Zaps September

Events

ANARCHY FEST - The sixth annual Victoria Anarchist Book fair is scheduled for September 10 and 11, in British Columbia. The book fair seeks to bring together both anarchists and non-anarchists in workshops and other events.

Contact: info@victoriaanarchist bookfair.ca; www.victoriaanarchist bookfair.ca.

GATHERING/PROTEST - The National Gathering of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has scheduled protest actions for September 13 in London. Activities opposing the international arms trade fair, the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEi), include mass lobbying of MPs and protests at the DSEi event.

Contact: www.caat.org.uk; Old Palace Yard, London.

RACISM - The 17^th annual Anti-Racist Action Network Conference will take place Saturday, September 17, in Chicago. The event includes workshops, caucuses and discussions about racist terror and other oppressions.

Contact: southsidechicago@antiracistaction.org; southside chicagoara@hushmail.com; antiracistaction.org.

MILITARY SPENDING - The Progressive Democrats of America are hosting the “Military Industrial Complex at 50” conference in Charlottesville, Virginia, September 16-18. The “Conference on Moving Money from the Military to Human Needs” includes speakers, panels, performances, workshops and planning sessions.

Contact: micat50cville.org; www.pdamerica.org.

BOOK FAIR - The Twin Cities Anarchist Book fair is scheduled for September 16-18 in Minneapolis, featuring panels, workshops, publishers, food, music, crafts and books.

Contact: tcabf@riseup.net; tcanarchist.org.

PEACE DAY - September 21 is the UN’s International Day of Peace. The UN’s website features a worldwide calendar of events throughout the month promoting peace and opposing violence and war in diverse places worldwide, including U.S. cities like Asheville, NC; Belton, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Loveland, Colorado.

Contact: www.internationaldayofpeace.org; international dayofpeace.org/participate/events_calendar.html.

CLIMATE - “Moving Planet,” a climate action day, is planned for Saturday, September 24. The carbon/climate connection group 350.org has registered events and teach-ins worldwide to promote moving away from fossil fuels, and to demand government action on climate issues, including U.S. cities like Ames, Iowa; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lexington, Kentucky.

Contact: www.350.org.

CLASS WAR - “The War on the Working Class” is the title of a conference scheduled for October 1 at St. Francis College, Brooklyn. Sponsored by the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE), the conference aims to bring together activists and theorists.

Contact: Union for Radical Political Economics, Gordon Hall, University of Massachusetts, 418 N. Pleasant St., Amherst, MA 01002; 413-577-0806; urpe@labornet.org; www.urpe.org.

OCCUPATION - Inspired by the courageous, nonviolent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Greece, Spain, and elsewhere, over 50 populist organizations and thousands of activists have joined the October 2011 movement and are planning protests on October 6 at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. The event will begin with a concert and rally at noon, with the stated goal “to kick off massive sustained occupation and nonviolent civil resistance to rampant corporatism and militarism.”

Contact: october2011.org.

OCCUPATION - United for Peace and Justice (UJP)-Boston will sponsor the “End the Endless Wars and Occupations Conference” on October 1, at Suffolk University. Speakers include Kathy Kelly and Noam Chomsky.

Contact: ujpcoalition@yahoo.com; justicewithpeace.org.

POLICE BRUTALITY-October 22 is the National Day Against Police Brutality. The October 22^nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation will have various events around the country.

Contact: october22-ny.org; www.october22.org.

GREEN FESTIVAL - Green Festivals are scheduled for New York City (October 1-2), Los Angeles (October 29-30) and San Francisco (November 12-13). Programs are oriented to fair trade and social and environmentally responsible exhibitors; and include local and international speakers, as well as workshops, demonstrations, music, films, food and other activities.

Contact: www.greenfestivals.org.

SPACE FOR PEACE - The annual International Days of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space is scheduled for October 1-8. Resources to help plan educational events or demonstrations are available online and by request. Participants include United Against Drones (U.S./UK), and the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom.

Contact: globalnet@mindspring.com; www.space4peace.org; unitedagainstdrones.wordpress.com.

TEACHERS - The 11^th annual conference, “Teaching for Social Justice-The Power of Community” will be held Sunday, October 9 from 9 AM to 5 PM at Mission High School in San Francisco. The free event features workshops, resources, and free childcare.

Contact: Teachers for Social Justice, 542 Munich Street, San Francisco, CA 94112; 415-676- 7844; www.t4sj.org.

PEACE CONFERENCE - The Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking (GKC) and the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) will hold their first annual jointly-sponsored event, “A Living Movement: Toward a World of Peace, Solidarity, and Justice,” on October 21-23, at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN. The conference includes workshops, presentations, papers, and other community-building events.

Contact: info@peacejusticestudies.org; www.gandhikingconference. org.

LABOR - United Workers, a National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) partner, has organized the first Fair Development Conference in Baltimore, October 28-30. The gathering of organizers, low-wage workers, academics, faith leaders, artists, activists, students and others aims to develop a collective vision for public participation in job creation.

Contact: conference@united workers.org; www.nesri.org.

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION - The National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) will host its 21^st annual conference in Chicago from November 2 to 5. This year’s theme is “Reworking Intersections, Reframing Debates, Restoring Hope.”

Contact: name@NAMEorg.org; nameorg.org.

RESISTERS - The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) is holding the “Nuclear Weapons: Don’t Buy Them, Don’t Own Them,” conference in Kansas City, November 4-6. War tax resistance (WTR) groups and local war resisters will work together in workshops, panels, and discussions.

Contact: nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org; www.nwtrcc.org.

DIRECT ACTION - The annual November vigil to protest the School of the Americas (referred to as the School of Assassins, but now officially WHINSEC) is scheduled for November 18-20 at Fort Benning, GA. Additional events include teach-ins and workshops.

Contact: SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017; 202-234-3440; info@soaw.org; soaw.org/index.php.

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: Center for Study of Working Class Life, Dept. of Economics, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4384; 631-632-7536; workingclass@notes. ccsunysb.edu; www.stonybrook.edu.  

WORKSHOP - The University of Wisconsin Extension School for Workers presents a two-day workshop for union activists on September 14 and 15. This innovative new class, featuring and designed by internationally renowned labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki, will help labor leaders and other activists understand how art can become an important tool in mobilizing. We will address such questions as how do we tap the artistic talent among our members, how do we utilize the power that art has to parody our opponents, and how can we utilize art to get more rank and file involvement in our organizations? The class offers hands-on-training for the artistically inclined and for those who are not.

Contact: www.solidarity.com/hk cartoons/Artmobilization.html

School

TRAINING - The Alliance for Global Justice online training school offers activists and organizers of all ages online courses by expert instructors on the subject of U.S. militarism and activist skills training. The five week course, taken in the comfort of your own home, will cover the history, philosophy, economics and politics of U.S. militarism and anti-war strategies and tactics to build peace. Other courses will cover the range of skills activists need to become effective organizers. Registration for Fall 2011 closes September 16 and classes begin September 23.

Contact: Register at afgj.org or email info@afgj.org for more information.

Books

RACISM - In a revised and expanded third edition, Paul Kivel’s Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice, offers instruction for white people to understand and stand up to racism.

Contact: New Society Publishers, PO Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0; 800-567-6772; info@newsociety.com; www.newsociety.com.

YOUNG LORDS PARTY - Haymarket Books reissues the long- out-of-print Palante, the first book by and about the Young Lords Party in New York City. The book features essays, oral histories and photos of actions and events.

Contact: Haymarket Books, PO Box 180165, Chicago, IL 60618; info@haymarketbooks.org; www.haymarketbooks.org.

RADICAL HISTORY - Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times is the story of some of the 1960’s most important groups. Authors Amy Sonnie and James Tracy tell a deeply-sourced narrative history of the groups JOIN, the Young Patriots, Rising Up Angry, White Lightning, and the October 4^th Organization.

Contact: MelvilleHouse Publishing, 145 Plymouth St., Brooklyn, NY 11201; 718-722-9205; info@mhpbooks.com; mphbooks.com/index,php.

VENEZUELA - In The Revolution in Venezuela: Social and Political Change under Chavez, a range of authors consider the nature of social change in contemporary Venezuela and explore a number of themes to elucidate the sources of the nation’s political polarization.

Contact: Harvard University Press, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1400; 617-496-1340; contact_hup@harvard.edu; www.hup.harvard.edu.

CLIMATE CHANGE - Kivalina: A Climate Change Story is a muckraking account of the peril faced by one small village in Alaska in the face of Big Oil. Author Christine Shearer researches the toxic legacy of Big Oil’s denial of environmental impact on the community.

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

EPIDEMIC - While outbreaks of the spruce beetle have occurred over the years, Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great Forests asserts that misguided science, out-of-control logging, bad public policy, 100 years of fire suppression, and climate change have released the world’s oldest forest manager from all natural constraints.

Contact: Claire McKinney, 15 Wellesley Road, Maplewood, NJ 07040; 862-252-1880; info@ clairemckinneypr.com; claire-mckinneypr.com.

WHISTLEBLOWING - No Fear: A Whisteblower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA, is a new book by Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a seminal figure in modern civil liberties legislation. Coleman-Ade bayo presents an account of her grassroots fight against the EPA’s persistent bigotry.

Contact: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610; 312-337-0747.

RELIGION - Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition, offers a history of the relationship between religion and the movements for social change in America. Author Dan McKanan argues that religious practices, ideas, and institutions are at the heart of a continuous tradition of American radicalism.

Contact: Beacon Press, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108; 617-723-3097; rmelwani@beacon.org; beacon.org.

ACTIVISM - Sojourning for Freedom portrays pioneering black women activists from the early twentieth century through the 1970s, focusing on their participation in the U.S. Communist Party (CPUSA) between 1919 and 1956. Author Erik S. McDuffie considers how women from diverse locales and backgrounds became radicalized, joined the CPUSA, and advocated a pathbreaking politics committed to black liberation, women’s rights, decolonization, economic justice, peace, and international solidarity.

Contact: Duke University Press, 905 W. Main Street, Suite 18B, Durham, NC 90660; 919-687-3600; lsell@dukeupress.com; www.dukeupress.edu.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Weaponizing Anthropology details the rapid militarization of anthropology and incursions by the CIA and other intelligence agencies onto American university campuses after 9/11. Author David Price combines his expertise of the history of anthropologists’ collaborations with military and intelligence agencies with an activist stance opposing current efforts to weaponize anthropology in global counterinsurgency campaigns.

Contact: AK Press, 3500 Parkdale Ave, Building 1, Suite 3, Baltimore, MD 21211; 410-878- 7706; publicity@akpress.org; www.akpress.org.

CAPITALISM - In Anti-Capitalism, activist and scholar Ezequiel Adamovsky debunks the assumption that though capitalism is flawed, it is the best system we have. Adamovsky details the struggle against rising corporate power as it unfolds in academia, in radical newspapers, and in villages and cities.

Contact: Seven Stories Press, 140 Watts Street, New York, NY 10013; 212-226-8760; ruth@sevenstories.com; sevenstories.com.

DISSENT - Hell No: Your Right To Dissent in 21^st-Century America, is a guide to reclaiming the right to dissent for activists, teachers, grandmothers, and anyone else who wants to exercise their constitutional rights.

Contact: The New Press, 38 Greene Street, 4^th Floor, New York, NY 10013; 212-629-8802; jmccarroll@thenewpress.com; thenewpress.com.
 

Film

ECONOMICS - The Flaw tells the story of the credit bubble that caused the financial crash of 2008, and explains how excessive income inequality leads to economic instability.

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

NUTRITION - Got the Facts on Milk? is a partly-animated documentary that questions the popular belief in the health benefits of milk. The film addresses questions about dairy’s role in cancer, osteoporosis, asthma; as well as economic, ethical and environmental considerations.

Contact: Evolotus PR; 818-783-0569; www. evolotuspr.com; milkdocumentary.com/trailer.

CHINA - When China Met Africa is a feature film that examines China’s expanding footprint in Africa through the stories of three people in Zambia.

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

PUBLIC EDUCATION - New DVDs for the National Educators’ Conference to Fight Back for Public Education offered by Labor Beat include Fighting The Banks, Community/Teacher Collaborations, Lessons from Madison, Wisconsin, and Defending Public Education in the USA.

Contact: Labor Beat, 37 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60607; 312-226-3330; mail@laborbeat.org; www.laborbeat.org.

FOOD - Based on the recent decision by the Olympia (WA) Food Co-op to boycott Israeli products, Challenging Power is an independently produced documentary from Johan Genberg (From the Edge of the Blade).

Contact: Trickle Up Films; 360-866-8644; contact@trickleupfilms.org; www.trickleupfilms.org/challenging-power.