Activist San Diego Shows “Genetic Roulette” Film (tags)
Activist San Diego screened “Genetic Roulette” Saturday, September 22 at the Joyce Beers Community Center. The film is directed by Jeffrey M. Smith and is based on his book of the same title, an exposé of the health risks of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) in the food supply. The showing was co-sponsored with the Yes on 37 campaign, which supports Proposition 37 on the November ballot, that would require genetically modified foods sold in California to be labeled as such.
"Explosive" 9/11 Documentary Premieres in San Diego (tags)
One day before the film's "official" premiere in Beverly Hills, architect Richard Gage and other members of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth showed their new film, "9/11: Explosive Evidence: Experts Speak Out" at the Joyce Beers Community Center in San Diego. Its thesis is that "controlled demolition," not fires caused by the impacts of the planes hitting the buildings, brought down the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001.
San Diego Queer Groups Fight Proposition B (tags)
Queer organizations in San Diego, including Canvass for a Cause (CFAC) and the San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (S.A.M.E.), are uniting against Proposition B, a "reform" initiative sponsored by openly Gay Right-wing Republican City Councilmember and Mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio that would destroy any hope of retirement security for city workers.
"A Hell of a Way to Boil Water": (tags)
Veteran anti-nuclear activist Ace Hoffman came to San Diego from his home in north San Diego County February 20 to talk about the dangers of nuclear power plants in general and two nuclear power plants in particular: the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactor which melted down after last year's tsunami and the ones at San Onofre in southern California. The event was held in part to promote a march and rally at the San Onofre site March 11, the first-year anniversary of the Fukushima tsunami.
Queer Democrats Split in 51st Congressional District Race (tags)
For the second month in a row, the San Diego Democrats for EqualIty refused to endorse a progressive Latina for Congress. This time they were unable to come to a consensus whether to support Denise Moreno Ducheny or Juan Vargas in the 51st Congressional District, currently represented by mayoral candidate Bob Filner, despite Vargas's opposition to marriage equality and his abandonment of previous support for single-payer health care.
It Didn't All Start at Stonewall! Meet Two Pioneers of Queer Liberation Jan. 15 (tags)
Three months before the Stonewall Inn riots in New York city in June 1969 which are commonly — but wrongly — thought to be the start of the Gay liberation movement, a group of Gay activists in San Francisco started the nation’s first Gay Liberation Front. Two of those activists, Leo E. Laurence and Pat Brown, now live in San Diego and will be speaking Monday, January 15, 7 p.m. at the Joyce Beers Community Center in Hillcrest in an event sponsored by Activist San Diego.
“Paradise Plundered” Takes Aim at San Diego’s Political Culture (tags)
Once upon a time, San Diego had a reputation for being an efficiently governed city whose taxes were low -- and so was its level of services, especially to working-class and lower-income people. Today the level of services is even lower and the city is so wretchedly governed the New York Times called it "Enron by the Sea." What happened is explained in the new book "Paradise Plundered," whose co-author, Vladimir Kogan, came to the Hillcrest Town Council October 11 and talked about the city's infamous pension crisis.
What's in a Name? "San Diego Democrats for Equality" (tags)
The mountain labored at the predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club September 22 and produced the club's new name: "San Diego Democrats for Equality." The push to change the club's name was sparked by several members who thought the original name, approved when the club started in 1974, was a relic of a more closeted age and the club needed a new name that more openly and proudly proclaimed its identity as a Queer-rights organization. Though the club voted overwhelmingly to change its name, there was considerable debate over what to change it to: out of the three proposed alternatives, the least openly Queer name, "San Diego Democrats for Equality," won a majority on the first ballot against "San Diego Stonewall Democrats" (after the event commonly, but inaccurately, thought to have started the U.S. Queer rights movement) and "San Diego LGBT Democrats."
Leather History Meeting Relives the Wounds of AIDS (tags)
Though it was billed as a panel on the history of San Diego's Leather community, the San Diego League of Gentlemen meeting July 1 turned into something else: an emotionally intense discussion and reminiscence of the effect AIDS had on the Queer community in general and the Leather community in particular. Themselves touched by the crisis directly ? all the panelists either had AIDS, took care of people who did or were active in the community's response ? they talked about the pain of losing so many friends but also how the community grew and its surviving members became more emotionally committed to each other.
Activist San Diego Screens Medical Cannabis Film (tags)
A new film, ?Medical Cannabis and Its Impact on Human Health,? exposes the lies about the medical use of marijuana that led the San Diego City Council to enact a virtual ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Director James Schmachtenberger, who works at a local dispensary, appeared with the film Saturday, April 30 at a showing sponsored by Activist San Diego. The film is a bit dry, and even Schmachtenberger describes it as not especially entertaining, but it lays out the facts about marijuana's medical uses and makes the case for allowing the substance to be used to treat disease and preserve health.
Michael Sol: Queer Leatherman Explores Intimacy and Sadism (tags)
Michael Sol, Leatherman extraordinaire and candidate for Mr. Los Angeles Leather this weekend (March 26-27), is giving a demonstration of the Japanese rope bondage art, shibari, at the Joyce Beers Community Center, Vermont Street between Terra and Aladdin Restaurants in Hillcrest, Friday, April 1 at 7 p.m. at an event sponsored by the San Diego League of Gentlemen. In this interview, published in the April 2011 issue of Zenger's Newsmagazine, Sol talks extensively about his interests in Leather and so-called "edge play," and the distinction he draws between romantic intimacy and power exchanges. He also discusses the thin line between exercise and martial art, and between consensual S/M and the kinds of torture practiced on unwilling victims in places like Abu Ghraib.
Right-Wing Queer Councilmember DeMaio Dominates San Diego Economic Debate (tags)
Openly Queer Right-wing San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio dominated a forum on the city’s budget woes sponsored by the Hillcrest Town Council February 5. Three other panelists spoke ¬— former San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who stunned his supporters in the progressive community by joining DeMaio in campaigning against a proposed city sales tax increase last fall; former City Councilmember Michael Zucchet, a lobbyist for the city workers’ main union; and economics professor Alan Gin — but DeMaio and his proposed “Roadmap for Recovery,” a plan to balance the city’s budget by privatizing city jobs, slashing pensions and reducing supposedly “nonessential” city services, was the basis for the discussion and provided the context to which the other three panelists responded.
“Know Your Rights,” Progressive Attorneys Tell Activist San Diego (tags)
Though guest of honor Ted Burke, one of 11 Midwest peace and social justice activists recently detained and harassed by the FBI, wasn't able to make Activist San Diego's November 15 meeting on law enforcement and political activism, the discussion was still compelling. Local attorneys and activists Kate Yavenditti, Frank Gormlie and Alex Landon reviewed the history of anti-Left and anti-progressive repression in San Diego and discussed what rights you have when you're stopped by law enforcement or when police officers come to your home.
Democrats or Alternative Parties? SUF Debates the Question (tags)
Work within the Democratic Party or start alternative parties of our own? It’s a debate American progressives have been having since the 1890’s (though until the 1930’s there was the option of working within the Republican Party as well) and the progressive disappointment with the Obama administration was pervasive when San Diego’s Socialist Unity Forum (SUF) met to discuss the question Sept. 19. But so was fear of the “Tea Party” movement — ostensibly independent but supporting and invigorating the Right wing of the Republican Party — and concern that abandoning the Democrats now is unnecessarily divisive and harmful.
Two Openly Gay Councilmembers Debate Sales-Tax Increase (tags)
Rival City Councilmembers Todd Gloria and Carl DeMaio — the first two openly Gay men elected to the San Diego City Council — spoke at the Hillcrest Town Council September 14 and debated Proposition D on the November 2 ballot. This would allow the city to raise its sales tax one-half cent for five years to plug the $72 billion hole in its current budget — but only after the city implements 10 “reforms” reducing its pension obligations to workers and making it easier to privatize city jobs. But even in Gloria’s relatively liberal district, the polite but hostile response from the audience made it clear the measure will be a tough sell to city voters.
Congressmember Davis Speaks at Orderly Town-Hall Meeting (tags)
Elsewhere in the country Democratic Congressmembers are being heckled and sometimes driven off the stage when they try to hold town-hall meetings to explain the health-care reform bill the House is currently debating. Not in San Diego August 11, where Congressmember Susan Davis was able to hold a meeting in peace and discuss the issue in a polite, civil manner. This was largely due to the strategy of the sponsoring organization, the Hillcrest Town Council, which admitted their own members and Hillcrest residents first -- thereby assuring Davis a mostly liberal audience that wouldn't try to disrupt her meeting.
Obama's Medical Marijuana Rhetoric Better Than His Actions (tags)
Despite the much-ballyhooed announcements from the Obama administration that they're going to stop prosecuting medical marijuana patients and providers as long as they abide by the laws of their states, little has changed, attorney Gerald Singleton and activist Dion Markgraaf told Activist San Diego at a meeting April 20. Patients and providers are still being raided, and the Justice Department disappointed medical marijuana advocates by recommending a five-year prison sentence for former Morro Bay dispensary operator Charles Lynch despite the request by the judge in the case for some legal ground to be more lenient.
Queer Democrats Hear from Labor on Employee Free Choice Act (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club heard from Carlos Marquez, chair of the local chapter of Pride @ Work, at its regular meeting April 23. He presented a campaign called http://www.SharedAgenda.org, aimed at building grassroots support for two proposed pieces of federal legislation: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which will make it easier for workers to form unions; and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which will ban discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
San Diego Hosts Meeting on Same-Sex Marriage Equality (tags)
The San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center hosted a town-hall meeting April 2 to discuss the future of marriage equality in the wake of the upcoming California Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in the state. Speakers included Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, other professionals and grass-roots activists like Fernando Lopez, whose group is organizing people to go talk to individuals one-on-one to make them aware of how Queer people suffer from not having access to civil marriage.
Robert Jensen Challenges Patriotism, Industrialism (tags)
University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen spoke in San Diego February 21. His talk was billed as a challenge to the idea of patriotism, but he also said flatly that the industrial mode of production and the way of life it has allowed are no longer sustainable and the world's population will have to live in small, self-sufficient local communities. His speech also attacked "the coarsening of the culture" represented by the easy availability of pornography.
San Diego Activists Show Pro-Palestinian Film "Occupation 101" (tags)
Activist San Diego showed the movie "Occupation 101," a documentary denouncing the Israeli occupation of Palestine, February 16. Leading a discussion after the film, Edgar Hopida, public relations director for the San Diego chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and filmmaker and public-access cable show producer Ed Sweed mostly talked about the American corporate media's near-total pro-Israel bias and ways to use nontraditional media to get alternative perspectives to the American people.
Elections Expert Speaks at Activist San Diego (tags)
Elections expert Sal Magallanez spoke to Activist San Diego Monday, October 13 as part of a presentation that also included a documentary film, "Hacking Democracy," about Seattle activist Bev Harris and her exposés of the ease with which computer-counted elections can be rigged. Magallanez, an official elections observer for the Democratic Party, noted how the San Diego County Registrar of Voters — hired by an all-Republican County Board of Supervisors — has made suspicious policy decisions that may help Republicans in this year's and future elections.
San Diego City Council Candidates Debate (tags)
San Diego City Council candidates Stephen Whitburn and Todd Gloria debated at the Hillcrest Town Council September 9. Both are openly Gay men and the debate was held in the center of San Diego's Queer community, but the candidates are otherwise quite different. Gloria emphasized his roots in San Diego and his extensive experience working as a staff member for elected officials, while Whitburn criticized Gloria's support from developers and said his own experience in journalism and the nonprofit sector would make him a better Councilmember.
Susan Davis, Mike Copass Debate in Hillcrest (tags)
Incumbent San Diego Congressmember Susan Davis finally descended from the mountaintop and deigned to meet her Democratic primary challenger Mike Copass in a one-hour debate Sunday, May 25, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and Common Cause. The biggest difference between the candidates came at the end, when Copass criticized Davis for consistently voting to fund the war in Iraq and Davis said that, though she'd opposed the original war resolution, she felt a need to vote for the funding to "support the troops."
Anti-War San Diego Congressional Candidate Hosts Forum (tags)
Anti-war progressive Mike Copass, challenging incumbent Democratic Congressmember Susan Davis from San Diego in the June 3 primary, held a town-hall meeting on Mother's Day, May 11, not only to promote his own candidacy but also to build opposition to continuing the Iraq occupation.
Over 50 Attend Progressive Community Summit (tags)
Over 50 people attended a progressive community "Mega Summit" in San Diego February 17. Organized by the San Diego County Community Coalition and San Diegans for 9/11 Truth, the event brought together representatives from various local groups ranging from anti-war and anti-drug war groups to insurgent candidates for elective office and urban landscape activists.
San Diego's Controversial City Attorney 'Speaks (tags)
To his supporters, San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre is an activist and truth-teller who'sone of the few local elected officials dealing seriously with the city's budget crises. To his opponents, ranging from the Right-wing San Diego Union-Tribune to the city employee unions, he's a loud-mouthed obstructionist who's dividing the city and costing it money. The controversy was on display January 24, when Aguirre and two of his election oppoennts debated at the predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club.