CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | April 5, 2023
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CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | April 5, 2023
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April E-News
It's Membership Month
CAGJ HAPPENINGS
TAKE ACTION
CAGJ NEWS &
ANALYSIS
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Get Involved! Upcoming CAGJ Meetings:
Monthly Organizing Meetings: 3rd Tues/month, 6:30 - 8:00; for more info email us.
AGRA Watch: time varies, for more info email us
Social Media
Blogs CAGJ's blog Listservs |
Spring Up for Justice: CAGJ's 2022 Annual Report
It’s CAGJ’s Membership Month! We are so excited to share our 2022 Annual Report with you! We believe that the stories of our collective accomplishments over the past year will inspire you to renew your membership, or consider becoming a member if you're not one already. Please donate generously if you’re able, or simply fill out the Membership form online. What does being a CAGJ Member mean to you?
We can't do any of this work without our members, who fuel and inspire us to keep moving forward. Let us know what CAGJ membership means to you, or why you love CAGJ, by responding to this email or filling out this form.
Spring Up for Justice!
We are celebrating Spring’s coming in Seattle - finally some blue skies and beautiful spring blossoms, and gardening coming our way! We know that to counteract the industrialized food system and its messengers who try to greenwash and co-opt our movements, we need to join together. CAGJ is here to create that community for our members, and we will keep creating opportunities to organize - here in Seattle, and in our state of Washington, but also with our allies nationally and transnationally.
We need YOU to keep CAGJ going!
We can’t do it without you! CAGJ has the freedom to be outspoken, and we are unafraid of taking on corporate and philanthropic giants, because we rely on our Members’ support. No one dictates to us what we work on, or what we can say.
This Membership Month, please donate generously, CAGJ needs your support!
This is a fantastic time to get involved in CAGJ’s organizing for food sovereignty! Let’s make another world possible!
Please consider a Membership Month donation today. All gifts up to 10K will be matched thanks to UFCW 3000 and generous donors!
CAGJ HAPPENINGS
Rich Appetites: The Corporate Capture of African Food Systems and the Hunger for Justice
Virtual Film Screening and Panel Discussion
Join us for a discussion with food sovereignty activists in Africa! Following the screening of key clips from our Rich Appetites film series, panelists will discuss the struggle between corporations and grassroots civil society movements over the future of African food systems. Speakers:
Rich Appetites was produced by CAGJ’s AGRA Watch campaign in collaboration with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.
Monthly Organizing Meeting: Art & Activism with Beverly Naidus
Orientation for new Members at 6pm: RSVP
Please register to receive the ZOOM link.
Join us for the 3rd installment of our Art & Activism series! Beverly Naidus will talk about multimedia art and facilitating community art projects.
Naidus is an eco-artist and writer who has collaborated with activist and community groups, artist collectives, and her partner, Dr. Bob Spivey. Her primary forms are public installations, digital projects, and artist’s books. After creating an interdisciplinary studio art program for social change and healing at UW Tacoma, and writing a book about it, she has left academia to write another book, facilitate more community art projects, and teach independently.
If you missed the last Art & Activism meeting with the Community2Community artivism team and Edgar Franks of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, watch the recording here.
Art-Making Workshop for Farmworker Justice
Banner-painting, sign-making, block-printing!
Welcome Table Church (CAGJ Office on Beacon Hill): 1322 S Bayview St.
Make beautiful protest art with us for the Sin Miedo Farmworker March and take home your own hand-made patch! FREE tacos & treats. Open to all, no experience necessary. (Please note that we changed the date of the workshop so as not to conflict with the April 22 Climate March.) Register here to let us know you're coming! Marcha Campesina - Farmworker March
Skagit Valley. Sign up for carpool
Join CAGJ to celebrate International Workers Day by marching with our Farmworker partners Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Community to Community. Marchers will gather at Edgewater Park in Mt. Vernon at 9AM and depart at 10AM. Sin Miedo! Without Fear! Need a ride or can give a ride? Join CAGJ’s carpool so we can make it out together! To volunteer, contact C2C: [email protected] May Day March for Immigrants Rights
Save the Date! May 1st Action Coalition is organizing the annual May Day March in Seattle for Immigrants’ rights. Details are still being worked out; we will share updates as we receive them! SLEE Save the Date! 17th Annual Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere! Gala
St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake
This year, we are very excited to highlight the centrality of salmon to local Native food sovereignty with our keynote Willie Frank III! Willie is a fisherman, Chairman of the Nisqually Tribe, and son of the iconic tribal treaty rights activist Billy Frank Jr. We will be returning to the St. Demetrios Church in Montlake and will serve our famous SLEE salmon dinner–the first since 2019! Be on the lookout for tickets soon! Read more about past SLEE Galas. It's that time of year! Support your local farmers and food producers by investing in their future via Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Get a fresh box of healthy produce and delicious food delivered to your door or your neighborhood! Here are a few recommendations.
TAKE ACTION Send a letter to the FTC!
The merger will increase grocery monopolies across the US, which will lead to higher prices for customers, layoffs for employees, and the loss of markets for farmers and suppliers. Send a letter to the FTC asking them to oppose the merger. Learn more at Stop the Merger. Tell UW to join the boycott, sign the petition
Stand in solidarity with Greenwood Mushrooms Sunnyside workers as they fight for better working conditions. Sign the petition to get the University of Washington to boycott Greenwood Mushrooms until workers’ demands are met.
Thursday, April 6, 6-8pm PST at Rainier Valley Leadership Academy, (6020 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98118)
Nurturing Roots is a Black-led urban farm and community pillar in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, and where we launched our Beacon Hill Food Justice Hike-a-Thon. They are facing displacement from their current location, and call on community support.
CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS The Billionaires Who Made Our World: Bill Gates
A damning new documentary about Bill Gates aired recently in the UK, and will be airing in the US on BBC Select in May. The series, “The Billionaires who Made our World”, also features critical portrayals of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk. We are so excited to see some of our people featured in this documentary, including AGRA Watch Researcher Ashley Fent and Kenyan partner Leonida Odongo, of Haki Nawiri Afrika! The film marks one of the first times something critical of Bill Gates’ hubris, arrogance, and ruthlessness as a monopoly capitalist has reached mainstream audiences. It shows how Gates’ aggressive business tactics (like plotting how to cut out Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen while the latter was undergoing radiation therapy for cancer) have morphed into philanthrocapitalist agendas that help corporations capture African food systems. As Leonida Odongo explains, “The Bill Gates Foundation is making Africans imagine that they are modernizing, but in actuality, they are moving closer to the grave.” She notes that Africa’s 313 million small-scale farmers represent a massive opportunity for foreign agribusiness corporations, which are trying to gain new markets for products and services on the continent — with help from the Gates Foundation and the Gates Foundation-funded AGRA initiative. Learn more about the film here.
Analysis of Gates-funded Biolmilq, artificial breast milk
The New Yorker magazine published an article by Molly Fisher on March 6, 2023 about a new Gates-funded start-up, “Biomilq and the New Science of Artificial Breast Milk" -Read here. Watch AGRA Watch researcher Ashley Fent's analysis on TikTok: “There’s this idea that there’s something wrong with lactating people.”
New report from National Family Farm Coalition
The financial industry is in the market for farmland. Over the past decade and a half, major financial institutions have increasingly added farmland to their investment portfolios, and investment funds targeting agricultural properties have proliferated. This unprecedented flow of financial capital into farmland markets could create additional challenges for resource-limited farmers and further complicate the struggle for racial equity in agriculture. Read More.
New report from US Right to Know
A new report published in December 2022 - by AGRA Watch partners Stacy Malkan in collaboration with Anna Lappé and Kendra Klein offers a comprehensive review of Monsanto’s product-defense strategy, based on their own documents, illuminates the science-denial, attacks on scientists, astroturf operations and other disinformation tactics used to protect sales of Roundup weed killers. Read the report, key take-aways and excerpts.
March 2023, Civil Eats, by Lisa Held
The world’s top climate scientists are not pulling any punches in their latest assessment: The climate crisis is already affecting the world’s food supply and exacerbating hunger—and those impacts are going to get worse. Read more.
350 Seattle Earth Day Actions
On EARTH DAY, SAT April 22, 350 Seattle and a broad coalition of allies are leading a march and rally on downtown Seattle’s biggest polluters. These polluters– landlords, corporations, and more– are lobbying against swift action to Electrify Seattle using sustainable energy, and standing in the way of a livable future for Seattleites. Learn more about Electrify Seattle and a Just Transition off fossil fuels here. See below for specific events leading up to, and including, the April 22 march: Art Build for Earth Day march with Electrify Seattle in Fremont All welcome, no skills needed for this fun and informative Art Build with campaign organizers. We’ll be painting banners, building puppets, and creating props for the march. Sign up here. TUES April 11, 7-8pm PST Mass Call to prepare for Earth Day March Tune into this community call to learn about the April 22 Earth Day action, our Electrify Seattle demands and how YOU can help build power to win a Just Transition off fossil fuels. RSVP for the call here. SAT, April 22, 12pm PST - JOIN CAGJ'S CONTINGENT Earth Day March, City Hall, Seattle (600 4th Ave, Seattle 98104)
Join for the rally and march on downtown Seattle's biggest polluters. Sign the Earth Day action pledge to let 350 Seattle know you’ll be there!
SUN April 16, 12-4pm PST
Art Build Party with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Families at Cal Andersen Park
All welcome, no skills needed for this beautiful and powerful Art Build launch party to get ready and build community for the SAT May 6 MMIWP (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People) Families march. More info here. TUES April 18, 5-6pm PST
Webinar: Regenerative Agriculture: Ask the Farmers and Financier!
In this webinar celebrating Earth Month, we bring you two farmers practicing using ecologically friendly farming techniques who will share their stories, showcase their farms, and give you insights into what it means to farm in concert with nature while supporting culturally rich traditions as well as community and human health. Moderated by CAGJ member Mary Purdy, and introducing Prentice Onayemi and Melia Chase from Foglight Farms, and Jennifer Rose Marie Serna from Wapato Island Farms. We'll also showcase the work of David Lezaks who has researched the impact of regenerative agriculture on human health and is currently working with a 600K grant from the USDA to help create a brand marketplace for companies who want to highlight the fact that they produce their product using regenerative agriculture and increase brand value. FEE: $20 - Use discount code: "EARTH50" for 25% off; The fee is helping to provide an honorarium for our panelists and support BIPOC/Women led farms.) More info. TUES April 18, 7:30pm PST
Town Hall Seattle: Joan Maloof, The Secrets of Trees
In the newly revised and expanded edition of her book, Nature’s Temples: A Natural History of Old-Growth Forests, American environmentalist Joan Maloof continues to deepen our understanding of extraordinary ecosystems. More info here.
SAT April 22, 5-9pm PST
Spring Foodie Fest: Enjoy Bites from Seattle’s Favorite Pop-Ups
Spring Foodie Fest was created to celebrate all the delicious food of Seattle. Our purpose is to create an event where pop-ups, small business owners, and the community can come together and celebrate food from all over Seattle. Join the second annual event at The Stone House Cafe (9701 Rainier Ave S Seattle, WA 98118). Be sure to follow this page for updates about this event as it nears!
April 22th - April 30th
20th annual Seattle Black Film Festival
Celebrating its 20th annual festival, the Seattle Black Film Festival (SBFF) returns to Seattle for another year of Black Brilliance in film! After a pandemic, a name change, and a virtual festival, SBFF returns to bring local, national, and international films to the area, from April 22nd-30th. The festival will present screenings and workshops, and features Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night special events. For more information, check out our website.
WED April 26, 7:30pm PST
Town Hall Seattle: Ruth Conniff on her book Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers Together
With undocumented immigrants, mostly from Mexico, accounting for an estimated 80 percent of employees on the dairy farms of western Wisconsin, Mexican workers have become critically important to the survival of rural areas and small towns — and to the individual farmers who rely on their work. In Milked, former editor-in-chief of The Progressive Ruth Conniff introduces us to the migrants who worked on these dairy farms, their employers (among them white voters who helped elect Donald Trump to office in 2016), and the surprising friendships that have formed between these two groups of people. More info here.
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