[Lowdown] MFPL Upcoming Social Forum Event(s)

[Alfredo Lopez]

Hi everyone,

This is going to all members and friends from this list. It's about our 
activities at the upcoming World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil.

These are very important events for MF/PL.

The upcoming World Social Forum occurs in a period of enormous 
uncertainty and unveiling crisis world-wide. There are many attempts 
being made to develop a response and our contribution is to use our 
collaborative democracy software to begin "across borders" collaborative 
thinking about a response.

We're also going to pay a lot of attention to young people: the folks 
who are going to have to carry the weight in facing the problem and 
developing a solution. So we're doing the US branch of the event at 
Urban Academy (High School) here in NYC.

We're planning several events of this type in the coming two years so 
this first one is critical and we want you to consider joining us or, at 
the very least, sending this around to everyone you know.

In addition, our friends at Indigenous Voices are holding a 
cross-continental screening of Steven Heape's film The Trail of Tears 
Cherokee Legacy at Bluestocking Bookstore in NYC and in Belem. We're 
supporting that fully.

So...here's all the info. Questions or reactions, get in touch with us. 
Otherwise, please get in touch with everyone else you know.

Abrazos,

Alfredo

-- 
Alfredo Lopez, Co-Director
May First/People Link
Growing Networks to Build a Just World!
http://www.mayfirst.org
718-303-3204 -- (ext. 106)
Members Local 1180, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO
Public Key: http://www.alfredolopez.net/alfredopublickey

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Join May First/People link for two World Social Forum events on 
Thursday, January 29, here in New York City!

* Thursday, January 29, 4:00 pm, Hemispheric Economic Agenda through 
Collaborative Democracy Workshop, Urban Academy High School
* Thursday, January 29, 7:00 pm, Screening: Trail of Tears Cherokee 
Legacy, Bluestockings Bookstore

­The World Social Forum (­http://www.fsm2009amazonia.org.br/) since its 
beginning and up to 2009 has been the most important yearly event in the 
anti-globalization movement. In January 2008, the WSF organized it's 
first global day of action, inspiring decentralized actions around the 
world. In October 2008, May First/Peope Link hosted a simultaneous 
workshop in Guatemala City and New York City during the Social Forum of 
the Americas, helping to grow the vision of the WSF as a decentralized 
process. In 2009, May First/People Link is being represented in Brazil 
by member Mallory Knodell. Meanwhile, we are planning two simultaneous 
events in New York and other locations.

For more information, contact: Mallory (mallory at mayfirst.org)  or Jamie 
(jamie at mayfirst.org)­

  Get involved: http://openfsm.net/projects/fsm2009e-newyork

== Hemispheric Economic Agenda through Collaborative Democracy Workshop ==

Join together, in real time, with participants of the World Social Forum 
in Belem Brazil and participants in Sherbrooke, Canada, for a 
simultaneous workshop to build a Hemispheric Economic Agenda through a 
collaborative democracy workshop. This workshop is a unique opportunity 
for those of us in New York to attend the forum, interact directly with 
other activists from the Americas, and begin building a collaborative 
and democratic Economic agenda for the Hemisphere.

DATE: Thursday, January 29
TIME: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm America/New York time
LOCATION: Urban Academy, New York City (with remote participants from 
the World Social Forum in Belem Brazil and Sherbrooke University in 
Quebec, Canada)
DIRECTIONS: Urban Academy, 317 E. 67th Street, between first and second 
Avenues, take the 6 train 68th Street/Hunter College.

If you cannot participate in person, you can follow the action online at 
http://fsm2009.mayfirst.org/.

  The workshop is designed to be inter-generational. The NYC location is 
being held at Urban Academy and will include a high school student 
contigent. Similarly, the Sherbrooke location will draw heavily from 
Sherbrooke University students.

All ages are welcome at all locations.

The workshop will be based on our Internet rights workshop, presented at 
the US Social Forum and several other conferences since then, in which 
we use the Internet itself to collaboratively build a common document. 
However, for this workshop we will be building a Hemispheric Economic 
plan, we will be operating in four languages, and we will have 
participants in three different cities.

The workshop is an attempt to start working on a model for collaboration 
among the people, movements and organizations of the Americas: to 
grapple with the differences in perceived economic needs and rights (and 
how those are prioritized) as well as culture and language and the 
basics of democratic collaboration. Many of the planners are hoping that 
this "model" can help contribute to collaborations of this type in many 
areas.

  Press release: 
http://openfsm.net/projects/fsm2009e-newyork/collaborative-democracy-press-release-en

== Indigenous Voices Screening: Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy ==

Indigenous Voices presents The Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy (2006, 94 
minutes), a documentary from Rich-Heape Films starring James Earl Jones, 
James Garner, and Wes Studi. The film explores America’s darkest period: 
President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the forced 
removal of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma in 1838. An open, online 
discussion between New York and Belem follows the screening.

DATE: Thursday, January 29
TIME: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm America/New York time
LOCATIONS: Bluestockings Bookstore, New York City (with remote 
participants from the World Social Forum in Belem Brazil and the film 
producers in Dallas, Texas)
DIRECTIONS: Bluestockings: Allen and Rivington Street in the Lower East 
Side, take the F train to 2nd Avenue.

  Press release: 
http://firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/images/ivpr_12_28_2008.pdf