[Mar 29] COMMUNITY ANTI-WAR AND MILITARISM FORUM

Sunday, March 29, 2009
1PM - 4PM
Oakland Public Library
125 14th St.
Oakland, CA

(Translation in Spanish and childcare will be available)

For the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq - Unconventional Action in the Bay* will be hosting a radical anti-war discussion and organizing forum. Please join us!

The forum will be both educational and participatory, asking everyone there to participate in strategic planning to resist the impacts of war and militarization on our communities. This won't be a passive event; we'll be asking participants to think actively, creatively, and strategically about how radical anti-war organizing should move forward.

We will open with several speakers who will frame the issues we will be discussing, and will raise themes about how we are all being affected individually and collectively by living in a country that is on a permanent war footing.

The majority of the forum will then be spent in breakout groups, where we will hold facilitated conversations about different ways in which militarization affects our communities, and about new approaches to collective organizing. These groups will be led by experienced guest facilitators, who will help us use these discussions to come up with concrete organizing goals and strategies. Each group will then report back on their discussions to the larger group.

These conversations will be held on the following topics:

• Militarization of Police and the War on Immigrants
• Corporate War Profiteering
• The Militarization of Culture and Everyday Life

Speakers and guest facilitators will include:

• Antonia Juhasz (author of The Tyranny of Oil and The Bush Agenda)
• Matt Edwards (former conscientious objector and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War)
• David Solnit (activist, puppeteer, and co-author of Army of None)
• Hugh D’Andrade (artist, radical activist, and designer/activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• Members of SF Cop and Migra Busters!
• others to follow!

FREE vegan/vegetarian BARBEQUE at a nearby park after the forum.

Lets come together and build some new strategies for confronting the military machine!

Please come out, and please invite your friends and allies!

- Unconventional Action in the Bay

* This is an openly anarchist, anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist forum. You do not have to be an anarchist to attend. We welcome everyone interested, as long as they respect others' turns to speak and don’t try to co-opt the forum.

[Mar 29] Venezuela Youth Orchestra Documentary

VENEZUELA YOUTH ORCHESTRA DOCUMENTARY

Sunday, March 29 at 4 PM

The Dance Palace, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station

The Task Force on the Americas is hosting a free screening of Tocar y Luchar (To Play and To Fight). The documentary presents inspirational stories of world class musicians trained by the Venezuelan system, including the Berlin Philharmonic's youngest player Edicson Ruis and world renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Contains interviews with many of the world's most celebrated musicians, such as the great tenor Placido Domingo, Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Guiseppe Sinopoli, and Eduardo Mata.

For more information, call 415/663-8392.

[Mar 27] Muralist Report back from Lebanon and Palestine

Precita Eyes Muralist Presents…

Muralist Report back from Lebanon and Palestine

You are invited to join us for a report back on recent projects created in Palestine and Lebanon. In January 2009, artist from Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center traveled to these countries and worked with over a hundred community members in the creation of 6 monumental murals.

Friday March 27th 2009 7 to 9 p.m.

2981 24th St, San Francisco, CA. 94110
For more info call (415) 285-2287
Or visit www.Precitaeyes.org

[Mar 21] March against the war (SF)

March Against the War on March 21

Bring All the Troops Home Now!

During his presidential campaign, Obama's popularity soared with the promise that he would bring the troops home from Iraq within 16 months. But his recently announced plan would continue the illegal occupation indefinitely. It would leave up to 50,000 troops in that war-torn country for who knows how many years. And it would delay the withdrawal of the first batch of troops for 18 months. The remaining forces would no longer be called "combat troops" but rather "advisory and assistance brigades". Make no mistake, all U.S. troops are "combat troops" and these forces, along with thousands of U.S. contractors and mercenaries are to remain to staff U.S. bases and the mega-Embassy, shore up the puppet government, conduct "counter insurgency" operations, and ensure continued protection of US economic interests. The numbers can go up or down at any time and the draw down time-table can be revised.

"When President Obama said we were going to get out within 16 months, some people heard, 'get out,' and everyone's gone. But that is not going to happen," said a senior military officer.

This plan doesn't "leave Iraq to its people and responsibly end this war," as Obama claimed during his Feb. 24 Congressional address. Instead, it entrenches the U.S. in a brutal counter-insurgency war for oil that helped to bankrupt our country and sends an endless stream of Americans to continue dying and killing. It prolongs the U.S. policy of domination over Iraq, and the region.

At the same time, Secretary of Defense Gates and President Obama announced their plan to deploy an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan - that's a 50 percent increase - despite the fact that the Department of Defense has no exit strategy. Only 34% of the American people approved this move, according to a CBS/Washington Post Feb. 17 poll. And the U.S. is expanding the covert war run by the CIA inside neighboring Pakistan with increasing numbers of aerial bombing attacks. President Obama is maintaining the fundamental strategic orientation by keeping the Bush team - Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Generals Petraeus and Odierno - on the job to oversee and manage the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations.

We don't need phony time-tables for withdrawal some day. We demand Out Now! Let the people of these nations determine their own destiny and control their own resources.

The U.S. government, the American people, the Afghanis, and the Iraqi people need to hear our voices of opposition on March 21!

We cannot afford another quagmire.

Please join us in Washington, SF, and LA on March 21!

Meanwhile, the U.S.-funded occupation and blockade of Gaza continues after a brutal weeks-long assault in which over 1,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians including 412 children, were killed, and the economy and infrastructure were destroyed. Even United Nations schools, food storage warehouses, and shelters were not spared from the onslaught of human rights crimes and violations of international law. Even now, the Israeli government refuses to open the borders to allow humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials. At the same time, plans to add 73,000 units to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank have accelerated.

The people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine are struggling to rid themselves of deadly, racist occupations. Let us stand together with them, and say:

Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine; Occupation is a Crime!

The March 21 united mass actions are also needed to connect the massive war funding to the economic meltdown - to demand jobs for all; a moratorium on foreclosures; rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure; guaranteed, quality health care for all; quality education, an end to the ICE raids and deportations; and funding for sorely needed social programs. So long as trillions of dollars continue to be spent on wars, occupations, and bailouts to the banks and corporate elite, the domestic needs of the people of the U.S. can never be met.

The National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations has joined a broadening alliance of hundreds of coalitions, organizations, and networks in a united MARCH 21 NATIONAL COALITION to mobilize people across the United States to take part in a March on the Pentagon on the sixth year of the military invasion and occupation of the Iraq War: Saturday, March 21. Demonstrations will also be held on that date in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities across the U.S.

Bring ALL the Troops Home NOW!

Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!

End U.S. support for the occupation of Palestine!

No war on Iran or Pakistan!

For updated information on the March 21demonstrations (buses, flyers, endorsers, etc.), and the coalition, including labor unions, peace and anti-war groups, student, veterans' and community groups and more, go to www.pentagonmarch.org

For more information about the National Assembly, visit our website: www.natassembly.org

The actions are needed to assure the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and other countries threatened by Washington's expansionist policies that tens of millions of people in this country support their right to settle their own destinies without U.S. interventions, occupations and murderous wars. International law recognizes - and we demand - that the U.S. respect the right to self-determination. We reject any notion that the U.S. is the world's self-appointed cop.

[Mar 19] March and Rally to End the War (SF)

[Mar 19] Demonstration: War in Irak/War against youth of color (SF)

[English below]

Para el 6to Aniversario de la Guerra en Iraq

ven con nosotr@s para demostrar y resistir

la Guerra Local contra In/migrantes y Jovenes de Color

La guerra en Iraq y la guerra local contra gente de color son inseparablemente relacionados. Este 19 de marzo, planeamos tener una demostración divertida para destacar las relaciones entre estas dos guerras.

Campañas electorales no terminarán ambas injusticias porque son parte del mismo sistema opresivo. ¡La guerra en Iraq y la guerra contra nuestr@s jovenes y gente in/migrante no terminarán hasta que nos levantemos y digamos ¡Ya Basta!

Seguimos buscando organizaciones para trabajar con nosotros en este evento. Por favor juntense con nosotr@s para levantar animo y movimiento para las acciones del Primero de Mayo en 2009. Pongase en contacto con uainthebay@gmail.com si tiene pregunta o si quiere volantes.

El programa incluye- Comida, Musica, Teatro, Película y Platica sobre:

- Reclutamiento en las prepas para el militar,

JROTC

-Centros de Detención que abusan a las familias

In/migrantes (breve documental sobre Hutto,

centro de detencion en Texas)

-Nuevas leyes conta pandiller@s

-La Guerra en Iraq

Patrocinadores hasta ahora:

*Policia y Migra Cachadores: Grupo abolicionista recien formado para crear una red de la comunidad contra la Migra y abusos de la policia, (antes llamado SF Copwatch).

*SF Comida No Bombas

*Acción No Convencional en la Bahía: Grupo anarquista recientemente formado para combatir abiertamente el capitalismo y para construir una comunidad unida. www.uainthebay.org

*ARCO, Accion y Resistencia Colectiva: Zapatista colectiva local

Jueves 19 de Marzo

3:30 PM en la estacion del BART, calle16^th y la Mission

(Junta organizativa: proximo Martes 10, 7pm, en Cafe le Boheme, Calle 24)

For the 6th Anniversary of the War in Iraq,

join us to demonstrate and resist against the

War at Home against im/migrants and Youth of Color!

The war in Iraq and the war at home against people of color are inseparably related. This March 19^th, we plan to hold a demonstration and rally to highlight the relationships between these two wars. Electoral campaigns will not end either of these injustices because they are part of the same oppressive system. The war in Iraq and the war against our youth will not end until we rise up and demand enough is enough!

Please join us in a great momentum-builder for May 1^st actions. We are currently looking for organizations to work with us on this event. Meet with us next Tues, 3/10 at Cafe la Boheme on 24^th St, SF to get involved. Contact uainthebay@gmail.com for questions, info, or flyers.

Preliminary program includes film, food, theater, speakers and rally addressing:

- High School Military Recruitment, JROTC

- Immigrant Detention Facility Abuses

(film on Hutto, im/migrant family detention center in Texas)

- Gang Injunction Laws

- The Iraq War

Sponsors so far:

*ARCO- Collective Action and Resistance: Local Zapatista Collective

*Cop & Migra Busters: Prison abolitionist group building a community response network against ICE raids and police misconduct.

*SF Food Not Bombs

*Unconventional Action in the Bay: Openly anarchist group recently formed to combat capitalism and build community. www.uainthebay.org

Thursday March 19th

3:30 PM at 16^th and Mission BART station

(Organizing Meeting, Tuesday March 10^rd, Cafe le Boheme on 24^th near Mission St. 7pm)

[Mar 8] Fundraiser for Palestinian Unions (Oakland)