New Jersey cannot discriminate against children of illegals

Before opening the envelope, A.Z. was a typical all American, high achieving high school senior, getting ready for college. But after she read the letter inside, A. Z. felt like a second-class citizen watching her dreams of college crumble.

That letter changed her life. Despite the fact that she was born in New York and had been a Jersey girl since the age of four, the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) told her that she did not qualify for the financial aid she applied for. The reason? “Your parents are not legal New Jersey residents.” Although she appealed, the response essentially said the same thing: because your mother is not a legal resident, we will treat you like you have lived in Guatemala for the past 14 years, even though you actually lived in New Jersey the entire time.

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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

Organic Education Farm given reprieve

A circuit court judge on Tuesday granted the farm a stay, halting soccer field development for the time being.

The sight of children running around fields picking vegetables, feeding chickens and painting garden signs -- the scene at Brickyard Road in Potomac just a few days ago -- may be here to stay.

The children are visiting the Brickyard Educational Farm, part of the property currently housing a 30-year-old organic farm in the heart of Potomac. The farm faces eviction by Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools so the carefully tended plots can be developed into MSI soccer fields, but a Circuit Court judge Tuesday nullified a lease agreement between Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools, potentially allowing the educational farm to stay on the land indefinitely. The county and school board are in dispute with citizen groups and residents over use of the land, the legality of the county’s decision to develop the soccer fields and the transparency of its actions. Tuesday’s decision came hours after Gov. Martin O'Malley issued a statement on the controversy in favor of the organic farm.

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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

Victory for gay-straight alliance in Florida High School

A federal judge on Aug. 14 ordered Marion County, Fla. Superintendent Jim Yancey to comply with federal law and allow the Vanguard Gay-Straight Alliance, a student organization at Vanguard High School in Ocala, to form and operate on campus.

The order, following a settlement reached by the parties involved, resolves a months-long battle by members of the GSA along with the ACLU of Florida to allow the organization to form, meet and be recognized at Vanguard High School.

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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

NYC Lesbian Couple wins battle with Landlord

A lesbian couple in New York City scored a victory Wednesday when their building’s landlord and management company agreed to comply with city and state laws and put both women’s names on the lease for their rent-stabilized Harlem apartment.

Regina Hawkins-Balducci had sought to add her spouse’s name to the lease after the couple married this past January. She presented a copy of their marriage certificate to the management company, DSA Management, and the building’s owner, Nicholas Place LLC, but a representative responded harshly and said her spouse’s name would never be added to the lease.

Under New York City’s rent control laws, rent-stabilized apartments allow tenants to pay rents below market rate, making the units among the most coveted real estate properties. The mandated lower rents also make rent-stabilized apartments deeply unpopular with many landlords.

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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

LGBT U.S. atheletes win gold at the 2012 Olympics

Playing like heavyweight champions, the United States won the gold medal in women’s soccer with a hard-fought 2-1 thriller over Japan on Thursday at the London 2012 Olympics.

A total of 80,203 people packed London’s historic Wimbley Stadium, the hallowed home of British football, and loudly cheered for the two best teams in soccer. It was the biggest crowd to ever see a woman’s soccer match in Olympic history.

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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

GALEO claims Victory in Georgia Immigration law

ATLANTA - The Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) said Tuesday that Monday's federal appeals court ruling on Georgia's immigration law is a "big win for our communities."

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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

Thousand march for social justice against capitalism in Quebec

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to Montreal's streets on August 22 for the monthly protest march of Quebec's student movement.

The movement has organised big marches on the 22nd of each month since March of this year.

The march was an impressive display of militancy and determination just 12 days before the September 4 provincial election. Some members of the radical Broad Coalition of the Association for Student Union Solidarity (CLASSE) student association said that 100,000 people took part.

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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

Victory in the First Amendment Campaign

Greetings. The struggle is long and arduous, and sometimes we do etch out significant victories, as in the case of our Brotha Mutope Duguma in In re Crawford, 206 Cal.App.4th 1259 (2012).

It’s important to emphasize that this victory is a significant step in reaffirming that prisoners are entitled to a measure of First Amendment protection that cannot be ignored simply because the state dislikes the spiel. New Afrikan prisoners have a right to identify with their birthright if they so choose, as does anyone else for that matter – Black, White or Brown.

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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

10 things we can do to help reduce hunger and provide good food for all

Hunger exists in the United States. The reason is poverty. The root cause of poverty is powerlessness. Whyhunger uses the titled question as an approach to the solution by connecting communities to resources, while providing immediate access to nutritious emergency food. Bill Ayres, the executive director, co-founded WhyHunger thirty-five years ago to address the urgent need for food by establishing a food hotline and later included a multi-issued platform to build power and self-reliance in impoverished communities in the United States and worldwide. Why is there hunger in a world that can feed itself and how can we solve it? Here are ten things you can do to tackle the root causes of hunger and support long-term solutions at home and abroad.

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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

Another family saved from foreclosure by Occupy Our Homes

Occupy Our Homes, a movement to protect families from foreclosures and evictions, has enjoyed a recent string of successes. In February, the group helped Helen Bailey, the 78-year-old former civil rights activist who was threatened with foreclosure by JPMorgan Chase while the company trumpeted its efforts to uphold Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, to stay in her home following a successful campaign by Occupy Nashville.

The group also aided a Detroit husband and wife who spent months worrying they could be evicted from their home of twenty-two years. The couple received news they would be permitted to stay after an aggressive campaign that was led by members of Moratorium Now, Occupy Detroit and Homes Before Banks and included the family’s supporters blocking the contractor from placing a dumpster.

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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

Communities of Color find solutions in Boston

When it comes to pollution and climate change, all too often people of color shoulder the greatest burden. The recent fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California is just the latest example. We have more residents living near polluting industry. We suffer higher rates of asthma. And our neighborhoods are hit hardest by severe weather caused by climate change.

It makes sense, then, that more and more solutions to these problems are coming from communities of color.

A new report released this week by the Center for Social Inclusion highlights one of these solutions. The report, Energy Democracy: Community Innovation in Boston features the work of the Boston Workers Alliance, an organization founded by Green For All Fellow Aaron Tanaka.

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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

Raw milk victory for Missouri farmers

On July 31 Armand and Teddi Bechard entered into a consent agreement with the State of Missouri, ending a case that began in 2009. On two occasions in the spring of 2009, undercover agents from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department allegedly purchased raw milk at the Bechard's central delivery point, a health food store parking lot in Springfield.

The Missouri State Milk Board through the state attorney filed a lawsuit to enjoin the Bechards from delivering raw milk and cream to their customers at a central distribution point. Missouri statute allows for the sale and delivery of raw milk by unlicensed farmers; however, the Milk Board was insisting that raw milk could only be delivered to the customer's residence while prohibiting delivery at a central distribution point. The Greene County district attorney's office also brought a criminal action against Armand for allegedly selling milk at a premises off the farm; he was later acquitted on appeal in January 2011.

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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