In this email, we:
• Update you on our trainings and recent big moves such as the Indigenous Peoples' Power Project's first International Strategy Session
• Invite you to get involved with us by coming to the Direct Action Tactics Summit, or becoming a Ruckus Intern.
• Update you on work being done by our partners and friends with Students for a Free Tibet and Angola 3
Peace Ruckus Family,
The Ruckus never ends!! In February the Indigenous Peoples' Power Project gathered in Oakland for an Advisory Board meeting and the first International Strategy Session. At the Strategy Session we evaluated the project, clarified our goals, developed new partnerships and voted to support the movements led by impacted communities in the Tar Sands, Klamath River, Desert Rock, Grassy Narrows, RED OIL in Alaska, Save The Peaks and Medicine Lake. We realized we need to fundraise $8,000 more in order to make this happen. If you would like to support the work of the Indigenous Peoples' Power Project visit www.ruckus.org/donate.
We hosted 3 happy hours and a house party in Oakland, NYC and DC. We teamed up with the Backbone Campaign in Portland to launch their Procession for the Future. Our Project Director, Sharon Lungo, is in Colombia with Fellowship Of Reconciliation, supporting peacekeepers and exchanging nonviolent direct action and counter military recruitment models. This month we will be training in Memphis, DC, Detroit, Wisconsin, New York and Texas.
Coming up, we are excited to announce our annual Direct Action Tactics Summit, May 6-11th, in Sonoma, California.The Tactics Summit is a 5-day camp that develops participants' climbing, blockades, creative visuals and action coordination skills. It's filling up fast, so lock in your spot now! www.ruckus.org/tacticssummit
We are still accepting applications (descriptions below) for Internships and Officemates, so if you want to work with us, email megan@ruckus.org.
Read below for Tactic Summit information, Intern application and request from our partners at SFT and Angola 3 to take action!
Much Love,
Celeste, Sabba, Adrienne Maree, Megan, Sharon, Marty and Hannah
Tactics Summit:
The Ruckus Society would like to invite you to be part of deepening and expanding the pool of experienced direct action trainers and coordinators who can provide expert support to movements and organizations. Participate in our upcoming 2008 Tactics Summit- May 6-11, 2008!
Participant Application Deadline is April 4th, 2008. Please contact Celeste Faison, Outreach Director, at celeste@ruckus.org if you have any questions.
Internship Announcement:
The Ruckus Society is seeking an intern to begin as soon as possible in our Oakland office. Length of term is flexible, although a semester or equivalent is desired.
The internship can be a part-time or full-time position, depending on the successful candidate's availability. Class credit is encouraged. This internship will serve a variety of functions, supporting existing integral organization-wide systems and helping create new systems in order to ensure a healthy foundation for our program work. The intern will work with the Operations Dept. (administration and fundraising) and the Communications team.
Areas of Work:
Communications, Operations, Fundraising
For the full Job Description www.ruckus.org/intern
Please email megan@ruckus.org to receive an application form.
Here is the latest from Lhadon (SFT's Executive Director) in India.
"…part of me is full of dread and fear for what will happen now, for what is happening now. Will they smash the monasteries as they again see the monks in the lead? Will they destroy the Bharkorbecause it's again a lightning rod for protest? Will they move all theTibetans out of Lhasa because they are in the way? Will they turn the countryside into killing fields because nobody will know what happens out there?..."
AT GREAT RISK, TIBETANS ACROSS TIBET ARE RISING UP AGAINST CHINA'S OCCUPATION OF THEIR HOMELAND TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT, JUST MONTHS BEFORE THE BEIJING OLYMPICS, THE SITUATION IS CRITICAL AND DEMANDS THE WORLD'S ATTENTION - PLEASE SUPPORT THEM NOW!
For 35 years, Jim Crow justice in Louisiana has kept Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox locked in solitary confinement for a murder everyone knows they didn't commit.
Despite overwhelming evidence of their innocence, the 2 remaining "Angola 3" prisoners (one has been exonerated) spend 23 hours each day in 6 x 9 cells at Angola--the site of a former plantation--because they challenged the violence and segregation inside the prison1. Prison officials--and the state officials who could intervene--won't end their horrible confinement. They've locked them up and thrown away the key.
Just like in Jena, we can turn things around by making it a political liability for the authorities to continue the racist status quo. Join us in calling on the Department of Justice, which funds Louisiana's prisons with our tax dollars, and Louisiana Governor Jindal, to investigate and intervene. Please join us in demanding a full and fair investigation into the case of the Angola 3 and the Louisiana Prison system. Take Action Here
