As the 2008 election season speeds ahead, The Public Square at the Illinois Humanities Council invited activists, scholars, artists, members of the community to Festival of Democracy: Unleashing Radical Imagination, a gathering designed to launch a conversation about the kind of world we want to build together. Even as the presidential debates enter new territory, with candidates taking part in YouTube and online-only debates, we want to ask: how can we move beyond political platforms and media sound bites to engage in meaningful dialogue?

How can we create a more participatory democracy as we raise and wrestle with local and global issues? How do various issues intersect in ways that provide new insights and directions? How can we make connections between ongoing strugglesthat help us envision a more democratic and just world?

The last panel of the day was titled “Resistance and Liberation, Then and Now: An Intergenerational Conversation” and aimed to ask: What can we learn from past movements for social justice? What’s different today and what’s the same? What are the visions and dreams that are inspiring new generations to create social change?

Panelists include: Bernardine Dohrn, Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director and founder of the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University and member of the Advisory Committee of The Public Square at the IHC; Yunuen Rodriguez, co-president of the Women & Girls CAN Board of Directors and a member of Females United for Action; Stan Willis, attorney in the City of Chicago specializing in criminal defense and federal rights cases, spokesman for the African American Committee to Free Mumia Abu Jamal and Aaron Patterson and the co-chair of the Chicago Conference of Black Lawyers;and Lisa Yun Lee (moderator), director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, co-founder of The Public Square at the IHC, and co-chair of The Public Square’s Advisory Committee.

Recorded Saturday, October 20, 2007 at Experimental Station.