Online events w) Kshama Sawant, Eric Blanc, Karen M. Woolf, Jamal Abdi, Andrea Vetter, etc

Upcoming Online Events:

"Now' through Sun, 7/31, 9:00 pm -- 29th Annual LaborFest -- Many dozens of events with about half being online, including "St. Louis Commune of 1877, Communism in The Heartland", "Political Prisoners & Innocent Prisoners from Mumia, Kevin Cooper, Hoshino, Arakaki, Ruiz", "Military, Unions, Insurrections & Coups", "Commemoration of Salvadoran Student Massacre of 1975, Rescuing Historical Memory in Analysis For Today", and more!:
https://laborfest.net/

Wed, 7/27, 3 pm -- The Deviant Prison: Eastern State Penitentiary with Ashley Rubin -- Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary and the Origins of America's Modern Penal System, 1829-1913 -- At a time when prisons were still new, and nearly every prison in the country followed the same model of confinement, Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary (opened in 1829) was known for its exceptional reliance on long-term solitary confinement. Eastern was criticized for its exceptional reliance on what was seen as an inhumane, expensive, and ineffective approach to confinement. Why did it persist in its deviance? This talk discusses how Eastern became a “deviant prison” and the work its administrators performed to protect their embattled prison for decades -- Ashley Rubin is an associate professor of Sociology at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She holds a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy. Rubin's research examines the dynamics of penal change throughout US history. She uses organizational theory, law and society, punishment and society, and prison sociology to understand prisoner behavior, administrative behavior, and penal trends more broadly. Her research has been published in Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Punishment & Society, Theoretical Criminology, British Journal of Criminology, and Annual Review of Law and Social Science, among other venues, and her TEDx talk on the how sending people to prison became normal is available on YouTube. Rubin is the author of The Deviant Prison (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Rocking Qualitative Social Science (Stanford University Press, 2021), and she is currently writing a book on the history of American prisons. Rubin holds or has held leadership positions in the Law and Society Association and the American Sociological Association and is on the editorial boards of Law & Social Inquiry, Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, and Incarceration; she is also the book review editor (for North and South America) for the international journal Punishment & Society:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-deviant-prison-eastern-state-penitentiary-with-ashley-rubin-tickets-350639601487?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Wed, 7/27, 5 pm -- What is the Relevance of the Russian Revolution Today? A debate -- Tune in for a debate between Kshama Sawant and Eric Blanc, on the relevance of the Russian Revolution Today -- Few political questions from the 20th century were so fraught as how to understand the Russian Revolution. Inspiring example of workers throwing off the Tsarist yoke and rattling the foundations of capitalism, or well-spring of tyranny and the antithesis of the benighted values of ‘The West’? Even among its most ardent defenders debates raged about what lessons to draw from the experience of the revolution, and how (or whether) to replicate the organizational model of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party -- Though these very questions animated several generations of activists and organizers on the Left in countries across the globe, how relevant are they for today’s burgeoning socialist movement in a modern democratic state? What lessons can we apply to the current world situation? -- Taking as their starting point the ground-breaking contributions of Eric Blanc’s Revolutionary Social Democracy, Blanc and Seattle’s socialist city councilwoman Kshama Sawant will debate exactly what we can learn from the Russian Revolution for our contemporary struggles -- Blanc and Sawant will be joined by Bryan Koulouris of Socialist Alternative, for a debate moderated by Bhaskar Sunkara -- Speakers: Kshama Sawant is a Seattle city councilwoman and member of Socialist Alternative and the Democratic Socialists of America.-- Eric Blanc is the author of Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire, 1882-1917, a member of Democratic Socialists of America, and an organizer with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee -- Bryan Koulouris is the national organizer for Socialist Alternative, and an executive committee member of International Socialist Alternative -- Bhaskar Sunkara (moderator) is the founding editor of Jacobin and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-is-the-relevance-of-the-russian-revolution-today-a-debate-tickets-381714928627?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Thu, 7/28, 10 am -- Webinar: Investing in Farmers for Nature-based Carbon Sequestration -- This webinar is the seventh in The Climate Center’s Investing in Climate Action for Jobs, Health, and Equity webinar series -- Farmers and ranchers can and should be a big part of the solution to the climate crisis. Climate-smart agricultural practices can sequester significant amounts of carbon while also improving soil health, increasing water retention in the soil, and making the land more drought-resilient and productive. On this webinar, policymakers, conservationists, and farmers will discuss the transition towards more resilient farming and ranching practices and what investments are needed to scale climate-smart agricultural practices in a way that supports the growers of our food -- Speakers: Patricia Hickey is the Managing Director at the Carbon Cycle Institute. Over the course of her career, Patricia has worked for universities, conservation districts, and agricultural land trusts to advance natural resource conservation and the development and adoption of innovative conservation programs. She has served in executive director roles for the Washington State Association of Conservation Districts and the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District, and as the Agricultural Program Director for the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District. While serving as the Stewardship Director for Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Patricia was a Steering Committee member of the Marin Carbon Project. She brings 16 years of experience working directly with the agricultural community on climate adaptation and mitigation -- Albert Straus is the founder and CEO of Straus Family Creamery—the first 100% certified organic creamery in the United States. Albert has been a leader in sustainable organic farming practices for many decades. He is a strong advocate for organic, non-GMO dairy production, environmental stewardship, family farms, and the true cost of production. At his dairy–Straus Dairy Farm—the first certified organic dairy west of the Mississippi River—Albert has invested in climate-positive dairy practices, creating a pathway to a carbon-neutral dairy farming model by 2023. He is extending this model to Straus Family Creamery’s suppliers by 2030. Fast Company named Albert one of 2020’s Most Creative People in Business. In 2019, the Marshall creamery became the first in the world to receive TRUE® Zero Waste Certification -- Emilie Winfield is the Regional Coordinator for the North Coast Soil Hub, where she works to increase understanding of how to manage agro-ecosystems for soil health and advance adoption of climate-friendly practices. Emilie works with local resource conservation districts, agricultural producers and other regional partners to provide education opportunities for learning about soil health and carbon farming, bring in resources to support planning and implementation, and overcome barriers to adoption. Emilie has a B.S. in Plant Sciences from UC Santa Cruz and an M.S. in Environmental Policy and Management from UC Davis. Prior to joining the North Coast Soil Hub, Emilie managed organic farms, provided training on sustainable agriculture, and participated in research on plant-microbe interactions, root systems architecture in soil, and the impacts of soil amendments on working lands -- Baani Behniwal joined The Climate Center in June of 2022 as the Natural Sequestration Initiative Manager. In this role, she leads the Center’s work on advancing nature-based carbon sequestration solutions to fight the climate crisis while protecting our natural lands and delivering a multitude of co-benefits for both the environment and affected communities. Throughout her career, Baani has worked as a community organizer, organic farm apprentice, and registered lobbyist. The focus of her work and studies have ranged from sustainable development and climate-smart agriculture to the circular economy. She holds a dual M.A. in International Affairs and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development from American University and the UN-mandated University for Peace, as well as a B.S. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Irvine -- Bruce Rominger is a fifth generation California farmer. With his brother Rick he grows a variety of different row crops, grains and tree nuts on owned and rented land on the west side of Yolo County. He is well known as a pioneer of sustainable farming practices like planting cover crops and integrating wildlife friendly practices on his farm by planting native plant hedgerows, oak groves and riparian corridors around his field edges and rangeland. Bruce has served on the board of many agricultural organizations including the Yolo County Resource Conservation District, UC Davis Sustainable Ag Systems project, his local irrigation district and is currently the Chairman of the board of the California Tomato Growers Association:
https://theclimatecenter.org/webinar-investing-in-farmers-for-nature-based-carbon-sequestration/

Thu, 7/28, 11 am -- The Climate of Change poetry reading, featuring Karen McCarthy Woolf -- As Margaret Atwood says: ' I think calling it climate change is rather limiting. I would rather call it everything change. ' -- Time is running out. We need more healthy, creative and sustainable visions of our world, to look more deeply at our place in the world in this time of climate and environmental crisis. We must also care for ourselves and others, and envisage a more just world -- We'll share a myriad of new ways into writing about the climate and ecological crisis as we celebrate a month of writing together for the Climate of Change Poetry Challenge -- Feature reader, Karen McCarthy Woolf and a selection of poets from across UK & Europe will read their poems from The Climate of Change Poetry Challenge (workshop participants). Poets have been working together during period of sustained creativity in June & July -- Karen is one of the most respected UK contemporary poets writing about the climate and ecological emergency -- About the feature reader, Karen McCarthy Woolf: Born in London to English and Jamaican parents, Karen McCarthy Woolf’s first poetry collection An Aviary of Small Birds was nominated for the Forward Felix Dennis and Jerwood Prizes and her latest Seasonal Disturbances was a winner in the inaugural Laurel Prize and focused on climate change. In 2019 she moved was a Fulbright postdoctoral scholar and Writer in Residence at the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA exploring the relationship between poetry and law. 2021 took her to Brazil, as an artist in residence at the Sacatar Institute in Bahia writing new work that explores sugar and its cultural and material legacies -- Other poets include Cath Drake, Kate Potts, Tamsin Hopkins, Claire Collison, Helen Bailey, Tucge Tekhanli, Richard Williams, Gabrielle O'Donovan, Ali Walters, Miriam Otto, Melinda Appleby, Piers Haben, Jill Burdall:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-climate-of-change-poetry-reading-featuring-karen-mccarthy-woolf-tickets-357692065597?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1


Sun, 7/31, 12 Noon -- Burning Issues Book Club (July 2022: GIVE PEOPLE MONEY) -- Burning Issues Book Club (BIBC) is an online and local book club that gathers to read and discuss non-fiction works related to climate change, environmental degradation, environmental and social justice, and implementation of social change movements -- Burning Issues Book Club (meets last Sunday of the month) -- July - Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World -- August - As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock -- September - The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/burning-issues-book-club-july-2022-give-people-money-tickets-373924838257?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1


Mon, 8/1, 4 pm -- Peace & Justice Conversations: Iran and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- Over forty years of U.S.-Iran tensions may soon reach their breaking point., with Iran's nuclear program nearing "undetectable breakout" status and U.S. "maximum pressure sanctions" choking Iran's economy. Joe Biden entered office with a pledge to restore the agreement struck under the Obama Administration to freeze Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, and to provide diplomatic pathways to resolve the conflict. But Biden has failed to pivot from Donald Trump's Iran policies and may allow the nuclear deal -- and the prospects for averting disastrous war and proliferation in the Middle East -- to die on his watch -- Jamal Abdi is the President of the National Iranian American Council and the founding Executive Director of NIAC Action, the group’s sister organization. Abdi first joined NIAC’s team as Policy Director in 2009 following his work in the US Congress as Policy Advisor on foreign policy, national security and immigration issues. Jamal has written for The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and USA Today and is a frequent guest contributor in print, radio, and television, including appearances on CNN, NPR, and Al Jazeera:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/peace-justice-conversations-iran-and-the-jcpoa-tickets-372075115687?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Wed, 8/3, 11 am -- Debating Eco-Socialist Futures -- What are the most useful frameworks to help the Left to organize our climate justice movements? What demands should we prioritize, and what strategies can we borrow from history and from other social movements? How can utopian thinking expand our horizons in what must be a massive fight for a more sustainable future? -- Centering class struggle, transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy, anti-capitalist economic alternatives like degrowth and socialist planning: can all of these ideas (and more!) be woven into a clear message and a blueprint for change? -- Join a panel of environmental thinkers to discuss left climate strategy and to assess where we are and what could be possible -- A conversation with Drew Pendergrass, co-author of Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics, Matthew Huber, author of Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet, Andrea Vetter, co-author of The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism, and Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, author of Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture -- Moderated by Thea Riofrancos -- Speakers: Drew Pendergrass is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering at Harvard University. His current research uses satellite, aircraft and surface observations of the environment to correct supercomputer models of the atmosphere. His environmental writing has been published in Harper’s, the Guardian, Jacobin, and Current Affairs. He is co-author of Half-Earth Socialism -- Matthew T. Huber is Professor of Geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is the author of Lifeblood and Climate Change as Class War -- Andrea Vetter is a transformation researcher, activist and journalist, using degrowth, commons and critical eco-feminism as tools. She is co-author of The Future is Degrowth -- Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College. She is the author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), co-author of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019), and currently writing Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism for W.W. Norton. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and The Guardian, among others -- Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He is the author of the book Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). He has published in academic journals ranging from Public Affairs Quarterly, One Earth, Philosophical Papers, and the American Philosophical Association newsletter Philosophy and the Black Experience. Táíwò’s theoretical work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, anti-colonial thought, German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, and histories of activism and activist thinkers. His public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism, has been featured in The New Yorker, The Nation, Boston Review, Dissent, The Appeal, Slate, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, Aeon, and Foreign Policy:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/debating-eco-socialist-futures-tickets-384184224357?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Tue, 8/9, 6 pm -- Defending Choice: Roe vs. Wade and the Battle to Preserve Women's Rights -- City Lights in conjunction with Mother Jones present: Defending Choice: Roe vs. Wade and the Battle to Preserve Women's Reproductive Rights -- Moderated by Becca Andrews of Mother Jones Magazine with Jenny Brown, Dr. Katherine Brown, Joshua Prager, and Mary Ziegler -- With the reversal of Roe vs. Wade and its dire consequences threatening women’s rights and healthcare, City Lights and Mother Jones Magazine bring together four of the most well-versed writers on the subject for an immersive exploration. Beginning with how we got here, we will explore the historical, legal, medical, and activist related aspects of Roe vs. Wade. A special focus will be placed on the political and economic issues at the heart of the battle for women’s rights. Our participants will offer a deep analysis, exposing the connections between the dismantling of Roe vs. Wade and the stripping of constitutional protections that extend beyond the issue of women’s reproductive rights and into campaign finance laws and beyond. We will offer a barometer for where the situation stands and how we can best fight to protect women’s rights -- For panelist bios, and to register, please see:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/defending-choice-roe-vs-wade-and-the-battle-to-preserve-womens-rights-tickets-354381634007?aff=erellivmlt