Summation of H-Pad and RHR work at the 2024 AHA Conference
My sum up here focuses mostly on our seventeen RHR/H-PAD-sponsored or co-sponsored sessions. The Gaza support vigil was substituted for the eighteenth session. These sessions were arguably the core of our AHA work. Our sessions were officially sponsored through the Radical History Review–which unlike us is an AHA affiliate organization–with “H-PAD support.” The costs of our affiliated sessions were split evenly between the two organizations, but I think it’s fair to say that those who are primarily H-PAD members were most involved in the work on our AHA intervention, with some notable exceptions. I think it is time that we pursue AHA affiliate status for H-PAD which would allow H-PAD to more accurately represent its role. It would also provide H-PAD with a modicum of protection if the organization is subjected to cultural war -type attacks as entirely outside the AHA. This does not imply that we H-PAD would no longer collaborate with RHR on the AHA conference—that collaboration is very valuable and should be ongoing. Nor does this imply any sort of organizational split. But it would, among other things, simplify all of our efforts organizationally.
The RHR/H-PAD affiliated sessions
Our 2024 AHA sessions were a great success, as the numbers suggest. During this, the sixth AHA conference at which we sponsored them, we scheduled 18 sessions and completed 17. This significantly outdistanced our previous AHA conference efforts, including those in 2023, where we scheduled 11 sessions and completed 10. Furthermore, our 2023 AHA sessions had a total attendance between 320 and 360. By comparison, 2024 drew an estimated 590 attendees plus another 30 that took part in the Gaza demonstration. Similar to 2023, most 2024 sessions individually attracted numbers in the 20s or 30s, with a few drawing less. But the big difference in session attendance between the two years was that in 2024 drew our two largest crowds ever by far: “Is the US Turning toward Fascism” was counted at 150, and “Is Israel Turning Fascist” reportedly hosted over 100.
The number of presenters scheduled for our sessions – a significant measure of the direct participation of historically oriented intellectuals and activists in our conference work—was much larger in 2024 than in 2023: 90 presenters were scheduled this year compared to 43 the previous year (a few in both years were unable to actually attend the conference). In both years the number of panelist with no previously known participation in H-PAD or RHR was over two thirds (as many as 70 in 2024).
The process of soliciting and organizing sessions went very well by several measures. Again, we had significantly more sessions, more panelists, and larger audiences than the year before. Moreover every session started with announcements of RHR sponsorship and H-PAD support work, of the other sessions we were sponsoring, and of activities we and our allies were involved with—especially our resolution and the AHA business meeting at which it was considered. The use of these announcements at all the sessions to support our work was far greater and more systematic than ever before, as was the distribution of fliers, and added a political dimension to all of our work. We did not however make focused efforts to draw the expanded numbers involved into RHR and H-PAD circles; to “recruit” them to RHR and H-PAD activities. Finally, the content of our sessions was very diverse in terms of topic, scope, and type, although much of it was happenstance, based on what was spontaneously offered. We should perhaps do more in H-PAD and RHR to collectively prioritize session content.
Recording
We, for the second year, made an effort to record our sessions; four were both audio- and video- recorded and four were only audio recorded. The relatively small number of sessions participating in recording was not due to only to the few of us willing and able to record, but also to the fact that a significant of number of panelists was reluctant, somewhat fearful, or just disinterested. If we are to continue recording, we have to devise a system of getting to the participants early, and persuading them of the potential educational and political uses of the recordings. And we need more of our people to do recording, and to be trained in recording techniques. We have had, both last year and this, a minimally adequate process of soliciting recording permissions from participants, but the permission process still needs some improvement and more people to work on it. Finally, the conference recordings from 2024 are now being edited and will be distributed via our website, but we need more people involved in this, too.
The literature table
The H-PAD/RHR literature table was up in our dedicated conference room (where most of our sessions were held) during regular hours on all conference days. This table is a major asset to our conference activities! Literature offerings may have been a bit sparse, although a few dozen of our old H-PAD broadsides were picked up, plus various information sheets. And conference goers leafed through the six sample RHR issues that were available, and took leaflets about journal subscriptions and about the Abusable Past. The table was also the distribution point for the programs for our session (over 200) and the leaflet for our business meeting resolution and the Gaza support demonstration (1500 were printed and most went out). Additionally, although this can’t be quantified, useful conversations between our folks and other conference goers, and various forms of networking occurred at the table. The table was a real center for our activities and should be continued and even expanded.
The future
So, once again, the AHA2024 was a real success, for RHR and H-PAD. However, sprinkled through the narrative above are indications of weaknesses in our AHA work, and suggestions for addressing and improving them. It is worth pursuing these.