Tag Archives: activism

Radical Childcare Meeting This Saturday

24 Sep

Want to hang with some kids? Want to get into radical childcare organizing? Want to know what that even means exactly? Check out the Crescent City Childcare Collective. They’re having an open volunteer meeting this Saturday. From their blog:

Summer is over and the Crescent City Childcare Collective is officially back! Please join us, experienced volunteers & newbies alike, this Saturday to discuss radical childcare and why it rules. On the agenda:

  • Brand new Childcare Share!
  • A review of volunteer guidelines
  • Partner organization updates
  • Resources and snacks
  • Upcoming events & trainings

Saturday, September 29 at 12:30 pm, upstairs at Fairgrinds Coffee House in MidCity

Any questions or concerns? Check out our About C4 page and always please feel free to email us at ccccollective@gmail.com

xoxo

See y’all there!

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Victory!

24 Sep

Just to update, the Raging Pelican made it’s Kickstarter goal and then some! Thanks to everyone who chipped in!

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Show Em Some Love

21 Sep

Well, this is just getting ridiculous. 60 hours left and just $74 dollars to make the Raging Pelican’s Kickstarter goal.

Now, I’m not gonna lie. Hearing Kickstarter’s name usually conjurers up all sorts of resentment and hostility in me. The website has been used to fund some bullshit in the past.  If you happen to share my perspective, please take my word that the Raging Pelican is a worthy as hell cause.

In their own words:

The Raging Pelican is a two-year-and-running free print publication created in the wake of the BP oil disaster to elevate the voices of those along the Gulf Coast impacted by the destructive forces of government and industry. It is a collectively-run grassroots newspaper that advocates regional solutions to regional problems: community control of community resources.

They’re largely unfunded which means their content remains untainted by corporate or political interests.  While they have a beautiful website, they work very hard to print & distribute IRL since the communities of the Gulf Coast most closely affected by the oil disaster don’t primarily rely on digital media for their news.

Give them some money because you care about the environment, because you have a boner for hating on Big oil, because you get off on indy media, or because you pity us poor, backwards Southerners.  Much obliged, y’all.

 

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Thank you, Jesus!

13 Apr

Even Jesus loved sex workers! Everyone know that.

I’ve posted a few times here before about Women With a Vision’s (swoon…) NO Justice campaign against Louisiana’s charmingly backwards SCAN law. Last year, they and their legal team successfully lobbied to reduce the sentencing for folks convicted of Solicitation of Crimes Against Nature (felony) to that of regular ol’ prostitution (misdemeanor).

And, now… Ta-da! This week, a federal judge has ordered that all peeps already added to the sex offender registry under newly-castrated SCAN be removed from it in the next 30 days. No takebacks (er… appeals).

As an anarchist with zero faith in electoral politics, I choose to put my time and energy into projects that I believe are trying to circumvent that system. These projects are often informal and small in scale and occasionally oppositional to (or just resentful of) liberal politics and non-profit work.

This campaign is an excellent reminder to me that it takes all kinds. The positive difference in the lived experiences of the ladies & gents who will soon be justly removed from the sex offenders list is almost incomprehensible. Being labelled a sex offender cost them time, money, and friends; job opportunities and access to resources; the simple privilege of being allowed near churches, schools, and children. Not to mention, it left them in a position of severe vulnerability to state and sexual violence. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into navigating the Louisiana legislature, particularly on behalf (or even as) sex workers. I am personally so grateful for Women With a Vision and their liberal, non-profit work.

Oh, happy day!

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What’s poppin this week.

2 Nov

10th Annual New Orleans Book Fair

Kickoff party Friday night 11/4 at the Allways on St. Claude starting at 10 pm and a book-themed burlesque show across the street at the Hi-Ho from 10 to 12.
Book Fair this Saturday 11/5 at the corner of Frenchman and Chartres from 11 am to 5 pm. Be sure to check out the Kids’ Space while you’re there!

 

$LADIES$NIGHT$

For those who don’t know, Ladies’ Night is a radical feminist discussion group that has been meeting almost weekly for over two years in New Orleans. We now meet every Sunday at 4 pm for a kid-friendly, BYOB, no$boys$allowed potluck and discussion. Update! Our new Contemporary Radical Feminisms readers are printed and bound and beautiful! Please shoot us an email for questions, our location, or to get a copy of the readings. (Readings schedule TBA.) ladiesnight@noboyfriends.org

 

Crescent City Childcare Collective

C4 provides competent and politicized childcare support to local organizations in New Orleans who are already doing amazing work.  They will be Kids’ Spacing it at the Book Fair this Saturday but, if you miss em, don’t forget that there are monthly collective meetings every second Saturday of the month at Fairgrinds Coffee House in Mid City. The next one is Saturday 11/12 at 1 pm, immediately followed by a free childcare training for new volunteers at 2 pm at the same location.  Check out their blog for more info.

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A look at the women on the streets of Santiago

14 Aug

Woman being arrested by Chilean police during Aug 4th protests

Since May of this year, protesters have been taking to the streets of Chile showing their discontent with the largely privatized education system.  In June, as many as 180 schools and universities were occupied by youths as young as 14, and since then people have been continuously pouring into the streets of Santiago with creative acts of civil disobedience.  My personal favorite is the incredibly hot Kiss-in.

The students are demanding higher quality and affordable education.  Under Pinochet, the school system was mostly privatized, and to date nearly 70% of university students attend private institutions.  The current president, Sebastian Pinera, is not only a conservative, but also one of the country’s wealthiest men.  He’s called education a “consumer good” and his pathetic attempts at compromise have only hightened the intensity of the protests.

On August 1, Pinera issued a proposal which was dismissed by protest organizers.  Several days later, on August 4th, demonstrators took to the streets and when things turned violent 900 people were arrested.  Then on August 9th when 100,000 people came out in support, another 275 were detained.

Continue reading →

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Dear Alec,

13 Aug

Last week, those ALEC fuckers had a meeting at the Mariott in New Orleans.  Some folks mostly from Cincinnati and Baton Rouge staged a protest.  An anarchist local convinced me it was worth my time to go check it out.

I’m really sad to hear that these organizers are following ALEC around the country to stage peaceful and under attended demos in each city.  Where are y’alls  kids?  It’s time to try something new, boo.

It's time to try something new, my friend.

All the anarchists were chilling in front of the hotel, talking shit and waving our cutesy little flags while the liberal demonstrators marched around the block in the middle of the day in August in the French Quarter.  The conference attendees stood behind the cops and laughed at both groups of dissenters.  Pretty sad.  Bored, I managed to hit on every man in a business suit on the sidewalk that afternoon.

We're all whores--especially y'all free market capitalists.

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Court Update

10 Aug

Went to court today to support WWAV and NO Justice and it was actually pretty awesome. The lawyers were very grateful for the substantial show of community support. The state’s representation was HILARIOUSLY shameful–near the end of the proceedings, the judge actually interrupted one attorney to tell her that they needed to go do some research and get back to him.

The plaintiff’s lawyers (our side), on the other hand, were just laying it down, left and right. Really impressive. They were arguing that SCAN and good ol’ regular prostitution are actually the same statute, just with very different consequences that can be meted out by cops and DA’s at their racist, homophobic discretion. Apparently, this is not really allowed. The state countered with “Uhhh… We don’t have the time to take all these people who are NOT child molesters off the sex offenders list, k? And, we don’t really feel like we can afford to go forward with these proceedings. Did you know that legal counsel is expensive?”

Good stuff.

So, both teams have to turn in their arguments on paper in five days and the judge will decide whether or not he wants to deal with it which doesn’t make any sense to me. He was kinda already dealing with it today. Just finish it, right? And, then we’ll hear something in several months.

Fingers crossed.

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Listen Up! Childcare Collective Meeting Saturday

9 Aug

Just in case you don’t remember, the Crescent City Childcare Collective provides free, competent and politicized childcare for local community organizations in New Orleans.  There are many activists and organizers in our community who are also parents and C4 exists to support those individuals.  The way it works is that you will receive a text message or e-mail asking if you can provide childcare for a certain organization on a specific date and we ask that you reply “yes” or “no.”  There is no minimum commitment, but ideally, each volunteer could be available to provide childcare at least twice a month.

If you would like to be a part of C4, please attend the upcoming meeting on Saturday August 13th at Fair Grinds Coffee House at 1 pm.

See you there!

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Listen Up! Solidarity with Women With A Vision and all women in New Orleans

8 Aug

Lemme say, I’m not a your-vote-counts, sign-this-petition, reformist kinda gal but, this whole SCAN/sex offender registry legislation is so intrusive, so abusive that we are blessed that there are local organizers who have devoted themselves to its amendment.  To remove persons who have been charged with a SCAN charge from the sex offenders list will offer real, tangible changes in access to opportunity and quality of life.

Which is why it is so goddamn disappointing that despite the fact that Women With A Vision (as a part of their two year old NO Justice campaign) just recently succeeded in persuading the LA State Legislature to remove persons convicted of Solicitation of Crimes Against Nature (aka blowjobs for cash) from the sex offender registry, some scumbag politician/bureaucrat types FOOLISHLY would like to propose that 400 women should stay on that list–you know, the one they just signed a law to exclude them from.

Whatever.  Fuck those guys.

WWAV and NO Justice is calling for courtroom support this Wednesday, August 10, 10am at 500 Poydras – Courtroom C 551 .  Can Louisiana keep 400+ people on registry for past SCAN convictions?  We say no.  Louisiana says yes.

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