New Jersey Peace Action's 58th Annual Dinner Featuring Richard D. Wolff

Contact: Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director, New Jersey Peace Action 973-259-1126 (office) or 973-876-1023 (cell)

“Economists have conducted studies analyzing how funds spent on different aspects of society help job creation. What helps jobs most, a dollar spent on food stamps for struggling families, a dollar spent on improving college education opportunities or a dollar spent building bombs and drones and land mines? All the studies indicate that compared to other approaches, billions spent on weapons is ineffective at helping generate new jobs.” -- Richard Wolff, page 72, Occupy the Economy

WHAT: New Jersey Peace Action (NJPA) is excited to announce that Richard D. Wolff will be the keynote speaker at NJPA’s 58th Annual Dinner and receive the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker award. Dorothy Eldridge was one of NJPA’s founding members whose work continues to inspire NJPA and its members. NJPA, founded as NJ SANE in 1957, and an important peace group in New Jersey, will provide the opportunity to hear Richard D. Wolff speak to the issue of “The Economics of War: Endless Violence, Peace and the Economy.”

Richard D. Wolff will speak to one of the most important issues of the day, the consequences of our war economy on issues such as job creation, corporate subsidies in the weapons sector, the structural, everyday violence of the economic system we call capitalism and finally, real democratic alternatives that can be pursued and implemented. Questions and answers will follow Richard D. Wolff’s presentation.

Also honored will be 15 Now NJ which is part of a nationwide grassroots movement aiming to raise the minimum wage through the mobilization of working people. Founded in 2014, 15 Now NJ has built living wage action committees throughout the state, organized marches, drafted legislation, and changed the conversation around poverty in New Jersey.

Evelyn and James Dette, Weehawken residents, and Ethel Owens, Montclair resident, will be honored as NJPA People of the Year.

WHO: Richard Wolff is the founder and director of Democracy at Work (d@w), a non-profit organization that conceives, creates, and distributes media aimed at demonstrating why, and how, democratizing the workplace is viable solution for a new economic system. Richard Wolff has been a professor of economics his entire adult life and has taught at Yale, the City University of New York, University of Massachusetts Amherst and is currently a visiting professor at The New School. His critiques of capitalism are widely published by both the Guardian and Truthout.org and Common Dreams. His recent works include, Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism, Capitalism Hits the Fan, and Occupy the Economy.

Since 2011 he has produced a weekly radio program titled, “Economic Update”, which takes complex economic issues and makes them understandable, empowering listeners with information to change not only their own financial situation but that of the larger economy. It is aired on over 40 public radio stations nationwide including WBAI 99.5 FM.

Since the financial collapse of 2008 Wolff’s unique perspective on the economy has received heightened attention. He has made appearances on Bill Moyers’ Moyers & Company, The Charlie Rose Show and Democracy Now! In 2012 he was described by the New York Times Magazine as, “America’s most prominent Marxist economist”.

WHERE: The Annual Dinner will be held at the Regency House, 140 Route 23 North, Pompton Plains, New Jersey. Reservations are required. Please visit http:/www.njpeaceaction.org or call 973-259-1126 to make your reservations. Dinner tickets cost $65 before April 6 and $75 after that.

WHEN: 12:00 to 4:00 PM Sunday, April 19th, 2015.

WHY: NJPA is concerned about the U.S. government’s continued commitment to allocating billions of dollars for military spending while American families at home barely make ends meet. NJPA believes that 25% of the current military budget should be reallocated to education and social service programs. In December 2013, the town of Montclair joined a national movement by passing a “Move the Money” resolution. NJPA hopes that the trend of understanding the link between our economic woes at home and our over-bloated military budget will continue and believes that the best way to attain peace abroad is begins with changing our budget priorities here at home. Demobilization of our expansive military arsenal would not stop there, but would contribute toward creating a more just a peaceful world.