Report from the second Convergence

This short session with Ben Manski provided an introduction to Next System thinking, action, and scholarship, as well as a guide to how you could make the most of that convergence. Presented by the Next System Teach-Ins Taskforce.

Sehjo Singh, Bablu Ganguly, Thomas Franco, Melanie Bush, and Halwest Karim joined to discuss an alternative Self Reliant Model led by women without foreign funding and without dependence on state funding. Presented by the Global Tapestry of Alternatives and Solidarity Economy Thematic Group.

Participants joined Matthew Slaats, Kali Luna, and Terry Gibson to learn how to create a state-wide solidarity economy network. Using the case studies of Massachusetts, Virginia, and California, they discussed the differing ways these groups had developed, core questions they had had to answer, and the specific systems they had developed to sustain these networks. Presented by Virginia Solidarity Economy Network.

Ana Inés Heras shared a pedagogical framework based on a combination of Argentinean social psychology, Argentinean collaborative pedagogies and European and African descent intellectuals, who have challenged colonialism in educational and health practices. Presented by LICH EH UNSAM and CONICET Argentina. 

Sam Hummel challenged the conventional leftist reliance on taxation and borrowing to fund systemic change, proposing the exploration of a transformative new funding mechanism with even greater potential to meet the scale of our crises. Presented by the Money Justice Collaborative.

Participants joined Neil McInroy, Ben Manski, Grace Chai, and Joe Guinan in this strategic conversation to explore the limits and possibilities of community wealth building (CWB) strategies.  Presented by The Democracy Collaborative and Next System Studies at GMU. 

In an open session hosted by Deissy Perilla and Lizah Makombore, participants explored intersections and resonances between the Teach-ins and other cultural categories or educational practices developed in South America and Africa, like Educación Popular or Indaba, that are aligned with the idea of Teach-ins. Presented by Leadership for the Ecozoic at the University of Vermont. 

In an interactive skillshare hosted by Sam Butler, Jenna Jablonski, and Scott Christensen, participants walked through simple tools and learned how they could support autonomy in their communities and bring those practices into their own organizations and neighborhoods. Presented by Ready.coop

This panel included John Mulkins, Luke Pickrell, and Greg Coleridge as they discussed democratizing the U.S. constitution. They provided background on our history as a democracy, examined the undemocratic features of the constitution, explored what could be done to democratize it, and discussed what participants could do to further the conversation. Presented by Move To Amend

Led by Matthew Slaats, Cole Speidel, and Aaron Linas, the session featured members of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy North America and representatives from the Richmond People’s Assembly. Each discussed efforts to develop their specific form of assembly and then considered how these might work in relation to one another to support more democratic and participatory processes in cities. Presented by Virginia Solidarity Economy Network.

Pauline Lake, David Robinson, Katy Stanton, Drew Crowe, and David Levine led an interactive panel discussion where participants explored how building early warning networks for manufacturing companies could serve as a catalyst for systemic change. Presented by Manufacturing Renaissance, The Federation for a Manufacturing Renaissance, Progressive Democrats of America, and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.

In this session, David Cobb described the Solidarity Economy framework, clarified key questions, detailed the PNLL consortium and their 5-point transitional program, and facilitated breakout groups. Presented by People’s Network for Land & Liberation and US Solidarity Economy Network.

Introduction to the Next System Teach-Ins

Ben Manski’s opening talk, which included reflections from Lesley Wood, Suren Moodliar, and conference participants, clarified key questions: what a Teach-In is, what is meant by the “Next System,” what a Next System Teach-In entails, what one looks like, where the process is taking us, and how each person can contribute.

How to Organize a Teach-In

In a series of sessions led by Matthew Burke, Suren Moodliar, Kathryn Milun, Lesley Wood, April Doner, Deissy Perilla, Lizah Makombore, Ben Manski, and Gabriel Gonzales, participants tackled three important tasks: building their local Teach-In coalition/organizing committee, designing the Teach-In program to explore what a Next System Teach-In could look like, and learning how to organize wall-to-wall through mapping, list-building, and outreach strategies.