Volume 21, Number 10
PHOTOS
Convention Protest
Various Contributors
CONSERVATIVE WATCH
Religious Left
Bill Berkowitz
LEGAL SERVICES
Immigrant Justice
David Bacon
GRASSROOTS PROTEST
Italy Base Demos
Stephanie Westbrook
Commentary
Gift Subscription Offer
Z Staff
Net Briefs
Various Contributors
FOG WATCH
Russia & U.S.
Edward Herman
PUBLIC TROUGH
Nuke Troubles
Michael Steinberg
TOXINS
Lead Poisoning
Don Fitz
Culture
FILM REVIEW
Harold & Kumar
Michael Bronski
BOOK REVIEW
People's Sports
Pete Redington
BOOK REVIEW
Nowtopia
Ben Dangl
BOOK REVIEW
Economists w/ Guns
Jeremy Kuzmarov
Features
HEALTH
Psycho-Pharma Complex
Bruce E. Levine
LESSON PLAN
Abstinence-Only
Scott Murray
INTERVIEW
India's Crossroads
David Barsamian
CORPORATE CONTROL
Stuffed & Starved
Andrej Grubacic
Net Briefs
There are no articles.
Special OfferThere are no articles.
Zaps
FREE LISTINGS
Zaps
Various submissions
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.
Zaps - October 2008
Events
AUCTION/FUNDRAISER - The Center for the Study of Political Graphics is holding its 19th anniversary dinner party & auction on October 4 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; cspgweb@politicalgraphics.org; www.politicalgraphics.org.
SPACE NUKES - The annual International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space is scheduled for October 4-12; 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; globalnet@mindspring.com; www.space4peace.org.
ANTI-WAR MARCH - A March and Rally Against the War is scheduled for October 11 in Boston sponsored by the Stop the Wars Coalition.
Contact: STWC, 33 Harrison Ave., 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02111; 617-482-3090; info@stopthewars.org; www.stopthewars.org.
DISSIDENT FOLK - The annual Dissident Folk & Arts Festival is scheduled for October 11 from 6-11 PM at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon New York.
EDUCATORS - The 8th Annual Conference, "Teaching for Social Justice: Building Power, Making Change," will be held Saturday, October 11 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; teachers4socialjustice@yahoo.com; www.t4sj.org.
WOMEN IN POLITICS - The Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction are holding the Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance on October 19-22, 2008 at the Dusit Hotel, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Contact: The Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP), 4229 Tomas Claudio St Baclaran, Parañaque City, Philippines; globalcongress2008@capwip.org; www.capwip.org.
FREE CONFERENCE - The annual free conference A World Beyond Capitalism is scheduled for October 25-26 in Olympia, Washington. Proposals and suggestions for workshops, speakers, and events are being accepted.
Contact: AWBC 2008, c/o Multicultural Outreach Media, PO Box 6086, Olympia, WA 98507; 206-337-1556; public@aworldbeyondcapitalism.org; www.aworldbeyondcapitalism.org/awbc.html.
Campaigns
ELECTION - United for Peace & Justice has launched a Voter Engagement Campaign to mobilize the peace vote in the 2008 elections. It has three major components: intensive "bird-dogging" of candidates to make them answer questions and respond to public concerns; mass distribution of congressional voter guides on candidate's positions on getting out of Iraq, seeking peace with Iran, abolition of nuclear weapons, and more; generating extensive "free media" about this campaign and the issues.
Contact: UFPJ, PO Box 607, Times Square Station, NY, NY 10108; 212-868-5545; www.unitedforpeace.org.
RELIEF - Late summer hurricanes destroyed much of Haiti and Cuba's infrastructure and relief operations are underway. The Campaign for Labor Rights (CLR), a project of the Alliance for Global Justice, has established the Haitian Workers Hurricane Relief Fund to aid Haiti's embattled union and its members, the Confederation of Travailleurs Haitiens (CTH). IFCO-Pastors for Peace is sending aid, including a Peace Construction Brigade, to Cuba.
Contact: Campaign for Labor Rights, Haitian Workers Hurricane Relief Fund, 1247 E Street SE, Washington, DC 20003; clr@clrlabor.org; www.clrlabor.org. IFCO/Pastors for Peace, 418 W 145th St., New York, NY 10031; 212-926-5757; ifco@igc.org; www.ifconews.org.
Resources
EDUCATION - Teaching for Change offers teachers and parents the tools (media, speakers, lessons) to transform schools into centers of justice—catalog or materials available online of via the mail.
Contact: Teaching for Change, PO Box 73038, Washington, DC 20056; 800-763-9131; info@teachingforchange.org; www.teachingforchange.org.
PROPOSALS - Papers, as well as talk and panel topics, screenings, and performances, are being accepted until January 4 for the biennial conference of the Working Class Studies Association (WCSA) to be held June 3-6 in Pittsburgh. The theme: Class Matters.
Contact: Class Matters Conference, English Department, 526 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260; wcsa09@pitt.edu; www.wcstudies.org.
Film/DVD
ABU-JAMAL - In Prison My Whole Life, a new documentary about the wrongful conviction and death row incarceration of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is opening this fall in select theaters around the country.
SLACKER - Michael Moore's new documentary, Slacker Uprising, chronicles his 62-city swing state tour of college campuses just prior to the 2004 election. It's distributed via the web, available for free download or as a $10 DVD.
Books
CULTURE - It's Bigger than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip Hop Generation by M.K. Asante, Jr. documents how this voice of rebellion has evolved, highlighting oppressions that still exist.
DRUG WAR - In Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist in Colombia, Garry Leech does what most reporters won't: goes to the countryside to talk to farmers, guerrillas, union organizers, indigenous communities, and others about a dirty, U.S. funded war in South America.
GREENWASHING - Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad by Christine MacDonald offers an insider expose of big money, and corporate friendly environmental NGOs.
Contact: The Globe Pequot Press, 246 Goose Lane, PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437; 888-249-7586; info@globepequot.com; www.globepequot.com.
HAITI - On That Day, Everybody Ate by Margaret Trost chronicles one woman's participation in a volunteer food program offering much needed free food to children in Haiti.
IMMIGRATION - In Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants, David Bacon both examines the policies and human effects of immigration.
POVERTY - In A People's History of Poverty in America, Stephen Pimpare overturns prejudiced assumptions by documenting the real lives and opinions of poor people in U.S. history—the latest edition to a "People's History" series.
Contact: The New Press, 38 Greene Street, 4th Floor, NY, NY 10013; 212-629-8802; www.thenewpress.com.
PRISON REFORM - In Beyond Prison: The Fight to Reform Prison Systems around the World, the late Ahmed Othmani relates the story of his own brutal detention followed by a lifetime fight for prisoners' human rights.
Contact: Berghahn Books Inc., 150 Broadway, Ste 812, New York, NY 10038; 212-233-6004; BerghahnMail@PressWarehouse.com; www.berghahnbooks.com.
RACE - How Race Survived U.S. History: From the American Revolution to the Present by David Roediger traces the development and durability of racial division, bias, and privilege in the U.S. including a consideration of the Obama phenomenon.
Contact: Contact: Verso Books, 20 Jay Street, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 718-246-8160; versony@versobooks.com; www.versobooks.com.
SUBMITTING ZAPS: Send information on your activist activities, books, resources, and other items to zmag@zmag.org. We welcome your ads, as well. All ads and listings in Z are free, at our discretion. We feature worthy projects, especially those that can't afford advertising rates in other media.
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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.
