NC Green Party officially recognized
In the evening March 27th it was announced that the NC Green Party now has ballot access ( ncgreenparty.nationbuilder.com/ )! People can now register as Greens and candidates can run for office as Greens. Note that to become a member of the NCGP and vote at meetings, etc. people will have to join and pay dues. In North Carolina the Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, and Republicans are State recognized parties. The Greens might have appeared on ballots in NC before, but if so it was several years ago.
Chapel Hill Peace Vigil
It is now on the DST schedule, 5 - 6pm on Fridays at the corner of East Franklin and Elliot streets (Village Plaza shopping center, near Whole Foods).
Don't fund Israeli military mistreatment of Palestinian children
The Carolina Peace Center is asking people to contact their Congressional representative urging support for HR 4391 Promote Human Rights for Palestinian Children ( www.facebook.com/CarolinaPeaceCenter/ ). Israel routinely arrests and prosecutes Palestinian children, and the announcement says that HRW and others have documented that some are tortured, beaten, and coercively interrogated, etc. while UNICEF found that children are being held for long periods without access to their parents or lawyers. To find your member of Congress: callyourrep.co/ . Youth activist Ahed Tamimi turned 17 in an Israeli prison January 31st.
Free foreign language classes
The Carolina Asia Center is offering free classes open to the public in Bahasa Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai at the FedEx Global Education Center March 19, March 26, April 9, and April 9, 6-7:30pm each day. There will be refreshments. Register at: carolinaasiacenter.unc.edu/workshops/
There are free Chinese lessons every Friday afternoon at UNC's Student Union, but I will have to look up the details. The time might be 4:30 - 5:30, or maybe it was a little earlier.
There are local conversations groups in Japanese, French, and probably other languages on www.meetup.com
Upcoming library book sales
Amazingly, FODL has already announced its book sales for the year, and there are many (maybe a lot of library books are being retired in recent years): April 28, June 9-10, August 4, September 15-16, October 27, and December 1-2.
The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library book sales will be April 13-15, September 7-9, and December 7-9 ( friendschpl.org/wp/book-sales/ ).
The Friends of the Chatham County Community Library also has a sale coming up April 12-14 ( friendsccl.org/ ).
The huge Wake County Public Libraries book sale will be May 3-6 at the Expo Center at the State Fairgrounds (www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/booksale.aspx ).
There is probably an Information and Library Sciences student book sale coming up at UNC-Chapel Hill in the spring and possibly a library book sale in Lee County.
The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library book sales will be April 13-15, September 7-9, and December 7-9 ( friendschpl.org/wp/book-sales/ ).
The Friends of the Chatham County Community Library also has a sale coming up April 12-14 ( friendsccl.org/ ).
The huge Wake County Public Libraries book sale will be May 3-6 at the Expo Center at the State Fairgrounds (www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/booksale.aspx ).
There is probably an Information and Library Sciences student book sale coming up at UNC-Chapel Hill in the spring and possibly a library book sale in Lee County.
Environmental Justice and Agriculture Speaker Series
UNC will host a series of speakers about environmental justice issues, organized by the Student Government undergraduate executive, Student Environmental Action Coalition, and the Campus Y.
Environmental Impacts
Waterkeeper Alliance environmental lawyer Will Hendrick will speak March 5th at 5pm in Student Union Room 3205.
Social Justice Implications
Naeema Muhammad, Director of the NC Environmental Justice Network, and civil rights and environmental lawyer Elizabeth Haddix will speak March 21 at 5pm in Student Union Room 2420.
Policy Solutions
US Representative David Price will speak March 27th at 5:15pm in Student Union Room 2420.
The spring equinox was March 20th.
UNC will host a series of speakers about environmental justice issues, organized by the Student Government undergraduate executive, Student Environmental Action Coalition, and the Campus Y.
Environmental Impacts
Waterkeeper Alliance environmental lawyer Will Hendrick will speak March 5th at 5pm in Student Union Room 3205.
Social Justice Implications
Naeema Muhammad, Director of the NC Environmental Justice Network, and civil rights and environmental lawyer Elizabeth Haddix will speak March 21 at 5pm in Student Union Room 2420.
Policy Solutions
US Representative David Price will speak March 27th at 5:15pm in Student Union Room 2420.
The spring equinox was March 20th.
Farmworker Awareness Week 2018 is March 24-31 ( www.saf-unite.org/content/national-farmworker-awareness-week ). Some local events:
Farmworkers' Fight for Justice and the National Boycott of VUSE
This teach-in on the Farm Labor Organizing Committee's VUSE boycott, part of the Reynold American, Inc. campaign will be March 26 6pm Wingate Hall Room 302 Wake Forest University. Sponsored by FLOC and the WFU School of Divinity
Dolores film screening
March 26 NCSU Witherspoon Student Center 7 - 8:45pm free www.facebook.com/events/148531305823220/ The documentary is also being broadcast on UNCTV at various times.
VUSE boycott protests in Durham and Raleigh
April 9th 5-5:45pm at the Circle K at 10 East NC 54, Durham, southwest of the intersection of 54 and Fayetteville Road; park in the shopping centers just west or north; organized by the Triangle Friends of Farmworkers ( www.facebook.com/trianglefriendsoffarmworkers/ )
April 13th 5:30 - 6:15pm at the Circle K/Kangaroo at 4100 Western Boulevard, Raleigh; organized by the National Farm Worker Ministry and Students for Immigrant Rights, NCSU; park at Food Lion northeast; for more information see: www.facebook.com/events/312322915961635/ or call 919 807 8707
The annual Pilgrimage for Peace and Justice walk across North Carolina will be March 26-30.
From the Chapel Hill activist calendar:
Russian revolutionary Sergei Kirov was born March 27, 1886 and his assassination December 1, 1934 was an important event in Soviet history.
"Social Justice Within the System"
Durham City Council member Dedreana Freeman will speak at UNC's Gillings School of Public Health (Room 1301) April 3rd 12:30 - 1:45pm. There will also be light lunch from Vimala's Curryblossom Café 12 - 12:30.
Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated April 4, 1968 while organizing in support of black public workers in Memphis.
The annual BW Wells Heritage Day will be April 7th, 10am - 4pm, at Rock Cliff Farm, at Falls Lake's BW Wells access: www.ncparks.gov/falls-lake-state-recreation-area/events-and-programs
Le Duan, credited with the Tet Offensive in Ken Burns' recent Vietnam War series, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam during the struggle against American imperialism, was born April 7, 1907.
Singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson was born April 9, 1898. There are links to his English versions of the [WW II era] Soviet and Chinese anthems in a previous post: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2017/04/communist-fight-songs-and-musical.html
April 9, 1948 a neutral Palestinian village near Jerusalem, Deir Yassin, was attacked by Zionist terrorist groups, which later joined the Israeli military. The residents were killed during and after the fighting and today the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center stands where Deir Yassin had been, and includes some of the remaining buildings.
April 12th is the UN International Human Space Flight Day/Cosmonautics Day in honor of the first human space flight, by Yuri Gagarin on this day in 1961. US Astronauts Day is the last Friday in January.
The US Civil War began and ended in April. The bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charlestown Harbor began April 12, 1861. The Civil War ended with several separate surrenders. Robert E Lee surrendered his forces at Appomattox, Virginia April 9, 1865. The largest Confederate surrender occurred at Bennett Place, now in Durham, when Joseph E Johnston surrendered his forces April 26th. Bennett Place State Historic Site will hold its 153rd Surrender Commemoration April 21 - 22 (10am - 4pm and 10am - 3pm), with a re-enactment, tours, and talks by historians ( www.bennettplacehistoricsite.com/special-events ). Admission costs $3 dollars for adults and $2 dollars for children. Besides its historical value, Bennett Place is significant ecologically, since the land has been mostly left alone. According to Wikipedia, the last general to surrender was Cherokee leader Stand Watie, June 23rd, but the last to surrender was Confederate commerce raider CSS Shenandoah, November 6, 1865 in Liverpool in the UK. It could be argued that the Civil War continued into the Reconstruction period, which ended in 1877.
American bourgeois-democratic revolutionary and later US president, Thomas Jefferson, was born April 13, 1743.
Georg Lukács, a Marxist philosopher and literary critic and Minister of Culture in the Hungarian Soviet Republic, was born April 13, 1885 in Budapest. Many of his works are online, in English, at: www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/index.htm
National Second Amendment Rally
There will be demonstrations in support of the constitutional right to bear arms across the country April 14th, including at Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh, 2 - 6pm. For more information see: www.rallylist.com/national-second-amendment-rally-4-14-18-2/
Actions against the attack on Syria
The US, UK, and France launched an unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Syria on April 13th, though there have been hostile actions for years. They claim it is over alleged use of chemical weapons, but the US and Israel frequently use white phosphorus and tear gas as chemical weapons and "Western" imperialists have a long-standing desire to take control of Syria. At the same time, under both Obama and Trump, the US has an incoherent and contradictory anti-Syrian strategy.
Protests are planned in Durham, Asheville, and across the country:
popularresistance.org/all-out-for-antiwar-actions-this-weekend/
www.answercoalition.org/protests_to_stop_u_s_war_on_syria
www.springaction2018.org/
March for Science 2018
There will be marches across the country, including at 10am in Raleigh and Greensboro ( www.marchforscience.com/ ).
Earth Day Festival in Greensboro
The Kathleen Clay Library's annual Earth Day Festival will be April 14th 1-5pm. For more information see: www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=844&recordid=47750
National Day of Action Against Wars at Home and Abroad April 14 - 15
There will be anti-war protests across the country, including in Washington, DC April 14th at 12pm at the White House and at the same time in Atlanta at at Little 5 Points Square. For more information see: www.springaction2018.org/
Korean revolutionary and statesman Kim Il Sung was born April 15, 1912.
Ernst Thälmann, leader of the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar period, was born April 16, 1886, and shot in Buchenwald August 18, 1944 after years of solitary confinement. The Nazis claimed he was killed by Allied bombing. Many groups used his name, such as the Thälmann Brigade of German volunteers fighting in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republic. His writings don't seem to be included in Marx2Mao.com or Marxists.org, but there are questionable translations at: aredinohio.wordpress.com/ernst-thalmann-library/
The People Demand: Demilitarize the Police! from Durham to Gaza
The Durham City Council is voting on a statement ending police exchanges between the Durham Police and Israel, and there will be a rally outside 6 - 9pm April 16th (101 City Hall Plaza). For more information see: www.facebook.com/events/205323833577463/
Trump's Jerusalem Decision: History, Legality, Theology
UNC Students for Justice in Palestine is hosting a panel Monday, April 16th 6:45 - 8:15 pm in Bingham Hall Room 103 (Bingham Hall is north or opposite the Undergraduate Library, and near Wilson Library and the Pit). The panelists are Associate Professor of Islamic Studies Julianne Hammer, Associate Professor of History Cemil Aydin, and history graduate student Ryan Branagan Many parking spaces at UNC are free after 5pm. For more information see: www.facebook.com/events/2081182735452042/
Jordan Lake Family Fishing Fiesta / Fiesta de Pesca
Instead of having a heritage day in the fall, there will be a bilingual English and Spanish event April 21st at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area's White Oak access, off of Highway 64 in eastern Chatham County. The focus will be on fishing (no license is needed at this free event) and fisheries management, but there will be other activities as well. For more information see: www.ncwildlife.org/Fiesta#74651051-family-fishing-fiesta and www.ncparks.gov/jordan-lake-state-recreation-area/events-and-programs
Rivercane Rendezvous 2018
This gathering April 16-22, hosted by Earthskills Rendezvous, focuses on ancient skills, such as wild foods, stone toolmaking, and basket weaving. It will be in Westminster, South Carolina; for more information see: www.facebook.com/events/377066652741447/
The US income tax filing deadline is Tuesday, April 17th, except in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which were given an extension due to the damage from Hurricane Maria ( www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-filing-deadline-is-soon-remember-most-taxpayers-can-file-for-free and www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-filing-deadline-postponed-until-june-29-for-victims-of-hurricane-maria-in-puerto-rico-and-the-virgin-islands ). Some people refuse to pay income taxes or only pay in part, to protest US militarism.
What Everyone Needs to Know About Climate Change
There will be a discussion of how climate change could impact people and how communities can manage the dislocations at Durham's Southwest Regional Library Thursday, April 19th 6:30 - 8pm. The speakers will be journalist Sara Peach (who if I'm not mistaking her for a different person is from Durham) and Lou Brown from the Duke University Forum for Scholars and Publics. This is part of the NC Science Festival. For more information see: events.durhamcountylibrary.org/event/576488
Voices of Resistance with the International Solidarity Movement
There will be a film showing on grassroots Palestinian resistance to the Occupation in the West Bank, including by Ahed Tamini and his family. Joe Catron and Islam Maraqa will discuss their experience in Palestine, bringing medical aid and witnessing the results of occupation and repression. The event will be April 19th at 7pm in NCSU's Nelson Hall (part of the Poole College of Management) Room 3400 (2801 Hillsborough Street). There is free parking after 5pm in the parking lot at the corner of Hillsborough and Brooks streets. For more information see: www.cpwj.org/event/voices-of-resistance-with-the-international-solidarity-movement/
NC Statewide Star Party
There will be stargazing events across the State April 20-21, part of the NC Science Festival throughout April. This year's theme is "Anyone Out There?" This is the 6th year for this annual event. For more, see: www.ncsciencefestival.org/starparty
National Record Store Day is April 21st ( www.recordstoreday.com ).
The annual Party for the Pine at Weymouth Woods - Sandhills Nature Preserve will be April 21st, 10am - 3pm ( www.partyforthepine.org/ and www.ncparks.gov/weymouth-woods-sandhills-nature-preserve/events-and-programs ).
National Record Store Day is April 21st ( www.recordstoreday.com ).
The annual Party for the Pine at Weymouth Woods - Sandhills Nature Preserve will be April 21st, 10am - 3pm ( www.partyforthepine.org/ and www.ncparks.gov/weymouth-woods-sandhills-nature-preserve/events-and-programs ).
April 22nd is Earth Day and Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin was born April 22, 1870. [The first Earth Day was in 1970.]
Easter Rising for Irish independence began April 24, 1916.
Arbor Day is Friday, April 27th. Durham's Arbor Day celebration is usually in March. Arbor Day is officially the first Friday after March 15th in North Carolina.
Nikos Zachariadis, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece during the Civil War, was born April 27, 1903. He lived in exile in the USSR after 1949, becoming a thorn in the side of the revisionist CPSU under Khrushchev and either committed suicide or was assassinated August 1, 1973. For more information, see: anasintaxi-en.blogspot.com/2007/09/three-versions-of-nikos-zachariadiss.html
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan launched the Saur Revolution April 27, 1978, followed by US support for Islamist terrorists, prior to the Soviet intervention in December 1979 that overthrew the more radical faction of the PDPA.
Save the Frogs Day is Saturday, April 28th ( www.savethefrogs.com/d/day/index.html ).
April 28th is also National Independent Bookstore Day ( www.indiebookstoreday.com/ )
Easter Rising for Irish independence began April 24, 1916.
Arbor Day is Friday, April 27th. Durham's Arbor Day celebration is usually in March. Arbor Day is officially the first Friday after March 15th in North Carolina.
Nikos Zachariadis, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece during the Civil War, was born April 27, 1903. He lived in exile in the USSR after 1949, becoming a thorn in the side of the revisionist CPSU under Khrushchev and either committed suicide or was assassinated August 1, 1973. For more information, see: anasintaxi-en.blogspot.com/2007/09/three-versions-of-nikos-zachariadiss.html
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan launched the Saur Revolution April 27, 1978, followed by US support for Islamist terrorists, prior to the Soviet intervention in December 1979 that overthrew the more radical faction of the PDPA.
Save the Frogs Day is Saturday, April 28th ( www.savethefrogs.com/d/day/index.html ).
April 28th is also National Independent Bookstore Day ( www.indiebookstoreday.com/ )
Mother Earth News Fair
This convention April 28-29th near Asheville focuses on sustainable living, such as organic gardening, green building, alternative vehicles, etc. For more information see: www.facebook.com/events/977898782363729/
Saigon was liberated and the Vietnam's long war for independence and unification finally ended April 30, 1975, though the US military had withdrawn in 1973.
International Workers' Day / May Day is May 1st, a Tuesday this year. There will probably be events around the 1st, but I haven't come across any announcements yet.
Karl Marx was born 200 years ago, May 5, 1818, in Trier, Germany.
The annual Haw River Festival will be May 6th in Saxapahaw ( hawriver.org/events/upcoming-events/ ).
Primary elections in North Carolina will be Tuesday, May 8th. Any runoffs will be June 26th or July 17th, and the general election will be November 6th (there is a schedule at: www.dconc.gov/home/showdocument?id=24338 ).
May 9th is Victory Day, marking the end of World War II in Europe.
International Migratory Bird Day is Saturday, May 12th.
NCBG Spring Plant Sale and Festival
The NC Botanical Garden will hold its annual spring plant sale Saturday, May 12th, 3 - 7pm. The Garden and nearby nurseries will sell native plants, and there will be live music, food trucks, educational events, and a raffle. For more information, see: ncbg.unc.edu/2018-events/
Mother's Day in the US is Sunday, May 13th and has pacifist and social welfare roots.
I've heard that this is also the time to see the mountain laurels blooming at Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, south of Hillsborough, across the Eno River, and probably elsewhere along the Eno (www.ncparks.gov/occoneechee-mountain-state-natural-area ). The end of the ice ages left brown elfin butterflies stranded on Occoneechee, white pines at the White Pines Nature Preserve south of Pittsboro, and Eastern hemlocks at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve in Cary. In many cases species that live on mountains are very at risk from climate change, because they can only retreat up, and at some point there may be nowhere else to go. Non-native pests are also threatening the hemlocks.
May 13, 1985 police surrounded the MOVE house in Philadelphia and a few hours later bombed it by helicopter. In all, 11 members of MOVE, including 5 children, were killed, with 2 survivors (1 adult and 1 child), and around 61 houses in the neighborhood burned to the ground.
Poor People's Campaign: A Call for Moral Revival May 13 - June 21 ( www.poorpeoplescampaign.org )
Nakba Day is May 15th.
The last known sighting of a Costa Rican golden toad was May 15, 1989 and they are thought to be extinct. The species was first described scientifically in 1966. There is still debate about the cause, but this might be an early example of anthropogenic climate change killing a species. Possibly the cause was a chytrid fungus epidemic, possibly assisted by climate change, and a major threat to frog species in many countries.
Endangered Species Day is Friday, May 18th.
The 9th annual Longleaf Festival will be May 19th at Harris Lake County Park in Wake County ( www.wakegov.com/parks/harrislake/Pages/Longleaf-Festival.aspx ).
World Turtle Day is Wednesday, May 23rd.
Memorial Day - Remembering Victims of War May 28 Chapel Hill Public Library 2 - 3:30pm
During the Tulsa Race Riot May 31 - June 1, 1921 in Oklahoma there was fighting on the ground and incendiaries were dropped from private airplanes.
Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go into space, on June 16, 1963, piloting Vostok 6 and spending about three days in orbit. According to Wikipedia, with this mission, Tereshkova logged more time in space than the entire US astronaut corps at the time.
The summer solstice is June 21st.
The Korean War officially began June 25, 1950, but fighting was already going on between revolutionary and counterrevolutionary forces, for example the Jeju Uprising officially began April 3, 1948, so it might have been inevitable that a full-scale war would break out.
World Turtle Day is Wednesday, May 23rd.
Memorial Day - Remembering Victims of War May 28 Chapel Hill Public Library 2 - 3:30pm
During the Tulsa Race Riot May 31 - June 1, 1921 in Oklahoma there was fighting on the ground and incendiaries were dropped from private airplanes.
Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go into space, on June 16, 1963, piloting Vostok 6 and spending about three days in orbit. According to Wikipedia, with this mission, Tereshkova logged more time in space than the entire US astronaut corps at the time.
The summer solstice is June 21st.
The Korean War officially began June 25, 1950, but fighting was already going on between revolutionary and counterrevolutionary forces, for example the Jeju Uprising officially began April 3, 1948, so it might have been inevitable that a full-scale war would break out.
National Moth Week is July 21 – 29 ( www.nationalmothweek.org/ ).
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