Slow Food International to showcase presentation by Oakland Food Policy Council and Acta Non Verba

Starting on October 25, 2012, local food advocates and food justice activists will gather in Bra for Terra Madre & Salone Del Gusto. Esperanza Pallana, who coordinates the 21-member board of the Oakland Food Policy Council, together with Kelly Carlisle, executive director of Acta Non Verba have been chosen to co-lead a workshop,"Innovative Food System Change: Policy and Practice". The Oakland Food Policy Council is a project of Food First.

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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

Reasons to buy Organic

Many people wonder whether or not they should pay the price for organic food. Is it worth the extra dollar? Most people know that organic produce is grown without pesticides, but it means much more than that. The term organic also means there are no synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. It takes three years to convert a farm to organic. Produce cannot be listed as organic until the three years have passed as the soil is free of substances that are not deemed organic. Animal products, such as meat/poultry, eggs, dairy products are antibiotic and hormone free.

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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

California Advocates seeking to introduce Homeless Bill of Rights

Rhode Island blazed the trail in the fight to treat homeless people justly and now one Northern California town is following suit

Back in June, the country’s smallest state passed the first-ever Homeless Bill of Rights, which ensures that people living on the streets aren’t discriminated against. Just last week, the town council in Fairfax unanimously decided to push California to adopt similar legislation, Healdsburg Patch reports.

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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

Baltimore Ravens Linebacker, Brendon Ayanbadejo, talks gay rights

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo is going “full steam ahead” after his battle with Maryland legislator C. Emmett Burns Jr., who last week wrote a letter calling on the team’s owner to silence Ayanbadejo regarding his public advocacy of gay marriage, only to back down amid a national uproar. (Listen to the full interview below)

“The Ravens reached out to me,” Ayanbadejo said. “[Ravens president] Dick Cass and [Ravens] owner Steve Bisciotti said, ‘Brendon, you’re a great person. Keep doing your thing. We believe in you. This is not a team that believes in discrimination in any way, shape, or form. You have this tremendous platform here. Use it. And go ahead and continue to be you, and grow and shape and change the world while you have the ability to do it.’”

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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

Ukranian Journalists protest censorship at World Newspaper Congress in Kyiv.

A dozen Ukrainian journalists stood up and raised anti-censorship banners when President Viktor Yanukovich hailed his country's march to media freedom at the World Newspaper Congress in Kyiv on Monday, Sept. 3.

"Ukraine has made its way, without exaggeration, from total censorship to an open society," Yanukovich told the conference as his security guards ripped banners saying "Stop censorship" from protesters' hands.

Yanukovich did not react to the silent protest.

Ukrainian opposition and Western rights watchdogs have accused Yanukovich of cracking down on media freedom after coming to power in the former Soviet republic in early 2010.

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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

AFL's new anti-racism campaign: Racism - It stops with me

The AFL today joined the Human Rights Commission and the Australian Government in endorsing a new national anti-racism strategy - Racism. It Stops With Me.

Represented by North Melbourne players Andrew Swallow and Majak Daw, the AFL is one of a number of organisations across business, sport and Government who are supporting the campaign on the basis of their long-standing work on combating racism.

The players joined Federal Human Rights Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Sport, Senator Kate Lundy and other business and community leaders in Federation Square, Melbourne as the AFL officially signed up to the campaign.

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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

Public Education in America: Or what the Chicago Public Schools Strikes is really about

What Chicago Public School teachers are striking for are things that are affecting public school kids all over the U.S., not just in Chicago. They’re striking for their city’s schools, but honestly, they’re striking for my city’s schools, too.

In These Times picked up a post over on Occupied Chicago Tribune, which lists four reasons the teachers are striking — not specific bargaining points, but broad areas of difference, which, if ignored in this contract, sets this district on a course that will be difficult to reverse.

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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

Pro-Sports becoming more gay-friendly thanks to athletes speaking out

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - NFL punters are only seen on fourth down and heard from less than that. But with Minnesota voters weighing whether to ban gay marriage this fall, Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has emerged as a high-profile gay rights champion - and a symbol of changing attitudes toward homosexuality in the sports world.

"I'd like to win some votes against the amendment," Kluwe told The Associated Press. "It would permanently change the state constitution. Who are we to say we should decide what our children should do on this subject? If we're not the generation to make gay marriage legal, why should we prevent our children having a say on the matter?"

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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

Social Justice Bus Tour planned by COA

Members of Chattanooga Organized for Action are hoping interested residents will "get on the bus" for an event geared toward highlighting the history of social activism in the city.

The event, called the Social Justice Bus Tour, will take place along the CARTA No. 1 bus route Monday afternoon. The group plans to ride on two buses, which leave from the stop in front of the downtown EPB building at 5:30 and 6 p.m.

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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

Singapore sets up anti-littering cameras in over 100 locations

SINGAPORE - Surveillance cameras will be set up at 100 locations in the next three months to catch culprits who throw items from high-rise housing blocks.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it is first targeting at the housing estates in Bukit Panjang, Pasir Ris, West Coast, Hong Kah and Sembawang.

These housing estates have more serious littering issues, involving faeces, urine or food waste, and have also registered a high number of feedback cases from residents.

NEA said those caught littering on camera will be charged in court and have their cases publicised.

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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

Facebook Peace Activists from the Middle East finally meet face-to-face

Young peace activists from across the Middle East – who until now have only interacted virtually via a Facebook group – finally met each other face-to-face in Berlin this past weekend, vowing to bring normalcy to the region and stand up to all critics of peace.

Part of the Yala Young Leadership initiative, which was set up just over a year ago by Israelis and Palestinians, the conference brought together 18 of the most active of the 162,000 Facebook members in the group. Participants came from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq and Kuwait.

“It was our first chance to bring people from across the region to meet each other in person,” Israeli Nimrod Ben- Zeev, who helped to found the group online, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.

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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

PAK-India talks outcome welcomed by Peace Activists

KARACHI - The human right activists from Pakistan and India, in a joint statement, on Sunday welcomed the positive outcome of the just-concluded Pakistan-India foreign ministers’ talks in Islamabad, especially with regards to the newly-announced liberalised and relaxed visa regime.The proposed new visa regime for the time being benefits only certain selected categories of visitors. But, we are conscious of the fact that while assessing the outcome of the talks, one cannot ignore the related backdrop of an inter-state relationship, which has been marred for decades by bitterness and an acute trust deficit, preventing the people of our two countries from living as friendly neighbours and prospering in a climate of peace and harmony through mutual cooperation and collaboration.

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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