[URPE] [NYC] [Brechtevents1] 2 Previously Unannounced Films on Iraq, South Africa and Social Security

Wed May 18 21:25:21 MDT 2005

  The Brecht Forum
451 West St.
New York, NY 10014
(212) 242- 4201
www.brechtforum.org
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In this message:

1.) Dennis Brutus and Patrick Bond: Panel on Imperialism and South Africa
2.) Social Security Panel
3.) 2 Previously unannounced films on the realities of the war: 
"Fallujah" and "World Tribunal on Iraq"
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Monday, May 23
7:00 pm
BOOK PARTY / FORUM 

Imperialism, Subimperialism & Popular Resistance in South Africa

Patrick Bond & Dennis Brutus

Brutus and Bond will present new books, provide updates on the 
reparations movement, and show recent video footage of rebellion and 
repression.

Dennis Brutus is professor emeritus at University of Pittsburg, He is 
South Africa's Poet Laureate., and during apartheid was imprisoned 
alongside Nelson Mandela.  His current global justice work includes 
activism with the Center for Economic Justice, 50 Years is Enough!, the 
Jubilee anti-debt movement. and South Africa's Social Movements Indaba, 
the coalition of progressive activists who marched more than 25 000 
people against the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. 
Brutus' latest book is Leafdrift (Whirlwind Press, Camden, 2005).

Patrick Bond is professor of development studies at the University of 
KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, and directs the Centre for Civil Society - 
http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs. He is a ZNet monthly commentator and 
author/editor of three new books:

Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa 
(Second edition, May 2005, University of KwaZulu-Natal), Fanon's 
Warning: A Civil Society Reader on the New Partnership for Africa's 
Development (Second edition, April 2005, Africa World Press, UKZN CCS 
and AIDC), Talk Left, Walk Right: South Africa's Frustrated Global 
Reforms (April 2004, University of KwaZulu-Natal)

Sliding Scale $5, $10, $ 15

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Wednesday, May 25
7:30 pm
Co-sponsor: NY Union for Radical Political Economics

The Social Security "Crisis":  Rolling Back the New Deal

Doug Henwood, Paddy Quick & Mike Whitty

 George Bush claims that Social Security is in danger of bankruptcy and 
has proposed profound changes in the system, including the incorporation 
of private accounts. Social Security is well-positioned to pay benefits 
at current levels for as far as they eye can see, and if there's any 
problem (which we seriously doubt), the fixes would be exceedingly 
minor. The word "bankruptcy" is used to scare younger workers into 
thinking they would get nothing at all in Social Security benefits. But 
that is a totally incorrect reading of the Social Security Act, and of 
the projections of the Social Security Administration as well as the 
non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The word "bankruptcy" is pure 
spin. Our panelists will debunk the myth of "crisis" and explain how the 
proposed changes would contribute to the right wing effort to preserve a 
neoliberal slow-growth, low-wage economy. They will talk about who is 
behind the attack on Social Security, who would benefit from its demise, 
how private accounts would affect the stock market, and why Wall Street 
has mixed feelings about them. Our panelists will emphasize the 
ideological value to the Right of discrediting our most successful 
government program. They will warn us of the strategic danger of 
accepting any cutbacks at all. Political organizations of many types 
have joined to protect Social Security -- our panelists will explore 
their strategies, focusing on the labor movement, and energize us with 
the success we have had in keeping the attacks at bay.

 Doug Henwood, author of Wall Street and After the New Economy , is the 
publisher of Left Business Observer and host of an economics radio show 
on WBAI.
Paddy Quick is a long-time member of the Union for Radical Political 
Economics (URPE) and a founding member of the URPE Women's Caucus. She 
teaches economics at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, including courses on 
U.S. economic history, the European Union, and gender.
Mike Whitty is a Labor Relations Professor in the College of Business 
Administration at the University of Detroit Mercy and co-host of the 
union radio show Working Detroit (AFL-CIO). He is also the Director of 
the University of Detroit Institute for Building Sustainable 
Communities, and National Chancellor of the International Educators for 
World Peace for which he is currently hosting the World Peace Conference 
at the University of San Francisco.

 Suggested donation: $6/$10/$15
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Wednesday, June 1
7:30 pm
VIDEO SCREENINGS & DISCUSSION 
Co-sponsor: The World Tribunal on Iraq

"Fallujah" & "The World Tribunal on Iraq"     --2 Documentaries on the 
Reality of War

Discussion with Brandon Jourdan, Alpa Patel & World Tribunal on Iraq 
Organizers

"Fallujah" (2005, 28 min.) is the latest film from Brandon Jourdan (Deep 
Dish TV, NYC Indymedia) and Jacque Soohen (Big Noise Films). It uses 
never-before seen footage of the violent US assault on the small Iraqi 
city during November. The footage used was shot almost entirely by the 
Iraqi people and shows a very different perspective of the attack than 
offered in US media. "Fallujah" is an ambitious attempt to show the 
history of a city and its destruction.

"The World Tribunal on Iraq" (2005, 58 min.) is the finale to Deep Dish 
TV's award-winning "Shocking & Awful" series. It brings testimony from 
the New York Tribunal on Iraq, part of a world-wide series of hearings 
that will conclude in Istanbul on June 23rd-25th. With a Court TV-esqe 
spin and a little DragNet spoof thrown in, producer & editor Alpa Patel 
creates an informative and engaging view of the World Tribunal.
Participants include: Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch; Roger 
Normand, the Center for Economic & Social Rights; Jennifer Ridha, 
Iraqi-American attorney; Dr. Gert van Moorter, Medical Aid for the Third 
World; Mike Hoffman, Iraq Veterans Against the War; Eve Ensler, author 
of the Vagina Monologues; Dennis Brutus, anti-apartheid activist; Sinan 
Antoon, Iraqi-American poet, and many others.
Check out 30 sec. trailer at: 
http://www.deepdishtv.org/shocking/worldtribunal.htm
After the screenings, producers Alpa Patel & Brandon Jourdan as well as 
World Tribunal on Iraq organizers will discuss the latest crisis in Iraq 
as well as the upcoming final WTI session in Istanbul, which will 
include participants such as acclaimed author Arundhati Roy.

 www.deepdishtv.org
www.worldtribunal.org

Suggested donation: $6/ $10/$15

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