I wanted to post a notice about a course I'm helping develop here. For my work I have helped to organize an online course called "Examining the Wal-Mart Economy" which explores the public discussion currently surrounding Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world by revenue.

We've lined up a stellar group of guest speakers to participate in the course each week. The group includes:

- Investigative reporter Liza Featherstone who published in 2004 a book titled "Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart"

- Terry Collingsworth, the Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Fund. Earlier this summer the International Labor Rights Fund filed a massive lawsuit against Wal-Mart on bahalf of employees on four continents, arguing the workers were denied basic rights.

- Legendary anti-sprawl activist Al Norman (right), who has helped hundreds of communities in the U.S. block unwanted Wal-Mart stores through his organization Sprawl Busters.
- Finally, we'll also talk to Buffy Wicks, the political director of the Wake-Up Wal-Mart Campaign and Sally Smith from Wal-Mart Watch.


The course is open to students currently enrolled in 2-year and 4-year undergraduate programs, and the mandatory class conference calls will be held each week on Thursday from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST until November 10. Feel free to contact me at (rgoodspeed@pfaw.org) if you have any questions. To register, simply go to:
www.youngpeoplefor.org/academy

COURSE: The Battle Over the Courts: What's at Stake?
Young People For Announces Online Course for College Students on the Court Battle

With Supreme Court Justice O'Connor's announced retirement, the process to appoint her successor will dominate the news in the coming months. With Justice O'Connor's role providing the swing vote on critical 5-4 decisions regarding privacy, reproductive rights, affirmative action, government neutrality toward religion, and more, her replacement will have a profound impact on the direction of American law and society.

In this 6-week online course in our Progressive Online Academy we will examine the substance of what's at stake in detail and hear from activists on the political front lines. Return to campus in the fall energized and informed to fight back against the right wing echo chamber on your campus.

Tentative Schedule - week of …
July 25: Right Wing Nominees: Who are They and What do They Believe?
August 1: The Environment
August 8: Reproductive Rights
August 15: Civil Rights
August 22: Civil Liberties and Free Speech
August 29: Workers Rights and Corporate Power

The class will involve a few short readings distributed over email each week, online discussion, and a 1-hour weekly class conference call held from 4 – 5 PM EST each Thursday. To apply, send your NAME, SCHOOL, YEAR, and a short statement of interest to rgoodspeed (at) pfaw.org by July 20. The course is open to current undergraduates in 2-year or 4-year degree programs.

A friend of mine was involved in a 100-hour filibuster protest of the "Nuclear Option" at Carleton College last week. They have a website here: http://www.keeptalking05.org/

This event has been confirmed for April 22


FILIBUSTER-A-THON
at the Main Yard at Howard University
Friday, April 22th
12 noon - 6 p.m.

PROTECT CHECKS & BALANCES – STAND UP FOR THE FILIBUSTER

FEATURING:

JEFF JOHNSON
Host of BET’s “Cousin Jeff Chronicles”

DR. LORENZO MORRIS
Chairman, Howard University Political Science Department

DR. MAYA RUCKEYMOORE
Vice President of Research and Programs, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

JATRICE MARTEL GAITER
President/CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington

RALPH G. NEAS
President, People For the American Way Foundation


Talk for Your Rights, Talk for Your Freedom, Talk for Your Democracy

On Friday, April 22, Howard University will host a “Filibuster-a-Thon” on the yard from 12:00 to 6:00pm. Prominent campus and community leaders will join together to protest the threat of the “nuclear option”, the Republican attempt to get rid of the filibuster in the United States Senate and eliminate any power of the minority in Congress, by standing up on the historic Howard University campus and speaking for six straight hours.

This Filibuster-a-Thon was organized because we could lose our fight against a right-wing Supreme Court takeover before a vacancy and nomination occur – even as early as the next month. This threat comes in the form of the “nuclear option” proposed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and being pushed by the Religious Right, who would like President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees to be rubber stamped.   Read More »

Working closely with student activists across the country, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an organization representing tomato pickers in Florida, has forced Taco Bell to agree to measures improving their treatment and pay.

Democracy Now reports that "Twenty-two colleges had successfully removed or blocked Taco Bell from operating on their campuses."

This report is from Indymedia:

On March 8, after nearly four years of struggle and amidst the momentum of the 2005 Taco Bell Truth Tour, farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW scored a decisive victory in their national boycott of Taco Bell. Caving under the weight of an intense grassroots campaign, the fast-food giant has agreed to work with the Florida-based farmworker organization to improve the wages and working conditions of farmworkers in the Florida tomato industry by paying a penny-per-pound surcharge demanded by the workers. The farmworkers' sub-poverty wages have been stagnant and declining in real terms since 1978.

"This is an important victory for farmworkers, one that establishes a new standard of social responsibility for the fast-food industry and makes an immediate material change in the lives of workers. This sends a clear challenge to other industry leaders," said Lucas Benitez, a member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The CIW's precedent-setting victory is also an important step forward for student/youth, global justice, and poor peoples' movements throughout the U.S. who have worked in solidarity with the farmworkers, forcing the world's largest restaurant corporation (Yum! Brands, Taco Bell's parent company) to accept responsibility for conditions in its supply chain.

The filibuster is an extremely important part of a constitutional democracy that Sen. Frist is talking about trying to abolish. This is from the Washington Post:

"What's good for the Kurds?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been talking about "going nuclear" and outlawing the Democrats' use of the filibuster to block President Bush's judicial nominees. So yesterday we find freshman Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) offering this on the floor in favor of more funds for Iraq:

Isakson, noting he had just been in Iraq, said he asked a Kurdish leader if he worried that the majority Shiites would "overrun" the minority Kurds. And "he says, 'Oh, no, we have a secret weapon.' . . . And when asked what it was, he said one word, 'filibuster,' and then proceeded to describe their study of American democracy and our republic."

"If there were ever a reason for optimism about" giving more aid to Iraq, Isakson said, "it is one of their minority leaders proudly stating one of the pillars and principles of our government as the way they would ensure that the majority never overran the minority." The Democrats gleefully distributed his remarks.

Last month, a Frist spokesman, asked about some Republicans' reluctance to tinker with the Senate's filibuster rule, said Frist "will be having private discussions" with members about this.

Might want to chat with the new guy about staying on message.

I work for the organization People For the American Way helping out on their Young People For Program, a project which like Campus Progress works to build the progressive movement on college campuses. They will be offering a series of online classes, and I'll be teaching the first course - a brief history of student activism.

Registration is now open for the first-ever YP4 online course: the History of Student Activism 101! The syllabus and registration information is available on the Young People For Academy website.

The course will cover the history of student activism in the U.S. from the early 20th century to the present. We'll cover the student pacifist movement of the 1930s, student civil rights activism of the 1950s and 60s, and the myriad of movements and issues which mobilized students in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and today. We'll discuss student anti-war and anti-apartheid activism as well as students' ongoing efforts to change the structure and direction of colleges and universities themselves.

The course is six weeks and classes start March 21. Tuition is free, however there is space for only 15 participants. Students will complete short readings, post to an online discussion forum, and participate in a weekly conference call at 4 p.m. on Thursdays. The course will conclude with a short final project. Participants will earn a YP4 Academy certificate. To learn more, go to academy.youngpeoplefor.org or email Rob Goodspeed at rgoodspeed at pfaw.org.

Things are heating up at Georgetown University where on March 14th administrators will vote on proposals supported by the Georgetown Living Wage Coalition. After the university reneged on promises in the past, the students aren't taking any chances, holding a major rally this week.

In connection with the campaign the independent student publication the Georgetown Voice has published a cover story with detailed portraits of four of the workers pushing for the wage increases:

" ... I am a woman of faith, and I am a woman of justice. I know that what we are paid is an injustice. I have worked in other buildings before, and I have worked with a union. I know the kinds of wages that other workers get, and this is not enough. It's not right. I came to this country to work. I know that it is only with hard work that you can get ahead. You have to earn all the good things in your life. I am not afraid of working, but I know when something is unjust. I earn about $600 every pay check-that's every two weeks, so every month I earn around $1200. My rent for my home is over $1500 a month! And I only have two little bedrooms, for six people. We have to pay our bills.... I am very lucky that no one in my family has been seriously ill, because I don't know how we could pay for hospital expenses. Living here is very expensive. It is hard to get through the month. ... "

The image is from the coalition's website.

Sen. Robert Byrd, who has been an eloquent champion of reserve and reflection in recent years while the neocons have hijacked our national government, spoke out today powerfully against the Nuclear Option, a tactic proposed by Sen. Bill Frist and (tacitly) supported by the White House that would lay the groundwork for appointing the next Supreme Court Justice by a bare majority.

"For the temporary gain of a hand-full of “out of the mainstream” judges, some in the Senate are ready to callously incinerate each Senator’s right of extended debate. Note that I said each Senator. For the damage will devastate not just the minority party. It will cripple the ability of each member to do what each was sent here to do – – represent the people of his or her state. Without the filibuster or the threat of extended debate, there exists no leverage with which to bargain for the offering of an amendment. All force to effect compromise between the two political parties is lost. Demands for hearings can languish. The President can simply rule, almost by Executive Order if his party controls both houses of Congress, and Majority Rule reins supreme. In such a world, the Minority is crushed; the power of dissenting views diminished; and freedom of speech attenuated. The uniquely American concept of the independent individual, asserting his or her own views, proclaiming personal dignity through the courage of free speech will, forever, have been blighted. And the American spirit, that stubborn, feisty, contrarian, and glorious urge to loudly disagree, and proclaim, despite all opposition, what is honest and true, will be sorely manacled."

> Read the rest of his speech
> People for the American Way and the Alliance for Justice have lots more info on the Nuclear Option

If you have ever used Friendster or TheFaceBook you know how powerful this "social networking" software can be. Now imagine a system designed to connect student activists with the activists at their schools and in their states, and with other organizations on a nationwide basis. That's exactly what CampusActivism.org does, and it currently includes information for 928 groups, 1818 people, 312 resources, and 71 upcoming events. Although the design could use a little jazzing-up, the site's features are solid - check it out. Also, you can use the "groups" feature on TheFaceBook.com to create online groups for your political organizations on campus.