Last night at the Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow broke a celluloid glass ceiling, becoming the first woman filmmaker to win best director. And that’s something to celebrate this International Women’s Day.
But every time we see a crack in the glass, we need to remember the people on the lowest rungs of our societal ladder, people who need our attention – if not the limelight. Like women. After all, women are more likely to live in poverty, face job and pay discrimination, and be abused. Not to mention that women are disproportionally affected by disasters, like Hurricane Katrina. And that’s just for starters.
Yes, this song is slightly cheesy, but its also really refreshing and a cool video. Makes me want to play in a field and apologize to anyone I've ever been a jerk to.
Anyway, the full story of the video can be found HERE, but basically, it was created by a group that's trying to encourage yogis to see their yoga practice as personal, social and political. To date, they've raised half a mil, by sponsoring Sun Salutation marathons. Not bad, eh?
Justseeds Artists' Cooperative is a decentralized community of artists who collaborate with social movements. They have a new book coming out featuring over 200 artists by "activist and non-activist printmakers who have felt the need to respond to the monumental trends and events of our times. "
Here are some prints and stories from their website where they're selling these prints.
"This poster was originally used for a poster/education campaign trying to apply the United Nations's laws for "Internally Displaced Peoples" to survivors of Katrina."
"Originally produced in 2000 and wheatpasted all over Memphis, TN, these posters connect the demands of the past with the realities of the present. It's a rough day when our demands are exactly the same now as they were 40 years ago."
"Each year, millions of Monarch butterflies migrate from North America to Mexico and back. Because of the extreme distance and the fragile nature of butterflies, they stop en route to lay eggs, and baby Monarchs from those eggs instinctively know to continue the route. I made this print both to honor and encourage women who flew from Mexico, or whose parents flew from there."
"Two fiery activists, organizers, movement founders, and writers who began, throughout the gritty reality of post-industrializing Detroit, envisioning and creating a better world."
Kate Bigam works at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. This post first appeared on the RACblog.
Imagine this: You're the only Jewish student at your suburban Ohio high school of 2,000. The synagogue your family attends holds Shabbat services only twice a month, because there aren't enough Jews in the area to generate weekly interest. You became a bat mitzvah like other young Jews do, but your ceremony was held at the local country club because your tiny temple didn't have the capacity - or the air conditioning! - to accommodate your large August service.
I don't have to imagine it, because growing up, that was my life. Don't get me wrong: I have always been and felt Jewish. My mother instilled in me Jewish values from a very young age, even when we were celebrating Christmas with my gentile father, and I've always felt connected to my Jewish identity. My mom fed this connection by assuring me that even if I didn't have the strong ties to the community that others had - the youth group experience, the summer camping adventures - that I had "a Jewish soul."
At age 20, following the death of a close friend, I began attending a university near my hometown, living with my mother and attending my childhood synagogue. As I renewed my spiritual relationship with my rabbi during this emotionally tumultuous time, my rabbi encouraged me to get away from Ohio for a bit and do something new - including connecting with my Judaism.
Interesting article about the National Association of Evangelicals getting on board for immigration reform, hosting immigraiton reform vigils yesterday. They represent 45,000 congregations and some 30 million evangelicals. They are calling "to protect the borders, admit legal immigrants, bring the undocumented 'out of the shadows,' and reunite families."
Am I a cynical jerk to assume that this is a calculated decision that's something like:
growing population of deportable people and their families
+
shrinking white population
x
religious imperative to convert everyone
= support of immigration reform
And if that's true, does it matter what the driving push is if it gets what we need for immigrants?
I shortened this statement which was released today by INCITE.
From INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence:
How can we intentionally support the long term sustainability and self determination of the Haitian people? When crises of this magnitude occur, we all understandably want to act quickly, but we must also figure out how to act thoughtfully in our efforts to develop a comprehensive, sustainable, and accountable transnational radical feminist response….
…We urge INCITE! members/chapters/affiliates and the broader social justice community to:
Heard about a protest that is coming up during the 2nd Annual Carbon Trading Summit. I don't know much about the nuance of the conversation, but protest promoters bring up the compelling argument that carbon trading is an effort to privatize the atmosphere, as corporations buy and sell the rights to pollute it.
Corporations are claiming the atmosphere as a private commodity and buying and selling "rights" to pollute it. Manipulation of these "rights" - in combination with so-called "offsets" (projects that claim to reduce emissions on their behalf, but most often do not) - will allow the industry to stonewall real pollution reductions for another 15 to 20 years, with devastating consequences for all life on earth. Carbon markets in the European Union have proven extremely volatile, prone to manipulation and gaming, and they do not help reduce emissions.
They've got a week of events planned that look really interesting.
Saturday, Jan 9, 10am-5pm: Nonviolent direct action workshop and strategy session
Sunday, Jan 10, 6:30pm-8:30pm: Panel discussion "Selling the Sky: Carbon Trading and the Failure of Copenhagen"
Monday, Jan 11, 7 pm - 9:00 pm: Presentation: "From COP 15 to Climate Justice Movement"
Tuesday, Jan 12, noon: Press Event: Featuring renowned climate scientist DR. JAMES HANSEN, and FATHER PAUL MAYER, of the Climate Crisis Coalition
Wednesday, Jan 13, 12 noon: Rally and protest action outside of the 2nd Annual Carbon Trading Summit
For more details about these events and the issues- CLICK HERE!
The United States Social Forum (USSF) is a gathering bringing together activists, organizers, people of color, working people, poor people, and indigenous people from across the US. The goal of the gathering is to build unity around common goals of social justice, to build ties between organizations present at the event, and to help build a broader social justice movement.
"This is a large scale and unique opportunity to learn from each other's experiences, shed light on social injustices, and build on community efforts to create real change," says William Copeland, a USSF staff organizer and member of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC).
An estimated 15,000 people attended USSF in 2007 for workshops, panels, plenaries, marches, parties and relationship building. This year the USSF is being hosted in Detroit from June 22-26th, 2010.
Detroit was choosen as the host city because of it's rich social justice history and because it could definitely benefit from the energy of thousands of people coming to town. Also, the spotlight has been shining on Detroit, as its decay has become symbolic with the worst fears for the future of the US and can be a symbol of amazing changes. (Watch this awesome Youtube about an amazing urban garden project in Detroit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH6sI7BqXLo&feature=player_embedded). Check out http://www.ussf2010.org/ for more info about USSF.
The executive director of the Jewish Labor Committee makes her case for legislation that would remove obstacles to workers ability to join unions.
By Sybil Sanchez
Aug 29, 2009: NEW YORK (JTA) -- This Labor Day, take a moment to remember people like Lupe Hernandez.
When she toured a Jewish family's apartment in the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, she felt connected to our history as immigrants struggling to make better lives for ourselves and our families. Hernandez is one of the immigrant workers on strike in the 2007 film "Made in LA" struggling to receive a fair wage and stop sweatshop abuse by organizing.
Labor Day might seem like a quaint throwback, but the struggle for workers' rights is still being fought today in our own backyards.
Our community's relationship to labor is very different today than in yesteryear, but the Jewish obligation to remember our history remains relevant. As Jews, we must respect and support workers' rights, whether it's those of our ancestors or today's immigrants.
While most headlines are focused on health care reform, labor law reform should stay on our agenda -- specifically, the Employee Free Choice Act. This much-needed legislation has three important principles: Workers would more easily be able to join or form a union; employers who break the law in efforts to stop union organizing would face more stringent penalties and workers who have chosen to form a union would have a clear path to an initial collective bargaining agreement with their employer.
Today, 44 percent of newly formed unions are unable to reach initial agreements, a serious problem the current law fails to address.
The majority sign-up route to union recognition provided by the Employee Free Choice Act has a long history and is in widespread use today in the United States and many other countries. But there's a catch: Under current law, workers can form a union via majority sign-up only if their employer agrees to it - which most employers refuse to do, even when worker support for the union is overwhelming.
Supporting this legislation is a no-brainer if one supports workers' right to collectively negotiate for decent wages and working conditions.
The Jewish Labor Committee has been a longtime supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act. We're not alone. A number of other Jewish organizations also have endorsed it, including the Progressive Jewish Alliance in Los Angeles, Chicago's Jewish Council for Urban Affairs, Philadelphia's Jewish Social Policy Action Network, Washington's Jews United for Justice and New York's Uri L'Tzedek. A visit to Rabbisforworkerschoice.org reveals the support of dozens of rabbis.
Ofer Eini, chairman of Israel's federation of labor, the Histadrut, also has weighed in on the issue, conveying his support In a recent letter to John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO.
"The Employee Free Choice Act will bring U.S. law for union recognition into conformity with Israeli law and international human rights standards on the freedom of association in the workplace," Eini wrote. "We believe that U.S. workers, and all workers, should have the same rights as Israeli workers, to organize unions free from employer interrogation, intimidation and harassment.
"In Israel, when workers seek to bargain collectively, they just join together into a union, in the same manner that they join any other organization," he added. "When a sufficient number of workers have joined a union, they can demand recognition from their employer. If the employer refuses, the Labour Courts of Israel can investigate, and when it has determined that the required number of the workers are union members, that they have joined freely and without coercion, the court can require the employer to recognize the union."
According to Eini, the Employee Free Choice Act will "reform U.S. labor law so that the U.S. National Labor Relations Board is, like the National Labour Court of Israel, empowered to protect freedom of association, instead of thwarting it, as it is currently compelled to do by U.S. labor law."
"Unlike the National Labour Court of Israel, the National Labor Relations Board [NLRB] of the United States has no power to require the employer to recognize the workers' union except by first imposing an NLRB election," he said. "But NLRB elections are a cruel violation of the fundamental principles of free and fair and secret elections. In practice, they effectively prevent workers from exercising their right to freedom of association.
"Paid supervisors are trained by anti-union consultants to act as spies in the workplace. Thousands of workers are harassed, intimidated or fired each year by employers who do everything in their power to rob workers of their right to join unions and bargain collectively.
"So long as the employer-employee relationship remains one of power imbalance there is no way to reform an NLRB election to make it approach the standard of a free, fair and secret election.
"But as the experience of Israel teaches us, there is no reason to force workers through such a process. The National Labor Relations Board of the United States, like the National Labour Court of Israel, is fully capable of assessing the validity of union membership and verifying that membership was achieved without intimidation and coercion. It can do so without being required to impose an undemocratic and workers-rights-violating NLRB election. But it can do so only if the Employee Free Choice Act will pass as written."
The Histadrut leader concluded by calling on "all who desire that our countries' laws reflect our shared ideals of workplace social justice to support Employee Free Choice."
In this respect, Israeli law is pointing the way to a society that treats its workers with justice and dignity. Can we do any less?
Jews United for Justice is proud to partner with the Progressive Jewish Alliance to bring an exciting new social justice training program to DC!
The Jeremiah Fellowship educates and trains a select cohort of young adults (ages 25-35) to become the next generation of Jewish social justice change makers.
* Empower yourself through in-depth training in professional and leadership skills . * Expand your knowledge of what Jewish text, tradition, and history have to say about putting ethics into action. * Acquire tangible organizing and activism skills within a Jewish context. * Explore pressing social, political, and economic issues facing our region. * Become a member of a lasting community of vibrant and engaged leaders. * Access a dynamic network of organizers, advocates, rabbis, artists, and renowned scholars.
