Events

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OCCUPY TOGETHER – Occupy Together is the unofficial hub for the various occupations springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. Towns and cities worldwide are participating.

Contact: http://www.occupytogether.org/.

MAY DAY – May 1 is May Day, also International Workers Day, celebrating the successful fight of workers for rights such as the eight-hour workday. A General Strike is called for May Day by many groups, and events are planned worldwide.

Contact: http://maydayunited.org/; http://www.may1.info/; info@maydayunited.org.

LABOR – The 2012 Labor Notes Conference, themed Solidarity for the 99%, will be held May 4-6, in Chicago. Thousands of union members, officers, and grassroots labor activists will attend the event, which features workshops, meetings and organizing opportunities.

Contact: 313-842-6262; http://labornotes.org/conference.

MARIJUANA MARCH – On the first Saturday of May (this year: May 5) marijuana legalization activists will hold informational and educational events, rallies and marches in over 300 cities around the world.

Contact: http://globalcannabis march.com; http://cannabis.wikia.com.

AMERICAN MUSLIMS – KinderUSA will celebrate its 10th Anniversary with a Fundraising Banquet Dinner in Los Angeles on May 5. The keynote speaker will be Norman Finkelstein. KinderUSA was founded as a group of concerned humanitarians and physicians, and has become a leading American Muslim charity organization helping families through health development and emergency relief.

Contact: http://www.kinderusa.org/.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE – SWAN (Service Women’s Action Network) will present Truth and Justice: The 2012 Summit on Military Sexual Violence in Washington, D.C. on May 8. The conferences will give survivors the opportunity to share their stories with congressmembers, policy experts and the general public; with key panels by military law and policy experts on major topics involving military sexual violence and survivors’ access to justice. 

Contact: http://truthandjustice summit.org/.

MEDIA – The Alliance for Community Media Youth Summit 2012 will be held May 8 at Pierce College in Philadelphia, PA. The summit will consist of four one-day symposia that provide a public forum for discussion about media and news literacy in America. Participants will include educators, community leaders, media professionals, journalists, nonprofit leaders, policymakers and students.

Contact: http://www.allcommunitymedia.org.

MOMS/BOMBS – Moms Against Bombs and the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action will honor the long history of women’s resistance to injustice, war and nuclear weapons on May 12. A full day of activities is planned, including Orientation to the Trident Nuclear Weapons System, Nonviolence Training, Action Planning and Preparation, Mother’s Day Proclamation for Peace, and a Vigil and Nonviolent Direct Action at the Bangor Trident Submarine Base.

Contact: Anne Hall, 206- 545-3562, annehall@familyhealing.com; gznonviolencenews@yahoo.com; www.gzcenter.org.

MOTHER’S DAY/PEACE – The Mother’s Day Walk for Peace began in 1996 for families who had lost their children to violence. On a day that celebrates mothers and children, the Walk became a place for families and friends to feel support and love with thousands of others who pledge their commitment to peace.

The day has also become a way for thousands of people to financially support the work of the Louis Brown Peace Institute. Mother’s Day is May 13.

Contact: http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/; http://www.ldb peaceinstitute.org/.

BRECHT FORUM – The Beginning Is Near: An Evening with Michael Moore & Cornel West, a special benefit for the Brecht Forum, will be held May 18 at Hunter College in New York City.

Contact: https://brechtforum.org.

LABOR – The Pacific Northwest Labor History Association’s 44th annual conference, A Century of Bread and Roses, is scheduled for May 18-20 in Tacoma, WA.

Contact: PNLHA, 2402-6888 Station Hill Drive, Burnaby, BC, V3N 4X5; 604-540-0245; pnlha@shaw.ca; www.pnlha.org.

HOMELESSNESS – PM Press and First Presbyterian Church will host author Summer Brenner at the Conference on Homelessness on May 19 in Palo Alto, CA.

Contact: First Presbyterian Church, 1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto, VA 94301; http:// www.pmpress.org/.

NATO/G8 – The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda is organizing protests at the NATO and G8 meetings being held in Chicago,  May 19-21. A legal, permitted, family-friendly march and rally are planned for May 19. An Occupy Chicago month-long occupation is being planned to begin May 1. The Network for a Nato-Free Future and American Friends Service Committee will also be hosting a Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice May 18-19 at People’s Church in Chicago.

Contact: http://cang8. wordpress.com/about/;http:// www.natofreefuture.org/.

ANARCHY FEST – A month-long Festival of Anarchy is scheduled for May in Montreal. The festival includes The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair (May 19-20).

Contact: http://www.radical montreal.com/;http://www.anarchist bookfair.ca/.

TRUTHDIG – Truthdig.com will be gathering May 20-25 in New Mexico with other concerned people to assess current prospects for progressive change. Speakers include Dennis Kucinich and Chris Hedges.

Contact: http://www.truthdig.com/event/santafe.

FEMINIST SCI-FI – The feminist science fiction convention WisCon 36 is scheduled for May 25-28 in Madison, Wisconsin, featuring discussion and debate of sci-fi/fantasy ideas relating to feminism, gender, race and class.

Contact: WisCon, c/o SF3, P.O. Box 1624, Madison, WI 53701; concom35@wiscon.info; www.wiscon.info.

MULTICULTURE – The 25th Annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) holds its annual conference May 29 -June 2 in New York City.

Contact: Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, 3200 Marshall Avenue, Suite 290, Norman, OK 73072; 405- 325-3694; www.ncore.ou.edu.

BIKING – Bikes Not Bombs is holding its 24th annual Bike-A-Thon and Green Roots Festival in Boston, MA on June 3, with several bike rides scheduled, music, exhibitors and more.

Contact: Bikes Not Bombs, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; 617-522-0222; mail@bikesnotbombs.org; www.bikesnotbombs.org.

RADIO – The 37th Annual Community Radio Conference is scheduled for June 13-16 in Houston, TX with discussions and workshops.

Contact: National Federation of Community Broadcasters, 1970 Broadway, Suite 1000, Oakland, CA 94612; 510-451 -8200; conference@nfcb.org; www.nfcb.org.

PEOPLE’S SUMMIT – The People’s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice during Rio+20 is an event by global civil society that will take place between the 15 and the 23 of June at Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro—alongside the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio+20.

Contact: contato@rio2012.org.br; http://cupuladospovos.org.br/en/.

ADC CONFERENCE – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ACD) holds its annual conference June 21-24 in Washington, DC, with panel discussions and workshops on civil rights, media, the Mideast, etc.

Contact: ADC, 1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington DC, 20007; 202-244-2990; convention@adc.org; www.adc.org/convention.

MEDIA – The 14th annual Allied Media Conference will be held June 28-July 1 at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. Participatory workshops and skillshares will emphasize DIY alternative media to advance visions of a just and creative world.

Contact: Allied Media Projects, 4126 Third St., Detroit, MI 48201; www.alliedmediaconference.org.

LA RAZA – The annual National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Conference is scheduled for July 7-10 in Las Vegas, with workshops, presentations and panel discussions.

Contact: NCLR Headquarters Office, Raul Yzaguirre Building, 1126 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036; 202-785-1670; www.nclr.org.

PEACESTOCK – On July 14 the 10th Annual Peace- stock: A Gathering for Peace will take place at Windbeam Farm in Hager City, WI. Peacestock (formerly “Pigstock”) is a mixture of music, speakers, and community for peace. The event is sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 115 and has a peace-themed agenda.

Contact: Bill Habedank, 1913 Grandview Ave., Red Wing, MN 55066; 651-388-7733; billhabedank@yahoo.com; http://www.peacestockvfp.org.

POPULAR ECONOMICS – The Center for Popular Economics is holding its 2012 Summer Institute July 23-27 at Columbia University in New York City. No background in economics is needed for this intensive training. This year’s theme is Economics for the 99%.

Contact: Center for Popular Economics, PO Box 785 Amherst, MA 01004; 413-545-0743; programs@populareconomics.org; www.populareconomics.org.

CUBA/PASTORS – The 23rd annual Pastors for Peace Friendship Caravan to Cuba is scheduled for July1-July 31. Volunteers will travel across the U.S and Canada collecting aid and educating about the unjust blockade against Cuba, before an orientation in Texas July 15-18, followed by an education program in Cuba July 21-29, and finally a return back to the U.S.  People can participate by attending or hosting local events, donating materials, or sponsoring a traveler.

Contact: IFCO/Pastors for Peace, 418 W. 145th St., New York, NY 10031; 212-926- 5757; cucaravan@igc.org; www.pastorsforpeace.org.

COMMUNITY MEDIA – The Alliance for Community Media 2012 National Conference is scheduled for July 31-August 2 in Chicago. Hands-on workshops and skillshares will be offered by this grassroots coalition of community media groups. This year’s theme is Collaborate!

Contact: ACM, 1760 Old Meadow Road, Suite 500, McLean, VA 22102; www.alliancecm.org.

VETERANS – Veterans for Peace is holding the 27th annual convention August 8-12 in Miami, FL. This year’s theme is, Liberating the Americas: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Contact: Veterans For Peace, 216 S. Meramec Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105; 314-725-6005; www.vfpnationalconvention.org

COMMUNITIES – The Communities Conference is a networking and learning opportunity for co-operative or communal lifestyles, with workshops, events and entertainment; scheduled for August 31-September 3 at the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, Virginia.

Contact: Twin Oaks Communities Conference, 138 Twin Oaks Road, Louisa, VA 23093; 540-894-5126; conference@twinoaks.org; www.communities conference.org.

 

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Books

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FARMING – No Local: Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won’t Change the World, by Greg Sharzer, is a new book challenging the wisdom that farmers’ markets, community gardening and cooperatives can provide a human-scale alternative to the global market. The book draws on political economy, history and ideology studies to show that, far from challenging market rule, small-scale alternatives are often ways to reconcile with the system.

Contact: http://www.zerobooks.net/.

TORTURE – The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse is an interdisciplinary panel of experts offering a comprehensive examination of torture. The book dissects America’s long relationship with interrogation and torture.

Contact: NYU Press, 838 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10003-4812; 212-998-2575; information@nyupress.org; http://nyupress.org/.

COOPS – Coop Made in the USA, by Italian journalist Enrico Massetti, provides an introduction to the worker-owned cooperatives in the U.S. While worker co-ops have been around for some time, the model is benefitting from a surge of interest in workplace democracy. The book presents several examples of worker-owned co-ops, with different governance methods and active in different fields, from retail to high-tech.

Contact: http://tangoitalia.com/.

OCCUPY WALL STREET – Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action that Changed America is a new book by Writers for the 99%, a group of writers and researchers who are active in supporting Occupy Wall Street.

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

ARAB SPRING – The Invisible Arab: The Promise and Peril of the Arab Revolutions traces the roots of the revolutions in the Arab world. Author Marwan Bishara combines on-the-ground reporting, extensive research and scholarship, and political commentary in this book on the complex influences that made the revolutions possible.

Contact: Nation Books, 116 East 16th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10003; 212-822-0264; press@nationbooks.org; http://www.nationbooks.org/.

 

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Film

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ENVIRONMENT – The Island President is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives and his country’s attempt to save the 1200 islands of the Maldives from rising water due to anthropogenic global warming.

Contact: http://theislandpresident.com/.

ARTISTS/SOUTH AFRICA – The Creators presents the stories of a group of artists born into separate areas of formerly segregated South Africa, the artists recrafting history and the impacts of apartheid in their own creative languages. Diving into the current of subversive art which fuels South Africa’s many clashing and merging cultures, the movie asks: can expression traverse the divide?

Contact: http://thecreatorsdocumentary.com/.

HUNGER – 49 million people in the U.S.- one in four children – suffer from hunger or lack of food. Finding North is a documentary that examines this issue through the lives of three people struggling with food insecurity.

Contact: 331 Foothill Road, 3rd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210; 310-550-5100; http://www.participantmedia.com.

PAUL GOODMAN – Paul Goodman Changed My Life is a documentary detailing the life and far-reaching influence of one of the most prophetic and powerful voices of the mid-twentieth century.

Contact: Zeitgeist Films, Ltd., 247 Centre St, 2nd FL, New York, NY 10013; 212-274- 1989; http://www.zeitgeist films.com/.

VIDEO COLLECTIVE – Paper Tiger Television (PTTV) is an open, non-profit, volunteer video collective. Through its public access series, literacy/video production workshops, community screenings and grassroots advocacy PTTV works to challenge and expose the corporate control of mainstream media. Some materials are available online.

Contact: http://papertiger.org/.

 

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Music

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ANTI-FLAG – Anti-Flag’s new album, The General Strike, has been released. The album is directed towards the masses of disatisfied citizens currently protesting around the world.

Contact: http://www.anti-flag.com/.

MAHMOUD DARWISH/ ARAB SPRING – Marcel Khalife and the Al Mayadine Ensemble will perform May 5 in “Fall of the Moon: An Homage to the Poet Mahmoud Darwish and a Salute to the Arab Spring, in Boston, MA.

Contact: http://www.marcel khalife.com; http://www.berk- leebpc.com.

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