Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 23:26:18 EDT From: DemocracyU@aol.com Subject: Experience Beyond Biodevastaion 5 on video... Please Forward! To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Dear Subscribers, Supporters, and Friends:
Below are descriptions of 5 new tapes in the Democracy University (DU) Video Series. Each is 8-hours long and is available for a donation of $5 or more each to subscribers and first-time customers. They include recent talks by Amy Goodman, Winona LaDuke, Vandana Shiva, Medea Benjamin, Maxine Waters, Dennis Brutus, Vincent Bugliosi, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Tony Russo, Tom Hayden, Dennis Kucinich, Robert Reich, and Warren Beatty, to name just a few. Please order the videotapes you would like by email or telephone (see bottom) and send your donation for them after you receive them in the mail.
Volumes 34.1, 34.2 and 35 were recently mailed to paid-up subscribers. DU Volumes 34.1 and 34.2 contain 15 hours of teach-ins from the recent Beyond Biodevastation Conference in San Dieo, which drew activists and scholars from around the world, and took many issues addressed in Seattle a step further. I have prioritized this conference in distribution because of the urgency of much of the information, since many of the issues involve processes and actions that appear to be irreversible and could be quite severe, and because of the apparent inability and/or unwillingness of mainstream media to adequately cover the issues involved.
In the space at the end of DU 34.2 I've added a Chomsky talk I taped near Boston at a conference on Reparative Justice (i.e., about creating a criminal justice system that helps the incarcerated get their lives together). The complete title of Dr. Chomsky's talk (which wouldn't fit on the label) is "Restoring Rights: The Assault Against Freedom and Democracy". Unfortunately, I wasn't told about the rest of the conference in advance and was only able to tape a little of the rest of it.
DU 35 contains a recent conference that was put on by Americans for Democratic Action, an organzation that supports progressive candidates and positions across party lines (many of its members and officers supported Nader). There are a lot of exciting ideas and speakers, including Vincent Bugliosi (on the possibility of impeaching the Supreme Court), Warren Beatty, Medea Benjamin, and about 10 of the best members of Congress.
As usual, I'm getting many more good events than I can fit into the 10 tapes I mail to subscribers each year. Among those I am not yet mailing (although I ay later) is the conference commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers which I taped in Washington DC in June, which included defendants Daniel Ellsberg and Tony Russo, as well as many journalists, lawyers, and others involved in the case (DU33). At the end of that tape is added "Lessons of Vietnam", an excellent talk by Dan Ellsberg I videotaped at Hampshire College in 1997.
I'm also preparing a 2-tape set of panels and talks from the Press Freedom Conference that Project Censored held in San Francisco. These include Michael Parenti, Norman Solomon, and Amy Goodman, as well as many other excellent speakers on important issues. I hope to fit these three tapes into the mailings later. Let me know if you would like me to send them sooner.
I have also put together an 8-hour videotape with three events related to the energy crisis: a forum on the California Energy Crisis with Rep. Debra Bowen, a program put on by the Glendale Greens on solar and other energy alternatives, and the Energy Independence rally, march, and demonstration, which took place in Long Beach (CA) on July 4th. I doubt if I will include this tape in the mailings because a good portion of it deals with local issues and actors, so be sure to let me know if you want me to send you a copy.
I would like to make a video on intentional communities for progressives, and would like to know of such communities that I could visit with my kids, possibly later this summer. It is not likely that I could actually accomplish a relocation myself, but I would like to at least make a videotape about what is available, that others could benefit from as well. I solicit suggestions and contacts.
As was mentioned in the last letter, I've also been thinking about starting a publication and/or an organization that would help to promote progressive causes and candidates across party lines, that would augment and work with existing organizations and publications. I would like to hear your ideas and suggestions. as well as your suggestions regarding events that we should videotape for the Series.
Below are the contents of the latest 5 videos in the DU Series, as appears on their labels:
The DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VIDEO SERIES, Volumes 32 through 35
DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VOL. 32 (6 events & excerpts; an 8 hr.7 min.video for $5): "AIR WARS: Independent Voices Under Fire", with Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzales, Bernard White, & many more. L.A. 1st Baptist Church, 3/23/01, 3:29. AMY GOODMAN: "Independent Media & Dissent: from the U.S. to Indonesia and East Timor," Berkeley, 4/27/01, 2:19. "An Evening with WINONA LADUKE," Berkeley, CA., 3/15/01, 1:40. Law Professor IRWIN CHEMERINSKY, L.A., Ca., 5/12/01, :19. Human Rights Activist DENNIS BRUTUS, at IPPN, Madison, WI, 6/4/00, :14. Cole vs. Huizar (debate excerpt), 4/1/01, 6 mins.
DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VOLUME 33 (2 events; an 8 hr. 3 min. videotape for $5): A PENTAGON PAPERS SYMPOSIUM on the 30th Anniversary of Their Release: Morning: Ellsberg's keynote; Panel: The Confrontation between Press & Gov't.: Gaffney, Goodale, Ungar, H. Smith, Oberdorfer, Rudenstine, Glendon. Lunch: Former Sen. Mike Gravel. Afternoon: The Pentagon Papers Study Inside the Defense Dept.: Prados, Halperin, Schandler, Margolis; The Historical Significance of the Pentagon Papers: Crandell, Prados, Raskin, Powers, Russo, Ellsberg; Closing. National Press Club, Washington, DC, 6/5/01, 7:24. DAN ELLSBERG: "Lessons of Vietnam", Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, 10/4/97, :39.
DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VOLUME 34.1 (Part one of 2 parts; an 8 hr.11min.video for $5): "BEYOND BIODEVASTATION: The 5th Grassroots Gathering to Celebrate Biodiversity and Question Genetic Engineering" TAPE 1: Farm Issues & Genetic Engineering: Wenzel, Kinsman, Christison, Quaday, Schmeiser; Prince Mishkin Band; Welcome: Brian Tokar & Beth Burrows; Science & GE: B. Tokar, Dr. R. Steinbrecher, Dr. M. Crouch; Patents, Biopiracy, & Globalization: Vandana Shiva, A. Kimbrell,V. Tauli- Corpuz, A. Barreda, Chaia Heller, Burrows; Saturday: P. Millet, P. Rosset, M.Offerman, Food Issues,Wilson & Akre; Human GE. San Diego, CA, 6/22-23/01, 8:11.
DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VOLUME 34.2 (2 events; an 8 hr. 23 min. videotape for $5): "BEYOND BIODEVASTATION 5th Grassroots Gathering..." TAPE 2: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Vandana Shiva, Peg Millet; Worldwide GE Response: Spitzer, Thomas, Anderson, Tilly, Kallman, Pimiento, Sharratt, Petermann, Winters; Q&A; Bio- Piracy PC; Worldwide Genetic Engineering Response, cont.; Biopiracy and North America Geopolitics: Andres Barreda; Biowarfare: E. Hammond, S. Pimiento; Patents, Biopiracy, Globalization, cont.: Kimbrell, Tauli-Corpuz, Shiva, Heller, Burrows. San Diego, CA, 6/23/01, 6:52. Noam CHOMSKY: "Restoring Rights". Amherst College, Norton, MA, 5/30/01, 1:31.
DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VOLUME 35 (1 event; an 8 hr. 17 min. videotape for $5 ): "WAKE UP DEMOCRATS! Take Back the Country" Conference, with Rob Reiner, Robert Reich, Robert Rosendahl, Rep. Hilda Solis, Rep. Henry Waxman, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Ed Begley Jr., Robt. Borosage, Vincent Bugliosi, Warren Beatty, Susan Lerner, Rep. Maxine Waters, Roy Ulrich, Medea Benjamin, S. David Freeman, Peter Navarro, Hon. Jackie Goldberg, Harold Meyerson, Hon. Antonio Villaraigosa, Amy Wakeland, Bob Erlenbush, Hon. Eric Garcetti, Tom Hayden, Aqella Sherrills, Parke Skelton, & Lila Garrett. Sponsored by the Southern California ADA, Los Angeles, CA, 6/24/01, 8:17.
Please forward and/or distribute this announcement to your friends and the email lists you subscribe to. We receive no grants or other insitutional support. We work long hours and have gone way into debt to make these tapes available, and need your help in getting the word out about them so this project can survive. We thank you in advance for your assistance!
Best Wishes, Ralph Cole (for son Eric Cole)
Information for Non- Subscribers:The Requested Donation for each of the above videotapes: $5 or more per videotape for current subscribers and first-tim orderers, singly or in quantity; $7 or more each for others (singly or in quantity). Please send your donation after you receive your order in the mail. Please note that a donation is required. It is the only way I have to cover the out-of-pocket costs of reproduction and mailing, to pay my son, and to sustain my family. To Order: Contact Ralph Cole at (213) 747-6345, or by email at DemocracyU@aol.com. Subscription Information: We put the best events we tape into a series we call the Democracy University Video Series. We will send you 10 videotapes from the series per year in exchange for your promise to remit a donation of $5 per tape after each tape you receive. Tapes are generally mailed singly, or in threes (to cut postage and handling costs). Please remember to tell us if your address or subscription status changes. Prepayment is optional, and to avoid misunderstanding, is accepted through the end of the current calendar year only. As an aside, we are down to 183 subscribers that were paid up as of the last count, which is not nearly enough to sustain this project adequately. Please consider subscribing, or renewing your subscription. Sustaining Supporters Needed: The $5 per tape enables us to duplicate and mail tapes, but covers only a portion of all the costs involved. Unfortunately, raising the minimum donation doesn't help, since the number of tapes that people request decreases drastically when we raise it (which may be why no one has succeeded at this). Additional donations (for travel, equipment, time, labor, and etc.) are not only needed but are critical for the survival of this project. Please support this project by subscribing and/or by making a separate or additional donation if you can. Thank you!