social movements

Thursday, October 18, 2012, 7:00 p.m. On Sunday, October 7, 2012, months of intense campaigning throughout Venezuela culminated in a massive turnout at the polls, with more than 80% participation, and a decisive 11-point margin of victory for incumbent president, Hugo Chavez. The Boston Martin Luther King, Jr. Bolivarian Circle will host Omar Sierra, the Consul General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Boston, and two local Venezuelan activists in a conversation about the election outcomes and what they indicate for democracy, economic development and the socialist path that voters endorsed.

The event takes place at encuentro 5 (in its new location right by the Park Street T stop and the Orpheum Theatre) at 9 Hamilton Place, Suite 2a, Boston, MA 02108 [Directions: http://binged.it/SxWgCB - note Google Maps yields an incorrect location, for now, please use this link to locate e5]

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)

Thanks to Doug Greene for shooting this video.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 6:30 p.m. For decades, Colombia has been mired in violent conflicts. Government-aligned paramilitary death squads have conducted thousands of assassinations and disappearances targeting trade unionists and farmers. Despite the bloody assault on human rights, Colombia has seen increasing levels of mass mobilizations such as the recent general strike and marches that brought to the streets millions of Colombians called by MANE (the Broad National Student Table). As a result the government was forced to withdraw the Washington-designed draft to the Higher Education Reform Act (Act 30 of 1992).

Carl Finamore on the Arab Spring

Friday, March 23rd, 2012, 6:00 p.m. Carl Finamore, a leading journalist will present a first hand report about Egypt since the beginning of the revolution.

The revolution one year ago toppled the Israeli-American backed dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak. But Mubarak has been replaced by an American-Israeli backed military dictatorship. This regime is openly hostile to the rights of women, to the desires of youth oppositionists, and to the needs of millions of impoverished workers – all evidence the basic issues remain unresolved, just as the basic power structure remains intact.

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. 

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.

Monday, October 17, 2011, 7:00 p.m. The historians of the late 1960s have emphasized the work of a small group of white college activists and the Black Panthers, activists who courageously took to the streets to protest the war in Vietnam and continuing racial inequality. Poor and working-class whites have tended to be painted as spectators, reactionaries, and, even, racists. Most Americans, the story goes, just watched the political movements of the sixties go by.

James Tracy and Amy Sonnie, who have been interviewing activists from the 1960s for nearly ten years, reject this old narrative. In five tightly conceived chapters, they show that poor and working-class whites, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party, started to organize significant political movements against racism and inequality during the 1960s.

Friday, June 24, 2011, 6:30 p.m. Join activist historian Mark Solomon for reflection on the racial justice battles of the 1940s and 50s - that great in-between period that provided the connective tissue between the great upsurges of the 1930s and powerful peace and justice movements of the 1960s. Going beyond mere generational analysis, this personal account integrates race, class and gender dimensions with a global perspective in an era when such transformative figures as Paul Robeson and W.E.B du Bois were still widely recognized and respected. In a period largely defined by the Cold War, other exciting processes ranging from epic national liberation struggles in the Global South to block-by-block tenant organizing in the US. Mark takes us back to that period and our discussion will help draw lessons for today's challenges. The event will be followed by a wine-and-cheese-style reception. 

Monday, November 8, 2010, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Join Uruguayan activist-intellectual and journalist, Raúl Zibechi, for a wide-ranging conversation about social movements and social change. The point of departure is his latest work, Dispersing Power: Social Movements as Anti-State Forces. It considers the largely indigenous social movements organizing in El Alto, Bolivia that both brought Evo Morales to state power and continue their challenges to the state. This event is co-sponsored with Boston Bolivarianos, the Global Economic Alternatives Network and the journal Socialism and Democracy.

Friday, September 10, 2010, 7:00 p.m. The Community and Resistance Tour seeks to communicate about current struggles for justice and liberation, from the current BP Oil Drilling Disaster devastating the Gulf Coast to nooses hung in the northern Louisiana town of Jena. From women organizing inside prisons to cultural resistance. The tour also seeks to connect communities of liberation, and to build relationships between grassroots activists and independent media. This tour is for anyone interested in issues of health care, education, criminal justice, housing, or the ways in which systems of racism, patriarchy and other forms of oppression intersect with these struggles.

Thursday, July 8, 2010, 6:00 p.m. Ana Justo has been a leader of Brazil 's Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST) for 23 of its 25 years. The largest social movement in Latin America, the MST has 1.5 million members. The MST struggles for land reform, access to healthcare, schools, organic production and infrastructure by promoting ground-up sustainable development based in the needs of all Brazilians. Ana coordinates the Secretariat of the MST's Florestan Fernandes National School located in Guararema, Sao Paulo. This event is sponsored by Grassroots International.

Saturday, June 5, 2010, 1:00 p. m.  - 6:00 p.m., An open agenda gathering designed to bring technologists, organizers, and community advocates together to explore the range of options and challenges facing collective actions in the use of media and information tools. This event is sponsored by the Organizers' Collaborative, see the Tech for Social Change webpage for more information and links to the event wiki.