Network for a NATO-Free Future Call for Proposals

There are three counter-summits planned for Chicago in May. The Catholic Worker Resistance Retreat is May 11-14 (details to come), the People's Summit is May 12-13 (see article on this site), and Counter Summit for Peace and Justice coordinated by Network for a NATO-free world on May 18 and 19 (see below) Please present proposals and plan to attend as many of these educational/protest events as you can. A large permitted march will be held on May 19 or May 20.

Thousands will converge in Chicago for the NATO and G-8 summits in Chicago this May. The Network for a NATO-Free Future is looking to you and your organization to propose a workshop for the Counter Summit for Peace and Justice, May 18 & 19.

Initial deadline for workshop applications is Monday, April 2, 2012; second round deadline is April 27.

The conference will focus on:

NATO's new role as a global military and war-fighting alliance.
Ending U.S. wars and occupations.
The G-8 and its role in promoting globalization.
Organizing for workers and immigrant rights and an end to poverty.
Move the Money from Wars & Weapons to Fund our Communities and other economic justice campaigns to cut military spending to address real human needs.
Skills-building and training for organizing at the intersection of anti-militarism and economic justice.

The conference format: Three plenaries and three 90 minute workshops with a total of 18 workshops possible.

Categories of workshops:

background, history and current analysis of NATO, U.S. war plans, the G-8, globalization and workers rights.
organizing and the how-to's of building effective grassroots campaigns.

Priority consideration will go to grassroots groups and community organizations.

We encourage workshop proposals to integrate the impact of the costs of wars and occupations and of the military industrial complex with our local and global economies and the struggle to create a more secure, peaceful and just world.

Anticipating a high volume of workshop proposals, the workshop planning subcommittee may encourage applicants to merge their workshop proposals so that we can accommodate as many as possible.

Please click on http://www.natofreefuture.org/workshop-proposal-form to submit your proposal.

The initial deadline for workshop applications is Monday, April 2, 2012. Preferential consideration will be given to applications we receive by that deadline. 12 workshops will be chosen. Six additional workshops will be chosen from those submitted by our second deadline of April 27. This pool will also include applications received by April 2 but not approved in the first round.