Campaigns to democratize elections, education, communities, work, law, media, culture, and many other areas of society are well underway. And a good thing too: We might survive by demanding table scraps, but we'll only thrive once we run the kitchen.

Even so, the U.S.A. today is not yet home to a democracy movement. We know that this country does not yet have a democracy movement, because people do not name it as a movement in the same way we talk about the feminist movement, civil rights movement, peace movement, labor movement, etc.. This panel session will highlight the need for, and some exciting ideas about, building a U.S. democracy movement.

Some of the questions we will be discussing include, what will a US democracy movement look like, how can we centralize democracy in our organizing, what are the biggest obstacles to a democracy movement, how can we overcome them, and more. Invited panelists include former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, John Nichols, the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, and Sergio Sanchez. Specific topics panelists will be addressing include democracy versus empire; democratizing culture; voting rights; race and democracy; corporate power versus community rights; and building a global democracy movement. Ben Manski will moderate.

Panel presentations will be followed by a facilitated response discussion involving all session participants.