| Progressive Calendar 08.16.12 /2 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001 umn.edu)
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| Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:41:23 -0700 (PDT) | |
*P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 08.16.12* 1. Socialist conference 8.16/17 3pm 2. FBI-free dinner 8.16 5:30pm 3. Save CRA 8.16 7pm 4. GPSP - Jill Stein on Mn ballot 5. Jan Nye - Rocky Anderson/ballot access please 6. ed - bumpersticker --------1 of 6-------- From: David Riehle djrie [at] visi.com Socialist conference 8.16/17 3pm WHAT SOCIALISTS BELIEVE: Socialist Action Educational Conference Minneapolis, August 16 & 17, 2012 Schedule: Thursday, August 16 3:00 PM - "HOUSING AND THE CAPITALIST CRISIS: The fight against foreclosures in the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior. The fear of home foreclosure and eviction is sweeping across the American heartland. Occupy and community activists have entered the breach to try to keep families in their homes.SPEAKER: Adam Ritscher, former County Board member, Douglas County, Wisconsin and a long time socialist activist in Northern Minnesota. ---Thursday evening will be left free for dinner and socializing.--- Friday, August 17 10:00 AM- "THE ORIGINS OF WOMENS OPPRESSION" No one can doubt the oppression of women. How did this oppression begin? How does understanding these origins help us develop a strategy for liberation? SPEAKER: Stephanie Molden, Feminist and socialist activist 1:00 PM “PERMANENT REVOLUTION:FROM PETROGRAD TO THE ARAB SPRING" Leon Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution maintains its power to explain and help change today's world. SPEAKER: Michael Schreiber, Socialist Action newspaper editor, 3:00 conference ends All sessions will be held at Mayday Bookstore 301 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis Everybody Welcome: for more information: 612 333-4719 --------2 of 6-------- From: Meredith Aby riot369 [at] gmail.com via yahoogroups FBI-free dinner 8.16 5:30pm Stop Political Repression Free Dinner Thursday, August 16th from 5:30 – 7pm @ 4200 Cedar Ave. Minneapolis, MN Come enjoy a free dinner and support activists facing political repression for their local peace activism. This month we’ll be sending cards to Muslim political prisoners for the end of Ramadan. Vegan and gluten free options available. Kids welcome. Organized by the MN Committee to Stop FBI Repression. FFI:http://mnstopfbi.wordpress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/events/335261226562860/ --------3 of 6-------- From: CUAPB Save CRA 8.16 7pm SNOW JOB MASQUERADES AS COMMUNITY MEETINGS: City Administration Desperate to Sell Plan to Destroy CRA Here we are in the middle of August but we are looking at a serious snow job. At the demand of the city council, the Civil Rights department scheduled a series of meetings, ostensibly to hear from the community on their plans to destroy community oversight and put the Civilian Review Authority under police control. However, in typical city fashion, they haven’t bothered to tell the community about them. Even worse, the true purpose of the meetings is to sell us on this rotten plan. The first "community" meeting was held on August 1st at City Hall, on just one day’s notice on the city’s website. We were tipped off to it and attended. The bulk of the meeting consisted of a long and plodding PowerPoint presentation designed to sell the community on the virtues of their plan. Assistant Director Lee Reid worked hard to block the community from asking questions or making comments. Throughout the presentation, it was obvious that none of the suggestions made by the CRA board had been incorporated. At the end, someone asked about next steps and whether the community’s concerns would be taken into consideration. We were told that if we don’t like the proposal, we should “take it up with the city council”—letting us know that the city administration is hell-bent on ramming through this deeply flawed plan. Two more meetings are scheduled. Don’t miss the chance to stand up against this outrageous gutting of community oversight. Thursday, August 16 at 7:00 p.m. Shiloh Temple 1201 W Broadway, Minneapolis Tuesday, August 21 at 7:00 p.m. Minneapolis City Hall, Rm 319 350 S 5th St, Minneapolis (Note that the city council asked to have one of the meetings in south Minneapolis and we offered a venue, but the Civil Rights department is determined to control all aspects of these meetings and refused the offer.) What’s so bad about their plan? The list is long, but here are the most serious flaws: Complaining to the cops about the cops doesn’t work. As the plan states, the CRA office would exist “on paper only” and all complaints would really go to the police department. For the most part, the community DOES NOT trust cops to investigate other cops, which is why the CRA was started in the first place. The concerns are real—we’ve documented dozens of incidents of retaliation after people complained to Internal Affairs. If the current court case is any indication, even cops who investigate other cops aren’t safe from retaliation. Further, we studied community complaints to Internal Affairs and in ten years all but two complaints from community members were thrown out. This proposal makes it unsafe to complain. Check out p. 18 of the proposed ordinance. The “firewall” added to the CRA ordinance in 2002, which prevents the city attorney’s office from mining complaints for chargeable offenses, is removed. Further, because complaints would be made to police, complaints that can’t be proven could lead to people being prosecuted for “false reporting” of police under Minnesota statute 609.505. This charge only applies to people complaining TO police, which is why a true CIVILIAN review authority is a must. People shouldn’t have to worry that their complaints will be used to prosecute them. The chief still wouldn’t discipline. Hearing panels under this proposal would consist of two “community members” (who would no longer have to be residents of Minneapolis) and two cops hand-picked by the chief. The votes of each member would be recorded and sent to the chief. It seems likely there will be a lot of tie votes (depending, of course, on how legit the “community members” actually are). It also seems likely that the chief will give more weight to the votes of the cops than to the community members. Watch—this will become the new excuse for not disciplining sustained complaints. Unrealistic and just plain ridiculous timetables. The proposed ordinance cuts in half the amount of time people have to complain—from one year down to 6 months. This ensures that many people will not complain because any good lawyer will tell you not to talk to the city when you face or could face charges. Even more ridiculous is a requirement that hearing panels write up and sign their recommendations within three business days. These reports have a lot of elements to them and take some time to prepare. Keep in mind that supposedly two of the panel members will be community volunteers, who will have to come back downtown to sign the report plus track down the two cop panel members. What happens to the complaint if it isn’t written and signed within that three-day window? This will become another excuse not to discipline. On the other end of the spectrum, the proposed ordinance eliminates the current 30-day deadline for the chief to take action on the complaint. In other words, the complainant has to file right away, the hearing panel has to issue a hasty report but the chief has all the time in the world. The real reason for this proposal: During the first so-called community meeting, the Civil Rights department made it clear that this proposal is all about making the oversight process “acceptable” to the cops. Every other word was “buy in” but this is completely wrong-headed. Absolutely no evidence was produced indicating police officers or community members thought the process was unfair. The REAL issue is that the Dolan uses illegal reasons to refuse to discipline sustained complaints. Rather than changing the law, how about holding the chief to the law we already have? == Editorial: Don't dilute citizen review of police August 12, 2012 - 5:42 PM http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/165792186.html Citizen review panels were developed to improve public confidence in how allegations of police misconduct were handled. Across the nation, civilians needed a place to lodge complaints and be treated fairly. Minneapolis leaders are considering a proposal that would replace the city's Civilian Review Authority (CRA) with a combined police/citizen group. As it stands, the plan goes too far in reducing civilian influence -- defeating one purpose of citizen review. Though there have been some improvements, Minneapolis has a history of troubled police-community relations. Over the years, the city has paid millions of dollars in settlements over complaints about police behavior. That's among the reasons why City Council members should make sure that any change maintains adequate civilian influence. Currently, anyone with a complaint against police can take the concern to the CRA or to the department's internal-affairs unit. If the CRA decides to pursue a complaint, it takes testimony and can assign the case to a civilian investigator. Then the body can make recommendations to the police chief. Last year, the citizen group received just more than 350 complaints and heard about 20 percent of them. However, under the new proposal, prepared by civil-rights department staff, the review panel and internal affairs would essentially merge under a new Office of Police Conduct. Together, the units would jointly process complaints and determine whether police or independent investigators should handle them. Currently there are two civilian and seven police officer investigators for CRA. [NOTE: This is an error. There are currently only civilian investigators. The proposal would add police investigators.] All allegations of criminal misconduct would be handled by internal affairs. A panel of two sworn officers and two citizens would review the investigative report and make recommendations to the chief for discipline or other action. The civil-rights director, a city employee, could make the decision in the event of a tie. The change was proposed to secure more police buy-in and presumably make the process more effective. But if the review group is heavily tilted toward officers, it could lose credibility with the community. In addition, complainants may be less likely to come forward if they have to present their concerns to a police officer and have it investigated by police. Another part of the staff proposal would eliminate the residency requirement for review panel members. Currently CRA members must live in Minneapolis. Changing that would also create a credibility problem with citizens; they want their fellow residents to hear their complaints. In response to the staff proposal, the current CRA developed its own reorganization plan that strikes a better compromise. The review panel would include three citizens and one nonvoting police officer; recommendations would go to the chief, but the chief's decision could be appealed to the mayor. The CRA plan would also retain a residency requirement. At least a couple City Council members have expressed concerns about the recommended changes. "This is a big step backwards. We've made some progress [on police-community relations] because of the CRA, and I'm worried that this would be a setback,'' said Council Member Cam Gordon. City leaders should support an independent group of citizens to review allegations of police misconduct, not turn the group into an extension of police internal affairs. Communities United Against Police Brutality We meet every Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at 4200 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis Join us! --------4 of 6-------- From:Jim Ivey via yahoogroups.com Jill Stein on Mn ballot *GREEN PARTY OF MINNESOTA For Immediate Release: Thursday, August 16, 2012 Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Achieves Ballot Access in Minnesota St. Paul, MN (August 16, 2012) - Today the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office notified the Jill Stein for President campaign (www.jillstein.org) that its ballot access petition has met the necessary requirements to place Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala on the ballot in Minnesota as the Green Party presidential and vice presidential candidates. Minnesota requires minor parties to collect and submit 2,000 signatures before August 21 in order to obtain access to the presidential ballot, and Green Party of Minnesota volunteers submitted 2,600 on August 13. “We’re so excited about our candidates that we actually did it twice,” joked Minnesota ballot access coordinator Jim Ivey. “We started petitioning back in June with Green Party legend Howie Hawkins as our stand-in VP candidate, and had already obtained enough signatures by early July. But when our national convention nominated Cheri Honkala as our vice presidential candidate, we knew it was important to have her on the ballot in her home state, giving people the chance to vote for an advocate for the poor and homeless. We immediately started over from scratch with new petitions for Cheri and Jill, and were amazed by the outpouring of support. Everyone’s excited about the chance to have two strong, progressive women on the ballot in Minnesota.” Jill Stein, a Harvard-trained physician who once ran against Mitt Romney for Governor of Massachusetts, is proposing a Green New Deal for America - a four part policy strategy for moving America quickly out of crisis into a secure, sustainable future. Inspired by the New Deal programs that helped the U.S. out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Green New Deal proposes to provide similar relief and create an economy that makes communities sustainable, healthy and just. Cheri Honkala is the National Coordinator for the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, one of the country’s largest multi-racial, inter-generational movements led by the poor and homeless. Compelled by her own experience as a homeless, single mom in Minnesota, Honkala has spent nearly three decades working directly alongside the poor to build a movement to end poverty, and has organized tens of thousands of people to take action via marches, demonstrations and tent cities. The Jill Stein for President campaign is the first Green Party presidential slate to qualify for federal matching funds, thanks to a nationwide grassroots campaign. The campaign is currently petitioning for ballot access across the U.S, and expects to be on the ballot in over 40 states. For more information on the Green Party, see: www.gp.org or www.mngreens.org For more information on the Jill Stein for President campaign, see: www.jillstein.org Contacts: Rhoda Gilman, GPMN Spokesperson, 651-224-6383, info [at] mngreens.org Erika Wolf, Jill Stein for President, 715-781-9635, hq [at] jillstein.org Jim Ivey, MN Ballot Access Coordinator, 612-860-7316, jimivey [at] mngreens.org --------5 of 6-------- From:Janet Nye Rocky Anderson/balot access please A wonderful candidate for President needs 2,000 signatures of eligible voters to get on the ballot in Minnesota. His name is Rocky Anderson and his running mate is Luis Rodriguez. You can learn more about them at voterocky.org. If you are willing to sign for him and thus promote democracy and an education in the game of "lesser of two evils", please contact me and I will come to you with a petition. Time is of the essence since the signatures are due on August 23. They should be brought together by August 17th to be vetted before being sent on in case a bigger buffer needs to be attained after unacceptable signatures are eliminated. Rocky Anderson is such a sterling candidate that I feel honored to be able to work to get him on the ballot. He accomplished a lot in eight years as mayor of Salt Lake City and has been recognized with awards by a number of well-respected groups. He is, in short, damned impressive. Please respond one way or the other, and if you know of someone you think would like to sign, let me know. Thank you so much - Jan Nye 612 276 1213 --------6 of 6-------- ------------------------------------------------ CEOs are the Job Masturbators ------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shove Trove
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