The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 242-4201 (212) 741-4563 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail) Upcoming Latin America Events--New York City Following is a schedule of events concerning Latin America that are either co-sponsored or endorsed by The Brecht Forum, or are sponsored by organizations which The Brecht Forum has worked with over the years. Saturday, November 30 from 1 to 3 pm Hell in Haiti! 28-cents-an-hour Disney Sweatshops Protest Disney's Sweatshop Practices at the Disney Store, Times Square (42 Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan) Disney epitomizes what multinationals are doing across the world. They travel from country to country looking for the lowest possible wages. When workers organize, they pick up and leave. As they pay workers from other countries less and less, they bring U.S. wages down. Demand that: Disney negotiate directly with Haitian workers and ensure that Disney subcontractors meet their workers' demands for a wage of at least US$5 a day; a guaranteed right to collective bargaining; improved working conditions such as cafeterias and clean drinking water; an end to indiscriminate layoffs; and, an end to repressive practices in factories such as firings for union organizing. Organized by the Disney/Haiti Justice Campaign (Fort Washington Station, PO Box 755, New York, New York 10040; [212] 592-3612) For Haiti information packet, contact the National Labor Committee, 275 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10001; [212] 242-0986) ***** Thursday, December 5 at 7 pm Fighting the Global Sweatshop--Defending Unions a forum with Ana Maria Romero (sweatshop organizer and Secretary of the Union of Gabo Workers in El Salvador) and Wilmer Erroa Argueta (Secretary of Relations for the Salvadoran Association of Telecommunications Workers) at Washington Square Methodist Church, 133 West 4 Street, Manhattan; $5 sponsored by New York CISPES--Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (19 West 21 Street #502, New York, New York 10010; [212] 645- 5230) ***** Friday, December 6 from 6 to 9 pm and Saturday, December 7 from 10 am to 4 pm (public performance/demonstration: Saturday, December 7 at 8 pm) An Introduction to Forum Theater a technique of the Theater of the Oppressed led by the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory The workshop features exercises, games, and improvised scene work from the Theater of the Oppressed repertory developed by Brazilian director and Workers Party (PT) activist Augusto Boal. Workshop participants will join in a public performance/demonstration on Saturday night. Boal's approach emphasizes physical dialogs, non-verbal imagery, consensus building, and problem solving. Preparatory games explore relations of power and group solutions to concrete problems raised by participants, transforming spectators in "spect- actors"--protagonists of the theatrical action. The aim of the forum is not to find an ideal solution, but to invent new ways of confronting oppression. TOPLAB has worked with Augusto Boal since 1990, and has presented training workshops around the country for educators, health and human services workers, trade unionists, and community and political activists. Workshop is strictly limited to thirty participants and preregistration is required. Tuition: $50 Public performance/demonstration: $6 (no reservations needed) at The Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, Manhattan To register call (212) 242-4201. For information about TOPLAB call (212) 924-1858 or write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***** Saturday, December 7 from 9:30 am to 6 pm The Global Sweatshop: Alternatives and Resistance an organizing conference sponsored by CREED (Campaign for Real Equitable Economic Development) and the Learning Alliance Co-sponsored by Columbia Multimedia Project, The Brecht Forum, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Disney/Haiti Justice Campaign, Immigrant Workers' Association, Latino Workers' Center, Nicaragua Solidarity Network, Columbia Student Labor Action Coalition The mainstream media has finally begun to pay attention to the issue of sweatshops in both the U.S. and the Third World, but U.S. media coverage has obscured two important points: the global economic policies (widely known as neoliberalism) that drive workers into sweatshops, and the dynamic and creative resistance these policies have encountered throughout the world. The goal of this conference is to give a broad range of groups an opportunity to discuss the connections between different aspects of the neoliberal program, to consider various models of resistance from around the world, and to develop and debate strategies for activists here in New York. This is emphatically an _organizing_ conference, not an academic exercise. We want groups to publicize their ongoing activities and bring more people into their work. The success of the conference depends on the follow-up work done afterwards. Workshops include: exploring different sweatshop organizing models; corporate responsibility campaigns; gender issues in the workplace and in workers' organizations; designing an International Campaign to Defend Working People's Rights; campaigning for a new amnesty for undocumented immigrants; confronting structural adjustment at home and abroad (IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization); getting the word out--the media and the public; organizing workfare workers Panelists include: Cesar Ayala, Latino Workers Center; Ellen Braune, National Labor Committee; Dominic Chan, Jobs with Justice; Sylvia Federici, Hofstra University; Christian Lemoine, Disney/Haiti Justice Campaign; Miguel Maldonado, Immigrant Workers' Association; Bertha Morales, UNITE Garment Workers Justice Center; Ana Maria Romero, Gabo Workers Union, El Salvador at The Learning Alliance, 324 Lafayette Street, 7 floor, New York, New York 10012; (212) 226-7171 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Registration: $10, $15, $20 or more based on income; no one will be turned away for inability to pay. ***** Saturday, December 7 at 8 pm New York CISPES presents: Sweat Gear--The Fashion Show a political comedy that takes on exploitation, immigration, race, gender, consumerism, body image and anorexia. Images of New York street fashion. Featuring Ana Maria Romero, organizer from El Salvador's maqiadoras. at Meow Mix, 269 East Houston Street, Manhattan proceeds to benefit union organizing among women in El Salvador's sweatshops For more information, contact New York CISPES, 19 West 21 Street #502, New York, New York 10010; (212) 645-5230 ***** Saturday, December 7 from 10 pm to 2 am (and beyond!) Solidarity Holiday Celebration Sponsored by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of New York, the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), and the Adelante! Street Theater Project Dance the night away with friends and family to the best Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, and Afro-Pop mix in New York City, provided by D.J. Power Serge and D.J. Mama! Plus cash bar and food! A benefit to raise money for urgently-needed medical expenses for a companera--an founder of the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory, and a long-time political and theater activist. Admission: $5-$10 (sliding scale) at The Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, Manhattan For more information, call TOPLAB, (212) 924-1858 or write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***** Wednesday, January 1 from 4:30 to 8 pm A Better Path to Take: The Zapatista Vision for Participatory Democracy a celebration of hope and possibility, with food, music, presentations, and discussion sponsored by The Learning Alliance, the New York Committee for Democracy in Mexico, Monthly Review, Solidarity Foundation, Open Magazine Pamphlet Series, and The Brecht Forum speakers include Alex Ewen (Director of Solidarity Foundation; author of the forthcoming book, _Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century_); Amy Goodman (long-time activist and host of Pacifica Radio's _Democracy Now_); and Mario Murillo (Public Affairs Director, WBAI radio) "Why is everyone so quiet? Is this the democracy you wanted?" Join us to discuss creating centers of resistance and how we can apply Zapatista (EZLN) practice of community-based democracy as a model for social change here in America. at The Learning Alliance, 324 Lafayette Street, 7 floor, New York, New York 10012; (212) 226-7171 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Registration: $8, $10, $12, depending on income. Nobody turned away for inability to pay. ***** Brecht Forum events of interest at The Brecht Forum, 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor, New York, New York 10001; (212) 242-4201 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thursday, December 12 at 7:30 pm; $6 The Global Economy from Below a talk by Barbara Garson Barbara Garson is exploring the global economy by following her own money around the world. She began by depositing her book advance ($28,500) in a one- branch small-town bank, followed it into a Wall Street money-center bank, then out to South East Asia, and back to the U.S. Along the route, she talked to everyone from CEOs to migrant construction workers, seeing who gets helped, who gets harmed, and who gets by-passed as her capital courses around the earth. Barbara Garson is the author of two classic books on work, _All the Livelong Day_ and _The Electronic Sweatshop_, plus _MacBird_ and other plays. ***** Thursday, December 19 at 7:30 pm; $6 The Domestication of Violence in Latin America a talk by June Nash Popular uprisings by indigenous peoples and campesinos in reaction to neoliberal policies have evoked a response in militarization throughout the subcontinent. Justified by drug traffic control, the new armies have infiltrated rebellious areas with daily assaults on the human rights of citizens who are seeking alternatives to new policies instituted in the name of free-trade agreements. June Nash, a Professor of Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center, has worked for many years with peasants in Chiapas. //30
