From manski at greens.org Mon Jul 3 19:48:51 2006 From: manski at greens.org (Ben Manski) Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2006 19:48:51 -0500 Subject: [Corporations] Press Release: MIDWEST SOCIAL FORUM HELD IN MILWAUKEE THIS WEEKEND Message-ID: <44A9BAF3.8070906@greens.org> ~ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ~ FROM CARACAS TO MILWAUKEE: GLOBAL OPPOSITION TO "WASHINGTON CONSENSUS" GATHERS AT MIDWEST SOCIAL FORUM THIS WEEKEND! MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, July 4th, 2006 ~ Following on the heels of the World Social Forum held in Caracas, Venezuela, this past January, Wisconsin will play host to the Midwest Social Forum in Milwaukee July 6th through July 9th. Building on both local and global traditions, the Midwest Social Forum is an annual gathering of thousands of grassroots organizers, workers, educators, businesspeople, students, artists, government officials, and others committed to making a better, more just world possible. This year's events include over 100 workshops, a film festival, music and spoken word performances, art displays, exhibits and children's activities. The Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, a Wisconsin-based national non-profit, is a leading sponsor of the Midwest Social Forum, and will be hosting a whole series of events, including the following sessions: * Building a Democracy Movement in the USA * Democratizing Higher Education at a Time of Corporate Rule and Re-segregation * Beyond Challenging Corporate Power: A movement to confront corporate rule * Voting for Peace, Banning Wal-Mart, and More: Using direct legislation to build local democracy and create social change * Envisioning Democracy: This is what Democracy could look like, how we get there All members of the media and the public are invited to attend the Liberty Tree reception: ANNUAL LIBERTY TREE RECEPTION When: Saturday, July 8, 9:30pm to midnight Where: Fireside Lounge, UW-Milwaukee Student Union What: ~ free admission, cash bar, live music by Sergio ~ The Forum culminates on Sunday, July 9th with a march and rally against police brutality calling for, "Social Justice in the Streets and in the Courts." (2 pm, beginning in Sherman Park). Liberty Tree website: http://www.libertytreefdr.org/ Midwest Social Forum website: http://www.mwsocialforum.org/ From maxfield at dgiVista.org Tue Jul 4 12:21:59 2006 From: maxfield at dgiVista.org (stephen buckley) Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2006 10:21:59 -0700 Subject: [Corporations] [Canada22: Envisioning Post-Neoliberalism] Life After the Earth Day Workshop Message-ID: <44AAA3B7.3020801@dgiVista.org> [Please distribute widely! Thank you, Stephen Buckley] Canada22: Envisioning Post-Neoliberalism ?Free? trade, Privatization, Deregulation, Regressive taxes, Defunding government services, Race to the bottom, Corporate neo-feudalism, Structural adjustment, World Economic Forum, WB/IMF, OECD, MAI, WTO, GATT, GATS, TRIPS, TRIMS, NAFTA, FTAA, APEC 1. What will the world look like after neoliberalism? 2. What social and political structures and events will take us beyond neoliberalism? The Canada22: Envisioning Post-Neoliberalism network formed on Earth Day, April 22, 2006 in Vancouver as 45 academics, activists, students, teachers and union members spent a day hearing presenters offer their ideas about the two questions above. We met in small groups to discuss each question further, collected notes and are now developing them into a vision statement for Canada22. Over the next few months we will also be expanding our local group into a national network by adding a third question to our group focus: 3. Which local, provincial, national and international individuals and groups oppose neoliberal economics and wish to coordinate in a concerted coalition/network to continue exploring post-neoliberalism? Thus, Canada22 is seeking anti-neoliberal individuals and groups across Canada to join our network and make connections in your communities with other individuals and groups to explore life after neoliberal economics. Progressive academics, students, individuals, citizens, ?consumers,? environmentalists, feminists, alternative [non-corporate] media, activists and first peoples, NGOs, political and social groups, political parties, labour and others are encouraged to explore the value of making connections to oppose neoliberal economics by joining the Canada22 network. So, please visit the Canada22: Envisioning Post-Neoliberalism website at http://dgiVista.org/Canada22 and review our work and readings. Joining Canada22 is free and requires only sending in an email. Joining will give you access to our online discussion forums and news about upcoming meetings and events. We?re also seeking volunteers across the country to offer Canada22 presentations and facilitate Canada22 workshops. I will be doing so in southern BC and eastern Ontario in the next six months, but we need more people in their own communities to help people learn about neoliberal economics, develop a post-neoliberal vision and action plan, and build local anti-neoliberal networks. So, if you already have a knowledge of neoliberal economics and a desire to move beyond it, and you have or wish to develop the skills to facilitate working groups, contact me and we can discuss the Canada22 package of resources. Why ?Canada22?? Canada22 means thinking through to the 22nd century. The Great Law of Peace of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy: ?Chiefs are required to consider the impact of their decisions on the seventh generation yet to come.? Feel the pulse of change. Be the pulse of change. For more information, contact: Stephen Buckley sbuckley at sfu.ca Canada22 at dgiVista.org Political Science Department Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6 Phone: 604.780.8652 Fax: 604.291.4786 C22 http://dgiVista.org/Canada22 Feel the Pulse of Change! Be the Pulse of Change! From manski at greens.org Thu Jul 20 16:08:03 2006 From: manski at greens.org (Ben Manski) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:08:03 -0500 Subject: [Corporations] National Higher Ed Strategy Meeting - NOTICE & APPLICATION Message-ID: <44BFF0B3.9090601@greens.org> calling students, faculty, and campus workers . . . NATIONAL MEETING FOR CAMPUS ORGANIZERS DEMOCRATIZING EDUCATION NETWORK SEPT 22-24, 2006, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Greetings, Two months from now, over the weekend of Sept 20-22, 2006, we will gather in Chicago some 40-60 campus organizers from a score U.S. colleges universities, to compare experiences, recent advances and setbacks, and to plan coordinated action for the coming year. You, or people you work with on your campus, could be one of those organizers. Please take five minutes to read through this invitation. Contents include information regarding the Democratizing Education Network and Liberty Tree, an initial meeting agenda, initial travel and lodging logistics, and so on. At the end is a short application due August 1st. Lodging is covered, and we hope to be able to help with transportation (donations for transportation scholarships gratefully accepted). Please call or email immediately with any questions. We are looking for participants from many campuses. Maybe you, or some people you work with, would be ideal for this meeting. We are looking for participation from diverse campus communities, including especially communities of color, undergrads and grads, and staff and faculty. Gender balance is also a priority. The idea is to bring the campus communities together, and get ready to fight for higher education, and a democratic society, in '06-'07. For Education for Democracy! Carl Williams, Ben Manski, Pabitra Benjamin Liberty Tree Fellows ~ Democratizing Education Program Education at LibertyTreeFDR.org 608 257 1606 p.s. ~ The next Democratizing Education Convention - less oriented to planning actions, and more oriented to networking, skills, and issues workshops, will occur in the Spring. - - - A. ABOUT THE DEMOCRATIZING EDUCATION NETWORK On October 20, 2005, several hundred undergraduate, graduate, campus labor, faculty, and community organizers, hailing from nine states and two Canadian provinces, met at the first Democratizing Education Convention at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In addition to holding skills workshops, policy briefings, and comparing notes, the convention created a new network of higher education organizers, the Democratizing Education Network (DEN). Since that convention, the DEN has served as a resource for campus organizing drives across the country, and has inspired a series of new student union organizing drives, campus solidarity actions, and a renewed Tent State University movement. The Democratizing Education Network accepts as its constituent organizations any campus or community organizations dedicated to the complete fulfillment of the goals detailed in the Democratic Higher Education Charter. Democratizing Education Network: http://www.libertytreefdr.org/event.php?event_id=95 http://www.DemocratizingEducation.org Liberty Tree's Democratizing Education Program: http://www.libertytreefdr.org/democratizingEducation.php B. ABOUT LIBERTY TREE The Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution is a non-profit organization rooted in the belief that the American Revolution is a living tradition whose greatest promise is democracy. Our central purpose is to build on the accomplishments of earlier American movements by launching a new stage in the struggle for democracy. Among our three chief program areas is our Democratizing Education Program. For more information, see: Liberty Tree: http://www.libertytreefdr.org/ C. MEETING AGENDA Friday, Sept 22 4pm ? Check-In 6pm ? Dinner 7:30pm ? Campus Reports & Discussion Saturday, Sept 22 8:00am ? Breakfast 9:00am ? Organizing Updates & Discussions: Militarization Affirmative action Student unionism Campus labor Tent States Academic freedom Internationalism in education activism The GATS and higher ed Noon ? Lunch 2:00pm ? Coordination for the Coming Year: The Network Survey of upcoming crises, events Coordinated action(s) 7:00pm ? Dinner 9:00pm ? Social Sunday, Sept 23 9:00am ? Breakfast 10:00am ? The Democratizing Education Convention 1:00pm ? Goodbyes and Check-Out D. LODGING We will be staying at a conference center in Chicago. The facilities are dorms, and we will be meeting on-site. Lodging will be covered for retreat participants; however, should you or your organization be able to pay for your lodging, we can apply the savings toward travel scholarships for others. E. TRANSPORTATION Liberty Tree is prepared to provide some limited transportation assistance for participants who need this assistance. If you or your organization is able to make a contribution to help others attend the meeting, that would help a great deal. - - - - APPLICATION ? CHICAGO DEN MEETING PARTICIPATION Return to Carl Williams at Williams at LibertyTreeFDR.org by August 1st NAME: EMAIL: PHONE: ADDRESS: CAMPUS: STUDENT/STAFF/FACULTY/UNION: AFFILIATIONS: PLEASE PROVIDE BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: 1. Why do you want to participate? 2. What is your campus organizing and other organizing background? 3. What will your participation add to the retreat? 4. Will you be on campus next year? -- Ben Manski Co-Secretary, Four Lakes Green Party of Dane County http://www.FourLakesGreenParty.org "We, the generation that faces the next century, can add the solemn injunction 'If we don't do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable'." ~ Petra Kelly See also: Wisconsin Green Party http://www.WisconsinGreenParty.org Green Party of the United States http://www.GP.org Liberty Tree http://www.LibertyTreeFDR.org From manski at greens.org Thu Jul 20 19:29:04 2006 From: manski at greens.org (Ben Manski) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:29:04 -0500 Subject: [Corporations] TAKE NOTE: Local Democracy Convention ~ Sept 28-Oct 1, 2006 Message-ID: <44C01FD0.9040701@greens.org> mark your calendars . . . make your travel plans . . . tell everyone about . . . the first . . . LOCAL DEMOCRACY CONVENTION SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 1, 2006 MADISON, WISCONSIN, USA THEME: The Community Power Road to Democracy TOPICS: Local Governments as Social Change Agents ~ Public Power, Wireless, and Cable ~ Poverty & Racism: Barriers to Participation ~ Local Election Reform ~ Cities for Peace, Ecology, and Progress ~ Participatory Democracy, Participatory Budgeting ~ Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Associations ~ Financing of Local Governments ~ Local Parties, Coalitions, and Movements ~ Home Rule and Preemption ~ Local Communities for Immigrant Rights ~ Direct Legislation and the Citizen Initiative ~ Community and Cooperative Economic Development ~ The Local Regulatory State ~ The Business Corporation and the Municipal Corporation ~ Sister Cities for Democracy ~ States Rights and Home Rule ~ The Global and the Local: Globalization from Below ~ Local Democracy: Strategy 101 ~ The Law of Local Democracy ~ Schools, Colleges, and Communities ~ and more! KEYNOTE: Juan Barreto*, Mayor of Caracas, Venezuela INTERNATIONAL PRESENTERS: S?rgio Greg?rio Baierle (Brazil), Gianpaulo Baiocchi (Brazil)*, Daniel Chavez (Uruguay), Hilary Wainwright (UK), as well as presenters from the Philippines, South Africa, and the City of Caracas, Venezuela. US PRESENTERS: Gar Alperovitz*, Patrick Barrett, Brian Benford, Pabitra Benjamin, Phyllis Bennis*, David Cobb, Brent Denzin, Karen Dolan, Austin King, Brenda Konkel, Josh Lerner, Ben Manski, Jane Anne Morris, Bertell Ollman*, Rev. Pinckney*, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Juscha Robinson, Marsha Rummel, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Norm Stockwell, Carl Williams, Alfonso Zepeda-Capistran, and many more! * indicates invited, not yet confirmed ~ ~ ~ ~ Dear Believer in Democracy, The US President says he's the decider. Congress and the Federal courts seem generally to agree. US military forces occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, among other countries. A national police state keeps watch on tens of millions of Americans. As the Federal government consolidates power further and further away from the people of the United States, now is a moment that evermore, to borrow from Thomas Paine, tries our souls. Across the United States, and around the world, the verdict is coming in: People are choosing local democracy over global oligarchy. The local alternative is becoming a movement: Did you know that . . . * Voters in 40 Vermont towns and 24 Wisconsin municipalities have put their communities on record for immediate withdrawal from Iraq? And that the war and presidential impeachment will be on the ballot nationwide come November? * The people of Humboldt County, California, as well as dozens of Pennsylvania townships, have ruled corporate personhood unconstitutional? * The people of Venezuela have established direct economic aid programs for a growing number of major US cities? * The "Participatory Budgeting" process developed in Brazil is now on the agenda for community organizers across the US? * Voting rights advocates nationwide have succeeded in implementing Instant Runoff Voting, public financing of elections, and non-US-citizen voting rights in local elections? * US cities, large and small, have reinvested in public power, community cable, wireless, and cooperative development? * Local democracy initiatives have taken root across the globe, offering models for democratization here in the US? This Autumn, September 28 through October 1, gather with community organizers and pro-democracy activists in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, to share and learn from these and other important democrati successes. Network with others working on common issues. Strategize together about how to build the democracy movement in this country, from the grassroots, up. The Local Democracy Convention will feature some of the most cutting-edge local democracy organizing going on in the US and around the world. Convention participants will have opportunity to attend plenaries, panels, skills-building workshops, strategy sessions, and a party or two. Whether you have been doing local democracy work for years, or are just discovering that your concerns are directly related to local power and democracy, join us this fall for what is sure to be a defining moment in the development of a new democracy movement in the United States! * * * The Local Democracy Convention is a project of Liberty Tree (www.LibertyTreeFDR.org), with major support from sponsors Transnational Institute (http://www.tni.org), Cities for Progress (http://www.citiesforprogress.org) and the A.E. Havens Center for the Study of Social Structure and Social Change. Cosponsors are welcome. Registration and session information will soon be available at http://www.LocalDemocracy.org . . . In the meantime, direct questions, workshop proposals, and cosponsorships to 608-257-1606 or LocalDemocracy at LibertyTreeFDR.org