Dr. Maryse Narcisse of Haiti Visits Southern California (tags)
“Despite their overwhelming responsibilities, the women are always there. [Applause.] We are a very patriarchal society, but very matrifocal. [Laughter.] They call the women of Haiti 'the central pillar.' The women don't let themselves get discouraged by crisis situations, and despite the very difficult two years of electoral struggle they never got discouraged.They always maintained the torch of struggle for liberation. [Applause.] They are examples by their actions. . . . It is clear that the Haitian people are bent on the struggle. More than ever they are fighting for dignity, democracy, freedom, and the respect of their rights.” – Dr. Maryse Narcisse, April 24, 2017
KPFK and Pacifica- woes unrelenting... (tags)
We in LA all wish to report or hear or write better news of improvements, less begging for more and more monies on air, less internal confusion and conflicts, and financial stability and ethics.....but ... not yet, or if ever possible is unknown...
Columbus Day Protest, Downtown L.A. (tags)
Columbus Day has been suffering setbacks of late. Minneapolis; Berkeley, California; and most recently Seattle now observe Indigenous People's Day instead. San Francisco has Italian Heritage Day; Hawaii, Discoverers Day (i.e., the discovery of the islands by Polynesians); and South Dakota, Native American Day. Venezuela dropped Columbus Day in 2002 in favor of Day of Indigenous Resistance. Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, and other countries celebrate Dia de la Raza*. While Columbus Day's still recognized here in Southern California, a new annual protest occurs in downtown L.A.
Mothers, Caregivers, Occupiers demand answers from candidates (tags)
A multiracial group of mothers, children, other caregivers, occupiers, women and men, older people and youth, held a Speakout and Protest outside the Republican Party Headquarters in Burbank, California on Monday, October 15th, the eve of the second presidential debate. .
Report Back: LA Forum on and Fundraiser for Haiti (tags)
Over 200 people, overwhelmingly Black people, came out for the Public Forum on and Fundraiser for Haiti. Actor and activist Danny Glover, Pierre Labossiere, co-founder of Haiti Action Committee, and Robert Roth, board member of Haiti Emergency Relief Fund were featured speakers at the event which both helped get the word out about what's happening on the ground in Haiti and raised funds to support the Haitian grassroots. Margaret Prescod, host of KPFK's Sojourner Truth and Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike, chaired.
Mothers March & Speak Out (tags)
On Saturday, March 13, about 150 mothers, grandmothers, women who are not mothers, children, and men, came out for the Mothers March and Speak Out in Los Angeles. This was an International Women’s Day event called by the Global Women’s Strike and Women of Color/GWS.
Emergency Vigil in Support of Haiti (tags)
An emergency vigil was held asking people "to donate money to go to grassroots women and their families, and therefore communities, rather than to thieving elites and their corrupt NGOs."
Haiti, Honduras -- Occupation is the Crime (tags)
August 12 marked the two-year anniversary of the kidnapping of Haitian human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, considered by many to be Haiti's next Aristide. Vigils were held around the world on this day: including in Haiti, London, Guyana, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Local Groups Join Forces to Oppose Gaza Offensive (tags)
Demonstration at the Federal Building in downtown L.A.
KPFK 90.7 FM LA On-Air Tributes to Don White (tags)
KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles On-Air Tributes to Don White Tuesday on Margaret Prescod, on Sojourner Truth, Tuesday June 24, 7-8 am (PST) and Wednesday June 25th from 8-9 am (PST) on Uprising with Sonali Kohatkar
Women Say Fund Caregiving Not War & Occupation (tags)
In Los Angeles, for the 9th Global Women’s Strike on International Women’s Day, March 8, women along with men supporters gathered at a town hall meeting entitled ‘Fund Caregiving Not War and Occupation!’ at the Southern California Library in South LA. On and around every March 8 since 2000, women in 60 countries have taken part in the Global Women’s Strike under the theme Invest in Caring not Killing. Women who are working to reclaim the money and other resources for crucial survival needs for themselves and their communities, told their stories and shared their struggles and victories.
Int'l Womyn's Day Celebrated (tags)
Quotes from thoughtful womyn, to help us remember who we all are and what we do....
Rediscovering the Arusha Declaration and Abandoning the NGO Model: (tags)
Selma James and Andaiye chart a path from the 60s to Tomorrow
Two prominent international women's movement leaders visited Los Angeles in December as a part of a special North American tour. Selma James of London and Andaiye of Guyana spoke to a packed room at the Southern California Library on what we can learn from the past and present of autonomous socialist organizing in the Global South. Both women organize with the Global Women's Strike, which calls for recognition of and payment for all unwaged work, and an end to the twin terrors of poverty and war. The Strike's signature event is an annual work stoppage on International Women's Day, March 8.
Photo by Sidney Ross-Risden: right to left — Selma James, host Margaret Prescod, and Andaiye
Community Initiates Weekly Vigils in Solidarity with Watada (tags)
Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress has initiated a regular vigil in support of Lt. Ehren Watada, who the US Army is threatening with a second court martial. The group will gather each Monday from 5:30-7:00 at the corner of Alameda and First Streets in Little Tokyo.
8th Annual GWS LA Event with Sò An (tags)
Report of 8th Annual Global Women’s Strike Los Angeles Event: An Evening of Resistance & Song with Sò An, Popular Haitian activist, political prisoner & folk singer
Report: International Day in Solidarity with Haiti (Los Angeles) (tags)
The grassroots resistance in Haiti called for international solidarity on or about February 7. Activists on four different continents participated. Here in Southern California, over 30 people demonstrated in front of the Brazilian Consulate in Beverly Hills. (Brazil is heading the UN “peacekeeping” mission in Haiti.)
LA Welcomes Haitian Women Activists (tags)
Haitian activists Ginette Apollon and Rea Dol, in LA as part of their first visit to California, discuss the situation on the ground following the election of René Preval as President of Haiti and what are the demands of the grassroots.
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY: A Tale of Two Members of Congress & the Police – by Jeffrey Blankfort (tags)
The Democrat Party leadership was overjoyed when McKinney was defeated for re-election in 2002. After she had served five terms, AIPAC decided to make an example of her for having criticized Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. ...The Democrats were, in turn, mortified two years later when, without their help, the plucky McKinney ran and was re-elected to her seat. ...To show the party's displeasure, McKinney was denied the return of her seniority by a tight-lipped Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco congresswoman who serves as the Democrats' minority House whip. ...McKinney, of course, is African-American, and one of the few members of the Congressional Black Caucus who has not been cowed into submission by the Democratic Party and the only one who has refused to genuflect to the Israel lobby. ...To make matters worse – for McKinney, not for the pursuit of truth and justice – she has refused to accept the official Bush administration explanation of the events of 9-11.
Global Women's Strike/LA Action Highlights Katrina & Other Global Warming Survivors (tags)
“Everything was calm. I had just gone from the sofa into the kitchen. That’s when the water came gushing in. I saw my little dog, Queenie, struggling to get up on the sofa. I grabbed her up, but the water kept rising; it was up to my neck by the time we got out...” - Gloria Brown, Katrina survivor.
Haiti, Venezuela, Benton Harbor, New Orleans: The Grassroots Mobilizes (tags)
LA public meeting a historic coming together of grassroots struggles in the United States with the movement against US/UN occupation in Haiti and Venezuela’s ‘peaceful and democratic revolution’.
The New Haitian Revolution: Resistance to U.S. & U.N. Occupation (tags)
". . . Why Haiti has been persecuted for the last 200 years? Because it is an affront to the colonial powers to have slaves rise up and defeat them. It is a bad example. [Applause.] There are a lot of lessons to be learned, and they don't want it ever to happen again. [Applause continues.]" -- Margaret Prescod, Pacifica Radio
Joined by community-based activists to mark the one year anniversary of the US backed coup and occupation of Haiti, Congresswoman Maxine Waters spoke at a Press Conference to express her concerns and outrage at the continued human rights abuses in Haiti and to demand the return of democracy to Haiti.
Women’s march shakes Washington (tags)
WASHINGTON – “I know firsthand the anti-choice extremists now in control of the Capitol and of the White House are opposed to basic contraception,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told the more than 1 million participants at the April 25 March for Women’s Lives.