RIPL Documentary Film Series - January 2009 (R.I. Progressive League)


Sundays at 7 pm Firehouse Theater 4 Equality Park Place, Newport RI Free ($5 donation suggested). Haven't been to the Firehouse? It's a small, quirky little theater- steps are involved & blankies are supplied.

Sunday January 11th-The Power of Community (How Cuba Survived Peak Oil) by the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, a non-profit that promotes low-energy solutions to the current unsustainable, fossil fuel-based way or life. It is a must-see for survival in the post-oil energy age. ~and~The Crash Course is a condensed version of Chis Martenson's "End of Money" seminar. It offers an introductory explanation of the economy to increase our awareness of the risks we all face.

Sunday January 18th-Who Killed the Electric Car. In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline-ten years later, these cars were all deliberately destroyed. Directed by Chris Paine, the film is structured as a documentary murder mystery, with each "suspect" being investigated and and tagged with a motive that smells a lot like gasoline.

Sunday January 25th-Uncounted: the New Math of American Elections, is an explosive new documentary by Emmy award-winning David Earnhardt. It examines the startling ease with which elections can be manipulated to undermine election integrity. Noted computer programmers, statisticians, journalists, and experienced election officials provide the irrefutable proof.

For more info: Gracious Audette 841-9198 or Firehouse Theater 849-3473

Promote Change

From activist Pat Crowley:
Jonny5 from the Flobots along with “Fight with Tools Street Team” will be making a special appearance the day after their show at Lupo’s next week. The event, which will feature a live solo performance, tools and tips on how to be active in making positive social change in your community will take place at the Open Table of Christ Church, 1520 Broad Street, Providence, starting at 3PM, Saturday, August 9th.
Click on the image to get your copy of the flyer and distribute it far and wide!
SIGN UP on FACEBOOK HERE. Invite your friends!

Labor Day Obsolete?

Another great article from Projo in case you missed it. ""WITH NO SMALL IRONY, Labor Day has become much more about finding cheap Chinese goods on sale than a celebration of the strength and dignity of the American worker."' An excellent readable article.
'"In fact, the emergence of China as the world’s factory floor appears to be the final nail in the coffin of the American labor movement."' Inevitable? Not so. China's sucess if at the expense of the American worker - record trade imbalances, loss of jobs, downward pressure on wages.
1. Unfair trade practices. Few U.S. imports, but plenty of cheap exports.
2. Cheap, sometimes slave labor, at the expense of their own people.
3. The cooperation of large multinational corps. No longer do they have to worry about the AFL-CIO, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or even the Internal Revenue Service.
The inevitable effects of globilization on the American worker? Not exactly. Has the bringing of everyone else up to our standards now sunken to the level of lowering ourselves to the lowerst common denominator? '"What these politicians and pundits miss is the critical difference between China’s pernicious brand of 'beggar thy neighbor' free trade and the kind of robust fair trade that characterized the Golden Age of the 20th Century when the labor movement was, like our country, so very strong and vital."'
Well said. If ever there was a need for strong leadership across the board in our country, state, and district, now is the time for it! It doesn't have to be this way. Otherwise, except for a few precious few, our future is not that bright.
The author's website is http://www.peternavarro.com/. His new book is the "The New China Wars" & is a Ph.D. of Economics at the Univ. Of Calif., Irvine.

Labor Day

In cased you missed it today in Projo. Who would have thought Projo? It's even more applicable today than when it was spoken 115 years ago.


‘Rights of the masses’

What does labor want? It wants the earth and the fullness thereof. There is nothing too precious, there is nothing too beautiful, too lofty, too ennobling, that is not within the scope and aspirations and wants. We want more schoolhouses and fewer jails, more books and fewer arsenals, more learning and less vice, more constant work and less crime, more leisure and less greed, more justice and less revenge — in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood nobler, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood brighter and happier. The labor movement of our country and of all countries stands for progress, for protection of the interests and rights of the masses. There can be no real freedom where labor is enslaved. It is our mission to see to it that the heritage handed down to us by our forefathers of this and other countries, who have borne scars of battle, is accepted, and that we take up the struggle where they were compelled to lay it down, be true to them, be true to ourselves and to the people of our time, and, more important than all, to hand down the heritage of freedom to those who shall come after us to bear the burden of their day, to make life and toil better — better worth the living and the doing.
— Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, 1886-1924, in a speech on Aug. 28, 1893.

"The Low Road"

What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can
bust you, they can break
your fingers, they can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can't walk, can't remember, they can
take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can't stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.

But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.

Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and startan organization. With six
you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.

It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more.


From The Moon Is Always Female, by Marge Piercy Copyright 1980 by Marge Piercy

"Laborvision" and Social Justice

Last night from 7-8 p.m. I watched "Laborvision" on the Public Access station. I like this show. It's often stimulating. There are local panels, filming of local labor events, commentaries, etc. Last night they presented two speeches given at a conference, "Inequality Matters," two years ago.

One was author Barbara Ehrenreich . She is the author of "Nickel and Dimed," and "Bait and Switch." She's also a blogger.In the former she works at minimum wage jobs and attempts to support herself. In the second she works at entering the white collar job market & tries to support herself. In both attempts she basically gets screwed. Both are fascinating, depressing, short reads. From personnel experience with family & friends, I know that she speaks the truth.

She gave a short moving speech. Press here for the link. She initially caught my attention by mentioning a school library in NYC that had few books & no card catalog. Encyclopedias that were almost 15 yrs. old. Welcome to my world. I scrounged for encyclopedias and convinced other schools & the public library to give me their discards. While we at least had paper catalogs, there was no computer catalog. Even the staff couldn't remember how to use the it. Something worth getting mad about rather than the resignation of a local librarian. She also has a new book coming out, "Dancing in the Streets."

Then Bill Moyers spoke. I've heard him before and read some of his speeches. He spoke for about 40 min. and my husband and I would have listened to another 40. He not only is extremely articulate, he's quite passionate and always strikes a nerve. I assume he writes his own speeches and quite excellently. I'd put him at the top of my list for speakers worth listening to. He always has something of importance to say and knows how to say it. His delivery alone is worth watching (even if he had zilch to say). Politicans and other speech givers would do well to study this man (with the exception of Sen. Levesque - he's got most of it down). This talk was long, but reads just as effectively when he's not there to speak it. Press here for the link. Look under PDF files for Moyers, "Take back America."

His speech ended:

"What we need is a mass movement of people like you. Get mad, yes – there’s plenty to be mad about. Then get organized and get busy. This is the fight of our lives."

Remember, he wrote this two years ago. I guess it worked (somebody was listening). But we still have a lot more to do. Forget librarians' resigning. Let's get the real work done.