CISPES at 30

Posted on December 22, 2010 by admin

LISTEN TO ALEXIS STOUMBELIS & BURKE STANSBURY

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

LISTEN TO ROSA LOZANO & SONIA UMANZOR

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

(Left to right) Rosa Lozano & Sonia Umanzor, two generations of CISPES

This winter, activists and supporters have gathered in four cities across the U.S. (Seattle, LA, NY and DC) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador). The organization shares the same birthday as the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front), which formed in response to growing U.S. backed violence in El Salvador. CISPES was created in order to build “a national movement to end U.S. support for the military regime in El Salvador and to stand in solidarity with the struggle for self determination in the Americas.” Today, it is not a U.S. backed military regime in power in El Salvador, but the FMLN.

December 11, at the 30th anniversary celebration at St. Stephen’s Church in northwest DC, CISPES executive director Alexis Stoumbelis discussed the conditions which gave rise to both CISPES and FMLN: “In 1980, there was just alarming violence and rising repression from the Salvadoran state, especially the Salvadoran military and paramilitary forces, against social movements, unions, especially the student movement, organized campesinos and farmers. All of the social movements in El Salvador that had really been taking to the streets and posing a really powerful challenge to the regime in the late 70s were being disappeared, murdered… by the thousands.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration | Comments Off on CISPES at 30

Is Jack Evans In Violation of D.C. Law?

Posted on December 21, 2010 by admin

Today, along with voting to close a $188 million budget shortfall, the D.C. Council is scheduled to vote on a $46 million tax abatement for a proposed luxury boutique hotel in Adams Morgan to be operated by Marriott. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, who earns a second six-figure salary from the law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs, recused himself from voting on the last deal involving taxpayer subsidies for a project involving Marriott, possibly because his firm represented Marriott (details below). It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Evans recuses himself today as well. (Update: Mr. Evans did not recuse himself and the measure passed by a 9-3 margin, with one abstention (Muriel Bowser). Councilmembers David Catania, Phil Mendelson and Mary Cheh opposed the tax abatement.)

LISTEN TO JOHN HANRAHAN

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

Aside from Mayor-elect Vincent Gray, and possibly D.C. Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans may be the most influential elected official in the District of Columbia. Mr. Evans is the powerful chair of the Committee on Finance and Revenue and he plays a key role in determining which projects receive District taxpayer support. Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia | Comments Off on Is Jack Evans In Violation of D.C. Law?

$46 Million in Tax Abatements for “A Damn Near Skyscraper” in Adams Morgan

Posted on December 19, 2010 by admin

Thursday, December 16, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C held a community forum on the proposed $46 million tax abatement for the planned luxury boutique hotel in Adams Morgan, which would displace City Paper and WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio. After hearing from a divided audience at Mary’s Center, the ANC gave their stamp of approval to the proposed tax abatement, but with nine conditions.

Tuesday, December 21, the D.C. Council is scheduled to vote on the deal. At the Council’s last legislative session, At-large Councilmember Phil Mendelson pointed out that sufficient notice regarding the proposed tax abatement bill had not been given and therefore the Council could not vote on it. Had Mr. Mendelson not protested, Thursday’s forum on the proposed tax abatement would have taken place after the D.C. Council had already voted on the matter. Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Gentrification | Comments Off on $46 Million in Tax Abatements for “A Damn Near Skyscraper” in Adams Morgan

Rent Control and Racism in D.C.

Posted on December 15, 2010 by admin

LISTEN TO CYNTHIA POLS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

No substitute for rent control

D.C.’s rent control laws regulate the rents paid by tenants who live in buildings built prior to 1976. As it is currently written, every five years the District’s rent control laws must be renewed or they will expire. On December 31, 2010, rent control in D.C. would have disappeared had the D.C. Council not taken action last week. But simply renewing rent control without strengthening protections for tenants, as the D.C. Council did, may not be enough, according to Cynthia Pols, a tenant activist and organizer.

In her July testimony before the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development, chaired by At-large Councilmember Michael Brown, Cynthia Pols said the city must do more than just renew rent control. Pols said, “Fixing the District’s rent control laws is essential for the District’s future. It is one of the few tools the District government has to preserve and enhance the racially, ethnically, and economically diverse character of the City.”

Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia, Gentrification | Comments Off on Rent Control and Racism in D.C.

The “We Shall Overcome” Award

Posted on December 7, 2010 by admin

LISTEN TO CHERYL BARNES

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

Cheryl Barnes, who will be honored at the Washington Peace Center's Activist Awards this Wednesday

Wednesday evening at the Washington Peace Center’s Activist Awards, Cheryl K. Barnes will be honored with the “We Shall Overcome Award” for her tireless work on behalf of the most vulnerable District residents. In nominating Ms. Barnes for the award, the Washington Peace Center said, “She spends many of her hours listening to folks that are living on the streets and sharing her testimony of being a former drug addict and alcoholic who listened to others who told her that she too could obtain hope in life.”

Ms. Barnes said, “I lived on the streets for 35 years. In the shelters, in parks, because of my addiction. If it wasn’t for a place like CCNV, who housed (at that time) 1200 people, meets all the need for the human, from the old to the young to the middle aged, to be housed, to have a roof over our heads. It was a shelter, and it helped me get to where I am today, because, as I went through the system and needed… when it was snowing, like it was last year, I had a shelter to go to, where I was adequately helped. Now, it’s like, ‘to each his own, you’re on your own.’ And that’s not the way it should be.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Gentrification, HIV/AIDS | Comments Off on The “We Shall Overcome” Award

The Lack of Youth Space in Downtown Silver Spring

Posted on December 4, 2010 by admin

LISTEN TO TIFFANY SPENCER

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

Youth organizer Tiffany Spencer

At the grand opening of the $22 million Silver Spring Civic Building this summer, one elected official after another hailed the occasion as a major achievement for Montgomery County. But not everyone in the crowd felt the same way. Several young protesters raised signs and disrupted the proceedings with chants in order to highlight the lack of dedicated youth space at the new Civic Building, as well as in downtown Silver Spring.

Among the protesters was 20-year-old youth organizer Tiffany Spencer. Spencer said of young people in downtown Silver Spring: “[T]hey spend their money here, they hang out here, they don’t have anywhere else to go so they hang out in the streets, which upsets the adults because they feel like they’re just loitering and not doing anything constructive. Which is why they need a space and the Civic Building is the perfect place to have it. It’s a public space, there’s a lot of rooms.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Lack of Youth Space in Downtown Silver Spring

A Sensible Approach to Balancing D.C.’s Budget

Posted on December 3, 2010 by admin

Tuesday, December 7, the D.C. Council will vote on how to make up the District of Columbia’s $188 million budget shortfall for this current fiscal year. The mayor’s proposal calls for balancing the budget by implementing deep and broad cuts to city services. A number of grassroots and advocacy organizations are calling on the D.C. Council to avoid some cuts to services by enacting a 1 percent tax increase on those earning more than $200,000.

This past Tuesday, at an all-day (and night) hearing, numerous witnesses stated their willingness to pay more in taxes in exchange for protecting the safety net services. Apparently this was too much to handle for At-large Councilmember David Catania who launched into a series of tirades. Catania would be impacted by the proposed tax increase since he earns more than $200,000. In addition to his Council salary of $125,000, Catania earns an additional $120,000 a year working for a subsidiary of M.C. Dean, a company that has done more than $130 million in business with the District over the past decade.

Tuesday morning at 9 AM, before the D.C. Council vote on the budget, several groups are holding “The People’s Hearing “ outside of the John A. Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW. They are calling on “the Council to make the better choice: raise income tax by 1 percent for income over $200,000 a year and invest in priorities that put DC to work!”

Continue reading →

Posted in District of Columbia | Comments Off on A Sensible Approach to Balancing D.C.’s Budget

World AIDS Day Special: Examining D.C.’s HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Posted on December 1, 2010 by admin

LISTEN TO LARRY BRYANT

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

December 1st is World AIDS Day. There are few places in the world that have been harder hit by this disease than the nation’s capital, where at least three percent of District residents are infected with HIV or AIDS. Anything above one percent is considered a “generalized and severe” epidemic. Upon the release of these staggering numbers in March of 2009, Shannon Hader, the former Director of the District’s HIV/AIDS Administration, said, “Our rates are higher than West Africa… They’re on path with Uganda and some parts of Kenya.”

Larry Bryant is National Field Organizer for Housing Works and co-chair of DC Fights Back. Bryant questions why the District of Columbia, despite experiencing an HIV/AIDS epidemic, does not have a comprehensive plan in place like the federal government’s National AIDS Strategy.

Continue reading →

Posted in HIV/AIDS | Comments Off on World AIDS Day Special: Examining D.C.’s HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Pardoning a Whistleblower

Posted on November 29, 2010 by admin

LISTEN TO DOUGLAS BIRKENFELD

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

UBS Whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld

In Addition to a Turkey, Obama Should Pardon a Whistleblower this Holiday Season

President Barack Obama carried on a tradition by pardoning a turkey the day before Thanksgiving. In a personal letter to the president, Dr. Ronald Birkenfeld called on President Obama to go a step further this holiday season and also pardon his son, the jailed whistleblower and former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld.

Dr. Ronald Birkenfeld’s letter reads, “This is a personal appeal to your sense of justice, Mr. President, in light of Bradley’s undisputed service to our country. He single-handedly exposed the largest tax fraud in IRS history… His separation from his loved ones is extremely painful to our family, especially when we know that his sentence is harsher than that of any of the thousands of wrongdoers that he took the unprecedented risk to expose. This Christmas, the thousands of US citizens with offshore accounts who were granted amnesty will be sitting at home with their families. The high ranking UBS executives who pled guilty and were merely made to pay a fine will be exchanging presents with their loved ones… To this day, Bradley has spent more time in jail than any other banker, client, or executive held responsible for this decades-long crime.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Pardoning a Whistleblower

Farmworkers Make Thanksgiving Dinner Possible

Posted on November 26, 2010 by admin

Listen to Lucas Benitez HERE:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download mp3

Yesterday, millions of Americans enjoyed a Thanksgiving Dinner made possible by some of the most underpaid and overlooked workers in the United States. While food production is increasingly controlled by a handful of the largest corporations on earth, the plentiful choices at grocery stores is made possible by farmworkers, who are too often very poorly paid.

Lucas Benitez, one of the founders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, was in Washington, D.C. this summer to promote C.I.W.’s traveling Modern Day Slavery Museum. Today, C.I.W. has nearly 5,000 members and regularly forces some of the largest corporations on earth to the negotiating table, but the organization had quite humble beginnings. In 1992, Benitez and seven other farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida began meeting Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM at a local church to discuss the injustices they faced. Prior to the founding of C.I.W., Immokalee farmworkers did not have an organization they could turn to when growers withheld their wages, or even when they were beaten, Benitez said.

Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration, Labor/Jobs | Comments Off on Farmworkers Make Thanksgiving Dinner Possible