Americas

Thursday, May 9, 2013, 8:00 p.m. The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, December 10, 1948 states, in part that “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment…, to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself [sic] and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.”

The struggle in the U.S. for a full employment economy has been a long one, hampered by policy “trade-offs” that accept high unemployment as an antidote to inflation, and that privilege the profits of the few over the well-being of the many. One of the current battlefields in the struggle center around US Representative John Conyers' office in relation to his bill, HR 1000, the Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act. (So far, Jim McGovern is the only member of the Mass. delegation to endorse the bill.)

Friday, June 22nd, 2012, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.  Occupy Boston Information & Technology (OBIT) is proud to present a consensus building tool focused on accessing direct democracy and using technology to influence political outcomes at the state and federal levels.

While many carry beliefs that electoral politics are tainted by corrupt practices and big money Super PACS, there are others who still believe that it is important that voters leverage their power through actively challenging their elected officials to speak for the people

On June 22 we will look at the various ways that technology is being used to impact true democratic practices and get more people involved in the drafting and revision of proposed legislation.

A ROUNDTABLE CONNECTING #OCCUPY, GLOBAL MOVEMENTS, THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM & ELECTIONS

Saturday, June 30, 2012, 6:00 p.m. A conversation made urgent by the defeated recall in Wisconsin: The Arab Spring signaled a global wave of social movements challenging inequality, repression, austerity, war, & corporate power. Whatever their strengths, these movements have all had to give serious consideration to how they relate to electoral politics. This timely conversation brings together a diverse group of thoughtful activists and engaged scholars who have connections to the #Occupy movement, the World Social Forum, solidarity movements and grassroots organizing. 

Featuring: Sarah Francis, Jeff Juris, Suren Moodliar, Thomas Ponniah, Monica Poole, and Heike Schotten (panel chair). (read more for bios and suggested readings)

Thursday, March 29th, 2012, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Lillian Holloway MD grew up in West Philadelphia. She worked as a certified nursing assistant before deciding to go to medical school. She graduated from the Latin American School of Medicine, Havana, Cuba in 2009. She is currently a resident in Family Practice and an MPH candidate at University of Illinois Hospitals in Chicago.

An Evening with Gamelyn Oduardo - A Strike Organizer

Saturday, March 17th, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Join us for an evening with Gamelyn Oduardo. Last spring, students at the University of Puerto Rico waged a militant, ten-month strike fending off devastating cuts, tuition hikes, and privatization schemes. As a strike leader and law student, Oduardo served on the student coordinating committee for the strike at the Rio Piedras campus in the united effort to defend students against the attacks on public education. He is coming to share his experiences and draw from the Boston occupy movement as we defend our rights and communities. 

Friday, February 3, 2012, 5:00 p.m. El Movimiento hosts a screening of "Knowledge is Power: The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975." For more information and to plug in, contact Fernando, fjrodriguez787 [at] gmail [dot] com or call 857-222-9203. $5.00 suggested donation. See full page (click on title above) for a short preview.

Sunday, January 14, 2012, 1:00 p.m. Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-Palestinian architect, blogger and political analyst who was in Iraq during the U.S. invasion in 2003 and has recentlyreturned from another trip. He is a former AFSC and Peace Action staff person who provided constant briefings to peace activists throughout the war as well as working with Congressman Delahunt's office to develop opposition to the war in Congress.  He collected his and his family's blog posts into The Iraq War Blog, An Iraqi Family's Inside View of the First Year of the Occupation, published as a book in 2008.

This event is organized by OCCUPY BOSTON - FREE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY

When they say, "there's no alternative..."

Saturday, December 3, 2011, 6:00 p.m.  As discontent with the economic and political status quo mounts in the wake of the “great recession”, America Beyond Capitalism is a book whose time has come. Gar Alperovitz’s expert diagnosis of the long-term structural crisis of the American economic and political system is accompanied by detailed, practical answers to the problems we face as a society. Unlike many books that reserve a few pages of a concluding chapter to offer generalized, tentative solutions, Alperovitz marshals years of research into emerging “new economy” strategies to present a comprehensive picture of practical bottom-up efforts currently underway in thousands of communities across the United States.

Saturday, October 8, 2011, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Join filmmaker Jason Glaser for a conversation about agricultural workers and Chronic Kidney Disease in Nicaragua. For more information, see the website of the La Isla Foundation.

Thursday, September 22, 2011, 6:00 p.m. The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and the Boston Recycling Coalition (BRC- an emerging campaign between community, environmental and worker groups in Boston to dramatically improve the recycling system in Boston) co-host a gathering of inspiring grassroots waste/recycling movement leaders from around the world. Following a panel, there will be a wide-ranging discussion between local recycling workers, international guests and members of the Boston community interested in improving dismal conditions in Boston's waste/recycling sector. Come join us! This event is organized by the Boston Recycling Coalition.

Saturday, September 10th, 2011, 7:00 p.m. Come share your energies at the 5th monthly Peña Rebelde, a gathering of souls in verse and rebellion. Gabrilla Ballard, a recent transplant to Boston from New Orleans, will share her singer-songwriter creations.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 7:00 p.m. Join organizers Jeff Crosby and Carly McClain in a conversation about the Workers Center for Economic Justice organized by the North Shore Labor Council and the New Lynn Coalition. The coalition’s mission is to organize all sectors of working class people in the region into a unified permanent, political and economic force that is union and non-union and transcends racial, linguistic, ethnic, citizenship and gender boundaries. Together the organizations within the New Lynn Coalition are identifying goals for regional development which revolve around social and ecological needs and concerns and where there is a renewed sense of the public role in social welfare.