Forum / Reading Events

 

July 5 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) Eastside Arts Alliance - 2277 International Blvd., Oakland
Innocent! The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
The struggle to free America’s most famous political prisoner, former Black Panther and revolutionary journalist, member of NABET, Mumia Abu-Jamal. Speakers will include; Rachel Wolkenstein, investigative attorney for Mumia, speaking on the evidence of innocence and the state frame-up of Mumia; a family spokesman, Bob Wells, Oakland Teachers for Mumia; and, Jack Heyman, ILWU organizer of the 1999 San Francisco longshore union West Coast port shutdown in defense of Mumia. A 5 minute video by the Labor Video Project of the SF Mumia march of 25,000 will also be shown.

July 7 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia St., near 16th St. SF
(Please note: The time has changed)
Innocent! The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
(This program will be the same as July 5th, with different location.)

July 9 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) City Lights Bookstore - 261 Columbus at Broadway, SF
City Lights Poetry Reading - Honoring Carol Tarlen
With Aggie Falk, Jack Hirschman, David Joseph, Sarah Menefee, Leslie Simon, and Julia Stein celebrating the release of Every Day Is an Act of Resistance: Selected Poems by Carol Tarlen from Mongrel Empire Press. With MC Alice Rogoff.
Carol Tarlen was a long time North Beach resident, mother, wife, activist, UCSF AFSCME medical school worker and brilliant poet. She got arrested for Food Not Bombs as well as published widely in magazines and in every major anthology of working class poetry, including American Working Class Literature: An Anthology (Oxford University Press). She wrote poetry as if Whitman and Mother Jones were alive and writing in North Beach. She died in 2004, and Every Day Is an Act of Resistance is her first published book.
“Carol Tarlen’s poems bring the human and political together in rich, heart-felt ways.... She had an uncompromising commitment to the truth without sentimentality or condescension. Carol Tarlen was a Straight Shooter. In Nellie Perkiss Speaks Her Mind, she writes ‘The news don’t never tell the way it really is.’ Well, Carol Tarlen always told things the way they really are. These poems deserve a wide and diverse readership-read this book, and pass it on.” -Jim Daniels, Poet & Professor, Carnegie Mellon University.

July 10 (Wednesday) 6:00 - 8:00 PM (Free) City College of SF, Mission Campus - 1125 Valencia St., SF
Teach In on Privatization and Accreditation
AFT 2121 and the California Federation of Teachers have filed suit against the conflicts of interest and unequal treatment by the accreditation board. The privately run board has demanded attacks on teacher healthcare and benefits as well as seeking to privatize the community college system. California Federation of Teachers Past CFT President Marty Hittelman will speak on Accreditation and the ACCJC.
Sponsored by Save CCSF Coalition and AFT 2121, ACCJC Gone Wild

July 11 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin St. at Geary
Too Big to Name?
How the Press — and specifically the SF Chronicle — suppresses embarrassing information about those who own the country
The mass media has been almost entirely missing in action on the story of why the U.S. Postal Service is being destroyed, and who is profiting from the selloff of its PUBLIC property by CBRE, a company controlled and chaired by Senator Feinstein’s billionaire husband, Richard C. Blum. This dereliction of duty is in keeping with the traditional power of the press to define who are the city’s — and the nation’s —“best people.” Except now it’s worse.
Gray Brechin and a panel of journalists will discuss what has happened to investigative journalism as the mass media has become increasingly corporatized, commercialized, and monopolized. Panel: Gray Brechin, UC Berkeley geographer, Richard Brenneman, formerly at the Berkeley Daily Planet and many other newspapers; Savanah Blackwell, journalist formerly with the Bay Guardian; George Wooding, publisher of Westside Observer; Peter Byrne, journalist.

July 11 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library - 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
France: Citroen Auto Workers Fight Back Against Plant Closures - Speak-Out
Join Speak Out Now for a presentation and video showing from the group L’Etincelle, on the current situation in France, and the strike at the Citroen Aulnay plant. In 2012 alone, 266 factories of more than ten workers were closed – one every work day of the year in France. Workers in the factory of PSA Aulnay-sous-Bois, near Paris, went on strike January 16 to fight against the closing of their plant and elimination the jobs of 11,200 workers. Hundreds of strikers have occupied their factory and met daily in a general assembly to renew the strike and to decide on their plans of action. They have gone to other workplaces on strike and facing layoffs to try to build a common fight back. They have held demonstrations in Paris with other workers who are also trying to fight back.

July 13 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) National Japanese American Historical Society - 1684 Post St., SF
The ILWU and Asian Americans
Presentation by Harvey Schwartz, moderated by Rachel Inouye
On February 23, 1942, four days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans in World War II “relocation” camps, ILWU stalwart Louis Goldblatt was serving as secretary-treasurer of the California State Industrial Union Council, CIO. A few months later, he would begin his remarkable 44 year run as ILWU International secretary-treasurer, but on that February day, just weeks removed from Imperial Japan’s raid on Pearl Harbor, Goldblatt testified before the Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration of the U.S. House of Representatives. There, he condemned America’s resort to concentration camps and charged that “this entire episode of hysteria and mob chant against the native-born Japanese will form a dark page of American history.”
Goldblatt’s prediction, of course, came true. In this forum, we will explore Goldblatt’s courageous 1942 stand and as well as numerous other phases of the multi-racial ILWU’s historical experience with the Japanese-American and other Asian-American communities. From its beginning in the mid-1930s under Harry Bridges, legendary founding president, the ILWU has stood against discrimination and for civil rights, civil liberties, social justice, and equal opportunity for all. By and large, it has carried this out in practice from its early days through its 1943-1945 organizing of 25,000 Japanese and Filipino agricultural workers in Hawaii and well beyond. We will trace these aspects of the ILWU’s history in our forum, which will be moderated by Rachel Inouye, Program Coordinator for the National Japanese American Historical Society. Harvey Schwartz, Curator of the ILWU Oral History Collection, will be our main presenter.

July 13 (Saturday) 7:30 PM (Free) Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall - 1924 Cedar, Berkeley
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Privatization and the Destruction National Healthcare in Asia
With Dr. Claudia Chaufan UCSF and others.
The drive to remake national healthcare systems in Asia is now proceeding with the planned TPP agreement.
According to this accord, which has been shaped by drug, chemical and the healthcare insurance industry, healthcare systems in Asia will be pushed to replicate the US insurance controlled healthcare system. This is Privatization on steroids.
Co-sponsord by California Chapter of Physicians For National Healthcare and UPWA, Berkeley Fellowship Social Justice Committee.

July 14 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Free) SF Main Library, Latino room - 100 Larkin St., SF
Labor, Ideology, Privatization & the Global Struggle forPublic Education and Public Services
There is a worldwide program to privatize and destroy public education union and public education itself. This panel will look at the ideological agenda of this privatization scheme and who is carrying it out both in the US and internationally, and how the commodification of education is bringing massive profits to the 1%. It will also look at what is required to stop this privatization onslaught on our schools and public services.
Speakers: Jack Gerson, former leader OEA; Kathleen Carroll, former attorney and whistleblower Commission on Teacher Credentialing; Sharon Higgins, researcher on education and privatization.

July 14 (Sunday) 6:00 PM (Free) Green Arcade Bookstore - 1680 Market St. at Gough St. SF
May the Spirit Be Unbroken - Book Reading
By Maxine De Felice
This is a book about the parents of Maxine De Felice, Clara and Henry Fiering, who were well known union organizers. Her grandparents, who were “Wobblies,” and founders of an educational reform commune in 1915 and the story of their children is woven in. It is a story about the resilience of the human spirit.

 

July 15 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) Green Arcade Bookstore - 1680 Market St. at Gough St. SF
A House With No Roof - Book Reading
A Book Reading by Rebecca Wilson
In 1966, Rebecca Wilson’s father, Dow Wilson, a San Francisco painters’ union leader and civil rights activist, was assassinated on the street in San Francisco. Rebecca - known throughout as “Becky” - was three years old. A House with No Roof is Wilson’s gripping memoir of how the murder of her father propelled her family into a life-long search for solace and understanding.
Following her father’s death, Becky’s mother, Barbara, desperate for closure and peace, uproots the family and moves to Bolinas, California. In this small, coastal town of hippies, artists, and “burnouts,” the family continues to unravel. To cope, Barbara turns to art and hangs a banner that loudly declares, “Wilsons are Bold.” But she still succumbs to her grief, neglecting her children in her wake. Becky’s brother turns to drugs, while her beautiful sister chooses a life on the road and becomes pregnant. As Becky fumbles and hurtles toward adulthood herself, she comes to learn the full truth of her father’s death - a truth that threatens to steal her sanity and break her spirit.
Told with humor and candor - and with love and family devotion at its heart - A House with No Roof is a brave account of one daughter’s struggle to survive.

July 16 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Stadium
May Day 2013 and Using Labor Media in Our Global and National Struggles
On May Day 2013, workers’ struggles around the world were streamed on the new international labor streaming channel. This event will screen some of these May Day videos, and will discuss how developing an international labor media network is critical to defend working people and unions in the US and around the world.
Sponsored by the International Labor Media Network Working Group http://ilmnetwork.org

July 17 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Stadium
Upholding the People's Right to Know
The public’s right to know about government policies and actions, and their underlying reasons is critical. It is also connected, at the same time, for the right of journalists to do their job without fear of government reprisal (such as the U.S. Justice Department’s transgression against The Associated Press); and corporate attempts (such as “ag gag” laws) to muzzle journalists.
Panelists:
Larry Bush, San Francisco political ethics and open-government activist and journalist
Peter Phillips, president, Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
Tracy Rosenberg, executive director, Media Alliance
Josh Wolf, freelance videographer/journalist (whom a U.S. district court in San Francisco jailed for 226 days for refusing to surrender unedited video footage sought by the San Francisco Police Department), and others.
This event is endorsed by: Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter, First Amendment Coalition, MapLight, Labor Video Project

July 23 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St. and Mission, SF
On the 150th Anniversary of the Proclamation Emancipation
Slave Labor, Free Labor & Working People Today
With Carol Lang, CUNY Lecturer
This year is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. This set the stage to allow Black workers to join the Union military in the fight against slave labor and the Confederacy. The battle of Milliken’s Bend on June 4th 1863 was the first victory of recently freed Black slaves who joined the Union army and at great cost, held the line against the Confederate troops trying to keep Vicksburg in the hands of Confederate forces.
Today, after 150 years later, slave labor is growing in the US and around the world. This presentation will discuss the links with the fight against slave labor 150 years ago and the meaning for today for workers in the US and around the world.

July 24 (Wednesday) 6:00 - 8:45 PM PM (Free) Presidio Library - 3150 Sacramento St., SF
Workers Labor Rights Approach to Human Trafficking
It is essential to understand the labor rights approach to prostitution in addressing human trafficking, as the only way law enforcement identifies victims is to conduct costly multi lateral anti prostitution sting operation. This workshop will employ a true/false worksheet for participants to gage their knowledge against actual facts presented.
Topics covered: the political history of the trafficking discourse, the ever-changing definitions and who benefits. The Trafficking Projection Act Report, a tool of sexual and migration oppression on behalf of global capitalist interests.
Presented by Erotic Service Providers Union: info@espu-ca.org

July 27 (Saturday) 11:00 AM (Free) San Francisco Main Library-Lower Level - 100 Larkin St., SF
Fighting Post Office Closings and Privatization
With Gray Brechin, Ying Lee, Dave Welsh (NALC-retired), Harvey Smith and a representative from the APWU.
Historic post offices are being closed, postal services reduced, and public sector jobs cut. “It’s all because of email” has been the excuse, but all the major think tanks on the Right have position papers on privatizing the USPS. The post offices, many adorned with New Deal art that our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents paid for with their taxes are being sold as part of the plan to turn over profitable postal operations to private sector operations like UPS, FedEx and Pitney-Bowes. Austerity enablers in Congress, USPS management and real estate opportunists are enabling this heist. Speakers will decribe the organizing, legal and legislative efforts to resist the cuts in jobs and services and the theft of our historic legacy.
www.newdeallegacy.org
www.livingnewdeal.org
http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/newsletter/march-2013/
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs180/1103359479611/archive/1112348736410.html

July 27 (Saturday) 11:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Stadium
Workplace Bullying, Health and Safety
(Registration Requested: Call 415-282-1908 or e-mail to laborfest@laborfest.net)
There is an epidemic of workplace bullying throughout the US and this will be the first labor national educational conference in California to address the issue. We will look at what it is, what it is costing us, and who is doing it, as well as how to stop it. Panelists will include: Dr. Gary Namie, National Director of the Bully Free Institute; Stacie Plummer, City Of Richmond Library Worker and IFPTE Local 21 Steward; Brenda Barros, SEIU Local 1021 San Francisco General Hospital; Dr. Derek Kerr, Greg Sorozan President, SEIU/NAGE Local 282 MA Healthworkplace.com; Dr. Larry Rose, former Director of the Cal Osha Medical Unit; Carrie Clark, California Health Workplace Advocates; Kathleen Carroll, attorney, and others.
This educational conference will also look at new legislation being proposed for the state of California and efforts around the country to confront this issue.
Sponsored by: Stop Workplace Bullying Group SWBG; Injured Workers National Network (IWNN); Grupo Presente; and California Healthy Workplace Advocates.
For information Contact IWNN at (415) 282-1908.

July 28 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Mission Cultural Center for LatinArts - 2868 Mission St., SF
LaborFest BookFair
LaborFest BookFair - 6th Annual LaborFest BookFair
(Click here for more information)

July 29 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Stadium
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The 45th Anniversary of the San Francisco State Strike, Labor and the Lessons for Today
The Turning Point - SF State '68 Strike (56 min.)
This is the 45th anniversary of the 4 & 1/2 month-long San Francisco State strike that established the first ethnic studies program and won support within the labor movement for a policy of open admissions. The ILWU Local 10 and ILWU Local 34 played an active part in supporting the strike. Today, the privatization of the CSU system along with UC and the growing attack on our public community colleges is directly threatening poor and working class students, particularly Black and Latin along with Asian from having an education. Students under massive debt are turned into paupers even before they are able to graduate and many cannot afford to graduate at all.
After the video, panelists will discuss the lessons of the strike and its relevance today in labor and the struggle to defend students and working people.
Initial Panelists: Jimmy Garret, former head of SF State BSU; Dr. Ray Tomkins, SF State strike supporter and heath advocate in Bayview-Hunters Point; Terry Collins, former BSU striker and with KPOO Radio; Clarence Thomas, former BSU striker and ILWU Local 10 Executive Board memberr; Jo Ann Mitchell; Benny Stewart.

July 30 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - next to AT&T Stadium
Northern California Braceros, Immigration, Labor & Human Rights
The history of California and the Bracero Program is one of the key issues in the debate in Congress about “immigration reform”. This forum will include; members of the Association of Braceros of Northern California; Al Rojas, a labor organizer and with Labor Council For Latin America Advancement, LCLAA, of Sacramento; Luis Magana, coordinator of Organizacion de Trabajadores Agricolas de California (Organization of Agricaltural Workers in California) will discuss the continuing struggle of California Braceros for justice and the connection of the struggle for immigrant rights.