood, David Harvey, Leo Panitch, Maria Helena Moreira Alves, Brooke Lehman, Frieder Otto Wolf, Eddie Yuen, Victor Paredes, and resisters and veterans of the war in Iraq. INTERVIEWS WITH PANELISTS AVAILABLE!

WHEN: April 15-17, 2005 (Friday: 7-9pm, Saturday and Sunday: 10am-6pm)
Opening Plenary: Friday, April 15 at 7pm; Closing Plenary: Sunday, April 17 at 4pm

WHERE: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), NYC

PANEL HIGHLIGHTS:

• The Western Left & the Future of Iraq
  
• Civil Rights in the Post-Affirmative Action Era
  
• Iraq, Lebanon, & the Regional Reshuffle
  
• Hip Hop Politics Today
  
• The 2004 Elections: Progressive Responses
  
• Youth Organizing & Politics in the U.S.
  
• Neoliberal Rollback: Social Security
  
• Debtor Families, Debtor Nation
  
• Insurgencies and the Limits of U.S. Imperial Reach
  
• Ecology and the Left
  
• Neoliberalism and National Strategies in Latin America
  
• Dilemmas of the U.S. Peace Movement
  

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