Events

The RESIST Foundation's 40th Anniversary Party, 10/13, 5:30 pm; Arlington Town Hall, Arlington MA; $75 ($30 for grantees, students, & low-income); dynamic panel of activists & visionaries Noam Chomsky, Mandy Carter, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Camilo Mejia, & Jane Sung E Bai; music & entertainment by the Second Line Social Aid & Pleasure Society Brass Band; silent auction; RESIST, 259 Elm St, Somerville, MA 02144; 617/623-5110; www.resistinc.org [4]

An Evening with Vandana Shiva, 10/15, 7 pm; location TBA (Cambridge area) ; Who gets paid for the food we eat? Why does our food taste like this? Why do we live in a world where we produce food for 12 billion epeople when there are only 6.3 billion people livin, & still 800 million suffer from manlutition & hunger & 1.7 billion suffer from obesity? Shiva engages these crucal questions & more in her new anthology, Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed; sponsored by Center for New Words, 7 Temple St, Cambridge MA 02139; 617/876-5310; www.centerfornewwords.org [5]

Peace Action Maine 25th Anniversary Celebration, 10/27, 5 pm; Guild Hall, 307 Congress St. Portland ME; with Kathy Kelly; PAM, 207/772-0680; www.peaceactionme.org [6]

Dances of Universal Peace, 1st & 3rd fridays of the month, Sep-June, 7:30-9:30pm; Cambridge Friends Meetinghouse, 5 Longfellow Park (off Brattle St), Cambridge MA; $6-10; join hands in simple, joyous & meditative circle dances which honor the spiritual traditions of the world; all dances taught & accompanied by live music; sponsored by the Sufi Order International of Greater Boston, POB 380165, Cambridge MA 02238-0165; 617/491-8694

Gatherings

Engaging the Other: The Power of Compassion, 10/25-28; Dearborn, MI; An international, multicultural, multi-disciplinary conference examining concepts of "the other"from a universal, cross-cultural perspective to promote dialogue about concepts of "Us & Them"; for details on program, registration, etc. contact Common Bond Institute, 12170 S. Pine Ayr Drive, Climax MI 49034; 269/665-9393; www.cbiworld.org [7]

Close the School of the Americas, 11/16-18; Fort Benning, GA; thousands will converge for demonstrations, vigils, workshops, & nonviolent direct action to close SOA/WHINSEC (a US-based training center for Latin American military elites, many of whom have gone on to perpetrate violent repression in their home countries); to learn more visit SOA Watch at www.soaw.org [8]

Taking Control of Change -- Embracing Simplicity, 12/7-9; Woolman Hill Conference Center, Deerfield MA; $60; annual gathering of New England war tax resisters & those just learning; for information or to register, contact Erik Schickedanz, 270 Bullock Rd, Guilford VT 05301; 802/257-5725; andbefree@yahoo.com [9]

Opportunities

Center for New Words seeks Executive Director; CNW, a feminist nonprofit organization which grew out of Boston's pioneering women's bookstore New Words, supports women's engagement in the entire "word cycle"from writing & reading personal stories to savvy opinion-making in the media. To learn more about this new position, including application requirements, contact CNW, 7 Temple St, Cambridge MA 02139; 617/876-5310; www.centerfornewwords.org [10]

Peace Passages: A Call for Presentation Proposals by the College English Association's Peace Panel; "Many paths lead to war -- Others lead to peace."The Peace Panel Committee for the CEA's annual conference in April 2008 requests conference presentations focusing on peace passages -- explored, discovered, researched, forged -- past, present, & future. Submit abstracts for 15-minute presentations by 11/1/07 via the CEA online database at http://english.ttu.edu/cea/conftool [11]. For more information, please consult the CEA at www2.widener.edu/~cea [12]

Global Exchange Reality Tour to Vietnam; a unique look at this remarkably beautiful & dynamic nation. Neither a "tour of the battle fields,"nor a "shopping & eating spree in the beauty spots,"those who join the tour will see the real Vietnam as it is today.

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream (workshop), 12/7-9; Pendle Hill Conference Center, Wallingford PA; ourgoal is to bring forth an enviornmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on Earth; we will look at the state of our fragile planet, how we got to this situation, & why there is hoe for a Great turning; with Andrew Brazington & Hollister Knowlton; for more info or to register visit www.pendlehill.org [13]

Campaigns

86 Days to "86"Guantánamo; 86 days separate two infamous dates: October 17th marks the first year anniversary of the Military Commissions Act & January 11th marks the anniversary of the first detainee held at Guantánamo Bay. Both dates represent all that is wrong with this administration's policies: torture, indefinite detention, guilty until proven innocent. Amnesty International is calling on activists across the country to stand in solidarity against torture: to call for the closure of the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, the repair of the MCA so that it reflects international legal norms, & the end of torture in the name of "security."To receive background material & resources for coordinated action, visit www.amnestyusa.org [14].

Investigate Murders of Union Organizers in Cambodia; On February 24, Hy Vuthy, 36-year-old president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), was murdered after receiving death threats. Labour Behind the Label, along with the FTUWKC, local human rights organizations, the International Trade Union Confederation, Amnesty International, and others, strongly condemns this killing. We call upon the Cambodian government to bring to justice those responsible for this and previous killings of unionists and to bring to an end the climate of impunity that surrounds the violation of human rights in the workplace. For more information and to learn how to contact the Cambodian authorities now, urging them to launch a proper investigation into Vuthy's murder and to ensure the safety of all trade union leaders, contact Labour Behind the Label, 38 Exchange Street, Norwich, NR2 1AX, United Kingdom; www.labourbehindthelabel.org [15]

Vietnam Scholarship Program; School is free in Vietnam, but there are costs for uniforms, school supplies, books, & special fees. School expense is the single largest cash expenditure for many rural families. The program is administered by Global Exchange & distributed through the Vietnam Women's Union in Hanoi. The scholarships are $100 per school year per student. Make checks payable to Global Exchange & mail to Beth Sibley, 721 Harbor Rd., Alameda, CA 94502; for more information contact Beth Sibley at 510/769-7350 or Bhavia Carol Wagner at 541/343-3782.

Resources

Revealing Racist Roots: The 3 R's for Teaching About the Jena 6; this 27-page educators' resource contains chapters on the Historical Context of American Racism, Linking to Literature, Activism through the Arts - & a detailed mathematics unit (with the central problem of determining the probability of randomly selecting an all-white jury [like the one that convicted Mychal Bell] in Jena, LA.) The guide was put together through a joint effort between three teacher activist groups across the country in New York, Chicago, & San Francisco, which are all part of the Network for Teacher Activist Groups (TAG). It can be downloaded for free from any of these sites: New York Collective of Radical Educators ( www.nycore.org/Jena-3Rs.html); Teachers for Social Justice - Chicago ( www.teachersforjustice.org [16]); Teachers 4 Social Justice - San Francisco (www.t4sj.org [17])

Withhold from War, Pay for Peace; a guide to help those who are disgusted by the US occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan & don't want their taxes being used for those adventures; the guide provides details on how to refuse payment altogether, to adjust W-4 forms so less money is taken out of paychecks, to file & not pay or pay less, & to redirect money to peaceful projects. Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center, 207/525-7776; www.nwtrcc.org [18].

Inside the Bottle: Revised & Updated Edition, Tony Clarke's account of the deceptive practices of the bottled water industry's Big 4, Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestlé, & PepsiCo, & their socio-economic & environmental impacts. The book describes how the bottled water companies: pay little or nothing for the water they take from rural springs or public systems; turn 'water' into 'water' through elaborate treatment processes; produce a product that is not necessarily safer than, nor as regulated as, tap water; package it in plastic bottles made of environmentally destructive toxic chemicals; market it to an unsuspecting public as 'pure, healthy, safe drinking water'; & sell it at prices hundreds, even thousands of times more costly than ordinary tap water. The Inside the Bottle campaign is a project of the Polaris Institute, 180 Metcalfe St, Ottawa, ON, K2P 1P5 , Canada; www.insidethebottle.org [19]

2008 Sheroes Womyn Warriors 13-month Wall Calendar; $15 per copy, plus $3 s&h; bulk discounts available; 396 images & biographical sketches of women who resisted the pressure to 'go along to get along.' Who made a difference. It honors sheroes from all continents & ages who have challenged exploitation in their people, communities & societies. Previous years' calendars have been used in classrooms for writing & research assignments, been read daily over the airwaves (Atlanta's WRFG 88.93, for example), discussed weekly in human services support groups, & much more. Checks payable to "Myers Center/Simmons"; mail to the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry & Human Rights, Simmons University, 300 The Fenway, Boston MA 02115-5898; www.myerscenter.org [20]

People Power: Fifty Peacemakers & Their Communities by Michael True; $24.50; 44 pp.; This collection of portraits focuses on the lives & communities of men & women central to nonviolent movements for social change from the 18th century to the present. It includes internationally known figures such as Thomas Paine, Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King & Nelson Mandela, as well as abolitionists, feminists, labor organizers, war resisters, & Catholic workers, known for their courage, intelligence, imagination, resourcefulness, & deep commitment to the common good. Their country is the world; their compatriots are all humankind. Published by Rawat Publications; distributed in US by South Asia Books, POB 502, Columbia MO 65202; 866/513-4700; www.southasiabooks.com [21]

People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements by Bob Ostertag; $16 pb; Focuses on the newspapers & magazines behind five major social movements, helping to mobilize activists; Beacon Press, www.beacon.org [22]

Bomb After Bomb: A Violent Cartography, by Elin o'Hara Slavick; $34.95; chronicles the work of artist Elin o'Hara Slavick; foreword by Howard Zinn. Includes 66 mixed media illustrations that abstractly depict over 150 years of US bombings worldwide; Charta Books Ltd.; www.chartaartbooks.it [23]

Getting Off: Pornography & the End of Masculinity, by Robert Jensen; $12; pb; 200 pp.; challenges definitions of "anti-sex,""anti-feminist"& "manhood"& reopens the dialogue about violence against women; South End Press, www.southendpress.org [24]

The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border & Mexican Immigration by Bill Bigelow; $16.95 a resource for teachers to inform students about the experience of immigrant & border life, with background knowledge & a global context; published by Rethinking Schools, 800/669-4192; www.rethinkingschools.org [25]

Ten Regional Demonstrations Against the War in IraqOn October 27, 2007

Boston • Seattle • Los Angeles • Philadelphia • New Orleans • Chicago • Salt Lake City • Orlando • New York City • San Francisco

People everywhere want the war to end, but Washington has failed to take decisive action. With each passing month, nearly 100 servicepeople and countless more Iraqis are killed, some 12 billion of our tax dollars are spent, and the death and destruction continue. Our communities - from New Orleans to Minneapolis - are neglected and suffer the consequences.

From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York to New Orleans, on October 27th the people will speak: We want this war to end, and we want it to end now!

For more information on all the regional events, visit www.oct27.org [26].

The New England regional event will start with a rally at the Boston Common bandstand at noon, followed by a march from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. Speakers will include Felix Arroyo, Howard Zinn, Gabriel Camacho, & Merrie Najimy.

For more information about the New England regional demonstraton, visit www.NewEnglandUnited.org [27].