Progressive Calendar 08.21.12 /2 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001umn.edu) | |
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:38:44 -0700 (PDT) |
*P RO G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 08.21.12* 1. Labor lockout 8.21 6pm 2. Save the CRA 8.21 7pm 3. Anya reads 8.21 7pm 4. Civil rights 8.22 1:30pm 5. Humanitaran war 8.22 7pm 6. ed bumpersticker --------1 of 6-------- From: Meredith Aby Labor lockout 8.21 6pm One Year Later, Still Standing Strong: Fundraiser for Locked Out Sugar Workers Tuesday, August 21st from 6-8 pm @ United Labor Center Room 218, 312 Central Ave SE, Minneapolis August 1st, 2012 marked the 1-year anniversary of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union lockout by the bosses at Crystal Sugar. At the end of June, the BCTGM workers rejected a second contract offer that would double health care costs and allow management to ignore seniority when filling new positions and contract work out to non-union workers. These workers have held strong against this unfair contract. Workers from North Dakota never received unemployment insurance during the lockout and the Minnesota workers’ unemployment is beginning to run out. Our union brothers and sisters in the Red River Valley are going through difficult times and are engaged in a very difficult fight. The President of Crystal Sugar likened the union to a cancerous tumor that must be removed. Union busting is becoming all too familiar with ‘Right to Work’ legislation being introduced around the country and more attacks by bosses every day. Join us for a solidarity dinner and discussion on how we unite these struggles, show solidarity for the locked out Crystal Sugar workers and learn from their experience. Checks can be made out to MN AFL-CIO, and put BCTGM in memo line. Panel Speakers (followed by Q&A): - Mark Froemke, President, AFL-CIO West Minnesota Area Labor Council and Representative of the Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Union - Locked out sugar workers. -Joe Burns, Author of Reviving the Strike: How Working People Can Regain Power and Transform America. Organized by AFSCME 3800. https://www.facebook.com/events/445571052131472/ Peace with Justice, Meredith Aby antiwarcommittee.org --------2 of 6-------- Dave Bicking dave [at] colorstudy.com via yahoogroups.com Save the CRA 8.21 7pm We really need a lot of people to come out tonight (Tuesday), to the third and final Community Meeting regarding the city's proposal to kill the Mpls Civilian Police Review Authority (CRA). In particular, the city leaders need to see a lot of new, unfamiliar faces to know that the larger community is not going to tolerate the loss of the only safe and independent way to complain about police brutality and hold officers accountable. Community turnout has been low at the first two meetings. That's understandable given the poor outreach by the city, and due to people's realistic impressions that city leaders don't care what we think. But I think that some Council members really are concerned about the community reaction and the consequences of making such a major change. Community reaction has been unanimous in strong oppostion at the previous meetings, but they need to hear this from a lot of people they are not used to seeing. ***** Tuesday, August 21 (TONIGHT), 7:00 - 8:30pm City sponsored "community" meeting to present and get feedback on proposed gutting of CRA, at Mpls City Hall, Room 319. At this point, it appears that this terrible plan could actually pass at the City Council, and we know RT Rybak is pushing for it. But I think it may still be possible to stop it. Some Council members are opposed and others are wavering, perhaps concerned about the possible consequences. Even the Star Tribune thinks it is too extreme. Rybak wants complete control over the police department, with no outside oversight. Our one Green councilmember, Cam Gordon, has come out in strong opposition. He needs out support now, not just at campaign time! I think this is an important time to show up in larger numbers. Please come!!! Dave Bicking Here is the announcement and analysis as put out by CUAPB: 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! --------3 of 6-------- Write On! Radio KFAI 90.3 FM Anya reads 8.21 7pm Tuesday, August 21st, we talk with Steve Kemper, author of A Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Miles through Islamic Africa, the story of near-forgotten explorer Heinrich Barth. The book has been praised by Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, the Wall Street Journal, and the Boston Globe, among others. Steve Kemper is also the author of Code Name Ginger (about the Segway), which was selected for Barnes and Noble's Discover Great New Writers award, and he has written for many national publications, including Smithsonian and National Geographic. Also joining us for this week's show is Anya Achtenberg, who will be talking about her new novel Blue Earth, a beautifully-written book that weaves together inherited grief from many conflicts, including the Minnesota farm crisis of the 1980's and the 1862 Dakota war. Jay Gabler of the Twin Cities Daily Planet says, "Blue Earth gives the James Michener treatment to a pivotal, and profoundly tragic, event in Minnesota History." She will be reading from the novel Wednesday night at SubText bookstore in St. Paul. --------4 of 6-------- From: Cam Gordon Civil rights 8.22 1:30pm Equity and Employment Resolution Coming to City Council Committee Wed. 8/22 ad22x I wanted to let you know that a resolution, Supporting Equity in Employment in Minneapolis and the Region, that I am authoring will be coming for approval to the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health Committee on August 22 at 1:30pm. Time for a staff presentation, public comment and committee discussion will be provided. The resolution (attached) declares that institutional racism, discrimination and racial employment disparities in Minneapolis are serious problems that must be solved. It commits the City government to lead by example and better incorporate racial equity into all City policies and, if approved, it would direct the City Coordinator, CPED Director and Civil Rights Director to engage with other department heads, staff to develop and implement an Equity Assessment Toolkit to inform City decisions, including those related to the budget, hiring, promotion, contracting and purchasing. It also directs staff to assess and implement, where appropriate, the recommendations of the Equity in Employment Task Force report (also attached), and recommend fair hiring provisions to be added to the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances. Additionally it would authorize the City to formally join the Ramsey County Blue Ribbon Commission’s Everybody In regional collaboration to reduce racial employment disparities throughout the metropolitan area. This is the result of a great of work dating back to 2008 that many people have part of that. It is also the beginning of a new and important chapter. Please join us if you can and feel free to share this information with others. If you are unable to attend, but wish to send in any comments, they are always welcome. Thank you for all your past help with this and I look forward to working with you on this critically important issue (and others) in the future. Cam Gordon Minneapolis City Council Member, Second Ward 673-2202, 296-0579 cam [at] camgordon.org cam.gordon [at] minneapolismn.gov http://www.minneapolismn.gov/ward2 http://secondward.blogspot.com/ --------5 of 6-------- From: WAMM Humanitaran war 8.22 7pm Forum: “Humanitarian Intervention” Wednesday, August 22, 7:00 p.m. Mayday Bookstore, 301 Cedar Avenue South (West Bank), Minneapolis. Is U.S. Military Intervention Ever Humanitarian? Every U.S. military intervention seems to be justified with humanitarian concerns. In Afghanistan, the war is portrayed as being partially about rights of women. In Libya, the U.S. bombing was said to be to protecting civilians. Now there are calls for U.S. intervention in Syria. The panel discussion will address: What economic and political issues drive U.S. military interventions around the world? Why is U.S. military action being couched in humanitarian terms? What was the role of the U.S. in Haiti during the “humanitarian” intervention in that country? Will “humanitarian intervention” be the new justification for waging wars around the world? Speakers include: Sami Rasouli, April Knutson, Linda Hoover, and Jess Sundin. Sponsored by: the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC). FFI: Call WAMM at 612-827-5364 or Twin Cities Peace Campaign (TCPC) at 612-522-1861. --------6 of 6-------- ______________ Bronze the rich ------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shove Trove
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