Institute for Policy Studies Announces Second Annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium: Bold Ideas For A New Progressive Majority
Thursday, July 17, 10 AM – 6 PM ET
University of California Washington Center
1608 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
And online via virtual livestream
This event is open to the media. To RSVP as press or for press inquiries related to the symposium, please contact Olivia Alperstein at olivia@ips-dc.org.
Washington, D.C. – The Institute for Policy Studies, The Nation, and Public Citizen will host the second annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium in partnership with the Wallace Global Fund on Thursday, July 17, 10 AM – 6 PM ET. This symposium, “Bold Ideas For A New Progressive Majority,“ is a capstone event of IPS’s Henry A. Wallace Fellowship Program, supported by the Wallace Global Fund.
This year’s Wallace Symposium will feature prominent elected officials, movement leaders, policy experts, and grassroots activists in a timely conversation about how to unite movements around the answers to vital questions: How can we inspire the nation to build anew? How can we replace a cruel, militaristic budget for the few with a budget that benefits people and the planet? How do we expand democracy, transition to a green economy that lifts all workers, and advance a progressive rural agenda that actually comes from rural America? How can the U.S. be a good neighbor internationally?
Confirmed speakers include:
- Rep. Greg Casar (TX), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
- Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD), founder of Democracy Summer
- Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies
- Ben Beachy, Global Fund for a New Economy
- Cathy Feingold, AFL-CIO
- Tope Folarin, Institute for Policy Studies
- Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen
- Kate Hess Pace, Hoosier Action
- Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation
- Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic
- Faiz Shakir, More Perfect Union
- Aru Shiney-Ajay, Sunrise Movement
- Erica Smiley, Jobs With Justice
Complete speaker lineup and schedule to be announced soon.
As Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president in 1944, Henry Wallace presciently warned about how racism, oligarchy, and media manipulation were nurturing the conditions for fascism in the United States. In order to defeat American fascism, Wallace wrote, we must boldly “go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic, and social democracy a practical reality.”
“Right now, progressive movements are fighting back on multiple fronts against the threat of fascism that Henry A. Wallace warned about decades ago. As Wallace pointed out, only a bold vision for the future can gather the forces necessary to preserve and rebuild our democratic institutions, rein in the oligarchs, and achieve a once-in-a-generation transformation,” said Tope Folarin, Executive Director of IPS and one of the symposium’s speakers. “The second annual Wallace Symposium provides a timely forum to discuss a blueprint to defend democracy and democratic values — and the steps our movements can take to make it a reality.”
“Never has it been more essential to heed my grandfather’s urging to stand up for what he called the ‘common man’ against the forces of greed and corporate-captured autocracy. We face grave threats to our democracy and a stark choice about how leaders, organizers, and movements can best respond to this moment,” said Scott Wallace, Board Co-Chair, Wallace Global Fund. “This Symposium offers an urgent opportunity to come together not only to protect our core democratic values but to build a better future devoted to serving the interests of everyday working people and the poor, and demanding once and for all that corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share to support this vision. It’s time to Make America Fair Again.”
Join us on July 17, 10 AM – 6 PM ET at the University of California Washington Center. The event will also be live streamed. Register for in-person or virtual attendance here.
To RSVP as press or for press inquiries related to the symposium, please contact Olivia Alperstein at olivia@ips-dc.org.
This event is part of the Good Trouble Lives On mobilization and day of action across the U.S. on July 17 to honor the late civil rights champion Congressman John Lewis on the 5th anniversary of his passing and call for protection of vital civil rights and civil liberties in the face of threats to our democracy.
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