It’s going to be a gorgeous Memorial Day weekend. Come on out on Monday and enjoy two local treasures: the Eno River and the Traction community…

What: Memorial Day shindig
When: Monday, 5/28 starting at 1pm
Where: West Point Park (site of the famous Festival for the Eno)
5101 N. Roxboro Rd. in Durham

We’ll swim, eat good food, play frisbee and badminton, maybe sing too. So bring a dish to share* and a musical instrument if you have one. And kids!!

And because it’s Memorial Day, we’ll have postcards to sign to send to our troops to thank them for their service, and ways for you to come back after the 3-day weekend and put your shoulder to the grindstone to bring our troops home. (Opposition to Iraq is at an all-time high. We are not alone.)

RSVPs and volunteers make our day. Write to shindig-at-getTraction-dot-org (Go
ahead, make our day.) Same if you need directions or a map.

*Careful about food that could go bad in the sun — we don’t want any bad picnic incidents… Avoid those dishes or bring your own cooler.

See you Monday!

– Lanya

P.S. Whatever you do, please remember the origin of this holiday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

Traction was honored to be part of H K on J, or Historic Thousands on Jones St., on Saturday.
Thousands of North Carolinians gathered in an NAACP-led People’s Assembly and adopted (by roaring acclamation) a bold 14-point progressive agenda:

1. High quality, well-funded, diverse schools for all children
2. Living wages
3. Health care for all
4. Government redress for the Wilmington Race Riots of 1898 and the forced sterilization of black women from 1947 to 1977
5. Same-day voter registration and public financing for elections
6. More funding for historically black colleges and universities
7. Redress for 200 years of discrimination in state hiring and contracting
8. Affordable housing and consumer protection
9. Criminal justice reform including abolition of the death penalty
10. Creation of an environmental job corps for youth
11. Collective bargaining for public employees
12. Immigrant rights
13. More funding for civil rights enforcement agencies
14. Bringing troops home from Iraq

Then we marched to the General Assembly and posted it there for our state legislators to see.

Thanks to Tractivist Robert S., who posted lots of H K on J clips on You Tube! Here’s one featuring several Tractivists on stage, including yours truly…

Traction represented well, with Dave, Celeste, Bria, Anne, Tamara, Brandi, Jim, Adam and many more among the marchers.

Did you take pictures? Post them to flickr and tag them HKonJ and Traction!

“… and that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.”
—Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This year, Traction and the Durham Food Co-op add our collective voices to the chorus celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

Join us on Tuesday 1/16 to learn from our elders as we watch an episode of Eyes on the Prize, and talk with local civil rights leaders. We’ll watch Episode 10: The Promised Land (1967-68), wherein Dr. King speaks out against the war in Vietnam and embarks on a Poor People’s Campaign, calling for a radical redistribution of economic power.

Before the film, we’ll hear from some LOCAL civil rights heroes and sheroes, including R. Kelly Bryant, Jr. (pictured), who led a large-scale 1968 boycott calling for changes in welfare, housing, and employment practices in Durham.

And we’ll learn about ongoing civil rights work, including the VERY exciting NC NAACP-led People’s Assembly known as H K on J (Historic Thousands on Jones St.), coming up on Feb 10th in Raleigh.

“… We are dealing with issues that cannot be solved without the nation spending billions of dollars and undergoing a radical redistribution of economic power.”
—Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When: Tues 1/16, 7pm
Where: Durham Food Co-op, 1101 W. Chapel Hill St. (at Buchanan)
Cost: FREE, but donations are appreciated
Questions & RSVPs: eyes-AT-getTraction-DOT-org

The Rainbow ReSisters Radical Cheerleading Troupe is looking for new members! We are a group of energetic, progressive, loud, dancing women. In 2006 you may have seen us cheering for peace in Carrboro, Durham and Fayetteville, NC and Atlanta, GA.

Now we need you! We’re going up to Washington, DC on Saturday, January 27 (J27) for a national anti-war rally organized by United for Peace and Justice.

Anyone who is interested in joining the ReSisters to march on Washington should plan on attending a preparatory meeting this Saturday, January 7th from 1-3:30 PM at Pacifica in Carrboro. If you’re interested in joining us for this or other events, please email us at grabowATemail.unc.edu.

Also, as we prepare for DC, weekly practices will be held on Tuesday nights at 8 pm in Southern Village, Chapel Hill (Jan 9, 16, 23).

If you want to go up to DC without picking up any radical pom poms, you can buy bus tickets from the Internationalist or Regulator bookstores while they last! ($35– sliding scale)

Please forward this along to anyone you know who likes yelling and dancing!

Onward,

The ReSisters

I remember the day three years ago this past Monday, when George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier, USS Lincoln, and declared the end to major combat operations in Iraq. When I saw the president standing in front of a sign that declared “Mission Accomplished,” I feared the worst had yet to come and we were in for a multi-year struggle that would cost many, many lives. Now we must continue to listen to the voices of those that were there, understand our quagmire and think about what to do next.

On Thursday, May 11^th, Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America will be speaking at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham.
The Regulator’s website has the details:

Paul Rieckhoff, who fought in Iraq and founded Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, will discuss and sign copies of his new book, Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier’s Fight for America from Baghdad to Washington. Rieckhoff signed up to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom, despite feeling that the invasion was a mistake. Patrolling the streets of Baghdad in the initial days of the occupation, he became convinced that the Operation represented one of America’s greatest foreign policy errors ever. Rieckhoff criticizes the Bush administration, but also the Kerry campaign, which disregarded his advice.

Join me in hearing this brave American as he discusses his new book. We’ll meet at the Regulator at 6:45 for the 7:00pm event. Afterwards, feel free to stay for coffee and gelato at Francesca’s.

– Dan Lieb

For the last 3 years, groups and individuals working in NC to end the War on Iraq gather each year for a massive march and rally in Fayetteville, NC, on the anniversary of the U.S. invading Iraq, led by the NC Peace and Justice Coalition. Be there this year: Sat. Mar 18.

Traction has stepped up to help organize Drop Beats not Bombs this Thursday night (3/2) at Ringside in downtown Durham. This event has a multitude of purposes including raising cash and training volunteers for March 18th, building solidarity, and DANCING! See the schedule of events here.

So where do you come in? Come and help cover the door, sign up folks for the Traction and NCPJC lists, and get the party started. (My worm is absolutely fierce, how’s yours?) And of course we need you to volunteer on 3/18 so you should get smart about it on Thursday. Email and let us know you’re coming.

So put Fayetteville on your calendar for 3/18 and get on your dancing shoes, people.

R e e l P o l i t i k

film

+ drinks

+ action-focused talk

+ you

= change

In FEBRUARY…

Occupation: Dreamland is an unflinchingly candid portrait of a squad of American soldiers deployed in the doomed Iraq city of Falluja during the winter of 2004. Through the squad’s activities Occupation: Dreamland provides a vital glimpse into the last days of Falluja.

Come out Wednesday (2/22) at 7pm to Broad St. Café in Durham (1116 Broad St.) for this powerful film and conversation afterwards about how to get your anti-war on.* Suggested donation: $5.

*Sneak Peek:
March 2nd Drop Beats not Bombs dance party (Traction + NC Peace & Justice Coalition)
March 18th demonstration in Fayetteville on the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

Yes, it’s another chance to support our local businesses! You can buy drinks and nosh at the Cafe. Also, Randy’s Pizza is a few doors down and it’s totally fine to bring food from there.

Traction sponsors ReelPolitik to advance progressive causes in the Triangle by entertaining, educating and engaging the community, *especially* folks under 40. See a good flick, meet people, talk policy and activate around issues. And eat. And drink.