SAT Aug 31 Black August Street Law 101: Know Your Rights Training 1-2:30 PM Dorothy I. Height/Benning Library 3935 Benning Rd NE, Washington, DC 20019 Hosted by Black Lives Matter DC and Keep DC 4 Me — This Black August, we continue to hold MPD accountable for illegal stop and frisks, jumpouts, brutality, and murder.
SAT Aug 31 On A MOVE! Repression, Resistance and Freedom 12-2 PM Shaw (Watha T. Daniel) Neighborhood Library, 1630 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 Hosted by Stop Police Terror Project DC and Pan-African Community Action — a panel featuring Eddie and Janet Africa, members of MOVE a Black liberation group based in Philadelphia that suffered deep police repression and terrorism in the 1970s and 80s.
SEPTEMBER
WED Sept 4 Robert Kuttner, editor of the American Prospect, discusses his new book, The Stakes, on the 2020 election, at the Economic Policy Institute from noon to 1:30 PM. It’s a free event with lunch included. Interested comrades can
RSVP here.
WED Sept 4 The Future of Water in El Salvador 2-3:30 PM at Oxfam America, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 1300 Washington, DC 20036 --
Oxfam, the
Institute for Policy Studies and the
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) present a conversation with
Karen Ramírez a leader in the National Alliance against Water Privatization in El Salvador that has been successfully fending off a coordinated attempt by El Salvador’s right-wing political parties to bring corporate entities into the public management of the country’s fragile water resources. RSVP:
[email protected].
THUR Sept 5 — Progressive Cheverly Forum,
What We Need to Know … and Do About the Epidemic of Gun Violence in Our Country: 7 PM, Multipurpose Room at Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School, 3324 64th Avenue, Cheverly (
note the new venue) Discussion of action to stop the mass shootings and the daily killings that have tragically affected communities everywhere. Come hear Representative Anthony Brown (invited) and Jennifer Stapleton, a state leader in Moms’ Demand Action Maryland talk about what is happening around gun reform legislation on the federal and state levels and what we can do to get involved. All are welcome.
THURS Sep 5 #DecarcerateDC Protest 6-8 PM Washington, DC – Protesting outside the office of the US Attorney for DC as Trump appointee Jessie Liu holds a meeting on the anti-justice Second Look Act. Hosted by Black Lives Matter DC and Keep DC 4 Me – more at link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/735704770200687/
SAT Sept 7 When They See Us: Organizing Conversation — 1:00 PM, ATU 689, 2701 Whitney Pl, District Heights, MD 20747 — Join Progressive Maryland’s Justice Task Force, Former NAACP President Ben Jealous, and other special guests for a discussion about our criminal legal system and learn about our plan for action to end mass incarceration here in Maryland.
MON Sept 9 Listening Sessions: Are you in the know about Paid Family Leave 12:30 -2:30 PM at Busboys and Poets 2021 14th St. NW Wash, DC 20009 Hosted by Restaurant Opportunities Center of Washington DC (ROC-DC): See Aug 26 entry.
MON, Sept 9 BOOK TALK New York Times journalist Steven Greenhouse discusses his new book,
Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. 12:30 -2 PM at Economic Policy Institute 1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx — Greenhouse chronicles the rise (and decline) of unions in the US and explores models for rebuilding worker power, including the #RedforEd teachers strikes, the Fight for $15, and bargaining for the common good.
RSVP
MON Sept 9 September DC Climate Coalition Meeting 6:30– 8:30 PM, 50 F St NW, Washington, DC 20001-1525 (Sierra Club office) Agenda will include the climate strike, bylaws, and continuing CEDC implementation. Hosted by DC Climate Coalition and 6 others.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2389210128008244/ Volunteer signup form
TUES Sept 10 Book Event: Living and Dying on the Factory Floor 4-5:30 PM, Institute for Policy Studies 1301 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 6th Floor Washington, DC 20036 co-sponsored with Economic Policy Institute. Moderated by Sarita Gupta, former Executive Director of Jobs With Justice -- David Ranney’s vivid memoir describes his experiences between 1976 and 1982 in the factories of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana.
WED Sept 11 Greenbelt Climate Action Network A Just Transition from Coal in Maryland 7:00 - 9:00 pm conversation with Matt Dernoga, Maryland Sierra Club Beyond Coal rep, about Maryland's six remaining coal fired power plants. We will discuss their impacts on public health and the climate, and how we can lead the way in Maryland with a just transition to clean energy. Greenbelt Community Center, Room 114 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD
https://www.facebook.com/events/878344449197887/
THU Sept 12, Empower DC Happy Hour Fundraiser 6-9 PM Saloon, 1205 U Street Northwest Washington, DC 20009
RSVP
SAT Sept. 14 – 350MoCo town hall on climate action, 11 AM t 1:30 PM, Silver Spring Civic Center https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-emergency-montgomery-countys-response-tickets-66570745893
TUE Sept 17 In Defense of American Democracy – day-long session at the GWU Marvin Center with a star-studded guest list and some surprises; organized by Shanker Institute, AFT and Forward Together.
WED Sept 21 Deep Canvass with SURJ 11 AM – 5 PM Sponsored by SURJ Northern Virginia and Showing Up for Racial Justice – SURJ – DC: at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville, in Maryland. The registration form is coming soon.
THURS Sept 26 DC Stand Up Against “RIA” Displacement at Brookland Manor 8 AM
District of Columbia Government DC Court of Appeals 430 E Street, NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20001 Hosted by LinkUp and Brookland Manor/Brentwood Village Residents Association:
8 AM rally; 9:30 AM pack the courtroom to protest DC’s intrusive, tax-subsidized “Rhode Island Avenue” project and its potential for displacing Brookland Manor residents. More info:
linkupitsofficial.org/dc-stand-up
SUN Sept 29 – The path to single payer health care in Maryland, 1:30 - 4:30 PM at Elkridge Library - 6450 Washington Boulevard, Elkridge, MD 21075 -- Join Senator Paul Pinsky, Chair of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee in the Senate, and Delegate Terri Hill, of the Health and Government Operations Committee in the House, for a discussion of the road map to Single Payer in Maryland.
https://www.facebook.com/events/361641874764169/
THURS Oct 3 The Epiphany Power Hour: ONE DC 12:10-1 PM at The Church of the Epiphany 1317 G St NW, DC xxxxxx Claire Cook and Kelly Iradukunda of ONE DC teach us about organizing in our city. Hosted EVERY THURSDAY by The Church of the Epiphany and
ONE DC:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2543087422378554/
GOOD READS
>>Instructive developments as workers and families in Puerto Rico fill the political vacuum with their growing agency
https://portside.org/2019-08-24/puerto-rico-shift-mass-protests-peoples-assemblies
>>Excellent review by DSA member Steve Early of a book memorializing the less-told story of GI resistance to the Vietnam War while still in uniform, a generally risky pursuit in those days and one that significantly shifted overall public opinion about the war, along with the resistance from veterans’ groups like VVAW.
https://portside.org/2019-08-24/gi-rebellion-when-soldiers-said-no-war
>>Our local (Va.) member Max Sawicky outlines the last gasps of neoliberalism in
Jacobin https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/neoliberalism-democratic-party-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-barack-obama?fbclid=IwAR0Jb5yzblLoGnZXxyj2Qo3aCkzfFlKCBt1NVVjXCp-d7sKXUEd2orZou9o
>>Also in
Jacobin, an analysis of the labor resolutions passed at the recent DSA Convention:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/rank-and-file-strategy-dsa-labor
>>There are many large-scale service industries that could benefit from shifting from private to public ownership, but none is more ripe than the delivery of electric power. Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a sweeping move to public ownership of the grid and production resources, accelerating renewable use and ending the consumer’s subsidy to shareholders in massive under-regulated corporate boondoggles like our local overlords Exelon and
Dominion. “The future is public,” the author writes. “It is accountable to the principles of environmental justice. It is democratic. It is decommodified.”
https://inthesetimes.com/article/22025/bernie-sanders-calls-to-seize-the-means-of-electricity-production-climate
>>
The working class: two articles that argue that traditional notions of the class structure no longer are useful, from somewhat different perspectives.
A book review
https://portside.org/2019-08-28/were-still-here-pain-and-politics-heart-america indicates “The American Dream that permitted manual and factory laborers to have a secure job, with a supportive union and community, is a thing of the past.”
And Tom Edsall in the
New York Times argues that the reactionary responses to Trump have many nuances that show big changes in the class structure in “We aren’t seeing white support for Trump for what it is.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/opinion/trump-white-voters.html/
