The National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights And Event Co-Chairs : David Galarza * Juan Ramos * Carlos "Charlie" Ramos, Jr.* Martha Laureano,*Julissa Santiago

Invite you To a Social Meet-and-Greet Entre Familia.

For An Evening of Music, Poetry and a Historical Reflection of the
NCPRR's 27 Years of Community Activism and its Role Today.

Featuring NuyoRican Poet Mariposa and Julisa Vale, Prisionera, Andy Torres and
Other great performers.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Latin Quarter's Nightclub

511 Lexington Avenue, New York City

Doors Open at 6:30pm

2 for 1 Drink special and Buffet

Admission:

$25 gets you Free Admission and a One Year Membership;

$15 Non-Members

Must be 21 or older to attend.

RSVP today and/or for more information, please contact
Juan Ramos at juan4thepeople@gmail.com

The Filiberto Ojeda Rios Film Festival 2008 is an initiative of the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign to showcase films that speak to our experience as a colonized people fighting for independence and self-determination!

We have named the film festival after assassinated Machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios because his death raised consciousness throughout the Puerto Rican Diaspora; his murder illustrated the colonial oppression Puerto Rico faces and has radicalized a generation of young activists to continue the fight for independence.

We hope these films will do the same. Join us on our three consecutive Fridays!

Don’t support the Hollywood machine that feeds you nonsense, sex, violence and cheap humor! Learn about yourself, your people, and your struggle!

This Friday's film is la Operacion, a film I have written about and referenced often. Pero for those who have not been paying attention:

La Operacion/The Operation
This documentary brings to the foreground the problem of widespread
sterilization among Puerto Rican women through the use of personal testimony, newsreels, and government propaganda excerpts. The procedure is so common that more than one-third of all Puerto Rican women of childbearing age have been sterilized. Begun in the 1930's as a means of curbing the surplus population, it continues to be reinforced politically and socially in the Puerto Rican communities.

$5 donation/Best offer at each film!

Friday November 21st, 2008 @ 8pm @ The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (that's the West Side Highway) between Bank & Bethune Streets.

This is not just history. It is directly tied into how women's cuerpos are used today as projects and not respected, how the language of choice is often manipulated to help some while harm others and devalue our lives and how and when we continue to bring forth new lives or not.

Seven high school students looking "to beat up some Mexicans" attacked an immigrant from Ecuador on a Long Island street, with one of them fatally plunging a knife into the man's chest during the brawl, police said. A prosecutor compared Marcello Lucero's death over the weekend to a lynching, and the attack was officially labeled a hate crime by Suffolk County authorities.

As I went to vote, I struck up conversations with the people in my hood who can't vote. My community is an immigrant community. The parents of many of my daughter's schoolmates, my neighbors, the shop owners, are undocumented and they all asked me if I was voting. As I waited online for my bagel after voting, I spoke with day laborers asking what the scene at the polls was like. My vote today was more than my individual vote, it was for My tios, tias, y Abuela Lila who are in Puerto Rico now and for those who work here, put money into the U.S. economy and don't have a say in who makes the laws and carries out foreign policy.

First up is my mom!!! Millie Ortiz came from Puerto Rico as a girl and has been in NY ever since. I interviewed her bright and early as the NYC polls opened.

According to the Coalition for the Homeless, the number of new homeless families has surpassed all-time record levels each of the past three months.

Last month, 1,464 new families moved into the shelter system, which is the "highest one-month count since the City began keeping records 25 years ago" and it's 22% higher than September 2007. The group's head, Mary Brosnahan, told the Daily News, "While both city and state budget shortfalls require difficult choices, vulnerable New Yorkers now need more support, not less."

Via / Gothamist

Image Via / NYT

The two-time Latin Grammy nominee, who has made millions of fans around the world over a 30-year career, makes her debut in Miami on Saturday, November 1 at the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, followed by concerts at Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the House of Blues in Chicago.

She will debut songs from her upcoming 2009 CD, Quimba, Fa, Malambo, Ñeque to be released on Times Square Records.

For more on her music and performance, see after the jump.

Not surprisingly, the Mayor was thrilled.

Today, the majority of the City Council decided to give the people of New York a fuller choice in the November, 2009 election. I believe that was the right choice, and I want to thank Speaker Quinn for her leadership. Those of us who work on both sides of City Hall must now move forward with the important decisions that face us, particularly finding ways to soften the fallout from the economic downturn and balancing our budget as revenues decline. We have a lot of work to do together to get New York through these tough times.

I'm happy that my council person voted against the measure and while I don't hate Bloomberg as much as I hate Giuliani, I am not down with playing on people's fears as a control mechanism.

Via / Gothamist , NY1

Via / Blabbeando

Luz Rodriguez, of SisterSong, Women of Color Health Care Collective, speaks of human rights.

See more Latina women, including Kety Esquivel and VL Editor Maegan la Mala, speak what they want after the jump.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008
7:00pm - 9:00pm
LaGuardia Community College
Mainstage Theater, 31-10 Thomson Avenue
Long Island City, NY

Got something to say about the economy, the war, health care, or any other issue?

Then don't miss This Is What Women Want: a pre-debate speakout in NYC!

This Is What Women Want is your chance to cut through the spin and tell the media, the candidates and the world exactly what you want this election season.

We're on a This Is What Women Want Tour of speakouts across the country. We started in Boston on Thursday, 8/21, and now we're taking it to each debate city the night before the debate.

On Tuesday, October 14, local and national media will sit up and listen to women in NYC - from national leaders to the not-yet-known. It could be your voice at that mic!

Come tell us exactly what you want from the candidates, the media and the next President. We’ll be sending the best speakouts to the media and the candidates.

From the economy, to sexism, racism, and other bias in the media’s coverage of the campaign, to immigration, war, poverty, health care, reproductive justice, sexual freedom, worker’s rights, violence, education, environmental concerns and more, this is an unprecedented chance to set the agenda for the country. Whether you’ve got a criticism of the status quo or a visionary idea that no one has yet considered, we want to hear from you.

Our goal is simple: to ensure that the real and varied concerns of women are a force to be reckoned with this election season.

This is What Women Want
Find the Event on Facebook