Commentary
ELECTORAL POLITICS
Mitt and Money
Mark Harris
FOG WATCH
The Triumph of Angels
Edward Herman
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Reforming the UN
Ramzy Baroud
SECURITY FORCES
Preventing Democracy
Poyan Nahrvar
ECONOMIC NEWS
Year-End Statistics
Jack Rasmus
FALLOUT
Nuclear Follies
Michael Steinberg
GREEN TIDE
Fracking
Robert Hunziker
CIVIL LIBERTIES
Defense Act
Brian J. Trautman
Activism
SHIFTING POWER
Saving Labor
Kevin Zeese
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Edge of the Abyss
Frauke Decoodt
Features
PARTY POLITICS
Obama Discovers Inequality
Roger Bybee
SPECIAL REPORT
Death Squads
Nicolas J.S. Davies
SCAPEGOATING
Nativism
Meghan Conley
EUROPE
The Front
Aurelien Mondon
Reviews
New Releases
Various Reviewers
Zaps
Listings
Various Contributors
NOTE: Z Magazine subscribers and sustainers have access to all Z Magazine articles here and in the archive. The latest Z Magazine articles available to everyone are listed in the Free Articles box at the top of the table of contents, and are starred in the list below. Questions? e-mail Z Magazine Online.
Free Listings
Events
OCCUPY TOGETHER - Occupy Together is the unofficial hub for the various occupations springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. Over 1,000 cities and towns are currently participating.
Contact: http://www.occupytogether.org/.
PALESTINE - A collective of students in Gaza has formed the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI). These students are seeking to expand their collaboration and participation in events and activities with solidarity activists at international universities, particularly those involved with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction campaigns.
Contact: pscabi@usacbi.org; http://www.usacbi.org/.
COMMUNITY RADIO - The Prometheus Radio Project advocates for independent media at the federal level and assists community groups to apply for and start their own local community radio stations. The group is currently organizing people to occupy the airwaves after President Obama signed into law the Local Community Radio Act, which mandates that the FCC dedicate a slice of the FM radio airwaves to nonprofits and community groups.
Contact: jrousset@prometheusradio.org; http://prometheusradio.org/.
ISRAEL/PALESTINE - An Occupy AIPAC—the pro- Israeli lobby—conference is being planned for March 2-6 in Washington, DC. Timed to coincide with the annual AIPAC policy conference in March 2012, the Occupy AIPAC summit will be a long weekend of teach-ins, cultural performances, protests, and creative direct actions involving over 120 groups.
Contact: http://www.occupyaipac.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. internationalwomensday.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.
POETRY - Split This Rock Poetry Festivals: Poems of Provocation & Witness will host poets, writers, and activists at workshops, discussions, and other activities. The event is themed poetry by and for the 99% and is being held from March 22-25 in Washington, DC.
Contact: 202-787-5210; info@splitthisrock.org; http://www.splitthisrock.org/index.html.
ANTI-WAR - The United National Antiwar Coalition National Conference will be held March 23 in Stamford, CT. The event is themed, A Conference to Challenge the Wars of the 1% Against the 99% Abroad and at Home. The conference will bring together activists from the occupy movements, the antiwar movement, and those struggling for economic equality.
Contact: UNACpeace@gmail.com; http://www.justicewith peace.org/node/3306; https:// nationalpeaceconference.org/.
ANTI-WAR - On March 30, people from across the country will gather in Washington, DC, for the National Occupation of Washington, DC (NOW DC), in protest of corporate-controlled government. The event begins with an Occupy Social Forum, with workshops, talks, General Assemblies, and more.
Contact: http://nowdc.org/.
FEMINIST CONFERENCE - The National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation, the world’s largest pro-choice student network, is scheduled for March 31-April 1, near Washington, DC.
Contact: Feminist Majority Foundation, 1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 801, Arlington, VA 22209; 866-444-FMLA; http:// www.feministcampus.org/default.asp.
COKE - Killer Coke is planning actions for the next Annual Meeting of Shareowners of the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia in April.
Contact: http://killercoke.org/index.php.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL - Millions 4 Mumia, the American Friends Service Committee and other groups are calling for supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal to be at the U.S. Justice Department on Mumia’s birthday, April 24, with the goal of freeing him and all political prisoners.
Contact: http://www.millions4 mumia.org/; http://afsc.org/.
MAY DAY - A General Strike is called for May Day by many groups. Events are planned worldwide.
Contact: http://www.occupytogether.org/.
LABOR - The 2012 Labor Notes Conference, themed Solidarity for the 99%, will be held May 4-6, in Chicago. Thousands of union members, officers, and grassroots labor activists will attend the event, which features workshops, meetings, and organizing opportunities.
Contact: 313-842-6262; http:// labornotes.org/conference.
NATO/G8 - The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda is organizing protests at the NATO and G8 meetings being held in Chicago, May 19-21. A legal, family- friendly march and rally are planned for May 19. An Occupy Chicago month-long occupation is being planned to begin May 1.
Contact: http://cang8.word press.com/about/.
PEOPLE’S SUMMIT - The People’s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice during Rio+20 will take place between the June 15 and 23 at Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro— alongside the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio+20.
Contact: contato@rio2012.org.br; http://cupuladospovos.org.br/en/.
Books
SOCIAL SECURITY - Eric Laursen’s new book, The People’s Pension: The Struggle To Defend Social Security Since Reagan, traces the story of the 30- year war to determine the fate of America’s most successful social program, analyzes arguments over its future, and suggests what’s needed to preserve and expand the principles behind it for the 21st Century.
Contact: laursene@eartlink.net; http://peoplespension.infoshop.org/blogs-mu/.
IDENTITY - In Black Power, Yellow Power, and the Making of Revolutionary Identities, Rychetta Watkins uses the guerilla figure as a point of departure and shows how the trope’s rhetoric animates representation and identity in African American and Asian American literature and culture.
Contact: University of Mississippi Press, 3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211; 601-432-6205; press@ihl. state.ms.us; http://www.upress. state.ms.us/.
LABOR - Rank & File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers is a new oral history by Alice Lynd and Staughton Lynd. The book covers the activities of rank-and-file organizers from the 1930s- 1990s, who demanded changes in their unions, workplaces, and societies.
Contact: Haymarket Books, PO Box 180165, Chicago, IL 60618; 773-583-7884; info@ haymarketbooks.org; http:// www.haymarketbooks.org/.
GLOBALIZATION - Alternative Globalization examines the intellectual structure of anti-globalization and global justice movements, exploring the formation and transformation of ideas, identities, and solidarities in the movements.
Contact: http://www.rout ledge.com/.
CORPORATIONS - In Slaying Corporate Vampires: A Proposal in the Age of Occupy Wall Street, author Mitchell Szczepanczyk argues that corporations are a rational response to the economic context in which they survive—the competitive realm of markets—and that in order to combat them, a wholesale shift is necessary away from the retentionist economic systems of markets and command planning and into an alternative cooperative economic model which goes by the name participatory economics.
Contact: mitchell@szcz.org.
Film
AFGHANISTAN - Shadow of Afghanistan is a new film about the country seen through the eyes of an Afghan warrior. The film includes the periods of the Soviet occupation, the exile of two million refugees maimed by Soviet mines, a violent civil war, and the invasion by the United States.
Contact: http://shadowofafhanistan.com/.
DETROIT - Deforce is a new documentary which provides insight into how the once great and prosperous city of Detroit, with a progressive and industrialized economy in the postwar years, is now a city rife with socio-economic inequality, violence, and political oppression.
Contact: http://www.deforce movie.com/.
FORECLOSURE - Expect Resistance is a film in progress about the current housing crisis, particularly in Rochester, NY, as seen through the principle that Housing Is A Human Right. The film follows activists in the Take Back The Land and Occupy movements in their struggles for housing rights. The filmmakers are currently fundraising to complete the film.
Contact: blackcatfilmsltd@ gmail.com; http://www.indie gogo.com/Expect-Resistance-Documentary-on-Foreclosure-Resistance-and-Occupation.
ABORIGINAL PEOPLES, CANADA - Many Canadians believe that if aboriginal people would assimilate into the dominant culture, their problems would be solved. In Civilized to Death, the Aboriginal People’s Television Network’s (APTN) Kimlee Wong talks to health professionals who point to the social determinants of health as the primary cause for these conditions.
Contact: http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/01/23/civilized-to-death-part-1/.
ROMANIA - Tales from the Golden Age is about the final 15 years of the Ceau- sescu regime, some of the worst in Romania’s history. The film spins the most popular, comic, and bizarre urban legends from that harrowing period into a hilariously surreal and omnibus film.
Contact: www.zeitgeist films.com/.
WOMEN/AFRICA - The women of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women’s writers’ Association, went into the Ugandan countryside seeking women to tell stories of their struggles. In I Dare To Say, edited by Hilda Twongyeirwe, FEMRITE has collected stories that relect the ironies of a modern patriarchal society and the conflict between traditional and contemporary Africa.
Contact: Lawrence Hill Books, 800-888-4741; igpbook.com.
Z Magazine Archive
Announcements
LABOR - May 1 is May Day. Workers of the world will celebrate the 124th anniversary of International Worker’s Day. Born out of a call for an 8-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.FARM CONFERENCE - The Farm Conference on Community and Sustainability will be held May 24-26 in Summertown, TN, in partnership with the Fellowship of Intentional Communities. Tour green homes, see sustainable food production, learn about solar installations, alternative education, midwifery, and more.
Contact: Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com; http://www.thefarmcommunity.com/.
PALESTINE - The Conference of the Palestinian Shatat in North American will be held June 3-5 in Vancouver. The conference will examine the future of the Palestinian liberation movement.
Contact: palestinianconference@gmail.com; http://www.palestinianconference.org/.
LABOR - The Pacific Northwest Labor History Association’s 45th annual conference will be held May 3-5, in Portland, OR. This year’s theme is Labor Under Attack: Learning from the Past and Preparing for the Future. A call for presentations, workshops and papers is currently underway.
Contact: PNLHA, 27920 68th Ave. East, Graham, WA 98338; 206-406-2604; PNLHA1@aol.com; http://www3.telus.net.
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/.
ECONOMICS - The Union For Radical Political Economics will hold its 39th annual conference May 9-11 in New York City.
Contact: http://www.ramapo.edu/eea/2013/.
RECLAIM THE DREAM - The 2013 Poor People’s Campaign & March from Baltimore to Washington D.C. will be May 11. Communities, schools and unions interested in participating are encouraged to contact the Baltimore People’s Assembly.
Contact: 410-500-2168; 410-218-4835; BaltimorePeoplesAssembly@gmail.com; Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Baltimore and the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly, 2011 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218.
MOTHER’S DAY - The 17th Annual Mother’s Day Walk For Peace will be May 12th, in Dorchester, MA. The walk began in 1996 for families who had lost children to violence. The day has become a way for thousands of people to financially support the work of the Louis Brown Peace Institute.
Contact: http://www.ldbpeaceinstitute.org/; http://mothersdaywalk4peace.org/.
NATO 5 - An International Week of Solidarity with the NATO 5 has been called for May 16-21. Supports call on supporters to raise awareness of the NATO 5 and support funds for the defendants on the one-year anniversary of their preemptive arrests.
Contact: nato5solidarity@gmail.com; https://nato5support.wordpress.com.
MOUNTAINTOP - The 2013 Mountain Justice Summer Activist Training Camp will be held May 19-27 in Damascus, VA. It will be a week of workshops, field trips to view Mountain Top Removal coal mines, direct actions, and service project.
Contact: http://rampscampaign.org/.
FEMINIST SCI-FI - The feminist science fiction convention WisCon 37 is scheduled for May 24-27 in Madison, WI.
Contact: WisCon, ? SF3, PO Box 1624, Madison, WI 53701; concom37@wiscon.info; http://www.wiscon.info/.
ANARCHY FEST - A month-long Festival of Anarchy is scheduled for May in Montreal. The festival includes The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair (May 19-20).
Contact: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/; http://www.radicalmontreal.com/.
LABOR - The International Labor Rights Forum will present: Down the Supply Chain, Driving Corporate Accountability, on May 22 in Washington, DC. The Labor Rights Awards Ceremony and Reception will honor pioneers in supply chain worker organizing, working solidarity and international labor rights policy.
Contact: http://laborrights.org/.
MULTICULTURE - The 26th annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) will take place May 28-June 1, in New Orleans.
Contact: SWCHRS, 3200 Marshall Avenue, Suite 290, Norman, OK 73072; 405-325-3694; ncore@ou.edu; www.ncore.ou.edu.
MEDIA - The 2013 Alliance for Community Media Annual Conference will be held May 29-31, in San Francisco, CA. Participants will include educators, community leaders, media professionals, journalists, nonprofit leaders, policymakers and students.
Contact: http://www.allcommunitymedia.org/.
RADIO - The 38th Annual Community Radio Conference is schedule for May 29-June 1, in San Francisco, CA, with discussions and workshops.
Contact: 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004; 202-756-2268; comments@nfcb.org; http://www.nfcb.org/.
BRADLEY MANNING - On June 1, a rally will be held at Fort Meade in support of Bradley Manning.
Contact: http://www.bradleymanning.org.
BIKES - Bikes Not Bombs is holding its 24th annual Bike-A-Thon and Green Roots Festival in Boston, MA on June 3, with several bike rides scheduled, music, exhibitors and more.
Contact: Bikes Not Bombs, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; 617-522-0222; mail@bikesnotbombs.org; www.bikesnotbombs.org.
LEFT FORUM - The 2013 Left Forum will be held June 7-9, at Pace University in New York City.
Contact: 365 Fifth Avenue, CUNY Graduated Center, ? Sociology Dept., New York, NY 10016; http://www.leftforum.org/.
VEGAN FEST - Mad City Vegan Fest will be held in Madison, WI, June 8. The annual event features food, speakers, and exhibitors.
Contact: 122 State Street, Suite 405 B, Madison, WI 53701; madcityveganfest@gmail.com; http://veganfest.org/.
ADC CONFERENCE - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) holds its annual conference June 13-16, in Washington, DC, with panel discussions and workshops on civil rights, media and other topics.
Contact: 1990 M Street, Suite 610, Washington, DC, 20036; 202-244-2990; convention@adc.org http://convention.adc.org/.
CUBA/SOCIALISM - A Cuban-North American Dialog on Socialist Renewal and Global Capitalist Crisis will be held in Havana, Cuba, June 16-30. There will be a 5 day Seminar at University of Havana, plus visits to a cooperative, urban garden, community development project, social research centers, and educational & medical institutions.
Contact: cuba@globaljusticecenter.org; http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/.
NETROOTS - The 8th Annual Netroots Nation conference will take place June 20-23 in San Jose, CA. The event features panels, trainings, networking, screenings, and keynotes.
Contact: 164 Robles Way, #276, Vallejo, CA 94591; registration@netrootsnation.org; http://www.netrootsnation.org/.
MEDIA - The 15th annual Allied Media Conference will be held June 20-23, in Detroit.
Contact: 4126 Third Street, Detroit, MI 48201; http://alliedmedia.org/.
GRASSROOTS - The United We Stand Festival will be hosted by Free & Equal, June 22 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The festival aims to reform the electoral process throughout the U.S.
Contact: http://freeandequal.org/.
SOCIALISM - The Socialism 2013 Conference is scheduled for June 27-30 in Chicago, featuring talks and panel discussions.
Contact: info@socialismconference.org; http://www.socialismconference.org.
LITERACY - The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) will hold its conference July 12-13 in Los Angeles under the heading, Intersections: Teaching and Learning Across Media.
Contact: 10 Laurel Hill Drive, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003; http://namle.net/conference/.
IWW - The North American Work People’s College will take place July 12-16 at Mesaba Co-op Park in northern Minnesota. The event will bring together Wobblies from branches across the continent to learn new skills and build One Big Union.
Contact: http://workpeoplescollege.org/.
PEACESTOCK - On July 13th, the 11th Annual Peacestock: A Gathering for Peace, will take place at Windbeam Farm in Hager City, WI. The event is a mixture of music, speakers and community for peace. Sponsored by Veterans for Peace.
Contact: Bill Habedank, 1913 Grandview Ave., Red Wing, MN 55066; 651-388-7733; billhabedank@yahoo.com; http://www.peacestockvfp.org.
CHILDREN’S DEFENSE - July 15-19, join clergy, seminarians, Christian educators, young adult leaders and other faith-based advocates for children at CDF Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee, for five days of spiritual renewal, networking, movement building workshops, and continuing education about the urgent needs of children at the 19th annual Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry.
Contact: cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org; http://www.childrensdefense.org.
ACTIVIST CAMP - Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp will have sessions in July and August in Ben Lomond, CA; Portland, OR; Charlton, MA. YEA Camp is designed for activists 12-17 years old who want to make a difference in the world.
Contact: info@yeacamp.org; http://yeacamp.org/.
LA RAZA - The annual National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Conference is scheduled for July 18-19 in New Orleans, with workshops, presentations and panel discussions.
Contact: NCLR Headquarters Office, Raul Yzaguirre Building, 1126 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036; 202-785-1670; www.nclr.org.
LABOR - The Eastern Conference For Workplace Democracy: Growing Our Cooperatives, Growing Our Communities, will be held at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, July 26-28.
Contact: info@east.usworker.coop; http://east.usworker.coop/.
WOMEN/LYNNE STEWART- Radical Women is asking for support letters and cards to be sent to Lynne Stewart. Stewart is a civil rights attorney and political prisoner who is currently in jail. She has breast cancer and authorities have denied her request for transfer from her Texas prison to the New York City hospital where she received medical attention during a prior bout of breast cancer. Send messages and cards to: Lynne Stewart 53504-054, Federal Medical Center Carswell, P.O. Box 27137, Fort Worth, TX 76127.
Contact: 747 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109; 415-864-1278; RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com; http://lynnestewart.org/; http://www.radicalwomen.org/.
HAITI/WOMEN - Haiti’s government is considering a legal reform measure that would prohibit and punish all sexual assault, including marital rape. MADRE and the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict are launching a petition to raise international support for this push to address violence against women in Haiti.
Contact: 121 West 27th Street, #301, New York, NY 10001; 212-627-0444; madre@madre.org; http://www.madre.org.
SYRIA/MIDDLE EAST - The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is currently seeking funds to assist more than 200,000 refugees fleeing violence in Syria.
Contact: https://www.mecaforpeace.org.
FOLK FESTIVAL - The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival will be held August 2-4, in the Berkshires, NY.
Contact: http://www.falconridgefolk.com/; falcridge@aol.com.
WAR RESISTERS - The War Resisters League will hold its 90th anniversary conference, Revolutionary Nonviolence: Building Bridges Across Generations and Communities, August 1-4, at Georgetown University. The event will focus on the U.S.’ long history of antimilitarism.
Contact: 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012; 212-228-0450; wrl@warresisters.org; http://www.warresisters.org.
POPULAR ECONOMICS - The Center for Popular Economics is holding its 2013 Summer Institute August 4-9 at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. No background in economics is needed for this intensive training. This year’s theme is, The Care Economy: Building a Just Economy with a Heart.
Contact: Center for Popular Economics, PO Box 785 Amherst, MA 01004; 413-545-0743; programs@populareconomics.org; www.populareconomics.org.
VETERANS - Veterans for Peace is holding the 28th annual convention August 6-11 in Madison, WI. This year’s theme is, Power To The Peaceful.
Contact: http://www.vfpnationalconvention.org/.
DEMOCRACY - The Democracy Convention will take place August 7-11 in Madison, WI. The convention brings together nine conferences including topics such as media, education, defense, race, environment and others.
Contact: https://democracyconvention.org/.
MEN - The 38th National Conference on Men & Masculinity: Forging Justice: Creating Safe, Equal and Accountable Communities, presented in partnership with HAVEN, will be held in Detroit, MI, August 8-10.
Contact: ccardinal@haven-oakland.org; http://www.nomas.org/.
OCCUPY - An Occupy National Gathering will be held in Kalamazoo, MI, August 21-25.
Contact: natgat2013@gmail.com; http://occupynationalgathering.net/.
COMMUNITIES - The Communities Conference is a networking and learning opportunity for co-operative or communal lifestyles, with workshops, events and entertainment; scheduled for August 30-September 2 at the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, Virginia.
Contact: http://www.communitiesconference.org/.
LABOR DAY - The 29th annual Bread and Roses Festival, a celebration of the ethnic diversity and labor history of Lawrence, MA, will be held September 2, in honor of the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. There will be music, dance, poetry, drama, ethnic food, historical demonstrations, walking & trolley tours.
Contact: PO Box 1137, Lawrence, MA 01842; 978-794-1655; http://www.breadandrosesheritage.org/.
OCCUPY WALL STREET - September 17 is the two-year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Events are planned in New York City and worldwide.
Contact: http://occupywallst.org/.
TEACHERS - The 13th Annual Conference, “Teaching for Social Justice: The Politics of Pedagogy,” will be held October 12 in San Francisco, CA. The free event features workshops, resources, and free childcare.
Contact: 415-676-7844; teachers4socialjustice@yahoo.com; http://www.t4sj.org/.
HAITI - International Action, which brings clean water and chlorinators to Haiti, seeks office space capable of housing up to six people and their office equipment.
Contact: Zach Bremer, Zbrehmer@haitiwater.org; 202-488-0735; http://www.haitiwater.org/.
MEDIA - The Union for Democratic Communications and Project Censored are sponsoring a joint conference on media democracy, media activism and social justice to be held November 1-3 at the University of San Francisco. Proposals for presentations, workshops and panels from activists and critical scholars are invited.
