Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.25.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     09.25.05

1. Superior hiking       9.25 12noon Duluth
2. Pike's Dakota treaty  9.25 12:30pm
3. Cam Gordon/GP meet    9.25 1/3pm
4. Make a clay city      9.25 1pm
5. Justice/nonviolence   9.25 2pm
6. GPSP CC               9.25 4pm
7. KFAI/Indian Uprising  9.25 4pm

8. Women's health conf   9.26 8:30am
9. Children's health cf  9.26-27 8:30am
10. KFAI/health notes    9.26 9am
11. KFAI/library/Katrina 9.26 11am
12. NWA strike           9.26 12noon
13. Toxins in S Mpls     9.26 7pm
14. Augustana Homes AI   9.26 7pm
15. Cmdr in chief/DVD    9.26 7:15pm

16. Sale/Naylor   - Secession from the empire: the Middlebury Declaration
17. RogerBurbach  - Hugo Chavez's mission
18. Tony Stephens - Believer's nation suffers a crisis of faith
19. ed            - Bush levee

--------1 of 19--------

From: GibbsJudy [at] aol.com
Subject: Superior hiking 9.25 12noon Duluth

The Superior Hiking Trail seeks to build 40 miles of trail within the City
of Duluth. 14 miles are being constructed this season and you can help! No
experience is necessary, tools provided, but bring a lunch and plenty of
water. For more information contact Judy at 218-391-0886 or
gibbsjudy [at] aol.com. You can also go to the website at www.shta.org and
click on the Duluth Section for more details.
 Sunday. Sept 25, 12-5 pm Meet at junction of 123rd Ave. West and Beck's
(Midway) Rd.
 Wednesday, Sept 28, 10-3 pm Meet at junction of 28th Ave West and West
12th Street.
 Thursday, Sept 29, 10-3 pm Meet at pull off on Haines Road just north of
intersection with Skyline Parkway.
 Friday, Sept 30, 10-3 pm Meet at pull off on Haines Road just north of
intersection with Skyline Parkway.

Judy Gibbs 5875 North Shore Drive Duluth, MN 55804 218-728-9827
218-391-0886 (mobile)


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From: Daniel P. Brown <dpbrown [at] pressenter.com>
Subject: Pike's Dakota treaty 9.25 12:30pm

Exploring Pike
A conference marking the 200th anniversary of Lt. Zebulon Pike's journey
to Minnesota and the signing of Pike's 1805 treaty with the Dakota

Sunday, September 25 12:30-5:00, Fort Snelling History Center Auditorium
Admission is FREE. Seating is plentiful.

Two hundred years ago, on September 21, Lt. Zebulon Pike led a detachment
of soldiers of the U.S. Army by boat to the mouth of the Minnesota River,
where he camped on an island that now bears his name. On September 23,
1805, Pike signed a treaty with the Dakota purchasing thousands of acres
of land around the mouths of the Minnesota and St. Croix Rivers with the
Mississippi, including the eventual location of Fort Snelling and some of
Minneapolis and St.  Paul. Minnesota has never been the same since. This
one-day event will explore in depth the details and consequences of Pike's
expedition and his treaty for Dakota people, and for Americans in general.

[Poking a peck of pique at Pike's pick. -ed]

Program
 12:30: Gathering
 1:00: "Seasons of Discovery: Zebulon Pike's 1805-06 Mississippi
Headwaters Expedition." Douglas A. Birk, Archaeologist and Ethnohistorian
 1:30: "The Dakota People in 1805." Carolyn Anderson, Anthropology
Department, St. Olaf College
 2:00: "U.S. Government Indian Policy at the Time of Pike's Expedition."
David Woodard, History Department, Concordia University, St. Paul
 2:30-2:45: Discussion
 2:45-3:00: Coffee Break
 3:00: "Pike's Treaty of 1805 and Its Meaning for Dakota People and for
Americans, in the Past and Today." David Larsen, Lower Sioux Indian
Community; Chris Mato Nunpa, Southwest State University, Marshall; Bill
Means, International Indian Treaty Council; Jim Anderson, Mendota Dakota
Community; Howard J. Vogel, Hamline University School of Law

Also featured at the conference: "Pike's Geography of Death in the Upper
Mississippi." Video presentation by Jeremy Hubbell, History Department,
State University of New York, Stony Brook

How to get there: Fort Snelling History Center auditorium is located at
the junction of Minnesota Highways 5 and 55, one mile east of the Twin
Cities International Airport. For more information see:
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hfs/, or call 612-726-1171.

Sponsors: Pilot Knob Preservation Association (651-310-0601); Mendota
Mdewakanton Dakota Community (651-452-4141); Friends of the Henry H.
Sibley Historic Site, Mendota; Minnesota Archaeological Society.


--------3 of 19--------

From: Stephen Eisenmenger <Stephen [at] MNGreens.org>
Subject: Cam Gordon/GP meet 9.25 1/3pm

1pm Lit Drop & Doorknock starting at Van Cleve Park* 09.25.05
Join Cam this Sunday for Doorknocking and Lit-dropping in Southeast Como
Meet at Van Cleve Park at 1 pm

...and then come back for the...
Next Local Green Party Membership Meeting
Sunday, September 25th
3-5pm
Van Cleve Rec Center
901-15th Ave SE
Minneapolis
Agenda:
1-2:30pm Lit Drop for Cam Gordon and Citywide candidates
3-5pm Membership Meeting


--------4 of 19--------

From: Aaron Neumann <aaron [at] voteneumann.org>
Subject: Make a clay city 9.25 1pm

On Sunday September 25 from 1-4pm AARON NEUMANN will host a free family
art making day with kids and families from the North, Northeast and
Southeast Minneapolis neighborhoods of Ward 3.

We're going to build a great big "gigantoid' little clay city. You will
make little clay houses in a Sunday afternoon clay workshop with world
famous Northeast Artist Aldo Moroni The clay and the treats are free and
were going to have a lot of fun. All of our little houses will join
together to create MINIATUREAPOLIS, Our Neighborhood! Come on down and
have some creative fun as you meet your neighbors and our Green Party
3rd Ward Candidate

It's all happening at Aldo Moroni's Studios and the California Building
Gallery located at 2205 California Street NE, Minneapolis. Treats will
be served courtesy of the Mill City Cafe.

Aaron Neumann is a Green Party candidate focused on the idea of building
neighborhoods. "Future Focus is a Green Party value," says Neumann,
"this campaign isn't about getting a job with a nice Downtown view, like
it might be for some career politicians, it's about leaving the world
fit for our great grand-children to inherent. It's about building a
legacy of a sustainable and peaceful city for many generations to enjoy.
This event is exemplifies our shared commitment to our children's future."

His friend Aldo Moroni is the artist best known for building tiny
neighborhoods in clay. Moroni has offered his family art making classes
for more than 30 years. He was a standard feature of the Stone Arch Arts
Festival. Kids and their families will join Moroni as they build
fantastic imaginary neighborhoods. It's a fun community building project
through hands on experience, best of all the kids get to keep their
little buildings!

Aaron Neumann is interested in building safe, family centered
neighborhoods in Minneapolis' Northside, Northeast and Southeast
communities. This is an example of how it really works. Neighbors share
their diverse family histories as they collaborate in creating an
imaginary city. Everyone is welcome its fun and its free! It's going to be
a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Join Us! Contact: Noelle 612 875 3253


--------5 of 19--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Justice/nonviolence 9.25 2pm

Sunday, September 25 2-4pm
Lenief Heimstead: Nonviolence in the Struggle for Justice
Acadia Cafe, 1931 Nicollet Avenue (Nicollet andFranklin) in Minneapolis

Samantha Smart
speakoutsisters [at] earthlink.net <mailto:speakoutsisters [at] earthlink.net>
Speak Out Sisters! brings women together across boundaries to
collectively analyze injustice and exploitation and forge our own
unique, creative, effective and joyful strategies for personal and
social transformation.
We create justice in the world by adopting a humanizing set of power
relations based on communality and love - join the WomanPower Revolution!


--------6 of 19--------

From: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
Subject: GPSP CC 9.25 4pm

Green Party of St Paul
Coordination Committee (CC) meeting
4pm Sunday, 9.25
Cahoots Coffee House
Selby Av 1/2 block E of Snelling in StPaul


--------7 of 19--------

From: Chris Spotted Eagle <chris [at] spottedeagle.org>
Subject: KFAI/Indian Uprising 9.25 4pm

KFAI's Indian Uprising for Sept 25

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN SONGS SUNG AND TAUGHT BY DR. LOUIS W. BALLARD, a
Quapaw Indian of Cherokee and French/Scottish ancestry is a preeminent
Native American composer and music educator. His works are performed
regularly by major symphony orchestras, choral societies, chamber music
ensembles, and ballet companies.  He is also a teacher and mentor for
students of music.

Among Dr. Ballard's most frequently performed works are: Scenes From
Indian Life for symphony orchestra; Incident At Wounded Knee for chamber
orchestra; Katchina Dances for cello and piano; Why The Duck Has A Short
Tail for narrator and symphony orchestra; Ritmo Indio for woodwind
quintet; Cacega Ayuwipi and Music For The Earth And Sky for Native
American instruments and standard percussion including numerous other
compositions.

Native American Indian Songs Taught by Louis W. Ballard include a
Guidebook with Two Audio CD's.  Contact New Southwest Music Publications
(bibliog., cultural notes, photos, compositions, resources), 110 pp. P.O.
Box 4552, Santa Fe, NM 87502-4552. The book and CD's are a "new and
improved upgrade." Southwest, "an Indian-owned and operated music
publishing company," was founded in 1970 by Louis and Ruth Ballard "to
meet the special needs of music educators and aficionados of Native
American music." www.nswmp.com, 505-986-3984.

* * * *
Indian Uprising is a one-half hour Public & Cultural Affairs radio program
for, by, and about Indigenous people & all their relations, broadcast each
Sunday at 4:00 p.m. over KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul.
Current programs are archived online after broadcast at www.kfai.org, for
two weeks.  Click Program Archives and scroll to Indian Uprising.


--------8 of 19--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Women's health conf 9.26 8:30am

September 26 - Women's Health Research Conference 2005.  8:30am-5pm

Here are some highlights:
 *Deborah E. Powell, Dean of the Medical School, keynote address on the
priorities on women's health in clinical research.
 *Dr. Anne L. Taylor, Professor of Medicine and current chair of the
Steering Committee for the African American Heart Failure Trial will speak
on gender data from AAHEFT.
 *Breakout sessions with topics pertaining to young women on: Risk &
Resilience Behaviors, Eating Disorders & Obesity, and Diabetes &
Cardiovascular Health.
 *Poster session with awards for outstanding research posters.

Online Abstract/Poster Submissions and registration available online at:
http://www.womenshealth.umn.edu

We encourage poster submissions on any topics related to women's health or
gender-specific research across the lifespan.

 Poster Topics Include but are not limited to:
 *Cardiovascular Health
 *Oncology
 *Sexual & Reproductive Health
 *Diabetes
 *Genetics
 *Quality of Life Including Violence Prevention
 *Neuroscience
 *Nutrition
 *Obstetrics and Gynecology
 *Mental Health
 *Adolescent Growth and Development

Abstract Submission Deadline: August 19, 2005
Posters presented at other conferences are eligible for submission.
Researchers, faculty, and clinicians from the Midwest are all encouraged
to attend.
Please contact wmhealth [at] umn.edu or 612-626-1125 if you have any questions.

Sponsored by: University of Minnesota Deborah E. Powell Center for Women's
Health, A Nationally Designated Center of Excellence.

There is no registration fee and lunch is provided with pre-registration.

The course is accredited by the UMN for 6.5 Continuing Medical Education
hours. Location: Radisson Metrodome, 615 Washington Avenue S.E.,
Minneapolis, MN


--------9 of 19--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Children's health conf 9.26-27 8:30am

September 26 - Building Healthy Communities for Children: The Physical and
Social Environments. Monday: 8:30am-4:15pm; Tuesday: 8am-5pm.

About the Conference:

This conference examines critical aspects of environments affecting the
health and well-being of children, from pre-conception to adolescents.
Conference plenary and concurrent sessions are organized around three
broad themes: the natural environment, the built environment and the
social environment, and around critical life stages. Special attention is
given to the diverse social contexts in which children live, learn, and
play.

Conference Goals:
  Identify new research findings that profile both threats and protective
factors in physical and social environments affecting children s health
through various life stages
  Describe ways to translate scientific evidence into actions to protect
and promote children s health
  Identify research gaps and potential intervention, research and policy
collaborations to address these gaps
  Describe ways to better communicate research evidence about risk and
protective factors in children s environments to the general public,
policymakers and community activists to prompt actions to promote and
protect children s health
  Develop collaborations linking research, concerned citizens and
communities to begin actions steps and new research initiatives to improve
children s natural, built and social environments

Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Robert D. Bullard is the Ware Distinguished Professor of Sociology and
Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta
University. He is a national expert on environmental justice and race and
the environment, having served on the US EPA National Environment Justice
Advisory Council, President Clinton s Transition Team in the Natural
Resources and Environment Cluster, and a planner of the 1st and 2nd
National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summits. He is the
author of 11 books (including Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and

8am-5pm
Environmental Quality; Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the
Grassroots; and Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities
of Color) that address environmental justice, environmental racism, urban
land use, facility permitting, community reinvestment, housing,
transportation, suburban sprawl and smart growth.

Sponsored by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Division
of Epidemiology and Community Health Maternal and Child Health Program
Location: Center for Continuing Education and Conference Center, 1890
Buford Avenue, University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus


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From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: KFAI/health notes 9.26 9am

Monday, Sept 26, 9-11am
Tune into a special edition of HEALTH NOTES, guest-hosted.produced by
Lydia Howell

A variety of topics of interst to the progressive community: more
analysis on KATRINA CATASTOPHE from a race/class persoective.  Local
voice: PHYLLIS WALKER, president of AFSME union of U of MN clerical
workers and a native of New Orleans. NEW Commentary by Pennsylvania death
Row dissident journalist MUMIA ABU JAMAL. UNDERSTANDING ISLAM through
RAMADAN: a conversation with ODA MAHOWISH


--------11 of 19--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: KFAI/library/Katrina 9.26 11am

LIVE:Conversations with Al McFarlane: The Public Policy Forum /is hosting
a show Monday September 26th at Sabathani Community Center, 310 East 38th
Street in South Minneapolis. We will be interviewing the finalists for the
Minneapolis Library Board seat as well as committee members from the MN
African American Hurricane Katrina Relief Collaboration.

BROADCAST on KFAI Radio 90.3fm Mpls 106.7fm St Paul


--------12 of 19--------

From: Solidarity Committee <nwasolidaritymsp [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: NWA strike 9.26 12noon

We are being joined in solidarity efforts by a new U of M Campus
Solidarity Committee, where students, faculty, and union leaders can both
work to support the strikers, and confront the two prominent scab hotels
on campus.  The Campus Solidarity Committee has planned a rally and picket
at the Radisson hotel where the scabs are housed.

RADISSON HOTEL; 615 WASHINGTON AVENUE SE at HARVARD ST. on the U of M East
Bank Campus.
MONDAY, September 26 at 12noon.


--------13 of 19--------

From: CarolGwood [at] aol.com
Subject: Toxins in S Mpls 9.26 7pm

TOXIC HAZARDS AND YOUR COMMUNITY
Monday September 26
7pm Matthews Center
2318 29 Av S Minneapolis

Worried About Your Exposure to Toxic Substances?

The Center for Public Health Education and Outreach at the University of
Minnesota School of Public Health and several neighborhood-based
organizations are pleased to offer free community education on the toxic
hazards that are present in South Minneapolis.  This second of four
sessions concerning toxins will cover:

Detailed information on toxins generated by transportation and power
generators.
This is the second of four sessions on toxic substances.
Toxins from combustion and characteristics of combustion related toxins.
Health impacts:  what are they and how to reduce them.
How to avoid expossure and risk
What individuals and communities can do to reduce combustion toxins

The goals of this series of workshops are to raise people's awareness
of toxic substances, promote risk reduction straategies, and emphasize the
fact that there are many easy things people can do to reduce and prevent
the effect of toxicants on their and their family's lives.

The workshop will be taught by Dr. William Toscano, Chair of the
Environmental Health Sciences division of the University of Minnesota
School fo Public Health.  There will be lots of opportunity to ask
questions and learn in an interactive way.  Don't miss this chance to
talk with one of the top Minnesota authorities on toxic exposures to you
and your family.  Free activities for children ages 4-10 provided by South
Minneapolis YMCA.

Future programs will include discussion about toxicants produced from:
Industrial activity (October 24th ) and Home and Garden activities
(November 28th).

For more information please contact Bernie at  Bernie [at] sng.org
Phone, 612-338-6205,x102, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

These programs are sponsored in part by a grant from the National
Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) as part of the Midwest
Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training.

Co-sponsored by the following organizations:
Seward Neighborhood Group
Longfellow Community Council
South Minneapolis YMCA

[Just remember - if you're willing to breathe it, the corps can dump it
into the air and be richer. Aren't you willing to compromise your health,
and the health of friends and loved ones, so that some super-deserving
rich families can be even richer? So they can realize the American Dream
of unaccountable vast private piles of lucre? Who knows, YOU may be the
next rich family, wallowing in more cash than you can make love to!  So,
breathe in! Umm, smell that money!! Injustice is 1000% American, if you
can be on the right end of it. - ed]


--------14 of 19--------

From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net>
Subject: Augustana Homes AI 9.26 7pm

There are several local Amnesty International groups in the Twin Cities
area. All of them are welcoming and would love to see interested people
get involved -- find the one that best fits your schedule or location:

Augustana Homes Seniors Group meets on Monday, September 26, from 7-8pm in
the party room of the 1020 Building, 1020 E 17th Street, Minneapolis. For
more information contact Ardes Johnson at 612/378-1166 or
johns779 [at] tc.umn.edu.


--------15 of 19--------

From: Cassaundra Adler <adler911 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Commander in chief/DVD 9.26 7:15pm

Please join Every Woman Votes! Twin Cities NOW, & The White House Project
to preview Commander in Chief.
Monday, September 26 at 7:15 pm
Boom! 401 East Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, 612.378.3188

Commander in Chief is a new show to be aired on ABC later this month
starring Geena Davis as the first female President. I was able to obtain a
DVD of the show from ABC to screen prior to air date. I have not seen the
show myself. I will view it for the first time on the 26th along with
everyone else.

Progressives, Greens, Independents, Democrats, Republicans and those not
affliated with any party might enjoy viewing, then discussing how policy
may, or may not, be different with a woman in the White House. If you do
not want to include the listing on your calendar of events so be it. This
country is so polarized by race, party belief, and class already. My
organization, Every Woman Votes! wants to include all voices in dialogue
about the importance of civil involvement.


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Secession from the Empire
The Middlebury Declaration
By KIRKPATRICK SALE and THOMAS NAYLOR
CounterPunch
September 24 / 25, 2005

In answer to a growing swell of interest in realistic responses to the
excesses of the present American empire, The Middlebury Institute has been
launched by a group of activists and professionals to promote the serious
study of separatism, secession, self-determination and similar
devolutionary trends and developments, on both national and international
scales.

We believe that, of the options open to those who would dissent from the
actions and institutions of a government grown too big and unwieldy and
its handmaiden corporate sponsors grown too powerful and corrupt, the only
comprehensive and practical one is some form of separatism. Exploring this
option is not a step to be taken lightly, because there are established
forces that will hamper and resist, and yet it is a legal and viable
enterprise, squarely in the American tradition, and of a piece with the
worldwide devolutionary current that has seen the breakup of European
empires (including the Soviet) and the expansion of the United Nations
from 51 to 193 nations in sixty years.

Moreover, the accumulating signs point to a series of major crises that
will seriously disrupt and may even destroy the American system in the
near future. These include economic disruptions in the wake of global
"peak oil" production before 2010, deterioration of the power of the
dollar through mounting and uncontrollable national debt and trade
imbalances, continued degradation of vital ecosystems on which the nation
depends, climate change and severe weather causing widespread devastation
of coastal areas, extended use of military force worldwide leading to
increased terrorism and the reinstitution of the draft, judicial takeovers
at the Federal level by rightwing ideologues capable of altering
fundamental legal rights, and terrorist attacks at facilities (nuclear
plants, harbors, chemical factories) the government has been unable or
unwilling to protect. Those who want to absent and cushion themselves from
suchlike devastations would reasonably want to explore ways of removing
their communities and regions from dangerous national political and
economic mechanisms that are incapable of reform. It is for these reasons
that The Middlebury Institute hopes to foster a national movement in the
United States that will:

 * place secession on the national political agenda,
 * encourage secessionist and separatist movements here and abroad,
 * develop communication among such existing and future groups,
 * create a body of scholarship to examine and promote the ideas of
separatism,
 * and work carefully and thoughtfully for the ultimate task, the peaceful
dissolution of the American empire.

To these ends we intend to issue regular papers treating with a broad
range of secessionist issues, including the question of the
constitutionality of secession in the U.S.; reports on the status of
various secessionist movements in the U.S.; scenarios of federal responses
to states opting to secede; the ethics of secession; the history of
secession in America; the economic consequences of secession - a
cost-benefit analysis; a history of worldwide secession and devolution
developments of the past 20 years; case studies of individual foreign
separatist movements of modern times; and excerpts from the considerable
body of literature on separatism and secession.

We will also sponsor various gatherings, including academic seminars, in
which leading scholars and activists will be invited to deliver and
discuss papers on separatism and its corollaries; weekend conferences of
speeches and workshops; national congresses with representatives of active
separatist movements in the U.S.; and debates on various issues involving
secession and separatism, with activists, elected politicians, scholars,
and think-tank representatives, among others.

And we will be sending out regular news releases that draw attention to
the breaking action or new activities of separatist groups, here and
abroad, with special attention to the victories and achievements in the
movement.

Eventually we will have a website that will be an archive of book chapters
and articles on separatism and secession, particularly over the last dozen
years, with regular news coverage of separatist events and links to the
more prominent and active secessionist groups. At some point we will make
room for postings from readers to discuss related matters as they wish.

This is a long-haul project: the task is as immense as it is urgent, and
we must go carefully, even as we go steadily. We will need your help:
contact us, send us your email address, contribute what you can.
Ultimately the Middlebury Institute will be what its constituents need and
want, and we will serve the movement in any way we can.

Spread the word. Join the action. Take the battlements. And keep in touch.

Kirkpatrick Sale is the author of twelve books, including Human Scale, The
Conquest of Paradise, Rebels Against the Future, and The Fire of His
Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream.

Thomas Naylor is a former Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke
University.

They can be reached at: Jkelas@ aol.com

P.S.: Below is the Institute's first paper, The Middlebury Declaration,
passed at a "Radical Consultation" meeting in November of last year.

--
The Middlebury Declaration

"Whenever any form of government is destructive of these ends [life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to
alter or abolish it, and to institute new government in such form as to
them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness."

Declaration of Independence

We gathered here this weekend to explore the possibilities of a new
politics that might provide a realistic and enactable alternative to the
familiar sorry political scene around us that has just ratified its
decadent and corrupt nature with the re-election of George W. Bush. We are
convinced that the American empire, now imposing its military might on 153
countries around the world, is as fragile as empires historically tend to
be, and that it might well implode upon itself in the near future. Before
that happens, no matter what shape the United States may take, we believe
there is at this moment an opportunity to push through new political ideas
and projects that will offer true popular participation and genuine
democracy. The time to prepare for that is now.

In our deliberations we considered many kinds of strategies for a new
politics and eventually decided upon the inauguration of a campaign to
monitor, study, promote, and develop agencies of separatism. By separatism
we mean all the forms by which small political bodies, dedicated to the
precept of human scale, distance themselves from larger ones, as in
decentralization, dissolution, disunion, division, devolution, or
secession, creating small and independent bodies that rule themselves. Of
course we favor such polities that operate with participatory democracy
and egalitarian justice, which are attainable only at a small scale, but
the primary principle is that these states should enact their separation
and self-government as they see fit.

It is important to realize that the separatist/independence movement is
the most important and widespread political force in the world today and
has been for the last half-century, during which time the United Nations,
for example, has grown from 51 nations in 1945 to 193 nations in 2004. The
break-up of the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia are recent
manifestations of this fundamental trend, and there are separatist
movements in more than two dozen countries at this time, including such
well-known ones as in Aceh, Basque country, Catalonia, Scotland, Lapland,
Sardinia, Sicily, Sudan, Congo, Kashmir, Chechnya, Kurdistan, Quebec,
British Columbia, Mexico, and the Indian nations of North America.

There is no reason that we cannot begin to examine the processes of
secession in the United States. There are already at least 28 separatist
organizations in this country-the most active seem to be in Alaska,
Cascadia, Texas, Hawaii, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and the South - and there
seems to be a growing sentiment that, because the national government has
shown itself to be clumsy, unresponsive, and unaccountable in so many
ways, power should be concentrated at lower levels. Whether these levels
should be the states or coherent regions within the states or something
smaller still is a matter best left to the people active in devolution,
but the principle of secession must be established as valid and
legitimate.

To this end, therefore, we are pledged to create a movement that will
place secession on the national agenda, encourage nonviolent secessionist
organizations throughout the country, develop communication among existing
and future secessionist groups, and create a body of scholarship to
examine and promote the ideas and principles of secessionism.

Middlebury, Vermont November 7, 2004


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A Bolivarian Socialist at the UN
Hugo Chavez's Mission
By ROGER BURBACH
CounterPunch
September 24 / 25, 2005

Caracas, Venezuela.

Hugo Chavez has moved onto the world stage as an advocate of profound
change within his own country and abroad. At the gathering of world
leaders at the United Nations this week he proclaimed: "The United Nations
has exhausted its model. The twenty first century demands deep changes
that will only be possible if a new organization is founded." He described
the specter of a "frightening neo-liberal globalization" that has sapped
the will of the United Nations. Alluding to the United States, he called
for an end to the "shameless dictatorship" it exercises over the
international organization and demanded that UN headquarters be moved from
New York to an "international city" in a country in the South.

These calls for radical changes at the global level are a reflection of
the deep transformations being carried out within Venezuela. Starting in
early 2005 Chavez proclaimed that Venezuela is bent on constructing "a new
socialism for the twenty first century."

Venezuela is not constructing anything resembling socialism as we knew it
in the last century. Thus far there have been no moves to take over the
assets of the largest national or transnational enterprises of the
country. Furthermore, Chavez has not proclaimed a Peoples state, only a
Bolivarian Republic, while the state bureaucracy of the Ancien Regime
remains largely intact. Finally no centralized political party has been
charged with the task of transforming the the economy or the countrys
social, political and cultural values.

But even before Chavez proclamation that socialism is on the agenda,
fundamental transformations had begun occurring in Venezuela. As Marta
Harnecker, an adviser to Chavez states "Venezuela is engaged in a sui
generis revolution."

At the United Nation's Chavez mentioned the achievements of his seven year
old government. In a country of 25 million, 1.4 million learned to read
and write within a year and a half, while three million Venezuelans
previously excluded from education due to poverty enrolled in the
education system. Seventy percent of the population now enjoys access to
free health care while 45 percent of the people receive subsidized food
via cooperatives, special food programs and government distribution
centers.

These successes make the UN-backed Millennium Summit goal of reducing
global poverty by fifty percent by 2015 and of providing primary education
for all by the same year seem paultry. As Chavez noted, at the actual pace
of change realized in the years since the summit, world hunger will not be
halved until 2215 while universal primary education will not be realized
until 2100.

The Bush administration lambastes Chavez for trying to establish "another
Cuba" in Venezuela. This is hardly the case. Marta Harnecker, who also
served as a participant and interpreter of the Cuban revolution, notes
there are "few similarities between Cuba and Venezuela." Each country has
a charismatic leader, but the analogies end there. Harnecker states:
"Fidel Castro used a central party apparatus to build socialism in Cuba,
while Venezuela has no such structure." If anything, Chavez is distrustful
of political parties, given his military heritage, the crisis of the
parties of the old regime and the constant squabbling among the parties
and participants in the pro-Chavez Fifth Republic Movement, a political
organization that predominates in the country's National Assembly.

What this means for some on the left is that Chavez is a populist at best
or a nineteenth century caudillo at worst. In fact there are many vestiges
of Chavez rule that mark him as a combination of both and more. A unique
system is being forged in Venezuela. It combines pre-modern forms in that
Chavez is indeed harking back to nineteenth century caudillos and
independence heroes like Simon Bolivar. At the same time, a "democratic
postmodern revolution" is unfolding in Venezuela as hundreds of thousands
of local organizations and movements are taking root among the multitude,
enabling them to take control of their lives and their destinies. During
Chavez' seven year rule eight elections and referendums have been held
with an election for the National Assembly scheduled for later this year,
making Venezuela an example of an authentic participatory democracy.

Beginning with what are called Misiones" or Missions in 1999, Chavez has
fomented an incredible number of grass roots activities among the 80
percent of Venezuela's population that has been historically marginalized.
The early and most important missions focused on education and medical
help. The medical missions are generally comprised of two doctors, most of
them from Cuba. The doctors are sent to rural communities and shanty towns
to provide health care and to help people organize around their health
needs. The educational missions, part of broader "barrio adentro" programs
are comprised of both national and locally trained teams that work to
establish programs to deal with illiteracy as well as getting adults and
younger people back into schooling programs to advance their careers.
Neither the health nor the educational programs are run by the Ministries
of Health or Education. They as well as additional missions involved in
rural land reform, job training, etc. are funded and guided directly by
national policy teams that are accountable to Hugo Chavez.

Simultaneously the cooperative movement has boomed: Today there are over
70,000 cooperatives of all types operating through out the country.
Another very important initiative orchestrated from below are the "Comites
de Tierra." In a country where the vast majority of the population is
urbanized, over 65 percent of the urban dwellers do not have formal land
titles. The Comites, comprised of 150 to 200 heads of household each, are
setting about the process of conducting land surveys and securing titles
to their homes. There are now about 5000 Comites operating throughout
Venezuela. These Comites have little or nothing to do with the Housing
Ministry. Their activities are guided by the National Technical Office of
Lands whose director, Ivan Martinez, is appointed by Chavez.

The Bolivarian revolution also resonates on the international scene.
Chavez in the past month has launched PetroCaribe, a program to provide
oil to the Caribbean nations at reduced prices and with access to long
term credits at 1 percent per year. This comes on top of the formation of
PetroSur, a plan to integrate the energy grids of several South American
countries, as well as Venezuela's adhesion to the South American Common
Market (Mecrosur) and the Andean economic community.

All these measures constitute a challenge to the historic hegemony of the
United States in Latin America just as its imperial hands are tied by the
war in Iraq. Small wonder the Bush administration and its right wing
evangelical ally, Pat Robertson, have a vendetta against Chavez and the
Bolivarian socialist revolution in Venezuela. This week the US State
Department stooped to a new low when it tried to prevent members of
Chavez' security team from accompanying him on his visit. As Chavez stated
before the United Nations, in spite of such "internal and external
aggressions, we will fight for Venezuela, for Latin American integration
and for the world."

Roger Burbach is director of the Center for the Study of the Americas
(CENSA) and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Studies,
University of California, Berkeley. He is co- author with Jim Tarbell of
"Imperial Overstretch: George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire," He
released late last year "The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global
Justice."

[Perhaps Minnesota should secede from BushLand and join Venezuela. -ed]


--------18 of 19--------

Published on Saturday, September 24, 2005 by the Sydney Morning Herald
(Australia)
A Nation of Believers Suffers a Sudden Crisis of Faith
by Tony Stephens

The United States, this great bustling, guzzling, achieving,
self-confident, richest country on earth, is touched today with uncommon
uncertainty.

You see it right across the nation, four years after the disaster of
September 11, 2001, and almost five weeks after the disaster of Hurricane
Katrina.

You see it at the Greyhound bus station for Bloomington-Normal, Illinois,
about an hour's drive from Peoria, thrice elected the All-America city.
Producers of vaudeville tried their shows here before taking them to New
York; new consumer goods are tested here; Richard Nixon famously asked his
aides of the merit of certain policies: "Will it play in Peoria?"

At the bus station, the African-American driver's blunt manner draws
disapproval from two white males. "He's got attitude," one says. The
second drawls: "In the South we still hang people like that." The driver
appears to have no worse attitude than any of his passengers. He orders a
girl who looks about 16, with a baby in her arms, and her equally
young-looking partner off the bus. They don't have the fare to travel on
to Chicago. They accept the order without challenge, eyes downcast. They
have come from God knows where in this God-loving country; now they are
heading nowhere.

Such scenes have played out for years. But one positive point about
Katrina is that Americans are now more aware of the poverty in their
communities. And the racism. President George Bush admitted as much,
saying poverty "has roots in a history of racial discrimination which cut
off generations from the opportunity of America".

The Reverend Eugene F. Rivers III, president of a coalition of mainly
black churches, said: "Katrina has posed a challenge to the White House
and the country regarding the great divide, which is race and class in
America."

Poverty rates have risen for each of the past four years. The US Census
Bureau reported this month that 1.1 million more Americans lived in
poverty in 2004. The number of poor people has risen 17 per cent under
Bush, to 12.7 per cent of the population.

The great divide in this land of extremes is perhaps best illustrated by
two facts. First, Bush wants Americans back on the moon and to push on to
Mars. Michael Griffin, the NASA administrator, this week set a tentative
goal of 2018 for a return to the moon, at a cost of more than $US100
billion ($131 billion).

Second, the infant mortality rate in Washington is twice as high as that
in Beijing. While Bush prepares to cut taxes, lack of health insurance
kills many more Americans each year than September 11 and Katrina
combined.

You can see and hear the nation's uncertainty on Amtrak's California
Zephyr, the train that runs daily between San Francisco and Chicago. Paul
Schacht, a cotton grower in Bush's home state of Texas, has "a bad
feeling" about Sacramento, California, where he boarded with his wife.

The bad feeling springs from the letters to the local newspaper, The
Sacramento Bee, which are overwhelmingly condemnatory of the Government's
handling of the Katrina disaster.

What's more, the taxi driver to the railway station had suggested that
Fidel Castro would "sort it out" - and a youth was wearing a T-shirt
sporting the hammer and sickle. "At least we are a free people," Schacht
says, "and free to be stupid."

His wife says Katrina was unpredictable, like the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Sure, Katrina was a brutal natural disaster - "nature's 9/11", The New
York Times's Thomas L. Friedman called it - but it touched off a man-made
disaster of chaos and mismanagement.

National Geographic magazine forecast the disaster last October; New
Orleans authorities and media had repeatedly urged the building of
defensive public works; the Federal Government cut the budget for such
works; National Guard personnel, who might have helped, were in Iraq.

The historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr asked 25 years ago whether an elected
government aspiring to the highest ideals of a secular republic could
survive. Greece and Rome did not.

Yet Americans demonstrate more clearly a faith in themselves, their
politicians and their God than do Australians.

Passengers read Bibles on Amtrak; Stars and Stripes fly from flagpoles
outside the mobile homes of the poor; and survivors of Katrina praise God
for sparing them, rather than question why their neighbors were taken.

Schlesinger wondered in The New York Times this week why, when evangelical
Christians had such a powerful presence in this "faith-based" presidency,
Reinhold Niebuhr, the supreme American theologian of the 20th century, had
dropped out of religious discourse. Niebuhr emphasized human nature's
mixed character - of both creative and destructive impulses, and the
temptation to play God to history. Religion, he warned, could be a source
of error as well as wisdom and light.

Despite the traditional respect held by Americans for their presidents,
Bush's approval rating has slumped to about 40 per cent. The taxi driver
in Springfield, when asked if Bush could fix things, replies: "He couldn't
fix lunch." Susan Callahan, retired from the University of Vermont, says
in Burlington: "The jig is up."

In New York, few write off Bush as a lame duck, but it will be
increasingly tough for him to save the world and shoot for Mars while so
many Americans await salvation at home.

Tony Stephens, a Herald journalist, has been traveling across America.

 Copyright 2005 Sydney Morning Herald


--------19 of 19--------

Bush levee

Little known to the general public, George Bush spends most of his
time surrounded by a 20-foot levee surrounded by water.

If everyone would dig up just one spoonful of Bush levee dirt, what a
better world this would be!

We of course would feel really really bad if he didn't get out in time. It
would break our hearts in two or twenty, assuming we didn't have something
else to do, almost anything in fact. Like reading that timeless classic.
"My Pet Goat."


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   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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