Boston Human Rights: Ideas and Action Conference

July 31, 2008
At the Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
9:00-5:30

Program:

Welcome

The Leading Rogue State: Individual Rights?
Jean Lynch (disabled)
Rubén Rumbaut (migrants)
Tanya Golash Boza (migrants)
Dave Brunsma and Dave Overfelt (housing rights)
Brian Gran (youth)
Respondent: Ty de Pass
Presider: Alberto Moncada

The Leading Rogue State: Collective Rights?
John Barnshaw (water)
Mark Frezzo (democracy)
Rodney Coates (culture)
Judith Blau (trade)
Respondent: Grace Ross
Presider: Alberto Moncada

Human Rights Cities
Shula Koenig, PDHRE: The People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning

Roundtable Discussions: Social Identity?
Gender, Youth, Immigration, and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transsexual identities

Roundtable Discussions: Social Policy?
Health, Environment and Food, Peace and War, Labor, and Housing

Closing Remarks


Register Online:
www.bostonhumanrights.org

Sponsors include: Mass Global Action, Mass-Care, Open Media Boston,
Boston College Department of Sociology, Boston College Center for Human
Rights and International Justice, Sociologists without Borders, Society
for the Study of Social Problems, and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.

Contact: info@bostonhumanrights.org

International Activist Forum

Dear colleagues,

I would like to introduce my self, I am Jay geeps, representative of Perhimpunan Nasional Aktivis'98 (PENA'98)/(Indonesia's 98 National Activist Association), an independent organization consist of former Indonesian youth 98 activist from varies resistant organization and student movement such as FORKOT - Jakarta, FKSMJ, POSPERRA - FRONTIER (Bali), FKMB (Bandung) and others from 22 province in Indonesia, which organized and struggle against Soeharto, militarism and capital regime in 1998, PENA organizational body Lead by Secretary General : Adian Napitupulu, and National Presidium Coordinator : Sangap Surbakti, with 22 provincial council.

PENA political manifesto and agenda is fighting for political position against pro capital party, establish an anti Capitals and anti Globalization movement network, strengthen pro community economic, Nationalization of Indonesian assets from MNC's, support to the investigation of all human rights violation during Soeharto regime (1965 - 1998), and combating corruption and nepotism in Indonesia.

PENA shared the same vision on the Porto Alegre Manifesto, and put it as the commitment of our movement of struggle. Inspired also by Venuzuela's movement, Cuba, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and others in developing a new emerging forces against the capitals regimes.

We would like to invite you and your organization to join our up coming event of International Activist forum which will be held on March 7 - 11 2008 at Samosir Island of Lake Toba, North Sumatera, Indonesia, forum will be focus on a major issues such Democracy, Human rights, Justice, Militarism, Racism, Gender, labor, education, farmers, poverty, environment, forestry, global warming, new economy and the strengthen of political capacity strategic concept against Neo liberal and Neo Capital.

The event will also programming Cultural performance, Music concert, Theater and traditional dance, Environment CAMPAIGN, Samosir clean up, 10,000 tree plantation, Documentary Movie, Case testimony, Exchange info and situation presentation, Thematic discussion and seminar, Photo expo, Web campaign, Press conference.

Aim of the activity expected;
1. To strengthen the anti Globalization and anti Neo Capital movement at local level in Sumatera, Indonesia's national level, regional Asia and world wide.
2.Sharing idea and concept in combating Neo Capital and Globalization 3. Divine strategic cooperation activists world wide.
4. Strengthen the Political strategic and capacity in combating Neo capital.
5. Counter the up coming WEF Asia-pacific in June at Kuala Lumpur , and response to WEF annual summit, Davos.
6. Income generating activity to indigenous and native bataks of North Sumatera through the homestay concept and cultural performance.
7. Environment campaign of Lake Toba .

Our expectation for the event is to be the stepping stones for the further process of anti globalization movement. please feel free to see the info at www.wsfprocess.net or www.iaf2008.blogspot.com. Any contribution, support comments, advise, input and critics to the process of IAF 2008 are very much welcome.

please not hesitate to contact me, at any time your convenience.

thank you and looking forward for your response.
best regards
Jay geeps
PENA 98 - International Relation Dept. Head Tebet Dalam I No.6 - Jakarta Indonesia 12810
+62 21 8357281

jay.geeps@gmail.com
jay@pena-98.com
98-national-activist-association@organisations.wsfprocess.net
skype; jay.geeps

Those in and around CT: Sustainable Living Fair at UCONN!

Sustainable Living Book Fair & Conference,
UConn Co-op
April 22, 23, 24,
2075 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT. 860-486-5027.

What is it like to live off the grid? Is geothermal heating and cooling
practical for Connecticut residents? How can you eat what's in season
and reduce your reliance on foods that have been transported great
distances? Get the answers to these questions and more at the second
annual Sustainable Living Book Fair and Conference at the UConn Co-op
and on the University of Connecticut campus April 22, 23, and 24.
We all know that we should be living more lightly on the earth so that
there are resources enough for the next generations. We know we should
do our part to ward against global warming. But it is hard to know on a
personal level what you can do and what, with others in your community
you can do together. We've invited experts on a range of topics to speak,
we will be showing films, and we will have displays and lots of books on
everything from solar energy to organic growing to the Local First
Movement. We will be looking at the philosophical and most importantly,
the practical. Attendees will go home with information they can put to
use right away.
Here is a look at what we have scheduled. We have a few more speakers
to confirm, so check back in a few days.

Sunday, April 22, Noon to 6:00 pm.
Earth Day
Noon - FOR KIDS -The Cat In the Hat Visits
Fifty years ago, Dr. Seuss published The Cat in the Hat which has been a
favorite of children ever since. In 1971, Seuss published his most
controversial book, The Lorax that many readers interpreted as his attack
on corporate greed and a strong defense of the environment. The book
has been challenged and banned, loved by children, taught in schools, and
has inspired environmental work and tree planting in the decades since it
first appeared.
Inspired by Dr. Seuss and The Lorax ourselves, we have invited the Cat In
the Hat to appear here in person. We will read The Cat in the Hat and The
Lorax and we'll plant trees that you can take home.
1:00 pm What's Toxic What's Not: Know Your Risk-Safeguard
Your Home
Dr. Gary Ginsberg and Brian Toal, M.S.P.H., authors of What's Toxic What's
Not, will talk about the potentially harmful toxins in our homes and
workplaces. Dr. Gary Ginsberg is the senior toxicologist at the
Connecticut Dept of Public Health. He holds faculty appointments at Yale
and the University of Connecticut Medical Schools. He has published
extensively on children's risks and is a member of several National
Academy of Science panels. He received his Ph.D. in toxicology from the
University of Connecticut and his B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of
Buffalo. Brian Toal, M.S.P.H., supervises the Environmental and
Occupational Health Assessment Program in the Connecticut Department
of Health, where he works closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in preventing community exposures to toxics. This
is an important topic for all of us.
2:00 pm Andrew Sholdudko, singer, songwriter
UConn student Andrew Sholdudko will perform his lively, take-care-of-the
environment song, "Need Your Help" which he composed for UConn's
Environmental Expressions. In the song, Sholdudko begins, "Can't you all
hear what the siren meant. Gotta start saving the environment. Do a little
bit, every little bit that you can. Cuz we're cutting down on the human
lifespan." Andrew will also perform a few other tunes for us.
3:00 pm Living Off the Grid
Baron Wormser, author of The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's
Memoir of Living Off the Grid, will talk about his life in rural Maine far from
power lines and the accoutrements of modern life that many of us cannot
imagine doing without. For 25 years, Wormser, a poet, and his family lived
without electricity or running water. They produced most of their own
food and made do. His account of these years is insightful and a pleasure
to read. Whether you dream of living off the grid yourself, or love books
about country life, you will enjoy meeting Baron Wormser.

Monday, April 23, 8am - 8pm
UConn Celebrates Earth Day
The Eco Huskies and the Office of Environmental Policy will have free bike
tune-ups, hybrid, electric and grease cars, information on water usage
with pyramids of water, Mt. Sneaker, a piece of green roof and more. Visit
their outdoor displays on Fairfield Way and the surrounding areas.
1:00 pm Serving Up the Harvest
Cookbook author Andrea Chesman offers advice and inspiration to all
who want to enjoy fresh, local, seasonal vegetables with every meal. In
her book, Serving Up the Harvest: Celebrating the Goodness of Fresh
Vegetables, she offers recipes that follow three guidelines: "Simple.
Delicious. Harmonized with the growing season." She believes that
vegetables that ripen together taste good together. Her recipes include
such tasty treats as Warm Mushroom Salad, New Potato Salad, Grilled
Chicken and Asparagus Salad, Soy-Sesame Grilled Eggplant, and Everyday
Tomato-Cucumber Salad. Chesman has written many popular cookbooks
including, The Roasted Vegetable, The Vegetarian Grill, 365 Healthful
Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains, Pickles and Relishes, and Sun Dried
Tomatoes. The Café Co-op will be offering specials from Chesman's
cookbooks.
2:00 - 4:00 pm Turn Old Paper Into New: The Pleasures of
Hand Made Paper
Stop at our paper making station. We will show you how to make
beautiful paper for cards and letters by recycling newspapers, brown
grocery bags, tissue paper, wrapping paper, junk mail, and what have you.
Bring a bit of dryer lint from home to add color and texture to you
creation. Papermaking is an ancient craft that anyone can do.
6:00 pm. Community Supported Energy
Greg Pahl, author of The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook:
Community Solutions to a Global Crisis will talk about Community
Supported Energy. Pahl has been involved in environmental issues for
more than 20 years. In the 1970s he lived "off the grid" in a home in
Vermont with a wind turbine atop an 80-foot steel tower that provided
for his electrical needs. He is a founding member and co-director of the
Vermont Biofuels Association. He has written about biodiesel, wind power,
wood heat, solar energy, heat pumps, electric cars, sustainable forestry
management, and "green" home building materials.
Pahl is also the author of Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy,
Natural Home Heating: The Complete Guild to Renewable Energy Options,
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saving the Environment and The Unofficial
Guide to Beating Debt.

Tuesday, April 24
2:00 p.m. Building with Awareness: The Construction of a
Hybrid Home
Screening of the award winning video on building a straw bale solar home.
Learn about straw bale walls, post-and-beam framing, adobe thermal
mass walls, passive solar heating and cooling, rubble trench foundations,
roof-framing and insulation, concrete floors, earth plasters for walls,
electrical wiring, photovoltaic systems, rainwater cisterns and more.
3:00 p.m. Virginia Walton: Town of Mansfield Recycling
Manager
In the summer of 2005, after joining the Connecticut Clean Energy
Communities Program, the Town of Mansfield committed to the goal of
having 20% of the town residents signed up for SmartPower by 2010.
Virginia Walton will talk about what this means for the town, the benefits,
and how people can participate. Residents of other towns that do not
already have such a program will also want to hear how the program is
working for Mansfield.
Books for Sustainable Living and displays on various topics will be
available all three days.

Left Forum Update

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Left Forum 2007
Forging A Radical Political Future
March 9-11

www.leftforum.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,

Left Forum 2007 - FORGING A RADICAL POLITICAL FUTURE takes place this weekend, MARCH 9-11, at Cooper Union.

Conference information is on our 98 panels and plenaries is available at www.leftforum.org. We also want to let you know about the other events we have planned.

FILM FESTIVAL: On Friday, March 9, we are hosting an indy film festival at NYU. It is free and open to all - please tell your friends.
WHAT: Film Festival
WHEN: Friday 12 to 5 pm
WHERE: NYU, 721 Broadway, Between Waverly Place and Washington Place, Room 006

COCKTAIL PARTY: Immediately preceding our Opening Plenary, (which begins sharply at 7pm on Friday evening) please join us and your fellow Forum participants at a cocktail party. We ask for a contribution of $5 each to help defray the costs.
WHAT: Cocktail Party
WHEN: Friday, 5 to 6:30 pm
WHERE: Peter Cooper Suite, Cooper Union

SATURDAY EVENING PERFORMANCES AT 8PM:
We're very excited to be offering two cultural performances that are free and open to the public:
1. Karen Finley's "George and Martha"; a solo performance detailing an illicit affair between George Bush Jr. and Martha Stewart.
WHAT: Karen Finley performing "George and Martha"
WHEN: Saturday 8 pm
WHERE: New York University
19 W4th Street between Green and Mercer, Room 101

2. Readings from Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States, with Amy Goodman, Anthony Arnove, Staceyanne Chin, Brian Jones, Deepa Fernandes, and Erin Cherry, and others.
WHAT: Voices of a People's History of the United States
WHEN: Saturday 8 pm
WHERE: Cooper Union's Great Hall
7 East 7th Street (at 3rd Ave)

Of course, the focus of the Forum remains our plenaries, panel discussions, and bookfair. Our full program is online at: http://leftforum.org/leftforum2007/program.html

Check it out! We hope to see you March 9-11 at Cooper Union in New York City! Please come early enough to allow for the lines at registration.



Solidarity,

Left Forum

212.817.2003
www.leftforum.org

Left Forum - NYC

I will be attending the Left Forum 2007 conference at Cooper Union this weekend. They have an impressive roster including Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!; AK Press author Marina Sitrin; Anarchist Anthropologist David Graeber; Howard Zinn; and also people from The Nation, the Black Radical Congress, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, and many more. I'll be mostly going to the Latin America and Social Movement panels, but I will be around. If anyone else is going or interested in going, do let me know: louis [at] tuftsprogressives [dot] org. See you there! -Lou

Toxics Action Conference

Toxics Action Center 2007
20th Annual Citizens' Conference
Saturday, March 24 from 9am to 5:30pm
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Boston, MA

Join 400 activists from MA, CT, and RI as we celebrate 20 years of building safe and healthy communities.
Keynote speaker - Lois Gibbs, citizen activist from Love Canal, NY and founder of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
Network - Learn New Skills - Share Strategies - Meet the Experts - Find Inspiration

Choose from more than 35 workshops run by experts and community leaders from across Southern New England.
For a complete agenda, workshop descriptions and leaders, co-sponsors and silent auction contributors, and to register, please visit:
www.toxicsaction.org

Youth Solidarity Summer's 2007 Organizing Youth Conference

Dear folk,

This comes to us courtesy of former SAATh board-member Professor Rajini
Srikanth. It does seem very promising.

Warmly,

John

------------

----------------------------------------------
Rad and Desi?
If so, it's Your Space!
Youth Solidarity Summer's
2007 Organizing Youth Conference
the most RADICAL birthday bash!!

WHEN: April 13-15 (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon)

WHERE: New York City (@ the historic Brecht Forum!)

WHAT DO WE PROMISE: Conversations, discussions, some
dreams, a little inspiration and lots of Fun!!

WHAT NEXT: Hold the Dates and Get in Touch!

Youth Solidarity Summer is ten years old. But this is
not our birthday alone - in fact, we are celebrating
a decade of progressive South Asian American youth
activism. When we began in 1996-97, we were part of
a fledgling desi youth culture which included such
efforts as Azad Lounge and Trikone in California,
Basement Bhangra in NYC, Des Pardes in Toronto. . .
Soon after, there was a veritable explosion of all things
Desi from one coast to the other, and sister institutions
to YSS soon emerged: OY! in California, RadDesi
in Texas and similar efforts in Boston, Toronto and D.C.

These early experiments and initiatives have now
translated into a range of South Asian American youth
organizations, and a plethora of individuals - young
film makers and musicians, DJs and Organizers. Desi
youth are taking on the challenge in almost every
struggle for social justice - whether anti-imperialist
or anti-oppression - peppered across North American
cities and campuses.

Clearly, there is much to celebrate. However, alongside
the growth of this progressive (cutting) edge of the
desi youth movement, there has also been a simultaneous
growth of the Desi youth right wing - both economic
and religious. At the end of this decade of radical
desi activism, therefore, we on the South Asian Left
must assess our past and plan for the future. And what
better than a weekend retreat in New York City to share
our experiences, reaffirm our commitment to struggle,
renew our energies and strengthen our solidarity?
Youth Solidarity Summer's 2007 'Organizing Youth
Conference' will be just that - a Radical Desi space
where we can plan the next ten years.

Register Now!! we promise you a birthday bash quite unlike
any other! A limited number of travel stipends are available
for those who don't have the cash to travel to NYC. (We SAID
it was unlike any other party!)

For details please visit www.youthsolidarity.org or Contact
us: yss-info@proxsa.org

Hi everyone, I saw this in my inbox today and thought it might interest some folks. It is a bit Brown-oriented, but it is also free and open to the public.

---

A group of Brown alumni is planning a wonderful conference on campus, March 10-11. I thought I'd just give you a head's up about it so you can tell your students or make your plans.

Advancing Social Justice Through the Law: http://www.asjtl.org/

Among the panels are ones on LGBT Rights; Prison/Criminal Reform; International Human Rights; Environmental Justice; Health and Law; and Drug Law Reform.

One of the organizers, Ty Alper, '95 was an AmCiv concentrator and is happy to answer questions at:

talper@law.berkeley.edu

I'm sure there will be more publicity as the dates approach but any circulating of the website address you can do would be appreciated.