ARC 109

Fierce Urgency of Now on CAN TV

You can catch a replay of 'The Fierce Urgency of Now: Healthcare and Human Rights for All' on CAN TV.  It will run on Thursday, October 29th at 12:00PM on Channel 21.

The Fierce Urgency of Now: Health Care and Human Rights for All

Saturday, September 19 2-5PM
Access Living, 115 W Chicago

Why has the debate over health care reform involved partisan politicians, media pundits, corporate interests, and hired agitators rather than the people? Why has the single payer option been demonized on the right, the media, and even the liberal establishment? How does the broader crisis in health care in this country – clinic closings, epidemics of disease related to inequality and inaccessibility to care, indifference to wellness in our schools, our public services, the military – relate to the unwillingness to address growing economic gaps in our society and the abdication of public authority for the sake of private concerns? How can the United States learn from other communities about how to deliver care, promote wellness, and affirm the public interest, in order to achieve human rights, here and around the world?

Let's have a dialogue...

Guest Speakers include:

The event will include a multimedia presentation on the state of the moment, a presentation on local to international contexts by invited speakers, and end with a Town Hall inviting Chicago folks on the ground and YOU to collectively reflect on, digest, and connect how the current struggle over health care-- the debates, the longings, the mobs, the industry, the government-- feeds off and illuminates the deeper social and political crisis we face.

Please forward widely!
Contact planners: info@arc109.org. Find us on Facebook. Find the Facebook Event Page. Access Living is an accessible space. If you have specific needs to be able to participate, don't hesitate to ask. ARC09 is all volunteers - folks always welcome to help out! Event posters & t-shirts will be available for donation to help defray the space costs. If you'd like to share healthcare related art and/or literature at the event, please let us know!

"We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now....Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity....We must move past indecision to action." MLK

Bob Barr on Troy Davis

http://washingtontimes.com/ news/2009/sep/03/ constitutional-question/

Thursday, September 3, 2009 
Constitutional question

Bob Barr

Strange as it might seem, the Supreme Court of the United States has never directly and explicitly held that it is unconstitutional for a state to execute a person about whom substantial evidence of innocence has been presented.

However, in a rare exercise of the high court's power to directly order a lower federal court to consider evidence of actual innocence concerning a man already found sentenced to death, at least three justices have declared a willingness to hold that "actual innocence" is constitutionally based.

The historic ruling came in the case of Anthony Troy Davis, who was convicted 20 years ago of the late-night shooting death of Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark MacPhail. Davis' conviction was based not on direct physical evidence or DNA test results, but entirely on so-called eye-witness accounts.

The conviction was subsequently upheld on appeals. However, the fact that seven of nine of those eyewitnesses have recanted their testimony, coupled with the fact that none of the state or federal courts have yet heard directly from any of those witnesses, presented to the Supreme Court a strong argument that Davis should at least be allowed to make such a case.

 

Read more: Bob Barr on Troy Davis

Women in the Vanguard: A Force of Secularism in the Arab World with Nadia Hijab

Nadia Hijab is director of Development Analysis and Communication Services, and an independent consultant to the United Nations and other international organizations on gender, human rights, and human development.

Clinic closures and community violence

 From Chicago Justice Project:

Long-term violence reduction strategies are to be found in the social fabric of our communities and not in our criminal justice system.  Our criminal justice system is reactive and is not built to be proactive, i.e., they respond to violence and for the most part do not prevent violence.  Prevention plays out in our ability to educate, employ, and assist community members in dealing with issues in their life before they rise to the level of the criminal justice system.  By the time the criminal justice system intercedes, victimization has already usually occurred that could have potentially been avoided through the commitment of adequate social and community resources.

Anyone who pays even a minimal amount of attention to the Chicago media is constantly bombarded with evidence of our society’s failures.  This week is different in that we have proof of the fallout of a past failure (the shooting of a mentally disturbed homeless man in the loop) mixed with a forecast of what is to come based on decisions currently made by our political leaders (the closing of numerous area mental health clinics). 

Read the full post here.

Photos from May 2nd gathering

Here are some photos from our May 2nd gathering.  Sorry for the delay in sharing these with you all!

Thank You!

Thanks so much to everyone for coming to the ARC09 Movement Summit. Your kind words and encouragements are really appreciated.

The event brought together over 300 folks from Chicago and beyond and took place at Little Village Lawndale High School on May 2nd. The ARC09 Movement Summit included panel sessions, breakouts, an arts exhibition, resource fair, and words from local artists FM Supreme and King Keith.

The goal of the summit was to build relationships, sharpen our analysis, and promote collaborations and connections across the broad swath of social justice issues and organizations.

Read more: Thank You!