[Brecht-press] 30 Year Old Political and Cultural Center to Open its New Home

[Alfredo Lopez]

Please Note: Due to technical problems last week, the first time i sent this
email it may not have reached you. I realize it may be past your deadline for
some of these events, but please peruse the list, as
there are many important speakers this week including Walden Bello, Sonia
Sanchez, and Mahmood Mamdani. In a separate email, I will send the following
weeks events, and hope that these may still be 
elligible for listings Thank You!
Liz Roberts
Outreach Coordinator



PLEASE LIST/ANNOUNCE

The Brecht Forum
451 West St.
New York, NY 10014
(212)242-4201
www.brechtforum.org

Contact: Liz Roberts: lizr at brechtforum.org or (212) 242-4201
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Brecht Forum, a 30 year old political education center and cultural space,
is opening its new home within the Westbeth artists complex--an historic and
thriving creative community in  the West Village. See the listings below for
the first set of exciting events to be held in the new space starting mid
March. Among the many great events planned, Walden Bello, activist and writer
from the Philippines will be giving a talk, we’ll have a panel on the death
penalty, and  we’re hosting a women’s poetry celebration featuring Sonia
Sanchez and Asha Bandele. Please visit www.brechtforum.org for our full
schedule of classes, workshops, lectures and films including a workshop on
‘The Politics of Bling: Political Economy of the Hip Hop Generation,”
“Shattering the Stereotypes of Muslim Women” and a talk on “Church and State.”

Monday, March 14
6:00 pm
FILM SCREENING/PHOTO EXHIBITION/DISCUSSION

Speak Out: I Had an Abortion

(Gillian Aldrich, Jennifer Baumgardner and Tara Todras-Whitehill. Moderated by
Liza Featherstone)
Media coverage of abortion always focuses on the firestorm of passionate
beliefs and politics launched by both sides of the debate. Missing are the
voices of the women who have had abortions and there are millions of them.
This controversial and powerful documentary by Gillian Aldrich, a field
producer for Bowling for Columbine, and Jennifer Baumgardner, co-author of
Grassroots and Manifesta, as well as founder of the I Had an Abortion project,
features women telling their abortion stories. A photo exhibition by Tara
Todras-Whitehill and featuring the women in the film accompanies the
screening. All three artists will discuss the project and what it might mean
to the future of abortion rights if women speak out once again. "I had an
Abortion" t-shirts -- which have sparked a lively, nationwide debate even
within the pro-choice movement -- will be on sale at the event.

Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
_________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, March 16
7:30 pm

Murder by the State: Implications of the Death Penalty and the Struggle to
Abolish It

(Silvia Federici, Rachel King, Nerissa Kunakemakorn & the Welfare Poets)
Shortly before the presidential elections, the Welfare Poets and Nerissa
Kunakemakorn traveled to Texas on invitation by four comrades on death row,
Randy Arroyo, Tony Ford, Derrick Frazier and Kenneth Foster. The Welfare Poets
performed at the Fifth Annual March to Stop Executions, and joining with
Nerissa, NYU Law Student and anti-death penalty activist, are co-producing a
documentary on their experience at the march, at a vigil against the execution
of Dominique Greene, a visit to the Texas Prison Museum, and countless
interviews with activists, Texans, politicians, judges, and lawyers. The
Welfare Poets and Nerissa will preview clips from the upcoming film, talk
about their experiences, and why the death penalty should be abolished.
Silvia Federici, a founding member of the Radical Philosophy Anti-Death
Penalty project, will give a broad overview of arguments against the death
penalty, but at the same time focus on the relation between the death penalty,
slavery and globalization.
Rachel King, Campaign Coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union’s
Capital Punishment Project, will discuss her new book, Capital Consequences:
Families of the Condemned Tell Their Stories. Combining a narrative voice with
vivid, passionate accounts of the families of death row inmates, King explores
the unique nature of the grief that the families of the condemned suffer. The
accounts also illustrate many of the flaws inherent in the judicial
system--racial and economic bias, incompetent counsel, prosecutorial
misconduct, the execution of juveniles, and wrongful convictions, some of
which are only now being overturned because of 
recent advances in DNA technology.

Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
____________________________________________________________________
Thursday, March 17
8:00 pm
BOOK/DVD PARTY & FORUM

Chavez, Venezuela and the New Latin America

(David Deutschmann, Leonor Osorio & Others TBA)
In February 2004, Aleida Guevara conducted an extensive interview, lasting
several days, with Hugo Chavez Frias, president of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela. The interview explored Venezuela's explosive revolutionary terrain
post-April 2002--when Chavez survived a coup attempt instigated by the United
States. In this extraordinary book, Chavez explains his vision for Venezuela
and his commitment to a unified Latin America. He discusses Venezuela's new,
democratic constitution and his country's relations with the United States and
Cuba. Chavez also reveals his personal commitment to the politics of Che
Guevara, Aleida's father.
Portions of the interview have been released on a one-hour DVD, which will be
shown this evening. Included in the DVD is an interview with General Jorge
Garcia Carneiro, head of the Venezuelan armed forces, who was instrumental in
encouraging the popular resistance that thwarted the 2002 coup.
David Deutschmann is co-founder of Ocean Press, editor of the Che Guevara
Reader and the forthcoming Fidel Castro Reader, and the initiator of the
Chavez book and documentary project. He has visited Venezuela frequently in
the last several years, and attended the December 2004 World Meeting of
Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity.
Leonor Osorio is the Venezuelan Consul General in New York.
Deutchmann and Osorio will be joined by a speaker from the Cuban Mission TBA.

David Deutschmann is co-founder of Ocean Press, editor of the Che Guevara
Reader and the forthcoming Fidel Castro Reader, and the initiator of the
Chavez book and documentary project. He has visited Venezuela frequently in
the last several years, and attended the December 2004 World Meeting of
Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity.
Leonor Osorio is the Venezuelan Consul General in New York.
Deutchmann and Osorio will be joined by a speaker from the Cuban Mission TBA.

Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
_________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, March 17
5:30 - 7:30 pm
BOOK PARTY/FORUM

Dilemmas of Domination: The Unmaking of the American Empire

(Walden Bello)
When we think of empire, we think of an all-powerful, invincible nation,
asserting its power over the entire world. However, in his new book, The
Dilemmas of Domination The Unmaking of the American Empire, Walden Bello
argues that an empire is weak precisely because of its imperial ambitions,
which cause military overextension and economic stagnation.
Applying this argument to the United States, Bello dissects the strategic,
economic and political dilemmas confronting the country as a consequence of
its quest for global domination. For example, he shows how U.S. military and
political power has undermined the economic domination that America has
possessed since the end of World War II. Washington’s military imperialism has
eroded international economic relations with governments such as Brazil, China
and India, which now defy the U.S. in multilateral economic institutions such
as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. The
consequences include the collapse of the WTO in Cancún in September 2003 and
the failed trade negotiations in Miami that tried to create a pan-American
free trade regime friendly to U.S. corporate interests.
In addition to the economic effects, Bello maintains that the American empire
has destroyed the legitimacy of democracy throughout the world. As democracies
have collapsed in countries such as Pakistan and Haiti, Bello points out that
it has become clear that democracy has failed to deliver in terms of
overcoming poverty and inequality. This has resulted in a massive
disillusionment of electoral democracy throughout the world.
Unless the U.S. superpower is balanced by the larger global civil society,
Dilemmas of Domination argues, the empire's hidden weaknesses may ultimately
cause the end of American supremacy—and not so long from now.

Walden Bello, a professor of sociology and public administration at the
University of the Philippines, is the author of numerous books on
globalization. Also an award-winning peace and human rights activist, he lives
in Quezon City.

Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
Space is limited

______________________________________________________________________
Friday, March 18
7:30 pm
BOOK PARTY/FORUM

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror

(Mahmood Mamdani)
In his penetrating look at the rise of political Islam, Mahmood Mamdani
addresses a question many have been asking since 9/11: how did this happen? He
argues against the idea of "good"(secular, westernized) and "bad" (premodern,
fanatical) Muslims, pointing out that these judgments refer to political
rather than cultural or religious identities. The presumption that there are
"good" Muslims readily available to be split off from "bad" Muslims masks a
failure to make a political analysis of our times. Mamdani argues that
political Islam emerged as the result of a modern encounter with Western
power, and that the terrorist movement at the center of Islamist politics is
an even more recent phenomenon, one that followed the United State’s embrace
of proxy war after its defeat in Vietnam. He also examines the Reagan years,
showing America’s embrace of the highly ideological politics of "good" against
"evil." He contends that the era of proxy wars has come to an end with the
invasion of Iraq. And there, as in Vietnam, America will need to recognize
that it is not fighting terrorism but nationalism, a battle that cannot be won
by occupation.

Mahmood Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda. A political scientist and
anthropologist, he is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and director of
the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. His previous books
include Citizen and Subject and When Victims Become Killers. In 2001 he
presented one of the nine papers at the Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium.

Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
__________________________________________________________________
Saturday, March 19
6:00 pm Doors Open, 7:00pm Performances begin
A WOMEN & TRANS FOLK ONLY EVENT
Co-sponsor: Resistance in Brooklyn

Roses & Bread
The 10th Annual Open Poetry and Performance Benefit & International Women’s
Day Celebration

Featured performers: Sonia Sanchez & Asha Bandele,

The Women of Resistance in Brooklyn and the Brecht Forum invite you to join
us. This year we will be raising money for Sista II Sista, a Brooklyn-wide
community-based organization. They are a collective of working-class young and
adult Black and Latina women building together to model a society based on
liberation and love. They work with young women to develop personal, spiritual
and collective power. They fight for justice while creating alternatives by
making social, cultural and political change. They have many programs
including a freedom school, a 'No More Violence Against our Sistas' video
project, self defense, political and holistic workshops. You can visit them
www. sistaiisista.org

Resistance in Brooklyn is an anti-racist, anti-imperialist affinity group.
To perform or to reserve childcare, please contact Liz Roberts (212) 242-4201
or lizr at brechtforum.org by March 10. Limited spaces for performers. Light
supper provided. Wine and desserts available to raise funds.

Suggested donation: $10/$15/$20
________________________________________________________________
Monday, March 21
7:30 pm
Co-sponsor: the New York City People’s Life Fund

Resist the War Abroad & the War at Home!

(Ruth Benn, Amy Goodman & Steve Theberge with a Performance by The Raging
Grannies & Their Daughters)
March 20 marks the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. We are honored
to have Ruth Benn, coordinator, National War Tax Resistance Coordinating
Committee, Democracy Now host and executive producer, Amy Goodman, and Steve
Theberge, Youth and Counter-Militarism National Organizer on staff of the War
Resisters League, as speakers for the evening. Amy will address the effects of
the war at home and in Iraq. Ruth and Steve will cover the actions we can take
to resist this undeclared aggression, in particular addressing the role of
students in resisting the call for their bodies and the issue of an impending
military draft, and for all of us, the call for our tax money.
The evening includes time for questions and comments on both presentations,
and for explanations on resistance to paying for war. It begins with a
selection of original songs by the Raging Grannies & Their Daughters, a
project of WILPF (Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom), which
started in the 1980s in Canada, and now has chapters all over the world.
This is a time for renewal of our energy and determination to make this the
last year of a war that should never have been waged, one that has not only
killed members of the armed forces but taken the lives of over 100,000 Iraqi
civilians, to say nothing of lifelong scars on the hearts and minds of Iraqi
men, women and children.
This event is presented in collaboration with the New York City People’s Life
Fund, a fund made up of resisted taxes and contributions. For over 30 years,
the Fund has been a vital link to outstanding community groups, providing
grants and loans to support their work.

Ruth Benn is the Coordinator of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating
Committee, the umbrella organization for groups working on or supportive of
war tax resistance in the U.S. She has resisted war taxes for nearly 20 years.
Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!. She is
co-author of the national best-seller The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing
Oily Politicians, written with her brother David Goodman. The book was chosen
by independent bookstores as the #1 political 
title of the 2004 election season.
Steve Theberge is the Youth and Counter-Militarism National Organizer on the
staff of the War Resisters League in New York City.

Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
-- 
People Link
Communications for a Better World and for the People Who are Building One.
http://www.people-link.org
Members Local 1180, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO