Hundreds of activists from across the country attended the Socialism 2010 conference at the Marriot Hotel in Oakland, July 1-4.
Over the four-day gathering, a noticeably eclectic crowd of 1,600 people, young and old, racially and ethnically diverse, traveled through 59 different panel discussions that covered a variety of subjects.
“This is an educational moment,” said Flor Crisóntomo, a conference attendee, who feels that awareness is necessary in order to address current civil rights issues. “It’s good for people in the communities that are under attack, for us to hear about what is happening not just at a local level but also internationally.”
Among the topics addressed during the event hosted by International Socialist Organization were the Black Power revolts of the ‘60s, the General Strike of 1934, women’s rights, BP and corporate crime, and the new anti-immigration law, SB1070. The ISO organized a simultaneously held partner conference in Chicago that addressed many of the same issues.
“It’s a good time for a variety of socialists to get together and discuss,” said Tom Lancey, a self-indentified socialist, “and the ISO does a good job of organizing this.”
This year’s conference had a noticeable shift in tone from last year’s conference, which attracted 1,800 people.
“The mood feels more like ‘let’s get to work,’” said Mer Stevens, another conference attendee, who noted that the mood this year was more serious than in prior years.
“Last year it was more celebratory after Obama’s election,” he added. “Now people have seen Obama’s betrayal. We’re a group of folks ready to fight.”
Despite that feeling, the most attended workshop was not the candidly titled “Why Democrats are so lame,” but the panel discussion “Breaking the Siege of Gaza.” The workshop focused on the May 31 incident in which the Israeli army attacked seven boats carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. At least nine volunteer aid workers were reported killed and dozens seriously wounded.
The panel took off in a series of pro-liberation, anti-occupation chants.
Wael Elasady, founder of the group Students United for Palestinian Rights at Portland State University, spoke of the involvement of the American government with Israel and denounced the administration’s response to the incident.
“Obama said he regretted the loss of life, as if a 19-year-old hadn’t been shot by Israeli military, as if he’d died of natural causes,” said Elasady, going on to condemn the 85 senators who not only defended Israel’s actions but who prevented a further investigation into the attack.
Paul Larudee, who was on one of the humanitarian aid vessels, discussed his experience with the audience. He recalled the Israeli soldiers attacking from helicopters before descending onto the flotilla—he jumped off the ship before the soldiers seized the deck.
“They were all standing there and I thought, if I jump now, I have a whole audience and they can’t just leave me in the middle of the ocean, they’ll have to come after me,” he said. “I paid a price for doing that, but other people paid a bigger price. We lost nine people.”
Larudee compared the impact the flotilla incident had on global consciousness to the period following the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, namesake of one of the cargo ships. Corrie was a member of the International Solidarity Movement who was crushed to death in the Gaza Strip by bulldozer belonging to the Israeli Defense Forces. Recruitment for pro-Palestinian activism quadrupled after her death.
He believes the flotilla incident has had a similar effect.
Jess Ghannam, member of the Free Palestine Alliance and organizer of the blockade of Israeli shipments that were prevented from being unloaded at the Oakland port on June 20, connected the recent blockade to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction of Israel effort.
“Last year I said we’re close to a tipping point. I’m here to tell you it’s happened,” he said, elaborating on future efforts already underway to continue pushing for Palestinian liberation. “When Palestine is free that domino effect happens; when Palestine is free we are all free.”
He closed by saying, “Comrades, it’ll be a great day when I say, ‘The next ISO convention is in Palestine!’”
Other prominent speakers who commanded sizeable audiences included comedic actor Wallace Shawn who read from one his book of essays titled, Essays, and former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges.
“I loved what I was exposed to,” said Jorge Perez, who came from Los Angeles and was experiencing the conference for the first time. “I’m going home with a lot of homework as I couldn’t participate in everything because of my lack of knowledge. For me this is an answer to big frustrations. I think I have the will and I believe in the cause and in the struggle.”