The Left Forum 2014 (audio)

Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; NYC, LeftForum.org

Left Forum 2014 Special Programming (KPFKorg) (ARCHIVE)

The United We Stand Festival (concert)

Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; UnitedWeStandFest.com; UCLA (tickets)

Awake the Nation! Free & Equal sets out to unite us as We the People, May 10 (UWSF)

Coming to a University Near You!
The United We Stand Festival will kick off at UCLA on May 10th for a University Bus Tour across America, combining music and education to awaken the nation!
 
Inspiring young and old alike to help elect principled leaders who are not swayed by special interests, we can restore a world of peace, liberty, harmony, justice, ecology, prosperity, and happiness for all.

Musical headliners at UCLA include Public Enemy, members of Wu-Tang Clan, Immortal Technique, The Siren, Cynic, Tatiana Moroz, Rooftop Revolutionaries, A-Alikes, Luminaries, Jon Goodhue, Sounds of Solidarity, and more.

Speakers include media legend Larry King, Ben & Jerry, Marianne Williamson (NY Times bestselling author and independent congressional candidate for CA-33), David Bronner (CEO of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps), and Sean Stone (son of Hollywood bigwig Oliver Stone, who created) host of Buzzsaw.


Other notable figures include Dr. Jill Stein (our 2012 Green choice for president), Gov. Gary Johnson, Amber Lyon (Emmy-winning journalist/whistleblower), Ben Swann (Emmy-winning journalist), Diane Goldstein (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), Mnar Muhawesh (Mint Press News), and many more.

TICKETS are on sale now at the revolutionary price of $17.76 (but use promo code WETHEPEOPLE for a 50% discount at checkout!) at UCLA's Central Ticket Office and online through TicketMaster.

Free & Equal Elections Foundation is an election reform organization dedicated to the idea that all enjoy an equal share of the rights and responsibilities of our nation's governance. We strive to create a system in which all citizens are equal in ability to participate.



Immortal Technique appears on Abby Martin’s "Breaking the Set" on RT discussing the United We Stand Fest
LOS ANGELES, California - Immortal Technique, the legendary independent hip-hop artist, appeared on "Breaking the Set" with Abby Martin on RT America on May 1st to discuss Free & Equal’s United We Stand...

MoreBus tour kicks off at UCLA to strengthen America’s commitment to free and equal elections
BUS TOUR KICKS OFF AT UCLA TO STRENGTHEN AMERICA’S COMMITMENT TO FREE AND EQUAL ELECTIONS with a music rally at the UCLA campus in Westwood, Los Angeles, California to empower voters and inspire youth featuring Public Enemy, Immortal Technique...

Ben & Jerry’s sponsor United We Stand Festival

Hippie dairy product full of deadly sugar and good intentions? Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream is now a proud sponsor of the Free & Equal Elections Foundation's United We Stand Festival at UCLA on May 10th. Ben & Jerry’s is proud to stand...

Dennis Kucinich will speak at United We Stand Fest UCLA
Former U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich -- one of the precious few honest politicians gerrymandered out of office and reduced to working for Fox News -- is a confirmed speaker at Free and Equal’s United We Stand Festival at UCLA on May 10th. During his 16 years in Congress, Kucinich...
 

The Moon over the University of Los Angeles's Westwood campus (ucla.edu)

Stephen Colbert vs. Angry Asian (comedy)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Colbert; Suey Park (Angry Asian Woman); Josh Zepps

So long as we tolerate remnants of the patriarchy and colonization, are we free? (FEMEN)

(95Colbert) Stephen Colbert responds to the controversy was epic humor, irony, and biting satire. It is the genius of wit that redeems a person not in need of redeeming.

 

The eye roll that turned the tide (Huff Post)

Suey Park has a point, more than one, but anger is no way to express it. Here she tackles the white male and the racist patriarchy in general menace by attempting to take down Josh Zepps, who was concerned enough to let her air her side of the controversy on Huff Post Live. She may have explained, but she may also have made things worse by biting the hand that holds the mic. Indeed, there is racism in  this country, and some fight it with satire. Others with anger. Which side is Park on when we could all be together? (And, privileged Josh, let guests talk).

FEMEN activists agitate for Muslims, too

Woody Allen pointed out that liberals are like fish that eat each other. There are bigger pieces of plankton to pry from the sea, Suey. So please aim it at those guys rather than worrying if all of the rest of us are PC enough to end sexism, racism, stereotyping, bias, prejudice, and inequality with you. If we join forces, each approaching the cultural inequities of the day in our own way and as a team, we can bring about a better world. If we squabble, aren't the real movers-and-shakers, the problem-makers, just loving it as they multiply and coat this baby blue watery planet in green slime?

• VIDEO: Angry white male may nevertheless have a point
• VIDEO: Another white male gives his analysis on Park
• Herbal alternative:  the healing wonders of Yucca Root
• FASHION: Is Vogue trivializing domestic violence?
• LAPD shooting: How to keep public out of police stations?
• Elections: Garcia, Dunn head to Long Beach mayor runoff
• 2020 Commission issues blunt challenges to City of LA

What is happening to Pacifica Radio?

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Hillel Aron (laweekly.com, 3-21-14)

KPFK is the L.A. affiliate of Pacifica Radio, which Lewis Hill began in Berkeley in 1949.

Left-wing Pacifica Radio is sliding into the abyss

(Illustration by Ian Keltie)

On March 13, after weeks of rumors, Pacifica Radio's board of directors voted to fire its executive director, Summer Reese, during what was essentially a conference call. 

 

But nothing is as simple as all that in the oldest and oddest public radio network in the country.
 

"We desperately need adult supervision.” 

- [CIA mole and longtime KPFK radio host] Ian Masters

 

Four days later, Reese sent an email to the entire Pacifica staff announcing that she was not recognizing the board's authority: "I want to assure you that I am in possession of a signed and valid contract for three years of employment from the board of directors and that I fully intend to complete that contract."

 

And so it was that Reese marched to the Pacifica national office in Berkeley on March 17th, bolt cutters in hand, removed a padlock placed on the front doors over the weekend, and essentially occupied the building.

 

When newly appointed Interim Executive Director Margy Wilkinson showed up, Reese and 12 of her compatriots -- including Reese's mother, a longtime anti-war and civil rights activist -- refused to let Wilkinson, her husband, and two of her allies pass.

 

"You're all going to be personally liable -- and I'm going to enjoy your houses!" Reese shouted at them, according to former board member Sasha Futran, who backs Wilkinson. More

• LA Sheriff candidates to be quizzed about "mass incarceration"

"At Berkeley" (new film)

CC Liu, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Frederick Wiseman (zipporah.com); KPFK.org

"At Berkeley" is a documentary film by Frederick Wiseman about the University of California at Berkeley -- the oldest, most prestigious, and most radical member of California's ten-campus public university system.

Berkeley is one of the finest research and teaching facilities in the world, excelling most of the world's private institutions while rivaling Ivy League schools. This film shows the major aspects of university life with particular emphasis on the administrative efforts to maintain the academic excellence, public role, and the economic, racial, and social diversity of the student body of America’s premiere public university.

(Mandy Whittles) "Berkeley in the Sixties" documentary of the student movement in Berkeley in the 60's. Uploaded for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only.

 

Berkeley in the Sixties

All of this is taking place in the face of drastic budget cuts imposed by the State of California, big business (represented by its hand selected Board of Regents), and competing colleges. The goal of the film is to show how a major American university is administered and to suggest the complex relationship among its various constituencies -- students, faculty, administrators, alumni, the City of Berkeley, the State of California, and the federal government.

 

In a more abstract way, the film looks closely at Berkeley’s intellectual and social mission, its obligation to the state, and to larger ideas of "higher" education. It illustrates how decisions are made and implemented by the administration in collaboration with its various constituencies. Tickets

Rave review (The New Yorker)
Jordan Moore (Nov. 13, 2013)
Frederick Wiseman, one of our greatest and most prolific documentarians, always delves deeply into his subjects. And for his latest, "At Berkeley," that’s truer than ever. He found one of California’s great treasures, U.C. Berkeley, such a rich subject that it required a four-hour film. It is receiving some rave reviews, including one from astute film critic David Denby of The New Yorker. Laemmeles is proud to open the movie at the Music Hall, Beverly Hills.

 

REVIEW (Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist, indiewire.com) Over the years, veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman has covered what sometimes feels like almost [every] kind of institution and every aspect of life in America (and occasionally, life abroad too). "Titicut Follies," "Juvenile Court," "Zoo," "Racetrack... More