Recent Events + Classes
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Venezuela Speaks! Voices from the Grassroots
Venezuela Speaks! Voices from the Grassroots
Book Launch and Presentation
Thursday, January 14th, 7:30 PM
938 Valencia (Dolores Street Community Services), San Francisco
Wheelchair accessible
While Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez continues to capture headlines, a much larger story involving a wider cast of characters has gone largely ignored. Venezuela Speaks!, published by PM Press, is a collection of interviews with activists and participants from across Venezuela’s social movements. From community media to land reform, cooperatives to communal councils, from the labor movement to the Afro-Venezuelan network, Venezuela Speaks! sheds light on the complex realities within the Bolivarian Revolution.
Join two of the co-authors, Carlos Martinez and Michael Fox, for their book launch and presentation, featuring short videos of those interviewed, music, and light refreshments. Books will be available for purchase ($23) and signing.
To learn more about the book, visit the PM Press website.
For more Venezuela Speaks! tour dates please visit the Global Exchange website.
Donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds
Co-sponsored by PM Press, Global Exchange, and the Center for Political Education
For more information contact Carlos at carlos@globalexchange.org.
Venezuela Habla! Voces de los Pueblos
Lanzamiento de libro y presentación
Jueves, 14 de Enero, 7:30 PM
938 Valencia (Dolores Street Community Services), San Francisco
Accesible para sillas de rueda
Mientras que el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez sigue siendo el enfoque de muchas noticias, una historia mucho mas amplia con mas protagonistas ha sido ignorado en gran parte. Venezuela Habla!, publicada por PM Press es una colección de entrevistas con activistas y participantes de los movimientos sociales de Venezuela. Desde los medios comunitarios hasta la reforma agraria, desde las cooperativas a los consejos comunales, del movimiento sindicalista a la Red Afro-Venezolana, Venezuela Habla! arroja luz sobre las realidades complejas dentro de la revolución bolivariana.
Acompaña a dos de los co-autores, Carlos Martinez y Michael Fox, para su lanzamiento del libro y presentación, incluyendo videos cortos de gente entrevistada, música, y refrescos ligeros. Libros van a estar disponibles para comprar ($23) y firmar. Libros solamente disponibles en inglés.
Para conseguir mas información sobre el libro, visite la página web de PM Press.
Para conseguir mas información sobre el tur de Venezuela Habla! visite la página web de Global Exchange.
Se pide donacion, nadie será rechazado por falta de fondos
Co-patrocinado por PM Press, Global Exchange, y el Centro para Educación Politica
Para mas información communiquese con Carlos Martinez a carlos@globalexchange.org.
(anuncio sigue en español)
Constitutions from Below: Social Movements and Change in Honduras
With live video-feed from Honduras with representatives of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup, and speakers Yeni Solis and Yakira Teitel
Thursday, December 3rd, 7 PM
Based on the events in Honduras over the last few days, we will spend much of our evening hearing directly from Honduras, discussing the implications of the elections and how social movements are responding to the changing conditions, as well as how the call for constitutional reform remains a central demand in Honduras.
Constitutional assemblies have been a major weapon for social movements in Latin America in developing a new relationship between the people and the state, and a strategy by newly-elected left governments to define a post-neoliberal age.
In Honduras, despite a strong and active popular resistance movement against the coup, the de facto military government remains in power. The coup regime and the Honduran mass media are calling Sunday’s national elections as a “success,” but the withdrawal of more than 100 candidates in protest ahead of the elections and an unprecedented abstention of voters on Sunday belie this claim. With a coup regime touting the electoral process and a widespread resistance movement calling for the international rejection of the elections, the question of constitutional reform remains a central but complicated issue at the core of the debate in Honduras.
In this informal discussion, in English and Spanish (with interpretation), we will examine what the struggles and the constitutional frameworks themselves mean to people in resistance. We will hear from leaders in Honduras as well as Yeni Solis from the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, and Yakira Teitel from CASA, who just returned from Honduras.
Constituciones desde Abajo: De Honduras a Venezuela, Ecuador y Bolivia
Con enlaze en vivo desde Honduras con representantes del Frente Nacional en Resistencia Contra el Golpe, Yeni Solis y Yakira Teitel
Jueves, 3 de Diciembre, 7 PM
Asambleas constituyentes han sido un arma crítica para movimientos sociales en Latinoamérica en el desarrollo de una nueva relación entre el pueblo y el estado, y una estrategia de los gobiernos de izquierda nuevamente electos en su intento de definir una era post-neoliberal.
En Honduras, a pesar de un movimiento fuerte y activo en resistencia contra el golpe de estado, el gobierno de facto militar sigue en poder. Los golpistas y los grandes medios de comunicación en Honduras están clasificando a las elecciones de este domingo como “un éxito,” pero el retiro de más de 100 candidatos en anticipación de las elecciones y un abstencionismo de votantes sin precedente demuestra la falsedad de esta postura. Con un gobierno golpista vendiendo el proceso electoral y un extensivo movimiento de resistencia llamando por el rechazo internacional de las elecciones, la cuestión del cambio constitucional sigue como un tema principal pero complicado en el centro del debate en Honduras.
En esta plática, en español e inglés (con interpretación), examinaremos lo que estas luchas y las constituciones mismas significan para pueblos en resistencia. Escuchamos de líderes en Honduras así como Yeni Solis del Comité en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de El Salvador y Yakira Teitel de CASA, quien acaba de regresar de Honduras.
From Richmond to Bangkok to Copenhagen: Climate Justice Teach-In
Tuesday, November 24th
On December 7, 2009, world leaders and international NGOs will meet in Copenhagen to chart out a course for a new global climate deal, and in doing so, try to set up a new post-WTO framework for economic globalization. Outside the conference halls, a convergences of climate justice activists from the Global South will be waiting to say “Another World is Possible.” Join environmental and climate justice activists for a lead up discussion to the November 30th day of action and on the road to Copenhagen.
Speakers will kick us off with some thoughts on these questions:
- From an environmental justice perspective, what’s the best thing that could come out of Copenhagen? What’s the worst?
- How will differences between the Global South and powers in the north be resolved? Who will shoulder the impact of these changes?
- How are social movements in the Global South organizing around Copenhagen and how are these movements different than in the United States?
- Are there any openings that progressive activists in the US can build on to advance environmental and climate justice?
“Imagine waking up on December 1, 1999, and learning about the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the first time by watching it fall apart on television. The catalyst? An internationalist “inside-outside” strategy that leveraged people power on the outside to provide political space inside for the Global South and civil society organizations… The potential for such a political moment is once again upon us, exactly 10 years after the collapse of the WTO in Seattle. This time, it’s Copenhagen.”–Gopal Dayaneni, Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project
Co-sponsored by Movement Generation, the Center for Political Education and Bay Area Climate Justice Activists
Iran’s Green Wave: Reform or Revolution?
Third Thursday with CPE and guest speakers Malihe Razazan & Shahram Aghamir
Thursday, July 16th
On June 12, 2009, a presidential election was held in Iran
between a number of candidates, including the “reformist” Mir-Hossein Mousavi and the “conservative” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Official results handed Ahmadinejad a 63% victory, sparking the largest street protests seen since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Protestors marched against the controversial election results, alleged electoral fraud and in support of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. After a strong government clampdown on protesters and the media in the weeks following the election and the death of several protesters, the streets have quieted down around Iran. Many are trying to make sense of these recent events in terms of what the opposition is fighting for and where it will go from here.
Join the Center for Political Education and guest speakers Malihe Razazan and Shahram Aghamir for a discussion of these recent events and how the left in the US can understand and interpret these current protests in post-revolutionary Iran. Other questions up for discussion include: What role did the elections play in catalyzing the current protests and what are the protesters really demanding? What are the different social movements in Iran and what role are they playing in these protests? Who are the “reformists” and the “conservatives” and what are their agendas? What does the current split among Iran’s ruling establishment mean for democracy and justice for ordinary Iranians? How can the left in the US be supportive without playing into US imperialist and neoconservative perspectives?
Malihe Razazan and Shahram Aghamir are long-time activists and organizers on issues related to Iran. Both are producers and co-hosts of “Voices of the Middle East and North Africa” on KPFA radio, and Malihe is also a producer at “Your Call,” a daily public affairs program on San Francisco public radio station KALW.
District Elections in SF: How Do “We the People” Become the Driving Force?
With community and labor organizers, N’Tanya Lee (Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth*), Calvin Welch (Housing Justice*), Maria Guillen (SEIU*) and activist Sasha Magee
Progressives who fought for San Francisco’s District Elections in the 1970s and again in the 2000s, focused not on individual candidates – but on the broader movement for building grassroots power, developing people’s consciousness, and creating democratic structures to keep officials accountable.
District Elections in San Francisco - How do “We the People” become the driving force?, will trace the history of district elections that brought Harvey Milk to prominence in the 70s, and will look at the district town hall meetings and citywide Community Congresses, structures that developed an agenda and demands which elected officials had to respond to. In the context of the city’s current budget crisis, labor and community organizers will engage in a lively debate on how we can continue to build on the progressive gains of the 2008 elections, and fight for elected officials to follow the lead of the people.
*for identification purposes only
Jobs for Artists! A New Deal for the Arts in the 21st Century with Jeff Chang, Gray Brechin, Arlene Goldbard and poets Cyrus Armajani, Chito Cuellar, Kaira Espinoza, Maria Poblet, & James Tracy
In the 1930s, the “New Deal” Works Progress Administration created jobs for tens of thousands of artists and writers, including authors such as John Cheever, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, radio journalist Studs Terkel, and painters like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Rockwell Kent. In the 1970s, the CETA program funded artist-organizers who helped create the Cultural Centers that now exist in San Francisco’s neighborhoods. Today a new movement is emerging to promote a 21st century New Deal for the arts. Jobs for Artists! will feature a panel discussion on the rich legacy of federal jobs programs for artists and writers, and build support for a larger effort timed with the 75th anniversary of the WPA in 2010. Featuring New Deal historian Gray Brechin, cultural journalist Jeff Chang, and Arlene Goldbard, co-organizer of a May 2009 White House briefing on the arts, community, social justice and national recovery. With short readings and original performances by local poets honoring the great work of WPA-sponsored artists and writers.
This event is part of LaborFest a month-long series of cultural events commemorating the 1934 San Francisco general strike. Cosponsored by the CCSF Department of Labor and Community Studies Program and the Center for Political Education.
Gray Brechin is a Research Fellow for the Living New Deal Project of the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley, and the author of Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin.
Jeff Chang is the author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. His recent article in The Nation, “The Creativity Stimulus” described the importance of public culture to social change.
Arlene Goldbard is a writer, speaker and consultant currently based in Berkeley. Information about her latest book, New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development and other writings is available at www.arlenegoldbard.com.
CISPES Victory Tour with Ricardo Bladimir González from the FMLN
Join CISPES and the Center for Political Education for an evening of discussion, in Spanish and English, with Ricardo Bladimir González, organizer and elected official in El Salvador with the FMLN.
González will give a first hand account of the FMLN’s victory, and the mobilization and organizing that went in to overcoming the fear campaign backed by US Republicans.
click here for more information…
City Lights Books, KPFA, Global Exchange, La Raza Centro Legal, and the Center for Political Education invite you to celebrate the publication of… 
Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt by John Gibler, published this month by City Light Books
Join the author and other special guests as we celebrate the release of this important new book about politics, history, and social movements in Mexico
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
click here for more information…
Thursday, December 18th
Workers in Chicago Take Over and Win!
Third Thursday discussion, with David Bacon, about the six-day worker occupation of Republic Windows & Doors and its implications for labor organizing in the U.S. in a time of economic crisis
click here for more information…
Food Crisis: From the Global Food System to Local Food Justice
Wednesday, December 10th with:
Raj Patel, renowned writer and author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System and
Brahm Ahmadi, visionary food justice activist and Executive Director of Oakland’s People’s Grocery
click here for more information…
Everything Has Changed and All Our Work Remains: Post Election Politics, Opportunities & Challenges
Monday, December 8th, 7 PM with:
Linda Burnham, Sampada Aranke, and Mike Parker
click here for more information…
Third Thursday’s with the Center for Political Education
Follow up discussion about the current economic situation, implications, challenges and opportunities in October and Roundtable Discussion on Prop. 8 in November
click here for more information…
Forum to Defeat Propositions 6 & 9: Targeting Youth of Color, Immigrants and Those Currently Incarcerated
Come learn about Propositions 6 (”The Runner Initiative) & 9 (”Victim Rights and Protection Act”) with Shawna Sanchagrin and Nia Sykes from the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Alicia Criado from Books Not Bars.
click here for more information…
Economic Crisis, Failing Banks and Bailouts: Origins, Consequences and Implications for the US Left with Karl Beitel and Nedula Baguio
Responding to your demands! CPE & La Raza Centro Legal bring you a class on the current economic meltdown..
