Society for Socialist Studies General Assembly Membership Meeting Set for June 4, 2021
Notice is hereby given that the Society for Socialist Studies General Assembly Membership Meeting for 2021 will take place electronically at the following date and time:
Day: June 4, 2021
Time:
1-2:30 pm Pacific
2-3:30 pm Mountain
3-4:30 pm Central
4-5:30 pm Eastern
5-6:30 pm Atlantic
6-7:30 Newfoundland
Format:
Online, using Zoom software
Draft Agenda
Membership Secretary Report
GAMM 2020 Draft Minutes
Treasurer’s 2021 Report
2021-22 Proposed Budget – Condensed AGM Version
2021 Annual Report
The year 2020-21 has been turbulent for the world, for emancipatory struggles of all kinds – and in its own way, for Canadian academe. With other Canadian scholarly associations, the Society for Socialist Studies has weathered a second year of controversy between the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Black Canadian Studies Association, and other representatives of Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour. As a result, we joined other learned societies (including the BCSA, xxxx, the Canadian Political Science Association) to stand apart from Congress this year while retaining our other valued ties with the Federation. One result is this, our second online General Assembly in two years. Another is our slimmed-down version of a conference, ably planned (and then re-planned) by Elaine Coburn and the programme committee.
There is much to report, and much to plan and discuss for the future. SSS has taken steps to implement the constitutional changes the membership voted for at GAMM 2020 with an enlarged and more representative executive and a small but growing number of affiliated organizations. We have held two widely attended special events, one a socialist retrospective on the US presidential campaign, and the other on the 30th anniversary of the struggle against the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, in memory of Mel Watkins and our open-access, peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Socialist Studies, has issued a special edition. In a post-pandemic environment, we will need to determine our course — and will surely find the energy to accomplish much more.
We will also complete all the formal requirements of the General Assembly, with reports from our executive officers, an election for the role of Secretary, and debate and approval of our annual budget and financial report. Meg Luxton and the book prize committee will announce the annual Errol Sharpe book prize winner. And the essential post-meeting chat will take place as usual after adjournment.
To attend the GAMM, members must have paid their dues for the year 2021 at least 72 hours before the June 4 meeting (to pay dues or to make a donation, click here), and they need to register online (register here).
For an overview of the steps to attend the GAMM electronically, click here. For more on the larger programme of plenary events that we are holding in lieu of a regular Congress, see the programme here.
In Solidarity,
Radhika Desai, President;
Jamie Lawson, Secretary;
Megan Aiken, Membership Secretary.
Please note that the conference this year is entirely online.
Socialist Solidarities in Times of Crisis
Call for Sessions Deadline January 20, 2021
At their most politically effective, socialist solidarities are plural, articulating Black Marxisms, Indigenous anti-capitalisms, feminist, eco and queer socialisms and more, in struggles for more just and ecologically sustainable relationships. These solidarities are more necessary than ever in times of crisis.
We live in an historical moment when the existential threat of the ecological crisis and climate change lies not the near-future, but is already present in mass extinctions of diverse lifeforms on the earth, increased wild fires, more frequent hurricanes and the melting of the polar ice caps. These disasters and the inadequate response of our political establishments are exposing, and often deepening, the injustice and unsustainability of our societies as never before.
White supremacists and far-right political parties and movements organize openly, sometimes violently. Right-wing populist nationalisms are resurgent, and income and wealth inequalities are stark and deepening within and across nations world-wide.
In some respects, the pandemic and associated social distancing measures have interrupted capitalism, reducing some forms of consumerism and limiting freedom of movement, even for wealthier people. Yet at the same time, racial capitalism flourishes, as billionaires grow richer and many others are subject to familiar gendered, racialized surveillance, violence and precarity.
In this challenging context, socialisms and liberation struggles by Indigenous peoples, Black and other racialized communities, women, migrants, undocumented workers, LGBTQ+ and the crip/disability movements are more necessary than ever before.
With this in mind, the Society for Socialist Studies invites calls for sessions, especially concerning:
– socialism and solidarities
– ecological crisis and climate change
– carceral capitalism, border imperialisms, neoliberal urbanization
– capitalism during the pandemic
– class struggles against inequities, exploitation and oppression, right-wing populisms, white supremacy and all racisms
– feminist socialisms, Black Marxisms, Indigenous anti-capitalisms, queer socialisms,
– 1492 Land Back, Black Lives Matter, Wet’suwet’en solidarity, No Pride in Policing Coalition
– and other explorations of socialist solidarities and liberation struggles in a time of crisis.
Proposals for sessions are due January 20, 2021 via the google forms site here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1N7jW8bUD0zhILcnQ0hwuyXQmpLb5iz40TsYhb8RIyVI/edit
Please note that the call for individuals papers will be sent out in late January 2021– please check the Society for Socialist Studies website.
A reminder that this year’s meeting will be held entirely online.