Community Calendar, 2003

7pm,
SJSU Film Series:
Palestine Is Still the Issue
SJSU, Science Building, Room 142

Wednesday, October 29th, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Silicon Valley for Civil Rights, General Meeting

It's no secret that since September 11th, the federal government has engaged in a massive crackdown on civil liberties. Muslims, Arabs, and South-Asians have been rounded up for interrogations, detentions, and deportations. FBI agents have been authorized to spy on political and religious gatherings. And the Patriot Act threatens all of us with its provisions for expanded surveillance and invasions of privacy.

178 cities and counties nationwide have passed resolutions opposed to the Patriot Act and this crackdown on civil liberties. With the Bush Administration about to introduce "PATRIOT Act II", it is important for Congress to know that there is local opposition. That is why it is critical that Santa Clara County take a stand for civil liberties and pass a resolution against the PATRIOT Act.

Location:
South Bay Mobilization
2nd Floor Conference Room
480 North First St, in downtown San Jose

www.southbaymobilization.org
For more information, call (408) 998-8504
Educate, Involve & Mobilize for Peace & Justice

Saturday, October 25th, 11:00 am
Bring the Troops Home Now!

[ Full page flyer, 184 KB ]

Saturday, Oct. 25th, San Francisco No to Colonialism in Iraq, Palestine, and everywhere End the Occupation! "Are more people going to be killed ? You Bet." - Donald Rumsfeld, July 14, 2003 11 am Gather at Civic Center (Grove & Larkin, Civic Center Bart) Noon March 1 pm Rally at Jefferson Square Park  Car Pooling to San Francisco Meet 9:30 am at County Parking Lot across from 70 West Hedding St, San Jose

Press Release about the Oct 25th March and Rally in San Francisco

President Bush wants $87 billion more for war in Iraq and Afghanistan.That’s $238 million/day or $10 million every hour! Remember these numbers when they say there is no money for education and healthcare and libraries, firehouses, childcare or other vital social services.

Money for jobs, education & health care—NOT WAR!
Defend civil rights & civil liberties -
Fightback against the Patriot Act !

With every military occupation, resistance mounts - and working people in the U.S. end up paying the price. As we are pitted against the people of the world, we pay with our lives and taxes. Not every one is suffering of course: Bechtel, Halliburton, Big Oil and military contractors stand to make billions from colonizing Iraq. How many children of politicians or corporate executives are fighting in Iraq? While pretending to “support the troops,” Bush and Congress are slashing veterans’ benefits. Secure in the White House, Bush proclaimed “bring ‘em on,” inviting Iraqi resistance fighters to U.S. troops. We say, “Bring the Troops
Home Now!”

Protest initiated by International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition

www.southbaymobilization.org
For more information, call (408) 998-8504
Educate, Involve & Mobilize for Peace & Justice

Tuesday, October 21st, 7pm
Peter Rosset Reports Back from the WTO in Cancún, Mexico

WTO Derailed in Second Seattle in Cancún, Mexico!

Report Back from WTO Meeting
Victory for the People in Cancún!

Peter Rosset, Director of Food First

The failure of the WTO Fifth Ministerial in Cancún, Mexico is a severe blow not just to the WTO, but also to regional agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The lack of attention to the legitimate concerns of the developing countries, greed of the U.S. and EU to capture world markets, and the mounting evidence that the free trade agreements have failed the poorest and the most vulnerable in society, has alienated both the poor countries and civil society.

Date & Location:
Tuesday, Oct. 21th at 7:00 pm
First Unitarian Church
160 North 3rd St., San Jose

Cancún offers a lesson - strong arm tactics, that might have worked in the past for the U.S. and the EU, are not going to work any more. The walk out demonstrates that poor nations agree on one principle: No agreement is better than a bad agreement!

"The sacrifice of Compañero Lee was not in vain, it gave us the energy to derail the WTO talks in Cancún, and his spirit of struggle will live on in our hearts as we keep fighting for that better world that is possible." Peter Rosset.
Suggested donation: $5-$10.

[ Download the flyer here... ]

For more information on this project, visit this web site: www.foodfirst.org

See also the daily reports and photos from Cancún, Mexico.

See also a related event where South Bay Mobilization sent over 130 Mexican farmers to protest at the WTO in Cancún in September...

www.southbaymobilization.org
For more information, call (408) 998-8504
Educate, Involve & Mobilize for Peace & Justice

Friday, October 17th, 7:00 pm - SBM Movie Night and Lecture !
"Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election",
and Lecture by author, Steven Hill

"Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election" (50 min) is the riveting story about the battle for the Presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America. From the moment the polls opened, it was painfully clear that something was wrong. While the media seized on the controversy surrounding the poorly designed "Butterfly Ballot", much larger civil rights abuses were overlooked. Focusing on events leading up to election day and the attempt to count legally cast votes in the days that followed, Unprecedented examines a suspicious pattern of irregularities, injustices and voter purges—all in a state governed by the winning candidate's brother.

One of the first indications that something was wrong came early on election day. Thousands of African-Americans who had voted in previous elections discovered that their names were missing from the voter rolls. Investigators later uncovered irrefutable evidence that exposed an elaborate strategy where thousands of Democratic voters were purged from the rolls. These voters were disproportionately African-American.

The evidence shows that Governor Jeb Bush, Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, and other Republican state officials ordered the manipulation of a list of former felons to include thousands of legitimate voters who had no criminal history. In Florida, ex-felony offenders lose their right to vote for life. But the manipulation of this list denied thousands of legitimate voters their franchise. In an election that was determined by 537 votes, these purged voters would have reversed the outcome.

The drama of the 2000 Presidential Election had other chapters too. The day after the election, a startling picture emerged. George W. Bush was ahead by a razor-thin margin. But a disquieting number of ballots, 175,000, went unread by the ballot-counting machines. The standard procedure in such situations is to conduct a manual recount. However, no complete recount was ever conducted. Instead, there was a 36-day battle in the courts, the streets and the mass media surrounding these unread ballots. The Bush campaign was determined to stop any recount, while the Gore campaign petitioned for manual recounts in only four heavily Democratic counties.

In one of these counties, Miami-Dade, Republican staffers from around the country staged an unruly protest. That protest intimidated election officials and they abandoned the recount. Meanwhile, a remarkable courtroom drama played out. Attorneys for Al Gore appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which eventually ordered a manual recount of the state’s undervotes; votes in which the machines interpreted the voters intent as having cast a vote for no presidential candidate. In turn, the Bush team went directly to the federal courts to halt this effort. Their aim was to have this case heard before the United States Supreme Court.

In the end, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Florida Court, halting the recount and casting doubt on the outcome of the 2000 Presidential Election.

A year later, a consortium of U.S. media organizations published the results of an exhaustive study of all of Florida’s unread ballots. The consortium concluded that had all these ballots been counted and the discernable votes been tallied, Al Gore would be the 43rd President of the United States.

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is a cautionary tale, warning us that we must insists our elections be conducted in a manner above reproach, that all legitimate voters may exercise their franchise, and all legal votes must be counted. Anything less undermines our faith in democracy.

[ Click here to see this movie's web site... ]

WAS the real lesson of Florida punch-cards that we need better voting machines, or that there's something deeply wrong with a system where the candidate with fewer votes wins the office? Fixing Elections shows why it's not just the Electoral College that's outdated, but our entire 18th-century Winner Take All political system, including the way we elect our legislatures.

www.southbaymobilization.org
For more information, call (408) 998-8504
Educate, Involve & Mobilize for Peace & Justice

Monday, October 6th, 5pm
Code Pink Protest Against Arnold Schwarzenegger ! No to Recall !