IPS Mandate for Change Election Series: Trade and Globalization

Oct 23, 2008

This election season, please join the Institute for Policy Studies in our series of provocative brown-bag luncheon discussions of the various issues in the platforms of the Democratic, Republican, Green, and Independent presidential candidates. IPS and Chester Hartman have a new book coming out at the culmination of this brown-bag series, Mandate for Change, which will put forth what we feel are the best and most creative policy solutions for these and other pressing local, national and international issues.

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Political candidates who spoke out against “free trade” made great gains in the 2006 elections. During this year’s primary season, Democratic contenders put the issue back in the spotlight, with Senator Barack Obama and his opponents vowing to make significant changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other unpopular trade deals. But will trade and globalization be factors in the general election? Thus far, the Presidential debates have all but ignored the issue. And if Obama wins the Presidency, how far would he go to change our global economic policies to support workers, communities, and the environment? Could we expect a dramatic shift — or a repeat of the Clinton Era trade deals?

Thea Lee, Policy Director and Chief International Economist at the AFL-CIO
Sarah Anderson, Director, Global Economy Program, IPS
Andy Gussert, National Director, Citizens Trade Campaign

Moderator: John Cavanagh, Director, IPS

Please RSVP to Adwoa Masozi at adwoa@ips-dc.org.

About the panelists

Thea Lee is Policy Director and Chief International Economist at the AFL-CIO, where she oversees research and strategies on domestic and international economic policy. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Worker Rights Consortium, United for a Fair Economy, and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Andy Gussert is the National Director of the Citizens Trade Campaign, a coalition of environmental, labor, consumer, family farm, religious, and other civil society groups founded in 1992. Previously, Gussert was State Federation President of AFT-Wisconsin, a labor union representing teachers, pharmacists, public employees and many other job classifications. In 2004-05, Gussert served as director of CTC’s Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition.

Sarah Anderson is the Director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. She is a co-author of the books Field Guide to the Global Economy and Alternatives to Economic Globalization and a member of Jubilee USA’s Coordinating Committee. She also served on the staff of the International Financial Institutions Advisory Commission, a Congressionally appointed commission to evaluate the World Bank and IMF in 2000.

Moderator: John Cavanagh, IPS Director and co-author (with Robin Broad) of Development Redefined: How the Market Met its Match.

Other events in this series include:

TUESDAY, October 28, 12:30 – 2pm
The Election and Post-Racial Politics
Dedrick Muhammad, Senior Organizer & Research Associate, Inequality and the Common Good project, IPS
Joy Zarembka, Director, Break the Chain Campaign, IPS, and author, The Pigment of Your Imagination
Professor Clarence Lusane, author/activist and professor at American University.
Moderator: Saif Rahman, Movements Coordinator, IPS

THURSDAY, November 6, 12:30 – 2pm
Post-Election Analysis
Steve Cobble, Senior Scholar, IPS
John Cavanagh, Director, IPS
Bill Fletcher, labor and international activist
Moderator: Karen Dolan, Fellow, IPS

TUESDAY, November 11, 12:30 – 2pm
The Election and Climate Action: How climate change was discussed during the campaign.
Janet Redman, Researcher, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, IPS
Brent Blackwelder, President, Friends of the Earth US
James Barrett, Executive Director, Redefining Progress
Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
Sandra Schubert,* Director, Government Affairs, Environmental Working Group
Moderator: Daphne Wysham, Fellow, IPS

For more than four decades, the Institute for Policy Studies has transformed ideas into action for peace, justice, and the environment. It is a progressive multi-issue think tank.
https://ips-dc.org.