New College CESA Peace & Justice Events List

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New College Center for Education and Social Action - LISTING OF PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENTS
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THE CURRENT STATE of the BRAZILIAN LANDLESS WORKERS MOVEMENT

BELCHIOR GONSALVES, a leader of Latin America’s largest social movement, the MST, will speak on the current process of agrarian reform in Brazil.

Thursday, October 23, 7;30 p.m.
New College Theater, 777 Valencia St., S.F.

An evening of updates and analysis on the current state of agrarian reform and rural activism in Brazil. The featured speaker will be Belchior Viana Gonsalves, a leader of Brazil’s Rural Landless Workers Movement (MST) and an expert in ecological agriculture. Mr. Gonsalves will speak about the history of the MST as well as the current status of the movement and its relationship to the government of President Luis “Lula” Ignacio da Silva.

Sponsored by the Friends of the MST;
Co-sponsored by New College of California

$5-10 sliding scale - with no one turned away for lack of funds

For more information, call (510) 644-9341.

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KPFA STATION BOARD ELECTIONS - NOMINATION EVENTS

KPFA, the first listener-sponsored, community radio station in the United States, has emerged from a fierce struggle to preserve its local autonomy and is now refocusing on its mission to amplify the otherwise unheard voices of the Bay Area in the struggle for social justice.

Election for KPFA Station Board has begun. All 18 seats for Listener/Sponsors on KPFA's Station Board Are to be filled. All Candidate forms need to be received by November 15th. Listeners who have donated at least $25 or volunteered at least 3 hours to KPFA in the last year will have the right to vote and run in KPFA’s elections. Join or volunteer by October 30th to take part in this historic election!

Interested in running for the KPFA Station Board? Have questions concerning the elections? Need signatures for your nomination papers?

Come to one of these community events!

October 23rd 7-9 PM
New College of California
99 6th Street, Santa Rosa
Showing of Afghan Massacre,
followed by a discussion of KPFA's Station Board Elections
Information: 707-795-2890

Tuesday October 28th 7 PM
New College Theater
777 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Opening remarks by Don Foster,
Co-Director, New College Media Studies MA Program
Information: (415) 546-6334

Thursday October 30th 7 PM
Resource Center for Nonviolence
515 Broadway St. (off Ocean), Santa Cruz
Information: fasaba [at] yahoo.com

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DANIEL ELLSBERG on WAR, WHISTLEBLOWING & LEAKS

Thursday, October 30 at 7 p.m.
First Unitarian Universalist Church, Franklin & Geary in SF

Legendary whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg will offer his incisive views on the similarities between current U.S. policy in Iraq and the lies and cover-ups surrounding the Vietnam War. “Once again, the country is embroiled in a foreign war for murky reasons. Once again, the White House has justified its policy with lies, and is smearing a whistleblower who exposed those lies,” Ellsberg said in an October 3, 2003 interview in Salon.com titled, “The plumbers are back.”

Ellsberg, a former Pentagon analyst and Marine Commander, is uniquely situated to opine about the recent White House leaks regarding former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame. After leaking the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971, Ellsberg’s successful career in government ended. Though he never went to prison for leaking the infamous documents, Ellsberg has willingly been arrested more than 60 times for acts of civil disobedience protesting U.S. foreign and nuclear policies.

School of the Americas Watch-West (SOAW-W) is honored to host an evening with Daniel Ellsberg on October 30. Proceeds will support SOAW’s ongoing educational work to stop U.S. tax-dollar support and training of Latin American militaries at Ft. Benning, Georgia. As a result of citizen protests, the training facility known as the School of the Americas was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001. Ellsberg says, “The SOA/WHINSEC dishonors the United States of America. The work of SOA Watch is true patriotism.”

The evening will also feature comments by recently released “Prisoners of Conscience” from the Bay Area who served 3 – 6 month sentences for non-violently trespassing at SOA/WHINSEC last year. Thousands of people are expected to travel to Ft. Benning this November 21-23 to take part in the annual vigil and protest at the gates of this notorious training "school" (known as “School of Assassins” in Latin America) to honor the memory of the many innocent civilians murdered by the school's graduates.

Amnesty International has recommended that the U.S. government establish an independent commission to investigate past activities of the SOA and its graduates and to suspend training at the new school (WHINSEC) pending the findings of the inquiry.

Daniel Ellsberg’s award-winning new book, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, was featured on the San Francisco Chronicle’s
prestigious list of Top 100 books published in 2002.

Contact Sandina Robbins at 510-654-4688.

For background information: http://www.uusfbay.org/SOAW-W.html and http://www.ellsberg.net

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The International Forum on Globalization and New College present:

FROM CANCUN TO MIAMI:

Report-Back from WTO Ministerial in Cancun to Inform and Inspire the Mobilization against the FTAA Ministerial in Miami.

Thursday, November 6
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
New College Theater
777 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Please Join:
Antonia Juhasz, International Forum on Globalization
Lisa Hoyos, Cal Coalition for Fair Trade/OWINFS
Alberto Saldamando, International Indian Treaty Council
Colin Rajah, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Deborah James, Global Exchange
Anuradha Mittal, Food First
Cynthia Josayma, Pacific Environment
Starhawk, RANT collective (invited)

On Sunday, September 14, the 5th ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) collapsed. What happened in Cancun that led to the collapse? What were the policy debates between governments? What did peoples' movements want? What did corporations want? What strategies and tactics were used both inside and outside of the meeting that led to the collapse?

What worked on the streets? What worked in the suites?

Most importantly, how does this inform what will happen in Miami when the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial takes place on November 20-21?

The collapse in Cancun is being used by the Bush Administration to further justify its rejection of multilateralism in all forms. It is therefore crucial to demonstrate that opposition in Cancun was against the policies of corporate globalization, rather than just one of the many institutions that enforce them. The FTAA ministerial in Miami is now even more critical than before. It is both an opportunity to oppose the expansion of corporate globalization and to demonstrate the that the movement demanding real alternatives is growing and uniting world-wide.

Please join us for this important discussion.

Questions? Contact the International Forum on Globalization at 415.561.3480 or http://www.ifg.org

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GREG PALAST:

BBC commentator and best-selling author, speaks on

"Elections and the Media: From Florida to California and on to 2004"

Special benefit for Media Alliance,
Co-sponsored by New College Media Studies MA Program

NEW DATE!

Thursday, November 6; 7:00 p.m.

King Middle School, 1781 Rose St., Berkeley.

Tickets are $10. Buy them at http://store.yahoo.com/media-alliance/gregpalast.html, or call (415) 546-6334.

Help us welcome back to the Bay Area a leading investigative journalist, Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. As entertaining as he is journalistically rigorous, Palast is best known in the United States for uncovering the details of how the Bush family stole the Presidential election in Florida in 2000. Come hear Palast riff on the connections between the California recall and the Florida scandal as he shares his take on what we can expect from the 2004 Presidential election. Get a taste of Greg at http://www.gregpalast.com.
Be sure to get your tickets early!

King Middle School is in North Berkeley, on Rose Street at Grant, two blocks west of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Free parking is available. The nearest BART station is North Berkeley.

Media Alliance: http://www.media-alliance.org/

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The New College Center for Education & Social Action (CESA) listing of peace and social justice events is emailed about once each week. To subscribe or unsubscribe: jon [at] newcollege.edu . Contact: Jon Garfield: (415) 437-3425.

New College of California: http://www.newcollege.edu

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Jon Garfield, Co-Director
Media Studies MA Program
New College of California
(415) 437-3425; jon [at] newcollege.edu