My name is Mark LeVine, and I am a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of History at Cornell, Chair of the Foundation for Ethics and Meaning and a contributing editor at Tikkun magazine. I am writing on the suggestion of Naomi Klein to inform you about an important conference being convened this spring by the Foundation, Tikkun, and numerous other co-sponsoring organizations, with the hope that the DAN will join us and help spread the word about this historic event.
Entitled "Re-Imagining Politics and Society at the Millennium: Creating a Just, Caring, and Sustainable World," and scheduled for May 18-20, 2000 at the Riverside Church in NYC, this conference will bring together numerous organization and thousands of individuals committed to the following basic principles:
To reawaken and foster the simple yet transformative belief that people are yearning for meaningful connection to others and to a purpose greater than themselves; to challenge our prevailing cultural emphasis on material self-interest by encouraging a spirit of caring and a process of mutual recognition that will nourish inclusive, sustainable, and just communities
Our belief is that we stand today at a crucial juncture in the history of our political culture and economic life. The corrupting influence of big money, the intensely partisan spirit, the lack of any meaningful mainstream response to frenzied globalization, and the failure to address seriously the long-term environmental health of the planet, all reveal an increasing emptiness of spirit at the center of political power that cries out for meaningful change and renewal.
Thus this conference seeks to challenge the accepted values of selfishness and materialism and develop an approach that emphasizes the creation of a loving, just, spiritually and ecologically sensitive society. In contrast to the often narrow agenda of traditional progressive and conservative politics, we seek to explore how our psychological and spiritual needs can be integrated into an agenda of human rights, corporate and political ethics, and the healing of our relationship to nature. We seek to bring together people who embrace holistic and ecological values, and who have often felt excluded from the existing liberal/conservative political debate, to discuss how ethics, a concern for the common good, and a community spirit of caring can begin to replace the cynical self-interest and corporate-technocratic worldview that currently dominate public discourse.
As the email flyer below demonstrates, this is without a doubt the biggest conference of the year for people opposed to the WTO/IMF vision of the world and for a just and sustainable globalization (over 200 speakers from around the world, thousands of participants expected). I would like to invite you all to come and participate in this conference, and to send us materials/flyers/other information that we could distribute to our attendees and to the press covering us about you and your organizations. Like the movement behind the mobilization in Washington, we are a totally grassroots enterprise, with no funding from anyone other than registrations, so we appreciate any help you could give to spread the word, either via email, your website, or any contacts in the NY area with whom you think we should get in touch. We would also like to participate in your May Day protests, if there is still time.
Finally, If any of you have interesting stories and/or perspectives about this weekend or the larger events surrounding the protests, I would like to invite you to write an article about your activities to publish in Tikkun magazine, one of the most important progressive intellectual journals in the United States, and a early leader in the fight against corporat-led, consumer-driven globalization.
I can be reached at (607) 266 8386, or email me at <lolajp at mindspring.com>. I hope to hear from you soon and that we can work together.
Best,
Mark LeVine, PhD Chair, FEM --------------
Re-imagining Politics & Society at the Millennium Creating a Caring, Ethical & Sustainable World May 18-20, 2000 Riverside Church, NYC www.meaning.org
We stand today at a crucial juncture in the history of our political culture and economic life. The corrupting influence of big money, the intensely partisan spirit, the lack of any meaningful mainstream response to frenzied globalization, and the failure to address seriously the long-term environmental health of the planet, all reveal an increasing emptiness of spirit at the center of political power that cries out for meaningful change and renewal.
The protests against the WTO in Seattle have demonstrated the potential for challenging the dominant neo-liberal, amoral, consumerist paradigms that dominate our culture. This conference seeks to help create a shared language, credo and vision that can unify the disparate movements who realize the long-term damage to our personal and planetary well-being by the political, economic, and cultural status quo.
We challenge the accepted values of selfishness and materialism and develop an approach that emphasizes the creation of a loving, just, spiritually and ecologically sensitive society. In contrast to the often narrow agenda of traditional progressive and conservative politics, we seek to explore how our psychological and spiritual needs can be integrated into an agenda of human rights, corporate and political ethics, and the healing of our relationship to nature. We offer an opportunity for those who embrace holistic and ecological values, and who have often felt excluded from the existing liberal/conservative political debate, to come together to discuss how ethics, a concern for the common good, and a community spirit of caring can begin to replace the cynical self-interest and corporate-technocratic worldview that currently dominate public discourse.
Re-imagining Politics and Society is envisioned as a successor to the historic National Summit on Ethics and Meaning held in Washington, DC in 1996, which was attended by over 1,800 people and co-sponsored by Tikkun, Sojourner's, Mother Jones, Utne Reader, the Center for Visionary Leadership, People for the American Way, The Unitarian Universalist Association, the Reconstructionist Federation, and numerous other organizations. We encourage interested individuals and organizations to work with us to help shape the political and cultural debate at the turn of the new millennium.
The conference agenda and speaker roster is still in the planning stages and will be available soon. Confirmed speakers include (see our website, www.meaning.org, for a full description) Nobel Peace Prize nominee Wei Jingsheng, David Korten, Michael Lerner and Peter Gabel, Riane Eisler, Matthew Fox, Moctar Tayeb, Eugene Gendlin, Saskia Sassen, Arianna Huffington, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Patricia Ireland, Hamilton Fish, Cherie Brown, Moctar Tayeb, Mark Green, C. Virginia Fields, Rev. James Forbes, Rev. Jim Wallis, John Dalla Costa, Gar Alperovitz, Fernando Ferrer, Rep. Major Owens, Danny Goldberg, Arturo Escobar, Bill Stephney, Randy Shaw, Alisa Gravitz, Jay Rosen, Alan Gerson, Jerome Segal, Tracie Morris, Andrew Ross, Jason Hill, Elizabeth Lesser, Michaele Wucker, Michael Sorkin, James Gordon, MD, Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, Mark Kingwell, Redwood Mary, Samuel Epstein, MD, Richard Falk, Rev. Emory Searcy, Tim Keating, Raphael Kellman, MD, Naomi Klein, Paul Wapner, David Loye, Douglas Sloan, Ron Miller, Brent Blackwelder, Heidi Mills, Jeffrey Wilhelm, Ralph Moss, MD, Kathy Davis, Elizabeth Dribben, Richard Schwartz, Arthur Waskow, Mark Ritchie, Jeffrey Wilhelm, Nicholas Gonzalez, MD, Sharon Perez-Abreu, Ajani Benjamin. Catherine Keller, Mike Flynn, Katherine Kurs, Dr. Frank Kirkland, David Orr, Russell Hemenway, Rick Jarrow. Many other speakers are in the process of confirming, and will be added when confirmed.
Numerous organizations have already signed on as co-sponsors, including UTNE Reader, WBAI (Pacifica Radio, New York City), COOP America, NYC Friends of the Clearwater, Wetlands Environmental & Social Justice Activism Center (Wetlands Preserve), YES! Magazine, Tikkun Magazine, The Nation, The Riverside Church, The Interfaith Center of New York, Amnesty International, The National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Claremont Seminary, The Center for Process Studies, The Center For Visionary Leadership, The Positive Futures Network, The People Centered Development Forum, Progressive America, The Employment Project, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, the NY State Labor-Religion Alliance, The Shalom Center of ALEPH, Healing the North-South Wound, TJWalker.com, ONN (Online Noetic Network), The Kellman Center for Progressive Medicine, The Centre for Ethical Orientation, and Ithaca Hours. More are being added weekly, and if you know of an organization that should be joining us, let us know! or better, let them know!
To register, call 212 219 2527, x.110 or email <nyocreg at aol.com> or visit our website for full information: www.meaning.org
Mark LeVine, Ph.D. Lola Perniciaro Dept. of History 87 Uptown Road Cornell University Apt. A206 450 McGraw Hall Ithaca, NY 14850 Ithaca, NY 14853 607 266 8386 607 266 8386 fax - 607 255 1422