Music by The Refusers

Friday, August 31, 2012

Lakota Sioux Holy Man Fools Crow – A Narration On The Characteristics Of Medicine And Holy People, Part 2

Source of the text below.

Lakota Sioux Holy Man Fools Crow – A Narration On The Characteristics Of Medicine And Holy People, Part 2

What is important for everyone to know is that the holy men or medicine men must be measured by more than curing abilities.  They must also be measured by their manner of life.

Of course, we medicine men have always had our problems insofar as what people think of us.  Some people do not care for me because they think I get money from all over and using it for my own selfish purposes.  Others are unhappy because I love the black, the white, and the yellow people as well as my own red people and because I want to get along well with all of them.  But they are human beings and God’s children and I love them and want to help them.  So if people are against this, there is not much I can do or want to do about it.

Even the medicine people are jealous of one another today.  And that is very bad.  Years ago all of the hold men and medicine men worked together and as a result accomplished great things.  The medicine men understood their power in the healing rites and in other ceremonies.  Even when they paid homage to God they did so in such a way as to help one another.  There was unity of purpose.  They were as one and the people were very happy about this.  But this seldom happens anymore.  Now the medicine men compete against one another, which often promotes jealousy.  If one man is successful in curing someone, he will broadcast it everywhere in an attempt to build up his position.  In the old days nothing would be said by him or the patient.

Healing is far more important than having fun.  I could do many things to satisfy and astonish curious people.  I could even take a baby and make him dance or do things only adults can do.  But I don’t really want to.  I would rather confine my power to healing.  I have met numerous people who have asked me to do feats of magic or miracles, but most of the time I have not chosen to do so.


Solid Ground - A Poem. A Guest Post by Jimmy Blackwell

Source:   http://northernwall.blogspot.se/2012/04/small-bird-reprise.html

Solid Ground - A Poem


Happiness no longer lingers by thy side, the path of life keeps it but a distant relative, will it return as a bird to an open window, will it see the needs of the weary.

Despair has yet made It's footstep in concrete, loneliness has become one with the air and to as glory, it yet set upon the sand on a beach.


Brighter days are near, but society blurs the vision, and now seem as if a pin hole away.


The one with the vision will see his dream in reality, but he who possesses but more than dreams, will live forever.


Source:

The Jimmy Blackwell Poetry Blog


Slow Death and Fast Profits: The Globalisation of Pesticides and Poison by Colin Todhunter

Source:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_pesticides
Slow Death and Fast Profits: The Globalisation of Pesticides and Poison

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Free Hugs and Smiles from Sondrio, Italy



Enjoy this gift from Italy.

Episode 23 Of The Disarming Grandmothers Of The UK Documentary Series: "Criminally Insane...Ordinary People"



30 August 2012

The Struggle for Peaceful Protest


EPISODE TWENTY THREE: “Criminally insane… Ordinary People”

A new day brings a new protest at Menwith Hill.  Sylvia and Betty, another close friend and ally, greet the morning traffic into the Spy Base with banners of peace whilst standing strong against an antagonist policeman.  Back at the camp personal tensions run high between Helen and Sylvia, as thoughts turn to the lack of involvement in the peace movement.  Feeling the weight of peace firmly on their shoulders, perhaps it is not surprising that the women aren’t always smiling?






To learn more about the UK Grannies, please visit:

Disarming Grandmothers


Birth Of What? - A Poem. A Guest Post by Jimmy Blackwell

 
 
Birth Of What?
 
 
 
Brought into this world, born from the eve of time.
The beginning.

The pregnant lady will bring it, till the time of which she 
is no longer able. For Adam's seed, the serpent has
poisoned.

It was sown into humanity from the birth, from the crack
of dawn.

The world will beckon for a hero, singing in darkness, singing
in light, to take from this world with all his might, it will then
be bright. Sing on little one, sing on.

The birth.

Growing and growing.
Devouring all that it can. The baby has now become a man.
From man to monster. A beast that will live on, until then.
 
When it is time.
 
 
Source:   
 

A Request From Just Label It - Tell USDA, NO GMO Apples

Those stickers on fruits & veggies tell you a lot! 4 numbers mean they were conventionally grown, 5 numbers starting with number 8 means they are genetically modified (GMO), and 5 numbers starting with 9 means they were organically grown without the use of pesticides or GMO's

The iconic, doctor-recommended apple, the one found in millions of lunchboxes as kids head back to school, is at risk of becoming genetically engineered. A Canadian corporation's modifications may disturb how you see this idyllic fruit.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits has created an apple that is genetically engineered to avoid turning brown when cut or bruised. A browning apple never hurt anyone, but we don't know for sure what the short- or long-term human health impacts are of GMOs. Why mess with one of the few healthy snack foods kids enjoy?

Fortunately, the USDA is currently seeking feedback from consumers like you, but we have less than two weeks until their deadline. They need to know that transforming this popular fruit into an industrialized product would ignore the potential environmental and health risks involved.

There have been no short- or long-term studies on the human health impacts of this new apple conducted by the patent holder, the government, or university researchers. Why are we introducing new untested produce into our food supply?

This genetically engineered apple, called the "Arctic Apple," contains a synthetic gene that dramatically reduces production of polyphenol oxidase, the enzyme responsible for an apple's browning. Everyone knows that when you slice an apple, the sides turn brown. This exposure to oxygen doesn't make the apple lose any flavor or nutritional value – it is part of a natural process.

This new patented apple promises financial gains for the owner of the technology, but offers no real benefit for consumers or other producers, only risk. And since the apples won't be labeled as GMOs, you won't be able to decide what's best for you and your family.

Farmers are worried too. Pollen carried by the wind and bees can travel for miles, transporting the foreign DNA of the Arctic Apple to traditional and organic orchards – polluting the seeds and apples of those famers' harvests. Even the U.S. Apple Association – which represents Apple growers throughout the United States – doesn't think this genetically engineered apple should be introduced.

Americans want to know about the food we put in our bodies and our children's bodies, yet most of us have not been told about the ingredients in the food we eat. We don't need another genetically engineered food on the market while we're still denied our fundamental right to know how our food is produced.

Thank you for speaking out today.
Sincerely,

David Bancroft
Campaign Director
Just Label It / Organic Voices


 www.JustLabelIt.org

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Nuclear Sacrifice of Our Children by Helen Caldicott


The Nuclear Sacrifice of Our Children

by Helen Caldicott

Finding The Missing Link,  28 August 2012


When I visited Cuba in 1979, I was struck by the number of roadside billboards that declared, "Our children are our national treasure."
This resonated with me as a pediatrician, and of course it is true. But as Akio Matsumura said in his article, our children are presently being sacrificed for the political and nuclear agenda of the United Nations, for the political survival of politicians who are mostly male, and for "national security."
The problem with the world today is that scientists have left the average person way behind in their level of understanding of science, and specifically how the misapplication of science, in particular nuclear science, has and will destroy much of the ecosphere and also human health.
The truth is that most politicians, businessmen, engineers and nuclear physicists have no innate understanding of radiobiology and the way radiation induces cancer, congenital malformations and genetic diseases which are passed generation to generation. Nor do they recognize that children are 20 times more radiosensitive than adults, girls twice as vulnerable as little boys and fetuses much more so.
Hence the response of Japanese politicians to the Fukushima disaster has been ludicrously irresponsible, not just because of their fundamental ignorance but because of their political ties with TEPCO and the nuclear industry which tends to orchestrate a large part of the Japanese political agenda.
Because the Fukushima accident released 2.5 to 3 times more radiation than Chernobyl and because Japan is far more densely populated than the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and because one million people have died within 25 years as a result of Chernobyl, we expect to see more than one million Japanese casualties over the next 25 years. But the incubation time for cancer after radiation exposure varies from 2 to 90 years in this generation. These facts also apply to all future generations in Japan that will be exposed to a radioactive environment and radioactive food.
It seems that the people in charge in Japan are busily ignoring or covering up these ghastly medical predictions and deciding in their ignorance that people can return to live highly contaminated areas or else remain living there. Even areas of Tokyo are recording dangerous radioactive isotopes that originated in Fukushima in house-dust, in plants, and in street soil.
Thyroid cancers related to Chernobyl started appearing only three to four years post-accident (over 92,000 have now been diagnosed). Yet only 12 months post-accident in the Fukushima Prefecture, 36% of 38,000 children under 18 have been diagnosed by ultrasound with thyroid cysts or nodules (most of these lesions should be biopsied to exclude malignancy). This short incubation time would indicate that these children almost certainly received a very high dose of thyroid radiation from inhaled and ingested radioactive iodine.
These results bode ill for the development of other cancers because hundreds of other radioactive elements escaped which are now concentrating in food, fish and human bodies and inhaled into the lungs. Some elements are radioactive for minutes but many remain radioactive for hundreds to thousands of years meaning much of the Japanese food will remain radioactive for generations to come. Nuclear accidents therefore never end. 40% of the European landmass is still radioactive and will remain so for millennia.
So what should happen in Japan? These are my recommendations.
1. All areas of Japan should be tested to assess how radioactive the soil and water are because the winds can blow the radioactive pollution hundreds of miles from the point source at Fukushima.

2. Under no circumstances should radioactive rubbish and debris be incinerated as this simply spreads the isotopes far and wide to re-concentrate in food and fish.

3. All batches of food must be adequately tested for specific radioactive elements using spectrometers.

4. No radioactive food must be sold or consumed, nor must radioactive food be diluted for sale with non-radioactive food as radioactive elements re-concentrate in various bodily organs.

5. All water used for human consumption should be tested weekly.

6. All fish caught off the east coast must be tested for years to come.

7. All people, particularly children, pregnant women and women of childbearing age still living in high radiation zones should be immediately evacuated to non-radioactive areas of Japan.

8. All people who have been exposed to radiation from Fukushima - particularly babies, children, immunosuppressed, old people and others - must be medically thoroughly and routinely examined for malignancy, bone marrow suppression, diabetes, thyroid abnormalities, heart disease, premature aging, and cataracts for the rest of their lives and appropriate treatment instituted. Leukemia will start to manifest within the next couple of years, peak at five years and solid cancers will start appearing 10 to 15 years post-accident and will continue to increase in frequency in this generation over the next 70 to 90 years.

9. All physicians and medical care providers in Japan must read and examine Chernobyl-Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment by the New York Academy of Sciences to understand the true medical gravity of the situation they face.

10.  I also suggest with humility that doctors in particular but also politicians and the general public refer to my web page, nuclearfreeplanet.org for more information, that they listen to the interviews related to Fukushima and Chernobyl on my radio program at ifyoulovethisplanet.org and they read my book NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ANSWER.
11.  The international medical community and in particular the WHO must be mobilized immediately to assist the Japanese medical profession and politicians to implement this massive task outlined above.

12.  The Japanese government must be willing to accept international advice and help.

13.  As a matter of extreme urgency Japan must request and receive international advice and help from the IAEA and the NRC in the U.S., and nuclear specialists from Canada, Europe, etc., to prevent the collapse of Fukushima Dai-ichi Unit 4 and the spent fuel pool if there was an earthquake greater than 7 on the Richter scale.As the fuel pool crashed to earth it would heat and burn causing a massive radioactive release 10 times larger than the release from Chernobyl. There is no time to spare and at the moment the world community sits passively by waiting for catastrophe to happen.

14.  The international and Japanese media must immediately start reporting the facts from Japan as outlined above. Not to do so is courting global disaster.

Source:

Reader Supported News

Our Hunger Games by Dr. Vandana Shiva

Source:    http://permaculture.org.au/2012/08/20/vandana-says-occupy-the-seed-join-the-seed-freedom-fortnight-of-action-2-16-october-2012/
 
Our Hunger Games
 
We are repeatedly told that we will starve without chemical fertilisers. However, chemical fertilisers, which are essentially poison, undermine food security by destroying the fertility of soil by killing the biodiversity of soil organisms, friendly insects that control pests and pollinators like bees and butterflies necessary for plant reproduction and food production.

Industrial production has led to a severe ecological and social crisis. To ensure the supply of healthy food, we must move towards agro-ecological and sustainable systems of food production that work with nature and not against her. That is what movements that promote biodiversity conservation, like our NGO Navdanya, are designing on the ground.

Industrialisation of agriculture creates hunger and malnutrition, and yet further industrialisation of food systems are offered as solution to the crisis. In the Indian context, agriculture, food and nutrition are seen independent of each other, even though what food is grown and how it is grown determines its nutritional value. It also determines distribution patterns and entitlements. If we grow millets and pulses, we will have more nutrition per capita. If we grow food by using chemicals, we are growing monocultures — this means that we will have less nutrition per acre, per capita. If we grow food ecologically, with internal inputs, more food will stay with the farming household and there will be less malnutrition among rural children.

Our agriculture policy focuses on increasing yields of individual crops and not on the output of the food system and its nutritional value. The food security system — based on the public distribution system — does not address issues of nutrition and quality of food, and nutritional programmes are divorced from both agriculture and food security.

The agrarian crisis, the food crisis and the nutrition and health crisis are intimately connected. They need to be addressed together. The objective of agriculture policy cannot be based on promoting industrial processing of food. The chemicalisation of agriculture and food are recipes for “denutrification”. They cannot solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition. The solution to malnutrition begins with the soil.

Industrial agriculture, sold as the Green Revolution and the second Green Revolution to Third World countries, is chemical-intensive, capital-intensive and fossil fuel-intensive. It must, by its very structure, push farmers into debt and indebted farmers off the land. In poor countries, farmers trapped in debt for buying costly chemicals and non-renewable seeds, sell the food they grow to pay back debt. That is why hunger today is a rural phenomenon. Wherever chemicals and commercial seeds have spread, farmers are in debt. They lose entitlement to their own produce and hence get trapped in poverty and hunger.

Industrial chemical agriculture also creates hunger by displacing and destroying the biodiversity, which provides nutrition. The Green Revolution displaced pulses, an important source of proteins, as well as oilseeds, thus reducing nutrition per acre. Monocultures do not produce more food and nutrition. They take up more chemicals and fossil fuels, and hence are profitable for agrochemical companies and oil companies. They produce higher yields of individual commodities but a lower output of food and nutrition.

Industrial chemical agriculture’s measures of productivity focus on labour as the major input while externalising many energy and resource inputs. This biased productivity pushes farmers off the land and replaces them with chemicals and machines, which in turn contribute to greenhouse gases and climate change. Further, industrial agriculture focuses on producing a single crop that can be globally traded as a commodity. The focus on “yield” of individual commodities creates what I call a “monoculture of the mind”. The promotion of so-called high-yield crops leads to the destruction of biodiversity.

Industrial chemical agriculture also causes hunger and malnutrition by robbing crops of nutrients. Industrially produced food is nutritionally empty but loaded with chemicals and toxins. Nutrition in food comes from the nutrients in the soil. Industrial agriculture, based on the NPK mentality of synthetic nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium-based fertilisers, lead to depletion of vital micro-nutrients and trace elements such as magnesium, zinc, calcium, iron.

Biodiverse systems have higher output than monocultures, that is why organic farming is more beneficial for farmers and the earth than chemical farming.

The increase in yields does not translate into more nutrition. In fact, it is leading to malnutrition. To get the required amount of nutrition people need to eat much more food.

The most effective and low-cost strategy for addressing hunger and malnutrition is through biodiverse organic farming. It enriches the soil and nutrient-rich soils give us nutrient-rich food.

Earthworm castings, which can amount to four to 36 tons per acre per year, contain five times more nitrogen, seven times more phosphorus, three times more exchangeable magnesium, 11 times more potash and one-and-a-half times more calcium than soil. Their work on the soil promotes the microbial activity essential to the fertility of most soils. Soils rich in micro organisms and earthworms are soils rich in nutrients. Their products, too, are rich in nutrients. On an average, organic food has been found to have 21 per cent more iron, 14 per cent more phosphorous, 78 per cent more chromium, 390 per cent more selenium, 63 per cent more calcium, 70 per cent more boron, 138 per cent more magnesium, 27 per cent more vitamin C and 10-50 per cent more vitamin E and beta-carotene. And the more biodiversity on our farms, the more is the nutrition per acre, at little cost.

Plants, people and the soil are part of one food web, which is the web of life. The test of good farming is how well it works to increase the health and resilience of the food web.

Source:


Or visit:





New Orleans Is Braced For Isaac by Rady Ananda

New Orleans is braced for Isaac


By Rady Ananda
Activist Post,   28 August 2012

New Orleans has battened down the hatches, filled the gas tanks, and stocked up on survival gear in preparation for Tropical Storm (soon-to-be Hurricane) Isaac, which is expected to make landfall Tuesday afternoon or evening, one day shy of the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Still emotionally shocked from that August 29, 2005 disaster, talk of “the flood” finds its way into the first or second conversation with any local. People are still processing that event, so when Isaac began posing a threat, folks here took it seriously and immediately began preparing.

To get a sense of New Orleans wit, even amid a potentially lethal event, a local radio station (WWOZ 90.7 FM) queued a long set of flood songs on Monday, including Led Zeppelin’s When the Levee Breaks. I couldn’t help but enjoy the morbid humor as I drove around town buying supplies.

Those who planned to evacuate have already done so. Most folks are staying, though, despite that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a State of Emergency and has recommended leaving. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu advised folks to leave Monday, or plan on staying for the duration.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to be on mop duty the whole time, which is why I wanted to stay. Some of these windows are old and the landlord didn’t provide us with shutters, plywood or metal sheets to protect them. Tonight I taped X’s on them in case they break. I’ve also stuffed plastic in the cracks and taped that all down, too.

People on the street hammered up huge pieces of metal or wood over their windows, and we exchanged phone numbers. The French Quarter looked like they were prepping for a war Monday morning, but the street musicians were still plying their trade. All the shops are now shuttered or boarded up, as we all sit back in ready mode.

Monday began as a bright sunny day with deep blue skies, soon cut by heavy chemtrail lines. By afternoon we had light blue smeary skies from the artificial cirrus clouds. I guess the powers that be want to dump something on all of us, ensuring that whatever’s up there will come down with the rain.

Kindly support my work by reading the full piece at Activist Post. Thanks!

Source:

Food Freedom News

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

An Iroquois Prayer



We return thanks to our mother,
the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,
which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in Whom is embodied all goodness,
and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.


Iroquois

Source:

http://www.orgsites.com/fl/drumming/index.html


Farmer Debunks Corporate Propaganda Against Proposed Law to Label Genetically Modified Food by Will Allen

http://justlabelit.org/

Farmer Debunks Corporate Propaganda Against Proposed Law to Label Genetically Modified Food

By Will Allen

Alter Net News,  27 August 2012

Giant corporations like Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Pepsi and Coke have poured $25 million into the No on 37 campaign.
I’ve been a farmer for more than 40 years. While I no longer live or farm in California, I do co-manage 120 acres of farmland in Vermont, and I know that a GMO labeling law passed in California will have widespread implications for consumers and farmers in every state in the country. As a farmer who has experience in both conventional and organic farming, I’m compelled to address the anti-labeling campaign’s so-called “concerns” for farmers and consumers.

But first, make no mistake: The folks who are  running and funding the campaign against California’s Proposition 37, the Nov. 6 citizens’ ballot initiative that would require mandatory labeling of GMOs, have never worked on behalf of small farmers or consumers. Why would we think they are suddenly on our side? Heading up the campaign are the same folks who, backed by Big Tobacco, fought anti-smoking initiatives in California. They are the same people who, with a little help from Big Oil, tried to repeal California’s clean energy and climate laws. The $25 million that has so far poured into the “No on 37” campaign comes from huge biotech, chemical and food processing corporations (Monsanto, DuPont, Dow AgriScience, Pepsi, Coca-Cola). These are all companies whose primary motivation is profit, not the protection of consumers or farmers.

Here’s my farmer’s-eye view of the propaganda coming out of the No on 37 campaign, which by the way is dubiously named: Stop the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme.

Propaganda Statement #1:

The initiative would close off opportunities for farmers and food producers who might want to take advantage of future advances in crops bred for disease and pest resistance, drought tolerance, improved growth, nutrition, taste or other benefits.

This is perhaps the most outrageous of the No on 37 campaign’s purported concerns, and it’s directed at us, the farmers. The GMO giants claim to be concerned that we will not get a chance to grow GMO crops. Really?

After suing and harassing thousands of farmers and driving small seed dealers out of business and into court, it is beyond disingenuous for Monsanto and the GMO gang to feign concern for our interests. I can assure them that we farmers are more afraid of Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta than the biotech giants are at the prospect of losing their genetically altered seed.

Farmers in several states have tried to pass farmer protection laws against the spillage and drift of GMO seed and pollen. These laws were designed to respond to the fact that biotech companies can sue farmers for patent infringement if GMO crops inadvertently sprout up as “weeds” on their farms – the result of pollen drift or seed spillage from a neighboring or nearby farm that grows GMO crops. Most of us farmers see this differently. We believe that when GMO seeds spill onto our land, or pollen from GMO crops drifts into our non-GMO crops and contaminates them, this constitutes trespassing, not patent theft. In spite of this trespass, Monsanto alone has brought  136 cases  against more than 400 farmers. Thousands more U.S. farmers have been threatened with lawsuits by Monsanto.

Farmers growing cotton, corn, soy, and canola are in a tight spot because biotech companies have bought a majority of the seed corporations in order to control what seed can be grown. In the last several years, more than 90% of the seed available to farmers for these four crops has been genetically modified. So if a farmer wants to grow any of these commodity crops, he’s forced to grow the GMO variety –or not grow them at all.

Propaganda Statement #2:

To read the entire article, please click on the link provided below:



 

NORTHAMPTON, MA: Move to Amend New England! Regional Convergence

http://movetoamend.org/

NORTHAMPTON, MA: Move to Amend New England! Regional Convergence

Friday, September 28, 2012 - 6:00pm to Sunday, September 30, 2012 - 12:00pm
First Churches of Northampton
29 Main Street
Northampton, MA 01060

See map: Google Maps
Move to Amend is holding seven regional gatherings across the United States in 2012. These events will bring you together with Move to Amend activists and supporters from throughout your region of the country. Let’s amplify and multiply the power of all that great local organizing by building deeper organizational connections. Let's kick it up a notch!
Register
Help Spread the Word
Help us promote these events!
Convergence Agenda
Session 1: Friday, September 28, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM (Laying the Foundation)
*The State of the Global & US Democracy Movement This session will lay the groundwork for our weekend together. We’ll address the state of our movement(s) on a national and global scale and discuss the political climate for systemic social change in the United States.

Session 2: Saturday, September 29, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM (Organizing Skills Focus)
*Getting Involved with Move to Amend (Starting a MTA Group) Introductory level. We’ll cover how to get started working with the Move to Amend campaign including forming a group, beginning public outreach and growing your capacity. You’ll hear from Move to Amend organizers who are leading successful local groups in the region who will share best practices and strategies that have worked in their communities.
*Running a Move to Amend Community Campaign Advanced level. You’ll hear from experienced grassroots organizers who have run political campaigns at the local level. We’ll discuss MTA’s 2012 Resolve to Amend campaign and how your community can get started running a resolution effort that maximizes public engagement and capacity building potential.

Session 3: Saturday, September 29, 10:45 AM – 12:15 PM (Strategy)
*Engaging Your Community on Corporate Constitutional Rights & the MTA Campaign Introductory level. We’ll cover how to engage and educate individuals and organizations in your community about the campaign to amend the Constitution. You’ll learn best practices and talking points for reaching out to diverse constituents in your community and increase your comfort level talking about Corporate Personhood and explaining how it impacts communities and individuals.
*Imagining a New Democratic Framework for Corporations & Artificial Entities Advanced level. We’ll cover how the Move to Amend amendment will effect corporations, unions, non-profits and other organizations. You’ll learn the ramifications of the amendment and how the US legal and political system will adjust once corporations and other artificial entities cannot claim rights under the Constitution.

Session 4: Saturday, September 29, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Strategy & Organizing Skills)
*Building a Multi-Racial Democracy Movement for Social Justice & Constitutional Renewal
This session will address why the emphasis of our movement(s) must be on confronting racism and other oppressions in order to win real democracy. The means are the ends in our struggles for social justice, and this session will provide a framework for why an anti-racism orientation is critical for our movement and how to instill that ethic and commitment within ourselves and our organizations. We will cover theory and practice.
Social Mixer opportunity Saturday evening - Location TBA

Session 5: Sunday, September 30, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Capacity Building/Infrastructure)
*Building Capacity for the Work to Come: Strategy Discussion for MTA Organizers
We’ll brainstorm and discuss tools and infrastructure needs to better aid MTA organizers in the Northwest region. We’ll cover networking and capacity building infrastructure needs as well as steps toward Move to Amend organizing at the state level in the region.