Beyond Chicanismo Presents

Beyond Chicanismo Presents: The Continuing Movement for Farmworker Justice: Tomatoes, Human Rights and Fast-Food Fights.

DATE: Tuesday, April 1st

TIME: 11:30 am

PLACE: Auraria Campus-Tivoli Room 440

WHO: Romeo Ramirez from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Recipient of the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award-and Marc Rodriguez from the Student/Farmworker AllianceWHAT: An engaging presentation about the struggle of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to end modern-day slavery and sweatshop conditions in Florida agriculture and hold the fast-food industry accountable.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Sponsored by: Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza, MEChA de Auraria and the Denver Fair Food Committee.

Fight on the Mexican side! St. Patrick’s Battalion by David Rovics

Longest Walk

RAIMD denounces senseless killing of 30 Buffalo

RAIMD denounces the senseless killing of 30 Buffalo near Fairplay Colorado. (1) RAIMD suspects that Amerikkkans with no respect for life are involved in this incident. This senseless act is an attack on Native peoples, the environment, and human decency.

Notes.

1. http://cheyennefreedom.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/in-the-denver-news-buffalo-shot-killed-in-park-county/

A lil’ bit of organizational theory from Jo Freeman (aka Joreen)

‘The Tyranny of Structurelessness’

by Jo Freeman (1970)

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During the years in which the women’s liberation movement has been taking shape, a great emphasis has been placed on what are called leaderless, structureless groups as the main form of the movement. The source of this idea was a natural reaction against the overstructured society in which most of us found ourselves, the inevitable control this gave others over our lives, and the continual elitism of the Left and similar groups among those who were supposedly fighting this over-structuredness.The idea of ’structurelessness’, however, has moved from a healthy counter to these tendencies to becoming a goddess in its own right. The idea is as little examined as the term is much used, but it has become an intrinsic and unquestioned part of women’s liberation ideology. For the early development of the movement this did not much matter. It early defined its main method as consciousness-raising, and the ’structureless rap group’ was an excellent means to this end. Its looseness and informality encouraged participation in discussion and the often supportive atmosphere elicited personal insight. If nothing more concrete than personal insight ever resulted from these groups, that did not much matter, because their purpose did not really extend beyond this.

The basic problems didn’t appear until individual rap groups exhausted the virtues of consciousness-raising and decided they wanted to do some- thing more specific. At this point they usually floundered because most groups were unwilling to change their structure when they changed their task. Women had thoroughly accepted the idea of ’structurelessness’ without realising the limitations of its uses. People would try to use the ’structureless’ group and the informal conference for purposes for which they were unsuitable out of a blind belief that no other means could possibly be anything but oppressive.

If the movement is to move beyond these elementary stages of development, it will have to disabuse itself of some of its prejudices about organisation and structure. There is nothing inherently bad about either of these. They can be and often are misused, but to reject them out of hand because they are misused is to deny ourselves the necessary tools to further development. We need to understand why ’structurelessness’ does not work.

Formal and Informal Structures

Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a ’structureless’ group. Any group of people of whatever nature coming together for any length of time, for any purpose, will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. The structure may be flexible, it may vary over time, it may evenly or unevenly distribute tasks, power and resources over the members of the group. But it will be formed regardless of the abilities, personalities and intentions of the people involved. The very fact that we are individuals with different talents, predisposition’s and backgrounds makes this inevitable. Only if we refused to relate or interact on any basis whatsoever could we approximate ’structurelessness’ and that is not the nature of a human group.

This means that to strive for a ’structureless’ group is as useful and as deceptive, as to aim at an ‘objective’ news story, ‘value-free’ social science or a ‘free’ economy. A ‘laissez-faire’ group is about as realistic as a ‘laissez-faire’ society; the idea becomes a smokescreen for the strong or the lucky to establish unquestioned hegemony over others. This hegemony can easily be established because the idea of ’structurelessness’ does not prevent the formation of informal structures, but only formal ones. Similarly, ‘laissez-faire’ philosophy did not prevent the economically powerful from establishing control over wages, prices and distribution of goods; it only prevented the government from doing so. Thus ’structurelessness’ becomes a way of masking power, and within the women’s movement it is usually most strongly advocated by those who are the most powerful (whether they are conscious of their power or not). The rules of how decisions are made are known only to a few and awareness of power is curtailed by those who know the rules, as long as the structure of the group is informal. Those who do not know the rules and are not chosen for initiation must remain in confusion, or suffer from paranoid delusions that something is happening of which they are not quite aware.

For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit. The rules of decision-making must be open and available to everyone, and this can only happen if they are formalised. This is not to say that normalisation of a group structure will destroy the informal structure. It usually doesn’t. But it does hinder the informal structure from having predominant control and makes available some means of attacking it. ‘Structurelessness’ is organisationally impossible. We cannot decide whether to have a structured or structureless group; only whether or not to have a formally structured one. Therefore, the word will not be used any longer except to refer to the idea which it represents. Unstructured will refer to those groups which have not been deliberately structured in a particular manner. Structured will refer to those which have. A structured group always has a formal structure, and may also have an informal one. An unstructured group always has an informal , or covert, structure. It is this informal structure, particularly in unstructured groups, which forms the basis for elites.

The Nature of Elitism

‘Elitist’ is probably the most abused word in the women’s liberation movement. It is used as frequently, and for the same reasons, as ‘pinko’ was in the ’50s. It is never used correctly…

Read on

Happy Fifth Anniversary US Soldiers!

 From Try-works:

(Thanks to Rolanda.)

Try-works:Happy Fifth Anniversary Iraqi Civilians!

From Try-works:

(Thanks to Rolanda.)

Dead Prez: They School

Join the Recreate 68 Spy Camera Hunt

Recreate 68 presents:

The Great Easter Spy Camera Hunt. Forget the Eggs. Join a Team to Find and Tag Surveillance Cameras in downtown Denver And Then Join a Pre-Festival of Democracy Pot-Luck Picnic in Civic Center Park.

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 12:30 PM MEET AT SKYLINE PARK, SIXTEENTH AND ARAPAHOE HUNT FOR CAMERAS FROM 1 – 3 THE TEAM THAT FINDS THE MOST CAMERAS GETS A PRIZE POT-LUCK PICNIC AT CIVIC CENTER PARK AT 3:00 PM

The city of Denver has installed and is installing surveillance cameras in anticipation of the DNC. Big Brother is watching You. Now Watch Him.

International: $300 Million from Venezuela to Colombian Rebels a Fake

March 8th 2008, by Greg Palast - OurFuture.org

Do you believe this?

This past weekend, Colombia invaded Ecuador, killed a guerrilla chief in the jungle, opened his laptop – and what did the Colombians find? A message to Hugo Chavez that he’s sent the FARC guerrillas $300 million – which they’re using to obtain uranium to make a dirty bomb!

That’s what George Bush tells us. And he got that from his buddy, the strange right-wing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.

So: After the fact, Colombia justifies its attempt to provoke a border war as a to stop the threat of WMDs! Uh, where have we heard that before?

The US press snorted up this line about Chavez’ $300 million to “terrorists” quicker than the young Bush inhaling Colombia’s powdered export.

Read the rest here

Upcoming Anti-War Protests

Boulder: Saturday, 15th. Rally at 11 a.m. at the Main Branch, Boulder Public Library Lawn (Canyon between 9th and Broadway), followed by a march.

Denver: Sunday, 16th. Rally at 1:30 at the West Steps of the State Capitol.

Why?

Why?

From: Maoistický studijní krouže

Saves us the trouble of jumpin’ him in.

Saves us the trouble of jumpin’ him in.

Amerikkkans blow up kittens in Iraq.

Fuck the troops: Amerikkkan sadists kill puppies in Iraq

Amerikkkans hardly have any sympathy for Iraqi dead. Amerikkkans have more sympathy for puppies than Third World humans. Amerikkkan heroes bravely throw puppies off of cliffs in Iraq. Typical.

UPDATE: Tryworks has informed us that youtube is pulling this video. Download it if you can. We will try to keep this video up and running as long as possible. According to the Army Times, online threats urge people to “make him pay” for throwing the puppy off the cliff.

UPDATE: Okay, Tryworks has upped the ante. They’ve found a video of brave Amerikkkan troops torturing a wounded dog.

We are offering an honorary RAIM-D membership to anyone who can find video of U$ heroes in Iraq setting kittens on fire.

Beyond Chicanismo talk at MSCD

EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT, EVENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEYOND CHICANISMO PRESENTS: 

¡CHALLENGING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: ALTERNATIVE MEDIA, HUMAN RIGHT’S AND SELF-DETERMINATION!

FEATURING SIMÓN SEDILLO.

____________________________________________________________________________________

SIMÓN SEDILLO TO SPEAK AT AURARIA CAMPUS.

WHO:    Simón Sedillo is a community based human rights film-maker whose work has centered on placing skills, cameras and editing equipment in the hands of communities in resistance so that they may be able to document their own histories and human rights situation. Sedillo has spent the last 6 years documenting and teaching community based video documentation in indigenous communities in Oaxaca, in immigrant communities in the US, and with youth of color across the US.

In Oaxaca, Sedillo has been working with The Committee Organized in Defense of the People’s Rights (CODEP), and The Oaxacan Popular Magonista Antineoliberal Coordination (COMPA), both predecessors of APPO (the Oaxacan People’s Popular Assembly). Sedillo collaborated with the Austin Independent Media Center and COMPA on the 2005 production of “El Enemigo Comun”, which documents the birth of COMPA and its resistance to paramilitary activity in Oaxaca from 2001 - 2005. In March of 2007, Sedillo facilitated the co-production of “El Machete- La Lucha por el Poder Popular” a documentary showing the day to day struggles for land, water, crops and transportation, filmed and edited by indigenous women and youth from Oaxaca. Sedillo’s work in Oaxaca has contributed to the liberation of 21 political prisoners, and has continued to support several international human rights campaigns.

Today Sedillo shares some experiences and perspective for international audiences in the US and Europe, on the local and global implications of the Oaxacan people’s struggle. Through lectures, workshops, and screenings Sedillo helps open a powerful space for dialogue on the effects of neoliberalism on indigenous communities in Oaxaca, immigrant communities around the world, and communities of color in the US. Through collaborative media projects, Sedillo’s work has contributed to a growing network of community based media activism whose primary objective is to share, teach, and learn from one another, about popular community based resistance and the collective construction of horizontal networks of popular power.

WHAT:    A discussion on Challenging International Solidarity: Alternative Media, Human Right’s, and Self-Determination.

 

WHERE:    AURARIA CAMPUS, TIVOLI ROOM 320 B&C.

 

DATE & TIME:    THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2008. 11:30 A.M. TO 2:30 P.M.

 

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Sponsored by: Conscious Journey, Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza,

and the MSCD Department of Chicana/o Studies.