There are reports from many activist organizations that indicate both snail mail
and e-mail are continually late, often arriving after the planned meeting or rally.
A good alternative is to have a calendar on the web so those wanting to participate
in the political process may do so without Cointelpro interference....

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Saturday, March 1, 10:00am
Texas Community Media Summit
Texas media makers, advocates, and activists will meet at the Texas Community Media Summit at the University of Texas at Austin on Saturday, March 1. The one day summit bringing together all kinds of community media - art, theater, print, radio, film, TV and Internet - is organized by channelaustin, Dallas iMedia Network, Houston Media Source, and the Texas Media Empowerment Project.
Information: http://www.texascommunitymedia.org

Sunday, March 2 and Monday, March 3, 12:30
"The God Strategy: Faith as a Political Weapon,"
two talks by David Domke, Professor of Communication, U. of Washington
Religion has long been a significant part of American politics. For much of this history, the confluence of faith and politics has been a largely symbolic practice, without distinctly partisan motivations. But something has changed in recent decades. On issue after issue, U.S. public debate today includes -- and often is dominated by -- faith-based perspectives espoused by politically adept individuals and organizations. This lecture will examine how and why this occurred and what it means for democracy.
David Domke is a professor in the Department of Communication and head of journalism at the University of Washington. His research and teaching focus on how political leaders strategically craft their public communications and also how news media cover these messages. Domke, a former journalist, is the author of God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the "War on Terror," and the Echoing Press (London: Pluto Press, 2004). His new book, The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America, was coauthored with Kevin Coe of the University of Illinois and was published in January 2008 by Oxford University Press.
Sunday, March 2, 12:30 p.m.: St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 14311 Wells Port Drive, west of I-35 off Wells Branch Parkway.
Monday, March 3, 7 p.m.: UT campus, Thompson Conference Center auditorium (TCC 1.100), map at http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/tcc.html
TCC is next to the LBJ School at Red River and Dean Keeton. Plenty of free convenient parking in the large lots along Red River.

Sunday, March 9, 5:30 p.m.
Rodney Reed Documentary (State v. Reed) and Music Exhibition
This special free screening of the SXSW 2006  documentary and musical performance is aimed at raising public awareness for the upcoming March 19th hearing for current Texas Death Row inmate Rodney Reed. On March 19th, at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Reed faces a crucial appeal hearing that could determine his fate.  With the other suspect, whom Reed's supporters point to as possibly the real killer, under indictment for an October sexual assault while serving as a police officer in Williamson county -- the stakes couldn't be higher.  Come out and learn about the case that could change Texas' death penalty system, and listen to soulful and conscious music from some of Austin's finest performers.
5:30 p.m. - music: Dred Scott and Pubic Offenders
6:15 p.m. - State v. Reed screening
7:30 p.m. - music: Shorty C and Dwayne Jackson
Location: Ruta Maya Coffeehouse, 3601 S. Congress

Monday, March 10, 8 a.m.
Protest at Whole Foods Shareholder Meeting
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) - http://www.ciw-online.org - is a farmworker organization based in Southwest Florida comprised mainly of Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian immigrants. Its Campaign for Fair Food appeals to food industry leaders - including fast-food giant Burger King and Austin-based retailer Whole Foods - to leverage their market influence to demand full respect for the human rights of the workers who pick their tomatoes. The campaign has already resulted in precedent-setting agreements with Yum Brands (Taco Bell) and McDonald's - the two largest restaurant corporations in the world.
One year ago, the CIW sent a letter to Whole Foods requesting dialogue around solutions to the human rights crisis in Florida's fields. Whole Foods ignored this request, later claiming to the Austin American-Statesman they never received the certified letter. On February 11, 2008, a delegation of CIW and Austin community members re-delivered the letter in person to Whole Foods corporate headquarters ( http://ciw-online.org/Austin_Feb_2008.html ). They're still waiting for a response.
More information at sfa-atx.blogspot.com
Location: Hilton Austin, 500 East 4th Street.

Monday, March 10, 8 p.m.
"Paz Sin Justicia" (Peace without Justice),
Film Screening and discussion with filmmaker Simon Sedillo
Since the intervention of the Federal Prevention Police in Oaxaca City after the several month long popular uprising, the mass media and government have been saying that law and order has been restored in Oaxaca. "Paz Sin Justicia," a 41 minute film by Simon Sedillo, examines what this peace looks like today, and what it really means for Oaxaca to return to normal. Corruption, institutionalized repression, and economic slavery are the standard through which a weak government attempts to hold itself together. All the while the Oaxacan People's Popular Assembly APPO, along with Oaxacans in general, wait for the next moment to practice what they have already begun: self-determination, autonomy, popular power, and the dignity that comes with rising up from below.
Location: MonkeyWrench Books (110 East North Loop).

Wednesday, March 12, 7 p.m.
Documentary, "USA v. al-Arian"
This award-winning documentary, filmed in Tampa, Florida by Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen, chronicles the effects of a terrorism trial on the family of the accused. The film will be presented by Friends of Human Rights, and followed by discussion.
Location: Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church, 3315 El Salido Pkwy, Cedar Park.

Thursday, March 13, 4 p.m.
Documentary, "Body of War"
Tomas Young, a 26-year-old veteran, was shot and paralyzed after serving in Iraq for less than a week. His story is told in the feature documentary "Body of War," produced and directed by award-winning Austin filmmaker Ellen Spiro and long time media figure Phil Donahue. Ellen Spiro, Phil Donahue, and Tomas Young will have a Q & A after the Paramount screening and the initial Dobie opening.
Location: Paramount Theater, 713 Congress Avenue.
Additional screenings: "Body of War" will begin a run at Dobie Theater on Friday, March 14.

Friday, March 14, 6 p.m.
10th anniversary performance of The Vagina Monologues
with playwright and V-Day founder Eve Ensler
The global movement to stop violence against women and girls known as V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery. Austin is holding its very own V-Day celebration featuring live music and a performance of the award-winning play The Vagina Monologues with a special talk by playwright and V-day founder Eve Ensler.
The Austin V-Day event will bring particular awareness to women in the U.S. military who have been sexually abused by fellow soldiers. All profits from the event will be donated to three organizations: The Katrina Warriors Network, a diverse body of individuals, affinities, organizations and institutions supporting and enhancing the well-being of women and girls in New Orleans and the Gulf South, Service Women's Action Network or SWAN, a group of military service women and allies creating a support network for military service women and women considering military service, and the Settlement Home for Children, an Austin-based center that provides 24-hour therapeutic care for abused or neglected girls between the ages of 7-17. We invite you to participate in this global movement, to celebrate and honor the women and girls in your life and community, and to be part of a collective voice that refuses to remain silent in the face of violence.
Location: The Enchanted Forest, 1412 W. Oltorf
Tickets: $15, at the door or online at www.vdayaustin.org

Saturday, March 15, noon
Instruments for Peace March and Rally
Instruments for Peace is organizing a "Million Musicians March for Peace" on the week of the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Location:  State Capitol (11th and Congress)
will be followed by a 1 p.m. march to City Hall
(Cesar Chavez and Lavaca) where a concert and rally will take place.
Information: http://www.instrumentsforpeace.org

Sunday, March 16, 2 p.m.
Austin Project for a Participatory Society Book Group, "Economic Justice and Democracy"
In Economic Justice and Democracy: From Competition to Cooperation Robin Hahnel argues that progressives need to rethink how they conceive of economic justice and economic democracy. He presents a coherent set of economic institutions and procedures that can deliver economic justice and democracy through a "participatory economy." But this is a long-run goal; he also explores how to promote the economics of equitable cooperation today by emphasizing ways to broaden the base of existing economic reform movements while deepening their commitment to more far reaching change.
Location: Monkeywrench Books, 110 E. North Loop.

Wednesday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.
Last Sunday gathering  "The U.S. in Iraq: Five Years of War and Two Decades of Aggression,"
The "Last Sunday" programs over the past two years have combined music, politics, and spirituality to help foster progressive values and develop community in the Austin area. Regular Last Sunday events were suspended at the end of 2007, but there will be a special gathering on Wednesday, March 19, to mark the fifth anniversary of the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Last Sunday's co-founders -- singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson, the Rev. Jim Rigby, and University of Texas professor Robert Jensen -- will be on hand for a program that will (a) bear witness to the death and suffering caused not only by the current war but by two decades of U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people; (b) analyze the politics and theology of the U.S. imperial project in which the war is rooted; and (c) generate ideas about potential paths to a just and sustainable future.
In addition to talks and discussion, Gilkyson will perform at the event, mixing her classic songs with new material from her upcoming record due out this summer.
Gilkyson's most recent record CD is "Your Town Tonight" on Red House Records. Rigby is pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Jensen's most recent book is Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity.
Location: St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 14311 Wells Port Drive, west of I-35 off Wells Branch Parkway.

Tuesday, March 25, 7 p.m.
Dave Zirin on Sports and Politics
Dave Zirin, Press Action's 2005 and 2006 Sportswriter of the Year, has been called "an icon in the world of progressive sports." He is both a columnist for SLAM Magazine, a regular contributor to The Nation magazine, and a regular op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. He also has an online column on Sports Illustrated's website, si.com. Zirin's new book, Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports (with a foreword by Chuck D), has already been called "the sports primer for our time." Sports Illustrated wrote that Terrordome is "a provocative, sometimes chilling, look at sports and society right now."
Zirin is also the author of the wonderfully designed volume The Muhammad Ali Handbook, and What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States.  His informed and engaging blend of sports and radical politics has earned him numerous invitations to television programs including ESPN's Outside the Lines, ESPN Classic, and Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.
Location: Book People, 603 N. Lamar Blvd.

Wednesday, March 26, 7 p.m.
Third Coast Film Night at Alamo Drafthouse - Ritz, "Everything's Cool"
This film, from the director of Blue Vinyl, examines the struggle over public perception of global warming.
Location: Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, at the newly renovated Ritz Theater location, 320 E. 6th Street
Tickets - $8.25 general / $6 student, senior - are available at the door or online at http://originalalamo.com

Thursday, March 27, 7 p.m.
"The Politics of Climate Change: A Citizen's Guide" a talk by Justin Podur, York University professor and ZNet editor/contributor
Never has it been more urgent for citizens to understand both the science of climate change and the political implications of the ecological crisis. In this talk, Justin Podur will bring together his wide knowledge and experience from science, ecology, and politics to help us make sense of the politics of climate change. Podur began his academic career in physics before completing a Ph.D. in forestry, leading to his current faculty position in environmental studies at York University in Toronto. He teaches landscape ecology and geographic information systems, focusing on managing resources in light of climate change, urban forestry, and ecological restoration.
Podur also is a writer and editor for ZNet, part of Z Communications, an alternative-media organization dedicated to political analysis and support for movements for social change. He has reported from Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Israel/Palestine, and Mexico, writing for publications around the world. He also maintains a blog, killingtrain.com.
Location: UT campus, Thompson Conference Center auditorium (TCC 1.100), map at http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/tcc.html
TCC is next to the LBJ School at Red River and Dean Keeton. Plenty of free convenient parking in the large lots along Red River.
The program, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Senior Fellows Honors Program of the College of Communication.

Friday, March 28, 12 p.m.
"TINA Be Damned: Alternatives to Corporate Capitalism," a talk by Robin Hahnel
Robin Hahnel will question the logic of TINA - Margaret Thatcher's famous statement that "there is no alternative" to capitalism. Drawing on his work on participatory economics, Hahnel will discuss other economic models and examine political strategies for moving toward a more just distribution of resources.
Currently a professor of economics at American University in Washington, DC, Hahnel also has taught at universities in England, Peru, and Cuba. He has collaborated with Michael Albert in writing on participatory economics (Looking Forward: Participatory Economics for the Twenty First Century and The Political Economy of Participatory Economics) and is also the author of three recent books analyzing the global economy (Panic Rules! Everything You Need to Know About the Global Economy; The ABCs of Political Economy: A Modern Approach; and Economic Justice and Democracy: From Competition to Cooperation).
Location: UT campus, LBJ Conference Room (5.160) of the CMA building, map.
The program, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Senior Fellows Honors Program of the College of Communication.

Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29
St. Andrew's Spirituality & Activism Conference:
"Sustainability: Food, Environment, Economics"
Friday, March 28, 7 p.m.: "The Real Dirt on Farmer John." An entertaining grassroots story of how one farmer went organic. Discussion following. Free.
Saturday, March 29: 11:30 am: Registration - $10 donation
Noon: Opening Presentation: "The Science and Politics of a Sustainable Future" by Justin Podur, York University professor of environmental studies.
1 - 5:30 pm: SOS, Envision Central Texas, Livable Cities, Sustainable Food Center amongst others will lead workshops through the day.
Location: St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 14311 Wells Port Drive, west of I-35 off Wells Branch Parkway.

Sunday, March 29, 2:30 p.m.
Health Care for All Texans: "Sicko" screening and panel discussion
Health Care for All Texas (www.healthcareforalltexas.org) presents a showing of clips of SiCKO by Michael Moore followed by a panel discussion with a question and answer session by health care professionals including Dr. Kirti Sheth, Dr. Elliot Trester, and Lisa McGiffert. A $5 donation is suggested but not necessary.
Location: First United Methodist Church Family Life Center, 13th and Lavaca Street.

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