NorthStar Center

The Republican National Convention (RNC) will be in St. Paul, MN Sept 1-3rd, 2008, just after the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which will be in Denver August 25-28th. Delegates of both parties will be at their conventions to celebrate their place in the very top layer of the political, economic and social crisis that is the United States. Delegates of both parties will celebrate their empty rhetoric that got them through another election cycle without conceding much, if anything, to the people. But those who believe another world is possible will also be there….to resist! In preparation for this resistance, Unconventional Action Michigan is hosting a statewide consulta aimed at crashing the conventions. The consulta will focus on the RNC due to its taking place in the Midwest. It will be a day of discussion, preparation and education to get folks ready to protest the RNC. The state-wide consulta will be held in Lansing and NorthStar will be the check-in location. This will be an important day of networking for Michigan radicals and for everyone interested in protesting the RNC.

Wednesday
April 30th, 2008
7pm
@Northstar

Come join us at NorthStar to watch the movie, La Haine (The Hate). The film follows three young men and their time spent in the French suburbs over a span of twenty-four hours. Vinz, a Jew, Saïd, an Arab, and Hubert, a black boxer, have grown up where high levels of diversity coupled with the racist and oppressive police force have raised tensions to a critical breaking point. The three friends cope with white power gangs, riots and poverty that will push them to the breaking point. This movie explores the deeply complex realities of race, class and police brutality that youth around the world face today. The movie was released in 1995 but became a reminder of what youth face in the Paris estates as the rebellions have erupted.

For more background on the recent rebellion in the Paris Banlieues in 2005, this is an excellent article: Grassroots Political Militants: Banlieusards and Politics
http://www.metamute.org/en/Grassroots-political-militants-Banlieusards-and-politics

Join us at The North Star Center for the second month of our Remembering & Reclaiming (R&R) Radical History Series. This Month will be a history and discussion of Anti-Racist Action, an international movement of people dedicated to stopping racism, sexism, homophobia. ARA originally came out of the efforts of Minneapolis anti-racist Skinheads to create an organization that could combat the presence of nazi skinheads in that city and its neighboring city, St. Paul. The Baldies, a multi-racial skinhead crew having members of Black, White, Asian, and Native American origins, was fighting the Nazi skinhead group, the White Knights in their city and were the forerunner to ARA chapters that sprung up all over the country (Including East Lansing). Former ARA members will give a brief history of ARA and facilitate a discussion about anti-racist organizing today.