In This Issue

Upcoming CAGJ Organizing Meetings

- Food Justice Project Meeting: Tues Aug 11, 6:30 - 8:30

-Seattle+10 Organizing Committee/CAGJ Trade Justice Meetings: Wed Aug 12, 6 - 8pm [HELP PLAN THE FALL TEACH-IN!], at CAGJ office & Tues Aug 25, 6 - 8pm, Location TBD

- Steering Committee Meeting: Aug 31, 6:30-8:30pm at the CAGJ Office

Contact us for more info!

View full CAGJ Calendar

Thank you!
A heart-felt thank you to everyone who participated in CAGJ's annual community event and fundraiser, Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere Fair & Dinner.  We are still high from the excitement!  The Fair was fun and festive, and the dinner was well-attended.  As appetizers were served, CAGJ presented our three programs, and Steve Williamson delivered a compelling keynote pointing to the important challenges of building cross-sectoral unity for food workers' rights. We honored the food workers and farmers eating with us, broke bread together, and sung "Pastures of Plenty" as the delicious and beautiful dinner was served.  Over 50 volunteers made everything run smoothly, and everyone loved the venue - we hope to reserve it again for next year!

Thanks to the support of our members, new members, and over 100 non profits, local businesses, restaurants, bakeries and cafes that generously donated to our auctions despite the tough economy, CAGJ raised close to $20,000!  We want to give a special thank you to the many farms and food producers who contributed their amazing food & beverage to the dinner.  Diners enjoyed delicious salmon donated by Loki Fish Co. for the 3rd year in a row, and Portage Bay Cafe prepared an entree and side dish for the second time!  Please support these local businesses, whose hard work strengthens our local economy in so many ways.  You can see a complete list of donors at CAGJ's website:  http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org/slee-dinner/

CAGJ is very grateful to everyone who donated at the event, and is very pleased with our overall fundraising effort, particularly in these hard economic times.  However, we fell short of our fundraising goal.  Were you hoping to attend, but couldn't due to a busy summer schedule? Please consider making a donation today to support CAGJ's organizing. It just takes a couple of minutes to make a secure donation online when you click on the yellow 'Donate Now' button found in the left column of this newsletter. Thank you so very much for your support!

Teach Out! Engaging the Local Food Cycle! Fourth Event!
Jubilee Farm & Local Roots in Carnation, WA
Saturday, August 22nd 10AM – 4PM
*Space is limited and RSVP REQUIRED! RSVP to Teresa at fjp@seattleglobaljustice.org
*Ride your bike to the Teach-out! Contact Teresa for route info
Our visit to Carnation, WA will begin at Local Roots for a farm tour, and then continue down the road for a work party at Jubilee Farm! Both farm stops will offer opportunities to talk with the farmer and ask questions.  Founded in 2007 by recent college grads, Local Roots is a diversified vegetable, fruit, and now chicken, farm. They deliver fresh, delicious, and healthy food at local farmers markets, through their CSA program, and to local restaurants. Jubilee Farm is celebrating its 20th year in Snoqualmie Valley.  The desire to become sustainable has led owners Erick and Wendy Haakenson from the state "certified organic" program to the Biodynamic farming tradition. www.localroots.com and www.jubileefarm.org

CAGJ’s FOOD JUSTICE PROJECT invites our members and others to learn about and build connections with key players in the local food region through monthly visits to farms, community kitchens, and community gardens. Expect hands-on work, time for reflection, and calls to action! Carpool or bike (tour guided by CAGJ member). Stay tuned for visits this summer to a Vashon Island overnight!

Seattle+10 Organizing Committee prepares for 10th Anniversary of WTO Protests!  Local/Global Week of Action, Nov 28 - Dec 5
CAGJ's Trade Justice Project recently co-founded the Seattle+10 Organizing Committee, an ad-hoc group meeting regularly to plan events & actions to mark the 10th anniversary of the WTO protests this Fall.  We invite you to take a short survey, so we can hear your ideas and thoughts about the significance of the protests... What was the significance of 1999? What lessons can be learned from the challenges and successes of '99 organizing? What struggles and issues are most vital for your community in 2009? How should we commemorate the ten years since "Seattle"? At the end of the survey you can Endorse the Call to Action and sign up for the Seattle+10 Organizing Committee list-serve!

Take the survey now! (It will take 5 - 10 minutes) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jd833STesDH8pn_2btUTuJ_2bw_3d_3d

And join the organizing!  CAGJ is planning a Teach-in Nov 28 - 29, 2009 to mark the 10th anniversary of our victory over the WTO.  We aim to organize workshops/panels/skills-building sessions to a) learn from the lessons of '99, and b)build today's social movements struggling for justice and the end of corporate rule! We invite all interested individuals & organizations to join the planning!

Meetings will be held:
-2nd Wed/month and 4th Tues/month
-Aug 12 and Aug 25, 2009
Contact tradejustice@seattleglobaljustice.org for more info

CAGJ Action/Study Book Group
August Book Selection: "Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About it"
Wed August 26, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Caffe Vita Coffee Roasting Co. , 1005 E Pike St

Food Inc is a powerful documentary & book deconstructing the corporate food industry in America.  The film asks key questions, such as: Where has my food come from, and who has processed it? What are the giant agribusinesses and what stake do they have in maintaining the status quo of food production and consumption? How can I feed my family healthy foods affordably? The book expands on these themes and offers answers and inspiration!

Victory for Food- Workers!  Workers at world's largest pork facility ratify first-ever union collective agreement with UFCW
A majority of the 5,000 Smithfield Foods Tar Heel workers ratified their first-ever union collective agreement after 5 months of negotiations. The agreement represents a major victory for the labour movement and comes at the end of a bitter 17-year long struggle for human rights at the world's largest pork facility in North Carolina, USA, processing over 32,000 hogs a day. The agreement covers the hourly production and maintenance workers at the Tar Heel facility and entered into force on July 1, 2009. It raises workers’ wages and brings up benefits and working conditions to the union standards that cover more than 10,000 other Smithfield workers, and more than 240,000 employed in the meat packing and food processing industry covered by a UFCW collective agreement.

Update  on Honduran Coup by Reid Mukai, CAGJ member
Since July 24, deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted from the country by a military coup on June 28, has remained at a base camp on the Nicaraguan side of the border. According to the social justice advocacy group Quixote Center (http://www.quixote.org), since the coup there has been repeated massive non-violent protests, targeted attacks on social movement leaders including Ramon Garcia and journalist Gabriel Fino, suspension of civil liberties, curfews and media blackouts throughout the country. At least six Honduran generals linked to the coup are graduates of the U.S. School of the Americas.
 
During the 1980s, U.S. Ambassador to Honduras John Negroponte supervised pro-capitalist counterinsurgency operations including Nicaragua's illegal Contra army. With large infusions of military aid from the Reagan administration and training of military officers at the School of Americas, hundreds of thousands of people in the region were killed, maimed, tortured, traumatized and "disappeared". It was in this context that the current Honduran Constitution was written and for this reason is widely viewed with skepticism by the country's social movement leaders as a document formed by and for U.S. corporate interests. The day of the coup, June 28, was supposed to be the day Manuel Zelaya was to hold an opinion poll to measure public support for the inclusion of a vote for a Constitutional Assembly in an upcoming November ballot. Honduras' interim President Roberto Michelleti claimed Zelaya was ousted because he was trying to change the constitution to extend his term.

Zelaya attempted to return to the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, via a Venezuelan jet on July 5 but was prevented from doing so when military vehicles blocked the runway. An estimated half a million people took to the streets surrounding the airport in support of Zelaya. Soldiers shot and killed two people and wounded several others.
 
On July 18 Zelaya agreed to President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias' seven-point plan to end the crisis but because of Michelleti's refusal to comply, on July 20 the EU announced the immediated suspension of all aid to Honduras (the equivalent of $92 million US dollars). On July 28, the Obama administration put pressure on Honduras' de facto government by revoking the visas of four high-level Honduran officials. The next day, July 29, Michelleti called Arias to express his support for a compromise but said he would need help building political support among the country's elite.

Join the Health-Care Truth Squad - Street Theater Troupe!
Jobs with Justice and other organizations are creating a theater troupe on health care reform. We are spoofing Seattle’s own Grey’s Anatomy. We’ll be catering our skits to different populations and how they are affected by the broken Health care system. This troupe is open and ongoing. We want to do this street theater at events and in neighborhoods. We are also collecting petition signatures and letters to Senator Cantwell to push her towards real health care reform.
Please contact debbie@wsjwj.org if you are interested in getting involved!

Community Calendar
Local? Sustainable? Equitable? Having Your Values and Eating Them Too!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Location: Rainier Square - Third Floor Atrium (1333 Fifth Avenue)
Registration:  11:30 a.m., Buffet Luncheon & Program: 12:15 – 1:30 p.m.
Buffet Luncheon: $20/CityClub Members | $25/Guests and co-presenters | $30/General public
Coffee & Dessert: $12/CityClub Members | $15/Guests and co-presenters | $18/General public
Visit www.seattlecityclub.org to register or call 206-682-7395!
 
We all eat every day; but do our food choices support our ecological, social, and economic values? And does everybody have the same opportunity to support their values with the food choices they can make?  With some just struggling to have enough to eat, what influences what we can buy and how much it costs? What changes in policy at the local, state and federal level could better support local farming? Join us as we explore the different components that make up our local food system, how we got here, and what the future could hold. Bring your own questions and an appetite for local food!  Speakers: Michele Bates-Benatua, King County Food and Fitness Initiative, Solid Ground; Nancy Hutto, Chair, King County Agriculture Commission; Dr. John P. Reganold, Ph.D., Regents Professor of Soil Science, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington  State   University; Michael Seliga, Co-Manager, Cascade Edible Landscapes; Moderator: Steve Scher, Host and Producer, KUOW 94.9
 
The Clean Greens Market Grand Opening!  Aug 15 Walk & Community Picnic
9:30am  - 11:00 am  Clean Greens Walk:. Meet at 9am at Spruce Park (124 -21st ave in Central District), walk about 2 miles through the business area, and loop back to park
11am: Free community picnic at Spruce Park

Clean Greens Market will be open 10am - 3 pm every Saturday following!
Market location: New Hope Baptist Church, 116 - 21st Ave (just north of Yesler in Central District)
If you are interested in some really tasty mustards, collards, green & yellow squash, turnips, spinach and jewelry by Desiree Bradley come see us!! Spread the word!! If you are interested in helping harvest for the market, meet us at the Church at 9 am Fridays.  For more info: call 206-324-3114 or check out http://www.cleangreensfarm.com

Support the South Park Market, 3rd Saturdays
Every 3rd Saturday this summer: Aug 15th &  Sept 19th; 10am-3pm
Location: 14th Ave S and S Cloverdale St.
http://marketonwheels.wordpress.com

The idea is to hold a community event that allows people from the neighborhood an opportunity to buy and sell to their neighbors while offering healthy food options in a food access desert.  Think of a farmer's market, but then stop thinking about a farmer's market and think of a very community minded, not necessarily organic or expensive market where Spanish flows as freely as English and your vendors live next door to you and sell tamales or jewelry that they make, etc. Now put it in the parking lot of a pizzeria on a corner of what is generally considered to be a "bad neighborhood" and there you go!

Thank you for reading CAGJ's Newsletter!

Community Alliance for Global Justice | 206-405-4600 | contact_us@seattleglobaljustice.org
606 Maynard Ave S #252
Seattle, WA  98104