Progressive Calendar 07.19.10
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:29:56 -0700 (PDT)
             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   07.19.10

1. Myths re atheism 7.19. 6pm
2. Peace walk       7.19 6pm RiverFalls WI
3. Education action 7.19 6:30pm

--------1 of 3--------

From: George Francis Kane <nup [at] minn.net>
Subject: Myths re atheism 7.19. 6pm

Myths About Atheism  7.19 6:00 pm

George Kane, the Chair of Minnesota Atheists will speak at Freethought
Toastmasters on the most widely held misconceptions Christians hold about
atheists and atheism,  Party Room of Larpenteur Estates, 1276 Larpenteur
Avenue W, St. Paul 55113.  Park in the back of the apartment complex and go
to the gap between buildings near the East end.  Signs will point to the
party room.
Freethought Toastmasters meets on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month.
Guests are always welcome.


--------2 of 3--------


From: Nancy Holden <d.n.holden [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Peace walk 7.19 6pm RiverFalls WI

River Falls Peace and Justice Walkers. We meet every Monday from 6-7 pm on
the UWRF campus at Cascade Ave. and 2nd Street, immediately across from
"Journey" House. We walk through the downtown of River Falls. Contact:
d.n.holden [at] comcast.net. Douglas H Holden 1004 Morgan Road River Falls,
Wisconsin 54022


--------3 of 3--------

From: Margaret Beegle <beegle [at] macalester.edu>
From: Eli Meyerhoff <eli.meyerhoff [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Education action 7.19 6:30pm

Meeting to organize for a Twin Cities Day of Actions to Reclaim Education

On March 4th, 2010, thousands of students, teachers, and education
advocates demonstrated to reclaim education around the country. Building
on their momentum, another National Day of Actions has been called for
OCTOBER 7th, 2010, and hundreds of demonstrations are being planned around
the country. SEE THE NATIONAL CALL BELOW. I and some others from the Twin
Cities recently attended a workshop at the US Social Forum in Detroit
about planning for this day. We started talking about planning something
big for the Twin Cities. Based on our hearing about the powerful actions
involving tens of thousands of people in California, we realized that a
key to their success was their organizing across cities, ages, and
institutions. So, we decided to call for a big coalition for organizing
here in the Twin Cities across universities, colleges, and high schools
(and maybe also connecting with the national week for Ethnic Studies
(http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/ ), as well as with anti-war
protests on that day, the 9-year anniversary of the US invasion of
Afghanistan).

Towards this end, I'm helping plan a meeting for Monday, July 19th
(6:30-8:00pm, Blegen Hall, room #220, on the U of M campus - map:
http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/BlegH/ ) at which we'll hopefully have
participants from many different institutions. To plan this meeting, we'll
have a pre-meeting meeting on July 12th, 6:30-8:00pm, at the Dunn Bros
near Loring Park (329 West 15th St.). You are all invited to both of these
meetings (but the July 19th meeting is the more important one). RSVP here
if you would like to attend either of them.

We see this as a way to broaden and strengthen our struggle to Reclaim
the U of M for Education, connecting with a broader range of
participants to organize for a more just and egalitarian vision of
education for the Twin Cities (and MN and the US) as a whole. We'll be
interested to hear your perspectives on this and I hope you'll be
excited to participate. Please let me know if you have any questions
(eli.meyerhoff [at] gmail.com or 763-607-7034).

cheers, Eli

Here's the NATIONAL CALL:
(and see below that for a national conference call this Sunday)

National Actions to Defend Public Education, on or around October 7th 2010

Last fall, California sparked a movement that has grown drastically over
the past year. Much energy went toward building March 4th 2010, National
Day of Action to Defend Education, which as a resounding success in the
struggle to defend public education. Thousands organized and participated
in the events of that day which took place in 32 states. Major actions
took place throughout California, but also in Milwaukee, New York City,
Illinois, and Baltimore with hundreds of actions planned nationwide.
University of Puerto Rico students capped off a two-month strike with a
victory receiving many concessions from administration.

What is clear is that this fight is not over. The lines are drawn. As
working families struggle to recover from the crisis, access to education
is diminishing as cuts continue to come. California activists have
proposed October 7th as the next Day of Action. Internationally, activists
are focusing on October and November as crucial moments in the struggle to
fight back against neoliberalism and defend education rights. We, the
below signed organizations and individuals, call on students, teachers,
faculty, staff, workers, and parents to unite together and Defend Public
Education this fall.

In Texas, the Board of Education has drastically changed the content of
Texas textbooks, to include praise of Joseph McCarthy, and many other
clauses. In Arizona, The state has passed the racist SB1070 that mandates
police detain anyone looks like an undocumented worker. Following this,
Arizona is also shutting down ethnic studies programs. In New York
City,Chicago, and Detroit, districts are facing massive school closings.
Public universities throughout the country are raising tuition costs and
looking for more private investors. Budget cuts, tuition hikes, school
closings, and right-wing reforms are hitting working families the hardest,
especially in communities of color.

As these cuts continue to come, we see the costs of neoliberalism hit home
harder than they have before. Public education has been losing funding for
years, much of which disappeared because of neoliberal changes to the
economy. The current budget crisis in many states will result in further
drastic cuts to public education, including further cuts to underfunded
schools, increases in unpaid days off for staff, a incentive program
promoting "reforms" that are outright attacks on teachers, a
restructuring of the public university around the needs of private
business - largely supported by massive private grants, and tuition hikes
that threaten accessibility to higher education for working families and
people of color.

As the education disparities between poor and affluent grow ever wider,
public schools serving communities of color are swiftly being
re-segregated, provided fewer resources, and less-experienced teachers.
These students are being tracked into non-academic, dead-end programs
while ethnic and multi-cultural classes and opportunities are being cut.

This crisis and this solution are a direct result of neoliberal-era
ideology, reducing or dissolving taxes on the rich and corporations while
working people struggle to provide for their families out of their
ever-shrinking pockets. As private interests gain more power, as the
private dollar begins to strengthen its influence in education, our
democratic rights are being stripped away.

The time to act is now, students teachers and staff are preparing for the
next wave of actions. We need your support and participation to make this
day a historic moment in American history. To get involved please
Email:fall_actions [at] defendeducation.org<Email%3Afall_actions [at] 
defendeducation.org>or
call us at 8609162761


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

   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
                     over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02
              please send all messages in plain text no attachments

                          vote third party
                           for president
                           for congress
                           for governor
                          now and forever


                           Socialism YES
                           Capitalism NO


 To GO DIRECTLY to an item, eg
 --------8 of x--------
 do a find on
 --8

 Research almost any topic raised here at:
  CounterPunch    http://counterpunch.org
  Dissident Voice http://dissidentvoice.org
  Common Dreams   http://commondreams.org
 Once you're there, do a search on your topic, eg obama drones





  • (no other messages in thread)

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.