social movements

Thursday, January 28, 2010, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. While Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez continues to capture headlines, a much larger story involving a wider cast of characters has gone largely ignored. Venezuela Speaks!, published by PM Press, is a collection of interviews with activists and participants from across Venezuela’s social movements. From community media to land reform, cooperatives to communal councils, from the labor movement to the Afro-Venezuelan network, Venezuela Speaks! sheds light on the complex realities within the Bolivarian Revolution.

* New community club/coffeehouse at e5 invites you for a warm gathering! *

Sunday, December 27, 7:00 p.m. Good food, music, and dynamite documentaries from around the rebellious globe. We will explore some 20th century US propaganda through cartoons and magazine advertisements and counter-images of resistance art of the time. (It was also rumoured there will be a mini chess tournament...) Relax, enjoy the evening, make new connections for the new year, and support MESA's last stretch before the opening in January. This gathering will be a mini-fundraiser, with dinner plates at a sliding scale donation of $7 - $12 and drinks at $2-$3. Come join us!  Last time at MESA's... (read more).

Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:00 p.m. "My name is Martha Lucia Giraldo Villano and I was born on June 22, 1978 in Cauca, Colombia. I am the daughter of José Orlando Giraldo, a small-scale farmer who was the victim of an extrajudicial killing by the National Army. In my country, there have been many extrajudicial killings that are also categorized as false positives (the killing of innocent civilians to pass them off as guerrillas killed in combat within the context of Colombia's armed conflict). The execution of my father is an example of a 'false-positive' murder."

"I am part of the Victims of State Crimes Movement. Along with other victims, we work together on organizing and training in order to demand our rights to truth, justice and reparation."

Saturday, November 7, 2009, 6:30 p.m. Mexico-US Solidarity Network invites you to join us for a discussion of popular education in Zapatista indigenous communities and the role of urban academics as resources in constructing an autonomous education system.

Patricia Hernández, a sociologist specializing in education & gender, has worked since 2001 with indigenous communities to develop their primary and secondary schools, following a model of "autonomous education." She worked intensively with indigenous teachers—called "education promoters" (promoter@s)—to develop the secondary school for indigenous children living in the Zona Selva Tzeltal. Local leaders, who oversaw the project, wanted the community's demands for land, food, peace, justice and democracy to serve as the content for classes on history, language and mathematics.

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.

The Music of Social Struggle from Latin America

Saturday, June 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Capping off events and actions on Bolivia, Chiapas, Colombia, El Salvador, and Venezuela, and organizing to mark May Day 2009, we will be enjoying the music of Latin America with Sergio Reyes, Simon Rios and many others.

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.

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.