Online events w/ Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Rob Hopkins, Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, etc.

Upcoming Online Events:

Tue, 3/14, 11:30 am -- Radical Anthropology Talk -- What it means to be human: myth, time, landscape -- Language, art, music and culture emerged in Africa over 100,000 years ago, culminating in a symbolic explosion or ‘human revolution’ whose echoes can still be heard in myths and cultural traditions from around the world. These talks are a general introduction to social and biological anthropology, ranging over fields as diverse as hunter-gatherer studies, mythology, primatology, archaeology and archaeoastronomy. Radical Anthropology brings indigenous rights activists, environmentalists, feminists and others striving for a better world together with people of all ages who just want to learn about anthropology -- Mar 14: 'Anthropology, activism and local environmental knowledge' -- Panel with Raj Puri, Paul Powlesland, Richard Jones, Pauline von Hellermann, Magda Buchczyk:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/radical-anthropology-talks-tickets-492609386937?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Tue, 3/14, 2 pm -- The Abolitionist Struggle to Stop Cop City -- Join scholar-activists of the carceral state and of the movement to Stop Cop City in ATL for a discussion of their struggle and its lessons -- The movement to Stop Cop City in Atlanta has reopened the prospect of mass abolitionist organizing after years of ongoing racist police murder, carceral expansion, and political quietism under a Democratic administration. The movement has also built important new links between abolitionist politics and climate, labor, and urban organizing. We are excited to share this panel, intended as a contribution to this vital movement and to expanding the contemporary horizons of Left organizing in the U.S. -- This panel of researchers and organizers will illuminate the deep backstory and intersectional context of the Weelaunee Forest struggle. An organizer with the member-based collective Community Movement Builders will speak to the importance of the forest movement as a struggle on behalf of ecological and racial justice. A researcher examining the international dimensions of police training and the disavowed role of police in counter-insurgency will consider the transnational circuits running throughout the proposal for Cop City. An organizer with the Southern Center for Human Rights will contextualize the fight within landscapes of abolitionism in Atlanta, including the movement against jail expansion there. A historian of the carceral state in Georgia will provide perspective on state violence in the region -- Speakers: Micah Herskind is an organizer, policy advocate, and writer based in Atlanta, GA -- Kwame Olufemi is a community organizer who has developed worker-owned cooperatives, organized petition drives, mobilized protests, mutual aid programs, cop watches, and community safety training programs to develop safety networks independent of the police -- Stuart Schrader is the author of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing (University of California Press, 2019) -- Sarah Haley is a historian interested in the history of gender and women, carceral history, Black feminist history and theory, prison abolition, and feminist archival methods. She is the author of No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity (University of North Carolina Press, 2016):
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-abolitionist-struggle-to-stop-cop-city-tickets-576422544347?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Tue, 3/14, 4 pm -- Virtual Event - The Puzzle of Julian Assange and His Prosecution -- In 2010, Julian Assange burst into the international glare after his Wikileaks website published classified materials obtained from soldier Chelsea Manning – including footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed at least 11 civilians. Indicted in the United States on 17 espionage charges that carry a maximum prison sentence of 175 years, he has emerged as a divisive figure. Once he came out of nearly seven years of refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, Assange was arrested and has now been cleared for extradition by the British authorities; but he has appealed that decision. Some say he is being unfairly punished for exposing war crimes, while others contend he damaged diplomacy and harmed U.S. national security. Many believe that if he is convicted, journalists around the world who investigate and write about national security matters will themselves be in danger of prosecution -- We will hear from Assange’s father and his brother, who have made a documentary film about his case, as well as a former FBI agent who has herself become a whistleblower, and a professor of international politics at Middlebury College who doubts Assange’s journalistic or whistleblower credentials -- Featured: Gabriel Shipton, the brother of Assange and producer of the film “ITHAKA,” has worked in film production for more than 15 years. He has been involved in productions ranging from low-budget feature films and quality television drama series to major studio pictures. He is based in Australia and has filmed on location, including in Africa, South East Asia, and the Middle East -- John Shipton, the father of Assange and the subject of the film “ITHAKA,” has actively campaigned for his son to be free from detention, marshaling supporters from around the world. Shipton alleges that Assange has been a victim of political persecution, false charges, and harassment and slander by political figures, corporate media, and the United States government -- Allison Stanger is the Russell Leng ’60 Professor of International Politics and Economics at Middlebury College in Vermont; a research affiliate at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University; and external professor and science board member at the Santa Fe Institute. She is the author of “Whistleblowers: Honesty in America from Washington to Trump” and “One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy.” -- Jane Turner, a former FBI special agent, led the bureau’s highly successful program combating child sex crimes and crimes against women on Indian Reservations in North Dakota. After discovering and exposing the FBI’s failures within the program in 1998-1999, Turner was removed from her senior position. She challenged this retaliation in federal court for nearly nine years. In 2007, a jury awarded her the maximum compensatory damages permitted under the law, more than $1.5 million -- Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), president emeritus of Goucher College, is director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, which documents challenges to free expression in American education, government, and civil society. Director of the Voice of America under President Bill Clinton, he was also dean of the American University School of Communication and is a former co-host of "All Things Considered" on NPR:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-event-the-puzzle-of-julian-assange-and-his-prosecution-tickets-569775623227?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Wed, 3/15, 1 pm -- Social Reproduction and the Crisis of Housing in Buffalo -- India Walton; Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor; & Rahwa Ghirmatzion will discuss biggest challenge facing Buffalonians today, i.e., the Housing Crisis -- "American life has been suddenly and dramatically upended, and, when things are turned upside down, the bottom is brought to the surface and exposed to the light." - Keeanga-Yamatta Taylor, The New Yorker (3/30/2020) -- The “Social Reproduction and the Crisis of Housing in Buffalo” panel aims to bring social reproduction theory home to Buffalo in terms of the struggle for affordable housing. As Dr. Taylor notes above, social crisis has a way of exposing the deeply embedded injustices within a society and as the recent litany of crises demonstrates—from COVID-19 to the white supremacist massacre at Tops in Buffalo's East Side—a host of related concerns about safety, food insecurity, and access to medical care have come to the fore. The panel will address such questions as: What are the biggest challenges facing Buffalonians today and how is Buffalo a microcosm of similar challenges nationally? -- What are the local social movements working toward housing justice and how do they connect with statewide and national movements? -- How is housing a feminist issue? How is housing connected to reproductive justice movements? -- About the Panelists: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Leon Forrest Professor of African-American Studies at Northwestern University (and former UB undergraduate), 2021 MacArthur Fellow, and author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (2019), a semi-finalist for a National Book Award and a 2020 finalist for Pulitzer Prize -- India Walton, Director, Roots Action Buffalo/Roots Action Civic Engagement, former Executive Director of Fruit Belt Community Land Trust and 2021 Democratic candidate for Mayor of Buffalo, New York, who ran with a housing advocacy platform plank -- Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Former Executive Director of Buffalo’s People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo), a West Side activist and housing advocacy organization -- Moderator: Carrie Tirado Bramen, Director of the UB Gender Institute and Professor of English:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-reproduction-and-the-crisis-of-housing-in-buffalo-tickets-519797035927?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

Wed, 3/15, 4 pm -- Reads & Reels: Banned Books Edition: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood -- Join the discussion on banned literature and its film adaptations as we share thoughts & perspectives and promote awareness & understanding -- [[Also, please see the 3/23 listing, below}} -- We'll delve into the book, discussing its themes, characters, and impact on society. We'll also discuss the film adaptation, comparing and contrasting the two mediums:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reads-reels-banned-books-edition-tickets-526103137647?aff=erelpanelorg&keep_tld=1


Fri, 3/17, 9 am -- Climate, Equity & Race UNITED ACTIONS CEMTF 3RD Virtual Summit Series: Climate, Equity & Race UNITED ACTIONS for an Environmentally Just and Regenerative Future -- DRAFT Summit schedule: Speakers & Co-Speakers: 9:10 - 9:30 AM Wilhelmenia Wilson, Executive Director, Healthy Black Families, Inc. -- 9:30- 9:50 AM Islamophobia and the Normalization of Bigotry in Society Dr. Hatem Bazian, Professor, Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies & Adviser to the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Center at the University of California, Berkeley & Assistant Professor at Zaytuna College -- 9:50 - 10:10 AM Corrina Gould, Tribal Chair, Confederated Villages of Lisjan & Co Director Sogorea Te Land Trust -- 10:10 - 10:30 AM Hip Hop and Environmental Justice Khafre Jay, Executive Director & Founder, Hip Hop For The People -- 10:30 - 10:50 AM Intersecting Pandemics: Black Women's Perspectives on Racism, COVID-19, and Pregnancy Dr. Brittany Chambers, Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis -- 10:50 - 11:10 AM Marisol Cantú, Educator & Community Organizer Kevin Ruano Hernandez, Environmental Justice Organizer, Richmond Youth Community Advisory Councilman, BAAQMD -- 5 minute Break -- 11:15 - 11: 35 AM Tammy Murphy, M.A., LL.M., Advocacy Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility - Pennsylvania -- 11:35 -11:55 AM Climate & Healing Dr. Omowale Fowles, Berkeley Equity Summit Alliance -- 11:55 AM - Noon Announcements & Closing Cheryl Davila:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-equity-race-united-actions-registration-369247658687?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Sat, 3/18, 7 am -- The Battle for Democracy: Voting Rights, Labor, and Electoral Power -- “How and Why the Political Tides Are Turning in Georgia” -- This seminar will examine a range of on-the-ground electoral organizing in light of their potential and the challenges they face -- The seminar will be led by Dr. Alethia Jones, Distinguished Lecturer in Labor Studies at the CUNY School of Labor & Urban Studies -- During each of the Saturday sessions, guest speakers will discuss the work of organized labor and social justice organizations to advance racial, gender, and economic justice and environmental sustainability through mobilizing for voting rights and greater democracy. Particular attention will be paid to ongoing challenges related to aligning electoral work with the priorities of ongoing grassroots organizing and issue-based coalition-building -- Framing Questions: What are the chief challenges and opportunities confronting progressive forces currently seeking to bolster and deepen democracy? -- How have statewide organizations worked to expand the voter base, particularly among voters of color and poor and working-class voters? -- What role can unions play in building multi-racial coalitions and large-scale public support for progressive policy goals? -- What obstacles stand in the way of greater labor-community collaboration? -- How can electoral engagement be carried out in ways that maximize labor-community cooperation? -- Guest Speakers: Nsé Ufot - Former President, The New Georgia Project -- Gerry Hudson - Former Secretary-Treasurer, Service Workers International Union:
https://slucuny.swoogo.com/CELD-Spring2023

Sat, 3/18, 9 (or 10) am to 3:45 pm -- Book Launch for New Edition of Marx’s "Critique of the Gotha Program" -- Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Program offers the fullest elaboration of his vision for a communist future, free from the shackles of capital but also the state. Neglected by the statist versions of socialism, whether social democratic or Stalinist that left a wreckage of coercion and disillusionment in their wake, this new annotated translation of Marx’s Critique – just issued by PM Press with commentaries by Peter Hudis and Peter Linebaugh — makes clear for the first time the full emancipatory scope of his notion of life after capitalism -- Panel 1: 10:00-11:45 AM - Karel Ludenhoff, labor activist and writer, co-translator of Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Program, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Peter Linebaugh, University of Toledo, US, co-author of The Many-Headed Hydra: Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic - Esther Leslie, Birkbeck-University of London, UK, author of Walter Benjamin: Overpowering Conformism - Ricado Jacobs, University of California-Santa Barbara, US, and South Africa, writer for Journal of Peasant Studies and other journals -- Panel 2: 12:00-1:45 PM - Peter Hudis, Oakton College, US, author of Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism - Eleonora Roldán Mendívil, Kassel University/University of Witwatersrand, Germany/South Africa - Lalan Kishor Singh, long-time trade union activist associated with the revolutionary communist movement, India (with extra time for interpretation from Hindi to English) -- Panel 3: 2:00-3:45 PM - Kevin B. Anderson, University of California-Santa Barbara, US, author of Marx at the Margins - Heather A. Brown, Westfield State University, US, author of Marx on Gender and the Family - Lyndon Porter, Black student activist and writer, California, US- Andres Magon-Marmol, XikanIndio Marxist communitarian organizer, California, US:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-for-new-edition-of-marxs-critique-of-the-gotha-program-tickets-574567064557?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch


Mon, 3/20, 6 am -- Rob Hopkins: Could the next 10 years be a revolution of the imagination? -- The UN recently stated that staying below 1.5°C of climate change is now unavoidable unless we were to see ‘a rapid transformation of society’. Every newspaper article then stated ‘1.5°C is finished’. None said “let’s have a rapid transformation of society!” In this presentation Transition movement co-founder Rob Hopkins will explore why our imagination is failing us at this critical moment, and what it might look like if we put it at the heart of our activism. He will share inspiring stories of imagination activism and community-led change from around the world and inspire you with just how incredible the society the climate emergency demands that we build could be -- Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including The Transition Handbook and most recently, From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want. He is an Ashoka Fellow, has spoken at TED Global and at several TEDx events, and appeared in the French film phenomenon Demain. He holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth and is a Director of Totnes Community Development Society and of New Lion Brewery. He also hosts the From What If to What Next podcast. In November 2022 he was made an Honorary Citizen of Liège in Belgium by the Mayor of the city. His website is robhopkins.net -- Alan Meban is a Belfast-based freelance journalist and arts/politics blogger (the face behind @alaninbelfast) who reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic and political events; delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; FactCheckNI director; and a member of the Corrymeela Community:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rob-hopkins-could-the-next-10-years-be-a-revolution-of-the-imagination-tickets-535873501067?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Tue, 3/21, 8 am -- The Era of Global Risk: Panel discussion -- As part of the Cambirdge Festival 2023, this event will serve to launch an ambitious new book – The Era of Global Risk -- This volume curates 11 specially commissioned essays that give a comprehensive and accessible overview of the emerging science of existential risk studies and is edited by SJ Beard, Clarissa Rios Rojas, and Catherine Richards of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), with Professor Lord Martin Rees -- The launch event will take the form of a panel discussion involving four of the book's contributing authors, with SJ Beard acting as chair and Martin Rees providing introductory remarks. The panellists are: Lara Mani, whose chapter explores the risk from asteroids and volcanoes and who is CSER’s lead researcher on communications and public engagement; Lalitha Sundaram, a pathologist and biosecurity expert whose chapter looks at different models of scientific governance; Kayla Lucero-Matteucci, a PhD student and CSER Research Affiliate who has written about the military applications of AI and nuclear winter and Nancy Connell, Professor and Vice-chair for Research in the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and world leading researcher on Global Catastrophic Biological Risk and Nancy Connell, Professor and Vice-chair for Research in the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and world leading researcher on Global Catastrophic Biological Risk -- This panel discussion will provide an engaging, insightful and hopeful discussion of the multiple overlapping challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century. While acknowledging that we are currently living through an era of global risk, it also aims to show that, with foresight and courage, humanity has the power to bring that era to a close and move on to a future of existential hope -- Speakers Chair: SJ Beard, Martin Rees, Lara Mani, Lalitha Sundaram, Kayla Matteucci, Nancy Connell:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-era-of-global-risk-panel-discussion-tickets-459919901807?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Thu, 3/23, 3 pm -- An Intimate Evening with Margaret Atwood “Every totalitarian government on the planet has always taken a very great interest in women’s reproductive rights.” -- As threats to women’s rights increase, we cannot imagine anyone better to host at Trouble than the woman who showed us where the slippery slope could end. “Every totalitarian government on the planet has always taken a very great interest in women’s reproductive rights,” says Margaret Atwood; a disquieting insight at any time, but particularly in today’s portentous political landscape -- Just as it did when it was first published, the story of The Handmaid’s Tale—a future where women are treated as property of the state, run by an authoritarian regime—is unearthing chilling patterns to an uneasy public. The book’s long-awaited sequel The Testaments performed so well it broke the record for best first-day sales of any Penguin Random House title that year. Having initially gone to press on the novel for 500,000 copies, the publisher went back twice for more copies in the span of just over a week -- We’ll spend the evening with this iconic writer, discussing the themes that connect all of her novels and the frightening realities they predict. We’ll also be joined by some other incredible Toronto based feminists and activists to get their view on the global outlook for women’s rights:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-intimate-evening-with-margaret-atwood-tickets-460041565707?aff=ebdsoporgprofile


Sat, 3/25, 1 pm -- Noam Chomsky in conversation with Alan Meban -- Is democracy threatened? Can solidarity and progressive infuse politics? -- In this conversation the celebrated American linguist, philosopher, social critic, and political activist discusses the current threats to democracy and ways to build solidarity and progressive politics -- Often described as the father of modern linguistics, Noam Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy, and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media -- Alan Meban is a Belfast-based freelance journalist and arts/politics blogger (the face behind @alaninbelfast) who reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic, and political events; delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; FactCheckNI director; and a member of the Corrymeela Community:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/noam-chomsky-in-conversation-with-alan-meban-tickets-537830514547?aff=ebdsoporgprofile



Wed, 4/26, 5 pm -- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer -- “Plants tell their stories not by what they say, but by what they do.” What was your favorite plant story in Braiding Sweetgrass and what lesson did you learn from it? -- Is there a plant like the fragrant “wiingashk” that is as special to you or holds value for you? Why? -- Throughout Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer writes about how her experiences in traditional academic settings has been influenced by her knowledge and Potawatomi heritage. Have you had similar experiences where your background and way of seeing the world clashes with the mainstream way of seeing and thinking? -- “The more something is shared, the greater the value,” Kimmerer believes. Reciprocity is heavily mentioned in the book, exchanging things with others or nature for mutual benefit. In what ways can we incorporate gift economy in our jobs or personal lives? How would this practice shift our thinking? -- Kimmerer challenges us to see a more positive relationship between people and the environment, like the generosity of geese or the gift of strawberries or pecans that nourished her and her family in time of need. We can shift our focus on the negative impacts of people on the land like “brownfields, factory farms, suburban sprawl” to opportunities for reciprocity and renewal. What is your knowledge of positive interactions between people and land? -- Scientific knowledge and indigenous ways of knowing are complimentary, just like goldenrod and New England asters, do you think there’s a need for objectivity (science) and subjectivity to mesh together for there to be a fuller appreciation of plants, animals and the natural world? -- In “The Grammar of Animacy,” Kimmerer posits that the word It “robs a person of selfhood and kinship, reducing a person to a mere thing.” What would change if the English language reflected the animacy of plants and animals? -- In “A Mother’s Work,” Kimmerer writes of restoring the pond on her land for her daughters by clearing out algae, and along with it many small invertebrates- “..I bargained with myself over the chain of responsibility and tried to convince myself their demise served a greater good.” What responsibility do we have in restoring a habitat? -- The Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash grow and flourish together in harmony and the “gifts of each are more fully expressed when they are nurtured together rather than alone.” How can we combine our individual strengths to build community and reciprocal relationships? -- How can people living in less proximity to nature practice concepts that Kimmerer introduces like the Honorable Harvest or reciprocity? What might you incorporate into your life? -- In “Burning Cascade Head,” Kimmerer writes that science can be a path to kinship and act of reciprocity, and that none of the ecologists she knows entered the field “for the love of data or for the wonder of a p-value” but rather, they are heart-driven. Have you found this to be true? -- In “People of Corn, People of Light,” Kimmerer writes about the chasm between Western science and “ecological compassion” and her dream of a world where “revelations of science” are “framed with an Indigenous worldview- stories in which matter and spirit are both given voice.” Do you think this is possible, and how could it come about?:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/braiding-sweetgrass-by-robin-wall-kimmerer-tickets-504198901487?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch