Events
GUANTANAMO – January 11, 2014 marks 12 years of Guantanamo. Protests are planned worldwide by Amnesty International, CODEPINK, and other groups. World Can’t Wait is currently working with journalist Andy Worthington on the Close Guantanamo NOW Tour. Witness Against Torture will engage in an 8 day liquid only fast called Fast For Justice, January 6-13, to bring attention to Guantanamo as well as Bagram and other issues.
Contact: http://www.worldcantwait.net/; http://www.closeguantanamo.org/; http://www.amnesty.org/; http://www.codepink4peace.org/; http://witnesstorture.org/.
CLIMATE – The World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Tufts University has extended an invitation to submit expressions of interest to take part in a followup event to the 2012 Rio de Janeiro symposium. The gathering will be held in Qatar on 28-30 January, 2014.
Contact: http://environment.tufts.edu/.
RACE – Jeff Perry, founder of the Hubert Harrison and Theodore W. Allen Society, will present about Allen’s classic work Invention of the White Race, as well as the influence of Harrison on Allen, in Brooklyn, NY, January 31. The event is hosted by Brooklyn For Peace, Arts & Culture Committee.
Contact: [email protected]; http://www.brooklynpeace.org/.
LEONARD PELTIER – Amnesty International is currently promoting an action to urge President Obama to free political prisoner Leonard Peltier from prison. February 4 is the International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier.
Contact: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/americas/5-reasons-president-obama-should-release-leonard-peltier/; http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/.
EVOLUTION/RELIGION – February 7-9 will be the 9th annual celebration of Evolution Weekend, intended to demonstrate that religious people from many faiths and locations understand that evolution is sound science and poses no problems for their faith. The Clergy Letter Project’s theme for 2014 is Different Ways of Knowing / Asking Different Questions.
Contact: http://www.theclergyletterproject.org/.
BLACK SOLIDARITY – The 19th Annual Black Solidarity Conference at Yale University will be held February 13-16. The theme is, From the Pulpits to the Polls: Ushering in a New Era of Activism.
Contact: PO Box 206471, New Haven, CT 06520; http://www.yale.edu/bsc.
MUSIC – The 26th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference will be held February 19-23, in Kansas City, MO, with keynote speaker Graham Nash.
Contact: 509 Delaware St. #101, Kansas City, MO 64105; 816-221-3655; [email protected]; http://www.folkalliance.org/.
JUSTICE – The Justice Conference 2014 will be held in Los Angeles, February 21-22, with a film festival February 23. The Justice Conference is an annual national primary conference that educates, inspires and connects a generation of men and women around a shared concern for biblical and social justice, the vulnerable and oppressed.
Contact: http://thejusticeconference.com/.
MEDIA – The seventh National Conference for Media Reform will be held February 27-March 1, in Chicago. The conference is the country’s largest conference devoted to media, technology and democracy issues.
Contact: http://www.freepress.net/.
MEDIA – The Media Consortium 2014 Conference will be held February 27-March 2, in Chicago. The conference brings together over 100 leaders of independent news.
Contact: http://www.themediaconsortium.org/.
PROGRESSIVES/PA – The 5th annual Pennsylvania Progressive Summit will be held February 28 – March 1, in Harrisburg. Hundreds of social justice advocates, labor organizers, legislators, bloggers and grassroots activists will come together to advance progressive policy and build the progressive movement.
Contact: http://m64644.wix.com/paprogressivesummit_1.
ECONOMICS – The Union For Radical Political Economics will hold its annual conference March 6-9 in Boston.
Contact: http://www.urpe.org/conf/eea/eeahome.html
YOUNG FEMINIST – The 10th Annual National Young Feminist Leadership Conference will be held March 29-31, in Washington, DC, sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Contact: 1600 Wilson Blvd, Suite 801, Arlington, VA 22209; 866-444-3652; [email protected]; http://www.feministcampus.org/.
TRANS/GENDER – The 2014 Transcending Boundaries Conference will be held April 4-6, near Hartford, CT. The annual conference brings together sexuality, relationship and gender minorities for three days of education, activism and community building. The weekend event includes workshops, discussion groups, social events and a community meal with a keynote address.
Contact: Transcending Boundaries, Inc., PO Box 30171, Springfield, MA 01103; [email protected]; http://www.transcendingboundaries.org/.
LABOR – The 2014 Labor Notes Conference will be held April 4-6, in Chicago.
Contact: Labor Notes, 7435 Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI, 48210; 313-842-6262; [email protected]; www.labornotes.org.
CANNABIS – The 2nd annual National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference will be held April 5, in Washington, DC, hosted by Americans For Safe Access and others.
Contact: 202-857-4272; [email protected]; http://www.safeaccessnow.org/.
ABORTION – The 28th annual conference, From Abortion to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom, will be held April 11-13 at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.
Contact: Civil Liberties and Public Policy, 893 West Street, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 01002; 413-559-6976; [email protected]; http://clpp.hampshire.edu/conference.
MILITARY SPENDING – April 14 is a Global Day of Action on Military Spending. Events are planned worldwide.
Contact: http://demilitarize.org/.
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP – The 28th Annual Ohio Employee Ownership Conference will be held April 24 in Akron, OH. The Conference is directed towards business owners, current employee owners, and economic & community development professionals.
Contact: 330-672-3028; [email protected]; http://oeockent.org/.
MAY DAY – May 1 is May Day. Workers of the world will celebrate the 125th anniversary of International Worker’s Day. Born out of a call for an eight-hour workday in the United States, this day is an opportunity for all workers to show their solidarity with one another, as well as to renew the call for labor rights.
MARIJUANA – On the first Saturday of May, marijuana legalization activists will hold informational and educational events, rallies and marches in over 300 cities around the world.
Contact: http://globalcannabismarch.com/.
FEMINISM/SCI-FI – The feminist science fiction convention WisCon 37 is scheduled for May 23-26 in Madison, WI.
Contact: WisCon, SF3, PO Box 1624, Madison, WI 53701; [email protected]; http://www.wiscon.info/.
MULTICULTURE– The 27th annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) will take place May 27-31, in New Orleans. Student scholarships are available.
Contact: SWCHRS, 3200 Marshall Avenue, Suite 290, Norman, OK 73072; 405-325-3694; [email protected]; www.ncore.ou.edu.
RADIO – The 38th Annual Community Radio Conference is schedule for May 28-31, in Reston, VA, with discussions and workshops.
Contact: 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004; 202-756-2268; comments @nfcb.org; http://www.nfcb.org/.
MEDIA – The 16th annual Allied Media Conference will be held June 19-22, in Detroit.
Contact: Allied Media Projects, 4126 Third St., Detroit, MI 48201; 313-718-2267; http://alliedmedia.org/.
HISTORY/WWI – Georgian Court University and the Peace History Society will hold a conference on the theme: World War I: Dissent, Activism, & Transformation, October 17-18. A call for papers for the conference has been issued.
Contact: Georgian Court University, 900 Lakewood Ave., Lakewood, NJ 08701; 800-458-8422; [email protected]; http://www.georgian.edu/WWIconference.htm.
Miscellaneous
AFGHANISTAN – RAWA (the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) and the Afghan Women’s Mission are facing closure after losing much of their savings to theft and then losing many sponsors recently, and are currently fundraising.
Contact: http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/.
JOURNALISM – Applications are now being accepted for the 2014-15 John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships. The program is designed to serve the needs of journalists in an ever-changing media environment and nurture innovation and entrepreneurialism in the field.
Contact: http://knight.stanford.edu/news-notes/2013/applications-open-for-the-2014-15-knight-journalism-fellowships/.
POVERTY/GENOCIDE – Project South is an Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide. They are currently sponsoring Peoples Movement Assemblies, the US Social Forum, and other programs.
Contact: Project South, 9 Gammon Ave SE, Atlanta, GE 30315; 404-622-0602; http://www.projectsouth.org/.
Books
IRAQ – Genocide in Iraq: The Case Against the UN Security Council and Member States, by Abdul Haq al-Ani and Tarik al-Ani, has been published. The book makes the case that imposing sanctions in Iraq was one of the most heinous crimes committed in the 20th century.
Contact: Clarity Press, Inc., Ste. 469, 3277 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta, GE 30305; 404-647-6501; [email protected]; http://www.claritypress.com/.
VETERANS – They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from Ameria’s Wars – The Untold Story, by reporter Ann Jones, shines a light on the dead, wounded, mutilated, brain-damaged, drug-addicted, suicidal, homicidal casualties of our distant wars, taking us on a stunning journey from the devastating moment an American soldier is first wounded in rural Afghanistan to the return home.
Contact: Haymarket Books, PO Box 180165, Chicago, IL 60618; 773-583-7884; http://www.haymarketbooks.org/.
MILITARISM – Sowing Seeds: The Militarisation of Youth and How To Counter It, by Owen Everett, is a new book from War Resisters International. The book documents the seeds of war planted in the minds of young people in many different countries and explores resistance to this militarisation by many people.
Contact: War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012; 212-228-0540; [email protected]; http://www.warresisters.org/.
FILM/NIHILISM – Film, Nihilism and the Restoration of Belief by Darren Ambrose explores the possibility that cinema can challenge our contemporary nihilism and restore belief in new transformative possibilities for life.
Contact: http://www.zero-books.net.
POLITICAL THOUGHT – Activist, Occupier and writer Colby Hopkins has released his first book Another World IS Possible: Freedom, Economic Truth, and Creating a Society of Humanness, published by The Humanness Project. The book serves as a tool to help those who are already politicized and aware of the problems better connect with people who don’t understand why there are so many social aliments.
Contact: Colby Hopkins, [email protected]; http://colbyhopkins.com/; [email protected]; http://thehumannessproject.org/.
GUANTANAMO – Since the US government does not allow photographs of the military trials at Guantanamo, Janet Hamlin went to Guantanamo as a courtroom sketch artist to serve as a visual witness to the courtroom proceedings and provide worldwide media with artwork drawn during them. She has been the only sketch artist covering these trials from 2006 to the present time. Sketching Guantanamo: Court Sketches of the Military Tribunals, 2006-2013 is both a collection of her sketches drawn during this period and a chronicle of her experience at Guantanamo.
Contact: Fantagraphics Books Inc., 7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115; 800-657-1100; http://www.fantagraphics.com/.
PRIVACY – Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy, by Thomas P. Keenan, explores privacy-eroding and life-invading technologies from governments, corporations and neighbors.
Contact: OR Books; [email protected]; http://www.orbooks.com/.
ANARCHY – Who’s Afraid of the Black Blocs? Anarchy in Action Around the World, by Francis Dupuis-Deri, lays out a comprehensive view of the Black Bloc tactic and locates it within the anarchist tradition of direct action.
Contact: Between the Lines, 401 Richmond Street West, #277, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8, Canada; 416-535-9914; [email protected]; http://www.btlbooks.com.
AGING – Out of Time: The Pleasures and the Perils of Aging, by Lynne Segal, examines the author’s life and surveys the work and lives of other writers and artists to explore the pleasures and perils of growing old.
Contact: Verso Books, 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 718-246-8160; [email protected]; http://www.versobooks.com/.
US MILITARY – In A People’s History of the U.S. Military: Ordinary Soldiers Reflect on Their Experience of War, from the American Revolution to Afghanistan, author Michael A. Bellesiles draws from letters, diaries, memoirs, audio recordings, films and blogs to capture the essence of the American military experience.
Contact: The New Press, 38 Greene Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10013; 212-629-8802; http://thenewpress.com/.
UPTON SINCLAIR – Upton Sinclair: California Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual, by Lauren Coodley, underscores Sinclair’s place in the American story as a social, political, and cultural force, and his life as a person who disrupted and documented his era in the name of social justice.
Contact: University of Nebraska Press, 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0630; 800-848-6224; [email protected]; http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/.
Film
IRAQ/REFUGEE – The Lost Dream takes place ten years after the US-led war in Iraq, and thousands of refugees are facing a crisis in the US as their stories go mostly unreported. The documentary follows Nazar and Salam who had to flee Iraq in order to avoid threats to their lives.
Contact: http://typecastfilms.com/.
OAXACA/INDIGENOUS – Burning Paradise is a documentary about indigenous peoples in the heavily deforested Mexican state of Oaxaca who must illegally burn their forests into charcoal to survive, or migrate.
Contact: [email protected]; http://crucibleproductions.net/.
Music / Media
SONGS OF FREEDOM – PM Press has released Songs of Freedom: The James Connolly Songbook. Touring in support of the release are Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore, through February 14. The Songs of Freedom Tour is a celebration of the life and work of James Connolly, the Irish revolutionary socialist and musician martyred by the British government for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Contact: PM Press, PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623; 800-888-4741; [email protected]; http://www.pmpress.org/.
GAME/IRAN – INK Stories, a Brooklyn based independent game developing organization, are currently developing 1979 Revolution, a game that will raise awareness about the Iranian people’s history, in the U.S and the West. INK is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to finish creating the game.
Contact: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1817380887/1979-revolution-black-friday.