Paradigm Shift

From Greater NYC for Change:

Debt Ceiling Negotiations

As the President and Congress work to negotiate a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, Republicans in Congress are demanding huge funding cuts and radical changes to vital social service programs. Greater NYC for Change opposes these cuts, and urges all lawmakers to reject any deficit reduction proposal which will make harmful benefit reductions to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs. Specifically:

• We need Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Do not cut or “adjust” them now, while millions are out of work.
• Social Security did not cause the deficit, and it should not be cut to reduce a deficit it did not cause. Seniors have earned Social Security through a lifetime of hard work.
• Do away with the Bush tax cuts and end tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthy. Make them pay their fair share.

Action Items you can take to save benefit programs:

Call NYS Congress members to oppose benefit cuts

Seventy Congress members have sent a letter to the White House urging the President not to cut Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits in debt ceiling negotiations, but eleven New York State Representatives have not yet signed this letter. Can you call them today? Say:

“I support our nation’s historic and vital social programs and urge YOU to do so too.”

The Representatives from New York State who have not signed the letter are:
Bishop (202-225-3826), Israel (202-225-3335), McCarthy (202-225-5516), Ackerman (718-423-2154), Meeks (202-225-3461), Crowley (202-225-3965), Velazquez (202-225-2361), Serrano (202-225-4361), Lowey (202-225-6506), Owens (518-565-0183), and Higgins (202-225-3306).

Additional information is available through the Strengthen Social Security campaign.

July 20th Events: Take part in a state-wide campaign to save benefit programs

Join a coalition of progressive groups traveling across New York State to urge NY representatives to oppose benefit cuts. Gather in lower Manhattan on Wednesday, July 20 and take the South ferry to Staten Island to tell Rep. Michael Grimm “hands off social security, Medicaid, and Medicare.”

3:45pm: Join our fun “Boat Brigade”!
Gather at the South Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan. Together we’ll take the 4 p.m. ferry over to Staten Island. Bring group banners and homemade signs!

5:00pm: Press Conference and Rally
Take the Staten Island ferry to Borough Hall – 10 Richmond Terrace (across the street from the St. George Ferry Terminal – enter on Stuyvesant Place).

Email Hilary Papineau to RSVP or for additional information: hilarina@gmail.com

Events are sponsored by the new “Restore the American Promise” campaign. Partners include 1199 SEIU, Fight for a Fair Economy • Citizen Action of New York • New York State Alliance for Retired Americans • New York State AFL-CIO • New York Statewide Senior Action Council • New York Association on Independent Living

On Sunday, July 24th, Women’s eNews will be hosting a scavenger hunt for women’s history in New York City!

“Join Women’s eNews to celebrate women’s imprint on New York City’s history with a special Scavenger Hunt version of Opening the Way.

Follow clues to compete for a fun packed feminist goody bag while walking through the accomplishments of 21 diverse female leaders, honoring suffragists, abolitionists, journalists, and fierce thinkers who changed both the city and the nation among the streets of downtown New York City.

Discover Elizabeth Jennings’ stand against racial segregation on Park Row, Margaret Sanger’s indictment for her fierce support of reproductive health and Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s publishing of the feminist journal The Revolution.  ”

Prizes for the winners of the scavenger hunt include donations from Ms. Magazine and the Feminist Press.

Participants should plan to meet with their groups outside of the WeNews’ Headquarters (6 Barclay Street, New York NY 10007) at 11:00 am.  Registration costs 50.00 dollars per group; each group may have up to four people.

To register and/or receive more information, email Charlotte Cooper or call (212) 244-1744.

The first annual NYC Women’s Empowerment Summit will be held from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on July 16th, 2011 at Bennett Media Studios (723 Washington Street, New York NY 10014).  “The NYC Women’s Empowerment Summit is a one-day conference designed for all women, young and old, to meet and share best practices, stories of success, and experiences both personal and professional. The goal of the summit is to create new bridges and a wider awareness of political, social and economic causes, in order to help other women reach their full potential in life.”

The summit will be featuring an impressive panel of sixteen successful women in the workplace, including philanthropists, actresses, models, and more; this year’s headlining speaker is Vivica A. Fox, actress and television producer.  For more information about the speakers, make sure to check out this website.

Tickets for the event cost 45 dollars and include all of the event activities, including catered lunch; all proceeds will be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  Tickets are selling quickly, so !

Wednesday, June 29 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Puck Building, 4th Floor
295 Lafayette St (at Houston)
Manhattan, New York

For far too many women, sexual harassment, victim blaming and assault are every day fixtures of life in a sexist society.

Internationally women are taking a stand and saying enough is enough! SlutWalks are being organized in cities from Toronto, to Boston, to New Delhi…and it is coming here to New York on August 20th. Lets show the world that New Yorkers will fight for a zero tolerance policy on sexual assault.

Join us this Wednesday for an initial general planning meeting to promote outreach and prepare for the Slutwalk march on August 20. We’ll be organizing all summer around governmental assaults on reproductive rights and access to healthcare, the Dominique Strauss-Kahn trial, the NY police rape acquittals, and sexual violence and gender discrimination on all levels.

Come to this meeting if you are sick and tired of the attacks on women’s lives and ready to fight back!

MAKE IT KNOWN THAT THOSE WHO EXPERIENCE SEXUAL ASSAULT ARE NEVER THE ONES AT FAULT!

For more info, contact FightSexismNYC@gmail.com

Found guilty of official misconduct but acquitted rape, ex-cops Moreno & Mata made 3 unauthorized return trips to a woman’s apartment and even placed a fake 911 call to buy themselves more time inside the residence of the helpless person they had been called to protect. Moreno, while denying the rape allegation, actually testified he got into this semi-conscious woman’s bed while she was wearing nothing but a bra.

This outrageous conduct was a clear betrayal of the officers’ duty to protect this member of the public. Their misconduct leaves NYC women forced to wonder whether a police officer called in a moment of need will be a protector or a predator.

Let Sentencing Judge Know How You Feel: Sign a petition (which will be hand delivered to Justice Gregory Carro)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 9am – Wear White!
Foley Square – 4,5,6,N,R train to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall. J,Z to Chambers St.

For more info & to RSVP: Contact:  Connect the Dots, a coalition comprised of CONNECT, Crime Victims Treatment Center, Feministing, National Organization for Women (NOW-NYC), The Healing Center, New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault and Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN). We are a diverse NYC based coalition of advocates and organizations working to prevent violence and sexual assault in our city and promote women’s health and rights. Along with NYC Council members, activists and survivors, we are coming together to “connect the dots” between the sentencing of Officers Moreno and Mata, and the larger issue of Violence Against Women!

RSVP on Facebook now!

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, email NYC Connect the Dots!

How I Learned to Speak Turkish will be having a rare NYC screening June 28th as part of “Where Less Is More,” an evening of shorts presented by New York Women in Film.

The films are about pigeon racing, immigrants in Greece, a aPakistani-American kite-flying competition, a psychiatric patient’s recovery, a Jewish immigrant’s journey to West Virginia, and a Margaret Cho tribute! .

There will be a Q&A following the screening, and an after-party with cash bar and complimentary food.

SCREENING INFO

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Anthology Film Archives [32 East Second Avenue, New York]
Tickets $6 – $9 (can be or purchased at box office)
After party: Dempsey’s Pub, 61 2nd Avenue

ABOUT THE FILM

Winner – Atlanta Film Festival Jury Prize – Best Documentary Short
Using a witty first-person documentary style, the story begins as the filmmaker Therese Shechter travels to Turkey to interview young Turkish women for a documentary on feminism. Instead, she becomes fascinated with Turkish men. And they, in turn, are fascinated with her. The film is a twisted and entertaining travelogue that asks important questions about identity, sexuality and the nature of female power. And it’s all true.

CAN’T MAKE THE SCREENING?

• Download the whole film from IndiePix for the low arkadaş price of $7.95 or
• Watch the trailer plus bonus clips of Hakan and the dancing fools of Cafe Vazgal.
• For film updates, Turkish news, and future screenings –  follow on Facebook and Twitter.

[Taken from e-mail newsletter and modified for this blog post]