COMMUNITY CALENDAR & PROGRESSIVE NEWS — December 2018

STOP THE WARS! PEACE, JUSTICE AND EQUALITY FOR ALL!

More Information About These and Other Events in

Calendar, beginning p. 3:

Saturday Dec 1Poor People’s Hearing,Impact of Homelessness

Sunday Dec 9Venice Canals Holiday

Boat Parade

Wednesday Dec 12One Peace annual music,

art & film festival

Saturday Dec 15UTLA March for Public Education

Saturday Dec 16GMCLA Holiday Espectacular

Sunday Dec 23Las Posadas

Monday Dec 31New Year’s Eve Light Show - DTLA

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TWILIGHT OF EMPIRE[col.. writ. 11/11/18 (c) 2018

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

The Trump era, when it finally passes from the stage of history, will not pass either easily nor willingly.

It will have left the aura of anxiety, the pangs of paranoia, and the air of enmity. It will be bitter, nasty and mean.

And it wil not end with them.

It will leave a stench of anger, of hatreds, and sourness that will long dwell in the na-tional unconscious as well as the memory of the world.

Such will be the legacy of Trump. Such will be the unworthy inheritance of the American Empire.

For the better part of a century, America portrayed the role of “protector of the weak, and benefactor of the world’s oppressed.”

But that was when the world was a bipo-lar one. The fall of the Soviet Union made the world unipolar — the US the world’s sole Superpower.

And with that reality emerged the US without a peer — and without a mask.

We saw then, its true contemptuous face, snarling at the Third (Dark) World, hostile to its European ancestors, and dismissive of Latin America.

That’s because an Empire needs no allies, nor any friends. It needs subjects. It needs satraps.

For empires are political, economic and military machines of dominance and ex-ploitation. Its power is its only justification for be-ing. It matters little whether Trump com-pletes the full 8 years of two terms, or is there for the next 8 months. The die is cast. The Empire has spat its utter contempt upon the world.

The damage is done.

Global Police StateBy William I. Robinson, Prof of Sociology & Global and International Studies, UC Santa Barbara [excerpts]https://www.facebook.com/williamirobinsonsociologist A global police state is emerging as capitalism descends into an unprecedented crisis, given the extent of ecological degradation and social deterioration, and the sheer scale of the means of violence deployed around the world. “Global police state” refers to three interrelated developments:1. Ever more omnipresent systems of social control, repression and warfare to contain the real and potential rebellion of the global working class and ‘surplus’ humanity. 2. A global economy based on the development and deployment of these systems of warfare, control, and repression as a means of making profit and accumulating capital in the face of stagnation – militarized accumulation. 3. The move toward totalitarian political systems characterized as 21st century fascism. The turn towards a global police state is structurally rooted in capitalism’s Achilles heel: over-accumulation. Polarization of income and wealth is endemic to capitalism. The capitalist class appropriates as profit much of the wealth society collectively produces, so that as the system churns out wealth, the mass of workers cannot actually consume it. The gap grows between what’s produced and what the market can absorb. If capitalists can’t sell the products of their plantations, factories, and offices, they can’t profit. Unchecked, growing inequality results in stagnation, depression, social upheaval and war. The richest 1% in 2016 controlled over 1/2 the world’s wealth; 20% controlled 95% of that wealth, while the remaining 4/5 of humanity lived on 5%. This concentration of wealth and the impoverishment and dispossession of the majority means that the transnational capitalist class (TCC) can’t find outlets to unload the surplus it has accumulated. The Great Recession of 2008 marked the onset of a deep structural crisis of over-accumulation. The TCC

The police, military, prison guards and border patrol become increasingly indistinguishable.

has turned to financial speculation, together with state-organized militarized repressive accumulation, to sustain global profits in the face of over-accumulation. As one speculative sector dries up, the TCC turns to another to unload its surplus capital and product. The latest outlet seems to be Information Technology along with Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. The gap between the production economy and “fictitious capital” – money in the finance sector with no base in productive activity – has reached mind-boggling levels. Gross world product, the total value of goods and services, was $75 trillion in 2015, whereas currency speculation alone amounted to $5.3 trillion a day and the global derivatives market was estimated at $1.2 quadrillion. But financial speculation is a temporary fix. It can’t resolve the structural problem of over-accumulation as the transfer of wealth from workers to the TCC constricts the market. Data from 2010 showed that US companies were sitting on $1.8 trillion in un-invested cash. Corporate profits have been at near record highs while corporate investment declined.

Militarized and Repressive Accumulation The TCC has acquired a vested interest in war, conflict, and repression as a means of accumulation. As war and repression become privatized, capitalist groups shift the political, social, and ideological climate towards generating conflict and expanding systems of war, repression, surveillance and social control for the sake of private profit. The so-called wars on drugs and terrorism, the undeclared wars on immigrants, refugees and gangs (and poor, dark-skinned, and working-class youth more generally), the construction of border walls, immigrant detention centers, prison-industrial complexes, systems of mass surveillance, and the spread of private security guard and mercenary companies, have all become major sources of profit-making.

The day after Trump’s victory, the stock price of Corrections Corporation of America, largest for-profit immigrant detention and prison company in the US, soared 40% 9and Trump immediately reversed the decision to end privatized detention centers). The Pentagon budget increased 91% from 1998-2011. From 2001-2011 military industry profits nearly quadrupled. Total defense outlays (military, intelligence agencies, Homeland Security) grew from $1.4 to $2.03 trillion between 2006 and 2015, and have increased with bipartisan approval under Trump. Simultaneously, the war on drugs constitutes the axis around which a program of militarized accumulation and capitalist globalization revolves in Mexico, Colombia, and elsewhere. “The war on drugs is a long-term fix to capitalism’s woes,” observes journalist Dawn Paley, “combining terror with policy-making in a ...neoliberal

mix, cracking open ...territories once unavailable to globalized capitalism.” Crucial to the global police state is the development of digitalization,. The tech sector is at the cutting edge of capitalist globalization. Computer technology introduced in the ‘80s provided the original technological basis for globalization. Now, the “4th industrial revolution” is based on robotics, 3-D printing, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, bio- and nano-technology, quantum and cloud computing, new forms of energy storage,

and autonomous vehicles, all of which eliminate the need for vast numbers of workers. Digitalization has revolutionized warfare. New systems include AI powered weapons like unmanned tanks and trucks, robot soldiers, autonomous “Super Drones,” cyber-attack and info-warfare, bio weapons, state data mining, and global electronic surveillance that can track and control every movement. The reconfiguration of space facilitated by digitalization is captured by the notion of global green zoning. “Green zone” refers to the nearly impenetrable area in central Baghdad that US occupation forces established after invading Iraq. Urban areas around the world are now green zoned by gentrification, surveillance and state and private violence. Inside the world’s green zones, elites and privileged middle and professional strata access privatized social services, consumption and entertainment. They work and communicate through internet and satellite under the protection of soldiers, police and private security forces. Between green zones and open war zones are prison industrial complexes, immigrant and refugee repression and control systems, criminalization of outcast communities, social cleansing of the poor, and capitalist schooling. The media and cultural apparatus of the corporate economy aim to colonize the mind - to undermine the ability to think critically outside the dominant worldview. A neo-fascist culture emerges through militarism, misogyny, toxic masculinity and racism. Absent a change of course forced on the system by mass mobilization and popular struggle from below, mounting crisis will cement the digital economy into a global police state.

Twenty-First Century Fascism Fascism is a particular response to capitalist crisis. Trumpism in the US, BREXIT in the UK, the influence of neo-fascist parties around the world represent a far-right response to the crisis of global capitalism. 21st century fascism shares a number of features with its 20th

...See, “Global Police State,” p. 6-7

December 2018, Vol. 25 Number 6

IN MEMORY OF

Co-founder & Editor John Johnson, b. July 4, 1944 - d. April 13, 2014

Editorial Staff: Nia Asante, Terrie Brady, Donna Buell, Bella De Soto, Uncle Don B. Fanning, Greg Foisie, Sheila Goldner, Jeff Hirsch, Ray Jones, Rob Macon, Michael Novick, Dean

Ruby, Ron Spriestersbach, David Troy & others.

Deadline for articles and ads is the 15th, deadline for calendar items is the 20th

of the month before publication.

Material in Change-Links is licensed under Creative Commons, unless copyright by the author, and may be

used with permission and attribution to Change-Links or the original author or source.

Change-Links is a non-profit under the fiscal sponsorship of the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ). Donations of $250

and above are tax deductible. Just send a check to our P.O. Box made out to: AFGJ/Change-Links.

This is an independent collective activity. We welcome your involvement to keep the paper and website alive. Views

expressed in Change-Links are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of Change-Links, its volunteers, or

sponsors. Letters of comment are welcome!

WHAT YOU CAN DO: If you can help collect items for the monthly

calendar, do print layout or handle a wordpress website, or do copy editing and proof-reading

-- Change Links needs you! Please email changelinks2@gmail.com to volunteer and learn more. We hope you will step up if you value the

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Our next meeting is Wed.,Dec.12, 7:30pm, by conference call to plan the Jan. 2019 issue. The last weekend each month, we

gather at the Peace Center on the last Thursday, 7:30 PM for a mailing and bundle-

distribution party and a discussion about the following month’s issue. The next such meeting will take place Thurs.,Dec. 27, to distribute the Jan. issue, and discuss the

Feb. issue. To get involved, call or email as below to make sure of the date and time.

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Citizen Tongo Eisen-Martinby Adolfo Azuphar In the bio in his books, Tongo Eisen-Martin presents himself as an educator, a poet, and an organizer. As a Black person, his poetry is likely to be stereotyped as the poetry of struggle. However, when reading his poetry there is a lyrical rupture that tells us that he is shaping the English language and US culture instead of working within the existing system of signs. We find ourselves reading citizen Tongo, a knowing poet, first in line to reorganize our society and its culture through lyric, in doing so making anew black lyrical poetry in the US. Here’s an example:

THE SUBURBS ARE FINALLY OFFENDED

Like normal-speed bullets changing a normal lifeEurope serves two masters Maybe two hundred thousandHere comes the state and its love poems againPond gangsters, postcard music, and the death mask that fits millions

Lyrical poetry, like that of Langston Hughes, is as ideally ‘American’ as a state fair or a one-room schoolhouse. Black lyrical poetry like Hughes’s has been integrated into our culture as “beautiful struggle” as a way to both be civilized and against this civilization. Lyrical poets are understood to either be working within the system, as progressive citizens, not as radicals. The black arts poets like Amiri Baraka, on the other hand, are understood to be radicals, often at battle, using poetry as a weapon. Take Baraka’s poem “Incident”:

He came back and shot. He shot him. When he came back, he shot, and he fell, stumbling, past the shadow wood, down, shot, dying, dead, to full halt.At the bottom, bleeding, shot dead. He died then, there after the fall, the speeding bullet, tore his face and blood sprayed fine over the killer and the grey light.

Or consider “Coal” by Audre Lorde:

Love is a word another kind of open—As a diamond comes into a knot of flameI am black because I come from the earth’s inside Take my word for jewel in your open light.

In both poems, Baraka and Lorde struggle to signify self through normative language. Even lyrical poetry of black vernacular like Paul Laurence Dunbar are using the language of a system, for black vernacular is a method of communication that does not exist outside of the master-slave relationship or the landowner sharecropper relationship. Tongo Eisen-Martin’s poetry is a turning point for black lyric. Tongo Eisen-Martin’s poetry consolidates language, making sense of it, thus rupturing discourse and definitions, to allow the possibility of new language and community. In other words, his lyrics rearrange US English language, and in doing so taking it off of its pedestal. Why? For a new sensibility, as poetry dedicated to “changing life”. Here’s a little more of THE SUBURBS ARE FINALLY OFFENDED:

Take the isolation as it comes now … the heartbeat with a handrail … the bad day in California“A painful season/Seasons gone sentient and well-dressed taken as a whole and taken as a whole, I mean jailers no harm” –a science fictionA crisis of open-air corrections / My conscience is cleanThe police pantry is well-stocked/ “society time,” they sayThe poems are done/ neatly stacked on top of my infant bodySleeping through my first imperialist summerActivists who don’t scream Black Power/ rather Black ComponentI wake up on a battlefield and also looking down from the crystal of a wind chime

Your comrade, Named“When is the last time you ducked a bully?” To which I gave a reply and was assigned karmaDrum patterns and drum patterns perceived I walk back to the United States in defeat

Citizen Tongo is a lot more assertive than the citizens before him, thanks to the hard work of black organizers before and after him. Tongo Eisen-Martin is a lyrical poet of the intensity, rupture, and definition grounded in assertiveness that we have not yet seen in black poetry. Climactic intensity is an aesthetic often met in Black music and Black political praxis, for example in the blues, in James Brown’s funk, Wu-Tang Clan’s Hip Hop, and also in the political praxis of Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, and a host of organic intellectuals, citizens of an identity and a tradition of black community. Definition is the purpose of black revolutionary practice, not just struggle. It attempts to make something else out of what is. Rupture, as we said earlier, because his poetry speaks “Tongo English” in time and space that is very unlike the literary time and space that dominates bookshelves today. As a citizen in the grand tradition of Black citizenship, that predates the legal citizenship of Black people, his fight is not only to be Black and to protect other Blacks, but also to, as SNCC put it, create the community in which a Black individual can thrive, which must be an interracial community in this country. His poetry bursts out of this tradition, as that of an individual working to progress the collective towards a new society, or new social relations that produce wealth and community for us all.

Change Links Monthly Poetry Corner

p. 2

Black lyrical poet Tongo Eisen-Martin

Some books for the gift-giving seasonThumbnail Reviews by Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action L.A.

The Man Who Fell From the Sky by Bill Fletcher Jr., 2018, Hardball Press, Brooklyn NY, 339 pp., ISBN 978-0-99913-584-6, $20. This period murder mystery by a leader of the left and labor movements features the lives of Cape Verdean migrants to the US, particularly the Cape Cod area, and their contradictory relationship with both African-Americans and with white people in the US. It ranges over events that took place during World War II and their investigation and uncovering during the Vietnam War era. Although it begins slowly as Fletcher “sets the table” of his mystery within a family drama and the career goals of the amateur investigator, David Gomes, a local reporter with ambitions to break a big story that will enable him to jump to a major metropolitan newspaper, Fletcher is able to expertly handle the historical (WWII) and “contemporary” (Vietnam-era) story lines and use them to elaborate the conflicted consciousness of Cape Verdean African immigrants seeking assimilation in the US as “Portuguese”, and coming up against both US white racism and suspicion from African-Americans rooted in struggles to overcome slavery and Jim Crow apartheid.

...See “Thumbnail Reviews,” p. 7

Southern California Community Calendar

December 2018Listings subject to change. Contact sponsor to verify date, time & venue. See www.change-links.org for full late listings, recurring events, & resources.

Peace vigils: http://change-links.org/ongoing-peace-vigils-and-community-programs/ Other Calendars: http://ocprogressiveevents.info/, http://l a . i n d y m e d i a . o r g / c a l e n d a r / , https://www.facebook. com/pg/ieprogressivealliance/events/, http://www.act iv istsandiego.org/event, https://echoparkfilmcenter.org

On - Going & Continuing Events

Weekends, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Farmers Market offers farm fresh produce and artisan goods, featuring locally grown favorites. Ties into the mall’s health initiative promoting wellness in the Crenshaw community. Contact Sustainable Economic Enterprises for info: www.seela.org

Sundays, RAC-LA Food Program (El Programa Comida) Revolutionary Autonomous Communities, 1-5p, SE corner of Wilshire Bl & Parkview St, LA 90057, free produce distribution. https://www.facebook.com/raclosangeles/ Sundays, Serve the People LA, 4-6p, Mariachi Plaza, 1817 E 1st St, LA 90033. STPLA free food & clothing distributions (along with books, shoes, etc). We also engage the community on happenings around the neighborhood and city, learn about grievances and provide legal services with help from the LA Ctr for Community Law & Action. https://servethepeoplela.wordpress.com/ Tuesdays, Join Black Lives Matter, Stop LAPD Spying and allies at LA Police Commission meeting at LAPD HQ, 9:30a, 100 W. 1st St to speak out against racist police murders with impunity. See agenda, schedule: http://www.lapdonline.org/police_commission

Tuesday evenings, Stop LAPD Spying Coalition meets at LA CAN HQ. http://stoplapdspying.org - see website for weekly meeting topics. https://www.facebook.com/stoplapdspying Wednesdays, 4-6p, Black Lives Matter-led vigil outside DA Jackie Lacey’s office with families who have lost loved ones to police & sheriff’s deputies. DA Lacey has not indicted a single law enforcer for any of over 400 murders by local police & deputies. 211 W. Temple. Wednesdays, 6-7:30p, LA CAN Legal Clinic, LA CAN, 838 E. 6th St. LA, CA 90021. Free Legal Clinic for Low-Income Residents. Must sign-in before 6:15p. For more info, call 213.228.0024

Third Eye Thursdays, 3rd Thurs each month, 5-8p, hosted by Youth Justice Coalition, Chuco’s Justice

Ctr, 1137 E Redondo Blvd, Inglewood 90302 (3 blks w., 1 blk n. of Florence & Crenshaw) YJC is moving soon!. Welcomes people home from juvenile halls, jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers. Build stronger youth and community leadership among people who have family members killed or injured by law enforcement; people currently or formerly incarcerated and family members of people inside; people facing or fighting deportation. https://www.facebook.com/events/214924659144426/

Fridays, Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace breakfast forum, 7-9a, Immanuel Presbyterian, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., LA 90010. For donation, bring packaged food for the church food pantry. Weekly Friday Forums are the lifeline of ICUJP. We have guest speakers, share reflections, plus coffee and bagels to start off your morning! All invited to join us (yes that is 7 AM!) www.icujp.org.

Fridays, 5-6p, a lively Vigil for Peace & Justice, sponsored by KPFK 90.7FM-LSB Outreach Committee & friends. Join us for a fun time outreaching & making noise at Sunset Blvd & Echo Park Ave. Bring your signs...

Every 1st and 3rd Friday, LA Poverty Department Movie Nights at the Museum, 7p, Skid Row History Museum and Archive, 250 S. Broadway, LA 90012. movienights@lapovertydept.org. Free screenings, popcorn, coffee & conversation about issues that are important to Skid Row and downtown community. Programming made possible with the support of Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

1st Friday of the month, LA FOR YOUTH, 4- 6p, 1726 N. Spring St, LA 90013. action@youth4justice.org

Every 2nd & 4th Saturday, SOLA Food Co-Op at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Farmers Market. This Co-op is unique, because it’s planning to open the first-ever Organic Grocery in Leimert Park Community. You can become a member. www.solafoodcoop.com/

Every 1st & 3rd Sat, 2-4p, End Homelessness Now is a grassroots campaign to pressure LA City and

County public officials to use their vacant properties for large-scale, permanent, quality public housing to end the homelessness catastrophe in LA. Solidarity Hall, 2122 W. Jefferson Blvd., LA 90018, just west of Arlington Ave., free street parking. Info: endhomelessnessnowla@gmail.com, 323-732-6416

Thru Jan. 6, 2019, Adrian Piper: Concepts and Intuitions, 1965-2016, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. Open 11-8, Tues.- Fri.; 11-5, Sat-Sun. Most comprehensive

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West Coast exhibition of the work of Adrian Piper, featuring more than 270 works from the wide range of mediums she’s explored: drawing, photography, works on paper, video, multimedia installations, performance, painting, sculpture, and sound. Her investigations into the political, social, and spiritual potential of Conceptual art frequently address gender, race, and xenophobia through incisive humor and wit, and draw on her long-standing involvement with philosophy and yoga. See Dec. 1, below.

Visit the Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens, 12n-4p, 3500 W Adams Blvd, LA 90018. Free,

reservation required. Tap into the peace and nature presents the sounds of birds and running water--leave recharged! Choose date and time at http://www.peacelabyrinth.org/hours-admissions and print your ticket. Then present your ticket at the gate and reception will buzz you in and direct you.to docents who give tours, after which you may stay til 4p. Sin Censura: A Mural Remembers L.A., Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., LA 90007. 213-763-DINO. Chicana artist Barbara Carrasco’s 80-ft mural L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective, censored and halted by the former LA Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in 1981, when the artist refused to remove 14 depictions of historical moments. “This was my chance to show what I wish was in the history books,” says Carrasco. Daily, 9:30a-5p except Dec. 25; $2 off with valid Metro Tap card; free first Tuesdays and always free daily to children under two, CA teachers, EBT card holders, military and to LA county residents from 3-5 pm weekdays.

Echo Park Film Center’s Family Workshops-- Join the EPFC Coop for a month of family friendly workshops and screenings at Santa Monica’s fabulous Camera Obscura, celebrating its 120th Anniversary! See Dec. 1, below, (213) 484-8846 info@echoparkfilmcenter.org Sign-up: https://www.smgov.net/Departments/CCS/content.aspx?id=39798

Sat - Dec 1

Day With(out) Art 2018: Alternate Endings, Activist Risings, 11a-5p, screening on a loop. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA.90024. Free. Hour-long video highlighting the impact of art in AIDS activism and advocacy, featuring compelling short videos from ACT UP NY, Positive Women’s Network, Sero Project, The SPOT, Tacoma Action Collective, and VOCAL NY, representing strategies from direct

action to grassroots service providers to movement building, while considering the role of creative practices in activist responses to the AIDS crisis.

Project Rebound: Assisting the Formerly Incarcerated Who Seek a University Education, 12n-2p, Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library, 2920 Overland Ave., LA 90064. 310-840-2142. For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to event. Romarilyn Ralston,director of Project Rebound at CSU Fullerton, discusses the mission of this project which offers resources and connections to the formerly incarcerated who wish to earn a BA.

Tour: Adrian Piper: Concepts and Intuitions, 1965-2016,1 p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA.90024. Free. UCLA student educators lead a tour of the retrospective exhibition. Piper’s transformative work has shaped the form and content of Conceptual art since the 1960s. See On-Going Events, above.

Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere drop-in dialogue, 1-4p, every 1st Sat of month, Santa Monica. Email awarela@gmail.com for details.

Poor People’s Hearing, Impact of Homelessness on Women/Children hosted by California Poor People’s

Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and LA CAN, 2–4p, 838 E 6th St, LA 90021. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival (PPC) is a multi-racial movement fighting the 4 pillars of evil: poverty, racism, a war economy and environmental devastation. PPC has called for a series of Poor People’s Hearings. In LA, the PPC is partnering with LA Community Action Network (LACAN) for this local hearing in Skid Row, one in a series of Poor People’s Hearings. https://www.facebook.com/events/1117681668401325

Let’s Talk About Puerto Rico, 2–4p, 811 E 7th St, Long Beach 90813. www.mujeresayudandomadres.com. Puerto Ricans in Action is teaming up with LB Birthworkers of Color Collective to host our next “Let’s Talk About Puerto Rico.” Focus is on maternal health crisis and birth disparities pre & post-Hurricane María, with a guest speaker from Centro MAM, Mujeres Ayudando Madres. A fundraiser for Centro MAM. We will be accepting donated supplies and will post a list of needed items soon. https://www.facebook.com/events/2541269779433085/

EPFC 17th Anniversary Salon, 4p-12m, EPFC, 1200 N Alvarado St, LA 90026. Celebrate 17 years of the Echo Park Film Center with films, videos music, music videos, performances, poetry, snacks, and more more more stretching from the late afternoon until midnight. Sliding scale donations in any amount go towards keeping EPFC operations up

Southern California Community Calendar continued...

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and running for the year to come! Come on down and share the love! (213) 484-8846 info@echoparkfilmcenter.org

Cinematic Stocking Stuffers Workshop in conjunction with Repair Café, 12-4p, Camera Obscura, 1450 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica 90401. FREE! Learn how to make some fun cinematic stocking stuffers (Flip books! Viewmaster! Kaleidoscopes!)

Sun - 2

Palestrina Ensemble, A Joyous Noel, 4p, St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, 3590 Grand View Blvd., LA 90066. Free! A concert of ensemble and solo music. 310-644-7440

What If Women Ruled The World? The Fall 2018 EPFC Youth Class Premiere! Potluck at 5p, screenings, 6p. Free. EPFC, 1200 N Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA 90026. We asked this question as a starting point to re-examine the history of non-fiction filmmaking. Using only works made by women-identified artists and filmmakers, we focused on viewing and discussing works that emphasize personal lived experiences and perspectives as the source for art. Students produced their own non-fiction Super 8 films, discovering how their lives can be a source for making art. Filmmakers in attendance!

Celebrating 7 Years of Resilience - Committee for Racial Justice, 6-8:30p, Virginia Ave. Park, Thelma Terry Bldg, 2200 Virginia Ave. Santa Monica 90404. Potluck, 6; program, 6:30. Childcare. With music and spoken word, celebrating 7 years of concerted activity on behalf of racial justice, despite attempts by white supremacists to shut them down. Guest Pastor Stephen “Cue” Jn-Marie, Skid Row Church Without Walls, organizer with CLUE, Black-Jewish Alliance, and We Will Live-A Black n Brown Clergy and Community Coalition. Info: Joanne 310-422-5431.

Mon - 3

Cold War, and Q&A with Pawel Pawlikowski, 7:30p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Academy Award winner Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida), returns with an intricate love story infused with music and the geopolitical peril of the late 1940’s and early 1960’s, in Eastern and Western Europe.

Tue - 4 McLuhan-Finnegans Wake Reading Club, 6p, Marina Del Rey Library 4533 Admiralty Way, MdR 90292, free. http://laughtears.com/ 310- 306-7330

Wed - 5

Widows, and Q&A with director Steve McQueen, 7:30p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Steve McQueen brings considerable artistic force to a transfixing tale of betrayal, revenge, and self-discovery. Oscar winner Viola Davis leads ensemble of women and men who must face the consequences of lives shackled by lies.

Thu - 6

Memorial Services for Antonio Gonzalez, 3-6p, LA River Center,

570 W. Avenue 26 #100 LA 90065. Join Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, the Willie C. Velasquez Institute, and Hermandad Nacional Mexicana.

Fri - 7

Topanga Peace Alliance First Friday Film Night, 7:30p Veggie (no alcohol) potluck at 7:15p. Topanga Library, 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga 90290. The Topanga Peace Alliance is a peace and justice grassroots organization. Documentary film night the first Friday of every month, followed by an action-oriented discussion. Donations accepted. www.Topangapeacealliance.org

Roma, screening at 7 p, free, Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave, W. Hollywood 90069. Complimentary parking provided, Reservation required, seating first come, first served. LACMA-sponsored.

Sat - 8

Ditch the Workout! Join the KPFK 90.7 FM Zumbathon Fundraiser, 2-4p, at the historic Church of the Epiphany, 2808 Altura Way, Los Angeles, CA. Non-Commercial KPFK 90.7 Radio will host its first annual dance and

fitness Zumbathon. Participants will enjoy the Zumba rhythms of dances such as Salsa, Cumbia, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, Merengue, Hip Hop and Bollywood music, and get a great workout. This two-hour party is for people of all ages, and genders, ranging from teens through the golden years. No prior experience needed. Iconic church hosted historic figures such as Sal Castro, Rosalio Munoz & Cesar Chavez. Tickets $15 in advance, $20 at the door. 818-679-5816.

Artists on Art—Paul Mpagi Sepuya, 2p, LACMA, Study Center for Photography and Works on Paper. Free, reservations required. Contact educate@lacma.org. Paul

Mpagi Sepuya will choose artwork from the Photography and Prints & Drawings collections to display in the Study Center. He will discuss why he selected these artworks and how they relate to his own practice. Paul Mpagi Sepuya deconstructs form, style, and tradition, with a critical lens toward art history. Through the use of mirrors, collaged images, and staging, Sepuya’s photographs examine queer identities and erotic visual culture.

Snow Wonder & Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade, Snow: 12-6 pm at Burton Chace Park, 13650 Mindanao Way, MdR 90292. Before the parade, enjoy MdR’s free Snow Wonder event with snow, sledding, arts & crafts, face painting, live DJ, food trucks, and more. The parade of spectacularly decorated boats lights up the sky with fireworks.

Peace Train (6p, La Crescenta Av & Honolulu Av in Montrose, montrosechristmasparade.com) joins the Montrose Christmas Parade every year on the 1st Sat eve in Dec. All who desire peace are welcome. RSVP rmedford@ucla.edu Peace Vigil, Fri, 5:30-7p, Ocean View Bl. & Honolulu Av, Montrose 91020, montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com

Film: The World Is My Country, 7p, Peace Center, 3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City 90230. Free Parking Behind Building, Q&A with Director Arthur Kanegis, $10 Suggested Donation. Info: fdorrel@addictedtowar.com, 310-838-8131

A Well-Strung Christmas – 8-9:30 p, Renberg Theater, LA LGBT Center, 1125 N. McCadden Pl. Acclaimed quartet Well-Strung, who pair universally recognized classical pieces with pop music hits, return with holiday show featuring the group’s own unique pop-classical spin on some of the most beautiful and traditional holiday favorites from “Silent Night” to Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas.” Proceeds support free and low-cost services by the LGBT Center. Info and tix, visit lalgbtcenter.org.

Sun - 9

Peace Activist Jerry Rubin holds his 75th Birthday Public Peace Celebration, 1p, The Gaslite, 2030 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. www.thegaslite.com Free, Free Parking. Program includes peace songs, political humorist Rick Overton stand-up comedy, and Rubin, an open mic, a cake cutting peace ceremony courtesy of Cake and Art, and 75 birthday muffins courtesy of Abe’s Vegan Muffins that will be arranged to spell out the word PEACE. 310-399-1000 jerrypeaceactivistrubin@earthlink.net facebook.com/events/642169222810796/

Black Shoe Polish - avant funk jazz blues music with poetry, 1-5 p, John Mooney’s art studio Moonlight Glass, located at Bob Farnham’s Hampton Studios of Functional Art,

705 Hampton Dr, Venice 90291, 310-399-0999 free, http://www.johnmooneyglass.com/contact.htm

Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade. Pick any bridge, to enjoy a close-up view of the festive floating display on the windy canals of Venice.

NOlympics LA Coalition meeting, 2-4p, 1545 Wilshire. Planning for the coming year. https://www.facebook.com/NOlympicsLA/ www,nolympicsla.com

Iraqi-American Women In The Arts: A Reading and Conversation, 7p, Last Bookstore, 453 S Spring St, LA 90013. 213-488-0599. Reading and conversation between Iraqi-American author, Huda Al-Marashi, and stand up comedian and actress, Zain Shami. After a reading from Huda’s new memoir, First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story, Zain and Huda will share their unique perspectives on what it’s like to be members of a vibrant immigrant community while taking on the taboo topics of love, marriage, and sexuality in their art.

Mon - 10

Freedom on Fire: Answers from +972 Magazine, 7p, Peace Center, 3916 S. Sepulveda, Culver City 90230. On Human Rights Day, hear from a leading independent news service in Israel/Palestine about whether an independent press can survive in the face of daily threats to democratic institutions. Can Palestinians adapt their resistance? Will progressive Israelis respond? What can people in the US do? Sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace LA, cosponsored by LA Jews for Peace and others. Info: dkortheu@gmail.com

Early Carol Singalong, 7 p, St. Philip the Apostle Church, 151 S. Hill Ave., Pasadena. Join members of Jouyssance and fellow music lovers in what has become a beloved tradition: the Jouyssance Early Carol Singalong. Sing familiar holiday hits and rarities from the Medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque eras under the baton of Dr. Nicole Baker. Reg required by Sat, Dec 8: $15 at door (print your own scores at home, files provided in advance) or $20 (receive printed scores at the door). Free for students with ID (advance registration required). Discount, 6 or more. lauren@jouyssance.org, 213-533-9922. http://www.jouyssance.org/2018-early-music-carolalong-registration Bisbee ‘17, and Q&A with director Robert Greene, 7:30p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Greene’s newest inventive documentary centers on an Arizona town where 1,200 inhabitants (many of them foreign-born) were deported as part of a labor dispute in 1917. As townspeople take on the roles of those who led the roundup, and those who

were its targets, they contend with Bisbee’s divided past, its effect on the present-day town, and their own outlook on life in the US today.

Tue - 11

Holiday Party, LA Coalition for Reproductive Justice, 12n–2p, Black Women For Wellness, 4340 11th Ave, LA 90008. The Coalition has a long history of engaging the community to promote reproductive health for the most underserved. LACRJ leverages the expertise of our member base, statewide and local, to enhance the leadership of reproductive justice organizations and promote reproductive justice strategies. In turn, these community leaders seek parity in decision-making, funding and resource distribution for reproductive health programs and legislation.

Film: Front Runner, and Q&A with Jason Reitman, 7:30p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Perhaps the last presidential candidate to enter the race believing his personal “affairs” would not be scrutinized was Gary Hart, and the campaign trail has never been the same. Jason Reitman directs Hugh Jackman in an engaging, timely portrait of a brilliant political mind undone by hubris and changing attitudes about privacy and public life.

Wed - 12

Roma, 7:30p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Based on director Alfonso Cuarón’s own childhood in a middle-class home in 1970s Mexico City, Roma is the gentle and intricate portrait of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), the family’s housekeeper and nanny-- a deeply personal story told with impeccable craft.

ONE PEACE annual music, art & film festival, 6-11p, Mayfair Hotel, 1256 W. 7th St., LA 90017. $20 and up. Our 2018 festival benefits “MAMA EARTH” (Pacha Mama) community programs + #PRIDE4PI land + ocean preservation for Manila Bay, Philippines. Live performances by Ethio Cali + special celebrity guests. Ethio Cali is a Ethio-Jazz ensemble, led by trumpeter, arranger, and composer Todd Simon, inspired by the golden age of Ethiopian music of the 1960’s and 70’s, filtered thru a lens uniquely LA.

Change Links monthly planning conference call, 7:30p. Info: email changelinks2@gmail.com

Thu - 13

Health Care For All- LA Chapter 7p, Peace Center, 3916 Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City 90230. Free Parking and

entrance behind the building. “Where Are We Now? Onward to 2019 with Single Payer Universal Health Care!” AGENDA: Labeling HCA-LA Brochures. 7:30 Introductions, Announcements, Events. 7:45pm Reports: 1. ELECTION review. 2. HCA-CA BOD Meeting. 3. PNHP Conference. 8:15 DISCUSSION. 2019 Legislation. Maureen 310-459-9763 http://healthcareforall.org/chapters/los-angeles-county Dues of any amount are accepted. JOIN online at www.healthcareforall.org or mail a check payable to HCA-CA, PO Box 5833 Novato, CA 94948. Specify LA Chapter.

The Hate U Give, and Q&A with George Tillman Jr. and Amandla Stenberg,7:30p, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds: the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressures from both communities, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what’s right.

Fri - 14

Sierra Club Rio Hondo Group-Holiday Party, 7 p, Coco’s Restaurant, 1250 East Imperial Highway, in Brea. Dinner & White Elephant Gift Exchange

Sandra Bernhard: “Sandemonium,” 7 & 9 pm, Lovelace Studio Theater at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Bernhard returns to the Wallis with her all new show, just in time for the holidays. “Sandemonium” is swirling all around you, minute to minute “breaking news.” No one knows what’s coming next. Climate disaster, Russian invasion, unhinged leaders. Have you been slut shamed? Sandra

is here to bring you back from your bad trip. Soothe your aura and calm your chakras, shut down your electronics, find your mantra, do a meditation, let it all go! Tix: http://the wallis.org

Sat - 15

March for Public Education, UTLA-initiated public rally, 10a, Grand Park, 200 N Grand Ave, LA 90012. Let the privatizers and downsizers know that we will not allow them to destroy public schools in LA. Support teachers,

students and the community in fighting for schools students deserve, and build the campaign for a decent contract from LAUSD and for increasing statewide per pupil funding, currently 43rd lowest. https://www.facebook.com/events/194846834766584/ www.utla.net

Holiday Party, 11a-3p, Strategy and Soul Movement Center, 3546 Martin Luther King Blvd. LA 90008. RSVP: 323—903-6238. People’s Pot Luck, Karaoke Sing Off, Political Panel---Optimism in 2019 and beyond—In the face of the Terrible Trumps and the Dismal Democrats Where is the Movement, Where is the Hope? A graduation ceremony for 11 high school graduates of our Senior Strategy Seminar; a 50/50 raffle—all tickets are $2. Bring your instruments, dance shoes, and singing voice.

MESS, JERI RICE interview, 1p, PRT, 705 Venice Blvd, Venice 92091, Jeri Rice is a first time film director. From a 30-year career in the fashion industry, Jeri changed course. In 2002, she was invited to travel to Cuba with 40 influential women from the Pacific Northwest, and US Senator Maria Cantwell. This prompted Jeri to ask, “Why does the US still have an embargo against Cuba?” Her film Embargo is the result of 14 years of research.

GMCLA Holiday Spectacular: Calling All Angels 2 & 8 p, Alex Theatrer, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. The Gay Men’s Chorus annual Holiday Spectacular with an eclectic mix of

p. 5

holiday favorites, choral classics, and a few surprises celebrating the City of Angels. Only three performances, and this one always packs the house. Info and tix: www.gmcla.org.

Sun - 16

GMCLA Holiday Spectacular: Calling All Angels! 2 p, Alex Theater, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. See Dec. 15 above, or, visit gmcla.org.

LA AIR: Carmina Escobar – Perdida En L.A., 8 p, EPFC, 1200 N. Alvarado, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Free. Memory is an act of creation and recreation. A voice is a construct of the self. Perdida en Los Angeles is a project that explores the possible poetics of found footage and recorded scenes in the Los Angeles area. EPFC’s fall 2018 LA AIR artist is Carmina Escobar, experimental vocalist, performer, improviser, sound and intermedia artist from Mexico City. 213-484-8846 info@echoparkfilmcenter.org

Mon - 17

Exploring Textile Art, 2 p, North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Library 5211 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91605. Free! Inspired by the quilt and textile artists Rosie Lee Tompkins and Al Loving, featured in LACMA’s exhibition Outliers and American Vanguard Art, participants will discuss the intersections between traditional craft and fine art, and create abstract, sculptural textiles using an array of fabrics.

Tue - 18 Empowerment through the Arts: Color and Mood, 11a, Compton Library, 240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton 90220. Free! Participate in artist-led workshops for women! Learn about LACMA’s collection by creating your own artwork as you share this creative experience with women in your community. Explore watercolor techniques while meditating on specific feelings. Sorry to Bother You, and Q&A with director Boots Riley, 7:30p, Hammer, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024. $20. Oakland resident Cassius Green (Lakieth Stanfield), overwhelmed by back rent and a nagging uncle finds

a steady paycheck and unexpected success as a telemarketer, eventually getting promoted to an elite role selling a morally questionable service. This satirical, absurdist, genre-bending film takes a truly fresh look at the intersections of ethics, race, class, and art, creating a uniquely relevant snapshot of our current moment.

How Will the New Supreme Court Change America? 7:30p, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., LA 90012. Some legal scholars are suggesting that the court taking shape now, with a conservative majority established by Trump’s second appointee, could make especially broad changes in the law. Long-established precedents on matters of

race, sex, religion, and privacy could be overturned. The basic structure of our government — the power of the presidency, the limits of regulation, access to the court system itself — could be transformed. With UCLA constitutional law specialist Adam Winkler, U of Chicago scholar Justin Driver, and UCLA Law prof Beth Colgan.

Wed - 19

MOM - MEDIA DISCUSSION, 6-9p, Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA. FREE

Thu - 20

Markaz in partnership with the LA World Affairs Council presents: “Ending Saudi Extremism.” The U.S.-Saudi-Iran relationship, Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, where 14 million people are on the verge of starvation; the unresolved question of Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination; the U.S.-Saudi-Israel triangle calling for war with Iran; and the extremist Wahhabi sect which has changed the way Islam is preached around the world. Speakers: Terence Ward on the Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Export

Extremism Globally. Charles Glass, author of the Middle East: Syria Burning and Tribes with Flags. The Bustany-Kasem Freedom Forum, honors Don Bustany and Casey Kasem, long-time advocates for peace and freedom. The Bustany-Kasem Friendship Forum will be introduced by the late Casey Kasem’s Daughter, Kerri Kasem. Info, tix: https://www.themarkaz.org/support

Talk: Meditation and Art — Art of the Pacific, 4 p, LACMA Smidt Welcome Plaza, Free, with admission; reservations required. In this world of gadgets, it’s hard to find moments of stillness and contemplation. Join educator Alicia Vogl Saenz for a slow-looking activity in LACMA’s installation of textiles (tapa) in the Art of the Pacific galleries, followed by a period of meditation. Prior meditation experience not necessary. Attendance limited as the meditation takes place in the galleries. Admission to LACMA ifree after 3p for LA County residents.

Fri - 21

Annual Interfaith Event/Dinner--Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, 3:30-6 p, Bait Ul Hameed Mosque, 11941 Ramona Ave., Chino 91710. Free, open to public. Registration required by Dec. 17 to icujp@pacbell.net. Topic: “Justice: The Foundation for Lasting Peace.” wcjalsa2016@ahmadiyya.us 909-627-2252

Sat - 22

Progressive Holiday Party, 5–8p, Santa Monica CA, details TBA. PDSMM, PDA, PDA-CA, ADA Holiday Party! All progressives and wannabe progressives welcome! Pot Luck so watch for your initial when the invite comes so you will know what to bring. Easy parking. Free! https://www.facebook.com/events/274108723248689/

Sun - 23

The Brother Side of the Wake (BroSide) free test screening, 7p (6p preshow), Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice 90291. http://laughtears.com/broside.html Gerry Fialka’s experimental documentary with Venice, CA, as its main character. A remake of the soon-to-be-released Orson Welles film The Other Side of the Wind, it evokes the rascality of the Our Gang comedies, and probes the cliché: “Is the journey more important than the destination?” Watch 1 minute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBj0UdpFEWo https://www.facebook.com/events/426607154536553/

Las Posadas, 4-6 p, St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, 3590 Grand View Blvd., LA 90066. Celebrate one

evening of this traditional Mexican & Latin American festival. The service continues with Holy Eucharist. After the service everyone is invited to the Commons where the Christmas Tree is decorated. Refreshments for all and piñatas for the children.

Mon - 24

Land Use & Mobility! hosted by Panorama City Neighborhood Council, 6:30p, Plaza Del Valle 8610 Van Nuys Blvd, Panorama City 91402. Anything to do with public land and transportation (cars, buses, bicycles, etc!). Contact the chair at pcnc@empowerla.org in order to get an item on the agenda. In the community room. h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m /events/744869882520058/

Tue - 25

Christmas Day

Society of Women Engineers’ GoldieBlox Fundraiser, 12n-3p, USC SWE, 635 McCarthy Way, LA 90007. Tix: ignite.usc.edu. This holiday season, USC’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) aims to give the gift of empowerment to girls in the local community. Since its creation in 2012, GoldieBlox has challenged gender stereotypes in STEM fields by “disrupting the pink aisle.” SWE members purchase, wrap, and deliver GoldieBlox toy sets to girls at several local elementary schools and hospitals. By providing 2nd and 3rd grade girls with these sets, and helping them build their toys at GoldieBlox Unwrapping Parties at their schools, SWE-USC hopes to create lasting memories while encouraging creativity, ingenuity, and confidence. https://www.facebook.com/events/1885073891611234/

Wed - 26

FTP Studies Special Series: Special Series: Data & Displacement, 7p, La Conxa, 2628 E Cesar Chavez, LA 90033, in collaboration with Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. Learn how LAPD predictive policing programs are being used to justify evictions in our communities, and how we can organize against them. FTP Studies: Fomenting Theory & Praxis is a study group created for the purpose of debating/discussing and learning from movements in rebellion throughout Hue Hue Tonantzin aka mother earth. Get Lit! Get Learnt! Get Free! https://www.facebook.com/events/2642461859311625/

Thu - 27

Poverty Encounter, 4–8p, Children’s Hunger Fund, 13931 Balboa Blvd, Sylmar 91342. Tix: povertyencounter.org. This new interactive, educational exhibit will take you into the lives of children living in poverty around the globe. Step into a garbage dump in Central America, walk through a disaster-stricken village, and then to a brickyard in Nepal before journeying

through a sewer in Eastern Europe. Poverty Encounter will deepen your understanding of poverty with real life stories of survival and hope. https://www.facebook.com/events/327548081401580/

Change Links monthly distribution and planning meeting, 7:30p, Peace Center, 3916 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City 90232. changelinks2@gmail.com

Fri - 28

March in Honor Of Stan Lee, hosted by Geek Madness Cosplay, 10a–11p, Shake Shack, 6201 Hollywood Blvd, LA 90028. To honor the late great Stan Lee we are going to have a Marvel themed March. You don’t have to cosplay to be a part of this. We start at Shake Shack then cross the street and

march to Buffalo Wild Wings because the star is located a few feet from this

location. Location of his star: South side of the 7000 block of Hollywood Blvd. https://www.facebook.com/events/362766260964560/

Sat - 29

LA Eco-Village Tour hosted by CRSP: Cooperative Resources and Services Project, 10:30a–1p, 117 S Bimini Pl, LA 90004. Tickets: laecovillage.org. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: crsp@igc.org. Fee: $10 per person (sliding scale ok), 2.5 Time Dollars accepted for TimeBank members. Full tour info at: http://laecovillage.org/home/tours/ 1. Introductions and interests among members of tour group. 2. History and context for the LA Eco-Village. 3. Definition of an ecovillage and our place in the movement for sustainable communities. 4. Walking tour. 5. On-going q & a throughout the tour with Eco-Village guide(s). 6. Problems and progress in developing an intentional community. 7. What you need to know if considering joining us or starting ecovillage processes in your own neighborhood.

Sun - 30

Tour: Highlights of the Museum: Ancient to Modern (50 min), 3 p, LACMA, Ahmanson Bldg. Tour meets near the Hammer Building Ticket Office. Free with general admission. Learn about the art of Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East—from prehistoric times to the present—on this tour of works housed in the Ahmanson Building.

Mon - 31

New Year’s Eve 7p-12m, at Grand Park, with bands, light show on DTLA public buildings. Arrive early on Metro Red or Purple lines -- concert fills up and is gated; surrounding streets closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Global Police...Continued from page 1

century predecessor but there are also key differences. Fascism in the 20th century involved the fusion of reactionary political power with national capital. 21st century fascism involves the fusion of transnational capital with reactionary repressive political power. In both cases, however, fascism is a response to deep structural crises of capitalism. 21st century fascist projects seek to organize a mass base among privileged sectors of the global working class, such as white workers in the Global North and middle layers in the Global South, that are experiencing insecurity and downward mobility. The project hinges on the psycho-social mechanism of displacing fear caused by acute capitalist crisis towards scapegoat communities, such as Black people, immigrant workers, Muslims and refugees. Far-right forces do so through xenophobic ideologies that involve race/culture supremacy, an idealized mythical past, and a militarist, masculinist culture that normalizes or glamorizes war and domination. The ideology of 21st century fascism rests on irrationality – an emotive promise to deliver security and restore stability, without regard to facts. The Trump regime’s public discourse of populist nationalism bore no relation to its actual policies. Trumponomics involved deregulation, slashing social spending, boosting privatization, tax breaks to corporations and the super-rich, and expanding subsidies

to capital – neo-liberalism on steroids. Trump was a charismatic figure able to galvanize disparate neo-fascist forces, from white supremacists, militia, neo-Nazis and Klansmen, to Oath Keepers, the Patriot Movement, Christian fundamentalists, and anti-immigrant vigilante groups. Encouraged by Trump’s imperial bravado and nationalist rhetoric, and his racist discourse, they began to cross-pollinate as they gained a toehold in the White House and in state and local governments. Para-militarism spread and overlapped with state repressive agencies. This trend was demonstrated in 2016 in a military-style counterinsurgency against indigenous activists and their allies peacefully protecting water against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Bankrolled by a consortium that included Wells Fargo and B of A, the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, hired a mercenary firm known as Tiger Swan, which originated as a Pentagon contractor in the Middle East. Tiger Swan organized a counter-insurgency campaign in coordination with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, including National Guard troops. “Aggressive intelligence preparation of the battlefield and active coordination between intelligence and security elements are now a proven method of defeating pipeline insurgents,” stated Tiger Swan, in calling the anti-pipeline water protecters “jihadist fighters” and the protest area a “battlefield.” The “less lethal” arsenal

-7-

JeffSilberman

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MichaelNovick

BillEisen

Sharon Brown is an author, certified permaculturist, and attorney involved in movements for clean food & water, raising the minimum wage, voters’ rights, and education reform. She wants to return to the LSB to preserve KPFK as a bastion of free speech.

Michael Novick is a longtime anti-racist, labor and solidarity activist and a community journalist at Change Links and Turning The Tide. He’s a former LSB chair and treasurer and former PNB member, and a coalition builder.

Jeff Silberman is an entertainment attorney and literary agent. He works to empower innovative thinking and reconcile diverse or competing viewpoints He wants to use his skills and cultural connections to strengthen KPFK.

Reza Pour, a current LSB member and chair of the Outreach Committee, is active in the peace movement opposing US intervention and destabilization. He’s a strong advocate for engaging with communities. He works with progressive Iranians

Bill Eisen is a Medicare for All activist, community photo-journalist, and established and moderated a key local “Bernie” group. He has taken action to force greater transparency on Pacifica’s recent financial deals and indebtedness.

Tyan Schesser, who has been increasingly involved in social and political activism since the run-up to and aftermath of the 2016 elections, opposes corporate censorship and domination of social and other media, and sees free speech at KPFK as vital.

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Stateunleashed included LRAD sound devices, water cannon, predator drones, meta-data imaging, infiltration and psyops.

A Global Fight-Back Trumpism and other neo-fascist responses around the world react to the global revolt of popular and working classes. In the US, repression against Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the NoDAPL water protectors, and other movements signals a breakdown of control and erosion of the ruling group’s hegemony. Beyond the US, a global rebellion has been spreading since the financial collapse of 2008. But in order to move beyond the multiplicity of fragmented struggles and spontaneity we need a revitalized critique of global capitalism and of the ‘liberalism’ of the transnational elite. The most urgent task right now may be a united front against fascism and global war. But for the fight back to be successful, it needs to have a sharp analysis of global capitalism and of its crisis, and a clear vision of an emancipatory project around which resistance can unite. The global working class needs broad alliances. The reform of capitalism has historically come less from enlightened elites than from mass struggles from below that forced elites to reform. The best way to reform capitalism is a struggle against it. If reformism from above fails and if the Left is not able to seize the initiative, the road may be open for 21st century global fascism founded on the global police state to triumph.

This Won’t Hurt a Bit: A Lenny Moss Mystery by Timothy Sheard, 2001, Hardball Press, Brooklyn NY, 350 pp., $15, ISBN 978-0-9814518-1-0. This is

the entertaining first in a series of mystery novels featuring union shop steward Lenny Moss, custodian in a major hospital whom fellow workers see as a problem solver and rank-and-file advocate for their rights. Moss’s efforts to represent a co-worker in a grievance that could cost the laundry worker his job draw him into an effort to win the man’s freedom from jail on murder charges by exposing the real killer. Sheard, who is also the publisher of the Hardball Press, expertly mixes class consciousness, details of the hierarchies and bureaucracy of a hospital, and a puzzling number of red herrings and potential suspects. Reading it will entice you to check out the rest of the books in the series, such as “Some Cuts Never Heal.” They feature Moss as a savvy working-class labor militant and amateur sleuth, dealing with the vagaries of the justice and health care systems with solidarity and street smarts.

To Protect & Serve? Five Decades of Posters Protesting Police Violence/Proteger y Servir? Cinco decadas de carteles protestando la violencia policial by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, 2018, CSPG, Culver City CA, $20. This bilingual, illustrated volume is the catalog of an exhibit mounted by the Center earlier this year from its extensive archive of movement posters. It covers struggles from the 1960s to date, all of them touching in one way or another on police violence, racist abuse of power and repression. But given that anchor, themes range widely, including resistance to the Ku Klux Klan, opposition to imperialist war, struggles to free political prisoners or defend labor, gay or women’s rights. It includes both US and international struggles and examples. Regrettably, the cost of production means that the reproductions of the posters included are all in black and white, reducing some of the vibrancy that the original posters as exhibited possess, but profusion of graphic material and the extensive detail in each description, bringing the context to life, more than compensates for that. In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I worked on a number of the posters and struggles included. More reviews on-line.

Thumbnail Book Reviews for Gift-Giving Continued from p. 2 Hate Came to My Bookstore by Linda Sherman-Nurick, www.losangelesblade.com In October, the ignorance and hatred boiling over in our country walked in and attempted to disrupt Drag Queen Story Hour at Cellar Door Bookstore in Riverside. Their ugliness interrupted a community event that promotes understanding among us all. Amid ever-growing violence and fear in our country, these kinds of events are critical opportunities to celebrate our common humanity, erasing fear and hatred – and we must continue them no matter who tries to shout us down. I opened Cellar Door Bookstore six years ago because I felt the absence of an independent bookstore specializing in new books that could accurately reflect the diversity, intellectual curiosity and brilliance of Riverside’s community. We have more than 20 book clubs and welcome all thoughtful discussion. Cellar Door is a place to gather and wrestle with the most difficult issues of our times while enjoying the deep pleasure of discussing ideas, characters and the books we love or hate. We had our first Drag Queen Story Hour in June, to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month, and it was by far the most attended story time we’ve ever had. Parents and kids loved the lively performance and kept asking when we would coordinate another. So again last month, parents from our community made the choice to bring their kids to hear drag queens read Halloween stories. But two people came in to stop me and the parents from making that choice. When I noticed that the woman was filming, I told her that she couldn’t without the consent of the parents. She just started spewing hateful, uninformed rhetoric about everything from the LGBTQ community to politics and refused to leave. Security was called, but only when Riverside Police Department came did she leave the premises, shouting her ugliness as she left. The drag queens were amazing: They kept reading books, engaging the kids in story time despite it all. But unfortunately they couldn’t completely drown out the hate, and parents had to have conversations about the woman’s despicable behavior with their shaken children after. I have listened to lots of people talk about the hate speech of “both sides,” but it is one side that sent bombs across the country, killed 11 people in a place of worship and yelled at children in a privately owned bookstore in just one week last month. Donald Trump, with his complete disregard for the laws and policies of this nation, is at the center of this. Bookstores are places where ideas and the hard work of figuring out the complexities of the world in which we live flourish. Trump not only proudly refuses to take part in any such conversations, he denigrates the people who do so and calls upon his followers to repudiate the hard work of scientists, philosophers, writers and any other “intellectuals.” The danger in which this president has placed our country surpasses any war, natural disaster or enemy that has come before.

...See: “Hate Came to My Bookstore,” p. 8

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MOVE TO AMEND Video Resource:“A Question of Personhood” introduces corporate

constitutional rights issue and Move to Amend. 7 min 35 sec Search “Personhood” on youtube.com

Move to Amend Local meeting: Last Saturday of the month, 1-3p. Holy

Grounds Coffee & Tea, 5371 Alhambra Ave, LA. 323.255.1279

...Continued from p. 7

Bookstores, books and libraries promote learning, discussion, disagreement, engagement; we are therefore at odds with the very essence of this administration. Since that Saturday, my store has received phone calls, emails and Facebook posts filled with name-calling and threats. None of these people were actually willing to have a conversation. The alt-right champions the “free speech” of websites like Infowars (a sticker that was illegally plastered on my store window later that week), but when the time comes to talk to others, they follow their leader and shout insults. Drag Queen Story Hour is a way to bring people together so that hatred of the “other” disappears. All of us prosper from such inclusion, and giving our kids an opportunity to interact with these fun, warm people is a way bookstores and libraries across the country are helping to prevent the fear and ugliness. Our kids will grow up knowing that no matter how they identify, they will be loved and welcomed into our community – and will treat others the same. I don’t need to tell you all about the great strides we made in last week’s midterms for all Americans – and especially the LGBTQ community – but there is still more work to do. Bookstores like mine are committed to being part of the cultural shift away from the terrifying, anti-thought movement in our country, and we welcome your support and input because I’ve seen the impact events like Drag Queen Story Hour can have on the next generation. At our first such event, one of the kids said, “My little brother likes to dress in my mom’s clothes.” One of the drag queens lovingly responded, “And that’s OK.” And perhaps, that was all that needed to be said.

Linda Sherman-Nurick owns and runs Cellar Door Books in Riverside. A lifelong Southern California resident, her previous work as an English professor at Riverside Community College showed her the deep importance of books in creating an educated, understanding and compassionate society.

Hate Came to My Bookstore

Graphic Credit: “End Police Brutality,” Alicia Nauta, 2015, Canada

To Protect & Serve? Five Decades of Posters Protesting Police Violence, C.Wells. © 2018. Exhibition catalogue, 75 posters. Fully annotated. Eng/Span. 51pp. Usually $20. On Sale $10. + $4. Postage and Handling. To order, contact: admin@politicalgraphics.org.

ACTIVIST SPOTLIGHT Change Links would like to announce a new column in our newspaper. Starting Jan 2019, we’ll spotlight each month a local activist making a positive contribution to our movements. We need your help. Please nominate a meritorious local activist, by email to changelinks2@gmail.com. In 200 words or less, state why you believe Change Links should recognize that person as someone we can emulate. We would like to include a short bio and a photo, similar to the way we do with the author of

poems we choose for the Poetry Corner. You may see the person you propose saluted in one of our upcoming issues next year. Thanks for your help.

Saturday, December 8, 2018, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.Church of the Epiphany

2808 Altura Way, Los Angeles CA 90031Pre-sale $15, At door $20. Call 818-679-5816

or 626-488-8658