Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! visits the Jamaica Plain Forum on Friday, May 16th at 7:00pm 

This event is a Fundraiser for the Jamaica Plain Forum. Tickets are $5.00

Doors open at 6pm, event begins at 7pm. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis

Tickets are on sale at Rhythm and Muse (470 Center St. in Jamaica Plain). Any unsold tickets will be available at the door.  Cash or Check please!

Where are the millions marching in the streets to defend human rights, civil liberties, and racial justice? Where is the mass revulsion against the killing and torture being carried out in our name? Where are the environmentalists? Where is the peace movement?

The answer: They are everywhere.

The award-winning sister-brother team of Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David Goodman traveled the country to detail the ways in which grassroots activists have taken politics out of the hands of politicians. Standing Up to the Madness tells the stories of everyday citizens who have challenged the government and prevailed.

Standing Up to the Madness not only is a timely, inspiring, and even revolutionary look at who wields the greatest power in America–everyday people who take a chance and stand up for what they believe in–but also offers advice on what you can do to help.

As the Bush administration has waged war abroad and at home, it has catalyzed a cast groundswell of political action. From African-American residents of deluged New Orleans who are fighting racism and City Hall to regain their homes; to four Connecticut librarians who refused to spy on their patrons, challenged the US PATRIOT Act, and won; to a group of high school students who were barred from performing a play they wrote in the Iraq War based on letters for soldiers; to the first U.S. Army officer to publicly refuse orders to deploy to Iraq, charging that his duty as an officer is to refuse to fight in an illegal and immoral war, Standing Up to the Madness profiles citizens rising to extraordinary challenges. And, in the process, they are changing the way that politics is done, both now and in the future.

In communities around the United States, courageous individuals have taken leaps of faith to stop the madness. They could only hope that if they led, others would follow. This is how movements are born. What begins as one, eventually becomes many. In that tradition, the authors have included the ways in which any individual can take action and effect change.

Save the date!
Saturday, May 17, 2008, English High School

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation invites you to join us in a day speakers, workshops, and films exploring what the Jamaica Plain community currently looks like, and what kind of a future we envision for our neighborhood.

JAMAICA PLAIN IS AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE. Across the country, urban revitalization has typically conformed to the following scenario: a neighborhood starts out as run-down and affordable, becomes funky and diverse, and emerges as upscale and exclusive. Can Jamaica Plain be different? Can we change the end of the story? Many groups and dedicated individuals can share credit for the remarkable transformation of Jamaica Plain since the 1970s. Now we need to learn and work together to stabilize our community as equitable and inclusive. With the Neighborhood Summit, we want to promote dialogue among residents from diverse backgrounds, learn from each other and from the “experts,” and inspire action to protect and improve our unique community.

JAMAICA PLAIN SE ENCUENTRA EN UN MOMENTO CRITICO. A traves de todo el pais, la revitalizacion urbana se ha conformado de manera caracteristica en el siguiente escenario: un vecindario empieza desmantelado y barato, se convierte en “funky” y diverso, y emerge como exclusivo. ¿Puede Jamaica Plain ser diferente? ¿Podemos cambiar el final de la historia? El JPNDC y muchos otros grupos y personas dedicadaspueden compartir el credito por la increible transformacion que Jamaica Plain ha experimentado desde los anos ‘70. Ahora tenemos que aprender y trabajar juntos para estabilizar nuestra comunidad como equitativa y estable. Con la Reunion Cumbre, queremos promover el dialogo entre residentes de diversas formas de vida, aprender el uno del otro y de los “expertos,” e inspirar la accion para proteger y mejorar nuestra comunidad unica.

Check back for more information, or visit the JPNDC website.

Born in a Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In NEW YEAR BABY, she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the truth and why her family’s history had been buried in secrecy for so long.

Bill McKibben, author, educator, environmentalist

Sunday, June 8th, 7:00pm

Read Bill’s most recent article on Alternet.org

As a part of our continuing series on climate-change, join the Jamaica Plain Forum for a conversation with Step-It-Up! global warming activist, Bill McKibben after the Bikes Not Bombs Bike-A-Thon and 1st annual Green Roots Festival.

Bill McKibben is an environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Well known for his lead role in the Step-It-Up campaign, Bill comes to the Jamaica Plain Forum to share his experiences organizing mass-climate action from the ground to Capitol Hill.

Bill has written a dozen books, including The End of Nature and Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. In March 2008 The Bill McKibben Reader, a collection of 44 essays on various topics, was published.

He is a frequent contributor to various magazines including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He is also a board member and contributor to Grist Magazine.

In late summer 2006, Bill helped lead a five-day walk across Vermont to demand action on global warming. Beginning in January 2007 he founded stepitup07.org to demand that Congress enact curbs on carbon emissions that would cut global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050. With six college students, he organized 1,400 global warming demonstrations across all 50 states. Step It Up 2007 has been described as the largest day of protest about climate change in the nation’s history. A guide to help people initiate environmental activism in their community coming out of the Step It Up 2007 experience entitled Fight Global Warming Now was published in October 2007.

Rhythm and Muse will have Bill’s books available for purchase at the event. To purchase books beforehand, please visit Rhythm and Muse at 470 Center St. in Jamaica Plain.