Events
UNITY CONFERENCE – The Fourth Annual Unity Conference, Building Bridges Through Diversity: One Goal, One Vision, United Power, sponsored by the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is scheduled for December 3-5 in Jackson, Mississippi, featuring panels and discussions, plus guest speakers David Bacon and Gilbert Padilla.
BOOKFAIR – Humboldt’s second annual Anarchist Book Fair is scheduled for December 5 at the Manila Community Center in Arcata, California.
Contact: Humboldt Anarchist Book Fair, PO box 196, Eureka, CA 95502; 707-616-4700; humboldtgrassroots@riseup.net.
IMMIGRATION – The National Immigration Law Center has scheduled the 7th National Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference for December 6 in Arlington, Virginia. The purpose is to share information and experiences and to develop strategies around some of the core issues affecting low-income immigrants.
Contact: NILC, 3435 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2850, Los Angeles, CA 90010; 213-639-3900; morales@nilc.org; www.nilc.org.
CLIMATE TALKS – December 7-18 is the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—a potentially crucial meeting of world leaders to come up with a plan for dealing with this unfolding environmental disaster. The Copenhagen, Denmark meeting will elicit worldwide demonstrations to pressure for real commitments and against "false solutions" such as corporate-friendly "cap and trade."
Contact: Global Justice Ecology Project, PO Box 412, Hinesburg VT 05461; 802-482-2689; info@globaljuticeecology.org; www.globaljuticeecology.org.
HR DAY – Thursday, December 10 is Human Rights Day. On that date in 1948, 48 members of the UN, including the United States, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a potentially revolutionary document that has yet to be implemented.
FREEDOM MARCH – On December 31, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, together with an international delegation, will participate in an historic, non-violent, march in northern Gaza towards the Erez border crossing with Israel to galvanize international attention to the ongoing siege. Solidarity actions will also occur in Israel, Egypt, and around the world.
SOCIAL FORUMS – The 10-year anniversary of the first World Social Forum is January 2010. Regional forums are scheduled, including a seminar in January in Porto Alegre and the second U.S. Social Forum in June in Detroit.
MLK DAY – The Martin Luther King Day holiday is Monday, January 18. Community groups across the country will honor King by organizing a Day of Service and peace groups will highlight MLK’s oft-overlooked anti-imperialist, antiwar activism.
Contact: MLK Day of Service, 215-665-2475; mlkdayofservice@globalcitizen.us.com; www.mlkdayofservice.org; www.mlkday.org.
PROGRESSIVE PR – The True Spin Conference in Denver on January 21-22 offers panels, workshops, and networking on effective public relations for progressive political groups and campaigns.
Contact: Effect Communications, 1836 Blake Street, #200, Denver, CO, 80202; 303-292-1524; jason@effectcommunications.com; www.truespinconference.com.
TEACH-IN– The 9th Annual Local to Global Justice Teach-in comes to Arizona State University in Tempe on February 27-28, providing space for sharing experiences and knowledge between scholars and activists working on a wide range of social justice, human rights, and sustainability issues.
JOBS – April 8 is the 75th anniversary of the congressional passage of legislation to create the largest public works program in U.S. history, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which created 8.5 million jobs during the Great Depression. The Bail Out the People Movement has issued a national call to organize a mass demonstration on Saturday, April 10 in Washington, DC, calling for a real jobs program.
Contact: Bail Out the People Movement, Solidarity Center, 55 W. 17th St. #5C, New York, NY 10011; 212-633-6646; www.BailOutPeople.org.
Campaigns
COLORADO – ProgressNow Colorado is a grassroots citizens group currently seeking volunteers and funds to fight extreme right-wing legislation in 2010 that would ban most birth control and slash public education funding.
Contact: ProgressNow Colorado, 1536 Wynkoop St., #4A, Denver, CO 80202; 303-991-1900; progress@progress.nowcolorado.org; www.progressnowcolorado.org.
CYCLING – Two students will travel 500 miles from Amsterdam to Copenhagen on two old "Omafietsen" (Dutch for "Granny" bikes) November 23 to December 7 while stopping at events to raise awareness about climate change, low tech (low profit) solutions, and the importance of real action at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen.
Books
COOPERATIVES – For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America by John Curl examines each of the definitive American cooperative movements for social change— farmer, union, consumer, and communalist—that have been all but erased from collective memory.
Contact: PM Press, PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623; 510-658-3906; info@pmpress.org; www.pmpress.org.
WAR ECONOMY – Global Depression and Regional Wars by James Petras looks at the roots of the current economic crisis in unsustainable military-driven empire building by the U.S. within a volatile economy.
Contact: Clarity Press, Inc., Ste. 469, 3277 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA. 30305; 800-729-6423; www.claritypress.com.
