Occupy Nigeria, inspired by Occupy protests globally, is protesting the price hikes and oil spills in the streets of Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Benin, Bauchi and briefly in Kano, Nigeria. Occupy Nigeria has asked Occupy DC to join in solidarity with a nationwide general strike for Nigeria. Please join us!
Meet speakers Phyllis Bennis, an Institute for Policy Studies Fellow and independent Palestinian commentator Omar Barghouti in an informal setting to discuss Palestinian Civil Society calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law, and universal principles of human rights.
Join literary activist and IPS Board Chair, Ethelbert Miller and playwright and political analyst, John Feffer for a dynamic discussion on the intersections of arts and activism. Also, don’t miss the sneak preview of John Feffer’s up and coming play A Little Knowledge.
January 17, 2012 is the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba by the United States and Belgium in cahoots with select Congolese elites. Congolese and friends of the Congo throughout the globe commemorate Lumumba's assassination each year to bring attention to the Congolese people's pursuit of freedom and liberation in the heart of Africa. Since the assassination of Lumumba the foreign multi-national corporations of the 1% profit from the plundering of the Congo's abundant mineral resources and are complicit in the super-exploitation of Congolese labor. They are also the underlying engine of the violent conflict in the country. Join us for a day of demonstration, film screening and teach-in on the current crisis in the Congo and how you can join the global movement in support of self-determination in the heart of Africa.
Please join us in welcoming IPS staff and guests home from the UN climate summit held in Durban, South Africa this past December. While some are touting the outcome of the negotiations as a success, others have raised serious concerns about a lack of urgency and equity in tackling the climate crisis. Panelists will give their perspectives on what was won and lost for people and the planet.
The first Community Cinema screening of 2012 will be Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock, a film by Sharon La Cruise. As a black woman who was a feminist before the term was invented, Daisy Bates refused to accept her assigned place in society.
Which is true?
► The Iraq War is over
► The Afghan War is winding down.
► The economy is on the rebound.
► Prosperity is just around the corner.
► Corporate money doesn't affect elections.
► We can have guns and butter.
► Our right to dissent is protected by the Constitution.
If you answered "none", you'd be right. Not convinced? Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, will explain why.
U.S. military bases in Okinawa have been the source of dramatic controversy in Japan and the US for decades. Many in Okinawa have criticized US bases for the dangers they pose, including military accidents, environmental and health damage, and crimes committed by US military personnel--most infamously, the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl. Join a delegation of Okinawan students, activists, and politicians to learn more about living with US bases and to engage in a constructive dialogue about US-Okinawan-Japanese relations.
The Institute for Policy Studies invites you to a cutting edge and interactive forum featuring one Take Back the Land leader (TBL), Max Rameau. Accompanied by video presentations, Max will lead a discussion about the historical context; an analysis of how the Occupy movement relates to TBL ; and the differences, similarities, and synergies between the Occupy Movement and TBL. An integral part of this discussion will be about race, class, and internationalism issues.
The Leadership Conference Education Fund and Split This Rock Poetry Festival Invite you to celebrate the centenary of Bayard Rustin, unsung prophet of the civil rights movement.
Poet, writer and IPS Board Chair E. Ethelbert Miller will interview IPS Fellow Phyllis Bennis about her life and work. Today, Phyllis is a leading scholar-activist and voice of reason on the Middle East and on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
DC government funding for the arts has declined over 65% from Fy09 to Fy12, and private funding is down as well. Join DCCAH director Lionell Thomas, Busboys and Poets founder Andy Shallal, Ward Two councilmember Jack Evans and for a panel discussion on Arts Funding in DC moderated by Robert Bettmann of the DC Advocates for the Arts.
The Occupy Movement has significantly expanded the space for discourse on inequality, as demonstrated by who is invited to testify at this hearing of the Senate Committee on The Budget.
Shukree Hassan Tilghman’s More Than a Month follows Tilghman, as he embarks on a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month. More Than a Month examines what the treatment of history tells us about race and power in contemporary America.
At its core, More Than a Month is about what it means to be an American, to fight for one’s rightful place in the American landscape, however unconventional the means, even at the risk of ridicule or misunderstanding. In that way, it is about the universal endeavor to discover one’s self. The film asks the questions: How do we justify teaching American history as somehow separate from African American history? What does it mean that we have a Black History Month? What would it mean if we didn’t?
Film with response/review presented by DC Youth Slam Poetry Team.
Join participate in a dialogue with Saul Landau, an internationally known scholar, author, commentator, and filmmaker on foreign and domestic policy issues. Landau is also an expert on Cuba issues and has traveled to the Island on countless occasions. He will discuss the cases of the Cuban 5, Alan Gross, and how each case as implicationts for teh other.