April 2000

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THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED
By: Mike Rhodes

The workers at Spanish language TV station KFTV, Channel 21 in Fresno, are in a struggle for jobs with justice. They are represented by the Communication Workers of America CWA/NABET LOCAL 51 and have received great community support during their negotiations with station management. Their struggle, which has included a lengthy hunger strike, has been covered in the national media. The New York Times, CNBC, The Boston Globe, and others have come to Fresno to talk with the workers about this issue.

The Channel 21 workers have been struggling with the management at Channel 21 and Univision (Ch 21's parent company) since they won their election for union representation last May. The company is intransigent, refusing to increase the workers wages to anything near the industry standard in this area. For instance, Fermin Chavez who is the anchor on the news earns $32,500 a year. His counterparts at other Fresno television stations earn $80,000 or more! Master controller Martin Castellano, who has been with the station 10 years, makes about $21,500 a year. Master controllers at other local stations make $30,000 a year. Other employees at channel 21 are also grossly under paid.

Pay and working conditions are what led them to vote for union representation. The Union has bargained in good faith but have run into a brick wall with the management of the station. On February 18 fourteen Union members at the station began a fast to draw public attention to the lack of progress being made in the negotiations.

The Community Alliance is calling on YOU to support the workers at Channel 21. Here is what you can do:

For more information, call (559) 307-4821 or (559) 876-7778

Fresno Earth Day 2000!

The Fresno Earth Day 2000 is a non-corporate event. It is an effort to bring Earth Day back to its roots – to make it a day of activism in the face of attempts by business and politicians to take it over.

There are a wide array of community and non-profit groups that are working to make Fresno a better place to live. These groups are not imprisoned by bottom-line profits, they are free to look at the quality of life of all segments of Fresno and work towards better living conditions, better wages, a better environment.

The underlying goal of this effort is to bring these organizations together in action and celebration. There is a basic need in Fresno of a forum in which labor, environmental, community, non-profits, and various ethic groups can communicate their needs and concerns. There has been talk of forming an ‘Environmental Roundtable’ where groups working on social and environmental issues in Fresno would meet monthly to communicate issues they are confronting and join forces. This would be a way to sustain the spirit of Earth Day through the twelve months of the year.

April 22 is a day for everyone to join together to speak out about their own efforts as well as other’s efforts for change in Fresno.

Please see calendar for all Fresno Earth Day 2000 events.

WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM CELEBRATES 85 YEARS OF ACTIVISM
By: Ellie Bluestein

On April 28th, 1915, nine months after the start of World War I, 1500 women, from 12 nations, met in the Hague to express their opposition to the war and consider ways of ending the conflict. Some had to cross enemy lines to attend, and many, denied passports or passage, were unable to attend. From the meeting two teams of women traveled to 13 European capitals and Washington D.C. Trying to convince officials to accept mediation and stop the fighting. Of course they were ridiculed and accused of being foolish, but as one official said, “Foolish, not at all. These are the first sensible words that have been uttered in this room for 10 months.”

Jane Addams, who led the U.S. Delegation to the congress, became the first president of the international women’s organization that was formed from this first meeting. In 1935 she became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Award, and Hoover once referred to her as the most dangerous woman in America. We in WILPF try to live up to that reputation as we work for peace, disarmament, economic and social justice, and human rights at both local and international levels. We now have sections in 45 nations, including every continent.

This April 28th, 85 years later, Fresno has been chosen as one of three U.S. Section branches to host an anniversary celebration to honor our past and secure our future, adopting the theme of the UN millennium year, “Creating a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence.” We are inviting members and friends from our eight western region states to join us, and we hope many of you will be there as well.

We will be giving a special Jane Addams Peace Activist Award to one of our WILPF sponsors, Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, former member of the Texas legislature, long time activist for human rights, especially women’s rights, founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus. Mary Day Kent, our national executive director, will give us an update on the Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty which will be taking place at the UN April 24-May 19, and we plan to send a message urging approval of and compliance with the treaty. The musical groups, Alma and Distaff, will be performing their unique, meaningful music, and Wendy Rose, talented poet, teacher, thoughtful interpreter of history and cultures, will share some poems and observations with us.

You can support WILPF with a greeting or ad in the souvenir program (call Zay Guffy Bill (227-2133, zaygb@csufresno.edu) and by attending the dinner ($40 per person) at the Downtown Club of Fresno, Friday evening, April 28, 6 p.m. Call Lauralee Crain Carbone for reservations and information (299-2148, LLLLola@juno.com).

THE Community Alliance AND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND AMNESTY

The Community Alliance and immigrant rights groups have started a campaign to obtain support for legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants living in the United States to legalize their status and become full participants in American civic life. This campaign continues past efforts of the Labor Community Alliance to promote closer ties between organized labor and immigrants and to build a positive image of the contributions of immigrants in the general community. Here in the San Joaquin Valley of California there are an estimated 200,000 Spanish-speaking immigrants, mostly from Mexico and Central America. They work not only in agriculture, which is our largest industry, but also in construction, service jobs, and other low-paying work. Because so many of them lack valid immigration documents they are extremely vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace and elsewhere.

The labor movement has finally recognized that immigrants are an important part of the work force nationally and protecting undocumented workers is a necessary first step in organizing them to secure their rights. In February, 2000 the executive counsel of the AFL-CIO voted to call for the repeal of employer sanctions, for a new amnesty for the undocumented, and for a broad new program to educate immigrant workers about their rights. The Labor Community Alliance has undertaken the General Amnesty Project to implement that mandate at the local level by working with immigrants and others to build support for the legislation needed.

In coming months speakers will reach out to community groups, labor unions, and government officials asking their support of the national AFL-CIO general amnesty proposal. For more information or to help with this campaign call (559) 978-4502.

FRESNO CENTER FOR NONVIOLENCE

March 16, 2000 CENTER REPORT, APRIL 2000

CHANNEL 21--OBREROS SI!: In support of the hunger strikers and other workers at channel 21 seeking fair labor negotiations through their elected union bargaining agent, the Center has sent the following letter Henry Cisneros, CEO of Univision:

We are pained, and frankly surprised, that we are called on to write this letter...Several of our Board members recall hearing you speak in Fresno some years ago, with a fervor for a more just society that brought the audience to its feet. Can it be, we are forced to ask, that someone exhibiting such a passionate vision can now act in cold calculation, with no regard for anything but investors' short-term profit? Are we missing something?

The facts as we know them are that channel 21 has become Fresno's most-watched TV station; that it has become increasingly profitable; yet it refuses to negotiate with its employees over improved salaries and working conditions. We are told that the workers and their union representatives have tried to contact you and you purposefully avoided them.

We cannot believe that you fail to understand the importance of union representation and fair negotiation. These have been cardinal rules of the great leaders in nonviolence of our times--the Gandhis and Kings and Chavezes. We hope that you have not turned your back on the vision you used to share with us.

PROGRAM BRIEFS: "SHEEPHERDER S.O.S."--Chris Schneider, of Central California Legal Services and an Honorary Board Member of FCNV, will host the April 11th edition of 2nd Tuesday. His organization is acting to address the plight of South American immigrants imported to work as sheepherders in the Valley. Pot luck at 6:30 p.m., program at 7:30. And on Thursday April 13, Scott Kennedy will come down from Santa Cruz to speak with us about conditions in the mid-east. Program at 7:00 p.m.

HERE WE ARE! The value of having a space reserved for progressive, peace-oriented activities has been especially evident of late. The Earth Day organizing committee has been meeting at the Center. Death Penalty Focus was able to host a contingent of Japanese students examining the role of non-profit groups on capital punishment policy. The Fresno Free College Foundation has had its recent Board meetings chez nous. The availability of a free facility enabled Tom Quinn to bring to Fresno "Yes In My Back Yard". The Neighborhood Policy Council Steering Committee had a recent meeting here. This is the community-enhancing dividend for those of you who have generously supported the Center these past 8 years.

TREASURER: THE SEARCH GOES ON: We are still in need of an accounting-savvy soul to keep our books. Our records are maintained now by an awkward division of labor, and we'd like all the Treasurer's duties to be done by one person. There is a $50/month stipend that goes with the job. "We are waiting for your call."

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THE WELCH REPORT • March 15, 2000
Jack H. Welch, M.D.

Recently in Michigan a six year-old boy took a handgun to school and shot to death a six year-old little girl, with whom he had had a disagreement the day before. The weapon used was a loaded one readily accessible in the boy's home.

Each year some 34,000 Americans are killed with firearms, 4,000 of whom are children. Only cancer, heart disease, and motor vehicle accidents cause more deaths in this country. The overall firearm-related death rate among US children younger than 15 years of age --14 are killed every day -- is nearly 12 times higher than that among children in 25 other industrialized nations combined (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1997).

In 1995, a survey found that 59% of parents who said they kept a gun in the home did not lock the gun away from their children. A 1998 study showed that for every time a gun in the home is used in self-defense, there are four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 suicides, attempted or completed! -- suicide being five times more likely than in a gun-free home.

Congress has not enacted major gun control legislation since passing the Brady Act in 1994, which mandates a five-day waiting period for most handgun purchases. Last year Congress debated gun safety provisions such as a ban on juvenile possession of semi-automatic weapons, child safety locks and gun show background checks, but no action was taken. There are powerful special interests at work to block gun safety legislation, including the NRA, gun manufacturers and gun dealers.

Licensing handgun owners and registering all handguns are other commonsense control measures. The US is one of only two countries, along with the Czech Republic, that does not have a firearm licensing system.

Aren't guns already regulated? No, toy guns are more regulated than American-made handguns. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fire-arms (ATF) issues licenses to gun dealers and manufacturers who meet minimal requirements. No federal agency has the power to impose mini-mum design and safety standards on domestically manufactured firearms.

Are guns useful for self-defense? Guns are rarely useful for self-defense. A handgun creates a false sense of security. Research shows that use of a firearm to resist a violent assault actually increases the victim's risk of injury and death. (Journal of Trauma 1998, no. 2)

How easy is it for young people to get guns? A national poll of youth in grades 6 to 12 found that 59% of the children surveyed "could get a gun if they wanted". Another study found that one in twenty high school students carried a gun in the past month.

Does the public favor gun safety legislation? According to a survey conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Policy, 88% of those surveyed favored childproofing guns, 71% favored devices that permit firing only by an authorized person.

(Source: The Educational Fund to End Handgun Violence, Washington, D.C.)

We can urge our presidential candidates to make gun control a major campaign issue.

MEMORY OF CESAR E. CHAVEZ CONTINUES...
By Marcello Salcido, labor activist

Once again, workers and community activists here in the San Joaquin Valley, are gearing-up to attend several events in Fresno commemorating the life and struggles of one of our greatest leaders, Cesar E. Chavez, president and founder of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Years since his passing, Cesar Chavez’s deeds and teachings will be revisited; not only locally, but throughout the country at labor rallies and marches in his honor. At those events, topics are expected to include; turning a Cesar Chavez Day into a ‘bonafide’ paid holiday. And indeed, other participants will use the occasion to drum-up support for their respective causes.

One of three important events; will be the “Dedication Ceremony” to be held March 31, at the newly built $12 million Cesar E. Chavez Adult Education Center, located near downtown Fresno. The adult center opened its doors on January 3, at the same location of Fresno’s first school, Fresno Technical High School, and later as the state’s first community college campus.

On April 7, a Candle Light Vigil will be held at Fresno State University’s ‘Peace Garden,’ that is located in front of the campus library where the statues of Cesar Chavez, Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., are situated. The following day, April 8, crowds will gather at the Annual Cesar Chavez Celebration being held at the Fresno Convention Center’s, Exhibit Hall. Planned events will include: a special mass, followed by the traditional Cesar Chavez March. Many dignitaries and community organizations will join hundreds of workers and supporters at these events.

And, it is expected that speakers will expound on the need to pass the Richard Polanco Bill SB 984, commonly referred to as the Cesar Chavez Holiday. SB 984, if passed and signed; would create a holiday in the same legal manner; as one already named for another great leader, Martin Luther King Jr. Most Republican’s oppose the measure. State Senator Richard Polanco the bills author, hit the nail on the head when he was quoted in the Sacramento Bee as saying, “Cesar Chavez touched the lives of millions of people, people from all walks of life. Cesar was a voice for the voiceless. Cesar created hope for those who had lost it, and he believed in the principle of non-violence.”

Existing law includes March 31, known as Cesar Chavez Day as a state holiday. But, existing law excludes March 31 as a judicial holiday. In the same spirit, the existing law also authorizes, but does not require, that March 31 be a holiday for public schools and community colleges. SB 984, will provide that March 31 will become a judicial holiday, therefore making it a required holiday for schools and community colleges, and a paid holiday for state employees. In short, making it a bonafide legal paid holiday.

The measure, SB 984, now goes before the State Assembly and supporters are urged to contact their respective members of the assembly for their favorable. Though uncommitted at this writing, Governor Davis has not yet taken a position on the measure. Many believe he will sign it, if it reaches his desk. State Assemblywomen Sarah Reyes, unlike some of her colleagues, has always been in support of this legislation (SB 984), as well as similar votes. Her current plans include attending both the adult schools dedication ceremonies and this years Cesar Chavez march. We don’t need to be reminded; that Assemblywomen Sarah Reyes was probably the only state representative present at last year’s Cesar Chavez march.

Among those who followed the teachings and example set by Cesar Chavez; are the employees of KFTV Channel 21. They voted for a union and began bargaining; only to discover how greedy employers can get. Their frustration over managements tactics caused them to initiate a ‘hunger strike’ while working. Almost one month later, some of the workers still continue their hunger strike. Those workers are living proof of what Cesar inspired in workers: to stand up for their rights despite the costs and never surrender their dignity. Their stories have touched the hearts of those who know them. They are admired for the stand they have taken and have truly earned our support.

Finally, I’m inspired by the words of Arturo Rodriguez who succeeded Cesar Chavez as the president on the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) when he wrote: In the years since Cesar Chavez’s death, he (Chavez) has been honored in dozens of communities across America. Streets, parks, schools and libraries have been named for him. Yet the greatest monument to Cesar Chavez is not found on a street sign or a building. It is seen in the continuing work of the union he founded and the courage to work for change he instilled in his own people.” Thank you Arturo!

Please see the calendar for all the details of the events honoring Cesar Chavez. For more information contact: Venancio Gaona @ 251-2486

THE AFL-CIO CALLS FOR A NEW IMMIGRATION POLICY
By David Bacon

BERKELEY, CA (2/21/00) -- This month, the AFL-CIO took a big step back towards its progressive roots, embracing the immigrants whose energy and radicalism have contributed to its best traditions. The federation's executive council voted to call for the repeal of employer sanctions, for a new amnesty for the undocumented, and for a broad new program to educate immigrant workers about their rights.

The vote, reversing a nativist position held since the cold war, was a victory for racial equality and inclusion. It reinforces the idea that all workers need to be organized in a larger social movement - that unions are more than just an exclusive club for a privileged few.

In 1986, the AFL-CIO strongly supported employer sanctions - that section of the Immigration Reform and Control Act which makes it illegal for undocumented workers to hold a job. Critics predicted that sanctions would cause discrimination against any worker who looked or sounded foreign, and give employers a big weapon to stop immigrants from organizing unions. Those predictions were right.

But sanctions also violated one of the most basic human rights of all workers -- the right to a job. Economic rights are human rights. In a world where workers must sell their labor power to survive, where welfare and social benefits are stripped away in the name of the work ethic, denying immigrants the right to work denies their right to live and support their families.

Sanctions are more than a racist aberration. For a century immigration law has been used to lower the price of immigrant labor in the U.S. Sanctions made that labor even more vulnerable, and thus cheaper. It was a sweatshop subsidy to U.S. employers.

The AFL-CIO's resolution now starts labor moving in a different direction, in which immigration law must be used to protect the human rights of migrants and their families, not to undermine them.

From the beginning, many labor and immigrant-rights activists opposed the federation's support for sanctions. In the years since 1986 their patient work convinced the garment, electrical and service employees unions and the California Labor Federation to call for their repeal.

Their efforts were reinforced by demographic change. Immigration has transformed the workforce, not just in the west but in industries throughout the country. Coalitions between immigrant communities and unions have become the bedrock of strikes and organizing drives. And as a result, over the last decade immigrants have become vocal and active members, and important leaders, of many unions.

Last year a movement began in labor's activist base, seeking to change the AFL-CIO position on immigration. It spread from the Alameda County Central Labor Council to councils and unions throughout the country, and its resolution was finally debated on the floor of the Los Angeles convention. In one of labor's best moments, leaders like John Wilhelm, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees, admitted their 1986 mistake and called for its correction. "Immigrants have the right," he said, "to ask us - which side are we on?"

The resolution finally adopted by the executive council had its roots in that debate. Its final version preserved the two essential elements of the original resolution - repealing sanctions and a new amnesty. But some of the original goals still need labor support, including an end to the Clinton program of enforcing immigration law in the workplace. Thousands of immigrant workers have been fired as a result of that program, their labor rights have been denied, and federal agencies from the Department of Labor to Social Security have been turned into immigration agents.

The AFL-CIO plans a series of town hall meetings this spring to highlight these abuses of immigration law enforcement.

In the most recent, disturbing development, however, the INS now proposes using private security firms to sift through thousands of personnel records in whole industries, searching for the undocumented. A new series of widespread raids are clearly being considered.

These inhuman programs are a threat to all workers, and need to be halted, even if labor must take on administration policy in an election year. Meanwhile, the INS enforcement budget needs to be cut, and funds redirected towards protecting workers' rights and reducing the scandalous 2-year wait for citizenship applicants.

Clearly removing sanctions is only a step towards reordering an immigration policy that the AFL-CIO now says is "broken and needs to be fixed." One step towards fixing that policy is the proposal for a new immigration amnesty. But the experience of the 1986 amnesty must be reexamined.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, over 80 million people in the world live outside their countries of origin. Clearly, the migration of people is a worldwide phenomenon which will not stop so long as division of the world into rich and poor countries exists.

Following the amnesty of 1986, which legalized over 3 million people, immigrants continued to come to the U.S. Those coming after the cutoff date faced the same denial of legal status that the amnesty fixed for those who came before. Rather than repeating this experience endlessly, with its attendant human suffering and discrimination, new ways of looking at amnesty should be considered. Already proposals are being made for an amnesty without a cutoff date. Others propose a North American visa, which would allow workers the same freedom of movement across NAFTA borders which the treaty guaranteed to capital and commodities.

Employers, currently facing a tight job market, are also making proposals for amnesty. But their proposals, including S 1814 and 1815, link legal status to employment. They would return immigrants to the bracero program of the 40s and 50s, as contract laborers reduced to a state of indentured servitude. "We remember the bracero program here," says Mexican Senator Rosalbina Garabito, "and it's not a good memory. Our people were treated like animals."

Workers, whether immigrant or native-born, must be free to work and move about as they please, to join unions and to exercise their labor rights. The same freedom must be accorded to their families.

People will continue to come to the U.S. from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Rim because the huge gulf in the standard of living drives them from their homes to survive. During the debate over NAFTA, some voices in Mexico called for economic development in sending communities that would offer their residents a future. NAFTA failed to include any such goals, and in fact, neoliberal economic reforms in Mexico only contributed to the impoverishment of those same communities.

"This is a binational problem that the U.S. is dealing with unilaterally," Garabito says. "There must be negotiations and reciprocity, where people in both of our countries benefit. If we don't attack the economic root, the problem will continue growing." One step in this direction would be U.S. ratification of the International Labor Organization convention protecting the rights of migrants and their families.

Trade, economic reforms and immigration are all linked. Now the AFL-CIO needs to take the next step and oppose administration policy which creates the poverty forcing people north, as well as defending the rights of immigrants once they're here. Those in Mexico fighting the reforms, from electrical workers trying to stop privatization to university students on strike against tuition increases, need the support of workers on the other side of their northern border. The poverty-creating measures they oppose originate as much in Washington and Wall Street as they do in Mexico City.

JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN
By: Gloria Hernandez

I stand in the middle of the street on Sunday night around 11:30 p.m. with two mothers discussing the true and tried method of stopping one of the sons from serving a 12-year sentence. "Hire an attorney, the court appointed one is only there because he has to be, he don't care" says one. My mind reels with the knowledge that is being shared with me. I then learn that an attorney's fees are by the charge, yea not by the hour, but by the charge the kid is being held on. My oh my, I didn't know that. I hear about what a nightmare it is trying to navigate the juvenile justice system. I could only imagine it, myself never being there, me being one of those lucky youth who never got caught and the mother of another lucky child.

Now within two weeks, I am engulf in the subject matter. I learn from hearing their stories, listening to others in front of the juvenile hall as they wait to visit their children or grandchildren. I learn fast and am shocked by what I see and learn. A four year old arrested for gang activity. A child who needs and is refused his medication causes acts of violence and is further punished. Male officers watching young girls shower. In the 70's when I was in jail for civil disobedience, we demanded female matrons to watch over us women. When did the rules change?

I am told that prior to two weeks ago, family members would stand in lines for hours without an officer ever being present. All of a sudden, these people are being watched and listen to by law enforcement officials. Guess the word is out that these folks are picking up signatures requesting an investigation from the Fresno County Grand Jury and the State Attorney's Office. And its easy getting the signatures! People are saying its about time, somebody do something about these injustices. People are connecting and saying hey that too happen to my child, mi hijo, my baby's father, my grandchildren.

All of sudden it is the talk in town. Why is it I wonder? Was it because of the passage of prop. 21? Or the empty beds in the boot camp? Or the closing of Wakefield school? Or the proposed 600 bed juvenile hall? I don't know and don't care why the talk started but I do know that it isn't going to die down. Because almost everybody I have spoken to in the last two weeks has had some relative in or out of the system and nobody has anything nice to say about it or how it helped their children.

There must be something very bad within us, that instead of building new schools, we are building institutions that will force us to warehouse our children to fill them. There is definitely something wrong with our future politicians if all they can promise us is that they will be strong on crime. I haven't heard any politicos say, "we want to bring back the arts, the sports and the jobs for youth", all of which are good tools in the prevention of crime. Or have them agree to build facilities to heal our youth who are drug addicts. Nope, nor can I say I have heard the word rehabilitate, in a long time.

I ask myself, what will happen when these children get out from jails or prisons after these long harsh sentences? How will they act, how will they feel? What can we as society expect from them in the future? I see and hear the words of the Pope and the President and others asking for forgiveness for something that's been done in the past to others. And I wonder if this too will come to pass and if so, how many of our unlucky children will be made to suffer until then? I am so thankful, that I was lucky and that I am not a child in these times. In my times, we wished each other peace. In these times, I wish you justice, young ones.

Justice for Children Committee, (c/o LASC) P.O. Box 4496, Fresno CA 93744. For more information please call (559) 488-6582

EARTH DAY 1970: A LOOK BACK
By: Jeremy Hofer

Earth Day began in 1970 at the urging of Senator Gaylord Nelson, who asked the American people: "Are we prepared to say to manufacturers, 'You must take that thing off the market or prove that the waste it generates doesn't pollute the atmosphere' . . . Are we prepared to say to the oil companies that they must not drill offshore? Are we prepared to develop a land-use policy to say, "You must not destroy any more"?

"Earth Day is a commitment to make life better, not just bigger and faster, to provide real rather than rhetorical solutions... It is a day to reexamine the ethic of individual progress at mankind's expense-a day to challenge the corporate and governmental leaders who promise change, but who short-change the necessary programs...April 22 seeks a future worth living." - Denis Hayes, student leader who led coordination of the first national Earth Day events.

These words, and the students and young people who mobilized around this message, started a powerful and far-reaching movement-the environmental movement. Thirty years later, we are still struggling to implement the changes that were called for in 1970. This year, on the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day, we are confronted with the original mission of Earth Day: demonstration, action, and change.

Now is the time for citizens to take back Earth Day and refocus our celebrations on the much needed grassroots political action that characterized this event 30 years ago. The following list is just a sampling of how students and activists were protesting in 1970:

  • At the University of Washington, students put out a bucket of oil and invited onlookers to dip their hands in it so they'd know how it felt to be a bird caught in an offshore oil slick.

  • Berkeley students marched from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a 500 mile "Survival Walk. " They inspected pollution along the way and shouted the environmental message, exhorting students and citizens to get involved.

  • Students held "Trash-Ins" or "Dump-Ins" in which refuse was collected for return to the companies which originally produced it. In one case, activists piled thousands of no-return Coke bottles on the steps of the soft drink manufacturer's headquarters.

  • Demonstrators called attention to a utility company's connection with fish kills in the Hudson, by displaying several dead fish and crying out, "You're next, people! You' re next! "

  • Students at Florida Tech held a trial to condemn a Chevrolet for poisoning the air. They then symbolically buried the entire car.

  • Environmentalists in Chicago, led by Paul Booth and Saul Alinsky, rounded up stockholder proxies in order to have enough votes to change Commonwealth Edison Co.'s polluter policies.

  • Students picketed supermarkets that sold products in non-returnable containers.

  • Students from Kent State planned a mock funeral for "the children of tomorrow," with a horse-drawn hearse to lead a procession of mourners through the streets.

  • At the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, students collected signatures on a big plastic globe to present as an "Enemy of the Earth" award to 28 states Senators accused of weakening a recent anti-pollution law.

  • 100 students rode down a freeway on horseback demonstration against auto fumes.

  • In Hoboken 1,000 people symbolically dumped into the Hudson River a coffin containing the names of America's polluted rivers. Then they symbolically resurrected the polluted dead, to show it could be done.

  • Students in Orange, NJ, built two towers resembling oil-well derricks. A banner between, the towers proclaimed on one side "Pollution, Gateway to Hell," and on the other, "Ecology, Gateway to Paradise."

 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
(END OF MARCH)

Wednesday, March 29 • 12:30 PM
Demonstration to protest The Gap’s use of sweatshop labor. Meet at the main entrance to the Fashion Fair mall. Medea Benjamin, director of Global Exchange, and Carmencita "Chie" Abad, who worked for 6 years in a Gap sweatshop in Saipan, will join the demonstration. Call 226-0477 for more information.

Wednesday, March 29 • 7 PM
Medea Benjamin and Carmencita "Chie" Abad from Global Exchange will talk about Corporate Accountability and Sweatshops in Saipan at the First Congregational Church on Van Ness and Yale, near Fresno high School. For more information call 229-9807.

Thursday, March 30 • 7:00 PM
For several weeks, representatives from several community groups have been helping to plan Fresno Earth Day 2000 (April 22). This effort has three main components:

  1. An Earth Week and Beyond community calendar

  2. Fresno Sustainability and Social Justice Reality Bus Tour

  3. Fresno Earth Day Fair

The next Fresno Earth Day 2000 planning meeting will be at The Fresno Center for Nonviolence at 985 N Van Ness. Contact Jeremy Hofer at 229-5804 for more information.

Friday, March 31 • 10 AM
Garlanding Ceremony in honor of Cesar Chavez at the CSUF ‘Peace Garden’, located in front of the library. For more information contact: Dr Su Kapoor at 278-2013.

Friday, March 31 • 12:00 Noon-1:30 PM
Dedication Ceremonies at the newly built “Cesar E. Chavez Adult Education Center,” Between O and P bounded by Stanislaus. For more information contact: Venancio Gaona @ 251-2486

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR APRIL 2000

Saturday, April 1
Gaia house Open House, 1009 N Wilson. Come see the wheelchair accessible garden, the bike workshop and learn about ongoing community projects. For more information contact the Gaia House at 266-5305.

Friday, April 7 - 5:30 PM
Candlelight Vigil in honor of Cesar Chavez will take place at the CSUF ‘Peace Garden’ located in front of the library. For more information contact: Venancio Gaona @ 251-2486

Saturday, April 8 - 9:00 AM
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom is holding their monthly meeting at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 985 N Van Ness. Call 229-9807 for more information. All welcome.

Saturday, April 8 - 9:30 AM
Fresno Center for Nonviolence monthly board meeting, 985 N Van Ness. All welcome.

Saturday, April 8
The annual Cesar E. Chavez Celebration starting at 9:00 AM with a “Special Mass” followed at 12:00 Noon with the annual Cesar Chavez march. After the march will be lunch, speeches & presentations. Activities will take place at the Fresno Convention Center, Exhibit Hall. For more information contact: Venancio Gaona @ 251-2486

Tuesday, April 11 - 11:00 AM - 6:30 PM
There will be a US/Mexico Bilateral relations town hall meeting on Foreign Policy. The meeting is intended to increase awareness and understanding of current foreign policy issues: public engagement in the policy process; provide opportunities to exchange views with officials who formulate and implement policy. Present will be: Gov. Davis, Bustamante, Ambassoador Jeffrey Davidow, Jose Luis Bernal, Consul Genreal of Mexico, and several other high profile speakers. Satellite Student Union CSUF. Cost $5.00 per person lunch prior to event $8.00 RSVP recommended call (559) 278-8574 free to students with valid ID. Seating is limited!

Tuesday, April 11
Potluck begins at 6:30 PM and the program starts at 7:30 PM
Second Tuesday - Chris Schneider, Director of the Central California Legal Services Corporation will speak on the H-2A (Agricultural Guest Worker Program) Sheepherder situation. This event will be held at the Fresno Center For Nonviolence, 985 N Van Ness. For more information call Richard Stone at 266-2559.

Thursday, April 13 - 7:30 PM
Middle East peace process: prospects and perils with guest speaker Scott Kennedy at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 985 N Van Ness. Call 237-3223 for more information.

Thursday, April 13 - 7 PM
The Fresno County Green Party invites you to its County Council meeting, usually the 2nd Thursday of each month. Our Pillars: Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom. We will be preparing for extensive outreach and voter registration during the upcoming Earth Week and Beyond. Call 497-1724 for details and to confirm location. Green Party events: http://www.greens.org/cal/fresno

Thursday, April 13
National Fair Trade Day of Action - Demand that Starbucks Go Fair Trade! You can join by sending your name to deborah@globalexchange.org AND organizing a local Starbucks demonstration. See below.

Join Global Exchange to launch a new campaign to promote the first Fair Trade Certified product in the country – by organizing community campaigns to pressure the gourmet coffee industry leader, Starbucks, to go Fair Trade. Coffee is the second largest traded commodity (after oil) and it is the only product in the country with an independent monitoring and certification system for Fair Trade. NOW is the time to pressure Starbucks, the gourmet coffee industry leader ($1.7 billion in revenues in Œ99), to pay coffee farmers a living wage (a minimum of $1.26 per pound). Our demands: Offer your customers the choice to buy Fair Trade Certified coffee in every one of the 2300 stores nationwide.

Saturday, April 15
Immigrant rights training seminar. Contact Gloria Hernandez at <iwapgh@aol.com> or call (559) 268-2261 for more information.

Saturday, April 15
Deadline for submissions to the May issue of the Labor Community Alliance newsletter.

Thursday, April 20 - 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Community Health Care Roundtable at the College Community Congregational Church 5550 N. Fresno St. (at Browning between Bullard and Barstow) sponsored by Fresno Metro Ministry's Local Health Care Coalition, our April Roundtable will focus on African-American Health in the Central Valley. The Community Health Care Roundtables take place on the third

Thursday of every month to provide an opportunity for the Fresno community to collaborate and problem-solve around specific health care access and public health issues. Free continental breakfast is always included.

Thursday, April 20 - 7:30 PM
Death Penalty Focus meeting at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 985 N Van Ness.

Friday, April 21 - 5:30 PM
Critical Mass bike ride -. Fresno City College, meet on the Grass Area along Van Ness Ave. Critical Mass advocates clean air, bike lanes and a progressive Fresno. Families and decorated bikes welcome. Details: 497-1724, http://govalley.fresnobee.com/262

Saturday, April 22 - 10 -2 PM
Fresno Earth Day 2000 Sustainability and Social Justice Reality Tour: A guided bus tour of the best and worst of Fresno County. Starts at Courthouse Park in downtown Fresno. The tour will end up back at the Park where the Fair will be in full swing. Cost: $10 donation requested, but no one turned away for lack of funds. Reservations: Highly recommended as seating is limited. Please call 497-1724.

Saturday, April 22 - 2 PM - Sunset
Fresno Earth Day 2000. A gathering in celebration of the Earth. Will include a keynote speaker, live music – including a sunset drum circle - bring your drums!, vegetarian food, crafts and informational booths. Courthouse Park, in Fresno. If you would like more information or are interested in setting up a booth, please call 229-5804.

Monday, April 24 - 7:00 PM
First meeting of the Fresno Transportation/Land Use Coalition. Many people in Fresno would like to stop the ever-expanding sprawl and ever-worsening air quality. This coalition will focus on organizing to demand and win a more sustainable transportation system, as Fresno County moves forward with an attempt to renew its 1/2 cent transportation sales tax, known as Measure C. First Congregational Church, 2131 N. Van Ness Blvd, near Weldon. Details: 248-0924

Friday, April 28 - 5 - 6 PM
Street Heat on KFCF 88.1 FM featuring Labor and Community activists.

Friday, April 28 - 6 PM
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 85 anniversary celebration. The dinner is $40 per person at the Downtown Club of Fresno. Call Lauralee Crain Carbone for reservations and information (299-2148, LLLLola@juno.com).

Saturday, April 29 - 8 PM
Gaia House cultural coffee house, 1009 N Wilson.

Sunday, April 30 - 2 PM
Annual Meeting of Valley Memorial Society at the Retired Teachers' Memorial Building, 3933 E. Saginaw Way, Fresno. The public is invited. Refreshments will be served. The VMS is a consumer education group that provides information about planning for simple, dignified burial or cremation. It also helps educate about other end-of-life issues. The featured speaker will be Dawn Jones, the volunteer coordinator for the Hinds Hospice Outpatient Services. She will explain what hospice care is and how it works. For information, call 268-2181.

For up to the minute information about what is happening in Fresno’s progressive community join the Community Alliance email alert network. We send out an updated calendar of events once a week and alert you when there is an emergency rally or demonstration. This is a free service. You can join by sending your email address to <AllianceEditor@comcast.net> and saying you would like to subscribe to this service.

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