Still working for peace and social justice.

Activist Radio has the following guest on this week:

GUEST: Ahmed White, author and professor of labor and criminal law at the University of Colorado Boulder, talks about his recently released book: "Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers."
https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/61077/lessons-from-the-wobblies-for-labor-activism-today/

Activist Radio can be heard: Thursdays 8-9 am on KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, OR; Thursdays 11-12 noon on WRFA 107.9 FM in Jamestown, NY; Thursdays 5-6 pm on WVKR 91.3 FM at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Thursdays 7-8 pm on WBDY 99.5 FM at The Bundy in Binghamton, NY; Sundays 1:30-2:30 pm on WESU 88.1 FM at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; Sundays 4-5 pm from WIOF 104.1 FM in Woodstock, NY; and Sundays 5-6 pm from the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.live. Past programs are available as a podcast, or anytime on the web at ClassWars.org.

Thanks,

Fred
Activist Radio

 

American Autumn

We had about 25 people to see American Autumn. It was an excellent movie about Occupy, and we even had some Occupy Poughkeepsie and Occupy Northern Dutchess folks there. Very nice discussion followed regarding the Occupy movement.

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American Autumn, An Occudoc: free film screening

Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 pm 

Crafted Kup 

44 Raymond Ave

Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Shot on the front lines and meeting spaces of the Occupy movement in NYC, Boston, and Washington, DC from the earliest days through the end of January 2012, American Autumn,  an Occudoc is an inside looking out view of the occupy movement. With interviews and insights from key organizers, thinkers and activists, writer/director Dennis Trainor Jr. weaves commentary and a fearless style that often puts the viewer right between police and protesters. Come help us celebrate Occupy's first anniversary!

The screening will be followed by an audience discussion. This is part of the "Give Peace a Film" series and there is no admission charge.

Sponsored by: Dutchess Peace Coalition <www.dutchesspeace.org>

Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif dies at Guantanamo

Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif was one of the poets whose poems we read when we had our readings of poems by Guantanamo inmates. This was his poem:

HUNGER STRIKE POEM

They are criminals, increasing their crimes.
They are criminals, claiming to be peace-loving.
They are criminals, torturing the hunger strikers.
They are artists of torture. †They are artists of pain and fatigue,
They are artists of insults and humiliation.
They are faithless - traitors and cowards
They have surpassed devils with their criminal acts.
They do not respect the law, They do not respect men,
They do not spare the elderly, They do not spare the baby-toothed child.
They leave us in prison for years, uncharged, Because we are Muslims.
Where is the world to save us from torture?
Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness?
Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?
But we are content, on the side of justice and right, Worshiping the Almighty.
And our motto on this island is, salaam.

The Distinguished Gentleman

The Distinguished Gentleman

We had about 20 people for this very funny film about corruption in our nation's political system. Released in 1992, it's world of money in politics is instantly recognizable. We even have a black candidate, a complete charlatan,  promising change that voters can believe in. It is a chilling moment.

Con man Eddie Murphy, in a change of heart, is able to bring down some of the corporate sponsored, white politicians feeding at the campaign finance trough. That part was the most fanciful when applied to today's completely corrupt system. We spent about half an hour at the end of the movie talking about how to restore a people's democracy by eliminating corporate dominance of our elections.

Button making at the Strawberry Festival

Who says that tabling isn't fun? The Strawberry Festival this weekend in Beacon produced a lot of peace buttons, and parents interested in the topics we cover: making the world a safer and cleaner place for little kids like these. End the wars, tax the rich and the corporations, change the American Empire back into a democracy.

 Poetry night was quite a change from our monthly movie schedule. A number of the poets who read were high school students and some of their work was very moving. They had written about race, social injustice, and the hope for national transformation. Some others from the audience read poems written by Guantanamo inmates, a potent reminder of the mistreatment and illegal incarceration of so many innocent people. About 25 people attended the poetry night.

Fred

We had a great evening of poetry at The Crafted Kup tonight. The high school students were simply fantastic, and there was other good poetry as well.


Pat




Thanks to Brook for organizing this event. We will do more events like this in the fall, and possibly include some vets from the wars in the Middle East.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! Today Nick, Karen, Jenn, Ari, Ashley, Gabe, and I handed out flowers and flyers at the Walkway along with some members of Arts for Peace: David, Deirdre (sp.?), their son Lucas, and Emily.

We started just outside the gate of the Walkway and were there for maybe 45 minutes (not sure how long) when we were told to leave. Long story short, we retreated to where the path splits and goes to the unpaved parking lot on Parker Avenue. Many people were delighted with the flowers and interested in the history of the Mother's Day proclamation. Having babies and dogs around made it more fun for everyone. We wound up leaving at about 4:30, having given away all but 3 of the flower pots and most of the flyers. It was a beautiful day weather-wise and except for a somewhat nasty encounter with the person in charge who told us to leave, it was peaceful as well.

I'm attaching three photos here and will attach three more in a separate email.  Hopefully Jenn can forward to her AFP list and Fred can post to the web site as
he sees fit.