Progressive Calendar 05.10.07 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu) | |
Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 22:44:06 -0700 (PDT) |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 05.10.07 1. Palestine 5.11 4:30pm 2. Encampment v war 5.11 5pm 3. Pray for peace 5.11 6:30pm 4. Why we fight/f 5.11 7pm 5. Scahill/army 5.11 7:30pm 6. NOW/slippery oil 5.11 8:30pm [check time] 7. US interventions 5.12 10am 8. Bolivia 5.12 10am 9. WomensHealthFair 5.12 10:30am 10. NWN4P Minnetonka 5.12 11am 11. MothersDay4peace 5.12 12noon 12. Northtown vigil 5.12 2pm 13. StP industries 5.12 2pm 14. Evil comedy 5.12 7:30pm 15. Human rights/TV 5.12 8pm 16. Cindy Sheehan/TV 5.12 9pm 17. Sorry Muthas 5.12 18. Marjorie Cohn - Washington and Posada Carriles: fighting terror selectively 19. Fidel Castro - The tragedy threatening our species. 20. Paul Hawken - To remake the world --------1 of 20-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Palestine 5.11 4:30pm Friday, 5/11, 4:30 to 5:30 pm, vigil to end the occupation of Palestine, Snelling & Summit Aves, St Paul. Karen, 651-283-3495. --------2 of 20-------- From: PRO826 [at] aol.com Subject: Encampment v war 5.11 5pm Capitol Encampment Against the War Friday, May 11, 5pm 'til Sunrise State Capitol Lawn, St. Paul The Capitol Encampment will feature: Concerts, speeches, workshops, games, community, and planning for a major student walkout next fall A project of Youth Against War & Racism, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and Socialist Alternative.As the war drags into its fifth year, the antiwar movement faces tremendous opportunities and challenges. Young veterans are returning home from this un-winnable war based on lies to find the inadequate medical services for the physical and mental injuries they sustained. More and more military recruiters are pouring into our schools as the Pentagon gropes to supply Bush's troop surge in Iraq with fresh cannon fodder. Meanwhile the young people of Iraq see their country falling into a bloody abyss, their future destroyed, and in desperation are seeking ways to fight back. The May 11th Capitol Encampment Against the War will be a place for young people, and the wider antiwar movement, to come together and celebrate our accomplishments so far, mourn our losses, make new connections, and map out our next steps. Schedule of Events on May 11: 5-7pm: Concert and speeches on the Capitol steps 7-8pm: Break into affinity groups; discuss next steps for youth antiwar movement 8-9pm: Educational workshops, activist trainings, and small affinity group meetings to discuss future plans like a huge student walkout next fall 9-10pm: Second Concert (concerts will include hip-hop, spoken word, punk, blue grass, more...) 10-11:30pm: Group games, activities, and chill time 11:30-12am: Vigil on Capitol steps to mourn the losses on both sides of this war 12-6am sunrise: Antiwar movies, acoustic jams, and whatever folks come up with A Safe Event (parents don't worry!) The Capital Encampment Against the War will be a safe event. We have a legal permit for the encampment and trained adult volunteer Peace Marshals will be on hand all night. We are asking everyone who plans to stay the night to register upon arrival. Drugs and alcohol are not welcome. HELP NEEDED! If you can host a workshop/training, if you can be a Peace Marshal, or if you can donate to our substantial costs, read on! HOST A WORKSHOP: We are inviting all groups and individuals with something important to say in the struggle for justice to host a workshop from 8pm - 9pm on May 11th. We encourage both well-prepared educational workshops and skills-share trainings. Be creative! Workshops will be held in circles on the Capitol lawn. Please send workshop proposals to Jesse at _wozni019 [at] umn.edu _ (mailto:wozni019 [at] umn.edu) and we will get back to you within a week if your "application" is accepted. BE A PEACE MARSHAL: We are aiming to sign-up 50 volunteer Peace Marshals for this event. All that is required to be a Peace Marshal is a commitment to working toward a safe event. We don't anticipate any problems, so Peace Marshals should be able to participate in all the activities on May 11th. Peace Marshals will not be expected to act as "protest police." If you can be a Peace Marshal, please email Ty _tytymo [at] gmail.com_ (mailto:tytymo [at] gmail.com) and let us know, 1) if you can arrive at 4:30pm on May 11, and 2) if you can stay through the night. We encourage Peace Marshal volunteers to participate in a short training on Saturday, May 5th, at 3pm, at the Veterans for Peace office: 2123 Clinton Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404. (612) 821-9141 DONATE to YAWR for MAY 11: The Capital Encampment Against the War will likely cost YAWR $1500 or more. The biggest expense is to get the permit, which is contingent on our agreement to pay for Capitol Security to have a guard staff our entire event. We are completely financed by our own fundraising activities and the donations of our community supporters, and we don't currently have enough to cover our expected costs. Your donation - whether it is $10 or $100 - will be tremendously appreciated. Contact Barry at _bshillin [at] comcast.net_ (mailto:bshillin [at] comcast.net) if you can donate anything to YAWR, or send checks made out to "Youth Against War & Racism" to 3024 Chicago Ave #1, Minneapolis, MN 55407. For more information on May 11 call Brandon at 952-465-5307 _http://myspace.com/CapitolCampout _ (http://myspace.com/CapitolCampout) *** For info on the sponsoring organizations: _www.yawr.org_ (http://www.yawr.org/) _www.twincitiesvfp.org _ (http://www.twincitiesvfp.org/) _www.mfso.org_ (http://www.mfso.org/) _www.socialistalternative.org_ (http://www.socialistminnesota.org/) --------3 of 20-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Pray for peace 5.11 6:30pm Friday, 5/11, 6:30 to 7:15 pm, Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet present 11th day prayer for peace, Presentation Chapel, 1880 Randolph Ave, St Paul. www.csjstpaul.org or 651-690-7079. --------4 of 20------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Why we fight/film 5.11 7pm Friday, 5/11, 7 pm, mnpACT sponsors flim "Why We Fight" about the post-WWII military/industrial complex, Open Circle Church, 2400 Highland Dr, Burnsville. jhsteele58 [at] gmail.com --------5 of 20-------- From: Dan Richmond <richmond [at] kfai.org> Subject: Scahill/army 5.11 7:30pm KFAI is proud to present Jeremy Scahill, regular contributor to the Nation and Democracy Now and author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," at Cowles Auditorium on the U of M West Bank, Friday, May 11th at 7:30pm. This event is part of the station's "Fresh Voices: KFAI Speaks" Lecture Series. You can buy tickets online here: https://www.kfai.org/node/add/jeremy-scahill-tickets Tickets for this KFAI Event are $15. Tickets are also available at the following locations: Black Dog Café, Cahoots Coffee Bar, and Opposable Thumbs Books. You can also pick up tickets at KFAI, Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, or call 612-341-3144 extension 23. For more information, go to www.kfai.org <http://www.kfai.org/>. -------6 of 20-------- From: t r u t h o u t <messenger [at] truthout.org> Subject: NOW/slippery oil 5.11 8:30pm [check time] NOW | Is a Major Oil Company Short-Changing the American Public? http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050907U.shtml When veteran government auditor Bobby Maxwell learned oil giant Kerr-McGee was not paying the $10 million he says it owed in oil royalties, he prepared an order to Kerr-McGee to pay up. But Maxwell claims his bosses quashed that order. After filing a lawsuit under the False Claims Act, which protects and encourages whistleblowers, Maxwell lost his job. On Friday, May 11, at 8:30 p.m., NOW talks with Maxwell about the personal and professional price he says he paid in pursuit of fairness. --------7 of 20-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: US interventions 5.12 10am Saturday, 5/12, 10 to noon, Women's Intl League for Peace and Freedom presents Prof Richard Martinez talking about US Interventions around the World, Van Cleve Community Center, 901 - 15th Ave SE, Mpls. www.wilpfmn.org or 651-283-3495. --------8 of 20-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Bolivia 5.12 10am Saturday, 5/12, 10 to 11:30 am, Jesus Hurtado speaks on Update in Bolivia, about new government of Evo Morales and opposition to new policies, Resource Center of the Americas, 3019 Minnehaha, Mpls. www.americas.org --------9 of 29-------- From: Cristy A. DeLaCruz <cristy.delacruz [at] gmail.com> Subject: WomensHealthFair 5.12 10:30am To celebrate Mother's Day and to honor women, the West 7th Community Center presents its third annual Health Fair for Women of All Ages on Saturday, May 12, 2007 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the West 7th Community Center, located at 265 Oneida Street in Saint Paul. The Health Fair includes opportunities for participants to meet with representatives at exhibits from 28 health and wellness-related agencies. The day will feature ten workshop sessions, with topics such as diabetes prevention and treatment, ages and stages of child development, pesticides in your home and in your children, health insurance coverage options, Chinese healing arts and taking control of arthritis. The luncheon keynote presentation, offered by St. Paul Police Department Crime Prevention Coordinator RuthAnn Eide, will focus on crime prevention for women. --------10 of 20-------- From: Carole Rydberg <carydberg [at] comcast.net> Subject: NWN4P Minnetonka 5.12 11am NWN4P-Minnetonka demonstration- Every Saturday, 11 AM to noon, at Hwy. 7 and 101. Park in the Target Greatland lot; meet near the fountain. We will walk along the public sidewalk. --------11 of 20-------- From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: MothersDay4peace 5.12 12noon Mother's Day Weekend Peace Action: Out of Iraq! Hands off Iran! Saturday, May 12, Noon Hiawatha and Lake Street, Minneapolis. Be part of an anti-war presence with signs and banners! This Mother's Day will be the fourth since the start of the U.S. war in Iraq. Over 3,200 U.S. soldiers have died along with tens of thousands of Iraqis. The Bush Administration is escalating the war by sending more troops and extending the stays of troops already in Iraq. There is also a growing danger of a U.S. attack on Iran. Across the country on Mother's Day weekend events will be held to call for an end to the war. The historic roots of Mother's Day in the U.S. are a call for peace and justice. Join us in making sure that this Mother's Day is the last Mother's Day when U.S. troops occupy Iraq. Initiated by: the Iraq Peace Action Coalition (IPAC). FFI: Call the Anti-War Committee (AWC), 612-379-3899 or email <info [at] antiwarcommittee.org>. --------12 of 20-------- From: Lennie <major18 [at] comcast.net> Subject: Northtown vigil 5.12 2pm Mounds View peace vigil EVERY SATURDAY from 2-3pm at the at the southeast corner of the intersection of Co. Hwy 10 and University Ave NE in Blaine, which is the northwest most corner of the Northtown Mall area. This is a MUCH better location. We'll have extra signs. Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View, New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park, Fridley, and Coon Rapids. For further information, email major18 [at] comcast.net or call Lennie at 763-717-9168 --------13 of 20-------- From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: StP industries 5.12 2pm Join Untold Stories regular Dave Riehle and millwright Dennis Levendowski, who has dismantled and removed machinery from disappearing St. Paul industries over the last 20 years, for the labor history tour "De-Industrializing Saint Paul," departing from the Minnesota History Center, 354 Kellogg Blvd., Saint Paul, at 2 p.m., on Saturday, May 12. Visit sites of manufacturing plants whose operations and often the buildings themselves, have vanished, usually outsourced to union-free, low wage countries. Locations include former Whirlpool, US Gypsum, 3M, and American Hoist operations, as well as the soon-to-be-closed Ford Assembly Plant. Travel on a Minnesota Transportation Museum classic bus from the early 1950's. Before the tour, see labor history documents on display in the Minnesota History Center Library. Please call 651/222-3242 to reserve your seat on the bus. --------14 of 20-------- From: Suzanne linton <bahiabaubo [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Evil comedy 5.12 7:30pm The Axis of Evil Comedy Show Saturday, May 12, 7:30 P.M.Guthrie Theater, Wurtele Thrust Stage, 818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis. $33.00 Three comedians, all of Middle Eastern descent, combine comedy, politics and pop culture to create hysterical commentary on today's society that is unlike anything ever seen before. The show features Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani, Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed, Palestinian-American comedian Aron Kader , with special guest Arab-American comedian Dean Obeidallah. If the best comedy is truth-telling with an edge, no four men are sharper or have a more pointed view on today's society and finding a place in a vast, often suspicious/unfriendly America, than the comics of "The Axis of Evil." Is the country ready for this? Are Americans able to laugh at some of their greatest fears? "The Axis of Evil" gives us a chance to see how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Endorsed by: WAMM Middle East Committee. Buy tickets: Visit <www.guthrietheater.org>. --------15 of 20-------- From: Human Rights Events Update <humanrts [at] umn.edu> Subject: Human rights/TV 5.12 8pm May 12, 2007 - Globalizing Justice: Do Human Rights Trials Really Work? Time: 8:00pm. Broadcast of talk given by Kathryn Sikkink at the IAS on January 29, "Globalizing Justice: Do Human Rights Trials Really Work?" Program will appear on TPT-Channel 17 on broadcast television, and on satellite and most cable stations; Channel 13 on the Comcast Cable system in Minneapolis. Institute for Advanced Study, 612-626-5054 Location: TPT Channel 17; Channel 13 Minneapolis --------16 of 20-------- From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net> Subject: Cindy Sheehan/TV 5.12 9pm Dear Minneapolis Television Network (MTN 17) viewers: "Our World In Depth" cablecasts weekly on MTN Channel 17. Households with basic cable can watch. "Our World In Depth" is on Saturday at 9 pm and the following Tuesday at 8 am (as well as other random times). Sat, 5/12, 9 pm "Cindy Sheehan" Talk by Cindy Sheehan given in Mpls in January '07. Introduction by Becky Lourey. (Apologies for tape issues) --------17 of 20-------- From: John Kolstad <jkolstad [at] millcitymusic.com> Subject: Kolstad/Sorry Muthas 5.12 "40 Years in the Making!" The Sorry Muthas First Public Concert since 1972 and album re-release event ["The Sorry Muthas,Greatest Hits Vol. #3"], May 12, (The Eve of Muthas Day) At the Eagle's Club, 2507 East 25th Street Mpls (Seward). The Muthas include: Papa John Kolstad, Judy Larson, Bill Hinkley, Cal Hand, Bob Stelnicki (world's Greatest Wash Tub Bass Player) with Clint Hoover and Rod Bellville sitting in. Opening the show will be: Cadillac Kolstad, Katey Bellville, Marilyn Hand, and Amanda Hand, with all star back up. A room full of great players and performers. This event could sell out, so it is recommended to get tickets in advance. $10 advance and $12 at the door. Tickets available at Homestead Pickin Parlor, Electric Fetus, Podium, The Eagles Club and Mill City Music. [The Muthas part of a sell-out. Hmm, it figures] This promises to be a very memorable, if not remarkable evening. For More Information: www.myspace.com/thesorrymuthas -- Don't forget the show this weekend at The Eagles 2507 East 25th St Minneapolis. We are very excited and hope to see you all there. Opening act includes Cadillac Kolstad, Katey Bellville, Amanda Hand, Marilyn Hand and others. Clint Hoover will sit in on harmonica and Rod Bellville will also be performing. http://citypages.com/alist/detail.asp?EID=156573 City Pages has a nice write up about The Sorry Muthas www.myspace.com/thesorrymuthas We are trying to keep information up to date on The Sorry Muthas myspace page. http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=3162 scroll down to Saturday's Hot Tickets and read about The Sorry Muthas. -- During the 1960's and early 70s we played many public rally and event against the war. I think it is safe to say, history has shown we were absolutely right. Marv Davidoff has assured me that there were large contingents of FBI and Government type at all these events and documenting all performers and participants for posterity. And that most certainly they have a significant file on me and my Band and its members. See the FBI is good for something. Some day we can go to the files and use those historic photos and footage for a documentary. I have not yet gone to the Freedom of Information Act to get my file. I figure I'll wait until I have stopped adding to it. One of the big events we did was with Jerry Rubin at Macalester College. Of course that was before he became a stock broker. There was a large event over by the Minneapolis Art Institute, in the park across the street. That one drew national press and you know who else. --------18 of 20-------- Washington and Posada Carriles Fighting Terror Selectively By MARJORIE COHN CounterPunch May 10, 2007 Since the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration has made the "war on terror" the centerpiece of its domestic and foreign policy. Bush cries terror where there is none - as in Iraq and in the communications of ordinary Americans. Meanwhile, he protects the real terrorists in our midst. Luis Posada Carriles is a Cuban-born terrorist who has accurately been called the Osama bin Laden of the Western hemisphere. He boasted of helping to detonate deadly bombs in Havana hotels 10 years ago. Declassified FBI and CIA documents at the National Security Archive reveal that Posada was the mastermind of a 1976 bombing of a civilian Cuban airplane that killed 73 people. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison where he was being tried for his role in the first in-air bombing of a commercial airliner. Posada then played a central role in the illegal Iran-Contra scandal. Posada entered the United States in March 2005 using false papers and was charged in El Paso with lying to Immigration and Customs officials. FBI agent Thomas Rice swore in a June 2005 affidavit that "the FBI is unable to rule out the possibility that Posada Carriles poses a threat to the national security of the United States." Yet on April 19, 2007 Posada was released on bail despite being a flight risk. This stranger-than-fiction story has a logical explanation. Posada has a long history of ties to the U.S. government. He became a CIA agent in 1961. The U.S. government claims his CIA service ended in 1976. But on April 30, Posada filed a motion in federal court declaring that he continued to work for the CIA for more than 25 years. That puts him on the CIA's payroll when he engineered the terrorist airline bombing. In his motion, Posada asserted the right to present evidence of his CIA work as a defense to the perjury charges. The specter of Posada revealing the dirty deeds committed by the CIA when George H.W. Bush was director of the CIA was intolerable to Washington. The government was caught between a rock and a hard place. There had been intense pressure to try Posada for his terrorist crimes, as required by Security Council resolution 1373 and three international treaties. Resolution 1373, passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, mandates that all countries deny safe haven to those who commit terrorist acts, and ensure that they are brought to justice. These provisions of resolution 1373 are mandatory, as they were adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The treaties require the United States to extradite Posada to Venezuela for trial or try him in U.S. courts for offenses committed abroad. The Department of Justice elected instead to charge him with perjury for lying about how he entered the United States in 2005. But the government could not take the risk that Posada might sing like a canary. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone dismissed all charges against Posada. In her ruling, Cardone wrote that "the Government engaged in fraud, deceit, and trickery" by using a "routine" immigration interview to investigate possible criminal charges against Posada. But questions about Posada's prior criminal conduct were relevant to the moral character determination at the immigration interview. Posada is not a "routine" guy and his lawyer was present throughout the interview to protect him against self-incrimination. Cardone found the government's tactics "grossly shocking and so outrageous as to violate the universal sense of justice." She then disingenuously claimed, "This Court's concern is not politics; it is the preservation of justice." It is shocking and outrageous that Luis Posada Carriles, whose crimes rival those of al Qaeda, is now walking free in Miami. And Cardone's decision is deeply political. Rep. William Delahunt has called for a congressional hearing to examine the U.S. government's role in promoting impunity in the Posada case. Delahunt sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting an explanation as to why the Justice Department did not invoke the USA Patriot Act to declare Posada a terrorist and detain him, stating, "The release of Mr. Posada puts into question our commitment to fight terrorism." That commitment is also belied by the way Washington has dealt with the Cuban Five. These men peacefully infiltrated criminal exile groups in Miami to prevent terrorism against Cuba. The Five turned over the results of their investigation to the FBI. But instead of working with Cuba to fight terrorism, the U.S. government arrested the five Cubans and tried and convicted them of conspiracy-related offenses. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reversed their convictions, finding they could not receive a fair trial in Miami. In August 2006, a majority of the full circuit rejected the earlier ruling and sent the matter back to the panel where further appeals are pending. The U.S. media has been irresponsibly silent on the case of the Cuban Five and the irregularities of the trial. The Los Angeles Times, however, showed singular insight on April 20 when it said the release of Posada "exposed Washington to legitimate charges of hypocrisy in the war on terror." The editorial criticized the U.S. for holding men at Guantnamo without due process while releasing Posada. "The U.S. government has done many odd things in 46 years of a largely failed Cuba policy," the Times said, "but letting a notorious terrorist walk stands among the most perverse yet." Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists. Her new book, "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law," will be published in July. See http://www.marjoriecohn.com/. --------19 of 20-------- THE TRAGEDY THREATENING OUR SPECIES by Fidel Castro Ruz I cannot speak as an economist or a scientist. I simply speak as a politician who wishes to unravel the economists' and scientists' arguments one way or another. I also try to sense the motivations of each one of those who make statements on these matters. Just twenty-two years ago, here in Havana, we had a great number of meetings with political, union, peasant and student leaders invited to our country as representatives of these sectors. They all agreed that the most important problem at that time was the enormous foreign debt accumulated by the nations of Latin America in 1985. That debt amounted to 350 billion dollars. The dollar then had a higher purchasing power than it does today. A copy of the outcome of those meetings was sent to all the world governments, of course with some exceptions, because it might have seemed insulting. At that time, the petrodollars had flooded the market and the large transnational banks were virtually demanding that the countries accept high loans. Needless to say, the people responsible for the economy had taken on those commitments without consulting anybody. That period coincided with the presence of the most repressive and bloody governments this continent has ever suffered, installed by imperialism. Large sums were spent on weapons, luxuries and consumer goods. The subsequent debt grew to 800 billion dollars while today's catastrophic dangers were being hatched, the dangers that weigh upon a population that doubled in just two decades and along with it, the number of those condemned to a life of extreme poverty. Today, in the Latin American region, the difference between the most favored population and the one with the lowest income is the greatest in the world. Many years before the subjects of today's debates were center stage, the struggles of the Third World focused on equally agonizing problems like the unequal exchange. Year after year it was discovered that the price of the industrialized nations' exports, usually manufactured with our raw materials, would unilaterally grow while our basic exports remained unchanged. The price of coffee and cacao, just to mention two examples, was approximately 2,000 dollars a ton. A cup of coffee or a chocolate milkshake could be bought in cities like New York for a few cents; today, these cost several dollars, perhaps 30 or 40 times what they cost back then. Today, the purchase of a tractor, a truck or medical equipment require several times the volume of products that was needed to import them back then; jute, henequen and other Third World produced fibers that were substituted by synthetic ones succumbed to the same fate. In the meantime, tanned hides, rubber and natural fibers used in many textiles were being replaced by synthetic materials derived from the sophisticated petrochemical industry while sugar prices hit rock bottom, crushed by the large subsidies granted by the industrialized countries to their agricultural sector. The former colonies or neocolonies that had been promised a glowing future after World War II had not yet awakened from the Bretton Woods dream. From top to bottom, the system had been designed for exploitation and plundering. When consciousness was beginning to be roused, the other extremely adverse factors had not yet surfaced, such as the undreamed-of squandering of energy that industrialized countries had fallen prey to. They were paying less than two dollars a barrel of oil. The source of fuel, with the exception of the United States where it was very abundant, was basically in Third World countries, chiefly in the Middle East but also in Mexico, Venezuela, and later in Africa. But not all of the countries that by virtue of yet another white lie classified as "developing countries" were oil producers, since 82 of them are among the poorest and as a rule they must import oil. A terrible situation awaits them if food stuffs are to be transformed into biofuels or agrifuels, as the peasant and native movements in our region prefer to call them. Thirty years ago, the idea of global warming hanging over our species' life like a sword of Damocles was not even known by the immense majority of the inhabitants of our planet; even today there is great ignorance and confusion about these issues. If we listen to the spokesmen of the transnationals and their media, we are living in the best of all possible worlds: an economy ruled by the market, plus transnational capital, plus sophisticated technology equals a constant growth of productivity, higher GDP, higher living standards and every dream of the human species come true; the state should not interfere with anything, it should not even exist, other than as an instrument of the large financial capital. But reality is hard-headed. Germany, one of the most highly industrialized countries in the world, loses sleep over its 10 percent unemployment. The toughest and least attractive jobs are taken by immigrants who, desperate in their growing poverty, break into industrialized Europe through any possible chink. Apparently, nobody is taking note of the number of inhabitants on our planet, growing precisely in the undeveloped countries. More than 700 representatives of social organizations have just been meeting in Havana to discuss various issues raised in this reflection. Many of them set out their points of view and left indelible impressions on us. There is plenty of material to reflect upon as well as new events happening every day. Even now, as a consequence of liberating a terrorist monster, two young men, who were fulfilling their legal duty in the Active Military Service, anxious to taste consumerism in the United States, hijacked a bus, crashed through one of the doors of the domestic flights terminal at the airport, drove up to a civilian aircraft and got on board with their hostages, demanding to be taken to the United States. A few days earlier, they had killed a soldier, who was standing guard, to steal two automatic weapons, and in the plane they fired four shots that killed a brave officer who, unarmed and held hostage in the bus, had attempted to prevent the plane's hijacking. The impunity and the material gains that have rewarded any violent action against Cuba during the last half-century encourage such events. It had been many months since we had such an incident. All it needed was setting a notorious terrorist free and once again death come calling at our door. The perpetrators have not gone on trial yet because, in the course of events, both were wounded; one of them was shot by the other as he fired inside the plane, while they were struggling with the heroic army officer. Now, many people abroad are waiting for the reaction of our Courts and of the Council of State, while our people here are deeply outraged with these events. We really need a large dose of calmness and sangfroid to confront these problems. The apocalyptic head of the empire declared more than five years ago that the United States armed forces had to be on the ready to make pre-emptive attacks on 60 or more countries in the world; nothing less than one third of the international community. Apparently, he is not satisfied with the death, the torture and the uprooting of millions of people to seize their natural resources and the product of their labors. Meanwhile, the impressive international meeting that just concluded in Havana reaffirmed my personal conviction: every evil idea must be submitted to devastating criticism, avoiding any concession. May 7, 2007 5:42 p.m --------20 of 20-------- To Remake The World Something Earth-Changing is Afoot Among Civil Society by Paul Hawken Published on Monday, May 7, 2007 by Orion Magazine I have given nearly one thousand talks about the environment in the past fifteen years, and after every speech a smaller crowd gathered to talk, ask questions, and exchange business cards. The people offering their cards were working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. They were from the nonprofit and nongovernmental world, also known as civil society. They looked after rivers and bays, educated consumers about sustainable agriculture, retrofitted houses with solar panels, lobbied state legislatures about pollution, fought against corporate-weighted trade policies, worked to green inner cities, or taught children about the environment. Quite simply, they were trying to safeguard nature and ensure justice. After being on the road for a week or two, I would return with a couple hundred cards stuffed into various pockets. I would lay them out on the table in my kitchen, read the names, look at the logos, envisage the missions, and marvel at what groups do on behalf of others. Later, I would put them into drawers or paper bags, keepsakes of the journey. I couldn't throw them away. Over the years the cards mounted into the thousands, and whenever I glanced at the bags in my closet, I kept coming back to one question: did anyone know how many groups there were? At first, this was a matter of curiosity, but it slowly grew into a hunch that something larger was afoot, a significant social movement that was eluding the radar of mainstream culture. I began to count. I looked at government records for different countries and, using various methods to approximate the number of environmental and social justice groups from tax census data, I initially estimated that there were thirty thousand environmental organizations strung around the globe; when I added social justice and indigenous organizations, the number exceeded one hundred thousand. I then researched past social movements to see if there were any equal in scale and scope, but I couldn't find anything. The more I probed, the more I unearthed, and the numbers continued to climb. In trying to pick up a stone, I found the exposed tip of a geological formation. I discovered lists, indexes, and small databases specific to certain sectors or geographic areas, but no set of data came close to describing the movement's breadth. Extrapolating from the records being accessed, I realized that the initial estimate of a hundred thousand organizations was off by at least a factor of ten. I now believe there are over one million organizations working toward ecological sustainability and social justice. Maybe two. By conventional definition, this is not a movement. Movements have leaders and ideologies. You join movements, study tracts, and identify yourself with a group. You read the biography of the founder(s) or listen to them perorate on tape or in person. Movements have followers, but this movement doesn't work that way. It is dispersed, inchoate, and fiercely independent. There is no manifesto or doctrine, no authority to check with. I sought a name for it, but there isn't one. Historically, social movements have arisen primarily because of injustice, inequalities, and corruption. Those woes remain legion, but a new condition exists that has no precedent: the planet has a life-threatening disease that is marked by massive ecological degradation and rapid climate change. It crossed my mind that perhaps I was seeing something organic, if not biologic. Rather than a movement in the conventional sense, is it a collective response to threat? Is it splintered for reasons that are innate to its purpose? Or is it simply disorganized? More questions followed. How does it function? How fast is it growing? How is it connected? Why is it largely ignored? After spending years researching this phenomenon, including creating with my colleagues a global database of these organizations, I have come to these conclusions: this is the largest social movement in all of history, no one knows its scope, and how it functions is more mysterious than what meets the eye. What does meet the eye is compelling: tens of millions of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. CLAYTON THOMAS-MLLER SPEAKS to a community gathering of the Cree nation about waste sites on their native land in Northern Alberta, toxic lakes so big you can see them from outer space. Shi Lihong, founder of Wild China Films, makes documentaries with her husband on migrants displaced by construction of large dams. Rosalina Tuyuc Velsquez, a member of the Maya-Kaqchikel people, fights for full accountability for tens of thousands of people killed by death squads in Guatemala. Rodrigo Baggio retrieves discarded computers from New York, London, and Toronto and installs them in the favelas of Brazil, where he and his staff teach computer skills to poor children. Biologist Janine Benyus speaks to twelve hundred executives at a business forum in Queensland about biologically inspired industrial development. Paul Sykes, a volunteer for the National Audubon Society, completes his fifty-second Christmas Bird Count in Little Creek, Virginia, joining fifty thousand other people who tally 70 million birds on one day. Sumita Dasgupta leads students, engineers, journalists, farmers, and Adivasis (tribal people) on a ten-day trek through Gujarat exploring the rebirth of ancient rainwater harvesting and catchment systems that bring life back to drought-prone areas of India. Silas Kpanan.Ayoung Siakor, who exposed links between the genocidal policies of former president Charles Taylor and illegal logging in Liberia, now creates certified, sustainable timber policies. These eight, who may never meet and know one another, are part of a coalescence comprising hundreds of thousands of organizations with no center, codified beliefs, or charismatic leader. The movement grows and spreads in every city and country. Virtually every tribe, culture, language, and religion is part of it, from Mongolians to Uzbeks to Tamils. It is comprised of families in India, students in Australia, farmers in France, the landless in Brazil, the bananeras of Honduras, the "poors" of Durban, villagers in Irian Jaya, indigenous tribes of Bolivia, and housewives in Japan. Its leaders are farmers, zoologists, shoemakers, and poets. The movement can't be divided because it is atomized - small pieces loosely joined. It forms, gathers, and dissipates quickly. Many inside and out dismiss it as powerless, but it has been known to bring down governments, companies, and leaders through witnessing, informing, and massing. The movement has three basic roots: the environmental and social justice movements, and indigenous cultures - resistance to globalization - all of which are intertwining. It arises spontaneously from different economic sectors, cultures, regions, and cohorts, resulting in a global, classless, diverse, and embedded movement, spreading worldwide without exception. In a world grown too complex for constrictive ideologies, the very word movement may be too small, for it is the largest coming together of citizens in history. There are research institutes, community development agencies, village- and citizen-based organizations, corporations, networks, faith-based groups, trusts, and foundations. They defend against corrupt politics and climate change, corporate predation and the death of the oceans, governmental indifference and pandemic poverty, industrial forestry and farming, depletion of soil and water. Describing the breadth of the movement is like trying to hold the ocean in your hand. It is that large. When a part rises above the waterline, the iceberg beneath usually remains unseen. When Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize, the wire service stories didn't mention the network of six thousand different women's groups in Africa planting trees. When we hear about a chemical spill in a river, it is never mentioned that more than four thousand organizations in North America have adopted a river, creek, or stream. We read that organic agriculture is the fastest-growing sector of farming in America, Japan, Mexico, and Europe, but no connection is made to the more than three thousand organizations that educate farmers, customers, and legislators about sustainable agriculture. This is the first time in history that a large social movement is not bound together by an "ism". What binds it together is ideas, not ideologies. This unnamed movement's big contribution is the absence of one big idea; in its stead it offers thousands of practical and useful ideas. In place of isms are processes, concerns, and compassion. The movement demonstrates a pliable, resonant, and generous side of humanity. And it is impossible to pin down. Generalities are largely inaccurate. It is nonviolent, and grassroots; it has no bombs, armies, or helicopters. A charismatic male vertebrate is not in charge. The movement does not agree on everything nor will it ever, because that would be an ideology. But it shares a basic set of fundamental understandings about the Earth, how it functions, and the necessity of fairness and equity for all people partaking of the planet's life-giving systems. The promise of this unnamed movement is to offer solutions to what appear to be insoluble dilemmas: poverty, global climate change, terrorism, ecological degradation, polarization of income, loss of culture. It is not burdened with a syndrome of trying to save the world; it is trying to remake the world. THERE IS FIERCENESS HERE. There is no other explanation for the raw courage and heart seen over and again in the people who march, speak, create, resist, and build. It is the fierceness of what it means to know we are human and want to survive. This movement is relentless and unafraid. It cannot be mollified, pacified, or suppressed. There can be no Berlin Wall moment, no treaty-signing, no morning to awaken when the superpowers agree to stand down. The movement will continue to take myriad forms. It will not rest. There will be no Marx, Alexander, or Kennedy. No book can explain it, no person can represent it, no words can encompass it, because the movement is the breathing, sentient testament of the living world. And I believe it will prevail. I don't mean defeat, conquer, or cause harm to someone else. And I don't tender the claim in an oracular sense. I mean the thinking that informs the movement's goal - to create a just society conducive to life on Earth - will reign. It will soon suffuse and permeate most institutions. But before then, it will change a sufficient number of people so as to begin the reversal of centuries of frenzied self-destruction. Inspiration is not garnered from litanies of what is flawed; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. Healing the wounds of the Earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party. It is not a liberal or conservative activity. It is a sacred act. Paul Hawken is an entrepreneur and social activist living in California. His article in this issue is adapted from Blessed Unrest, to be published by Viking Press and used by permission. 2007 Orion Magazine --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 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
- (no other messages in thread)
Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.