Democracy Unlimited web site & other notes

1998-10-27

Jan Slakov

Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 16:12:34 -0800
To: •••@••.•••
From: •••@••.••• (Paul Cienfuegos)
Subject: Democracy Unlimited launches new website on dismantling corporate rule

Dear friends and associates,

Two years ago, we founded Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (DUHC)
after being profoundly inspired by the work of Richard Grossman,
co-director of The Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD),
based in Massachusetts. Since then, we have become one of the nation's
first local grassroots organizations challenging the fundamental rights
that corporations claim over We The People. Our study group has met
consistently for 16 months. We have taken leadership on redefining the
USDA's organics proposal as yet another symptom of corporate rule.  And we
recently launched a spin-off project (Citizens Concerned About
Corporations) which has successfully placed on the November ballot "Measure
F: The Arcata Advisory Measure on Democracy and Corporations".  It will
probably win locally on November 3rd, and has been endorsed by two of the
three candidates for Arcata City Council, one of which is the current Mayor
(not to mention Howard Zinn, Jim Hightower, and Noam Chomsky).

We are quite proud to announce the launching of our new website which
elaborates on all of the above topics. It is hosted by the Albion Monitor
here in California (Thank You!!!) which also hosts Rachel's Weekly.

Our new address is:  www.monitor.net/democracyunlimited

Do check it out!  All the best,

Paul Cienfuegos
Director, Democracy Unlimited

POB 27, Arcata CA 95518
707-822-2242

************************************************************************
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 17:03:48 -0400
To: •••@••.•••
From: Bruna Nota <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: cj#857> PBS Show: Globalization and Human Rights

23/10/98

Hello friends,

I, like Richard, would like to see this video, and I will send money and
address to whomever can provide me with a copy.

Thanks!

Bruna 

At 08:59 AM 10/23/98 +0100, you wrote:
>
>Dear cj & rn,
>
>I join David in urging people to try to get this show aired widely.
>
>If anyone does tape it, I'd be very grateful to receive a copy. I can send
>my address and money for a tape and shipping.
>
>all the best,
>rkm
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998
>From: David Lewit <•••@••.•••>
>Sender: •••@••.•••
>Subject: ALL2 [mai] PBS Show: Globalization and Human Rights
>To: •••@••.•••
>
>Friends:  Your local public TV station may ignore "Globalization and Human
>Rights."  Will you call to get their time of airing?  If they have no plans,
>could you insist that they schedule it, in prime time?
>
>p.s.: Who will videotape it for civic showings later?
>
>Aloha--  Dave L
>
>>Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 19:54:33 -0400 (EDT)
>>From: Doug Hunt <•••@••.•••>
>>To: socdev list <•••@••.•••>, adhoc-L <•••@••.•••>
>>Subject: [mai] PBS Show: Globalization and Human Rights
<snip>
>>Doug
>>
>>________________________________________________________________
>>Doug Hunt, Washington & UN Representative for UCC/NEER
>>Chair US NGO Caucus to UN Commission on Sustainable Development
>>Organizer, US Network for Sustainable Development Financing
>>f:301-593-7591 e: •••@••.•••
>
<snip>
bruna nota

"if you want peace, live peace and prepare for peace"

**************************************************************************
From: •••@••.•••
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 20:31:54 EDT
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: Teleconference Service Available to Non Profits & Organizers


There is a new teleconference service available to non profits and organizers
at cost.  If you are currently using private, for-profit teleconference
companies for your phone meetings you and your organization can save.  I have
set up this service to help organizations of all kinds.  Please contact me,
Ben Sher, by email at •••@••.••• or by phone at 916-489-2098 for
further information or to request a phone conference date and time.  Thanks,
and please let your friends and favorite organizations know that a low-cost
alternative phone teleconference / phone bridge service now exists.

        *Up to 30 people on the line at once
        *Quantity discounts for regular weekly or monthly phone meetings
        *For local, interstate or international meetings
        *Save drive time and the environment with phone meetings
        *Facilitation of phone meetings also available 
        *Emergency meetings may also be called at the last minute 
        *Schedule your calls 24 hours a day / 7 days a week
        *With a cordless you can change the baby or make dinner at the same time
        *or groom, pay bills, iron shirts or sew buttons back on
        *or delete files from your hard drive or clean up your address book.
        *Phone meetings are it!  The best new way to be an effective organizer!
*********************************************************************

Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 17:28:21 -0400
From: John Dempsey Parker <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Searching for Common Ground

Dear Network Friends:


Searching for Common Ground

A transitional housing community for international refugees and immigrants
needs a global communication system.

Resettled refugees face a myriad of barriers limiting adaptation and social
mobility in their new host nations.  With the psychological, mental, and
physical trauma that characterizes the refugee experience, refugees can
better adapt to change through visonary community building processes.
Community building, locally and globally, can cultivate the social network
infrastructure for intercultural sharing, communication, and understanding
to work for the benefit of the whole community.  

The NEED:  A transitional housing initiative for refugees and immigrants is
looking for an international network or resources that will link residents
to their homelands, refugee camps, and/or families via the Internet.  

This transitional housing concept was created to reduce or eliminate
situations where families come and immediately do not have a safety net or
are uncomfortable with their new residence where they are placed on arrival. 

Refugees (from Ethiopia, Egypt, Vietnam, Somolia, Benin Republic, Gambia,
Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Bosnia and other countires) now living in the
U.S. have been separated from family and friends, sometimes for over five
years.  The extreme difficulty of contacting and locating their relations
by phone or fax creates a desire for creative communication systems. 

This is an opportunity to build community on the common ground of shared
suffering, involuntary displacement, resilience, and strength.  

The new arrivals, in the aftermath of colonialism and often
post-colonialism, are so fragmented socially, politically, and ecomically
that they cannot, or have not been able to live together here in the
states, though they may have been forced to tolerate one another in the
refugee camps.

Then there are culturally derived hierarchical divisions (ie. casts, clans,
and social classes) that refuse to live with one another as neighbors,
especially equal partners.

So, in an effort to address the fragmentation, and not force people to live
with others for a long period of time that they do not feel comfortable
with, the idea of transitional housing emerged which helps prepare folks to
live in the U.S.

Refugees are examples of the human capability to survive and succeed during
the most tramatic forms of cultural change that humans can experience.
Access to Internet resources for this refugee community will cultivate
additional adpatation strategies and empower them to cope and manage their
lives in creative new meaningful ways.

"We must be the change we wish to see." - Gandhi

Confidentiality prohibits any details regarding the refugee community's
location, name, and organizational relationships at the present time.  

For more information on the needed Internet resources or to contact 
the refugee community:
•••@••.•••
•••@••.•••

***

Please share this story with others.

In Peace and Solidarity,

John Parker

Storytellers Network
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/storytellers