Join the National Teach-In on Austerity, Debt and Corporate Greed

Technical instructions for attending the National Teach-in on Debt, Austerity and How People Are Fighting Back were detailed over the weekend to the more than 200 college campuses and other sites hosting webcast of the event from Judson Memorial Church in New York City.

A historic United Church of Christ congregation with a passion for social justice, Judson Church is co-sponsoring the webcast along with the AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work, Center for Community Change, City University of New York (CUNY), Demos, Judson Memorial Church, Justice for Janitors, Professional Staff Congress, Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United for Peace & Justice, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), United States Student Association (USSA), the We Are One Campaign and The Progressive Christian magazine.

Sociologist Frances Fox Piven of CUNY’s Graduate Center and theologian Cornel West of Columbia University will co-moderate the national webcast along with the Hon. Gustavo Rivera, New York state senator and adjunct professor of political science at Pace University. Also joining the live teach-in are economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, public policy analyst Heather McGhee of non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organizationDemos, and AFLO-CIO President Richard Trumka.

In addition, the teach-in will feature activists from around the country: Beth Huang, student leader from Wisconsin (USAS), Anthony Klug, public education activist (United Federation of Teachers, Wadleigh High Chapter) and Sergio Cuevas, housing activist (National People’s Action).

Interested participants may attend the webcast site in person at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York,City. Admission to both the online webcast and live discussion is free, with seats available to the public at the church.

The teach-in’s wide-ranging national session will occur from 2:00 - 3:30 PM (EDT) on Tuesday, April 5. The discussion will cover debt and deficit problems, corporate tax breaks, the role of unions, the concept of “austerity” as a false government policy, and much more. The conference will revisit America's core values: a civil society based on freedom of association, healthy and stable communities that value public services, and the public good.

After the national conversation, each webcast site will join in discussions focused on local responses to economic issues, including lobbying public officials regarding drastic cuts in public services that undermine communities’ fiscal and social health. These sessions will occur from 3:30 - 5:00 PM (EDT).

To find a community webcast site near you, visit the Fight Back Teach-In website and click on the Participating Campuses button. Watching the webcast with a group at a community site will enable participants also to engage in local strategy discussions.

If there is no community webcast site in your vicinity, watch the webcast online via this link to the Adobe Connect 8 seminar being hosted by the University of California at Davis. All participants will sign in as “Guest” and input their names. Participants also will be asked to sign the UC-Davis cyber-security statement. Once you click on OK, you will be taken to the screen where you will be able to see and hear the webcast.

To learn how to use Adobe Connect 8 in advance of the meeting, read “Visual Quick Start Guide – Participate in Adobe 8 Connect Meetings” in PDF format.

Since those who watch individually online can’t join in local strategy discussions, The Progressive Christian has set up a special topic section, “Austerity, Debt and Corporate Greed,” in Discussions under the Community menu for participants to share their responses to the national webcast. You must be registered as a TPC user to participate in online discussions; registration is free.

Questions about the National Teach-In.

Questions about using TPC’s forum for discussing the national webcast.