Events, Press Releases, & Other Short Items of Interest

Events

OCCUPY TOGETHER - Occupy Together is the unofficial hub for the various occupations springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. Over 1,000 cities and towns are currently participating.

Contact: http://www.occupytogether.org/.

LEONARD PELTIER - February 4 is the International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier. The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee calls on supporters worldwide to protest against the injustice suffered by the Indigenous activist.

Contact: http://www.whois leonardpeltier.info/index1.htm.

EVOLUTION - February 10-12 will be the sixth 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 (affiliated with the Clergy Letters Project repudiating anti-science fundamentalism).

Contact: http://theclergyletter project.org/.

AFRICA - The Priority Africa Network will host the Second Annual Ubuntu Awards’ Dinner, February 11, in Oakland, CA. Honorees include Adam Hochschild and Christine Chacha.

Contact: http://www.priority africa.org/.

FOOD - Registration is open for the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s (OEFFA) 33rd annual conference, Sowing the Seeds of Our Food Sovereignty, February 18-19, in Granville, OH.

Contact: http://www.oeffa. org/.

JUSTICE - The Justice Conference 2012 will be held February 24-25 in Portland, OR. The event is the second annual international gathering of advocates, activists, artists, professors, prophets, pastors, students, and stay-at-home moms working to restore the fabric of justice.

Contact: http://thejusticecon- ference.com/.

SHUT DOWN  -  Occupy Portland has called for a Shut Down Corporations Day on February 29—a day of non-violent civil disobedience targeting corporations who are members of ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), one of the most successful mechanisms that the 1% uses to control legislation.

Contact: http://occupyport- land.org/.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE - Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns. Events are being held through February and March.

Contact: http://apartheidweek. org/en.

WOMEN/AFGHANISTAN - Global Exchange Reality Tours and Afghans4Tomo- row have prepared a program to begin March 1, called Afghanistan: Women Making Change - International Women’s Day in Kabul. The trip includes meeting with women’s organizations, visiting schools, and other places of interest.

Contact: http://www.globalexchange.org/tours; http://www. afghans4tomorrow.org/.

WOMEN’S STRIKE - March 8 is International Women’s Day and events are planned worldwide. Global Women’s Strike also organizes protest, education, and direct action around this day to redress the ongoing oppression of women who do two-thirds of all the world’s work— most of it without pay or formal benefits and often in slave conditions.

Contact: http://www.global womenstrike.net/; http://www. internationalwomens day.com/about.asp.

OCCUPY/CAPITALISM - The 2012 Left Forum is scheduled for March 16-18 at Pace University in New York City. This year’s theme is “Occupy the System: Confronting Global Capitalism” and will feature panel discussions, art and film shows, and exhibitors.

Contact: 212-817-2003; panels@leftforum.org; http:// www.leftforum.org.

FOOD NOT BOMBS - Food Not Bombs is currently organizing several projects in communities, including: free food distribution to local people in need; literature tables to provide information about food, peace and justice; hot meals at demonstrations and events; and creative actions in protest of war and poverty. The group invites all to join.

Contact: Food Not Bombs, PO Box 424, Arroyo Seco, NM 87514; 800-884-1136; http://foodnotbombs.net/.
 

 Fundraising Campaigns

LABOR/COMMUNITY - The Strategy Center is a driving force in Grassroots Global Justice, a national network of 50 groups organizing in communities of color, building grassroots internationalism. The Center is currently fundraising for its Building a Movement, One High School at a Time campaign.

Contact: info@thestrategy center.org; http://www.thestrategy center.org/.

PROCESS - No Labels is currently accepting new stakeholders. The group aims to build a network of supporters in every congressional district at the grassroots level.

Contact: backoffice@nolabels. org; http://nolabels.org/front.

PEACE/DEMOCRACY - The Campaign for Peace and Democracy is currently fundraising. The organization does not receive any foundation or government grants.

Contact: cpd@igc.org; http:// www.cpdweb.org/.

MEDIA - Toward Freedom is currently fundraising. The organization organizes public events aimed at raising awareness of and discussions about global issues.

Contact: admin@towardfreedom.com; http://towardfreedom.com/.

PEACE & JUSTICE  - S!PAZ is currently fundraising. The group seeks to promote actions that contribute to the process of a non-violent transformation related to the ongoing armed conflict in Chiapas.

Contact: http://razapressasso- ciation.org/.

MEDIA/RAZA - The Raza Press and Media Association (RPMA) has issued its 2012 New Year Messages of Resistance, and is currently seeking new members. The group holds the position that Raza are colonized, indigenous people and that the Southwest U.S. is Aztlan, part of the Mexicano nation; and seeks to combat all manifestations of oppression and exploitation.

Contact: chiapas@sipaz.org; http://www.sipaz.org/fini_eng.htm.  

Books

COMMONS/SURVIVAL - In Save the Humans? Common Preservation in Action, author Jeremy Brecher shows how common preservation in action works and how we can learn from the history of past social movements to help us confront today’s global threats of climate change, endless war, and economic chaos.

Contact: Paradigm Publishers, 2845 Wilderness Place, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301; 303-245-9054; peteh@paradigmpublishers.com; http:// www.paradigmpublishers.com/.

VIOLENCE/LGBTQ - Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law is a new book by Dean Spade. The book argues that resistance politics necessitates a deeper understanding of how power works, and the role of law in maintaining white supremacy, ableism, hetero- patriarchy, economic injustice, transphobia, and other organizing principles of the socioeconomic order.

Contact: South End Press, PO Box 382132, Cambridge, MA 02238; 718-874-0089; southend@southendpress.org; http://southend press.org/.

TEA PARTY - In The Rise of the Tea Party: Political Discontent & Corporate Media in the Age of Obama, Anthony DiMag- gio examines the Tea Party phenomenon. The book traces the history of the movement, analyzes its organizational structure, membership, ideological coherence, and relationship to the mass media.

Contact: Monthly Review Press, 146 W. 29th St., Suite 6W, New York, NY 10001; 212-691- 2555; scott@monthly review. org; http:// monthlyreview. org/.

RECESSION/MAGAZINE - Downsized Living is a new dark humor magazine that parodies Martha Stewart Living. The magazine aims to call attention to and protest the effects of the recession on Americans.

Contact: http://www.downsized livingmag.com/.

SDS/WEATHER UNDERGROUND - Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond is the autobiography of David Gilbert.

Contact: PM Press, PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623; http://www.pmpress.org/.

CUBA/CASTRO - In Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment, Samuel Farber provides a review of the revolution’s impact and legacy.

Contact: Haymarket Books, PO Box 180165, Chicago, IL 60618; 773-583-7884; info @haymarketbooks.org; http:// www.haymarketbooks.org/.

BLACK - 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man In America Today features first-person accounts of racial profiling as experienced by a dozen black men from all walks of life and all parts of the country.

Contact: The New Press, 38 Greene Street, 4th FL, New York, NY 10013; 212-629-8802; http://thenewpress.com/.

CAPITALISM - David Graeber’s new book, Revolutions in Reverse: Essays On Politics, Art, Violence, and Imagination, focuses on the decline of capitalism. Written in the wake of the anti-globalization movement and the rise of the war on terror, these essays survey the political landscape for signs of hope and new ideas.

Contact: http://www.scribd. com/; http://www.minorcompositions .info/?p=284.

Film

LABOR - Murder By Proxy is a new documentary that explores the idea that it is the social environment—especially workplace conditions—that cause many people to commit violence. The film features interviews with survivors and victims of mass shootings; as well as with top U.S. experts who discuss why workplace violence occurs and how it could be avoided.

Contact: http://www.murder byproxyfilm.com/.

IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN WARS - This Is Where We Take Our Stand: The Iraq Veterans Against the War will premier in Washington, DC on February 2. PBS is currently releasing the movie to its affiliates. Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan was an event at which more than 200 U.S. military veterans and active duty soldiers, as well as Iraqi and Afghan civilians, provided accounts of their experiences in the wars.

Contact: http://ivaw.org/ where-we-take-our-stand; http: //www.busboysand poets.com/.