The third annual Left Coast Forum will be held this year on a date and venue to be determined after a conflict on scheduling arose at Occidental College. The keynote speakers are:
Melina Abdullah – an outspoken, deeply passionate Black Lives Matter activist as well as the Chair of the Pan African Department at the California State University Los Angeles
Mario Solis-Marich – a seasoned political consultant, radio and tv host and producer
Dominique DiPrima – host of KJLH Front Page Show with Dominique DiPrima on 102.3 KJLH Los Angeles. Broadcaster, Activist, Producer
Sonali Kolhatkar – Journalist, Artist, Activist, Rabble Rouser. Host and Executive Producer of Rising Up with Sonali Kolhatkar on Free Speech TV and KPFK Pacifica Radio
Lisa Bloom – Author and Civil Rights Trial lawyer fighting for victims of discrimination, harassment and abuse.
Dozens of panels were scheduled all three days, along with a major presentation by Sharon Kyle and Dick Price of the LA Progressive and Eric Mann, Brigette Amaya and Channing Martinez of the Labor Community Strategy Center on “How the Racial, Social, and Climate Justice Movements Can Play an Independent Role in the 2020 Presidential Election.” Other notable panels include a presentation on Cuba by recent visitors with the Pastors for Peace Friendshipment and the 50th Venceremos Brigade; a panel on Uprooting White Supremacy by Michael Novick of Change Links, Candace Carnicelli and Michele Dumont of White People for Black Lives, and a panel with Shaka Zulu of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, Hank Jones of the SF8, and noted author George Katsiaficas. (See more listings in the Calendar and the full schedule on the LCF website: httpss://leftcoastforum.org/full-schedule-left-coast-forum-2019/
The Left Coast Forum is a collaborative effort between New York’s Left Forum and the LA Progressive in Los Angeles.
The LA Progressive was founded in Los Angeles in 2008 by husband/wife team Dick Price and Sharon Kyle who, after years of volunteering and providing other forms of support to failed progressive causes and campaigns, came to the realization that the progressive movement will never be a force to reckon with until it breaks down the walls within. The LA Progressive intentionally prioritizes its efforts to serve the needs of a multiracial, intergenerational, multigendered and multiethnic population.
The Left Forum was founded in the 1960s as the Socialist Scholars Conference (SSC) by Bogdan Denitch, Stanley Aronowitz, and others. The Socialist Scholars Conference was re-founded in 1981 and was meant to be a broad effort by new left academics to create a forum in which to present theoretical and historical work in a mostly scholarly format, but for an audience reaching far beyond academic circles.
The Left Coast Forum’s mission is multifaceted.
To create a space where progressive thought leaders come to share ideas
To intentionally address existing divisions that weaken the progressive movement. Understanding that the strongest social movements are made of a network, we recognize that racial and ethnic divisions deeply rooted in our society also divide the progressive movement and will not disappear without being addressed.
To provide a space in Southern California where all components of the progressive movement come together to forge stronger alliances.
