call for a community forum on miami

how about 6:00 or so...

It would be wrong to discourage anyone from having political discussion about the events in Miami this last week. Especially since the reports (on IndyMedia and other independent sources, little was available on corporate media) were so uniformly clear about overwhelming police force and a virtual police state.

But if we are going to have a community forum on Miami and the FTAA, doesn't it make a little sense to include the almost one hundred folks from Portland who were down there? Community activists, worker activists, medics, writers, media activists; a lot of people flew and drove to Miami from Portland. Posting a notice Sunday at noon for an event at 6 PM doesn't seem designed to draw a very wide audience.

And, again not to discourage Tony or other people who want to listen and share, could we maybe have some real forums? Events after Seattle and Genoa drew hundreds of people to talk and discuss where the anti-globalization movement was going and where it had been. Putting something in Back to Back Cafe, which is a fine coffee shop and place to talk with a few people, guarantees we view ourselves as insignificant.

Another world is possible and necessary. But let us find a big enough space to talk about it. And invite some of the people who will be creating it.

Don't be Gaffled. Talking is good. If you can't come out tonight. You should still encourage more meetings like this. Big or Small. Thanks Tony.

Before we left, a bunch of us who headed to Miami from Portland set up a reportback for Sunday, Dec. 7, 7pm at the 1st Unitarian Church--12th and Main, Downtown Portland. We will have some kind of slide show, maybe video, and first hand reports from folks who were there. Hope you can make it.

The community, and the world, is very interested in understanding what went on in Miami. Although the corporate media was busy enlightening us on the ups and downs of Michael Jackson's world, we're more interested in this story that directly affects us all.

If anyone has video footage from Miami, please show it! If you'd like to show it at Videos from the Resistance, you can contact the pdx indy video collective at  videoresistance@ziplip.com. Also, if you have raw footage and no way to edit it, we can help with that too.

Let's work together to get this story out. We can't let the corporate media shape our understanding of these events.

Yeah, it's 5pm now, and I'm just getting this message- a little more notice is really important- most us us have jobs, too and need to make arrangements (childcare, etc.) to come to a meeting. It would be good to get a good number of folks there, tonight, tough. Good luck to you, I do sympathize with the need for immediacy.
It will be better to have a bigger forum with the folks who can speak directly to what they saw and experienced in Miami. Let's spread the word and fill the Unitarian Church!!!

Talking is good for the soul. The experience of the militarized black- masked anonymous police in Miami was so overblown and out of order that you just have to talk with others who were there to believe the hate you witnessed. It was a change in America that is reminiscent of an Narco Banana Republic. There were times when I was afraid that a soldier, I mean police officer, would shoot me, for no other reason than he felt like it. You had to be there to blelieve it.

I understand what you are saying. I was frustrated and wanted to talk tonight!
I know that there was little notice. but people still came. community is community wether it is two or two hundred. it is not like we were making decisions that affect the community just asking for the community to be there. I also know that there will be many more meetings and de-briefs of those that were there. anytime is a good time to talk about social change and the reppresion of it.
love,love
tony (I am one of those who makes it)

Dear Sirs,
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Research Institute for Political Science
Cologne University
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