Basic documents and texts discussed by the Majority Agenda Project Coordinating Committee. Unsigned texts are approved by the Committee as a whole. Signed texts represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of the entire Committee.
Submitted by rozziecole on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 16:45
When: Monday, November 15, 2010, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: Encuentro 5 • 33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor • Chinatown T • Boston
Making sense of these crazy elections... Where do our social movements in Boston go from here? What role might "One Nation Working Together" play in this dangerous time?
The "One Nation Working Together" rally brought together an unprecedented progressive coalition in Washington on October 2. Nationally, One Nation plans to continue its ambitious collaboration effort after the November election - when such collaboration between labor, civil rights, environmental, socal justice, housing, peace, and youth groups will be more important than ever.
The speakers represent Massachusetts groups that collaborated on One Nation. The forum will assess the election results and their impact on
our movements' political environment, suggest ways that our movements can response together in 2011 to the many challenges we face, and examine whether One Nation might play a role in our efforts to unite social movements here in Massachusetts.
Speakers:
- Juan Cofield, New England Area Conference NAACP
- Maria Elena Letona, Immigrants Rights Activist
- Russ Davis, Jobs with Justice
- Grace Ross, Mass. Alliance Against Predatory Lending
- Steve Meacham, City Life/Vida Urbana
- Lew Finfer, Mass. Communities Action Network
- Enid Eckstein (invited), SEIU 1199
- Peter Brooks, Watertown Citizens for Environmental Safety
- Mike Prokosch, Fund our Communities/Cut Military Spending 25%
- Mark Solomon, Majority Agenda Project
For more information visit www.majorityagendaproject.org or call (617)482-6300
Download the flyer: here or here
Sponsored by The Majority Agenda Project
signatories || what you can do || transportation
The NAACP, SEIU 1199, United for Peace and Justice, the AFL-CIO, Green for All, and a broad range of civil rights, labor, peace and social justice organizations around the country are calling upon us to join them on October 2 in Washington. Leading with a demand for jobs, this will be a massive demonstration to blunt the attack from the right and to unify a majority of Americans around a hopeful and inspiring vision of our nation based on social justice, mutual respect and common values.
A Crisis of Democracy/A Vision of Resurgent Democracy
Disquiet and outright anger are rampant across the country. Little wonder.
Fifteen million are out of work. Counting involuntary part-time workers and those who have given up looking for work there are 26.4 million workers who are either unemployed or underemployed. That is 16.9% of the work force – far more than the official 9.7% jobless rate.
Submitted by msolomon on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 16:10
The following is the text of presentation to the Deerfield Progressive Forum.
January 23—It was not my intention to begin discussion of the “state of the union” with thoughts on the recent Massachusetts election to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. But given the magnitude of the disaster in my home state, it is a vital starting point for gaining an insight into how much of the public perceives the state of this union.
- Today in the U.S. there is an ongoing, deepening and extremely dangerous economic, environmental and global security crisis that is unfolding before our eyes.
- This crisis consists of a number of interrelated issues (war, environment, debt, jobs, health care, energy, etc.) that are of great importance to everyone who sees their work to be part of a U.S. movement for social justice, social equality and peace.
The election of Barack Obama has fueled renewed hope and promise of new opportunities. At the same time, the economic crisis, coupled with a potentially catastrophic crisis of climate change, the nagging war in Iraq and the acute danger of escalation in Afghanistan – all constitute a tsunami of gathering crises that cry out for an effective response from the nation’s progressive majority.
Our country is at a crossroads, facing both great danger and great opportunity. The crisis in which we all find ourselves is a convergence of three major elements: 1) an economic crisis that also extends to health care, education and housing; 2) a unique and catastrophic threat posed by climate change and 3) a complex crisis around issues of war, global security and control over natural resources.
