Events
SPACE NUKES – The annual International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space is scheduled for October 3-10; resources to help plan educational events or demonstrations available.
Contact: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, PO Box 652, Brunswick, ME 04011; 207-443-9502; [email protected]; www.space4peace.org.
TEACH-INS – Wednesday, October 7 marks the beginning of the 9th year of occupation and war in Afghanistan, now expanding into Pakistan. United for Peace & Justice is calling for actions, dialog, and education on this date and throughout the month under the theme: Change Does Not Equal War! Resources available at the website.
Contact: UFPJ, PO Box 607, Times Square Station, NY, NY 10108; 212-868-5545; www.unitedforpeace.org.
RNC8 – Protesters targeted for unfair prosecution from the 2008 Republican Convention (the RNC8) face an important decision on Thursday, October 8 at the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul, Minnesota. Supporters are urged to attend and rally at the courthouse. Busses to the protest are being organized.
FILM FEST – The 6th Annual Artivist Film Festival is scheduled for October 8-11 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California. The festival is dedicated to showcasing human rights, children’s advocacy, environmental preservation, and animal rights, while strengthening the voice of advocate artists.
Contact: The Artivist Collective, Inc., PO Box 910, Hollywood, CA 90028; 310-712-1222; [email protected]; www.artivists.org.
EDUCATORS – The 9th Annual Conference, "Teaching for Social Justice: Foundations for Change," will be held Saturday, October 10 from 9 AM to 5 PM at Mission High School in San Francisco. The free event features workshops and resources.
Contact: Teachers 4 Social Justice, 279 Madrid Street, San Francisco, California 94112; 415-676-7844; www.t4sj.org.
CLIMATE – Leading up to a crucial UN climate meeting in December, activist groups have called for "Days of Action" to raise awareness. October 12 will be an International Day of Action in Defense of Mother Earth and in Defense of Indigenous Rights (see www.ienearth.org); October 24 will be a Day of Action on atmospheric carbon see (see 350.org); November 30 is the 10-year anniversary of the Seattle WTO shut-down and a world Day of Action on climate; December 7-18 is the UN’s climate meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, and demonstrations are planned there and worldwide to pressure for "No false solutions."
Contact: www.actforclimatejustice.org, www.climate-justice-action.org, www.globaljusticeecology.org, www.risingtidenorthamerica.org, www.climateSOS.org, www.climateimc.org/en.
SOCIAL FORUMS – The Quebec Social Forum is scheduled for October 8-12 in Montreal. Next year, 2010, marks the 10-year anniversary of the first World Social Forum and regional forums are planned around the world; the next World Social Forum will be in Dakar, Senegal in 2011.
Contact: Forum social Québécois, 450 rue Beaubien E., Montreal, QC, H2S 1S3, Canada; 514-965-3770; [email protected]; www.forumsocialquebecois.org; www.forumsocialmundial.org.
HARVEST – The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and its popular committees are coordinating efforts to safeguard the annual olive harvest and are calling on volunteers to stand in solidarity with Palestinian communities and join in the harvest, which will begin October 15, 2009.
Contact: The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (PENGON), PO Box 25220 Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, Palestine; [email protected] or [email protected]; www.stopthewall.org.
MORATORIUMS – The Iraq Moratorium has called for local anti-wars actions on October 17, which marks the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War Moratorium project where over 2 million participants brought the anti-war movement into the political mainstream.
Contact: Iraq Moratorium, PO Box 1850, Milwaukee, WI 53201; [email protected]; www.iraqmoratorium.com.
DISSIDENT FOLK – The annual Dissident Folk & Arts Festival is being held on October 17 from 6-11 PM at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, New York.
FUNDRAISER – The Center for the Study of Political Graphics is holding its 20th anniversary dinner party & auction on October 17 at Union Station in Los Angeles.
Contact: Center for the Study of Political Graphics, 8124 West Third Street, Suite 211, Los Angeles, CA 90048; 323-653-4662; [email protected]; www.politicalgraphics.org.
CONCERT – A 40th anniversary commemoration of Woodstock called WestFest is scheduled for October 25 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Besides music, the free event will highlight the original principles of peace with speakers from the anti-war and free speech movements, along with a green eco-village.
Contact: 2b1 Multimedia, Inc., 3075 17th St., San Francisco, CA 94110; 415-861-1520; www.2b1records.com.
BOOKFAIR – The 8th Annual New Orleans Bookfair is scheduled for Saturday, November 7 at the 500-600 blocks of Frenchmen Street. It will be a celebration of independent publishing and alternative media.
Contact: Robin Stricklin, New Orleans Bookfair, 504-813-6163; [email protected]; www.nolabookfair.com.
DIRECT ACTION – The annual November vigil to protest the School of the Americas (referred to as the School of Assassins), now officially WHINSEC, is scheduled for November 20-22 at Fort Benning, Georgia. This year has greater importance with the ongoing coup in Honduras perpetrated by SOA graduates.
Contact: School of the Americas Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017; 202-234 3440; [email protected]; www.soaw.org.
MOURNING – The 39th National Day of Mourning demonstration is scheduled for noon on November 26 at Coles Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, commemorating the slaughter of Native Americans on the whitewashed holiday of Thanksgiving.
Contact: UAINE, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; 617-522-6626; [email protected]; www.uaine.org.
HR DAY – Thursday, December 10 is Human Rights Day. On that date in 1948, 48 members of the UN, including the United States, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a potentially revolutionary document that has yet to be implemented.
Campaigns
BOOKS PROJECT – Writer/investigator keith harmon snow is collecting important left and progressive political books for several rural libraries and teacher resource projects in the Congo.
Contact: keith harmon snow, 84 Goshen Rd., Williamsburg, MA 01096; [email protected]; monetary donations through www.friendsofthecongo.org.
PLANET CPR – The Climate Pledge of Resistance (CPR for the Planet) offers online resources and a call to action that people can sign on to.
HEALTHCARE – The HR 676 proposal for universal single-payer coverage in the U.S. is backed by dozens of congressional co-sponsors and hundreds of unions and community organizations.
Contact: HR676.org, PO Box 882122, Port Saint Lucie FL 34988; 800-680-9310; [email protected]; www.hr676.org; www.unionsforsinglepayerhr676.org; www.laborforsinglepayer.org.
Videos
MONEY – Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Politics offers an in-depth analysis of the corrupting role of money in politics, available on DVD or for viewing online.
TOXINS – Homo Toxicus explores the links between hundreds of toxic pollutants in our environment and increasing health problems.
Contact: Bullfrog Films, PO Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-3764; [email protected]; www.bullfrogfilms.com.
Books
ANTHROPOLOGY – The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists is a collection of essays exploring the increased militarization of academic knowledge and how to fight back.
Contact: The University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th St., Chicago IL 60637; 773-702-7700; www.press.uchicago.edu.
ASSASSINATION – The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas details one of the most outrageous government crimes in U.S. history, the brutal murder of a charismatic leader in the 1960s.
Contact: Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago Review Press, 814 N. Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60610; 800-888-4741; [email protected]; www.chicagoreviewpress.com.
GLBTQ – And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida’s Purge of Gay and Lesbian Teachers by Karen L. Graves examines how Cold War repression and persecution extended to gay and lesbian teachers in Florida.
Contact: University of Illinois Press, 1325 South Oak St., MC-566, Champaign, IL 61820; 217-333-0950; [email protected]; www.press.uillinois.edu.
GRAPHIC NOVEL/MEMOIR – Cartoonist/writer Ted Rall’s autobiographical graphic novel The Year of Loving Dangerously recalls the author’s travails as he gets expelled from school, dumped, arrested, and evicted onto the streets of NYC in the 1980s.
Contact: NBM publishing, 40 Exchange Place, Ste. 1308, New York, NY 10005; 800-886-1223; www.nbmpub.com.
HATE CRIMES – Devil’s Sanctuary: An Eyewitness History of Mississippi Hate Crimes, by James L. Dickerson and Alex A. Alston, Jr., is both a well-researched history and an eyewitness record of state-sponsored terrorism directed against African Americans.
Contact: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60610; 312-337-0747; [email protected]; www.ipgbook.com.
MILTARY POLLUTION – In Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism, Barry Sanders offers a comprehensive overview of the ecological costs of war preparation—from fuel emissions to radioactive waste to defoliation campaigns—the single-greatest contributor to the worldwide environmental crisis.
Contact: AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland, CA 94612; 510-208-1700; [email protected]; www.akpress.org.
POVERTY – Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity by Loïc Wacquant examines the paternalistic penalties, from workfare to prisonfare, levied on society’s least powerful members.
Contact: Duke University Press, PO Box 90660, Durham, NC 27708; 919-687-3600; [email protected]; www.dukeupress.edu.
TEACHING – In Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-imagining the Language Arts Classroom, Linda Christensen offers a passionate call for better education in a book that is part autobiography, part curriculum guide, and part critique of today’s numbing standardized mandates.
Contact: Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53212; 800-669-4192; www.rethinkingschools.org.