Zaps - January 2011

Events

HEALTHCARE - The Vermont Workers' Center has scheduled a rally and assembly on a single-payer health system for the U.S. on January 5 in Montpelier. The Healthcare Is A Human Right Rally is scheduled for 12:30 PM and the People's Movement Assembly is scheduled for 1-3 PM.

Contact: Vermont Workers' Center, 294 N Winooski Ave., Burlington VT 05401; 802-861-4892; www.workerscenter.org.

ANARCHIST STUDIES - The Second North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference is scheduled for January 15 at the Steel Workers' Hall in Toronto, Ontario.

Contact: www.naasn.org.

U.S. TORTURERS - January 11 is the ninth anniversary of the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay prison where the U.S. illegally houses "detainees" from around the world indefinitely, mostly without charge, and subjects them to physical and psychological abuse and torture. On January 22, 2009, President Obama lied when he promised to close the facility within the year. Witness Against Torture is planning events January 11-22 against this camp and others like it around the world.

Contact: www.witnesstorture.org.

MLK DAY - The Martin Luther King Day holiday is Monday, January 17. Community groups across the country will honor King by organizing a Day of Service and peace groups will highlight MLK's oft-overlooked anti-imperialist, antiwar activism. A rally and march for jobs and justice is scheduled in Detroit at noon.

Contact: MLK Day of Service, 215-665-2475; mlkdayofservice@globalcitizen.us.com; www.mlkdayofservice.org; www.mlkday.org; www.mlkdetroit.org.

SOCIAL FORUMS - The 2011 World Social Forum is scheduled for February 6-11 in Dakar, Senegal. Regional forums were held in 2010 to mark the 10-year anniversary of the WSF, but this year features another world event for discussions among citizen-activists for alternatives to the dominant corporate-military system under the banner "Another World is Possible."

Contact: www.fsm2011.org; www.forumsocialmundial.org.

THEATER - Vermont's Bread & Puppet: Cheap Art & Political Theater is doing a tour of southern and eastern states in February and March, starting in Philadelphia on February 10, but with open dates to fill as well. Check the current schedule and/or call with performance venue suggestions.

Contact: Bread and Puppet: Cheap Art and Political Theater in Vermont, 753 Heights Rd., Glover, VT 05839; 802-525-3031 or 802-525-6972; breadpup@together.net; www.breadandpuppet.org.

EVOLUTION - February 11-13 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 Letter Project repudiating anti-science fundamentalism.

Contact: www.evolutionweekend.org.

TEACH-IN - The 10th Annual Local to Global Justice Teach-in "Solidarity Through Knowledge & Action" is scheduled for February 26-27 at Arizona State University in Tempe. Workshops and other events are designed for sharing experiences and knowledge between scholars and activists working on a wide range of social justice, human rights, and sustainability issues.

Contact: localtoglobaljustice@yahoo.com; www.localtoglobal.org.

STUDENT STRIKE - Students in California are planning more actions this March, as with last year's mass actions, in response to draconian budget cuts affecting tuition and courses. Actions include a statewide strike and day of action on March 2, a conference on March 12, and a march on the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 14.

Contact: statewidecoordination@gmail.com; www.ca.defendpubliceducation.org.

WOMEN'S STRIKE - March 8 is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day with events planned around the world. Global Women's Strike also organizes protest, education, and direct action events 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: www.internationalwomensday.com; www.globalwomenstrike.net.

LEFT FORUM - The 2010 Left Forum is scheduled for March 18-20 at Pace University in New York City. This year's theme is "Toward a Politics of Solidarity" and will feature hundreds of panel discussions, art and film shows, and exhibitors.

Contact: Left Forum, c/o PhD Program in Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016; 212-817-2003; leftforum@leftforum.org; www.leftforum.org.

CLIMATE - A national youth summit to strategize climate activism, Power Shift 2009, is scheduled for April 1-4 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC with workshops and discussions about organizing and legislative campaigns.

Contact: www.powershift09.org.
 

Organizations

MIMUNDO - Since 2006, MiMundo.org has been providing photo essays and reports from marginalized communities in Central America, gaining increasing visibility through publication and gallery exhibits. The operation is now seeking tax deductible contributions through the non-profit Rights Action.

Contact: www.mimundo.org/contribute.html.

PUBLIC HEALTH - The Public Health and Social Justice website offers open access slide shows, articles, syllabi, and hundreds of external links relevant to numerous social justice topics, including environmental health, women's health, drug policy and privacy, war and peace, and food safety (including GMOs). It is aimed at students, teachers, and the general public; submissions welcome.

Contact: www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org.

REFUGEES - The Carol Chomsky Memorial Fund has been created in honor of the late Carol D. Chomsky, linguist, peace activist, mother, and wife of Noam Chomsky. Donations will provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon. Partnerships with individuals and aid agencies in the region assure the tax-deductible contributions get to the people for whom they are directly intended.

Contact: Carol Chomsky Memorial Fund, Inc., 1102 Shorewood Blvd., Madison, WI 53705; 608-215-9157; www.chomskyfund.org.
 

Film/Video

FILM OPENING - The North American launch of The Economics of Happiness, a one-hour documentary about the worldwide movement for economic localization, will take place in Seattle, Washington, January 11, 2011. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with special guests.

Contact: International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), PO Box 9475 Berkeley, CA 94709; 510-548-4915; r.ovetz@isec.org.uk; www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org.

Human Terrain - The documentary Human Terrain: War Becomes Academic examines a U.S. military's counterinsurgency initiative under which social scientists are embedded with combat troops.

Contact: Bullfrog Films, PO Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-3764; info@bullfrogfilms.com; www.bullfrogfilms.com.

Zaps are free and run at our discretion. Send to zmag@zmag.org.