POVERTY: Our Dirty Secret

Michael Harrington and Today's Other America:
Corporate Power and Inequality
A Documentary Film on Poverty
Discussion to follow.

Sunday, December 2nd, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Unitarian Annex - 208 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca NY

The United States thought it was the richest nation in the world. Then in 1962 Michael Harrington published The Other America, and Americans discovered poverty. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson vowed to do something about it and initiated the War on Poverty. Indeed poverty rates plummeted, but now they are back up. Let us take a look back and then talk about what has happened since. And what needs to be done now.

Let's Bring Progressive Groups Together to discuss this topic which impacts so many issues that we are dealing with today.

Sponsored by: Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America, Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Council. Cosponsored by the Tompkins County Workers' Center, Ithaca Catholic Worker

Occupy and Take Action

Cornel West and Frances Fox Piven discuss the Occupy movement. It is a very hopeful moment, because people are coming together to raise awareness and challenge deep injustices in this society. Young and old can learn from each other. Recorded March 18, 2012 at Left Forum.

Poverty in America - 50 Years Later

Frances Fox Piven and Cornel West remember Michael Harrington and the stir that his book The Other America caused. It led to progress in reducing poverty, but now, with the resurgence of the 1%, poverty is back worse than ever. But people are starting to resist. Recorded March 18, 2012 at Left Forum.

Worker Cooperatives: Sharing Makes a Lot Out of Next to Nothing

Saturday, March 10, 2012

2:00-4:00 PM

Worker Cooperatives: Sharing Makes a Lot Out of Next to Nothing

Will your next job be in a cooperative? Watch a video about a cooperative success story (Mondragon) and hear from Joe Marraffino, Organizer, Democracy at Work Network about startups close to home.

at the Workers' Center, upstairs at 115 The Commons (Martin Luther King Street), Ithaca above the Autumn Leaves Bookstore.

Sponsors: Education Committee of Occupy Ithaca, Ithaca DSA, Sustainable Tompkins

Contact: Theresa Alt talt@igc.org, 607-273-3009, cell 607-280-7649

Mondragon: Cooperative Success

Carl Davidson of Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism tells the story of the Mondragon Cooperatives. They began small in the poverty of the Basque Country of Spain after World War II. The workers own them and elect their directors. Now they are a huge complex of businesses doing nearly 14 billion euros in sales but still democratically run. Recorded March 19, 2011 at Left Forum.

Mondragon Cooperatives Around the World

Corl Davidson of CCDS tells how the Mondragon Cooperatives are now establishing offshoots on other continents. The worker ownership concept is taking root in the United States too. Recorded March 19, 2011 at Left Forum.

Mondragon vs. US Poverty

Carl Davidson of CCDS tells how Mondragon has inspired worker cooperatives in the United States too. The Basque cooperatives began among an impoverished, oppressed people, and those conditions exist in the US too. Recorded March 19, 2011 at Left Forum.