HNSA partners with liquor stores in West Oakland to offer fresh produce

Alshea Mitchell pedaled toward the Sav-Mor Liquors store in West Oakland, hauling a box filled with organic produce on the back of her bicycle. Mitchell, 20, was delivering the fruit and vegetables to the corner store so that, for the first time, alongside its shelves full of liquor and cigarettes and convenience foods, Sav-Mor would also be offering its customers fresh produce.

“I’m really excited about this delivery,” Mitchell said.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Pre-Roe advocate for Women's Rights: Reverend Howard Moody remembered

Reverend Howard Moody died this week, a Texan-turned-New Yorker who helped thousands of women obtain safe abortions before Roe v. Wade. I have long known about the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion Reverend Moody co-founded, but I still marvel at its success.

Think of it: the year is 1967. Abortion is still illegal in New York State (and everywhere else in the United States) The word “abortion” is only whispered in secret—never even said on the radio or TV. Then a group of ministers and rabbis announce in a press conference that they are establishing the “Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion,” that they will talk to pregnant women about abortion and tell them where to go if they wish to have an abortion. And for three years they did exactly that—no one was arrested, no government agency tried to close them down—right up to the legalization of abortion in New York State.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Former President of PFlag dies at 93

Elinor Lewallen, a longtime champion of equal rights for LGBT people, and President of PFLAG National in the late 1980s, has died, the organization announced Friday. She was 93.

Lewallen was a resident of Denver, Colo., and continued to attend local PFLAG meetings long after her tenure as National President had ended. As recently as last month, she attended a meeting of PFLAG Denver, where the members there celebrated her 93rd birthday. At the event, in support of her excellent work over three decades, the Office of the Mayor of Denver proclaimed June 3, 2012 Elinor Lewallen Day.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Why your city doesn't have curbside composting

While short of the full-service composting in places like San Francisco, 24 states have also passed laws banning yard waste from landfills. Keeping food scraps, leaves, tree limbs, and grass clippings out of the municipal waste facilities preserves limited space, and it saves money. Why don't more cities and states make it easier for us to compost? The answer: Big Trash.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Fracking: Good for the environment?

Is increased production of natural gas from shale deposits good for the environment? At first glance, yes: natural gas releases less CO₂ into the atmosphere than coal, so replacing coal-fired electrical plants with gas-fired plants is a win for global warming. And since fracking makes natural gas cheaper, it helps stimulate a switch from coal to gas.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

San Fran weighs green energy alternative

After eight years, San Francisco is on the threshold of taking a major step into the public power realm.

The Board of Supervisors is set to consider legislation Tuesday that would allocate $19.5 million to secure a contract with Shell Energy North America to provide 100 percent renewable power to San Franciscans who want to pay a premium for it, with $2 million of that total allocated to studying local power-generation options.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Asian Championships League plays against Hunger

17 September 2012 – Asian football clubs competing in this year’s top continental competition will not only be scoring goals for glory but also against hunger, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.

In a repeat of last year’s successful campaign, which saw the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) team up with FAO to raise over $400,000, the two organizations are once again joining forces for the 2012 “Asian Football against Hunger” initiative to generate funds for FAO-led projects targeting poor rural communities across Asia.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

UN and Mastercard Partner to improve worldwide food delivery

13 September 2012 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced a new global partnership with the banking and financial services corporation MasterCard, aimed at improving food delivery to poor communities around the world and facilitating online donations to the agency.

“Our partnership with MasterCard is a great example of how transformative private sector partnerships innovate against hunger,” said WFP’s Director of Communications, Public Policy and Private Partnerships, Nancy Roman, said in a news release.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Bangladesh's discriminatory laws in marriage, separation, and divorce harm women

This 109-page report documents how the country’s discriminatory and archaic personal laws impoverish many women at separation or divorce, and trap some women in violent marriages because they fear destitution. Current laws deprive women of an equal right to marital property.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Julian Assange recieves Aboriginal Passport

It is with a sense of pride and complete social justice that this Association has worked with the Sydney Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition to have the privilege of successfully arranging for Julian Assange to be able to be issued with an Aboriginal Nations Passport that his father, John Shipton, will accept on his behalf at the Welcome to Aboriginal Land Passport Ceremony to be held at The Settlement, 17 Edward Street, Darlington from 11am to 4pm on Saturday September 15, 2012.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

U.N. Chief calls for Thailand to make reconcilliation

18 September 2012 – The United Nations human rights chief today welcomed the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) and called on the South-east Asian country to implement its recommendations to advance accountability and understanding among different segments of its society.

“In spite of its limited mandate and initial difficulties, the TRCT has conducted an important investigation into political violence and human rights violations in Thailand,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. “The Royal Thai Government now has the responsibility to act on the TRCT’s recommendations, both in holding State officials to account and addressing the institutional weaknesses identified in the report.”

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Human rights begin at home: Start with Occupy

The police crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement, since its beginning one- year ago today on Sept. 17, 2011, undermines core American values of freedom in the eyes of the world.

Particularly now, when extremist religious rhetoric is being used (and abused) to spark anti-American demonstrations around the world, this is an especially important time for the practice of respect for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, freedoms that are indispensable to the freedom of religion and the practice of democracy, to be on display in the United States.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Why repeal of DADT will bolster marriage equality

The perfect success in repealing the U.S. military’s DADT (“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”) policy one year ago now is helping promote marriage equality, as the successful end of DADT has exposed many other ways in which federal law penalizes same-gender couples.

Prior to DADT repeal, a few people claimed that open service would reduce enlistment, ruin military culture, cause assaults and murders among service personnel, and leave the country defenseless. Today, one year after DADT repeal, experience has proven that all those threats were false figments of bigoted imaginations.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Slight decline in hispanic poverty rate

A U.S. Census report released on Wednesday showed a slight decrease for some subgroups living below the poverty line, including Hispanics. Household income showed a slight dip, whereas the number of medically insured slightly rose among a sample of 100,000 respondents from all over the United States.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Asylum Children live in extreme poverty in Ireland

A damning report on the plight of children in the State’s asylum process suggests many families are living in circumstances of extreme poverty in overcrowded accommodation with inadequate food.

The report, published today by the Irish Refugee Council (IRC), paints a grim picture of the State’s system for accommodating asylum seekers, known as direct provision.

It documented frequent instances of malnutrition among children and expectant mothers as well as illnesses related to diet among babies and young children.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org