July 19-26 LaborFest Schedule

TIPS is being tossed because enough people have learned the lessons of the last fascist era in the 1950s, with its primary goal of destroying labor organizations, to protest as soon as we smell a whiff of that same old fascist stench. To learn that history, other labor history, and participate in today's labor cultural activities, come to the best thing happening in July in the SF Bay Area, LaborFest.

TIPS, in case you haven't heard, is the Bush spy proposal to use working people to spy on the rest of us. The Republican Party is finding that it is losing votes with this proposal faster than the economy is sinking, which is happening faster than you can blink, so they appear ready to toss TIPS, but it is not over until it is over, so keep screaming.

As to the highlights of the coming week's fabulous LaborFest schedule:

--There are many writer events which should inspire all young people to produce workingclass poetry and prose. It is especially important that young people attend LaborFest, for the future is yours, and you will learn much from and enjoy all of LaborFest.

--The Song Swap of Freedom Song Network on July 20 at 8 p.m. at 885 Clayton, San Francisco, is open to everyone who has a song they want others to sing, wants to learn other people's songs, enjoys singing songs and/or loves making music with instruments. It is a great way to spend a Saturday evening for free, among people who have seen decades of struggle for labor, peace, the environment, all the civil rights movements and much more. It takes place at a house at 885 Clayton. Clayton is where the N Judah streetcar comes out of the tunnel, so you should be able to find it from there. Bring your voice, any other musical instrument, your songs and your community spirit. You will learn a lot and hopefully can also contribute.

--The East Bay showing of the opening feature of this year's LaborFest, "Strange Fruit" is Sunday, July 21 at 7 p.m. at La Pena Cultural Center. It is accompanied by a portrayal of Paul Robeson by rapper "Agrippa," a discussion of the racist "hanging noose" incidents in the Bay Area, and a movie on women ironworkers. This is certainly one of the all-star events of LaborFest.

--San Francisco Independent Media joins in bring the LaborFest events of July 25 at 7:30 p.m.at New College at 777 Valencia, San Francisco with various videos on the workingclass of Korea. Clearly, LaborFest covers the globe with its wide variety of videos and films, as well as all the other cultural productions.

From: http://www.laborfest.net/2002scheduledetails.html
JULY 19, FRIDAY 7:30 PM Modern Times 888 Valencia St./20th St. Labor, Poetry, Words And War
Join Nellie Wong, Carol Tarlen, David Joseph, Roland Carrillo and other poets, artists and writers as they
explore how war wracks our lives. The "perpetual war" that is now upon us exposes us all to new threats and
realities. These poets hit the road running in telling the truth about these wars and their meaning for working people.

JULY 20 SATURDAY 2:00 PM Free Modern Times Bookstore - 888 Valencia St. at 20th, San Francisco
Rich History, Short Memories/Artists, Writers & The WPA Helen Ludwig, Lawrence Fixell, Millie Weitz, Tillie Olsen (invited)
Join these cultural veterans as they spill the beans about the 301s and 401s cultural explosion that took
place under the auspices of the WPA. Imagine a period in US history when artists and writers are paid to do their work in order to make a contribution to society. Their stories and contributions make us a richer country and bring out the best of America and we must not forget it.

JULY 20, SATURDAY 8:00 PM free 885 Clayton Street, SF Song & Poetry Swap with the Freedom Song Network Hosted by Bernard Gilbert & George Fouke
The Freedom Song Network has been building labor music and culture for many years in the Bay Area. Join with them when they sing out/speak out for working people. From picket lines and labor rallies to labor cultural festivals, Freedom Song Network is on the frontlines of struggle.

JULY 21, SUNDAY 11:00 AM (Pay the park entrance fee) on the Ship Balclutha Aquatic Park, Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco "Henry George At Wharf End" A performance by Dave Giesen
(http://www.henrygeorgesfbay.org)
Meet Henry George, San Francisco's most radical labor advocate of the 19th century, in a lively living history chautauqua program. George, played by
historian/actor David Giesen, lived (1839-1897) in the era of emerging titanic capital and witnessed and suffered from the stifling, crippling effects of monopolistic business practices. He championed sailor's rights and advocated eliminating all taxes upon labor, arguing that labor itself was the whole and
sufficient contribution by the individual to community. But watch out rent-takers, George proposed abolishing unearned income! This piece is set on
the 1890 Frisco waterfront. Attendance earns 5 unit of upper division Econ and History credit, well, not really, but people claim it should.

JULY 21, SUNDAY 3:00 PM free Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St./20th St.
George Lipsitz - Author of Rainbow at Midnight talks about culture, labor and the class struggle. (http://www.mtn.org/~dcs/Artists/Lipsitz.html)
George Lipsitz is Professor of Ethnic Studies and Director of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the University of California, San Diego. He is the
author of Rainbow at Midnight: Labor and Culure in the 1940s, a book about shop floor activism, working class culture, and the massive strike wave that shook
the United States in the years immediately after World War II. His other books include A Life in the Struggle: Ivory Perry and the Culture of Opposition, the
biography of Ivory Perry, a Black worker and community activist from St. Louis, and his latest publication, American Studies in a Moment of Danger, a book about the changes in culture, social movements, and the state provoked by the increasing power of transnational capital.
Lipsitz also serves as series editor of the Critical American Studies series at the University of Minnesota Press, which next year will publish Singlejack
Solidarity: Work, Culture, and Job Based Unionism, a collection of writings by longtime labor activist Stan Weir who died last summer at the age of 80.

JULY 21, SUNDAY 7:00 PM $7.00 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck St./Prince St.,Berkeley
Film Screening, International Working Class Film & Video Festival and Rapper "Agrippa" performs Paul Robeson
( http://www.agrippa.info)
"Strange Fruit" (57 min.) by Joel Katz - USA
This second showing of the documentary explores the history and legacy of the song Strange Fruit unique in
the annals of American music. Best known by a 1939 Billie Holiday rendition, the song was written by Abel
Meeropol, a New York City public school teacher and a Jew of Russian Immigrant origin who published music under the name of Lewis Allan. The tale of the song reflects on the lives of African-Americans, immigrant Jews, anticommunist government officials, radical Leftist organizers, music publishers and jazz musicians.
Discussion about "Hanging Noose" Incidents
"Iron Ladies" (30 min) by Kennedy Wheatley - USA
"Iron Ladies" gives the real story on the lives of women unionized iron workers in Los Angeles. These women must learn the trade while dealing with the heat in the work place. This lively video shows these women standing up for their rights as women and workers. They are building a place in a formerly male dominated trade.

JULY 22, MONDAY 6:30 PM Mission Cultural Center For Latino Arts - 2868Mission St./25th St.
$10-$20 (sliding scale) Benefit for SF Day Laborers,
Film Screening, International Working Class Film & Video Festival
"The Workers, Los Trabajadores" (48 min.) by Heather Courtney - USA
(http://www.daylabormovie.com)
This film by Heather Courtney will highlight the event with the San Francisco Day Laborers Program. These
workers are fighting for a hiring hall and other conditions that will defend their integrity and work. "As
the opening images of Austin filmmaker Heather Courtney1s deeply moving documentary flicker across the screen, we hear the insistent and monotonous sounds of manual labor: a pickax striking granite, hammers pounding nails into wood, shovels scooping up the earth. The sound of Austin day laborers at work effectively becomes the soundtrack for this film that follows two workers in particular as they struggle to make money to support their families living in other countries. One of the workers, Juan Ignacio Guterrez of Nicaragua says Austin is "growing but thanks to whom?" Literally millions of workers who are helping to build this country but have no rights as workers and as human beings. This film shows the daily reality of these workers. (http://www.daylabormovie.com)

JULY 23, TUESDAY 7:30 PM free NALC Local 214 214 12th St. SF
"Going Postal" - Author and retired postal worker Al Ainsworth talk about his new book
(http://www.chewahpublishing.com/postal_reviews.htm) with Poet Herb Weiner
Reviews of "Going Postal... The Tip of the Iceberg"
" When I knew Al Ainsworth was writing a book I really looked forward to reading it. I have been doing labor law for over forty years with a concentration in
public sector labor law and wanted to see it from the prospective of a man who lived it every day. Al did not disappoint. His case histories point out the conflict between labor and management. Both want to give the best service possible to the public. All too often, that goal is sought by labor management relations. Hopefully, Al's book will be read by people who can change the way things are done now. When the Terrorists struck the employees of congress that employer immediately took protective measures and tested all concerned. What did the post office do? They asked other agencies what to do and took no immediate action to test and protect all that might have been at risk. Why the difference? Read Al's book you might find the answer. "During my 20 years as a practicing clinical psychologist, I tried to help many
people cope with stress at work. Their number one complaint, consistent with findings in the research literature, is how they felt abused by their supervisors. This included people who were themselves supervisors and managers. I heard many disturbing stories similar to the ones that Mr. Ainsworth published in his book."

JULY 25 THURSDAY 7:30 PM $5.00 New College Theater,777 Valencia St. at 19th St., San Francisco.
Film Screening, International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Korean Struggles in Videos
"Face Off" (25 min.) by Labor News Production/KCTU - Korea
"Record of Repression"(25 min.) by Labor News Production/KCTU - Korea
"Workers on The Railway" (75 min) by Labor News Production (75 min) by Labor News Production
IndyBay Media presents these videos along with Myoung Joon Kim of Seoul Labor News Production. These documentaries show the militant struggle of the Korean working class for democratic rights and how their fight to organize and defend their unions comes up against the government, the corporations and the IMF-World Bank. Much of the video comes from workers trained on how to shoot and edit their own videos.
(http://www.lnp89.org)(http://www.indybay.org)

JULY 26, FRIDAY 7:30 PM Mission Cultural Center For Latino Arts - 2868Mission St./25th St.
American Standoff (95 min) by Barbara Kopple (USA)
Two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple's latest film. This emotionally charged and unflinching film explores the dynamics of a union through the unfolding of the Teamsters Union strike against Overnite Transportation, the largest non-union trucking company in the US.
An Injury to One (53 min)USA by Susan Fink & Travis Wilkerson
"An Injury To One" reconstructs the long-forgotten murder of union organizer and IWW member Frank Little in the town of Butte, Montana. What was Frank fighting for and why were the bosses not only trying to murder Frank but destroy the town are some of the questions answered in this documentary.
(upfrontfilms [at] earthlink.net)


For further information and updates come to this website: http://www.laborfest.net or call (415)642-8066
LaborFest is sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council, many unions and other organizations including KPFA.

LaborFest
P.O.Box 40983
San Francisco, CA 94110