encuentro 5

Venezuelan scholar-diplomat Escalona discusses crisis w/ a stellar panel of economists

Friday, June 12, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Venezuela's Adjunct Ambassador to the United Nations and economist Julio Escalona returns to e5 to address the global economic crisis and preview the upcoming UN Assembly's Special Session on the crisis. Joining the conversation are Richard Freeman (Harvard's National Bureau of Economic Research), Julie Matthaei (Wellesley College) and Arthur MacEwan (UMass Boston).

Program details to follow. See attachments below for the flyer and details of the UN conference; click to read the speaker bios.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
Tecschange recently donated 5 computers to an all-volunteer community cultural association based in one of the poorest urban neighborhoods of Maputo, Mozambique. Peter Young, a (former) Tecschange volunteer living in Maputo will talk about the project and how it is benefiting the community of Mafalala.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Student leaders from across the country are organizing to create momentum around the Dream Act, on June 3rd-5th SIM leaders from Massachusetts will be traveling to Washington DC to meet with another 500 leaders of immigrant communities from all around the country. They will be also lobbying their congressman/woman on the Dream Act and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Before their departure to DC, Student Immigrant Movement leaders will host a "Dream Act Community Meeting" to have a discussion about the strategy and current situation of the bill nationally. It will be a space for students, educators, community leaders and parents to connect.

Few local organizations better embody the ideal of internationalism in the 21st century than TecsChange.

For more than 16 years, they have connected with both local social change movements and radical alternatives in the Global South by getting needed IT equipment to Eritrea, Venezuela, Chiapas, Oaxaca and the rest of Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, El Salvador, South Africa, Bolivia and many other places at the cutting edge of the struggle for sovereignty and social justice. encuentro 5 is therefore honored to house TecsChange's operations and projects!

TecsChange joins soon after another exciting project came on board: the Student Immigrant Movement.

New England United Meeting

Saturday, May 16, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Join with presenter, Phil Wilayto, editor of The Virginia Defender and author of In Defense of Iran: Notes from a U.S. Peace Delegation's Journey Through the Islamic Republic" to hear his eyewitness account of his travel to Iran and an analysis of the critical role Iran plays in US foreign policy. His presentation will be followed by a meeting of New England United.

The Music of Social Struggle from Latin America

Saturday, June 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Capping off events and actions on Bolivia, Chiapas, Colombia, El Salvador, and Venezuela, and organizing to mark May Day 2009, we will be enjoying the music of Latin America with Sergio Reyes, Simon Rios and many others.

Women, Agent Orange and the Socialist Market Economy

Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Video, slide show and presentations by two tour members, followed by discussion. The study tour was organized by the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Vietnam today is bustling, colorful, spirited and changing into something new. A 16-person national study tour visited the country in Jan. 2009 hosted by the Vietnam Women’s Union. The group learned about the VWU, a 13-million member grassroots organization that has considerable influence on national policy. The legacies of war was another theme as a US Vietnam vet met with three former NLF fighters in a moving encounter. The remaining sore spot with the Vietnamese on the war is the issue of the use of agent orange/dioxin with three million victims and continued birth defects, a fact the US government has never acknowledged. Vietnamese experts also lectured about the strategy for development, the socialist market economy.

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009, 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Socialist Alternative invites you to participate in workshops and discussions about the issues that affect all our lives. An economic crisis and a new president have created new challenges for working people. Socialist Alternative stands for fundamental change, a break from corporate politics, and for economic and political power in the hands of the working class.

For more information: boston@socialistalternative.org or call 774-454-9060

Sunday, April 26, 2009, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. This is a follow up meeting. The first was convened by Mata Hari and drew together a broad range of pro-immigrant organizations to discuss responses to the continuing raids on immigrant communities.

featuring Fernando Vegas, Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice, J. Soffiyah Elijah of the Harvard Criminal Law Institute and Barbara Dougan of the National Lawyers Guild

Thursday, April 16, 2009, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Fernando Ramón Vegas Torrealba, Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice, is a judicial expert. On the aftermath of the Venezuelan 1999 Constitutional reform, Justice Vegas Torrealba was appointed to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) in August 2004, and assumed office on January 2005, where he sits in the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court.

Friday, May 1st, 2009, 8:00 p.m. till late Join our friends from the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) in celebrating the elections recently held in El Salvador.

Sunday, April 5, 2009, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Mata Hari and a broad range of pro-immigrant organizations are meeting to discuss responses to the continuing raids on immigrant communities.

Tuesdays, April 21 & 28, May 5, 2009, See flyer for times
Workshop 1: The economic crisis (led by Mike Prokosch)
Workshop 2: April 28 -- The Global Dimension (Led by Adrian Boutureira, Tim Costello, Mike Prokosch)
Workshop 3: May 5 -- What do we do? Where's our leverage? (Led by Stephanie Luce and Mike Prokosch)
Sponsored by the Radical Education Project.