6:30 PMWednesday, January 11that GOURMAND CAFE(728 S. Dearborn, Chicago) We'll discuss the institutions of Parecon and strategies for their implementation, evaluate the past month's actions and plan for the next (we have several forum venues to work with), manage the website and proposed voicemail line, nail down meeting times and spaces, get news on creative-ish projects Parecon Gaming and Parecon Theater ("Death of a Sales-Mess?" "The Passion of the Priced?"), consider proposed changes to group logos, name, and mission statement, and/or other stuff.Come one, come all.

[The following is NOT a CAPES-endorsed event or group, but it looked interesting, so I thought it worth posting.  I'll be there and talking Parecon if appropriate.  -Sean.] WINNING AGAINST WAL-MART: GETTING BEYOND OPPOSITIONISM WITH NEW ALTERNATIVESHear Carl Davidson of Networking for DemocracySponsor: Open University of the LeftInfo: oulchicago (at) yahoo.com, 773-384-5797 OUL is proud to present veteran activist, scholar and writer Carl Davidson, who argues that it's not enough for progressives simply to oppose Wal-Mart and its labor- and community-crushing presence. We already know what we're fighting against, but what are we fighting for? What's needed, says Davidson, is a program of "high road" structural reform to win real strategic gains against concentrated corporate power and its agenda of universal exploitation. He presents positive alternatives to the Wal-Mart paradigm, viable economic models that meet consumer needs while serving to empower workers and strengthen communities. Following up on last fall's packed showing of Robert Greenwald's "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices," Davidson's PowerPoint presentation relies on the work of Antonio Gramschi and the Mondragon Co-ops in Spain to delve more deeply into the politics of the issue. As grassroots resistance to Wal-Mart grows and the company's "war room" ratchets up its already high-intensity PR campaign, this presentation provides the context we need not just to understand where Wal-Mart wants to take us, but also how we can begin moving society in the opposite direction. Carl Davidson is executive director of Networking for Democracy, co-chair of Chicagoans Against War & Injustice, and co-author, with Jerry Harris, of "CyberRadicalism: A New Left for a Global Age." He is a regular and very welcome OUL presenter. $5 donation if you have it; more if you're willing; no one turned away. FOR MORE INFO: Call the OUL office at (773) 384-5797 if you have a question or would like to lead an OUL session. Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone you think may be interested in attending the program. For more information about OUL, go to www.yahoo.com, click on "groups," type "oulchicago" into the search field and click the search button. Click on "oulchicago" to see recent news and announcements. ABOUT THE OUL:The Open University of the Left (OUL) is an independent forum formed in 1987 to organize presentations and discussion groups about politics, literature, film, philosophy, history and social theory.

Charming tourist spot - check.  Wonderful cheap prices available from the poorest and least secure economic agents in our city - check.  Bottom economic rung (with a long way down if you slip) and home of the "blues" in too many more ways than one - check.  The city's most hardworking, tenacious and inventive DIY economic actors, through simple rules and traditions surviving the Maxwell Street Market.  We want to help them survive it - survive as in "outlive."  Come help seed the Maxwell Street Parecon, on select Sunday mornings throughout 2006. Sunday, January 22nd from 10AM to 11AM and perhaps well beyond, we're going to be at the Maxwell Street Market handing out bilingual PARECON mini-flyers (Word and Acrobat files attached on the "flyer repository page").  RSVP at joveismad[little-at-sign-thingy-nospam-nospam]juno.com (or call me if ya got it) and we can meet up at the southwest corner of Canal and Roosevelt (see attached map) and from there, venture into the fray.  I have to split around 11AM for another gig, but I can hand off flyers to anyone staying longer.    We should be getting our voicemail number this week and we agreed in our December meeting to add this number to the mini-flyer - I'll do so and post it here well before the 25th. Sean.

  (not a CAPES event.  Go, learn, tell us what you learned, maybe mention Parecon while there.) 5 pm, Sunday Jan 22 Resurrection Lutheran School: 1050 W School, RAP Classroom THE BIG THREE OF FAIR TRADE: CHOCOLATE, FLOWERS, DIAMONDS Hear Nancy Jones of Chicago Committee on Fair Trade             discuss Valentine's Day from a fair-trade perspective Followed by EarthSave Chicago potluck dinner Info: chris.brunn (at) earthsavechicago.com

(not a CAPES event.  Go, learn, tell us what you learned, maybe mention Parecon while there.)THE JUSTICE AT PEABODY CAMPAIGN: MANY STONES TO BUILD AN ARCH Hear Ross Hyman of Midwest AFL-CIO on the campaign against union-busting at Peabody EnergySponsor: Labor Research Study GroupInfo/RSVP: 312-996-8733, hworthen (at) uiuc.edu

Not CAPES-connected: Two films on starting at 2PM - co-sponsored by the Oak Park Coalition for Truth & Justice and the Oak Park Public Library.  first film 2PM, second perhaps 3:30PM.  from http://www.oppl.org/events/filmseries.htm: "Life & Debt" Saturday, January 28, 2006 2:00 p.m. Veterans Room, Level 2, Main Library Jamaica, land of sea, sand, and sun and a prime example of the complexities of economic globalization on the world's developing countries. With 25 years of "help" from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, intended to bring third world nations into the free market economy, these policies have crippled Jamaica's efforts towards self-reliant development while enriching the lenders. more about this film... 86 minutes "Behind the Labels: Garment Workers on US Saipan" Saturday, January 28, 2006 screening will follow "Life & Debt" Veterans Room, Level 2, Main Library Lured by false promises and driven by desperation, thousands of Chinese and Filipina women pay huge fees to work in garment factories on the Pacific island of Saipan - the only US territory exempt from federal minimum wage and immigration laws. The clothing they sew, bearing the "Made in USA" label, is shipped duty- and quota-free to the US for sale by The Gap, J. Crew, Polo, and other retailers. more about this film... 46 minutes