Progressive Calendar 04.05.07 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu) | |
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 15:37:13 -0700 (PDT) |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 04.05.07 1. Racial profiling 4.05 6pm 2. War injuries 4.05 7pm 3. African leaders 4.06 9am 4. Thomas R Smith 4.06 7pm 5. Activist-actor 4.06 7:30pm 6. PlanParent rally 4.06 7. Lenni Brenner - Soros kicked AIPAC. Obama kicks Soros. Let's kick all 3 --------1 of 7-------- Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:40:10 -0500 From: Michelle Gross, CUAPB-Sponsored Event 4/5/07 Subject: Racial profiling 4.05 6pm The Minneapolis Urban League, The Council On Crime And Justice, The NAACP, African American Family Services, Jewish Community Action, Council on Black Minnesotans, African American Men's Project, Micah-OPACC, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Chicano Latino Affairs Council, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Community Justice Partners, Sabathani Community Center, Women Planting Seeds, Organizing Apprenticeship Project and the Barbara Schneider Foundation present: RACIAL PROFILING & IMMIGRATION IN MINNESOTA: Reframing the Immigration Debate & Uniting Communities of Color! Join community activists & neighbors from across the state as they: * Outline new strategies to combat racial profiling! * Discuss current immigration policies & plans for change! * Promote shared interests in racial justice! April 5, 2007 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (really tasty supper @ 5:30 PM) Minneapolis Urban League 2100 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis 612-302-3100 This will be an incredible Minnesota Pipeline Experience! Please plan to attend. Bring everyone you know who wants to work on uniting our communities. --------2 of 7-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: War injuries 4.05 7pm Thursday, 4/5, 7 to 8:30 pm, V.A. Rehab Dr Barbara Sigford and MN Brain Injury Association director Ardis Sandstrom speak on "The New Wounded: The Evolution of War-Related Injuries and their Medical and Economic Impact," Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey Institute, 301 - 19th Ave S., Mpls. --------3 of 7-------- From: Human Rights Events Update <humanrts [at] umn.edu> Subject: African leaders 4.06 9am The University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey Center of Public Affairs, the Law School, and the Human Rights Center present a special panel discussion event The "New Breed" of African Leaders and the Future of Human Rights and Democracy in Africa Friday, April 6, 2007 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Room 25 Mondale Hall University of Minnesota Law School 229 19th Ave S. Minneapolis, MN 55455 Free and open to the public, but registration required Event website - information and registration: http://www.hrusa.org/workshops/africanleaders The Humphrey Institute, the Law School and the Human Rights Center are proud to present a panel discussion event on Africa, Democracy, Human Rights, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Framed in the context of the phrase "the new breed of African leaders," coined by U.S. President Bill Clinton, the discussion will critically examine the challenges and obstacles to democratization and respect for human rights that persist in African countries. The collapse of the Communist Bloc in late 1980s and early 1990s was considered by many scholars and policy makers to be the dawn of democracy and respect for human rights in Eastern Europe and Africa. Many African rebel leaders came to power after long and bloody civil wars promising democracy and respect for human rights. Unfortunately, this "New Breed of African Leaders" failed to achieve the intended goals and wishes of its own citizens and the international community. Their countries remain mostly one-party states with autocratic leaders who are often hostile to differing political opinions and criticism. Many of them are now best known for their gross violations of human rights, corruption, and repression of political opposition, as well as repression of civil society associations and the free media. While framed in the broader context of the "New Breed" concept, one of the panels will also focus on the Ethiopian Election of May 2005 as a case study. Panels and Issue Highlights Panel 1 (9:10 - 10:15 AM): U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa Panel 2 (10:30 - 11:35 AM): Africa Country Conditions, Part 1: Human Rights and Rule of Law Panel 3 (12:35 - 1:40 PM): Africa Country Conditions, Part 2: Democracy, Civil Society, and Governance Panel 4 (1:55 - 3:00 PM): Case Study: Ethiopian Elections of 2005 Conclusion (3:15 - 3:50 PM): Concluding Remarks: Rethinking U.S. Policy Confirmed Speakers and Moderators Include: . Michael Clough (Former Director of Africa Advocacy, Human Rights Watch); . Keith Ellison (U.S. Representative, 5th Congressional District, Minnesota); . Christopher Fomunyoh (Senior Associate and Regional Director, Central and West Africa Programs, National Democratic Institute); . Alemayehu G. Mariam (Professor, Department of Political Science, California State University-San Bernardino); . Peter Takirambudde (Executive Director, Sub-Saharan Africa Program Human Rights Watch) Event Co-sponsors: The panel discussion event is co-sponsored by the African News Journal, the African Student Association, Amnesty International Law Student Group, Amnesty International-University of Minnesota Student Chapter, Books for Africa, the Ethiopian-American National Alliance, the Humphrey Fellowship Program, the International Leadership Institute, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Minnesota African Women's Association (MAWA), the Oromo-American Citizens Council, and the Oromia Student Union. University of Minnesota Department and Program Co-sponsors: The African American & African Studies Department, the Department of History, the Department of Political Science, the Institute for Global Studies, and the Human Rights Program. For Further Information: Visit the program website (listed above) or contact the Human Rights Center at 612-626-0041 or humanrts [at] umn.edu. --------4 of 7-------- From: Write On Radio <writeonradio [at] yahoo.com> Subject: Thomas R Smith 4.06 7pm Friday April 6th 7:00 p.m. The Loft's Local Motion Reading Series showcases writers who teach at the Loft. Featuring Jude Nutter and Thomas R. Smith. Loft Literary Center.1011 Washington Avenue S. Mpls, www.loft.org. -- From: Sarah Caflisch <scaflisch [at] loft.org> Jude Nutter's book Curator of Silence was the winner of the 2007 Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry. The title poem-about a group of schoolchildren illustrating Shelley's "Ode to a Skylark"-ends with the following assertion: "these are the only / lessons they will ever need to learn: that life / is not artifact, but aperture-a stepping into / and a falling away; that to sing is to rise / from the grave of the body. And still / say less than nothing." This idea of the aperture, the gap, the silence that exists between what we want to say and what we actually do say pervades The Curator of Silence. The paradox, of course, is that the creation of art itself makes this gap, as there is always a gulf between the impulse and the gesture, the vision and the poem. "These astonishing poems take my breath away with their beauty and deeply held knowledge. Not only are they wedded to the earth as they emerge from the poet's personal mythology, but-like a shawl thrown over the shoulders-they give comfort as they explore the fragile balance between life and death, gain and loss. Here is a poet who speaks subtle truths; I know I'll want to return to her poems again and again." -Judith Minty Jude says of her work and teaching: "I live by Raymond Carver's maxim-- 'Use it up: Don't save anything for later.' It's a gift and a responsibility to be a writer. It's a gift to be a teacher, to bear witness as others struggle to record their lives. My responsibility is to teach the 'tricks of the trade;' to encourage other writers and to celebrate with them when the hard work pays off." Jude Nutter's poems have been widely published and received several national and international honors and awards. Her first book-length collection, Pictures of the Afterlife, was published by Salmon Poetry, Ireland, in 2002. The Curator of Silence, her second collection, was published by University of Notre Dame Press. In 2004-2005 she spent time in Antarctica as a participant in the National Science Foundation's Writers and Artists Program. >From "As the Sun Finds You:" In a time when consumerism and media keep us effectively asleep to the impact of our ways and wars on the rest of the world, how can we awaken? In Waking Before Dawn, Thomas R. Smith confronts the challenge and responsibility of moral awareness in some of the best and most varied poems he has written. These poems bridge the personal and the political, from love poems and elegies to a suite of poems powerfully indicting the bankrupt Iraq war. On the home front, Smith witnesses the hope and suffering of ordinary lives diminished by a wounded democracy, while maintaining faith, with Walt Whitman, that "South, North, East, West, inland and seaboard, we will surely awake." A respected poet, essayist, and editor, Thomas R. Smith's work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. His poems were included in Editor's Choice II (The Spirit That Moves Us Press), a selection of the best of the American small press, and in The Best American Poetry 1999 (Scribner). Garrison Keillor has featured his poetry on his national public radio show Writer's Almanac. He is author of four previous books of poems, Keeping the Star (New Rivers Press, 1988), Horse of Earth (Holy Cow! Press, 1994), The Dark Indigo Current (Holy Cow! Press, 2000), and Winter Hours (Red Dragon?y Press, 2005). His poetry criticism has appeared in the Pioneer Press, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Great River Review, Ruminator Review, and other periodicals. He teaches poetry at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. -Red Dragonfly Press "Thomas R. Smith is a high-spirited poetry horse riding over the hills of emotion." --Robert Bly Thomas R. Smith says of his teaching: "Like many teachers, I teach what I myself would like to learn. Fear causes us to close and shield our hearts. Poetry can be a powerful counterforce to fear, but there is no formula for making it so. Together we explore the way, poem by poem." Free --------5 of 7-------- From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: Activist-actor 4.06 7:30pm For immediate release: Mike Farrell, B.J. on MASH, discusses and signs his book JUST CALL ME MIKE: A JOURNEY TO ACTOR AND ACTIVIST 7:30 pm Friday April 6 at Magers and Quinn Booksellers. >From its opening pages, Mike Farrell's new memoir reveals the distinctive voice of a man for whom life is an ongoing odyssey of self-discovery, personal commitment, and uncompromising social engagement. With deep insight and disarming candor, Farrell describes his early years as a timid but restless teenager in West Hollywood, delivering groceries to the homes of Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Jimmy Stewart, and countless other celebrities, while dreaming of having his own career as an actor. In stark but riveting language, he relates his formative years as a Marine recruit, confused, conflicted, and eager to prove himself as a man. Farrell humorously portrays his professional development from a young soap opera player on Days of Our Lives to the amiable star of two popular television series, M*A*S*H and Providence, to the respected producer of successful motion pictures like Dominick and Eugene and Patch Adams. At the heart of his story, Farrell narrates his public struggle to be a responsible citizen of the world. From his first-hand accounts of the ravages of war and oppression in Cambodia, El Salvador, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Gaza Strip, to his tireless advocacy against capital punishment, to his deep commitment to environmental causes, Farrell portrays each of these experiences with passion, outrage, and stubborn optimism. Mike Farrell is best known for his eight years on M*A*S*H and five seasons on Providence. He is also a writer, director, and producer. He serves as cochair emeritus of Human Rights Watch in Southern California, and cofounded Artists United to Win Without War. As president of Death Penalty Focus, he speaks, writes, and coordinates efforts to stop executions. He lives in Los Angeles. For further information, contact: David Unowsky 612/822-4611 davidu [at] magersandquinn.com Publisher contact: Aaron Petrovich 718-643-9193 info [at] akashicbooks.com MAGERS AND QUINN BOOKSELLERS 3038 HENNEPIN AVENUE SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS MN 55408 612-822-4611 www.magersandquinn.com --------6 of 7-------- From: jen <awhall [at] comcast.net> Subject: PlanParent 4.06 GOOD FRIDAY SOLIDARITY EVENT: APRIL 6TH Almost 1,000 protesters will descend upon Planned Parenthood's Highland Park clinic in a day-long effort to intimidate and harass our patients and staff. It is important to let our patients and the larger community know that there is support for Planned Parenthood and the services we provide. Sign-Up TODAY to take part in our Good Friday Solidarity event. The purpose of this event is to provide a peaceful, pro-choice presence at our Highland Park facility. Planned Parenthood has been providing quality, affordable health care services for the men and women of Minnesota for almost 80 years; we have no intention of letting anyone intimidate us or close our doors. We need all the support we can muster for this very important day! -- Sign up for a shift to counter the protestors and or pledge a certain amount of money per protestor (I pledged a nickel). This happens on April 6th, Good Friday. -Linda Mann http://www.ppmns.org/site/pp.asp?c=gwKTJaN0JyF&b=260351 --------7 of 7-------- Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 20:39:13 EDT From: BrennerL21 [at] aol.com Subject: Soros Kicked AIPAC. Obama Kicks Soros. Let's Kick All Three. "In this world, the follies of the rich pass for wise sayings." Soros Kicked AIPAC. Obama Kicks Soros. Let's Kick All Three. By Lenni Brenner It is a sign of the changing political times that the 3/12 American Israel Public Affairs Committee Washington conference received much more candid journalistic treatment than AIPAC events have ever received. The NY Times 3/14 report, "Clinton and Obama Court Jewish Vote," got right to the point: "As Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama compete for Jewish donors and voters, Mrs. Clinton is following a tried-and-true rule of hers from New York - support Israel to the last - while Mr. Obama is trying a more delicate strategy that hit some bumps this week." Clinton never stops pandering to New York's ultra-right Zionists. In an age when most young educated Jews escape from Judaism and marry gentiles, the 'feminist' candidate is constantly in sex-segregated Orthodox Jewish synagogues, telling them of her great love of Israel, which of course comes from her heart, not from their check books. Her same ol' same ol' speech was remarked on, but Obama is the new comet in the Democratic sky and the Times focused on what was different in his "I am pro-Israel" speech. "Several Jewish conference-goers said they were concerned by Mr. Obama's remark Sunday in Iowa where ... he said, 'Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people'.... Obama put the blame on the stalled peace efforts with Israel and on the refusal of the Palestinian government to renounce terrorism." Obama represents Illinois, "the land of Lincoln." But he models himself after the state's other great philosopher, Al Capone. Chicago's Mafia leader proclaimed and proved that "kind words and a machine gun will get you more than kind words alone." Obama has a history of telling Arab-Americans that he 'feels the pain' of the Palestinians - while he supports giving billions in weapons to their oppressors. The Times coverage of Obama was distinctive for the paper, in giving competition "for Jewish donors and voters" as the purpose of both leading wannabe Democratic candidates. Since Hitler, for good and bad reasons, writing about Jewish political money has been the great 'no-no' of America's capitalist media. In 1991, I interviewed Harold Seneker, editor of the "Forbes 400" issue of the magazine, for an article in the 2/11 Nation. I estimated that Jews, about 2.5% of Americans, were consistently circa 20% of the 400 richest Americans. He wanted to write a story on it. "Its a success, both for the Jews and capitalism." But publisher Malcolm Forbes wouldn't let him. He remembered the period after Hitler's 1933 victory inspired American anti-Semitic propaganda about 'Jewish money.' He agreed with Seneker's thesis, but didn't want responsibility for even a slight possible rise in anti-Semitism resulting from an article. The taboo's negative has been mass media silence about the impact of Zionist money on US domestic and foreign policy since Harry Truman, wanting Jewish campaign contributions, supported Israel's creation in the run up to the 1948 presidential election. But today many journalists, Jew and gentile, are critical of Israel re the Palestinians, zealotry for Bush staying in Iraq and threats of bombing Iran. For them, not talking about Jewish money means not dealing with capitalist America's massive political corruption. Thus the March 2 Forward, New York's prestigious 'Jewish community' weekly, had no hesitation in running "How Many, How Much?," a graph estimating Jews as 24% of the current Forbes 400 listing of the "nation's richest." Most Jews aren't rich. And among the rich, the most famous political donor, George Soros, isn't a Zionist. The 3/23 Forward declared that he just dropped a political bomb of "near-nuclear force" on American Zionism. The billionaire's article in the post-dated 4/12 New York Review of Books, www.nybooks.com/articles/20030, argues that the US does Israel a disservice in ritually backing it: "While other problem areas of the Middle East are freely discussed, criticism of our policies toward Israel is very muted indeed .... One explanation is to be found in the pervasive influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which strongly affects both the Democratic and the Republican parties .... Politicians challenge it at their peril because of the lobby's ability to influence political contributions." He long ago left Judaism behind, but he kept quiet about this because he "did not want to provide fodder to the enemies of Israel." But now its time for the American Jewish community "to rein in the organization that claims to represent it." Soros is a Tory reformist. He funds narcotics law reformers and other worthy-issue groups. But the Drug Policy Alliance, which got 30% of its funds from Soros, welcomed Republican conventioneers to New York in 2004, even as a massive anti-war march protested against Bush and his party's war. Now he wants Israel to negotiate with Hamas. "Fortunately Saudi Arabia, whose position is also precarious, has a genuine interest in promoting a settlement based on two states." He wants the Saudis to lean on Hamas while the US pressures Israel into negotiating itself out of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Never mind that Saudia is a vicious despotism. Ignore US arms to it and Israel. Forget that the American people have absolutely no interest in arming either criminal government. If Soros got his wishes fulfilled, the result would be "Bantustine," guarded by Israel and America's Arab satraps. Many Americans also want Israel to deal with Hamas, concerned for horrific Palestinian living conditions, without sharing the billionaire's naive imperial mentality. But nuking AIPAC was too much for Obama. His campaign immediately announced that "Mr. Soros is entitled to his opinions. But on this issue, he and Senator Obama disagree. The US and our allies are right to insist that Hamas - a terrorist organization dedicated to Israel's destruction - meet very basic conditions before being treated as a legitimate actor. AIPAC is one of many voices that share this view." Soros is modern proof of Sancho Panza's proverb. He told Don Quixote that "in this world, the follies of the rich pass for wise sayings," and Soros gave the Democrats $28 million in 2004, knowing his party to be demagogues pandering after Zionist cash, vainly hoping that they would beat Bush. The 3/21 Sun, New York's Zionist daily, was 'right on the money' when it explained Obama's problem. Even if we presume that he really is troubled by the Palestinians' wretched conditions. "The Soros article puts Democrats in the awkward position of choosing between Mr. Soros, a major funder of their causes, and the pro-Israel lobby, whose members are also active in campaign fund-raising." Soros cash would buy Obama media ads in Democratic primaries. But taking it means AIPAC billionaires buying ads for Clinton. On the other hand, denouncing Soros doesn't mean him running ads against Obama. And, if he gets nominated, he can reasonably expect Soros to fund him against the Republican. Soros's guileless reformism has ended him up with less, not more, influence in inner circles of his lesser evil. Democrats hustling Zionist money reaches surreal proportions. Party leaders rage against Jimmy Carter - their own ex-president! - for denouncing Israeli apartheid. Obama distances himself from his party's biggest funder. But now the party may have to pay a liberal price for its money chasing. Liberal Jews and gentiles see Obama as anti-Iraq war. But many dislike Israeli policies. If anti-war lefts Keep the AIPAC/Soros/Obama affair in front of their eyes, Obama dumping on Soros can operate to make them suspicious of their party as a real anti-war lesser evil. It doesn't take a high tech crystal ball to see Obama's crisis as our opportunity. If we get our own act together, the anti-war movement can move out of the wings and into the center of the America's political stage. Soros has more money than educated anti-war Democrats but they don't have more brains than him. For now, they would still vote for any hawk the Democrats pick in 08, as a lesser evil to any Republican. But if we start an internet convention, ASAP, to pick a genuine anti-war presidential candidate by the end of 2007, committed to running against the bipartisan hawk-parties, many will sign on as they come to understand that the US military isn't going to get out of the Middle East, whether the Democrats win or lose. In 2000 and 2004 they worried that voting for Nader meant electing Bush. But now Democrats run Congress, and they aren't kicking Bush out of Iraq. Working for a Democratic victory as a lesser anti-war evil is no longer axiomatic for such types. In fact, if a left party came to life and drew enough votes from the Democrats to elect a Republican, every pundit, right to left, would understand this to mean that the anti-war movement was growing in number and determination to end all of America's wars, once and for all and forever. Liberals voted Democrat in 1968 and 1972, fantasizing that their party would end the Vietnam war. It lost. But Nixon's Attorney General stared out of the White House at a gigantic march. While most demonstrators were liberal Democrats, he knew the parade was called and organized by Trotskyists, Stalinists, left Black nationalists, unions, pacifists and such: "It looks like the Russian revolution." Determined Marxist organizing cadre, only a few thousand at most, not Democratic politicians, mobilized the hundreds of thousands that forced "bipartisan" Washington out of Indochina. Nixon read the handwriting on the wall: Get out - or get more radical explosions at home. We have a better and worse situation. Bush is losing the confidence of millions of Americans and the Democrats aren't gaining it. But neither are the divided anti-war demonstrators. Nevertheless, we have the same task in 2007 and forever more: We must build a massive united street movement to get US imperialism out of the Middle East and everywhere else, from now to eternity. Henceforth, no one can talk intelligently about US Middle Eastern policy without discussing AIPAC, Obama and Soros. We must shout from the rooftops about Zionist campaign contributions. Anti-Semitism is "a fire that has burned itself out" in modern America. It won't spring up from the ashes if we take care. Lecture audiences laugh when I rhetorically defend our politicians: "Rich Zionists can't just walk in on a Democrat and bribe him! No way!! They must sit in his waiting room with all the other bribe-givers until its their turn!!!" US politics is the story of unending corruption since New York's Tammany Hall and other 19th century political machines, when Jews, rich or poor, were a minuscule percentage of the population, and Zionists were non-existent. We cannot seriously educate the public about the 'legalized bribery' of Zionist campaign contributions to the modern Republicratic Washington machine without putting it in its matrix of general grafting. We won't persuade most Americans to end Zionist buying of our rulers, alone. Nor should we try, when we certainly can mobilize millions who already want abolition of private election contributions, with publicly funded elections taking their place. In context, documented exposure of Zionism's perfidious role is not only legitimate, it is a perfect educational example of America's government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, which must perish from the earth. *** Lenni Brenner is the author of Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, and editor of Jefferson & Madison On Separation of Church and State: Writings on Religion and Secularism. He blogs at www.smithbowen.net/linfame/brenner, and can be reached at BrennerL21 [at] aol.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - David Shove shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu rhymes with clove Progressive Calendar over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02 please send all messages in plain text no attachments
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