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....
This page is updated continually,
so be sure to click the RELOAD button
on your browser.
Thursday, November 8, 6:30 p.m.
ACLU Presentation on Racial Profiling and Human Rights
Rebecca Bernhardt, attorney and project leader for the
ACLU-TX, will give a presentation on the organization's expanding effort
to address the problem of racial profiling.
Location: AFL-CIO, 1106 Lavaca.
Thursday, November 8, 9 p.m. - Midnight
Benefit for Community Radio in Mexico
La Otra ATX is an Austin collective that participates
in local organizing, as well as supporting struggles in Chiapas, Oaxaca,
and other parts of Mexico. This benefit - with music from DJ Eye-One and
Ocote Soul Sounds - is for a community radio station in Blanca Navidad,
a squatted settlement outside of Nuevo Laredo.
La Otra ATX met and began working with the members of
Blanca Navidad during the Zapatista visits to the border in October 2006
and May 2007. Blanca Navidad was named White Christmas because the land
was occupied shortly before the freak snowstorm in the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande
Valley in December 2004. Most of them work at maquiladoras in the area.
The local government tried to evict them by burning and bulldozing their
homes, but they fought back and are still holding on to these recovered
lands.
Location: Carousel Lounge, 1110 E. 52nd St. (52nd
and Cameron Road).
Friday, November 9, 6-9 p.m.
Benefit for Student/Farmworker Alliance: Indy
Short-Films, BK Brand-Busting, and Son Jarocho
The Student/Farmworker Alliance will present a night
of multimedia and culture in solidarity with Florida farm-workers. Recently
returned Austinite, Brent Perdue, will screen short-films about the Coalition
of Immokalee Workers and SFA produced during his time in Immokalee, Florida.
Local youth from area high schools will break down Burger King's branded
image in an interactive presentation. And a local band, will play a set
of son jarocho, a traditional musical style of Veracruz, Mexico. Light
refreshments will be served and a donation is requested. This is an all-ages
event.
As the CIW explains, "Today, in the wake of the Yum Brands
and McDonald's agreements, we stand on the threshold of a more modern,
more humane agricultural industry in Florida. Yet, facing this historic
opportunity, Burger King seems to have chosen business as usual over progress,
continued exploitation over justice. It is time for Burger King to seize
the moment and stand with Florida's tomato pickers in our fight for fundamental
human rights in the fields."
Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) is a national network
of students and youth organizing with farmworkers to eliminate sweatshop
conditions and modern-day slavery in the fields. We work in alliance with
the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a membership-led organization of mostly
Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian low-wage immigrant workers based in Southwest
Florida. Together we won the four-year Taco Bell Boycott in 2005 and McDonald's
campaign in 2007. We're building on these victories by taking on Miami-based
Burger King to address human rights violations in its tomato supply chain.
Our work in Austin began in 2001, making us one of the longest-active cities
in the national SFA network.
Location: MonkeyWrench Books, 110 E. North Loop.
Friday, November 9, 7 p.m.
Film: "Best in the West"
Throughout the 1960's and 70's thousands of young men
and women left Iran to seek education and opportunity abroad. A group of
particularly adventurous and charismatic friends met up in San Francisco.
BEST IN THE WEST locates their experiences, as young men establishing their
lives in a new country, within the context of the Vietnam War, changes
in Iran, and the social, political, and musical atmosphere of San Francisco
in the 60's and 70's. The parallel history of the Iranian oil industry
and its relationship to American oil companies and the growth in American
consumption provides a surprising and ironic counterpoint. Originally shot
on 16mm and miniDV, the film also incorporates archival images of a pre-revolutionary
Iran and an oil-hungry America and a lively soundtrack of Iranian music
and American R&B, funk, and soul.
Location: Nuevo Onda, 2218 College Ave.
Saturday, November 10 - Sunday, November 11
Women and Fair Trade Craft Sale, Film Screening
The fourth annual Women and Fair Trade event is a project
of the Austin chapter of American Friends Service Committee. The hours
are 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Sunday. China
Blue, a film about a blue jeans factory in China, will be screened at 2
p.m. on Sunday. Full details are available at http://womenandfairtrade.org
Location: Dominican Joe 515 South Congress Ave.
Sunday, November 11, 12:45 p.m.
"A Jewish-American's Experience Traveling through
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories"
Nova McGiffert, a 25 year old Jewish preschool teacher
from Minnesota, will deliver a report on human rights abuses she witnessed
on recent tours of both sides of the Separation Wall in the West Bank in
Israel. McGiffert has recently returned from a three month journey to Israel
and Palestine, where she embarked on contrasting educational tours on both
side of the Separation Wall and volunteered with the International Women's
Peace Service in the West Bank.
Location: St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 14311
Wells Port Drive, west of I-35 off Wells Branch Parkway.
November 11, 12 (Sun, Mon)
Carlos Mauricio, Torture and
the School of the Americas
Professor Carlos Mauricio, a survivor of School of the
Americas graduate abduction and torture, will be in Austin to speak about
the movement to close the SOA. SOAW - Austin is preparing for the annual
protest at the School of the Americas on November 16-18. For information
visit soaw-austin.org.
11/11 at 1 pm: Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church,
3315 El Salido Parkway.
11/12 at 5 pm: University of Texas, Benedict Hall,
BEN 2.104.
Monday, November 12, 7 p.m.
KOOP Winter Season Orientation
KOOP Radio begins a new period of training for volunteers
wishing to become programmers over the next six months, beginning with
the orientation on the second Monday of November, this time at the AFL-CIO
Building. If you think that certain kinds of news, culture and music are
underrepresented on the radio, here is your chance to change the media
by becoming involved with a volunteer-run community radio station. Attendance
is required to enroll in the training program; however, anyone may attend
if one simply wants to find out more about KOOP or to volunteer at the
station.
Location: AFL-CIO Building at 1106 Lavaca.
Tuesday, November 13, 7 p.m.
"The Conscience of a Liberal" - a talk by Paul
Krugman, New York Times columnist and author
Paul Krugman joined the New York Times in 1999 as an
op/ed columnist and continues as a Princeton professor of economics and
international affairs. He is the author or editor of 20 books and more
than 200 scholarly papers, specializing in international trade and finance.
His current academic research is focused on economic and currency crises.
Krugman also writes for a broader public audience and has emerged in recent
years as the sharpest analyst on the Times' editorial pages.
In this talk, Krugman will discuss the ideas in his new
book, The Conscience of a Liberal, published by W.W. Norton. James K. Galbraith,
a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas
and director of the Inequality Project, will introduce the program and
offer reflections on the issues Krugman raises in his work.
Location: UT Campus, UTC 2.102, UTC (University
Teaching Center) is on 21st Street near the intersection with Speedway,
next to the PCL library. Parking is available in the Brazos Garage off
MLK Blvd.
Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 p.m.
"By Invitation Only" screening and discussion
with filmmaker Rebecca Snedeker
New Orleans filmmaker Rebecca Snedeker explores the insular
world of the elite, white Carnival societies and debutante balls of Mardi
Gras. Questioning their racial exclusivity, she takes an unprecedented
insider's look at the pageantry. As she examines her own place in an alluring
tradition, Snedeker challenges viewers to reflect on the roles we all play
in our lives. "By Invitation Only," her first feature-length documentary,
premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and was broadcast
on PBS stations nationwide. The film recently won Best Documentary at the
New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival and has been presented
at numerous festivals, conferences, and campuses. At home in post-Katrina
New Orleans, Snedeker is producing a new film in which she asks diverse
people about their dreams for the future of the city.
Location: UT Campus, CMA Auditorium (2.320).
Wednesday, November 14, 8 p.m.
Austin Anarchist Soccer presents:
The 2007 Anti-Racist World Cup Slideshow
The Mondiali Antirazzisti (Anti-Racist World Cup) - http://www.mondialiantirazzisti.org
- is an annual tournament in Italy that celebrates football -- as it's
known in the rest of the world -- in its purest form: non-commercial, anti-competitive,
bringing people together and not causing division through racism, nationalism
and sexism. It's a really fun time as well.
In 2006 Austin Anarchist Soccer was the first team ever
from North America to play in the Mondiali. This Year AAS fielded two teams
at the tournament. Both times we took home the Coppa Chilometra (Kilometer
Cup) for being the team that traveled the furthest distance to attend.
The first year it was awarded to Texas Anti-Borders Patrol, and last year
it was given to ATX United.
Location: MonkeyWrench Books, 110 E. North Loop.
Thursday, November 15, 7 p.m.
St. Andrew's Film Series: "Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies
& Alcohol "
Spin the Bottle offers an indispensable critique of the
role that popular culture plays in glamorizing excessive drinking and high-risk
behaviors. Award-winning media critics Jackson Katz and Jean Kilbourne
contrast these distorted representations with the often disturbing and
dangerous ways that alcohol consumption affects the lives of real young
men and women. Illustrating their analysis with numerous examples, Katz
and Kilbourne decode the power and influence these seductive media images
have in shaping gender identity, which is linked to the use of alcohol.
Nowhere is this link more cause for concern than on Americas' college campuses.
By exploring the college party scene, Spin the Bottle
shows the difficulties students have in navigating a cultural environment
saturated with messages about gender and alcohol. Interviews with campus
health professionals provide a clear picture of how drinking impacts student
health and academic performance, but it is the students own experiences
and reflections that tell the real story behind alcohols alluring public
image. Spin the Bottle concludes with concrete strategies for countering
the ubiquitous presence of alcohol propaganda and challenges young people
to make conscious decisions about their own lives.
This film is shown as part of St. Andrew's Presbyterian's
2007-08 Film Series: "Media, Making Men and Women." Films are moderated
by Karin Wilkins, Professor in the UT School of Radio-Television-Film,
who leads us through the complex subject matter to better understand how
this affects our sense of self, our families and our communities.
Location: St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 14311
Wells Port Drive, west of I-35 off Wells Branch Parkway.
November 15 and 16 (Thu and Fri)
Media Omissions on Israel and Palestine with Alison
Weir and Alan Pogue
Alison Weir is a journalist, human rights activist and
founder of "If Americans Knew." She has traveled independently throughout
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, having recently returned from Nablus, in
the Occupied West Bank. Alan Pogue, an award winning documentary photographer,
will display photos and present his new book, "Witness for Justice."
Nov. 15, 7 p.m.: UT Campus, ETC 2.108.
Nov. 16, 7 p.m.: St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church,
126
W. Oltorf St.
Sponsored by The Interfaith Community for Palestinian
Rights, UT Palestine Solidarity Committee and Pax Christi - Austin.
Sunday, November 18, 2 p.m.
Austin Project for a Participatory Society Book Club,
"Hard Work"
The APPS book-of-the-month for November is Hard Work:
Remaking the American Labor Movement by Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss. This
is a concise overview of the U.S. labor movement and includes an exploration
of social movement unionism, which may well signal a revival of the labor
movement and the emergence of a new social imagination in the United States.
Book may be obtained from Monkeywrench Books, which has ordered extra copies.
Location: Carver Branch Library (1161 Angelina).
Tuesday, November 20, 6:30pm
Vote Rescue movie night!
Come at 6:30 to dine; meeting begins
at 7.
Location: Opal Divine's,
3601 S. Congress
Wednesday, November 21, 7
p.m.
Third Coast Film Night at Alamo
Drafthouse, "Bamako"
Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work and the
couple is on the verge of breaking
up. In the courtyard of the house
they share with other families,
a trial court has been set up.
African civil society spokesmen
have taken proceedings against the
World Bank and the IMF whom they
accuse of being at the heart of
Africa's woes. Watch the trailer
online at http://www.bamako-
themovie.com/trailer.html - read
the reviews below, then make plans
to come and see the film.
"A feat of intellectual and cinematic daring that will leave your
brain buzzing."
- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"A FIERCE AND UNFORGETTABLE PIECE OF POLITICAL ART. A disarmingly
beautiful investigation of Africa's
social, economic and human
crises. A work of cool intelligence
and profound anger...a haunting
visual poem. There is also another
dimension to the movie, an
attention to the details of daily
life in Bamako, that lends it an
extraordinary richness and gravity."
- A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"A strong candidate for African film of the year, BAMAKO brilliantly
rises to the challenge of presenting
a serious discussion of
globalization, African debt and
the World Bank in a lively,
entertaining feature film. Rather
miraculously, pic succeeds in
painlessly educating its viewers
about global politics and economics
while it describes contemporary
Africa with freshness and clarity."
Variety
"Entertains as it informs, and portrays the complex realities of
contemporary Africa. Part of a
pan-African cinematic tradition of
telling the truth - a truth that
in this case replicates the
complaints African specialists
have been making against the West for
some time."
- N. Frank Ukadike, Sight + Sound
"It's easy to recommend Abderrahmane Sissako's exuberant BAMAKO, not
least for its vibrant Malian settings
and cast of villagers. More
substantially, the movie takes
on a key issue of our time--African
debt and the crippling policies
of the International Monetary Fund--
and magically manages to be critical
without feeling at all like a
lecture. The issues are mostly
explored in a dazzling fictional
trial, one that's interrupted by
a bizarro, Leone-style Western
starring Danny Glover. Rarely have
politics and pleasure mixed this
freely."
- Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out NY
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://www.originalalamo.com/Show.aspx?id=4965
Parking - Free parking on 6th Street
is easily available for 7 pm
shows. Information at http://originalalamo.blogspot.com/2007/11/where-
do-i-park-at-ritz.html
Sunday, November 25, 6:30
p.m.
Last Sunday at Ruta Maya Coffee
House
The "Last Sunday" event in November, with host Sean Tate, will focus
on progressive responses to the
often reactionary hysteria around
immigration issues.
The gathering will feature speakers
from the Workers Defense Project
- www.workersdefense.org , an Austin
worker center that helps low-
wage immigrant workers who face
unsafe working conditions and
predatory employers. Maria Duque,
an immigrant worker and WDP board
member, and Project Director Cristina
Tzintzún will talk about their
work and the need for progressive
action on the issue.
Also on the bill is a screening of a new short film, "Hutto:
America's Family Prison," about
the prison-like conditions at the T.
Don Hutto "residential facility"
in Taylor, TX. About 500 immigrants
and asylum-seekers from around
the world, more than half of them
children, are detained at the prison.
Organizers with Texans United
for Families - www.texansunited4families.com
, a coalition of
advocacy and community groups opposed
to detention of children and
their families, will speak about
the campaign to close T. Don Hutto.
Last Sunday co-founder Eliza Gilkyson will be back to perform,
joined by co-founder Jim Rigby,
who will offer spiritual reflections
on immigration politics. The main
music for the evening will be
provided by Diasporic, Austin's
one-of-a-kind funk/hip-hop/jazz/soul
quartet.
Location: Ruta Maya Coffee House,
3601 South Congress.
Cost: $8 suggested donation to
support the independent artists
performing; no one turned away
for lack of funds.
Tuesday, November 27, 8 p.m.
Hurricane Relief for Nicaraguan
Indigenous Communities
On September 4th, Hurricane Felix, a Category 5 storm, made landfall
on the northern stretches of the
Nicaraguan Atlantic Coast. The
storm killed more than 100 people
and devastated the town of Puerto
Cabezas and smaller outlying indigenous
Miskitu and Mayangna
communities. Houses were destroyed,
cattle and crops lost, forests
were leveled and water sources
contaminated. International relief
efforts have focused on Puerto
Cabezas, but aid has been slow to
reach many of the smaller indigenous
communities most severely affected.
Melesio Peter, who recently returned from the coastal communities,
will provide a brief presentation
on the current state of relief
efforts in the region. Funds are
being raised to buy food and housing
materials, replace livestock and
repair water systems. Donations will
go to Amigos y Hermanos de Nicaragua.
If you are unable to attend, but would like to make a contribution
you may send a tax-deductible donation
to: San José Catholic Church,
2435 Oak Crest Avenue, Austin,
TX 78704. On the bottom left corner of
the check (on the memo line), please
write "Amigos y Hermanos de
Nicaragua."
Location: MonkeyWrench Books,
110 E. North Loop.
Sunday, December 2, 4-7 p.m.
NOKOA Get-Together and Fundraiser
Activists, community leaders, and UT folks will
join together to honor and support the work of NOKOA, a long time Austin
progressive newspaper, edited by Akwasi Evans. There will be wine, beer,
soft drinks, salty and sweet snacks, and other goodies. It will be an opportunity
to network with old friends and new in the East Austin community, the UT
community, the Progressive community, and others interested in building
bridges and forming partnerships.
Suggested donation: $30/ $20/ $10 students and
seniors or Give What You Can. Families and children are welcome. Plenty
of free parking.
Location: Lyons Gardens, 2720 Lyons Road, just
off Pleasant Valley Road.
Monday, December 17, 7 p.m.
Third Coast Film Night at Alamo Drafthouse, John
Pilger's "The War on Democracy"
John Pilger's first film for cinema - The War
on Democracy - "tells a universal story," says Pilger, "analysing and revealing,
through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable
myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called war
on terror".
Around the world, increasing numbers of people
are opening their eyes to the grassroots struggles being waged in Latin
America, in particular the revolutionary process unfolding in Venezuela.
Unfortunately the corporate media's reporting of the anti-neoliberal rebellion
in Latin America is dominated by the perspective of the rich and powerful.
Pilger provides the perspective of the oppressed and the partisans of resistance.
The snapshot of Venezuela provided in The War
on Democracy is an exciting one: in the barrios of Caracas, Pilger speaks
to people learning to read in order to participate in land councils, and
visits free medical clinics and the government-subsidised supermarket chain
Mercal, which prints articles of the constitution on the back of sugar
and rice packets. Pilger makes the point that Chavez and his supporters
have faced 11 elections in 10 years, and his popularity (as well as that
of the Bolivarian revolution) has grown exponentially. In the most recent
elections, held in December 2006, three-quarters of the eligible population
voted and massively endorsed Chavez.
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://www.originalalamo.com/Show.aspx?id=4952
Sunday, December 2, 4-7 p.m.
NOKOA Get-Together and Fundraiser
Activists,
community leaders, and UT folks will join together to
honor and support the work of NOKOA, a long time
Austin progressive
newspaper, edited by Akwasi Evans. There will
be wine, beer, soft
drinks, salty and sweet snacks, and other goodies.
It will be an
opportunity to network with old friends and new
in the East Austin
community, the UT community, the Progressive
community, and others
interested in building bridges and forming partnerships.
Location: Lyons Gardens, 2720 Lyons Road, just
off Pleasant Valley Road.
Suggested donation: $30/ $20/ $10 students and
seniors or Give What
You Can. Families and children are welcome. Plenty
of free parking.
Thursday, December 6, 8 p.m.
Documentary, "The Murder Of Fred Hampton"
An
unprecedented documentary on the slain leader of the Illinois
Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton,
killed on December
4th, 1969 by Chicago police while he slept in
his apartment.
Filmmakers Mike Gray and Howard Alk were filming
a documentary
portrait of this charismatic speaker and community
organizer when his
murder occurred. Arriving at the crime scene
only a few hours after
the police raid, the unsettling footage they
captured was later used
to contradict news reports and police testimony
in Hampton's
assassination.
Location: MonkeyWrench Books, 110 E. North Loop.
Monday, December 17, 7 p.m.
Third Coast Film Night at Alamo Drafthouse, John
Pilger's "The War on
Democracy"
John
Pilger's first film for cinema - The War on Democracy - "tells
a universal story," says Pilger, "analysing and
revealing, through
vivid testimony, the story of great power behind
its venerable myths.
It allows us to understand the true nature of
the so-called war on
terror".
Pilger's
film, like his journalism and television programs, provides
the perspective of the oppressed and the partisans
of resistance. He
focuses on the grassroots struggles being waged
in Latin America, in
particular the revolutionary process unfolding
in Venezuela: in the
barrios of Caracas, Pilger speaks to people learning
to read in order
to participate in land councils, and visits free
medical clinics and
the government-subsidised supermarket chain Mercal,
which prints
articles of the constitution on the back of sugar
and rice packets.
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://www.originalalamo.com/Show.aspx?id=4952
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11-20-07