Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Lets organize a Pro-Economic Justice Event!



the atrocity of the disinformation campaign about the bank bailouts is
indefensible. however, this is no time to just sit around and revel
in confusion and outrage. As is being done in over 100 cities in the
country, we need to organize a pro-economic justice, anti-bailout
event in columbia to let bankers know that even towns such as ours are
willing and ready to mobilize against such usury. I will not pander
to banks and supposed leaders who will take $5223 per tax payer to
keep us in debt in an exploitative financial system. If this three
page proposal was put plainly to the american public, no one would
support it. But the incentive behind doling out money and
'nationalizing' banks financially without any public accountability,
transparency, or even a guarantee after they mismanaged their mortgage
system is beyond absent. This fact needs to be badly communicated to
the world and to columbia.

I propose a protest, similar to others being done around the country,
where we pile up some of our trash in front of Bank Of America and ask
them to buy it, because they are asking the same of us. Should the
american taxpayer purchase this financial junk? If the banks were
similarly 'wise' enough to buy our trash, then we would answer their
byout plea with a resounding yes!

further detailed information on the bailouts is available at sites
such as http://www.dollarsandsense.org/blog/, the democracy nowjavascript:void(0)
broadcast over the past few days, and sites such as commondreams.org
and truthout.org. the corporate networks have pandered to their
investors' wishes of disinformation, confusion and a cultivation of
feelings of disempowerment, fear, and resignation as far as our
economic rights are concerned. we must remain well informed through
this struggle and maintain a campaign of direct action to raise our
voices against such economic injustice.

i will be gone until monday. we will engage in rapid development of
the funny money film series. i have been put in contact with the
correct folks for film screening approval. we need to act, we need to
educate. this is a dire time, but not for the same reason they tell
you in the news... keep informed, plan, act. there is so much to do,
and it is oh so necessary...

Recent Meeting Minutes

9/24/08
Hi all, here are the minutes from tonight's meeting:

SOA
The budget for SOA is done and ready to be turned in on Friday. We will find
out if we were approved by next Friday, 10/2!

Let's send out a press release about the trip, and hope to get some
coverage!
We should table and put on events the week or two before we go to educate
the campus on the issues.
Presente! is a group that we can buy 150 copies of literature about SOA for
$25. Let's do a fundraiser to get the money – maybe a party?

The College Dems are doing a big voter registration drive tomorrow,
Thursday. Their goal is to sign up 1000 new registrants. Here is the info
they emailed out:

Thursday, 9/25: Our big event this week is our Day of Action on
Thursday. From 9am to 7pm we'll be all over campus registering voters, and
we need YOUR HELP! Luckily there is a really cool and really easy way for
you to sign up! Go to this spreadsheet and fill out the information, and
you'll be added to our schedule for that day! We're working on getting 1000
new voters registered that day, and you can help us to that goal!Then, at
7pm, we're heading to the Heidelberg to celebrate our voter registrations!
We'll be announcing the final number for the day at 7:30. Make sure you're
there to celebrate! (Note: We're doing this instead of our original plan of
yardsign making, but keep an eye out for that in the future!

If you want to sign up for the event, click here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pOG34HhKNofiT8Qs0-g7heg&hl=en

There will be a public forum where Al Rojas, one of the founding members of
United Farm Workers and now a leader in the immigrant rights movement, will
be giving a talk. It's happening on Thursday, October 2, 2008, in Jesse
Wrench Auditorium in Memorial Union South.

Update on the Troy Davis case. He was the man on death row in Georgia who
was scheduled to die on Tuesday, but the U.S. Supreme Court intervened and
issued a stay on the execution. They will decide if he will be executed or
not on Monday. We might be doing an action for this on Friday, and emails
will be sent on the discussion listserve about the details.

Anna Baltzer, Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar, author,
granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and volunteer with the International
Women's Peace Service, is touring the United States with a presentation and
book describing her experiences documenting human rights abuses in Palestine
and supporting nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Providing
photographic documentation and critical information often misrepresented or
ignored in the Western media, Baltzer's presentation covers checkpoints,
settlements, Israeli activism, the 1948 war & refugees, censorship, the
Separation Wall, nonviolent resistance, and more. For further information
about Baltzer's work and tour, please visit www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com.

She will be in Columbia on Friday, Oct. 3 at 6pm at 1805 E. Walnut, which is
a campus of Moberly Area Community College. We are going to try to promote
this on campus - Kelsey will kind of be leading this.

The ACLU is sponsoring an activist organizing training this Saturday at the
MU Law School. It's free, and lunch is provided. Go to
https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=nat_columbia_missouri_training&JServSessionIdr012=w5bldznos5.app24ato
sign up!

Next week sometime we are going to try to do a SPA potluck dinner/social
gathering. We'll send an email out with the details when we figure them out.

-Jack Buthod

Thanks Jack!!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

SPA new semester

SPA is starting off another semester. Meetings will now be held at a brand new time, wednesday at 7:00. Its still Middlebush, but is now room 132. Hopefully we will see everyone there, including some new folks who signed up at The Listening Project. We have much to discuss, including Earth Dance, the Funny Money Documentary Series, Moratorium Now, and other exciting stuff. Bring on any ideas you might have as well, including traveling events. We will have a large budget if we have things to put on it.