Tidbits - February 24, 2013

Recent Problems with Portside Delivery. Readers' Comments on: Roots of Poverty; Israel, Palestine and the Oscars; Friday Nite Videos; `Demographics' Are Not Simply Passive Numbers; Do You Know Genetics; Big Labor's Lock 'Em Up Mentality; Oscar Nominee `Invisible War'; Portside should use Facebook page more. Announcements - upcoming events in New York, Bay Area, Chicago and Washington, DC

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Many readers have contacted us to report that they only received some of our normal five messages per day (one per day for Portside Labor) over the last two days.
We believe the problem is corrected as of this evening.
This problem was an accidental byproduct of our efforts to monitor and fix problems in email delivery experienced by a small fraction of our subscribers over the last month. We apologize for the problem.
All Portside messages are on the Portside website. Below are links to the messages that were sent out over the past two days. messages can always be found by going to the Portside archives - http://portside.org/archive
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013
Labor Portside:
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013
Labor Portside:
 
Claire Carsman signed a paragraph claiming a CDC program supporting children and women during war ll existed. there was a lanham act funding money but CDC stands for centers for disease control. how do i get more information?
 
Thomas Freund
 
Claire Carsman responds:
 
CDC stands for Child Development Centers.  I was a director of those programs both in Paramount Unified School District and Los Angeles Office of Education.  Additionally, I attended one in Brooklyn in the 40's.  It was the Lanham Act and when it expired it was left up to the states to continue them.  California and some others did.  CA also has 4-yr-old  State Prechool program, which I also directed.  Funding has been cut tremendously starting before I retired 10 years ago and continuing.  We never had enough money to serve all the people who needed it and qualified for it.  It's much worse now.
 
Thomas Freund responds:
 
thank you for obtaining the amplification. it is my impression but not knowledge that funding today for child development centers could not be obtained through the lantham act and we need fresh legislation to reactivate and properly fund child centers. 
 
 
 
These Palestinians experienced in LA, USA what others experience everyday in the West Bank.....
 
Juanita Rodriguez 
 
==========
 
 
I love "Bugger the Bankers," and the Daily Show skit, as well. Thank you!!!
 
Greg King
 
 
 
The article on Demographics as it affected the recent Presidential election by Bill Fletcher jr. was a great analysis. I thought it was amazing how long people stayed in line in order to vote. And thank heavens they did! It was a kind of positive stubbornness to exercise their right to vote. It underlines however how important and necessary changes are to ensure that every person can easily exercise their right to vote so that the democratic system is preserved.
 
Laurel MacDowell
 
 
 
I bow to their knowledge of their own field of genetics, but chide Dr. Rivard and her group of budding scientists for what appears to be social blindness. Their "Common Misperceptions" page is silent on the most common misperception: That Whites have better genes than minorities (except for the ideal minority group, Asians), and that it would be good to "weed out" bad genes which are bringing down modern society. This myth has persisted since the early days of science (is likely as old as humans forming in-groups). This red thread can be found from day one in the field of psychology. A dozen years ago I resigned from the American Psychological Association because its public "article of the month" was one purporting to show that whites have better genes and then defending that article under the guise of academic freedom."
 
Oddly, the web site has a page on genetic determinism (http://knowgenetics.org/history-of-eugenics/) that concludes: "The eugenics movement in the U.S. slowly lost favor over time and was waning by the start of World War II. When the horrors of Nazi Germany became apparent, as well as Hitler's use of eugenic principles to justify the atrocities, eugenics lost all credibility as a field of study or even an ideal that should be pursued."
 
How they can reach this optimistic conclusion is incomprehensible! To the contrary, eugenics is alive and well in our society. Consider Roger Hedgecock, ex-San Diego mayor, now talk show host (http://aattp.org/right-wing-gasbag-dumb-people-reproducing-is-making-so…) recently quoting exactly this type of propaganda: http://dhayton.haverford.edu/2012/11/20/dawn-of-the-living-genetic-mate…
 
Hedgecock's comments are not an aberration, they are part and parcel of much of our society. It is a core driver of the Tea Party movement and much of conservative thinking. Ironically, Dr Rivard and group work out of the University of San Diego, so they should be well aware of the genetic determinist context in which they exist, and should be addressing it.
 
The site also appears silent on epigenetics research, which has revolutionized the notion of genetic determinism, and makes it clear that ideas such as one population having better genes than another is nonsense. Why that silence? I sincerely hope Dr Rivard and group address this issue directly and with the same passion they have for the rest of their field. They cannot ignore the implications of the concept of genetic determinism.
 
Howard Zinn said it: You can't be neutral on a moving train. To Dr Rivard and group, I am sure you are great well-intended people excited about your field but with all due respect: Wake up! Your good science continues to be used for destructive, hateful purposes. Confront that head-on or you are part of the problem.
 
Kind Regards
 
Daniel Jordan, PhD, ABPP
 
 
 
The whole point of unions was to provide humane treatment of it's people.  It should also be noted that they need to treat people humanely.  A union among police and prison guards should never be allowed.  They are suppose to be about serving society.  All to often they become an authority about their own needs.  They start to tell society what they are about and what the law is as they see it.  No, they need CIVILIAN supervision but just where is there this supervision?  They cry they can't do their job under CIVILIAN supervision.  No police force allows CIVILIAN supervision normally.  When it is applied it's usually by federal government imposition.  Cops and guards need CIVILIAN supervision first then allow them unions.
 
Ron Hennig
 
 
 
Military rape doesn't just affect women in the military, and these women also need help because the military protects the rapist no matter what.
 
You may want to look at this site and story. Women need to know not to trust NCIS, SAPRO or the military when reporting rapes. http://www.theusmarinesrape.com/HateWoman.html
 
justiceday
 
 
 
I just noticed that you are starting to use the FB page.  I've sent out to many of my FB friends already.  I think you'll find that your reach can grow VERY quickly using FB.  And we need it to grow!  Please keep the FB page updated, and welcome out of the Listserve dark ages!
 
You should mention the FB page in your next email, to perhaps move some of this following over there.
 
Thanks!
 
Luke Held
Seattle
 
 
 
 
The Centre for Secular Space and the Gender Studies Program at the New School present a panel to launch DOUBLE BIND: The Muslim Right, the Anglo- American Left, and Universal Human Rights by Meredith Tax
 
Friday March 1, 2013
7-9 PM
Wollman Hall, 65 W. 11th St., 5th flr. 
 
MODERATOR
ANN SNITOW, Director of Gender Studies at the New School
 
PANELISTS
ANISSA HE'LIE, Assistant Professor at John Jay & former Coordinator of Women Living Under Muslim Laws
MEREDITH TAX, author of Double Bind and US Director of the Centre for Secular Space
AFIYA SHEHRBANO ZIA, feminist researcher, writer and active member of the Women's Action Forum in Karachi
 
Seating is limited. To get on the list, RSVP to admin@centreforsecularspace.org.
Put RSVP NY launch in the subject line
 
On March 1 the Centre for Secular Space will launch its first publication, Double Bind: The Muslim Right, the Anglo-American Left, and Universal Human Rights by Meredith Tax.  Double Bind asks:
  • In a period of right wing attacks on Muslims - or people thought to be Muslims - how does one respond to human rights violations by the Muslim Right without feeding hate campaigns?
  • When US diplomats invoke the oppression of Muslim women to sanctify war, how do we practice feminist solidarity without strengthening Orientalism and neocolonialism?
  • When the US targets jihadis for assassination by drone, should human rights defenders worry about violations perpetrated by those same jihadis or focus on violations by the state?
Aimed at creating debate among progressive groups and human rights advocates, Double Bind examines salafi-jihadi history and ideas with particular emphasis on Cageprisoners, a UK organization set up to defend Guantanamo and other prisoners of the "war on terror."  It also discusses the antiwar movement and looks at five wrong ideas about the Muslim Right: 
  1. That it is anti-imperialist
  2. That "defense of Muslim lands" is comparable to national liberation struggles 
  3. That the problem is "Islamophobia"
  4. That terrorism is justified by revolutionary necessity
  5. That any feminist who criticizes the Muslim Right is an Orientalist ally of US imperialism
It argues for a politics of solidarity based not on identity politics but on universal human rights to enable the struggle against fundamentalism and neoliberalism.
 
 
 
This Saturday, March 2nd, SYRIZA-New York is holding a forum "Beyond Scapegoats and Moralism: Greece and the Global Crisis in Politics and Capitalism" at 4pm in Astoria, Queens, at 31-09 37th Street, between Broadway and 31st Avenue. (Take the N/Q to Broadway or the R to Steinway.) SYRIZA, the Coalition of the Radical Left, is the leading opposition party in Greece and is currently by a small margin the number one party in the polls.
 
In peace and solidarity,
 
Joanne Landy and Thomas Harrison
Co-Directors, CPD
 
 
 
HOW TO GET TO THE MARCH 2 MEETING:
Take the N/Q to Broadway or the R to Steinway.)
 
 
 
Jobs With Justice presents "Labor at the Crossroads" -- A community conversation with legendary labor and human rights activist Bill Fletcher Jr. Author of "They're Bankrupting Us, and 20 Other Myths About Unions."
 
Thursday, March 7th
6:30 book signing
7:00 program
Bayanihan Community Center
1010 Mission Street, SF (between 6th & 7th)
 
Donation requested
No one turned away for lack of funds
 
Co-sponsored by:
  • Jobs With Justice SF
  • San Francisco Labor Council
  • Labor and Community Studies Department CCSF
  • Center for Political Education, Local 2 HERE
Read Bill Fletcher's important and timely book so we can reassert the humanity of working people and help them stand against the larger societal forces that are trying to crush them. 
-Danny Glover, actor/activist
 
Featuring music from Dregs One and grassroots respondents from
People Organizing Winning Employment Rights; PODER, Filipino Community Center and Ourwalmart
 
Wheelchair accessible, translation and childcare available upon request (415) 596-7847
 
 
 
PERMANENT MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS AND LEGACY OF 1911 TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE TO BE BUILT ON THE SITE OF THE HISTORIC FIRE-INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION NOW UNDERWAY
 
NEW YORK, New York - The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition (RTFC), a national organization comprised of more than 250 participating organizations, will announce the building of a grand national memorial to the victims and legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of 1911. The permanent arts memorial will be located at Washington Place and Greene Street in New York City's Greenwich Village -  the site of the historic fire which took the lives of 146 workers, mostly immigrant women and girls.
 
Press conference to announce details of the international design competition for a permanent memorial to the workers, mostly young immigrant women, who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of 1911.
 
Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 10:30am-11:30am
 
Judson Church
55 Washington Sq. South
  • Mary Anne Trasciatti, Chair of the Board, Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition
  • Representatives from the community, labor, health and safety advocates, civic leaders and family members of the fire victims
  • Invited: New York City Council members Margaret Chin and Brad Lander
"This memorial will stand as a long overdue tribute to the fire's victims, and also as a symbol of workers' ongoing struggles for dignity and safety in the workplace," said Mary Anne Trasciatti, Chair of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. "A century after this most historic and tragic event, the nation will at last have a permanent memorial to honor and recognize `the fire that changed America.'"
The memorial design will be chosen through an international competition coordinated in cooperation with NYU, the owner of the building that housed the former Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and the New York Landmarks Preservation Council. The winning design will be chosen in a juried competition. The jury currently includes architects Daniel Libeskind, FAIA; Deborah Berke, FAIA; arts administrator, Wendy Feuer, Asst. Commissioner of Urban Design & Art, NYC Dept. of Transportation; labor historian Richard Greenwald, Academic Dean St. Joseph's College, Brooklyn.
 
"The Triangle Fire was a defining moment in our city's - and our country's - history," said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "Out of its ashes rose some of the most important reforms of the Progressive Era, and a new public commitment to workplace safety. But even 100 years later, it is not the fire that deserves to be remembered so much as the 146 victims - and I want to thank the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition for helping to honor their memories."
 
Design competition finalists will be awarded cash prizes. Underwriters include: United College Employees of the Fashion Institute of Technology (UCE-FIT), Workers United/SEIU, Garment Industry Development Corporation (GIDC), Safety Executives of New York (SENY), Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) NYC Chapter. Media sponsor is Metropolis Magazine.
 
About the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition
 
The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, a grassroots organization, was formed in 2008 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 2011. The Coalition spearheaded educational programs, activist events, and arts programs nationwide for the Triangle Fire Centennial in collaboration with over 250 participating organizations and is now leading the effort to erect a permanent Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial.
 
About the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
 
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire took place on March 25, 1911. The fire burned through the 8th, 9th and 10th floors of the Asch Building, now known as NYU's Brown Building, located just one block east of New York's Washington Square Park. People on the street watched in horror as workers - left with no escape and unable to be reached by fire department ladders that extended only to the 6th floor - jumped out the windows. One hundred forty-six (146) workers, mostly young, immigrant women, perished. There was a trial but the owners, long known for leading opposition to safety regulation and for anti-union activities, were acquitted. The fire became a rallying cry for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) and the international labor movement as a whole. Many of the labor and fire safety laws that protect us to this day were created in response to this tragic event.
 
For more information contact: Becky Dalzell
Phone: (718) 715-0513
 
 
 
The Chicago Public Library presents a new exhibition recognizing the life and work of the late Reverend Addie L. Wyatt, who served as co-pastor of Chicago's Vernon Park Church of God with her husband Rev. Claude Wyatt Jr., and was one of the leading human rights activists in 20th century America. Faith in the Struggle: Rev. Addie Wyatt's Fight for Labor, Civil Rights and Women's Rights opens on Saturday, March 23, 1:00 pm in the exhibit gallery at Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted St. Faith in the Struggle runs through February 2014.
 
Illinois Labor History Society
 
 
 
On Thursday evening, March 28 in Washington DC, The Young People's Project, Teaching for Change, SNCC Legacy Project and Busboys and Poets will be hosting private reception at Busboys and Poets: Critical Literacies: An Intimate Discussion with Bob Moses and Junot Díaz.*
 
Please join us for an intimate discussion with MacArthur "Genius", Civil Rights icon and Algebra Project founder Bob Moses and Pulitzer Prize winning author, MacArthur "Genius" and YPP Board Member Junot Díaz.
 
The reception will feature a book signing followed by a short talk and Q&A session with Bob and Junot regarding their views on the importance of traditional and mathematical literacies, as it relates in particular to the definition of 21st Century "Constitutional" American citizenry. 
 
Thursday March 28, 2013 from 5-7pm 
 
Busboys and Poets
2021 14th St. NW
Washington, DC  20009
 
Ticket Price: $50 
(100% of proceeds will support the development of great Math Literacy Workers in Mississippi)
 
Light appetizers and a Cash Bar will be provided   
 
* The private reception will be immediately followed by a public book reading.
Tickets are limited so please purchase them early, & please pass this announcement to others in the DC area.
 
We look forward to seeing you there. 
 
- Albert Sykes (YPP Mississippi)
- Marquis Lowe (YPP Mississippi)
- Maisha Moses (YPP Co-Director)
- Omo Moses (YPP Co-Director)
 
 
 

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