Communist Party USA Chair Sam Webb Speaks at Colorado Conference

Communist Party USA Chair Sam Webb Speaks at Colorado Conference

April 12th, 2009


From People’s Weekly World, via CPUSA website

BOULDER, Colorado -– Some may call it Conference-a-palooza. Film critic Roger Ebert calls it “The Conference on Everything Conceivable.” But its more conventional name is “The Conference on World Affairs” and it’s hosted by The University of Colorado.

It’s a cherished tradition in this Rocky Mountain town. Some 80,000 people are expected to attend 200 panels, plenary sessions, performances, a spectacular jazz concert and “Cinema Interruptus,” an annual event with Ebert.

But one thing this year that won’t be traditional. Communist Party Chair Sam Webb is one among the 100-plus panelists. This will be the first time a Communist Party leader is participating in the grand Boulder 61-year tradition.

Webb will be part of nine panels, “ATTENTION: Deficit Disorder!”; “Family Values: Casualties of the Culture War”; “Ethics in Government: LOL”; “Political Candidates: No Room for Non-believers”; “Are We Stimulated Yet?”; “Libertarians, Progressives, Communists: Political Outliers”; “What Makes a Leader” and “We Are All Socialists Now.”

Plus he will join other panelists on a live broadcast Wed., April 8 8:30-9:20 on KGNU 88.5 FM/1390 AM discussing “A Public Affair Is Obama’s Bipartisanship Sustainable?”

Conference director Jim Palmer said the annual event can only happen because of those enthusiastic volunteers, who every year donate thousands of hours of their time. “There really is nothing like the Conference on World Affairs,” Palmer said. “The Conference on World Affairs is a million-dollar conference that is basically run on a shoestring.”

All events are free and open to the public.

“Every year, about 100 Boulder residents volunteer to open up their homes to panelists, agreeing to put up guests who could range from an Irish storyteller, the chairman of the Communist Party USA or a New York Times reporter,” reports local newspaper The Daily Camera.

Journalist Molly Ivins, who was a frequent participant, wrote that the event offers “astonishing, cross-disciplinary insights, whole new ways of looking at old questions and information that can transform the way you look at things.”

Palmer says he believes the increasing audiences are a reaction to today’s easy access to information. “In an age when facts and figures are available almost instantaneously via the Internet, people are craving context, background, experience; they want texture and substance, face-to-face encounters and exchanges, to help them interpret all the detailed information we now have so readily at hand. This is one of the things the conference does best. Also, it is moving, wild, unpredictable, and fun.”

The University of Colorado’s Conference on World Affairs was founded in 1948 as a forum on international affairs. It rapidly expanded to encompass a huge range of fields including but not limited to: music, literature, environment, science, journalism, visual arts, diplomacy, technology, spirituality, film politics, business, medicine, and human rights.

The list of 2009 participants (and bios, including Webb’s) is at http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/participants.html?year=2009



2009 Participants

Gordon Adams
Professor of International Relations, School of International Service, American University, Washington

Margot Adler
New York City Correspondent, National Public Radio

Justo Almario
Reedman; Composer; Arranger, Pasadena

Ziad J. Asali
Founder and President, American Task Force on Palestine, Washington

Ramin Bahrani
Filmmaker

Bijoux Barbosa
Musician, Denver

Rony Barrak
Musician, Beirut

Roberta Baskin
Investigative Reporter, Washington

David Bender
Host, Politically Direct, Air America, New York City

Chip Berlet
Senior Analyst, Political Research Associates, Somerville, Massachusetts

Charlie Bisharat
Musician, Pacific Palisades, California

Lillian Boutté
Entertainer; Singer, Beidenfleth, Germany

Janet Breslin-Smith
Professor and Chair Emeritus, Department of National Security Strategy, National War College, Washington

George Butler
Filmmaker, Holderness, New Hampshire

Henry Butler
Musician, New Orleans

Hal Cannon
Founding Director, The Western Folklife Center and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Salt Lake City

Oscar Castro-Neves
Musician and Composer, Los Angeles

Wendy Chamberlin
President, Middle East Institute; Ambassador, United States Department of State (ret.), Washington

Michael Chorost
Author; Visiting Professor, ASL and Deaf Studies, Gallaudet University, Washington

Joseph Cirincione
President, Ploughshares Fund, Washington

Greg Collins
Managing Director, The Lakeline Group, Shanghai

Kay Danes
Author; Humanitarian, Capalaba, Australia

Chaz Hammel-Smith Ebert
Vice President, The Ebert Company, Chicago

Roger Ebert
Film Critic; Journalist, The Chicago Sun-Times

Michael Elliott
Editor, Time International, New York City

Jim Emerson
Writer; Film Critic; Editor, Seattle

Margaret Engel
Director, The Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation, Washington

Sharon Y. Eubanks
Senior Pro Bono Counsel, Holland & Knight, Washington

Alex Filippenko
Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley

Mike Franc
Vice President, Government Relations, The Heritage Foundation, Washington

Robert George
Associate Editorial Page Editor, New York Post, New York City

James Glanz
Journalist, The New York Times

John Gliedman
Author, New York City

Brad Goode
Professor of Music, University of Colorado at Boulder

Jonathan Granoff
President, Global Security Institute, New York City

Dave Grusin
Musician; Composer; Arranger, Santa Fe

Don Grusin
Music and Video Producer; Composer; Arranger, Los Angeles

Mel Gurtov
Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University

Charles T. (Chuck) Hagel
Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington

Jim Hansen
Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York City

Jay Harris
President and Publisher, Mother Jones, San Francisco

Azmat Hassan
Professor, The John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey

Maria Hinojosa
Senior Correspondent, NOW, PBS; Anchor and Managing Editor, Latino USA, National Public Radio; Anchor, One on One with Maria Hinojosa, WGBH/La Plaza, New York City

Simon Hoggart
Parliamentary Correspondent, The Guardian, London

Barbara Ibrahim
Director, Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, American University, Cairo

Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

Andy Ihnatko
Tech Columnist, The Chicago Sun-Times, Westwood, Massachusetts

Martin S. Indyk
Director; Saban Center for Middle East Policy; Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Program, Brookings Institution, Washington

Malou Innocent
Foreign Policy Analyst, Cato Institute, Washington

Juniper Jairala
EVA Test Engineer, NASA Johnson Space Center; Fire Dancer, Luminosity and Zion's Flame Troupes, Houston

Lynne d Johnson
Senior Editor and Community Director, FastCompany.com, New York City

Peter Thabit Jones
Author, Wales

Teresa Jordan
Author, Salt Lake City

Robert G. Kaufman
Professor of Political Science, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University, Malibu

Lorelei Kelly
Director, National Security Program, American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation, Washington

Lesa Snider King
Photographer; Technology Author and Trainer, Danbury, Connecticut

Val Koromzay
Economist, Belleme, France

Achim Köddermann
Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York, Oneonta

Patrick Leonard
Musician; Composer; Record Producer, Los Angeles

Susan Love
Author; President and Medical Director, Susan Love Research Foundation; Clinical Professor of Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles

Sanjoy Mahajan
Associate Director, Teaching and Learning Laboratory and Lecturer, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

Carolyn Makinson
Executive Director, Women’s Refugee Commission, New York City

Mike Marlier
Professor of Music, University of Denver

Jurek Martin
Columnist, Financial Times, Washington

Deirdre N. McCloskey
Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago

Bruce C. McKenna
Screenwriter; Producer, Santa Fe

Terrence McNally
Radio Host; Media and Message Consultant; Screenwriter; Author, Los Angeles

William Nack
Freelance Writer, Washington

Jennifer Nordstrom
Campaign Coordinator, Carbon-Free, Nuclear-Free Campaign, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Takoma Park, Maryland

Daniel Odescalchi
President, Strategic Advantage International, Pleasant Valley, New York

Sidney Perkowitz
Professor of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta

Allan Peterson
Poet; Visual Artist, Gulf Breeze, Florida

John Prendergast
Co-chair, The ENOUGH Project

Bill Reinert
National Manager, Advanced Technology, Toyota Motor Sales, USA

Evelyn Resh
Sexuality Counselor; Director, Sexual Health Services, Canyon Ranch Resorts, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Harvey Rishikof
Professor Emeritus of Law and National Security Studies, National War College, Washington

Josh Rushing
International Correspondent; Television Producer; Author, Austin, Texas

Kirsten Sanford
Host and Producer, This Week in Science

Howard Schultz
President, Lighthearted Entertainment, Burbank

Susan Shaer
Executive Director, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), Arlington, Massachusetts

Molly Sheridan
Managing Editor, NewMusicBox.org; Director, CounterstreamRadio.org, American Music Center, Baltimore

Shodekeh
Beatboxer, Hip Hop Artist, Baltimore

Seth Shostak
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute, Mountain View, California

Laura Simms
Storyteller, New York City

E. Benjamin Skinner
Author, Brooklyn

Jim Smith
Brigadier General, United States Air Force (ret.), Salem, New Hampshire

Gillian Sorensen
Senior Advisor, United Nations Foundation, New York City

Fintan R. Steele
Director, Science Education and Communication, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge

Michelle Thaller
Astronomer and Science Communicator, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Nestor Torres
Musician, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida

Sanho Tree
Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington

James A. Trengrove
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Barnaby Woods Group, Washington

Sam Webb
National Chair, Communist Party, USA, New York City

Liz Weir
Storyteller; Writer, Antrim, Northern Ireland

Isaiah (Ike) Wilson, III
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army; Academy and Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point

Timothy E. Wirth
President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund, Washington

Ann Wright
Colonel, United States Army (ret.), Honolulu

Kay Yoshikawa
Vice President of Operations and Treasurer, The International Committee of Artists for Peace, Santa Monica