Class Schedule for Spring 2013

THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND THE ONGOING STRUGGLE

Panel Discussion/Workshop with local activists Richard Boren, Matt Smith,
Melissa Donovan, and Sherry Mann

Saturday, February 2nd
2:00 pm

Help kick off our third decade with a participatory workshop. Occupy Wall Street
and the ensuing national Occupy movement transformed many Americans'  views of
class divisions in our country. Tens of thousands got involved and tens of
millions more identified with this movement. What will these changes in
consciousness mean in the class struggle ahead?

THE MOVE THE MONEY CAMPAIGN

Presentation and Discussion with Judith LeBlanc, Field Director for Peace Action

Saturday, February 16th
2:00 pm

LeBlanc works for a demilitarized US foreign policy. She coordinates Peace
Action's primary campaign, the Move the Money Campaign, an effort to organize
grassroots coalitions of community, labor and peace groups to change national
spending priorities. She is also helping coordinate the activities of the New
Priorities Network, a national network of community, labor and faith groups who
are working to end the militarization of the federal budget to fund human needs.
      

 

THE GREAT POSTAL STRIKE OF 1970 
 
Film and Discussion

Saturday, March 2nd
2:00 pm

Film about the two-week strike by postal workers in March 1970, unique both as a
strike against the government and as one of the largest wildcat strikes in US
history. President Nixon called out the army and the National Guard in an
attempt to distribute the mail and break the strike. This militant action by
over 200,000 postal workers resulted in the strikers winning most of their
demands, including collective bargaining rights.
  

CARING ACCROSS GENERATIONS

with Timothy K. Doe, Board Member, National Direct Care Alliance

Saturday, March 16th
2:00 pm

Direct care jobs are projected to be among the fastest growing occupations over
the next decade. Meeting this demand will be impossible, though, until workers
are treated with the respect they deserve. Caring Across Generations is a
national campaign to bring dignity and value to the contributions of our
nation's aging population and the workers who care for them. Come learn about
this new movement.  

 LABOR AND POLITICS

Panel Discussion with Arizona Labor Leaders

Saturday, March 23rd
2:00 pm

US Organized Labor, while declining in size, has been playing an increasingly
active grassroots role in political struggles. What does this new labor strategy
mean to working people? How can Labor build a strong community coalition to
resist the mounting attacks from corporate bosses and their Tea Party allies?
 

IMPERIALISM AND RESISTANCE IN CENTRAL AMERICA

with Chuck Kaufman, National Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice

Saturday, April 6th
2:00 pm

With years of solidarity work with democratic movements in Central America,
including recent trips to Honduras, Kaufman is one of the strongest voices for a
change in US foreign policy. He has been calling for an end to the unholy
alliance between the Pentagon and big corporations which ravage the region and
keep the overwhelming majority of the population in dire poverty.
 

 HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY

Film and Discussion

Saturday, April 13th
2:00 pm

Winner of five Academy Award, John Ford's 1941 masterpiece is the melodramatic
and nostalgic story of a close-knit, hard-working Welsh coal-mining family at
the turn of the 19th Century and the changes, trials, setbacks, and joys of the
hard-bitten community as it faces growing unemployment, distressing working
conditions, unrest, unionization, labor-capital disputes, romance, and personal
tragedy.