[ Reader Comments: Medicare4All, Sanders, Warren, and the Left;
Bolivia Coup; AFL-CIO Denounces Coup; Electoral College Racist
Origins; Announcements: Right to the City; Peggy Lipschutz Memorial;
Kurdish Feminists; Delegation to Venezuela; and more...]
[[link removed]]

TIDBITS - NOV.21, 2019 - READER COMMENTS: MEDICARE4ALL, SANDERS,
WARREN, AND THE LEFT; BOLIVIA COUP; ELECTORAL COLLEGE; ANNOUNCEMENTS:
RIGHT TO THE CITY; PEGGY LIPSCHUTZ MEMORIAL; KURDISH FEMINISTS;
DELEGATION TO VENEZUELA; AND MORE....  
[[link removed]]

 

November 21, 2019
xxxxxx

*
[[link removed]....]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

_ Reader Comments: Medicare4All, Sanders, Warren, and the Left;
Bolivia Coup; AFL-CIO Denounces Coup; Electoral College Racist
Origins; Announcements: Right to the City; Peggy Lipschutz Memorial;
Kurdish Feminists; Delegation to Venezuela; and more... _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements AND cartoons -
Nov.21, 2019, xxxxxx

 

Medicare 4 All, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the Left
(Randolph Shannon)
Re: Pramila Jayapal Takes On Medicare for All’s Critics (Michael
Steinbrück; Micheal Crockford)
Where There’s Smoke…  --  cartoon by Matt Wuerker
Re: After Morales Ousted in Coup, the Lithium Question Looms Large in
Bolivia (Gordon Galland; Pat Gibson)
AFL-CIO Condemns Military Coup in Bolivia
Re: What the Coup Against Evo Morales Means to Indigenous People Like
Me (Cindy Hawes)
Re: 'A Threat to Global Stability': US Denies Israeli Settlements
Illegal (Suzanne Crowell)
Re: The Electoral College’s Racist Origins (Craig Carl; Richard
Mason; Jack Lewis; Nancy Phelps Anderson; Brenda Rumbellow; Jesse
Bookhardt; Heath A Williamson)
Re: Sanders or Warren? Populist-Progressivism or New Deal? Take Your
Pick! (Nikos Evangelos)
Re: You Must Never Vote for Bloomberg (Tom Trumper)
Re: The Strike at McDonald’s (Andrew Smith)
Re: Arkansas Teachers Went On Strike. Here Are the Corporate School
Privatizers They’re Up Against. (Norm Littlejohn; Michael McCarley)
Re: Noel Ignatiev, Scholar Who Called For Abolishing Whiteness, Dies
at 78 (Carole Travis; Aaron Libson; Philip Specht)
Re: The Stunning Achievement of Kasi Lemmons’s “Harriet” (Martha
McLaughlin)
Re: The Report | Movie - Friday Nite Video (Dan Morgan)
Re: Shut Down the School of the Americas/ WHINSEC (Pablo Navarro;
Craig Keene)
Re: Global Left Midweek - November 13, 2019 (Kipp Dawson)
Re: Why There Is No Kurdish Nation (Jorge Iván Santos)
Re: Hitler: Still Messing With Our Heads (Robert Supansic)

RESOURCES:

ANNUAL VIOLATIONS REPORT (ADDAMEER PRISONER SUPPORT AND HUMAN RIGHTS
ASSOCIATION)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Right To The City Transatlantic Roundtable - New York City - November
22-23 - Co-hosted by the RLS–NYC and the RTC Alliance (Rosa
Luxemburg Stiftung - New York Office)
Peggy Lipschutz Memorial Concert Celebration - Chicago-Evanston -
December 7
What's Happening with Kurdish Feminists in Northern Syria - Chicago -
December 10 (The Social Justice Initiative at UIC)
Food Sovereignty Delegation to Venezuela – Witness Effects of
Sanctions and Responses on the Ground - January 3-12, 2020 (Alberto
Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York)

 

MEDICARE 4 ALL, BERNIE SANDERS, ELIZABETH WARREN, AND THE LEFT

Jacobin Magazine, a left, and New Republic, a liberal magazine have
both published articles attacking Sen. Elizabeth Warren's plan to
stage the advance to a universal single payer healthcare system. They
claim that Warren is 'selling out' Medicare for All.

I'm supporting Bernie for President. As you know I was elected a 2016
Bernie delegate. But will support Warren. If she gets the nomination I
expect Bernie will make every effort to mobilize his mass grass roots
organized base to help Warren defeat Trump, and I will put my all into
that effort.

What's worrisome is this attempt to paint Warren as an 'enemy agent'
of the right. Like some of you, I've been actively organizing for
Medicare for All, HR676, since 2004. The first Citizens Congressional
hearing on HR676 was held here at the Croatian Hall in Aliquippa with
Rep. Dennis Kucinich and the leadership of labor from across western
PA.

It was in my district that corporate vultures pushed Jason Altmire an
operative for the healthcare industry for U.S. Representative, and he
was key to defeating the public option in Congressional committee
hearings on the ACA.

Despite the passage of the ACA and the incessant political war against
public health care, the need and desire for a single payer plan has
increased. And this defies the predictions that the ACA would "kill"
M4A. Now these same people from the far left and the liberal right are
saying that expanding the ACA in 2020 will "kill" M4A. Folks this is
scare talk with no actual basis in history or reality. It appeals to
the fear of betrayal and the fear of the powerful wealthy interests
always getting their way. It is designed to divide us, not unite us.

I'm fighting like hell for Bernie and M4A. I hope that our labor bears
fruit in a Bernie Presidency. However I've been at this long enough
that I do not expect the oligarchs to accept a Bernie presidency. No
point in speculating how they will act to prevent it, but be prepared
for an unprecedented struggle to defend the Constitution if he is
elected.

If Bernie is elected and is allowed to take control of the Executive
Branch, there is very little chance that he will get M4A enacted in
the new Congress. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't expect a 2020 Democratic
landslide to sweep the Republicans and Blue Dogs out of office.

My hope is, if Bernie becomes President, that he will do exactly as
Warren proposes: strengthen and expand the ACA with a public option
and campaign for a Congress that will pass M4A in 2022. This would be
the task of the 'political revolution' after Bernie (or Warren) is
elected: mobilize against the 2020 incumbents who don't support M4A.
Expanding and strengthening the ACA would further expand public
control of the healthcare system, undercut its executives' economic &
political power, and bring more people into the system. The current
and new beneficiaries of ACA are the best cohort for expanding support
for M4A.

To say that the political revolution is going to force Congress to
pass M4A is magical thinking. It doesn't encompass the reality that
our USA is controlled by the most powerful oligarchs in history who,
in turn, control a massive state apparatus that must do its bidding.
The political revolution is about deconstructing and disestablishing
that servile massive state apparatus. (Maybe Trump is helping in this
respect.)

The state apparatus that passes M4A and then establishes an efficient
high quality universal health care system is not the one we have now.
It must be replaced by the likes of us who are loyal to the American
people, not the wealthy oligarchs. We have to become the insiders and
this just won't happen in one year.

Warren is saying what Bernie can't say, but what he will have to do:
push the transformation of our exploitative profit-based healthcare
system to a truly democratic healthcare system.

Randolph Shannon
_posted on Facebook, re-posting with author's permission_

 

RE: PRAMILA JAYAPAL TAKES ON MEDICARE FOR ALL’S CRITICS
 

Pramila Jayapal, a second-term Representative from Seattle who has
rapidly ascended as a progressive congressional leader, wrote the
House version of single-payer. The co-chair of the Progressive Caucus
has been touring the country to talk about it. She feels Medicare for
All has been unfairly maligned during the presidential primary cycle.

“It is very frustrating to have your own party making the arguments
of Republicans and insurance companies.” Jayapal told the Prospect
in an interview after a health care town hall in Los Angeles. “And
they’re not accurate in their representations.”

Michael Steinbrück
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Also: Barack, please have a seat.

Micheal Crockford
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE…  --  CARTOON BY MATT WUERKER

Matt Wuerker
November 20, 2019
The Nation [[link removed]]

_[Matt Wuerker is the staff cartoonist for Politico. Part of the team
that launched Politico in 2006, he provides editorial cartoons,
illustrations, caricatures, and animations for the print and Web
platforms of the publication.]_

 

RE: AFTER MORALES OUSTED IN COUP, THE LITHIUM QUESTION LOOMS LARGE IN
BOLIVIA
 

Lithium is the new oil...

Gordon Galland
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

follow the money

Pat Gibson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

AFL-CIO CONDEMNS MILITARY COUP IN BOLIVIA
 

 

RE: WHAT THE COUP AGAINST EVO MORALES MEANS TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE LIKE
ME
 

"For our indigenous president, after five centuries of colonization,
13 years was not long enough."

Cindy Hawes
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: 'A THREAT TO GLOBAL STABILITY': US DENIES ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
ILLEGAL
 

No Trump did it. Not excusing Pompeo but it is above his pay grade.

Suzanne Crowell
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE’S RACIST ORIGINS
 

"Commentators today tend to downplay the extent to which race and
slavery contributed to the Framers’ creation of the Electoral
College, in effect whitewashing history: Of the considerations that
factored into the Framers’ calculus, race and slavery were perhaps
the foremost."

Craig Carl
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

We must abolish it one electoral vote equals 750000 popular votes and
the Republicans control the electoral college

Richard Mason
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

There is almost nothing more important than knowing this (besides
Climate Change etc).

Jack Lewis
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

of course--as one would learn in a solid civics class--in college, but
I hope High School teachers are not hampered in teaching this now.

Nancy Phelps Anderson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Nonsense. If you get rid of the electoral college, the only thing that
will happen is that California and New York will elect the president,
and only liberal presidents would be elected.

Brenda Rumbellow
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Brenda Rumbellow: so you prefer a minority decide who is elected? That
doesn't make sense.

Jesse Bookhardt
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Excellent twisting of facts and fantasy to write an article supporting
straight democracy in this Nation! Are you really so blind you want
the country to fall?

Heath A Williamson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Heath A Williamson: ...but does it make sense that a minority decide
who is elected? States don't vote people do. If you lived in NY or
California and I in Tennessee or Alabama, don't you think that your
vote should count as much as mine? A human is a human.

Jesse Bookhardt
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: SANDERS OR WARREN? POPULIST-PROGRESSIVISM OR NEW DEAL? TAKE YOUR
PICK!
 

Which one is going to fight? Who has the plan for getting it done?

Nikos Evangelos
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: YOU MUST NEVER VOTE FOR BLOOMBERG
 

We don’t need another oligarch.

Tom Trumper
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE STRIKE AT MCDONALD’S

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Andrew Smith
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: ARKANSAS TEACHERS WENT ON STRIKE. HERE ARE THE CORPORATE SCHOOL
PRIVATIZERS THEY’RE UP AGAINST.

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Number One Toxic Family in the USA.

Norm Littlejohn
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Haven't made a case against it. Just that you don't like it. Not the
same thing.

Michael McCarley
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: NOEL IGNATIEV, SCHOLAR WHO CALLED FOR ABOLISHING WHITENESS, DIES
AT 78
 

Thank you for publishing this.  Noel, Don Hamerquist and I were
founders of Sojourner Truth Organization in 1970.  We started in with
collectives in Chicago, Danville Illinois, Cleveland, the Quad cities
along the Mississippi in Illinois and Iowa, and Kansas City, KS.  We
had relationships with collectives in Detroit, Boston, New York City,
Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Jackson MS. Later, Seattle, New
Orleans and more.    STO lasted until around 1986. In the end years
its focus was on mass direct action.

We did workplace organizing, saw white skin privilege as the main
barrier to US working class consciousness, saw the trade union
movement as narrowly representative of small sectors of the working
class rather than organizations of the working class writ large and
ultimately vehicles for mediation of deep class conflict rather than
organizations that could lead the required breaks to change the world.
 We were steeped in thinking and philosophy and direct action.  We
understood that most humans operate with ‘dual consciousness’ and
that activity. self generated activity  was required to enable people
to see that they could become the subject of history, the drivers of
history rather than its objects.

We had relationships with various black and Puerto Rican nationalist
movements and Europeans who were involved in anti fascist work.  We
were not Stalinists or Maoists, among our most important influences
were Antonio Gramsci and CLR James. We were not widely known.  We did
not engage in 'party building'.  Some of us saw that as a mistake.

Truth and Revolution a book by Michael Staudenmaier tells our story
for the most part focusing on our ideas,  a symposium of our
reflections on our work is a set of short looking back reflections by
many of us that is easy to read and maybe interesting.   There are
also various archives of some of our published material, this is the
most comprehensive although with a distracting screened background. If
you click on any of the items, you will be able to access them, should
anyone care.

Again thank you xxxxxx.  Noel was always outspoken and often
controversial.  RIP comrade.

Carole Travis

     =====

That concept of no basis for white prerogative was put forth in the
'50's and '60's by Dr. Herbert Aptheker. He challenged audiences to
tell him where "Whiteland" was

Aaron Libson

     =====

"Noel Ignatiev, a provocative scholar who argued that the idea of a
white race is a false construct that society would be better off
without, died Saturday in Tucson, Arizona. He was 78. His best-known
book, “How the Irish Became White,” was immediately influential
and controversial upon its publication in 1995. It touched off a
firestorm of debate at the time at academic conferences and in the
pages of newspapers. In time his view that whiteness is a social and
political construction — and not a phenomenon with a biological
basis — has become mainstream."

Philip Specht
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE STUNNING ACHIEVEMENT OF KASI LEMMONS’S “HARRIET”

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]])
 

A must see movie. Superb realistic acting. Well done!

Martha McLaughlin
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE REPORT | MOVIE (FRIDAY NITE VIDEO)

(posting as one of the Friday Nite Videos
[[link removed]])
 

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, CIA agents begin using extreme
interrogation tactics on those they think were behind it

"Extreme Interrogation" again. It's TORTURE. Water torture is
particularly traumatic. I know a woman tortured with near drowning in
1981 in Pinochet's Chile who was still unable to enter a swimming pool
comfortably in 2001, and still had nightmares about the experience -
30 years later!

Dan Morgan
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: SHUT DOWN THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS/ WHINSEC
 

I spent my High school years there. Some of the men at the school
became family friends. The school was there to train officers in
tactics to stop the spread of "communism ". That school has to close

Pablo Navarro
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Craig Keene
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: GLOBAL LEFT MIDWEEK - NOVEMBER 13, 2019
 

A timely and useful source of information, with links, on right now in
Bolivia, Chile, and other hotspots in our world.

Kipp Dawson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WHY THERE IS NO KURDISH NATION
 

There is a Kurdish nation. What there isn't is an independent Kurdish
state.

Jorge Iván Santos
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HITLER: STILL MESSING WITH OUR HEADS

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]])
 

Comparisons from history are always tricky but sometimes instructive.
 By late 1932, three successive conservative German governments had
proved ineffective in dealing with the Depression, each decreasing in
popularity.  The one bright spot for the right was the electoral
success of the Nazis by July 1932.  Then in a November 1932 election,
the Nazis lost 34 seats in the Reichstag, suffering a 40 percent drop
of votes in Thuringia  alone.  Something had to be done and quickly
and a tiny group of conservative leaders persuaded a reluctant
President Hindenberg to appoint Hitler Chancellor in late January
1933.

Neither Hitler nor Trump gained power by winning a popular vote,
though both did so legitimately under their respective Constitutions.
 More importantly, both emerged from the political thickets of the
far right to take power due to the political crisis among mainstream
German conservatives.  It was only after taking power that their
historical paths diverged so clearly.

Robert Supansic

 

ANNUAL VIOLATIONS REPORT (ADDAMEER PRISONER SUPPORT AND HUMAN RIGHTS
ASSOCIATION)

 

Click here for report (pdf)
[[link removed]]

 

RIGHT TO THE CITY TRANSATLANTIC ROUNDTABLE - NEW YORK CITY - NOVEMBER
22-23 - CO-HOSTED BY THE RLS–NYC AND THE RTC ALLIANCE
 

Against the backdrop of rising rents, gentrification, displacement,
and the criminalization of poor and homeless people in cities
worldwide, a growing number of urban grassroots groups and social
movements are fighting for their “right to the city.” This
expression was originally coined by the French philosopher and
sociologist Henri Lefebvre, who argued in his book _Le droit à la
ville_ (1968) that Paris and other cities were increasingly permeated
by the capitalist logic of exploitation and capital accumulation:
working- and middle-class neighborhoods were becoming mere warehouses
of workers, whose urban environments were shaped _for_ and
not _by _them. Lefebvre described the right to the city as a right
to “urban life, to renewed centrality, to places of encounter and
exchange, to life rhythms and time uses, enabling the full and
complete usage of these moments and places, etc.”

At a recent two-day workshop, the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York
Office and the Right to the City Alliance (also based in New York
City) brought together housing justice groups from six European and
three U.S. cities working on a variety of issues: gentrification and
tenant rights, foreclosures and evictions, homelessness, and
neoliberal city redevelopment. The goal was to determine the
commonalities, differences, and best practices of these groups in
order to network and learn from each other—thus contributing to
better organized and more effective grassroots movements for housing
justice at a time when the powers and interests of finance are tearing
communities apart and dispossessing millions. Participating in this
workshop were members of the following groups:

• A Város Mindenkié [[link removed]] (The City
is for All) – Budapest, Hungary
• EncounterAthens [[link removed]] –
Greece
• Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca
[[link removed]] (Movement of Mortgage Victims)
– Valencia, Spain
• Droit au Logement [[link removed]] (Right to
Housing) – Paris, France
• HABITA [[link removed]] – Colectivo pelo Direito à
Habitação e à Cidade (Collective on Housing Rights and the City)
– Lisbon, Portugal
• Recht auf Stadt [[link removed]] (Right to the
City) – Hamburg, Germany
• Occupy Our Homes Atlanta [[link removed]] (OOHA)
• East LA Community Corporation [[link removed]] – Los
Angeles
• Causa Justa :: Just Cause [[link removed]] (CJJC) – Bay
Area
• Picture the Homeless [[link removed]] –
New York

Additional participants included three academics (Margit Mayer –
Free University Berlin, Peter Marcuse – Columbia University, and
Gilda Haas – UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs), as well as staff
members from RLS-NYC and the Right to the City Alliance.

The workshop revealed remarkable similarities between the groups and
the socio-economic contexts within which they work. For instance,
Occupy Our Homes in Atlanta and the Plataforma de Afectados por la
Hipoteca (PAH) from Spain both organize individuals and families
affected by the foreclosure crisis and use similar tactics such as
eviction resistance and home occupations. In both geographic contexts
the housing markets were flooded with credit from external
institutions, making subprime mortgages readily available and sold and
ultimately causing a housing bubble. In Atlanta and other U.S. cities,
banks began to swamp low-income communities of color with credit
following a new banking deregulation bill passed in 1999. This
legislation allowed commercial banks to sell mortgages to investment
banks, which then pooled them together and sold them many times over
in the financial market. After decades of denying people of color home
loans, the banks now aggressively courted these communities,
practicing what is called “reverse redlining:” the mortgages they
sold to Black and Latino customers had higher interest rates and less
favorable conditions than those offered to whites with similar credit
ratings. Once the bubble burst, the results of these predatory
practices were devastating. There are currently around 1,000
foreclosures in Atlanta every month, and nationwide Black Americans
have lost a much higher share of their median wealth than whites (53%
versus 16%).

In Spain, the real estate boom was in part funded by German and other
Northern European banks desperate to invest their surplus capital.
They too offered subprime mortgages to those who couldn’t afford
them. On average, there are currently 115 evictions taking place each
day in Spain. Making the situation particularly difficult for debtors
is the fact that it is prohibited to simply walk away from an
underwater mortgage. In the U.S. this allows many homeowners to start
over—albeit under difficult circumstances—when they can no longer
afford their mortgage payments. In Spain, by contrast, the inability
to pay for a mortgage usually traps the individuals in life-long debt,
causing such desperation that many people choose suicide. PAH has
created an online memorial
[[link removed]] for
those who have taken their own lives.

Another clear similarity exists between A Város Mindenkié in
Budapest and Picture the Homeless in New York. Both groups fight
against the stigmatization, criminalization, and displacement of
“roof-less” individuals. They also adhere to the principle that
their organizations should be led and represented externally by
homeless people. One strategy both organizations have successfully
employed has been to offer free legal clinics run by volunteer lawyers
to inform homeless people about their rights and assist them with
paperwork. Since its inception, Picture the Homeless has fought
against the crackdown on so-called quality-of-life offenses such as
panhandling, prostitution, graffiti, and sleeping or drinking alcohol
in public, which New York City’s former mayor, Rudolph Giuliani,
implemented in the early 1990s. In Hungary there has also been a
concerted effort to criminalize the homeless since 2010, rendering
“dumpster diving” and living in public spaces not only illegal but
punishable with high fines and even jail time. This criminalization
has also led to the demolition of huts homeless people had built for
themselves in the woods outside of Budapest. The similarities between
these groups are not coincidental, though, because Picture the
Homeless actually helped found A Város Mindenkié by conducting an
extensive workshop in Budapest for local activists there several years
ago.

The Right to the City Roundtable also highlighted some clear
differences between the European and U.S.-based groups. For example,
all groups from the U.S. have at least one paid staff member, whereas
all European groups are entirely volunteer-led. This observation led
to discussions about the advantages and drawbacks of having staff. The
U.S. groups described how this feature can lead to an overreliance on
large foundations with ties to private corporations. On the other
hand, some of the community organizing strategies to mobilize those
affected are very time-intensive. For instance, going from
door-to-door to in neighborhoods hard-hit by foreclosures is usually
done by paid canvassers in the U.S.

Click here
[[link removed]]
for more information

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - New York Office [[link removed]]

 

PEGGY LIPSCHUTZ MEMORIAL CONCERT CELEBRATION - CHICAGO-EVANSTON -
DECEMBER 7
 

 

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH KURDISH FEMINISTS IN NORTHERN SYRIA - CHICAGO -
DECEMBER 10
 

What is going on in Syria and what does United States foreign policy
have to do with it? Rojava is a semi-autonomous region in Northern
Syria run by socialist feminist Kurds. It’s a remarkable story
unfolding in a region under fire. It is now at the center of a
deepening regional crisis.

Join the UIC Social Justice Initiative, Arab American Cultural Center
and the Gender and Women's Studies department for a conversation about
Kurdish women's struggle for survival. Attendees will learn about the
research and first hand experiences of three feminist activists
working on this issue, and one who has just come back from the region.

Author Meredith Tax will also discuss her book,_ A Road Unforeseen:
Women Fight the Islamic State_. The text recounts the dramatic,
underreported history of the Rojava Kurds, whose all-women militia was
instrumental in the mountaintop rescue of tens of thousands of
civilians besieged in Iraq. Books will be available for purchase.

Guest speakers include:

* DR. OZLEM GONER - Kurdish scholar & activist, active in the
Emergency Committee for Rojava
* DEBBIE BOOKCHIN - Journalist & author, recently returned from the
Rojava region in Syria
* MEREDITH TAX - Longtime feminist activist and author of "A Road
Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic State"

The Social Justice Initiative at UIC
[[link removed]]

 

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY DELEGATION TO VENEZUELA – WITNESS EFFECTS OF
SANCTIONS AND RESPONSES ON THE GROUND (JANUARY 3-12, 2020)
 

 

What’s going on right now in Venezuela? Come see for yourself how
Venezuelans are coping with US economic sanctions designed to cause a
social implosion. Sensationalized reports of Venezuelans eating zoo
animals and rotten garbage present a distorted picture of what is
happening in Venezuela. The media also omits serious analysis of the
role of the food distribution program known as CLAPs run through a
government-community partnership reaching millions of Venezuelans.
There is no doubt, however, as indicated in a recent report by CEPR
[[link removed]],
that the US-imposed sanctions are indeed causing collective hardship
and even death.

Join us for a special delegation (January 3-12, 2020) dedicated to
studying the actual conditions on the ground and the struggle for food
security and food sovereignty in Venezuela, at a time when the Donald
Trump’s administration has initiated a new series of sanctions
against the food programs that Venezuelan state has created
[[link removed]] 

The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York, invites historians,
artists, videographers, writers, political analysts, health
professionals, agricultural production experts and other activists to
join a delegation to Caracas, Venezuela this coming January 2020.
Witness: communities organizing themselves in the face of manufactured
food shortages to grow and distribute their own food; participatory
democracy in action through community councils, ‘comunas’ and
other forms of citizen organization; community-run art, media,
education, health and nutrition efforts; alternative markets and fairs
featuring homemade products and agroecologically produced foods;
parks, natural areas, historic sites, and other reclaimed public
spaces.

Come bear witness to the effects of the ECONOMIC WARFARE
[[link removed]] AND THE
SANCTIONS
[[link removed]] against
the Venezuelan people imposed by Donald Trump’s administration as
well as the inspiring resistance to these, as Venezuelans push for
food sovereignty in response to crisis. Come see the real “threat”
posed by Venezuela – as living proof that another world indeed is
possible. As the Venezuelan people assert, “Venezuela is not a
threat – we are hope!”

DATES: JANUARY 3-12, 2020

Itinerary: Start and end in Caracas; visits to the states of Yaracuy,
Miranda,  and Aragua.

For more information: email [email protected] 

Welcome to Revolución Alimentaria
[[link removed]], a hub of information on
food sovereignty developments in the Americas and beyond, with an
emphasis on regions in the midst of major social transformations. 

What is food sovereignty?

Food sovereignty, in short, is the right of people to determine their
own food and agricultural policies.  It involves restoring control
over food access and food production from large corporations and
international financial institutions back to individual
nations/tribes/peoples – and ultimately, to those who produce the
food and those who eat it.  The concept of food sovereignty was
originally conceived by the Via Campesina international peasants
network, which continues to be at the helm of this growing global
movement.

About the authors:  CHRISTINA SCHIAVONI is co-director at a New York
City–based NGO, where she works in support of the food justice and
food sovereignty movements in the US and around the world. WILLIAM
CAMACARO, originally from Venezuela, is the co-founder and coordinator
of the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York and is an artist,
radio host, and activist in New York City.

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