Forward 2017

Edgewood College
June 2 – June 3, 2017

The current political environment has generated new and difficult questions for social movements: How can we understand what is happening in the US today? What can be done about it? How can very diverse groups in our communities work together to forge a way forward? With renewed interest in grassroots involvement as a way to address complex political and social issues, Forward 2017 hopes its plenary discussions, workshops, and skill-shares will encourage attendees to join existing movements and create new ones in their neighborhoods and communities.

Speakers include:

Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada

M Adams, Freedom Inc.

Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson

Mary Dougherty, Sustain Rural Wisconsin

Heather DuBois Bourenane,
Executive Director, Wisconsin Public Education Network 

Bill Greendeer, Ho-Chunk Nation 

Z! Haukeness, Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice

Angie Holecko, Planned Parenthood

Crystal Ketterhagen, Indivisible

Kim Kaukl, E.D., Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance

Rebecca Kemble, Madison Common Council

Mike Konopacki, Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

Dan Kortte, Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation Workers, Local 565 

Deepa Kumar, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT

José Oliva, Food Chain Workers Alliance

Zon Muas, Freedom Inc.

Leland Pan, Teaching Assistants’ Association

John Peck, Family Farm Defenders

Charlie Post, City University of New York, AFT activist

Mary Cathryn Ricker, Executive V.P., American Federation of Teachers

Nino Rodriguez, Racial Justice Tipping Point

Joel Rogers, Our Wisconsin Revolution 

Charity Schmidt, South Central Federation of Labor

Jesse Sharkey, V.P., Chicago Teachers Union 

Jessica Williams, Freedom Inc.

Workshops will focus on topics, such as Building the Alternative: Cooperative Power in the Rust Belt; Cultures of Resistance; From Standing Rock to Wisconsin: Treaty Rights & Water Defense; Gender Equality: The Birth of a New Movement?; Navigating the Education Storm: Budgets, Strategy & Local Activism; Prison Abolition & Community Control of the Police; and State of the Unions: Labor & Conservatism in the 21st century.

There is a modest fee for the event, with a sliding scale determined by ability to pay. Child care is provided free of charge.