Grace's "Goodbye and Good Luck" Adapted for Theater

York's Free Reading Series to Feature Goodbye and Good Luck
By Andrew Gans 26 Dec 2008
Free readings of several new musicals will be presented at the York Theatre Company in February 2009 as part of the Off-Broadway company's Developmental Reading Series.

The month will kick off Feb. 2, 2009, at 3 PM with Goodbye and Good Luck, which is based on the short story by Grace Paley. Featuring a book by Melba Thomas, music by David Friedman and lyrics by Muriel Robinson, the musical, according to the York, is "set on Manhattan's lower east side during the era of the Yiddish theatre . . . [and] tells the story of Rosie Lieber, whose life is upended and set on a new track when she loses her job in a sweatshop because she wants to sit by a window. Her search for her 'window' leads to a job as a cashier at a famous Second Avenue theatre and a lifelong involvement with its charismatic and considerably older star." An encore presentation will be offered Feb. 5 at 3 PM.

The readings will be presented at the York's home at The Theatre at Saint Peter's on 54th Street, east of Lexington Avenue. Although the readings are free, reservations are required by emailing Jeff Landsman at Jlandsman@yorktheatre.org (include name, phone number, the show's title and the number of tickets) or by calling (212) 935-5824, ext. 24.

For more information visit www.yorktheatre.org.

Special Tribute Sessions at the MLA Conference

The Modern Language Association is presenting a special series of programs in tribute to Grace Paley. The Sunday Dec 28 forum is open to the public. The conference sessions are in San Francisco on Monday, Dec 29 at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel. If persons are interested in the conference sessions, they should email to mh2349@columbia.edu for a reservation.

A Forum: Grace Paley Writing the World: Literature and Legacy
Sunday, 28 December 1:45 - –3:30 p.m.,
Hilton San Francisco, Continental 1-2
Presiding: Marianne Hirsch, Columbia Univ.
Speakers: Dorothy Allison, Emory Univ.; Yvette Christianse, Fordham University; Galway Kinnell, New York Univ.

Monday, 29 December
508. The Story Hearer: Grace Paley’s Poetry and Prose
10:15–11:30 a.m., Hilton San Francisco, Golden Gate 3
A workshop arranged in conjunction with the forum Grace Paley Writing the World: Literature and Legacy (289)
Presiding: Sandy Alexandre, Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.
1. “Starting Out in the Fifties: Why Grace Paley Did Not Become Philip Roth and Why We Are Glad That She Didn’t,” Nancy K. Miller, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York
2. “Grace Paley’s Formal Strategies,” Marianne DeKoven, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick
3. “Grace Paley’s Prose of the City and Poetry of the Country,” Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, Hebrew Univ.
4. “Lines and Lineages in Grace Paley’s Poetry,” Melissa Zeiger, Dartmouth Coll.

616. The Responsbility of the Poet: Grace Paley Writing Social Change
3:30–4:45 p.m., Hilton San Francisco, Golden Gate 3
A workshop arranged in conjunction with the forum Grace Paley Writing the World: Literature and Legacy (289)
Presiding: Florence Howe, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York
1. “For Love of the Imperfect World,” Susan Griffin, California Inst. of Integral Studies
2. “Inhabiting Voices: Grace Paley Writing Difference,” Ivy Schweitzer, Dartmouth Coll.
3. “Angry Arts: Grace Paley, the War Resisters League, and the Rebirth of Activist Art in the City of New York,” John Bell, Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.
4. “The Morality of Orality,” Ruth Perry, Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.

Grace Paley Birthday Reading in NYC

Eva Kollisch Introduces the Evening


Gerry Aberelli Reads Grace Paley


Bell Chevigny Reads Grace Paley


Florence Howe Reads Poems by Grace Paley


Meredith Tax Reads from a Short Story by Grace Paley



Beatrix Gates Reads Grace Paley

Celebrations for Grace's Birthday

BOSTON CELEBRATION
December 11th was Grace Paley's birthday
and it's a day we've set aside to celebrate Grace's work.
The Joiner Center will host a reading of Grace's work at 7:30 PM that evening at the Pierre Menard Gallery in Harvard Square to celebrate.
We hope you'll join us.
Readers will include friends Gish Jen, Taylor Stoehr, John Bell, Askold Melnyczyk, Joyce Peseroff, Fred Marchant, Martha Collins, Ann Killough, Rachel Rubin, Lois Rudnick, and Paul Wright.

NEW YORK CELEBRATION

December 12 at Teachers and Writers
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2020, New York, NY 10018 (near 34th Street)
Hosts: Bell Chevigny, Meredith Tax, Vera Williams, Marilyn Young, Bea Kreloff, Amy Swerdlow, Marilyn Young, Beatrix Gates, Florence Howe, Gerry Albarelli, Eva Kollisch
Time 6:30-9:30



THETFORD CELEBRATION
Thursday, December 11, 2008, from 5-7 pm,
SPEAK YOUR MIND -- at the Thetford Community Center (in Thetford Center on Route 113)

We of Thetford and of the Upper Valley were privileged to experience for many years the presence of the late Grace Paley, poet, fiction writer and passionate advocate for justice. Grace could make us laugh at the foibles and contradictions of our lives and make us cry with her profound words of wisdom. A nationally renowned writer who was a poet laureate of Vermont, Grace was also a warm and down to earth presence in the Upper Valley. Always generous with her time, she could be seen at poetry readings, volunteering in schools and actively participating in community affairs, up until her death in 2007 at the age of 84.

In memory of Grace and in her spirit of speaking truth to power, we invite residents of Thetford and beyond to come together on her birthday, December 11th, for a festive and feisty letter writing session. Come Speak Your Mind to our State, federal, and international leaders.

We'll provide pens of all colors, crayons, lots of postcards and letter writing paper, envelopes, stamps, an array of potential issues and addresses (feel free to bring your own), cider, soup and snacks.

Come write a letter or two about what's on your mind. Stay for as long or as short as you like. Wear your favorite rabble-rousing political T-shirt and bring some music, if you like.

Children are encouraged to join us and will have their own table to write and draw their hopes for the future.
Contact Christina Robinson 785-4012

SAN DIEGO
Kathleen B. Jones said...
Dear Folks--
Just happened upon this site on the occasion of Grace's birthday and wanted to let you know that tonight, in San Diego, CA, we will be doing a reading of an original adaptation (by me) of a set of Grace Paley's stories for the stage. The production of the play, Acts of Faith, will be in March 2009 in San Diego. If you are interested, and can help spread the word, I invite you to visit http://www.laterthanever.org for more information.

And please also visit my blog, Writing Revolutions, where some discussion of the process of adaptation has taken place, and will continue to.
Best wishes,
Kathy

PORTLAND, OREGON
On the eve of her 86th birthday, a celebration honoring the life and work of the Jewish writer who died in Aug. 2007 will be held. One of the great American story writers of the 20th century, she was also a poet and essayist whose strong dedication to political activism was inextricable from her literary work. Portland writers Rodger Larson and Sharon Wood Wortman will read from Grace's work and their own; audience members will read Grace's work. Refreshments will be served and Grace's books available for sale. 7 p.m. Free. Looking Glass Books in Sellwood at 7983 SE 13th Ave

Peace Pentagon

Call for "Territory of Peace and Coexistence"

Report from Mario Murillo on Popular Mobilization in Colombia

At the moment, over 12,000 indigenous and peasant activists, as well as representatives of other social sectors of southern Colombia, including striking sugar cane workers, are urgently congregating in the “Territory of Peace and Coexistence” in La Maria Piendamó, in Cauca, confronting a massive presence of heavily armed special forces units who have been ordered by the government to dislodge them with helicopters, tear gas and automatic weapons.

Latest reports say that over 60 people have been injured in the actions, many of them severely, and at least two indigenous activists have been killed.

The popular mobilization began on October 12th, and was called by the indigenous movement to protest the militarization of their territories by the Colombian Army, with the strategic support of the U.S. They are particularly concerned with the so-called “Strategy to Strengthen Democracy and Social Development (2007-2013),” otherwise known as Plan Colombia II, which would be executed through the President’s own Center for Coordination of Integral Action, or CCAI, supported by the U.S. Embassy and the Southern Command in conjunction with various ministries of the Colombian government.

As I wrote in a previous post, in introducing the project to the Colombian press, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos made it clear that, following on the apparent successes of Uribe’s first term, the next several years would be dedicated to the “final recuperation of those zones where there is a persistent presence of terrorist groups and narco-traffickers.” (“Threats Mount Against Indigenous Social Movements in Northern Cauca,” http://mamaradio.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html).

The protesters are also strongly opposed to the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the failure of the government of President Uribe to fulfill several accords with the indigenous communities relating to various issues affecting them, particularly related to return of indigenous lands to the communities.

From the start of this latest mobilization, the protesters have been demanding a face to face with President Uribe, with the objective of expressing their many concerns relating to the government’s policies vis a vis indigenous people. The leaders say only then will they consider ending the mobilization, and eventually lifting their blockade of the Pan American highway. Uribe, meanwhile, says they will not accept any blocking of the highways, and has chosen to meet them head on with the force of the state, not at the negotiating table.The organizations behind the protest have been putting out press releases and public statements for weeks, letting people know what they were protesting about and why, while also denouncing the intervention of all armed actors – legal or illegal – in their territories. In a massive grassroots education campaign, the leadership has organized workshops and teach-ins to explain why the “Life Plans” of the community are under severe threat of extinction from various sources: paramilitary groups linked to large landowners, FARC rebels who intimidate and harass throughout indigenous territory, the government, through its development plans and extensive military presence.

But none of these positions are known or understood by the Colombian people, who are constantly spoon-fed information from government sources with very little space for more comprehensive analysis or reporting.

If the Colombian media stopped focusing so much attention on celebrity gossip and sensationalist crime stories, and paid some attention to the organizing processes in the communities, it would be clear that the unfolding protests around the country, currently at a crisis mode, is not the work of guerillas, but of a people that is fed up with the way things are in the countryside.I was in northern Cauca for a week and left on the day the mobilization began, and one thing is clear: there are a lot of angry people in the indigenous and peasant communities. I also visited with the sugar cane workers on strike in Valle del Cauca, living in makeshift tents and basically starving for the past four weeks since they’ve been on strike.

The mostly Afro-Colombian and indigenous workers see the Free Trade Agreement as a direct attack against their interests, already compromised by labor laws passed in 2005 that essentially makes them indentured servants for the giants of Colombia’s sugar industry. These workers are not too happy either, and have blocked the entrances to all the major sugar plantations throughout the south of the country. The sugar cane workers have also joined forces with the indigenous protesters over the last week, blocking the Pan American Highway in the municipality of Candelaria, in Valle del Cauca, on Wednesday.

These are the same workers who, when the strike began, were told by Uribe that “they had a right to protest,” but that “dark forces of the guerillas were forcing them” to carry out the work stoppage.

Many of these same workers told me last week, at the encampment outside the Pichichí sugar plantation in the municipality of Guacarí, that yes, they have been obligated to protest, not by “dark forces” or guerilla infiltration, but by their children, who want a better future for themselves.

As I listened to these words, I only wished that Barack Obama, and anybody up north with a conscience, could have heard them as well.

-From Bogota, Colombia, October 15, 2008 by Mario Murillo
Mario A. Murillo is associate professor of communication at Hofstra University and author of Colombia and the United States: War, Unrest and Destabilization. He is currently living in Colombia, working on a book about the indigenous movement and its uses of community media.

Frei Betto on democracy and power

Brazilian theologist Frei Betto unveils a sculpture by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer at the University of Computer Science in Havana January 28, 2008.

Noted Dominican friar and activist Frei Betto denounces the criminalization of the social movements that once swept Lula into the Brazilian presidency:

One of the great attributes of Lula’s government is the non-criminalizing of social movements which were repressed during Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s government even by calling in army troops. If Lula were to treat them as a police matter and not as a political one, he would be condemning his own past.

Many will remember the strikes and workers’ demonstrations led by our President in São Paulo’s ABC (an area containing the districts of Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo and São Caetano do Sul) with army helicopters flying over the Vila Euclides stadium and pointing guns at metal workers’ assemblies, the troops of the Military Police surrounding the cathedral in São Bernardo do Campo which sheltered the leaders of the workers and police cars from the DEOPS (Department of Political and Social Order) carrying union leaders off to prison.

This happened during the dictatorship. Today we have recovered the State of Law where strikes, demonstrations and workers’ assemblies are rights which are assured by the Federal Constitution. Except in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil’s southernmost state), where arbitrariness still reigns.

In September 2007 the Brigada Militar, as the Military Police is known in Rio Grande do Sul, tried to stop a three column march of landless peasants on their way to the municipality of Coqueiros do Sul. In a report handed to the general commander of the Brigada Militar, to the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul and to the Federal Public Ministry, the sub commander Colonel Paulo Roberto Mendes Rodrigues described the MST (Landless Peasants Movement) and the Via Campesina as “criminal movements”.

In December 2007 the Superior Council of Rio Grande do Sul’s Public Ministry named a team of district attorneys to “promote public civil action towards the dissolution of the MST and to declare it illegal”....

The MST is a legitimate movement which keeps 150,000 persons encamped on the sides of roads thus avoiding the growth of the favelas (shanty towns) which surround the cities. It defends the right of access to land for four million families who, during past decades, were thrown off the land by the expansion of the latifundium and agro business and by the construction of dams as well as by the banks’ increased interest rates.

As a principle for its actions the MST adopts non-violent methods such as those used by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. (both of whom actually suffered similar accusations and were assassinated). The occupied areas are non productive or have been invaded by squatters who falsely took over lands which belonged to the government, as is the case of many ranches in the Pontal do Paranapanema in the state of São Paulo........The MST today struggles for the democratization of land in order to prioritise the producton of foodstuffs for the internal market (120 million potential consumers) through medium and small properties free from the control of transnational companies, guaranteeing dominion over our country’s food. A sustainable change in land structure requires a new technological pattern capable of preserving the environment, implementing agro industries throughout the country in the form of cooperatives and access to quality education for all.

We cannot permit Brazilian land to fall into the hands of foreigners simply because they have more money. Lands should be within reach of families who are receiving the Bolsa Família (allowance for very low income families). Thus the government would no longer need to worry about increasing the allowance. More than food, cooker and fridge, these families require access to land in order to become independent of government help and produce their own income.

All citizens’ rights – women’s vote, labour laws, health services, pensions etc. – were achieved by social movements. This is the story of all of them, in every country and in every era, no different to what challenges the MST today - misunderstanding, persecution, massacres and assassinations (Eldorado dos Carajás, Dorothy Stang, Chico Mendes) etc. If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, the price of democracy is the socialising of power, not allowing it to be the privilege of a cast or class.

Coal Protest Arrests at Newcastle, Australia

Police arrested another nine people on Monday as climate change protests continued at the Newcastle port for a sixth day. The latest arrests follow 37 on Sunday, with environment groups aiming to shut down coal exports from Newcastle, the world's biggest coal port.

In 1007 protesters chain themselves to coal loading equipment at the Carrington coal terminal in Newcastle, Australia

Five activists chained themselves to a conveyor belt at the Kooragang coal export terminal at the port about 6am (AEST) Monday, halting coal loading for more than two hours. The five were arrested and later charged with entering enclosed lands.

In the second action, four protesters sat on the tracks at the Carrington terminal at about 4pm, forcing a coal train to stop before padlocking themselves to the train. Police were called in to cut the group free after about an hour, with charges expected to be laid later Monday.

In similar actions on Sunday, around 1,000 people marched on the Carrington terminal, with 100 scaling or cutting through fences to enter the rail corridor, bringing the busy facility to a standstill. Protesters from across Australia have converged on Newcastle for the protest, labelled "Camp for Climate Action".

Spokeswoman Georgina Wood said the number of people involved showed a growing support for non-violent direct action.
It signals a lot of frustration," she said. "There's a lot of willingness to change in the community and that isn't being matched by governments. Coal exports are the biggest contribution to climate change." From the Sydney Morning Herald

Demonstration against Xenophobia in South Africa

Photos by Tracy Dyan @ indymedia South Africa of a demonstration on Sunday in Johannesburg.
Médecins Sans Frontière responds to outbreaks of violence in Johannesburg, Sunday, May. 25, 2008 at 11:12 AM

In response to recent outbreaks of violence in Johannesburg, South Africa, MSF is currently providing emergency medical care for wounded people seeking shelter in police stations, community halls, and other locations to which they have fled for safety.
May 22, 2008 Since December 2007, MSF teams have been providing medical assistance to vulnerable Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa. Following the recent outbreak of violence, mobile teams were swiftly organized to respond to the current situation, providing emergency medical care. Photos by Tracy Dyan.
The violence, which is being aimed primarily at foreign nationals from neighboring countries, first erupted in Alexandra township on Sunday, May 11, and has since spread to several other townships, reaching central Johannesburg at the weekend. MSF has sent mobile teams to a total of 15 locations, where there have been outbreaks of violence. “We have been treating gunshot wounds, head traumas, wounds resulting from beatings, lacerations, burns and other violence-related injuries,” said Dr. Eric Goemaere, MSF medical coordinator in South Africa.

The violence has led to displacement and extreme vulnerability, particularly amongst women, children, and Zimbabweans who are denied refugee status in South Africa. MSF estimates that there are at least 13,000 displaced people only at the locations the teams assessed across Johannesburg. MSF mobile teams have treated more than 600 patients, most of them with violence-related injuries. Still, the MSF team has been unable to access the epicenter of the violent attacks and is concerned that the most acute needs are going unmet.

While a small number of local organizations, particularly the South African Red Cross, are mobilizing to respond to the basic needs of the displaced for shelter, food, and sanitation, they are being stretched to the limit. In some places of refuge, there are as many as 1,500 people sleeping, sometimes outside in tents or in the open, where they are vulnerable to further attacks. “People have told us they don’t feel safe in these sites and our teams have witnessed acts of intimidation and attempts of violence,” said Rachel Cohen, MSF head of mission in South Africa. “They require adequate and organized protection and assistance from national authorities and relevant international actors.”

MSF is deeply concerned about the current situation and protection of displaced migrants and refugees in Johannesburg who fear for their lives and have nowhere to turn in the midst of a rapidly deteriorating crisis. MSF has been working in central Johannesburg since December 2007 to provide Zimbabweans seeking refuge at the Central Methodist Church and surrounding areas with access to medical care. MSF also works in Musina, at the border with Zimbabwe in Limpopo Province, providing primary health care on commercial farms and in Musina township.

Mobilizing to Stop Privatization of Union Square

Paul Robeson Singing at Union Square

The Church of Stop Shopping has been holding rallies at Union Square to draw attention to the proposed privatization of the North End of the park, which includes a historic pavilion where thousands have gathered over the years to defend the eight hour work day, to protest police brutality, to protest war in Iraq and many other noble causes.

The following is an excerpt from Reverend Billy's Sermon:
The Pavilion on the north plaza of this park is our Temple of Free Speech, a stage where our American conscience came out in the songs of Paul Robeson, Emma Goldman’s shouts and the prayers of Dorothy Day… Passionate crowds surged before that reviewing stand in the tens of thousands. The first Labor Day took place here in 1882. The 8-hour day was born in The Pavilion of Union Square.The ghosts of George Washington and Paul Robeson haunt the construction site at Union Square.
Corporations are privatizing the Pavilion, like so much of our commons in New York City and in the United States. The pattern is always the same. First they under-funded our park, pushed aside the public money for improvements, and then here come the millionaires posing as our saviors. In fact, they are dealing themselves a Tavern on the Green South, pushing around the greenmarket, cutting down old trees, and ending the day-care that was there – but wait a minute. The Pavilion? A gentrified watering hole?
It is our Temple of Free Speech. Our progressive history still lives here. The Americans seeking justice and Peace can still be heard marching and rallying. They are our heroes and teachers. Our children need to know of their courage. And we ourselves must now have the courage they showed then. We will defend Union Square with the part of ourselves that still has a conscience. Amen!Savitri D, as Emma Goldman, speaks at an action to save Union Square. The ghosts of past leaders who have spoken in that location line the construction fence: including, Dorothy Day, Norman Thomas, Lucy Parsons, etc.

To keep the area of Union Square a public park, sign this petition.

Dock Workers Protest Iraq War

From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Dockworkers from Long Beach to Seattle defied their employers and an arbitrator's ruling and brought cargo operations to a standstill for eight hours Thursday in protest of the war in Iraq.
At least 6,000 workers represented by San Francisco's International Longshore and Warehouse Union did not report for work for the day shift, effectively shutting down 29 West Coast ports. Their president, Bob McEllrath, issued a statement that read, "We're supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it's time to end the war in Iraq."
A day earlier, an independent arbitrator sided with waterfront terminal operators and other employers who suspected a job action was in the works, and ruled that halting work would be a contract violation.
The ILWU was not dissuaded.
"It's important that these processes are in place and we respect them," ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said of the ruling by arbitrator John Kagel. "We also have an obligation and are proud to respect the First Amendment rights our members have as citizens governed by the Constitution. This is a voluntary act of good citizenship to shake the tree in Washington, D.C., and get those folks to wake up and respect the overwhelming majority of Americans," who want to end the war, Merrilees said.
Thousand of people in goods distribution, including truckers and distribution center employees, were affected by the one-shift work stoppage, but it came on a relatively light day at the docks and it appeared that logistics planners worked around the action, which was long advertised. The evening shift Thursday began without interruption.
The ILWU's Longshore Caucus, the highest decision-making body of the union, overwhelmingly approved a resolution in February to request employers grant the union a "stop-work meeting" on May 1. The ILWU contract states that the union can use one shift per month to stop work and have a meeting to discuss union issues, and employers routinely grant those requests - but only for an evening shift, when there is less cargo to move.
The union wanted time off on the day shift, but the employers said it would be disruptive. On April 8, the union withdrew the daytime request but proceeded with the original plan for a stop-work meeting. According to evidence Kagel gathered, workers made it known that they would not be working on Thursday at several ports, including Tacoma, Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The action takes on another layer of significance because the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators, shipping companies and other employers, are involved in contract negotiations.
"It's of more concern to us because it signals something that is more sinister," said Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, suggesting the union may employ slowdown or other disruptive tactics if the current contract expires July 1 without a new accord in place.
"The ILWU indicated to us months ago it was committed to good-faith negotiations and said the union was hopeful we could reach conclusion without disruption. We believe today's coordinated work action flies in the face of that," Getzug said.
Merrilees, of the ILWU, said companies "have known about this for more than a month, and most made plans to adjust accordingly. The impact was negligible, and even with the companies huffing and puffing, there will be very little impact when all is said and done."
The West Coast ports, and in particular the major facilities at Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, on an average day move 10,000 cargo containers, loading and unloading ships. The workload is greater in the second half of the year, so Thursday's demand, said the PMA's Getzug, was probably similar to that of Thursday the week before, when 6,000 longshore workers were dispatched to handle cargo for 30 vessels at the major West Coast ports for the day.
Fifteen cargo ships arrived at the adjacent Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles on Thursday and were unattended by the ILWU during the day, said Arley Baker, a spokesman at the Port of Los Angeles. By late afternoon, there were 12 ships at Los Angeles, he said.
During the busier time of the year, with holiday-related cargo arriving from the Far East, there would be 2o or more ships arriving at those two ports alone, Baker said. "The sky is not falling, and ships are not backed up from here to China," he said.
While three to five ships typically are docked at the Port of Oakland on any given day, only one was due to arrive Thursday during the work stoppage, said port spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur.
"There was awareness by terminal operators of a possible labor action," and shipping companies acted accordingly to minimize disruption, Sandifur said.
"If I'm a logistics expert with a major retailer, I'm going to work around it," Baker said of the labor dispute.
Indeed, Merrilees said, "We hear ships reduced speed out in the Pacific, to adjust to the schedule on May 1, and we are pleased by the added benefit of reduced air pollution."
Nevertheless, the work stoppage recalled the disastrous effects of the 10-day lockout of workers by the PMA in 2002, during fruitless contract talks. The dispute damaged both sides and ended when President Bush obtained an order to open the ports under the Taft-Hartley Act. Estimates of daily losses in the economy exceeded $1 billion at the time, as produce rotted on docks, wheat never got out of Montana silos to be exported, and holiday toys were delayed on their trip to market.
Getzug, the Pacific Maritime Association spokesman, said its president, Jim McKenna, was unavailable Thursday as he is focused on contract negotiations.
Annual business activity related to the West Coast ports is about $1.2 trillion, 10 percent of total U.S. gross domestic product, according to John Martin and Associates, a company that does economic impact analysis. The company said shippers pay $50,000 to $100,000 a day to have a ship sitting at a berth for an extra day, and the costs eventually reach consumers.
E-mail George Raine at graine@sfchronicle.com

SUPER ADELITA

¡SUPER ADELITA! April, 17, 2008

Taking their name from las Adelitas, the women of the Revolution who served as everything from colonels to cooks in the peasant armies of the era, the modern Adelitas are defending the people from the imperalists — or, at any rate, from opening PEMEX to foreign investments.

The PRD-affiliated group appears to be an outgrowth of “las blancas revolucianarios”, a pressure group set up to push for senior citizen pensions and regularly filled the Zocalo with protesting grannies… the AARP on steroids While some of the most active Adalitas have been “ladies of a certain age” the movement is growing and appears to have support from women of all ages within the Party.

The Adelitas have begun a blockade around the Mexican Senate to delay passage of the Calderon administration reform bill. Call it a “People’s Fillibuster” or a last-ditch effort by PRD, it’s in the tradition of Mexican political discourse… as much about theater as policy.

And… being Mexico… you need a super-hero, or super heroine: A rapping super-heroine is even better.

From The Mex Files

Nonviolent Protest Gains in West Bank

A Supreme Court decision in favor of one protesting village has inspired others.
by Joshua Mitnick
Published on Monday, September 24, 2007 by The Christian Science Monitor
Ten shouting Palestinians were pushing against one boulder, but the primitive Israeli roadblock cutting off the tiny Palestinian village from Bethlehem was not budging. Then, with the help of two giant crowbars, an Israel protester, and a Japanese backpacker, the group heaved the stone aside, opening the road for the first time in three years.

“Tomorrow they’ll bring a bulldozer and move it back,” sighed Sheerin Alaraj, a village resident and a demonstration organizer. “Then next week we’ll come back again to protest.”

Inspired by the experience of other Palestinian villages, the Al Walajeh demonstrators are part of a small but growing core of protesters combining civil disobedience with legal petitions to fight Israeli policies.

Earlier this month, the village of Bilin, which has held weekly protests since 2004, garnered widespread attention and praise in the Palestinian press when the Israeli Supreme Court ordered a part of the military’s separation barrier near Bilin to be dismantled. Increasingly, other Palestinian villages are following Bilin’s lead, though it remains to be seen whether this kernel of nonviolence will grow into a full-fledged movement.

“Before Bilin, people never had faith it would achieve anything, neither nonviolence, nor the legal system,” says Mohammed Dajani, a political science professor at Al Quds University. “Maybe this will be a response to the skeptics, that, ‘Look, it works.’ ”

Nonviolence means more attention

While Palestinian militants dominate international headlines through suicide bombings and firing rockets on Israeli towns, residents of Bilin and a handful of other tiny farming villages like Al Walajeh have eschewed the armed struggle. Instead, they have linked arms with Israeli peace activists and chained themselves to trees to delay Army bulldozers cutting a swath for an electronic fence severing the villagers from their land.

Though Palestinians glorify the armed militiamen and those killed in battle with Israel, protest leaders say the nonlethal tactics have one crucial advantage: it attracts Israeli and international peace activists, who in turn bring sympathetic media coverage.

The leaders sound like a Palestinian version of Martin Luther King Jr., and their voices have become more prominent in the ongoing debate about whether peaceful or military actions will win their statehood.

“We use nonviolence as a way of life…. We learned from many experiences: like India, Martin Luther [King], and South Africa,” says Samer Jabber, who oversees a network of activists in the villages surrounding Bethlehem.

Every Friday in Bilin for the past three years the protesters have faced tear gas, rubber bullets, and beatings that have caused hundreds of injuries. Demonstrators sometimes threw rocks, one of which caused a soldier to lose an eye. (While leaders say they’re against such violence, followers don’t always hold the line.)

“The belief in one’s rights is more important than anything else. If I am confident about my rights, nothing will make me despair,” says Iyad Burnat, a Bilin resident and one of the protest leaders. “When you resist an Israeli soldier by peaceful means, their weapons become irrelevant.”

The strategy paid off when the Supreme Court ruled that the current path of the fence around Bilin offered no security advantages. Villagers will now be able to reach their crops without having to pass through gates in the fence manned by soldiers.

In Al Walajeh, Ms. Alaraj says the protests would be meaningless without a challenge in the Israeli courts. Villagers fear that the construction of the separation wall - set to be more than 400 miles long total, affecting 92 Palestinian communities - will leave the hamlet completely surrounded.

Praise from the Palestinian press

Even though the Bilin ruling was not the first time the court ordered a portion of the barrier moved, it has resonated widely among Palestinians.

“It has become obvious that popular civil resistance has become the best way for national resistance from the occupation,” wrote Waleed Salem in an Al Quds newspaper op-ed.

The civil disobedience taps into Palestinian nostalgia for the first intifada in the late 1980s, marked by grass-roots participation and stone-throwing.The current uprising is led by a network of underground militias, most of which have ties to political parties.

A way to heal Palestinian rifts, too

Just three months after Palestinians watched Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-run militias, nonviolent protest against Israel is being seen as a way to heal rifts among Palestinians.

“Armed struggle has a side effect on the occupied people. Palestinians start to use this tool against the occupation, but in the end they use it against themselves,” says Jabber. “Violence has become part of the culture. We realize that we have to reform.”

In 2002, an open letter by Palestinian intellectuals against the use of suicide bombing failed to trigger a change in the uprising. Now, the demonstrations draw, at best, several hundred protesters - possibly because the protests are taking place in poor and isolated villages.Last Friday, only several dozen came out to move the boulders in Al-Walajeh. Palestinians say that after seven years of daily conflict, people are exhausted. “It’s because of frustration,” says Alaraj. “There’s been real poverty in the last two years. And when you’re not eating, then you don’t think of anything else.”

The opening of the road, organizers hope, will encourage more people to join the protests. “If everyone moves forward toward that objective it will be most effective,” says Abdel Hajajreh, a demonstrator. “Don’t forget, Gandhi liberated an entire country.”

The Grace Paley Legacy

Grace Paley was a wonderful writer and troublemaker. --Donald Barthelme

Many people have wondered how to best remember and celebrate this amazing woman. This blog will record non-violent actions around the world to further her vision of resistance to the empires of war and exploitation. We want to record instances of creative non-violent actions-- powerful gestures in the struggle for peace and justice.

This is from her book Just As I Thought:
The first action I took that could be described in formal terms as civil disobedience was during the Armed Forces Day Parade in the sixties. Somebody said, "You want to do that with us?" And I said, "Oh, sure." So we sat down in front of the parade, sat down and threw flowers at the tanks, etc. And the good thing about that is that I got six days in jail. I've never spent more than that at any one time. I learned a lot. I learned that it was interesting. I mean, when you're in jail, it's not, as if you're no place. You're in another place. You're SOMEPLACE. It is not as if you're not among people. You're among women and they're interesting. Not frightening. Whoever they are, the people, the prisoners, those women can educate you. And the whole experience is one that, well, you are suddenly in an American colony. You can think of that vast prison population that way. You have to go into it from time to time. This is how the colonized live. Prison is not a metaphor.

For information about the Prison Industrial Complex go to Critical Resistance