Net Briefs
Occupations
Various Contributors
Commentary
PLEDGING
War Party Persists
Ramzy Baroud
FOG WATCH
Internal Refugees
Edward S. Herman
CRACKDOWN
The War on Drugs
John Whitehead
NUCLEAR NEWS
U.S. Nuclear Nightmare
John Raymond
GENDER & SEXUALITY
Critique
Donovan Lessard
Activism
TOURING
All Occupations Are Local
Arun Gupta
LESSONS & POTENTIAL
Occupations
Roger Bybee
Features
NARRATIVES
Real Populism
Paul Street
ECONOMIC REPORT
Deficits and Debts
Jack Rasmus
SPECIAL REPORT
Resistance In Occupied Iraq
Nicolas J.S. Davies
INTERVIEW
Kurdish Communalism
Janet Biehl
INTERVIEW
Agitate the Hood
Jilian Suarez
Reviews
BOOK REVIEW
Cultural Items of Note
Various Reviewers
Zaps
Progressive events
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.
Progressive events, programs, and new book releases
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/.
SOCIAL SERVICES - The Emergency Labor Network has issued a call for actions December 3-10 to preserve and expand the social safety net under the banner, “No Cuts To Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Other Social Programs.”
Contact: http://www.laborfight back.org/.
HAITI - Media Alliance will host a benefit for the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund on December 3, in Oakland, CA.
Contact: http://www.haitiemer-gencyrelief.org; http://www.media-alliance.org/index.php.
ZINN - Noam Chomsky and Anthony Arnove will speak at SUNY New Paltz’s Honoring Howard Zinn: An Historian Who Made History program on December 4.
Contact: http://www.newpaltz.edu/news/news.cfm?id=5616.
MUMIA - On the 30th Anniversary of Mumia Abu Jamal’s incarceration, a Free Mumia Now! event will be held at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Speakers include Cornel West and Ramona Africa.
Contact: http://www.freemumia.com/.
CLIMATE - Climate Connections is a blog from the Global Justice Ecology Project. The blog carries hard-to-find daily news from around the world on the impacts of, and people’s resistance to, social and ecological injustice, including live blogging from the UN Climate Conference, November 27-December 10.
Contact: http://climate-connections.org/.
CLASS - The Center for Study of Working Class Life has announced the “How Class Works - 2012 Conference,” to be held at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, July 7-9, 2012. Proposals for papers, presentations, and sessions are welcome until December 12, 2011.
Contact: Dept. of Economics, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4384; 631- 632-7536; workingclass@notes.cc.sunysb.edu; http://www.stony brook.edu/workingclass/.
OCCUPY - Left Forum is now calling for panel proposals for their 2012 conference, Occupy the System: Confronting Global Capitalism, to be held March 16-18 at Pace University in New York City. Submissions are accepted until January.
Contact: 212-817-2003; panels@leftforum.org; http://www. leftforum.org.
RACISM/MIGRANTS - December 18 is the Global Day of Action Against Racism and for the Rights of Refugees, Migrants and Displaced People, as ratified at the 2011 World Social Forum. Actions are planned worldwide.
Contact: info@globalmigrantsaction.org; http://globalmigrantsaction.org/.
ACTIVISTS - The UK- based group, People & Planet, issued a Christmas appeal to Adopt-An-Activist. For £3 a month, your chosen activist will tackle the root causes of social and environmental injustice. People & Planet sponsors activist students.
Contact: http://peopleand planet.org/.
Books
SCHOLARSHIP/DEFAMATION - Who’s Afraid of Frances Fox Piven? is Piven’s first substantial public response to the verbal attacks, death threats, and scapegoating she has been subject to since early 2010, since interview clips of her appeared on Glenn Beck’s TV show.
Contact: The New Press, 38 Greene Street, 4th FL, New York, NY 10013; 212-629-8802; http://thenewpress.com/.
UNIONS - All Together Different is a new book by Professor Daniel Katz about the phenomenon of interracial union building and worker education during the Great Depression. The book investigates why immigrant Jewish unionists in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) appealed to an international force of coworkers, tracing their ideology of a working-class based cultural pluralism back to the revolutionary experiences of Russian Jewish women.
Contact: 212-992-9991; betsy.steve@nyu.edu.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM - In Greg Palast’s Vultures’ Picnic, a crew of journalist-detectives chase down British Petroleum bag men, CIA operatives, nuclear power con men and “The Vultures,” billionaire financial speculators who, through bribery, flim-flam and political muscle, take entire nations hostage for mega-profits.
Contact: 212-505-5566; interviews@gregpalast.com; www.vulturespicnic.org.
SANDINISTA - Adios Muchachos is an insider’s account of the leftist Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua by Sergio Rami- rez, former vice-president of Nicaragua. During the 1970s, Ramirez led prominent intellectuals, priests, and business leaders to support the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) against Anastasio Somoza’s dictatorship.
Contact: Duke University Press, 905 W. Main Street, Suite 18B, Durham, NC 90660; 919-687- 3639; lsell@dukeupress.com; http://www.dukeupress.edu/index.php.
LATIN AMERICA - The New Mole, by Emir Sader, is a new analysis of recent developments in Latin American politics. Sader explains the resurgence of radicalism in terms of the region’s history, while exploring its theoretical underpinning and the obstacles the Latin American left faces.
Contact: Verso Books, 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 718-246-8160; jessica@versobooks.com; http://www.versobooks.com/.
MARXISM - Jose Carlos Mariategui: An Anthology is a collection from one of Latin America’s most profound thinkers. Jose Carlos Mariategui was a self- taught journalist, social scientist, and activist from Peru, who was one of the first to emphasize adapting classical Marxist theory to the particular conditions of Latin America.
Contact: Monthly Review Press, 146 W 29th St, Suite 6W, New York, NY 10001; 212-691- 2555; scott@monthlyreview.org; http://mrzine.monthly review.org/.
IMMIGRATION - The 1996 U.S. Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act has led to the forcible deportation of more than thirty thousand Dominicans from the United States. In Banished To The Homeland, professors David C. Brotherton and Luis Barrios follow thousands of Dominican deportees over a seven-year period, to capture the experience of emigration, imprisonment, banishment, and repatriation.
Contact: Columbia University Press, 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023; 212-459- 0600; dw2216@columbia.edu; http://cup.columbia.edu/.
CIVIL RESISTANCE - Sharp’s Dictionary of Power and Struggle is a new reference work, by Gene Sharp, which explains the terminology of civilian struggle. Nearly 1,000 entries describing the ideologies, political systems, strategies, methods, and concepts that form the center of nonviolent action are provided.
Contact: Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4314; 212-726-6113; aryana.fargo@oup.com; www.oup.com/us.
ESSAY - In Revolutions in Reverse: Essays on Politics, Art, Violence and Imagination, David Graber explores political strategy, global trade, debt, aesthetics and alienation in the wake of the globalization movement and the rise of the war on terror.
Contact: david.graeber@mac.com; http://www.minorcompositions.info/?p=284.
AFRICAN WOMEN - I Dare To Say: African Women Tell Their Stories of Hope and Survival is a collection of accounts illuminating the daily struggles of contemporary African women. The book covers issues such as rape, HIV/AIDS, war and domestic abuse.
Contact: Independent Publishers Group, 814 N. Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60610; 312-337-0747; mmiller@jpgbook.com; http://www.ipgbook.com/.
CHE/CIA - In Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away With Murder, Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith recount in detail the life and death of Che Guevara using internal U.S. government documentation.
Contact: OR Books; info@orbooks.com; http://www.orbooks.com/.
DEMOCRACY - In Democracy Unleashed! How Americans Can Organize to Govern, Robert Kubala examines why genuine democracy is needed in the U.S., how it has been denied, and presents ways to build it.
Contact: kubala.bob@gmail.com; available at lulu.com.
Films
CIVILIZATION - The Crisis of Civilization is a new documentary film investigating how global crisis like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system.
Contact: http://crisisofcivilization.com/.
SHORT FILM - Media That Matters 11 is the 11th annual release of short films from independent and youth filmmakers. Titles include It’s Their Life: LGBT Teens In Chicago and Burning Barriers.
Contact: http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/.
Music
OCCUPY WALL STREET - Music For Revolution is accepting and posting submissions of original songs written in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.
Contact: http://musicforrevolution.com/.
PEACE - Musicians For Freedom is accepting submissions for its website. Music, comedy, visual arts, poetry, performance, drama, readings-anything representing a peaceful revolutionary voice.
Contact: 720-298-1524; http://musicians4freedom.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.
