In this two-hour hands-on production workshop, participants use video cameras and their collective creativity to create public service announcements (video messages.) The session begins with an overview of media literacy and the language of video including camera shots, points of view, and cuts. Participants work together to brainstorm ideas, storyboard, and shoot their PSA's. This workshop is not intended to create broadcast quality videos, but rather teach youth basic production skills around concepts of socially responsible media. To schedule a workshop contact Derrick at 212-757-2670 x331 or derrick@youthchannel.org.

Performance: Someone's Sister and Friends "Breaking Silence to Stop Child Abuse" 

On the road from North Carolina and teamed up with Brooklyn local Malcolm Rollick, Someone's Sister performs live at Bluestockings. Laura McClean will also perform. Every penny this stunning folk-duo can conjur will be distributed directly to a fund for the prevention of child abuse.

This holiday season, come join Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. Bring a Gift to give away to a stranger - we'll start a gift economy at the Great Hall at Cooper Union. This is the feel-good solution for radicals. Santa is just a multi-national with a beard, and a real gift economy at Christmas will change the whole year.

The Choir and Rev dedicate this performance to the memory of activist Brad Will

Free screening of the award-winning documetary The Witness

How does a construction contractor from a tough Brooklyn neighborhood become an impassioned animal advocate? In the award-winning documentary The Witness, Eddie Lama explains how he feared and avoided animals for most of his life, until the love of a kitten opened his heart, inspriing him to rescue abandoned animals and bring his message of compassion to the streets of New York. With humor and sincerity, Eddie tells the story of his remarkable change in consciusness. "The Witness...may be the most important and persuasive film about animals ever made." ~Howard Rosenberg, Los Angeles Times.

Sterilizing History: The Fabrication of "Innocent Americans"

Indiginist Scholar, Activist, and Professor Ward Churchill will be making a historic and rare appearance at the New School in lower Manhattan on Monday December 11th. Mr. Churchill will address the ongoing attempts to erase indigenous history in a talk titled "Sterilizing History: The Fabrication of 'InnocentAmericans'". Do not miss this historic and ground-breaking evening!

Storytelling: "Where Have You Been? Conversations on Travel"

New Yorkers go all over the world, but the city has a way of swallowing their homecomings. At "Where Have You Been," three intrepids share stories with other travelers as well as those of us who don't get out much. Interviews by Jeff Stark and gorgeous slideshows tightly edited and mercifully short.

John Nichols, critically acclaimed author and correspondent for The Nation, will read from his most recent book The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism. Thoughtful, impassioned, and meticulously researched, the book traces the history of impeachment and outlines the necessity of the procedure in today's political climate.

FREE

Location: Bluestockings, 173 Allen St. (btwn Stanton & Rivington), New York. 212-777-6028

Women at work, organizing and rapping - that's the theme for Third World Newsreel's December program at the Anthology.
Join us for our end of year screening!

With a new film from Maori Karmael Holmes

SCENE NOT HEARD
Maori Karmael Holmes
Right from the beginning of the hip hop movement, Philadelphia artists have made major contributions as emcees, graffitti artists, dancers and especially as deejays. But somehow Philly still doesn't get the kind of props that LA or even Atlanta does, despite its unique proliferation of female hip hop artists. This new film from Maori Karmael Holmes seeks to tell the story of these women - the legends and the newcomers - as they struggle to succeed in a male-dominated industry. (2005, 45 min)

GOD BLESS AMERICA
Renata Gangemi and Ruben Gonzalez, featuring MARIPOSA
Latina poet Mariposa's version of the anthem. (2005, 2 min)

WORK AND RESPECT
Domestic Workers United
Over 200,000 women, mostly immigrant and of color, work as nannies and housekeepers in NYC - without the protection of labor laws. They are organizing for a bill of rights - and fighting and winning against exploitative employers. (2005, 10 min)

WALKING WITH FUREE
Miriam Perez and FUREE
The story of Wanda Imueson, who lost her job after 9/11, but found strength and her organizing powers through this community group, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality. (2005, 10 min)

RESPECT IS DUE
Cyrille Phipps
Youth, critics and rappers like Sista Souljah, examine the way women of African descent are portrayed in music videos. (1992, 10 min)

SHE RHYMES LIKE A GIRL
JT Takagi
Toni Blackman and the Freestyle Union are challenging the male dominated world of hip hop and empowering women to speak their minds. (2005, 7 min) 

The Heartless Stone: A Journey through the World of Diamonds offers a panoramic, unflinching look at the modern diamond industry across six continents. From illegal mines in Brazil, diamond smuggling rings in Africa, and sweltering polishing shops of India, to the boardrooms of De Beers in London, "The Heartless Stone" uncovers the secrets inside a vast economy that supports the most sustained, expensive, and bloodstained advertising campaign in history.

Join us for the New York Premiere of UPROOTED (2006)
Directed by Donia Mili

MNN's Guerrilla Filmmaking Series


Recorded in occupied Palestine, UPROOTED explores questions and forms of resistance witnessed and experienced in this permanent war zone.

Join us as we celebrate the accomplishments of our youth producers and community groups! Organizations include MS 44/Children's Arts and Sciences Workshop, U.N. Young Filmmakers Program, Harvey Milk HS, Youth Bridge-NY, and more!

Location: MNN Open Studio

In Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back, the sister-brother team of Amy Goodman, journalist and host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David Goodman once again take on government liars, corporate profiteers, and the media that has acted as their megaphone. They expose how the Bush administration has manipulated and fabricated news, and how the corporate media has worked hand-in-glove with the powerful to deceive the public. They report on the many people who have taken a stand and are fighting back, but whose stories too often go untold.

  The Mexican Federal government has chosen the path of violence and
   repression instead of negotiation to resolve this conflict in
   Oaxaca, Mexico. This conflict began on June 14th when Oaxaca's
   governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz sent in state police to break a peaceful
   teachers' strike that was camped out in the center of Oaxaca City.
   Gov. Ruiz had already alarmed international human rights
   organizations, including Amnesty International, for atrocities
   committed before the June 14. The actions on June 14th further
   ignited people’s anger throughout the State who responded, by
   forming the People's Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) who
   reinforced the teachers' encampment in Oaxaca City. The single
   demand of the APPO has been the resignation of Gov. Ruiz.

   Since June 14th, the violence against the teachers and the APPO by
   paramilitary forces and police aligned with Gov. Ruiz has escalated
   and on October 27th, independent journalist, Brad Will, as brutally
   murdered at the hands of plainclothes police officers and local
   government officials in Santa Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca.

   Two days later, on October 29th, the Mexican Federal government
   dispatched several thousand Federal Preventative Police (PFP) troops
   to remove civilian protesters supporting the APPO from their
   encampments throughout the city. There were the recorded deaths of
   at least three civilians as a direct result of the excessive force
   that the PFP used to dislodge the protesters, despite official
   comments from the State and Federal governments to the contrary.

   On November 2nd, the PFP tried to enter the Benito Juarez Autonomous
   University in an attempt to shut down the university radio station
   critical of Governor Ruiz. Mexican law prohibits the incursion of
   law enforcement onto autonomous universities, unless requested by
   the university rector. The rector of the Benito Juarez categorically
   rejected the presence of the PFP in Oaxaca.

   Oaxaca City is now living under a state of siege. Since June 14th,
   at least 20 people have been killed, over 500 people have been
   imprisoned, more then 100 people have been disappeared and hundreds
   wounded. Pick-up trucks carrying PFP, State and Municipal Police are
   now patrolling the city, randomly detaining people without arrest
   warrants. Most of the people detained are unable to contact family
   members and are being moved to prisons outside of the state.
   Teachers are being pulled from their classrooms. Many of the people
   detained have been tortured. An illegal radio station, Radio
   Ciudadana, affiliated with Gov. Ruiz is broadcasting the names of
   APPO members, Human Rights workers and others, giving their
   addresses and offering a reward for their assassination.

   The only way to resolve this conflict is through dignified, peaceful
   negotiation, and respect for human rights.

   Please come to this meeting where we will plan how we can be
   supportive of the people in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Muxe's (105min, 2005, Mexico, Alejandra Islas, Spanish with English subtitles)

This film is a portrait of members of an indigenous Mexican transgender and gay community that seeks to depend their diversity and preserve their identity as Zapotec Indians. The documentary also exposes the unique inner-workings of Juchitan, a small town on the outskirts of Oaxaca, Mexico, which appears untouched by patriarchal and heteronormative ideals, where women run the economy andhomosexuality is widely accepted.

The Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture presents an art sale to raise money to be sent to Doctors without Borders for their work in Darfur.

Location: Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West (at 2nd Street), Brooklyn

MARCH FOR JUSTICE AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

Assemble at 11:30 am at 59th Street and 5th Ave.
March down 5th Avenue

On the eve of his wedding, November 25th, Sean Bell was shot and killed in a hail of 50 gunshots by NYC Police officers. He and his friends were not armed and not charged with any crime. This injustice must end!

The Sean Bell shooting shares troubling similarities to the death of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who died on his doorstep in the Bronx after being fired at 41 times by undercover NYC Police officers in 1999. Despite a number of wrongful deaths and increased complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, there has been no substantive reform in the practices of the NYPD. In light of these horrific and unresolved shootings, the Coalition for Police Reform is demanding an immediate review of the practices of the NYC Police Department by the NY City Council and the NY State Legislature.

On Saturday, December 16th, United for Peace and Justice will march in this demonstration being organized bythe Coalition for Police Reform. We encourage you to help get the word out and join us at this important march.

The Green Renter - The Hybrid Taxi: NYC's Greatest, Greenest No-Brainer

With Bob Muldoon, Sierra Club NYC Chapter

There is perhaps no more sensible application for hybrid automotive technology than the NYC taxicab. The 24/7, aggressive street driving that (in)famously characterizes the local taxi experience lends itself perfectly to this high-efficiency, low-emission alternative to the conventional Crown Victoria. Join the Sierra Club's Bob Muldoon for a discussion of the hybrid's many environmental and economic benefits to the city, and a review of current political efforts that aim to drastically increase the number of hybrids on the streets of NYC.

Reading: Tom Zoellner "The Heartless Stone"

Where do diamonds come from? Many people do not know or are reluctant to find out the truth about the continuing problem of “blood diamonds in Africa.” Leonardo Dicaprio stars in the new movie Blood Diamond which discussed the same issues in The Heartless Stone. Come and see what the real story underlying that film is all about and how you can help stop the bleeding.

Housing Works and the Center for Urban Pedagogy present a panel on Stuyvesant Town with historian Samuel Zipp and playwright and screenwriter Amy Fox. Currently the subject of the largest real estate deal in US history, Stuyvesant Town is a haven of middle class housing with an embattled past and an uncertain future. Zipp will talk about the early history of Metropolitan Life and Robert Moses’ new mass cityscape. Fox will present a dramatic reading of her screenplay “Stuyvesant Town” about a group of white tenants, including her grandparents, who fought in the early 40’s to end discrimination in the complex.

Post-millenial Havana: Culture, Consumption & Everyday Life

This discussion panel will look at some of the important economic, cultural, and political dynamics affecting Cuba today -- tourism, limited marketization, the informal economy, global media flows -- and how they affect ordinary Cubans. The panel will be particularly interested in how Cubans are negotiating their relationship to the Cuban state and Cubans in the diaspora, and constructing new forms of subjectivity and belonging.

MNN will be closed on Christmas day on Monday, December 25, 2006.

Featuring: Claire Moed and Laura Boss

Native New Yorker Claire Moed, a writer and film director, will read from "Wire Monkey," about the adventures of a 17-year-old girl from the tough Lower East Side. Laura Boss writes with terrifying honesty about the sexual terror and dependency of the suddenly single and middle-aged. Women's Poetry Jam is hosted by Vittoria Repetto, the hardest working guinea butch dyke on the Lower East Side. Open mike sign-up starts at 7PM, so come and deliver (up to) 8 minutes of your poetry, prose, songs, and spoken word.

All Departments of MNN will be closed all day for New Year's Day.

Festival of Resistance: 13th Anniversary of Zapatista Uprising

Presented by The New York Zapatistas & Coatlicue Theatre Company

Performances, Videos, Crafts, Updates on the Other Campaign, the Other Oaxaca, the Other Atenco and the Other Manhatitlan. Refreshments

Suggested Donation: $5-$10-$15
No One Turned Away

Reading: Barbara Traub "Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography"

"Desert to Dream" is an unprecedented photographic record of a decade of Burning Man celebrations, from its infancy as a performance art exhibition in the late 80's to its explosion as a pop culture, community-driven phenomenon today. Photographer Barbara Traub captures the sacred and profane through photos of otherworldly artifacts, structures and costumes that defy description. 

Director: Claudia Larson, USA, 2006, English, 57 min. Documentary.

The tumultuous life of Dorothy Day (1897-1980), the pacifist-anarchist co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, is now under consideration for canonization by the Vatican. A crusading journalist in her 20s, Day joined in the Industrial Workers of the World, had a daughter, converted to Catholicism, and went on to found a movement. In the 1960s, she and the Catholic Worker worked closely with War Resisters League on the protests against so-called civil defense drills.

The Peoples' Voice Cafe is an alternative coffeehouse offering quality entertainment. We provide a space for the artistic expression of a wide variety of humanitarian issues and concerns. The cafe is run as a not-for-profit collective, and is not affiliated with any political organization. New participating members are always welcome.

Kim and Reggie Harris are two vibrant, superbly talented and engaging performers whose captivating stage presence has inspired audiences around the world for over 25 years. Their musical approach is "Bach to rock," with the strongest elements being folk, gospel and jazz. As singers, songwriters, storytellers, educators, historical interpreters and cultural advocates, they have used their remarkable voices and their unique talents to bring new insights to both the entertainment and educational sides of their work. Kim and Reggie continue to be sought-after presenters on the subjects of the Underground Railroad, the Modern Civil Rights Movement and African American Music of Social Change.

Ride in honor the bicyclists who died on the streets in 2006.
These victims will not be forgotten.

Last year hundreds of cyclists gathered as a group on the first Sunday of the year to mourn for all those who perished while riding a bike on the streets of NYC in 2006. On this day bikers rode in from the far reaches of every borough, stopping and paying respect at every crash site.

What are the key concepts of Anarchist-Communism? What kind of society should replace capitalism? Join members of the North East Federation of Anarcho-Communism (NEFAC) for a discussion on the central role of the working class and its relationship to anarchism and other key liberation struggles. We'll discuss why revolution is needed, how it relates to reform issues and the need for anarchist organization.

Solar Power in NYC: Promises, Myths, and Challenges

While our potential to harness of the power of the sun for everyday energy applications is enormous, it remains a largely untapped resource at the begining of the 21st century. Many of the widely held assumptions about the appropriateness of solar's application in our city do not hold up under closer scrutiny, while at the same time, many real obstacles do exist that impair its wider development. For this informative lecture, Jeff Perlman (Founder of Bright Power, Inc.) will present a realistic assessment of NYC's Solal PV potential, while offering his on the ground insights into the state of local solar development.