hydrarchist writes:
New York Social Forum Preparatory Conference

Sunday January 27, 2002, 10 am - 5 pm

Brecht Forum

122 W. 27th Street, 10th floor, New York City

This year, New York is playing host to the World Economic Forum (WEF),
which will be held from January 31st to February 4th, 2002. According
to the WEF, their annual summits define the global political,
economic, and business agenda for the year.

The WEF is a leading proponent of neo-liberal globalization, and its
membership is composed of CEOs as well as heads of state, trade
ministers, and intellectual elites. While the WEF claims to be in
solidarity with New Yorkers, the interests it represents are those of
its elite members. In Porto Alegr? Brazil, the WEF's annual meetings
have become the occasion for building positive alternatives to the
current world order at a World Social Forum. We believe the WEF's
visit to New York presents our city with a similar occasion.

Anonymous Comrade writes: "Friends and comrades, please take a moment to read this important message,
and please forward along.

From Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, the World Economic Forum (WEF) will be meeting
at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan for its annual summit. Alexander
Downer, who attended the 1998 Summit, describes the Summit as
the world's 'Business Olympics'. The yearly meeting, usually
held at WEF headquarters in Davos, Switzerland, was rescheduled
to meet in New York as a token of support for the injuries our
city sustained on September 11th. In reality, this meeting and
the agenda it represents are an affront to the people of New York,
who, like many others around the world, face a period of economic
uncertainty and austerity which threatens their very livelihoods.

TAKE BACK WBAI AND PACIFICA

Come to the National Board Meeting Jan. 11-13
In N.Y.C. and Make Your Voices Heard!

305 W. 44th St.

Hotel Worker's Union

Between 8th and 9th Ave.

Friday 7-9pm

Sat. 9-5 pm.

Sun. 9:30-2:30



To volunteer before or during the board meeting, please call 646-230-9588.
We need drivers, runners, office help, etc. During the meeting we'll need
folks
to help with food, hospitality, and clean-up.

Housing will be provided for those coming from afar. See below for contacts.

You may have read that the listener lawsuits against Pacifica have been
settled and that a new interim National Board has been installed with
progressives in the majority - unquestionably a step forward due to months
of determined mass struggle. But what the mainstream media aren't telling
you is that this agreement does not take back WBAI - much less the rest of
the network - from those who hijacked it. We still have to fight for it. Any
decisions that don't get the vote of one of the reactionary former majority
(now minority) get sent to a California judge to resolve. And at the new
board's first conference-call meeting on Dec. 29, that pro-corporate
minority - led by former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry - showed that they'll fight
tooth and nail to stymie any progress toward reclaiming Pacifica.

For a summary of the Dec. 29th board meeting, see
http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/pacifica/interim-board/board-notes.
html

Fortunately, the interim board mandated that its next meeting be held here
in New York City. The open-to-the-public event will run from Friday night
Jan. 11 to Sunday afternoon Jan. 13 at a location to be announced shortly.
Concerned Friends of WBAI is asking for listeners and community activists to
turn out in force to insist that our embattled, beloved station be taken
back as the first step in restoring the network to its historic progressive
mission.

It's been a year since the Christmas Coup that led to the purging of more
than 25 progressive producers and staffers and the decimating of vital
programming. The New York community needs to show up and demand that the
coup be reversed, that the fired and the banned be brought back, and that
WBAI and the other Pacifica stations nationwide return to their role as a
voice for the voiceless and an empowering agent for social change.

This meeting is a key window of opportunity. It's crucial that there be a
large and diverse popular presence to both lend support to our allies and
make clear to our adversaries the price they will pay for continuing their
assault on our network. The struggle is far from over. Come join us!

For the latest updates and to find out how you can help, call the Concerned
Friends hotline at 800-825-0055. For further information, visit
http://www.wbai.net ; and
http://wbai.savepacifica.net

For general questions or to volunteer, call 212-989-8222 or email
bob@wbaiaction.org
and debra@wbaiaction.org

For housing or to offer housing, call 973-762-3682 or email
stevenb@wbaiaction.org

Anonymous Comrade writes:

"Is a new world possible? Activists who fight corporate globalization certainly believe so. Those struggling to oppose corporate globalization are more than simply critics of the current system. Though global opposition to the negative effects of the world’s current economic and political systems continues to grow, every time those protesting corporate globalization appear en masse to call attention to a global financial body like the International Monetary Fund or World Trade Organization, their critics accuse them of offering little more than condemnation. "We know what you’re against," critics say, "BUT WHAT ARE YOU FOR?" The truth is, activists struggling to oppose corporate globalization offer many models of alternative ways to envision a new society. From developing viable economic alternatives to global capitalism to creating more effective ideas for educating children, from envisioning non-hierarchical means of organizing society to conceiving ways to enable more equality in interpersonal relationships, those who hope to create a better world offer infinite visions for a way to do just that.

Yvonne Liu writes: "THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ORGANIZED RESISTANCE
(formerly The National Conference on Civil Disobedience)

January 25-27 of 2002
in Washington D.C.

SPONSORED BY AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ANIMAL RIGHTS EFFORT

What Is It?

The National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR) is in its fifth
successful year. In years past, this conference has played a significant
role in coordinating a dialogue between activist groups, and sparking
in-depth discussion of the strategies and tactics of our various social
justice movements. This year, NCOR again envisions being a forum for cutting
edge discussion for people of all different levels of involvement. Last
year, over 1,000 people converged on Washington, DC for a weekend of
experience, discussion, planning, and protest. Don't miss this year!

The 2002 San Francisco Bay Area Anarchist Conference is now asking for
workshop proposals. The conference is scheduled for Sunday, March 31,
the day following the S.F. Annual Anarchist Book Fair. The Bay Area
Anarchist Conference emphasizes anarchist theory.

Persons of diverse demographics are encouraged to present and discuss
anarchist ideas. The workshop proposal form is available at
http://www.bay-anarchists.org/form.html

NYC Social Forum Proposal

At the same time that the United Nations held its
conference on
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance in
Durban, South Africa late last summer, several other
groups held what
they called the Durban Social Forum. In a
statement, the Forum declared that, despite the nominal
end of
apartheid in South Africa, "[h]alf of all children in
rural areas go
hungry every day · and South Africa now has the
greatest divide
between rich and poor of any country in the world." The
U.N.-sponsored
conference, they believed, neither adequately addressed
these
conditions nor the structures behind them.
Furthermore, groups like
the Durban Social Forum have begun to recognize these
same structures
of apartheid beyond their local circumstances, in the
increasingly global world order. They recognized what
some have
called, "global apartheid."

SUPPORT LEONARD PELTIER

TAKE ACTION ON FEBRUARY 6!

COORDINATE LOCAL EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Commemorate February 6th by enlisting your friends, family, and communities around "Until Freedom Is Won, the Campaign for Truth and Justice!" Hold events or facilitate activities that will spread awareness about the new strategies, while galvanizing active support. Here are some ideas which have worked well in the past:

Training Ban Under Attack

CALL TODAY!

The Pentagon and their congressional allies are making a last-minute attempt to undermine the legislated ban on military training for Indonesia. A ban on IMET (International Military Education and Training) has been in place since 1992.

At the behest of Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) inserted a provision in the Department of Defense Appropriations bill that provides $21 million to establish a Regional Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program to fund "foreign military officers to attend U.S. military educational institutions and selected regional centers for non-lethal training."

Anonymous Comrade writes: "Our Cry Will Be Heard!

Call to Mobilization for the Permanent International Camp
for Social Justice and the Dignity of the Peoples

Dear compa–eros y compa–eras:

From Quito, Ecuador, in the middle of the planet, we send you greetings of solidarity. We are calling on you to be part of the Permanent International Camp for Social Justice and the Dignity of the Peoples, whose aim is to develop a space of action and encounter between persons, organizations and social movements that dedicate ourselves to the construction of a world in which we can all be a part.