international solidarity

Saturday, February 20th, 2010, 7:00 p.m. Join us for a fundraising night with live music, discussion, and Haitian food in solidarity with our Haitian sisters and brothers in their struggle and survival.

Guest Speaker: Dumas, a local Haitian artist and organizer, who has just returned from Haiti, will share his firsthand experiences and his thoughts on Haiti's struggle with economic imperialism.

Featuring: Op from the Foundation Movement, Sergio Reyes, Brian O'Connell & other local artists.

Suggested Entry Donation: $5 to $15 + donations for food and beverages.
Money will go to grassroots groups in Haiti and local Haitian communities.

Thursday, January 28, 2010, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. While Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez continues to capture headlines, a much larger story involving a wider cast of characters has gone largely ignored. Venezuela Speaks!, published by PM Press, is a collection of interviews with activists and participants from across Venezuela’s social movements. From community media to land reform, cooperatives to communal councils, from the labor movement to the Afro-Venezuelan network, Venezuela Speaks! sheds light on the complex realities within the Bolivarian Revolution.

Thursday, October 29, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Join Overcoming Zionism author, Joel Kovel, in challenging the notion of "exceptionalism" and the resultant alienation of people and environment. Joel weaves together deep historical and structural analysis with insights into the development of the psyche. Wikipedia provides a useful overview of his thinking. However, it fails to provide a full account of the price that he is paying for publishing his critique of Zionism. For a complete list of his books, see Joel's website.

Thursday, October 22, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Grahame Russell of Rights Action, recently returned from Honduras and Guatemala, speaks about popular resistance to mining and the coup in Honduras. The event is a kickoff for the Committee in Solidarity with People of El Salvador (CISPES)'s anti-mining campaign. Contact the organizers, Boston CISPES [e-mail bostoncispes speakeasy net], for more information.

Friday, August 14, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Come hear reportbacks & updates from eyewitnesses of the Honduran coup. A fundraiser for groups fighting the business/military dictatorship, we will have food, dance, & drink, plus live musical performances to be announced. Visit Honduras Resists! for latest the news and updates.

Friday, July 17, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Join Chris Spannos and Nick Stylopoulos to look back at the Greek uprising triggered by the police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

Nick moved to the USA from Greece, 10 years ago and he is now an Instructor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. His passion and pleasure is being an activist, a grassroots media reporter and a blogger. He is a member of the Greek antiauthoritarian movement and the Greek antiauthoritarian newspaper "Babylonia", which translates and publishes in Greek, many articles from ZNet/ZMagazine every month. He is an advocate of Participatory Society and Participatory Economics and works on the Hellenic Project for Participatory Society.

Chris Spannos is fulltime staff member with Z Communications and ZNet. He is editor of the book Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century (AK Press, 2008).

Monday, July 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Come welcomeleaders of the Haitian and Guadeloupan trade union movement to Boston. Meet Elie Domata, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe, and Fignolé Saint Cyr, General Secretary of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers.

This event is sponsored by Chelsea Uniting Against the War/Chelsea Uniéndose en Contra de la Guerra and endorsed by the Bolivarian Circle of Boston, the Boston May Day Committee, Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition, Mass Global Action, Proyecto Hondureño, and United for Justice with Peace.

Thursday, June 18, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Omar Mejia, co founder of Café Conciencia and filmmaker Willy Barreno, will present their work creating economic development and awareness by weaving a network of community run cooperatives in Guatemala, the Guatemalan migrant
community in the United States and the American consumer who is interested in Fair-Trade and Organic principles. They will speak about connections with rural and indigenous communities who will self-preserve and grow by having equal access to food, shelter, employment and education. We are invested in the hopes that Guatemala’s producer community and U.S. market will cultivate a relationship that generates a sustainable and dignified way of life so that immigration in exchange for food is not the only option.

This event is organized by the Boston Interpreters Collective.

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.