panel discussion

Saturday, November 21, 2009, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Join South African social movement activist from the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.

South Africa will be on the global stage as host of the 2010 World Cup. Yet, with one of the world's highest rates of economic inequality and social protest, it is likely that the country's glaring contradictions and its militant poor, perhaps more so than the "beautiful game," will be center stage next summer.

How to Launch a Transition Town/Transition Initiative in Your Community

Saturday & Sunday, November 21 - 22, 2009, Starting at 9:00 a.m. The Transition Network and Transition US (www.transitionus.org) are offering the two-day Training for Transition course as developed by Naresh Giangrande and Sophy Banks of the Transition Network in Totnes, England (www.transitiontowns.org). The course is an in-depth experiential introduction to Transition for those considering bringing Transition to their community. It meets the training requirement for local initiating groups to become an internationally-recognized Transition Town.

Saturday, August 1, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Jeff Klein of Dorchester People for Peace will report back on the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy which reached Gaza on July 15. (Read Jeff's reports from Gaza) The New England United business meeting will follow at 1:45 p.m Please join us: Iraq's Prime Minister admitted that US troops may be asked to stay beyond 2011. The expansion of the war into Pakistan has displaced millions of civilians and deepened the possibility of civil war. The troop surge in Afghanistan is creating only more opposition to the US presence. We will come together to discuss fall antiwar action proposals and need your input!

with Elaine Bernard & Rand Wilson

Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Join Steve Early, author of Embedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home. Find out more about:

• Workers and the economic crisis
• The fight for health care reform
• The fate of "Employee Free Choice"
• Current struggles for union democracy and rank-and-file control
• The future of national labor federations like Change to Win and AFL-CIO

Steve will address his critique of organized labor, using examples from his book, propose his vision and what American workers can do to get out from under the terrible economic and political institutional constraints they endure.

Monday, July 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Come welcomeleaders of the Haitian and Guadeloupan trade union movement to Boston. Meet Elie Domata, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe, and Fignolé Saint Cyr, General Secretary of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers.

This event is sponsored by Chelsea Uniting Against the War/Chelsea Uniéndose en Contra de la Guerra and endorsed by the Bolivarian Circle of Boston, the Boston May Day Committee, Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition, Mass Global Action, Proyecto Hondureño, and United for Justice with Peace.

Monday, July 13, 2009, 6:30 p.m. On June 1st President Mauricio Funes of the FMLN took office, bringing El Salvador into a growing community of Latin American nations seeking to chart their own, independent economic and political course.

Boston CISPES - Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador - proudly presents Breny Massiel Herrera, long-time member of the FMLN and leader of the FMLN Women's Secretariat, who will discuss the platform, plans, and strategy of the new FMLN government...And what WE can do in the U.S. to support the strengthening of REAL democracy in El Salvador!

Venezuelan scholar-diplomat Escalona discusses crisis w/ a stellar panel of economists

Friday, June 12, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Venezuela's Adjunct Ambassador to the United Nations and economist Julio Escalona returns to e5 to address the global economic crisis and preview the upcoming UN Assembly's Special Session on the crisis. Joining the conversation are Richard Freeman (Harvard's National Bureau of Economic Research), Julie Matthaei (Wellesley College) and Arthur MacEwan (UMass Boston).

Program details to follow. See attachments below for the flyer and details of the UN conference; click to read the speaker bios.

Women, Agent Orange and the Socialist Market Economy

Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Video, slide show and presentations by two tour members, followed by discussion. The study tour was organized by the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Vietnam today is bustling, colorful, spirited and changing into something new. A 16-person national study tour visited the country in Jan. 2009 hosted by the Vietnam Women’s Union. The group learned about the VWU, a 13-million member grassroots organization that has considerable influence on national policy. The legacies of war was another theme as a US Vietnam vet met with three former NLF fighters in a moving encounter. The remaining sore spot with the Vietnamese on the war is the issue of the use of agent orange/dioxin with three million victims and continued birth defects, a fact the US government has never acknowledged. Vietnamese experts also lectured about the strategy for development, the socialist market economy.

Saturday, February 28, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Organizers of this conversation are Kendra Fehrer, Ashok Prasad, Suren Moodliar and Thomas Ponniah. About the e5 Forum: It "is a social-political space for activists to informally come together, connect, drink, be happy and discuss social change. Normally we have a speaker present for 20-30 minutes followed by discussion. However the premium would be on hanging out and building relationships among diverse progressives."

Friday, March 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Behind the layoffs, foreclosures and bankruptcies, lurks the danger of an ever-deepening economic crisis. The scale of federal bailouts and the less debated but much bigger guarantees to bankers boggles the mind. Just last year it was argued that single-payer health care costs at $120 billion was too expensive... That was then! How are we to make sense of all of this? Richard Krushnic’s presentation will get us started on the topic. Come join the conversation as we think about economic alternatives beyond Keynes and other messiahs.

Author Presentation with Daniel Faber

Thursday, March 5, 2009 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. Join us for a conversation with author Daniel Faber based on his book, "Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice: The Polluter-Industrial Complex in the Age of Globalization" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008). "Capitalizing..." is a comprehensive assessment of the environmental justice movement, examining the achievements and challenges confronting the movement, along with an emphasis on new strategies of environmental problem-solving and innovations in environmental policy. Download flyer here.

Final Event Video by Mark Quevillon

Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 6:30 - 8:50 p.m. Major economic, environmental and global security crises are upon us! They demand our movements’ full engagement. At the same time, majorities of the public support the effective solutions to these crises being offered by our social movements: a single-payer universal health care system; bring all the troops home; a stimulus package based on investing in the lives and economic security of our people; debt relief to homeowners and families; and confronting climate change head-on, renewable energy and green jobs.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 7:00 p.m. Taking advantage of his visit to Boston, the e5 Forum is proud to host documentary film maker Liam Leahy for an informal conversation about his work in Europe. In particular, he will look at the English approach to human rights film making and contrast it with those within the US. Leahy accompanied the Boston Delegation to the 2006 World Social Forum held in Caracas, Venezuela, and produced a short documentary account of that trip. The program includes short clips.

Author Presentation with Daniel Faber

Thursday, January 15, 2009, 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. NEW DATE: Thursday, March 5, 2009 (same time) Join us for a conversation with author Daniel Faber based on his book, "Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice: The Polluter-Industrial Complex in the Age of Globalization" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008). "Capitalizing..." is a comprehensive assessment of the environmental justice movement, examining the achievements and challenges confronting the movement, along with an emphasis on new strategies of environmental problem-solving and innovations in environmental policy. Updated flyer coming soon.

Friday, November 14, 2008, 6:00 p.m. The third Social Forum of Americas took place in Guatemala City during October. Gabriel Camacho, Saulo Araujo and Sergio Reyes attended this event to take part in the hemispheric strategizing for migrant worker rights. This report back will take place in both English & Spanish and provide translation into English, Spanish and Portuguese.