CONTENTS:
PHILLY AREA ACTION:
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION:
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Cheri 4 Sheriff - Office Grand Opening, 5/19/2011, 4:00 pm
Date: Thursday May 19, 2011: Time: 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: 718 Market Street, Center City, Phila., PA
Phone: 888-434-7914
Cheri Honkala has found a new home! Come out to a reception at Cheri's campaign headquarters. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public. For more information about Cheri's campaign: 888-434-7914, www.cherihonkala.com, and cher4sheriff@gmail.com
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All Out! Palestine March/Rally on May 20th? (Please Forward)
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Juntos and SEAMAAC invite you to the “Family
Summit for Immigrant-Friendly Schools.” We recognize your
support and advocacy for greater equity on behalf of immigrant
communities and all students in Philadelphia. We are asking for
your support and commitment toward working together to find best
practices and models in our schools for immigrant families and the
broader community.
For the past four years, immigrant parents from JUNTOS and SEAMAAC have
been developing their leadership in organizing for language access
resources and immigrant friendly programming in the Philadelphia School
District. These parents participated in a series of workshops and
regular meetings to discuss their visions for immigrant-friendly
schools, visited schools nationally with innovative programs for
immigrant families, and conducted surveys with school principals to
identify resources and best practices for immigrant parents and
students. At the summit, parent leadership in South Philadelphia will
share their action plan for immigrant-friendly schools with parents,
students, principals, District officials, and community members.
The summit will be Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM at
Andrew Jackson Elementary School located at 1213 South 12th Street.
Please RSVP with the number of people you will bring to Zac Steele or
Katie Souder at mexjuntos1@yahoo.com,
(215)-218-9079, or
Nicole Yarbrough at nyarbrough@seamaac.org, (215)-467-0690.
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Hear the latest of Philadelphia's Jazz Giants at the PUP Jazz Fest- May 27
PUP's annual Spring Jazz Fest has featured some of the all time great Philadelphia Jazz musicians over the years. Saxophone legends Tony Williams, Booties Barnes and Byard Lancaster have played along with other greats like Sid Simmons, Rufus Harley, Barbara Walker, Eddie Green, John Swanna and Tony Green.
On May 27 we are bringing you the next in our line of the classic Philadelphia Tenor Saxophonists- Larry McKenna.
To benefit the Philadelphia Unemployment Project. Honoring former PA Secretary of Labor Sandi Vito and Eagles owners Jeffrey and Christina Lurie for producing Oscar winning documentary Inside Job
Home cooked soul food buffet - Tickets $50- $25 for PUP members
For tickets or more information contact PUP at 112 N. Broad St. 11th Floor, Philadelphia 215-557-0822 www.Philaup.org
John Dodds, Director, Philadelphia Unemployment Project
www.Philaup.org, fax 557-6981
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Breakfast Talks return to White Dog Cafe + more!
White
Dog Cafe ~ University City
3420 Sansom Street. Philadelphia,
PA 19104- 215.386.9224
/ www.whitedog.com
Upcoming
Events:
White Dog Presents
Breakfast Talks at White Dog Cafe (University City)
White Dog Cafe is proud to announce the return of our weekly "Breakfast
Talks" hosted by John Dowlin. The Breakfast Talks will take place on
Saturday mornings starting at 10:30am at our University City location
and will feature a $15/guest breakfast menu. See the June schedule
below.
June 4 - "Cuba Today: Self-Reliant and Socialist"
Poet, translator and Bryn Mawr scholar Prof. Enrique Sacerio-Gari
will present a fresh look at changes now underway and how U.S.-Cuban
relations could be framed within a more constructive, promising contest
-- with updates on current exchanges and citizen diplomacy.
June 11 - "Fracking in Pennsylvania"
As the fracturing for natural gas continues at great risk to the
state's drinking water, a statewide emergency has been announced by
concerned citizens. Join "fractivisists" Iris Bloom and Claudia Crane
for a White Dog "Wake-Up".
June 18 - "Local Currency"
Paul Glover, a co-founder of Ithaca Hours and colleague of Susan
Witt who launched BerkShares for Berkshire County, Ma. will discuss
local currencies throughout the U.S. and how local cash is both legal
and smart, a safe bet against the "funny money" now being printed by
the Feds.
June 25 - "Independent Voters"
Now the largest and fastest growing block of voters in America (at
38%), independents hope to take back our democracy -- hijacked by the
two party duopoly -- and open primaries that are still closed to "we
the purple" in Pa. and 18 other states. Hear updates from Jenn Bullock
and others from IndependentVoting.org
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NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTION:
NATIONAL
NUKE-FREE CALL-IN DAY
DON'T FORGET TO SEND A LETTER TO YOUR CONGRESSMEMBERS!
115+
ORGANIZATIONS NOW SIGNED ON TO GROUP LETTER; IS YOURS?
AND NEW JAPANESE PETITION AGAINST UNCONSCIONABLE RADIATION STANDARDS
A quick reminder that Wednesday, May 18, was National Nuclear-Free
Call-In Day. Please call your Congressmembers on Wednesday, tell them to reject
President Obama's request for an additional $36 Billion for nuclear
loans, and instead to end the program entirely and rescind the money
already approved.
It is especially important to call if your Representative or one of
your Senators is on one of the Appropriations Committees (list
reprinted at the bottom Committees are now working on energy
appropriations--this is when they are paying the most attention to
these issues. So stop this program now!
If you haven't sent a letter to your Congressmembers yet this week
(and unfortunately, most haven't), please
do so now here.
More than 115 grassroots
organizations and businesses already have signed the organizational
letter to the Appropriations Committees. The
text of the letter is here. This letter will be hand-delivered to
the Appropriations Committee members and released to the media the week
of May 23. Thus, we've extended the deadline to sign on until 9 am eastern
time, Monday, May 23. If your group can sign this letter, please
e-mail your name, title, organization name, city and state to nirsnet@nirs.org.
Please note: this letter is for organizations and businesses only; individuals
should e-mail their Congressmembers here (however, you may want to
read the letter to get talking points for your phone calls on
Wednesday!).
* Finally, our
colleagues in Japan have set up a new international petition to
increase pressure on the Japanese government to change their
unconscionable radiation standards in the wake of Fukushima. At the
currently allowable 20 MilliSieverts/year (20 times U.S. standards),
one in 200-250 children can be expected to develop cancer and one in
550 can be expected to get a fatal cancer. This is simply unacceptable.
Please
sign this petition now. Please note that after signing, you will be
sent a confirmation e-mail. You must confirm by sending this e-mail
back to have your signature counted.
Thanks for all you do
Michael Mariotte, Executive
Director, Nuclear
Information and Resource Service,
nirsnet@nirs.org, www.nirs.org
NIRS on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nuclear-Information-and-Resource-Service/26490791479?sk=wall&filter=12
NIRS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/nirsnet
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Tell Walmart: Intervene Before Labor Activists Are Sentenced to Death |
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In Bangladesh, the minimum wage for a garment worker is a mere
$43 per month. This equals 20 cents an hour-- the lowest wage, by
far, of any major garment producing country. Walmart is the
leading exporter of these garments. As the largest buyer of Bangladeshi-made clothing, Walmart has the power to ensure that Bangladeshi garment workers who face poverty wages and abusive conditions can stand up for their rights without risking harassment, imprisonment and torture. Ask Walmart to tell its suppliers that have instigated false charges against labor leaders that those charges must be dropped; that the officers responsible for torturing these individuals must be held accountable; and that labor rights defenders like the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity must be allowed to operate freely. Some cases are scheduled to be decided in a 60-day tribunal, which could start any day. Please take action by May 31st! ________________________________________________________________________________ |
"What will you do when Palestine is free?" / Join us! www.whenireturn.org #whenireturn
WHEN I RETURN--A collective celebration of hope and promise
When
I Return is
an online participatory campaign that features simple notes by
Palestinians, Arabs and allies describing what they hope to do when
Palestine is free and/or they return to Palestine. It seeks to unleash
the internal life of our longing for home, and highlight the
imaginative expanse of our dreams.
When I Return intends to evidence the Nakba’s daily
resonance, as not only a vanishing point in a past to be commemorated,
but a persistent moment binding us to our past, our present and to each
other. In this project, we hope to take part in reviving the
celebratory and revolutionary spirit that has always been a part of the
Palestinian national struggle, working against all odds, bolstered by
our collective will to always resist, always dream. In this year
of revolutionary hope and change, now more than ever, we know, as we
have always known, Palestine will be free.
This
project asks you, for just a moment, to take liberation for granted,
and to think of your first day after liberation. What
will you do? Where will you go? What will you be dreaming of next?
In
order to contribute to this project, please send us a statement in
whatever medium you choose, video, audio, text, musical piece or
artwork, in Arabic, English or Spanish, that completes or
addresses either of two statements:
“When
I return to Palestine, I will…”
or
“When
Palestine is liberated, I will...”
It
can, but need not be, somber; the joys of liberty and freedom can be as
mundane, funny or as profound as you wish.
Please
submit to: whenireturn@palestineconference.org
or #whenireturn
In
your submission, please tell us:
1)
Your first and/or last name (however you would like to be featured)
2)
Your current location
3)
If you are Palestinian, your town/village of origin. -
We are
the freedom makers, we are the dreamers of dreams!
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Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act | Fault Lines in Pakistan
Wage Peace Newsletter: No Exceptions - End the War Now
It has been a long decade of war. For almost 10 years, at great damage to ourselves and the world, our country has devoted itself to using overwhelming military force to destroy anyone our government defines as "enemies." The killing of Osama bin Laden should compel us as a nation to re-examine this destructive cycle and demand an end to the war….
Take one min and send your representative a letter urging them to co-sponsor the Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act.
Peter Lems/ Program Director, Education and Advocacy for Iraq and Afghanistan/American Friends Service Committee
Facebook: AFSC Wage Peace Campaign http://www.afsc.org/
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Obama, Netanyahu and AIPAC, Oh My!
From: CODEPINK [mailto:info@codepink.org] [
http://www.moveoveraipac.org ] May 18, 2011
It seems that no matter how abusive the Israeli government gets, as it was last weekend when it *killed protesters during the al-Nakba demonstrations* [ http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/05/israel_and_palestine_0 ], it--along with its U.S. lobby-- gets rewarded. This week's reward is that President Obama will not only meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during his U.S. visit, but Obama will also speak at the AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) policy conference. *If you are appalled that President Obama is pandering to the pro-occupation lobby, send a letter to Obama today to express your outrage and urge him to get out of bed with AIPAC.*
[ http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6845 ]
Show that AIPAC doesn't speak for you by printing out *our sign* http://www.codepink.org/downloads/MOA_NotRepresentMe_Sign8_5x11.pdf ], filling in the blank, and *sending us a photo [ mailto:laps65pray@photos.flickr.com ]* of yourself with it. We're making a big collage for a digital billboard truck that will circle the AIPAC convention.
And better yet, there's still time to *join us this weekend at our Move Over AIPAC gathering in DC*
[ http://codepinkalert.org/form.php?modin=133 ].
*Just added to the Move Over AIPAC program:* Palestinian Member of Knesset, Haneen Zoabi and Former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Charles Freeman.
*Full schedule available online: **www.moveoveraipac.org/schedule* [ http://www.moveoveraipac.org/schedule/ ].
Visit *MoveOverAIPAC.org* [ http://www.moveoveraipac.org ]* *to register for this conference and series of actions. If you can't make it to DC, watch the conference on livestream from *9am-6pm EST this Saturday, May 21 *and tweet your questions to *@moveoveraipac*.
Palestinians deserve the same democratic rights that people all over the Arab world are fighting for. Netanyahu and AIPAC represent a one-sided policy of 'Israel right or wrong' that is no longer tenable. We must ask Obama to be on our side: the side of peace and justice. ---- Onward for Justice -----
Order our new Ahava Boycott T-shirt today!
[ https://codepink.myshopify.com/products/stolen-beauty-t-shirts ]*
( I did order & receive one - it's beautiful.... marlena santoyo)
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If IKEA's Swedish workers are almost all in unions, why can't their American counterparts even TALK about one?
Tell IKEA: No more unionbusting. No more intimidation.
http://act.americanrightsatwork.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2123&track=20110512_adv_ikea
View the full message: http://act.americanrightsatwork.org/o/4022/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=36770
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* "We're going to war" VIDEO
How does the US make the decision to go to war......and spend billions of dollars and disrupt (and in
some cases destroy) hundreds of thousands of lives? A behind the scenes peek at how well they think
the whole thing out before hand.
Video: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1103.html
* Actually, "The Rich" Don't "Create Jobs," We Do. By Dave Johnson
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011051913/do-we-depend-rich-create-jobs
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