Socialism 2026: Full Schedule

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10:00am CDT

The Deadly Tech Exchange: How Tech Companies are Profiting from Genocide and Anti-Immigrant Violence

Sunday September 6, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am CDT

In this workshop we will map the network of US and Israeli companies and investors fueling the world’s first AI-powered genocide in Gaza, and delve into the revolving door of tech and capital between Silicon Valley and Israel’s “Silicon Wadi.” We’ll discuss the destructive impacts of the Deadly Tech Exchange for communities in the US, Palestine, and beyond, and offer action steps for fighting back through cross-movement campaigning.

Speakers

Izzy Mustafa

Izzy Mustafa is the Co-Executive Director at Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian-led organization focused on campaigns that challenge militarism, big tech, and systems of oppression while supporting labor organizing and building broad coalitions for justice and liberation.

Edith Romero

Edith Romero is originally from Honduras; she grew up in a banana town in the north coast of Honduras and moved to New Orleans to begin her higher education. Edith holds a Master’s in Healthcare Management and has experience in community health, Latinx health, reproductive justice... Read More →

Eric Sype

Eric Sype, US National Organizer, 7amleh. Eric fights for Palestinian human rights as 7amleh’s National Organizer in the U.S. He holds a Master of Development Practice from the University of California, Berkeley, where he researched the impacts of technological advancements on decolonizing... Read More →

Sponsors

Adalah Justice Project

Sunday September 6, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am CDT
Jackson Park B

Science and Tech

12:00pm CDT

Organizing 101: a Black Youth Project 100 Joint

Sunday September 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT

Jackson Park B

Help! I don’t know where to start! Don’t worry we got you! We will put you through three acting scenarios in small groups that will help build the basis of your organizing journey! Join Byp100 in building more rounded organizers and preparing for a world we want to live in.

Speakers

BYP100 Members

Sponsors

Black Youth Project 100

Sunday September 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
Jackson Park B

Organizing

1:30pm CDT

BIPOC Social

Sunday September 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT

Jackson Park B

"This is for the homies, strictly for the homies. This is for the homies... the real homies!" Come kick it with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, who identify as socialists, communists, leftists, anarchists, abolitionists, feminists, liberationists, radicals, and revolutionaries. We are curating a space for us and by us, where we can just “BE"! Music and vibes will be provided. You just need to bring yourself and the homies! Hosted by Black Youth Project 100.

Sponsors

Black Youth Project 100

Sunday September 6, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT
Jackson Park B

Meet-up

3:00pm CDT

Radicalizing Labor Unions: A Balance Sheet of Reform, Class Struggle, and Rank-and-file Movement-Building

Sunday September 6, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT

Jackson Park B

Rank-and-file movements in labor unions have shaped the terrain of labor struggle in recent years, with varying impact within union halls and on the shop floor. Some have served primarily as “reform” vehicles for a wing of the union bureaucracy, while others have anchored rank-and-file struggles on the shop floor with a reinvigorated class-struggle vision. UAW President Shawn Fain and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, now the leading voices of the left and right labor bureaucracy, respectively, represent the culmination of two prominent union reform movements in recent years. While their initial promises of increased militancy and new organizing were refreshing, their administrations have yielded mixed results and often reinforced existing old-guard forces within the labor bureaucracy and the U.S. two-party system. At a time of all-time low unionization rates and decreased strike activity, we need to evaluate how to build rank-and-file movements capable of confronting the state and capital on key questions of our moment, from fighting ICE and imperialist wars to organizing the South. We’ll discuss and debate strategies for socialists organizing to build class-struggle unions.

Moderators

Toni Gilpin

Toni Gilpin is a labor historian, author of The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland

Speakers

Andrew Bergman

Co-Chair, Unite All Workers For Democracy (UAWD)

Andrew Bergman is an assembly worker at General Motors, member of UAW Local 22, and UAWD Co-Chair

Nelson Lichtenstein

Nelson Lichtenstein is a historian of labor and capital, biographer of Walter Reuther, author of Why Labor Unions Matter (2026).

Luigi Morris

Luigi Morris is an immigrant worker, a labor journalist, and a member of Left Voice. He is a former UPS warehouse worker and a former member of Teamsters Local 804 in NYC.

Margie Thornton

Margie Thornton is a legal services worker in Colorado, steward in UAW Local 2320, UAWD Steering Committee member.

Sunday September 6, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Jackson Park B

Labor Movement

5:00pm CDT

The Extended Universe: How Disney Killed the Movies and Took over the World

Sunday September 6, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT

Jackson Park B

Join Vicky Osterweil on a quest to discover how Disney’s “imagineers” have made it impossible to reflect on the wonders of growing up without thinking of Disney's movies, amusement parks, and merchandising. Drawing on extensive interviews with filmmakers, screenwriters, union organizers, and Disney “adults” alike, Osterweil unearths reactionary political commitments and maleficent legal maneuvers so cartoonishly evil they would make one of Walt's own animated villains blush.

Speakers

Daniella Mazzio

Daniella Mazzio is a Chicago-based, award-nominated culture writer, screenwriter, accessibility consultant, and performer, who has been featured in the Chicago Reader, Indiewire, Autostraddle, Slate, the Boston Globe, WBEZ Chicago, and more. In 2025, she launched a new film podcast... Read More →

Vicky Osterweil

Vicky Osterweil is a Philadelphia-based writer, agitator, and worker and the author of The Extended Universe and In Defense of Looting. She is a member of the anarchist journal CAW and has written about the intersections of film, politics, and culture for publications such as The... Read More →

Sunday September 6, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT
Jackson Park B

Culture and Art

8:00pm CDT

Jewish Voice for Peace Meet-Up

Sunday September 6, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm CDT

Jackson Park B

Jewish Voice for Peace is the world's largest Jewish organization supporting Palestine. We're organizing a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews. If you’re looking for a political home for Jews on the left in this perilous moment; if you’re wanting a Jewish community with justice at the center; if you're looking to turn your anger and grief into meaningful, strategic action: you belong with us. Come connect with other JVP members and leaders from across the country.

Sponsors

JVP

Sunday September 6, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm CDT
Jackson Park B

Meet-up

10:00am CDT

12:00pm CDT

1:30pm CDT

3:00pm CDT

5:00pm CDT

8:00pm CDT

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