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 CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | April 5, 2016

April E-News:
It's Membership Month!
CAGJ HAPPENINGS
TUES 4/19 FJP Meeting
MON 4/25 Berta Caceres Event
SAT 7/9 SLEE Dinner with Anuradha Mittal!
CAGJ CAMPAIGN NEWS
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Grant to CAGJ!
Groups Sue FDA over GE Salmon
Familias Unidas West Coast Tour Update
TAKE ACTION
Death Star TPP Video
SAT 4/16 TPP Activist Summit
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Local events

Get Involved! Upcoming CAGJ Meetings:

Food Justice Project: 3rd Tues/month, 6:30 - 8:30, for more info email us.
 
AGRA Watch:

time varies, for more info email us


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April is Membership Month!
Sign up or renew today and your donation will be DOUBLED.
April showers are here, and so is our annual Membership Month! Membership Month is when we rally our community to support CAGJ by pledging money or time.  In celebration of CAGJ's 15th anniversary, your membership gift to CAGJ will go twice as far, helping us hire a second organizer to confront corporate power and fight for food justice for all! 
 
 
$10,000 Goal to Hire New Organizer: Your gift now will help us meet the growing demands of our multiple campaigns, by hiring a new part-time organizer. For fifteen years CAGJ has confronted corporate power through the collective strength of our members and community organizing together. We have accomplished so much, and with only one full-time staff person!  Now, to effectively coordinate our transnational organizing (which has already made the GM banana a high profile issue – check out this HuffPost piece), we need to expand. Our first goal this month of raising 10k is to hire a new Co-Director, and later this year we will hire an AGRA Watch Organizer. You can help us double our staffing in 2016 with your Membership donation!
 
$5000 Matching Grant: With your gift, we can reach this goal, with the generous matching grant of $3000 from UFCW 21 and $2000 from anonymous CAGJ Members. All donations up to $5000 through April will be matched, dollar for dollar, so donate now to ensure CAGJ can continue our transnational organizing for food sovereignty.
 
Please consider becoming a Monthly Sustainer or providing a one-time contribution of $15, $50, or $125. Most of CAGJ’s revenue comes from individual donations. If you can’t donate funds at this time, but can pledge to participate in CAGJ over the next year, you too can sign up to become a Member (or renew)!
 
THANK YOU for helping CAGJ grow stronger in 2016!

CAGJ HAPPENINGS

TUES April 19, 6:30 - 8:30pm
Monthly Food Justice Project Meeting
New volunteer orientation at 6pm! Please RSVP.
**NEW Location: CAGJ Office, 606 Maynard Ave S, Seattle 98104
Join us to organize for food justice and sovereignty in 2016! At the April meeting we will discuss next steps for our campaign to educate about GE salmon, in partnership with Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project. We aim to highlight the threat GE salmon represents to Native food traditions and livelihoods, and to take action to protect our wild salmon, as a matter of principle in solidarity with tribes, and to honor the place where we are so fortunate to live. All are welcome! RSVPs appreciated but not required.
 
MON April 25, 7-9pm
Berta Caceres, Activism and Solidarity: Social Struggles in Honduras and Beyond
 
Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores, an Indigenous (Lenca) Honduran environmental activist, was assassinated on March 3, 2016. CAGJ hosted her last November, when she spoke along with with Miriam Miranda of OFRANEH of Honduras, 2015 Food Sovereignty Prize winner, after a screening of Resistenica. Berta was co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras and won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for “a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam” at the Río Gualcarque. Her death sparked expressions of solidarity, outrage, and organizing around the world. This panel discussion examines what Berta’s life and death can teach us about solidarity and struggle in Central America and beyond. Panelists include Katrin Wilde, Channel Foundation, Brady Walkinshaw, 43rd District Representative, Yoelin Connor, Garifuna organizer, and Jose Antonio Lucero, UW Latin America and Caribbean Studies Department Chair, will moderate. Location: Ethnic Cultural Center, 3931 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, Washington 98105. FREE. For more info, contact 206.616.0998. Share on Facebook.
 
SAT July 9, 5-9pm, University Christian Church
10th Annual Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere (SLEE) Dinner!
 
Hungry for global justice? Join us July 9th for CAGJ's SLEE Dinner, celebrating 15 Years of Global justice organizing. Our keynote is renowned food sovereignty organizer and author Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. It is time to look back on some of our movement's biggest accomplishments, and energize our community for what the next 15 years will hold!
 
Want a full table for your friends and family at SLEE? Reserve your spot as a Table Captain today! Bring your friends, family and colleagues who believe in supporting local economies, food and environmental justice, and fair trade—and who might want to learn more about CAGJ and enjoy a delicious meal! Email Heather to reserve your table and get more information.
 

CAGJ CAMPAIGN NEWS

Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Supports CAGJ's GE Salmon Organizing with $5000 Grant
 
CAGJ is excited to announce that our proposal to collaborate with Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project in 2016 to oppose GE salmon was approved and funded by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe!  Funds will help CAGJ hire a new Co-Director, and organize two educational events in 2016, including a Seafood Throwdown, a fun chef competition invented by Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA), whose Executive Director gave the 2013 SLEE keynote. More details to come! Get involved in planning for these events by joining our next Food Justice Project meeting on April 19 (more details above)!
 
Groups Sue FDA Over Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon
By Center for Food Safety and Eartjustice, March 31, 2016. CAGJ is following this lawsuit closely! Brought by many of our partners, including Friends of the Earth, with whom we coordinated closely on our 2015 Costco campaign, it represents an important challenge to the FDA's recent approval of GE salmon.
A broad coalition of organizations sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today for approving the first-ever genetically engineered (GE) food animal, an Atlantic salmon engineered to grow quickly. The man-made salmon was created by AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. with DNA from three fish: Atlantic salmon, Pacific king salmon and Arctic ocean eelpout. This marks the first time any government in the world has approved a GE animal for commercial sale and consumption. “FDA’s decision is as unlawful as it is irresponsible,” George Kimbrell, senior attorney for Center for Food Safety and co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said. “This case is about protecting our fisheries and ocean ecosystems from the foreseeable harms of the first-ever GE fish, harms FDA refused to even consider, let alone prevent. But it’s also about the future of our food: FDA should not, and cannot, responsibly regulate this GE animal, nor any future GE animals, by treating them as drugs under a 1938 law.” In approving the GE salmon, FDA determined it would not require labeling of the GE fish to let consumers know what they are buying, which led Congress to call for labeling in the 2016 omnibus spending bill. FDA’s approval also ignored comments from nearly 2 million people opposed to the approval because the agency failed to analyze and prevent the risks to wild salmon and the environment, as well as fishing communities, including the risk that GE salmon could escape and threaten endangered wild salmon stocks. Read rest of article on CAGJ’s website.
 

Farmworker Campaign Update: Familias Unidas is halfway through their West Coast Tour!

On March 17th Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) embarked on an historic 28-day tour from Bellingham, WA to the US-Mexico border to energize a major offensive on the boycott of Driscoll’s berries. After traveling 1,090 miles, visiting 13 different cities, talking with hundreds of people and dozens of organizations, 13 new boycott committees have joined the international boycott of Driscoll’s berries! The boycott will continue until union contracts are signed for both Familias Unidas por la Justica and El Sindicato, the independent farmworker union from San Quintin Mexico that went on strike and endorsed the boycott last March. For more updates on the tour, visit FUJ’s Facebook page.

Donate today! Grassroots fundraising has made this tour possible, and FUJ is still working toward meeting their fundraising goal of $5,000. Check out their GoFundMe campaign and make a contribution today to support FUJ in organizing the final 8 days of the tour and continuing the struggle through the upcoming berry season.

Get involved! The Seattle Boycott Committee will continue to host farmworker solidarity pickets at PCC stores through April. Times and dates will be sent to the FJP listserv (email us to be added) as soon as pickets are scheduled. CAGJ will also be holding a report-back with FUJ about their tour once they’ve returned; stay tuned for more details!


TAKE ACTION

Get Ready for the TPP Activist Summit April 16!

1st: Watch TPP Death Star Theater
Take 3 minutes to watch this fantastic video from WA Fair Trade Coalition of the Rebel Alliance of “We the People” in a stand off against the “Corporate Empire” to win over life size replicas of Congress. Light sabers were drawn in the epic battle between Luke Skywalker’s alliance and the dark forces of a massive blow-up TPP Death Star.
 
2nd: Attend the TPP Activist Summit!
SAT April 16, 9:30am-6pm
Whether you are worried about TPP and not sure how to effectively take action, or you have been organizing for fair trade since 1999, this day-long regional summit is for you! Let’s come together to build a statewide network to defeat the TPP. Groups will be joining us from all over WA state and Oregon, for a day-long training to share experiences, build up their action toolkits, and strengthen connections in the region. Workshops and tracks will include how to talk about TPP, how to use visuals in activism, how to work with media, strategic escalation, as well as time for groups to exchange ideas and experiences and to plan for local action. Arrival time 9:30 AM, programs start at10:00 AM. We plan to wrap up at 6:00 PM. Breakfast and Lunch included. If you are coming from far away and need a place to stay Friday night, or if you live around Tacoma and can offer a place for people to stay, please email Gillian. RSVP here, and share Facebook event.
 

COMMUNITY CALENDAR
 
MON April 18, 7:30PM, Doors @ 6:30pm
Tamara Draut - Political Sway of ‘The New Working Class’
Downstairs at Town Hall $5. Seattle has set the standard for a $15/hour minimum wage model, but what about the rest of the country? According to author Tamara Draut (Sleeping Giant), America’s current working class is poised to transform the national economy and politics for the better. Called “thorough and lively” by author Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed), Draut’s examination of labor, unions, organizing, and action are critical for tackling today’s economic inequalities. She’ll outline the makeup of this new working class (more female, more racially-diverse, holding a broader range of professions) and why their “untapped political power” could be the key to real change in this tumultuous election year.
 
SUN May 1, 3pm
May Day March
On May 1st, 2016, International Workers Day, we will march together to make the statement that immigration reform is a labor, a women’s, a racial justice, a criminal justice, a trade, and an environmental issue. May 1st Action Coalition and El Comité are redoubling our efforts to bring out grassroots community members in our demand for democracy, justice and equity in 2016. We need your help and support to make this event successful!  At 3pm, gather at Judkins Playfield, 2150 S Norman St, Seattle,98144. RSVP and find more info on Facebook.
 
WED, May 11, 7:30, Doors @ 6:30
Sophie Egan with Tim Egan: Are We What We Eat?
Downstairs at Town Hall $5. The popular saying “you are what you eat” could be more true than we know. According to Seattle-based author Sophie Egan, what people choose to eat defines who they are as a person. In conversation with author Tim Egan (her father), she’ll explore the science behind everything Americans eat. From the popularity of McDonald’s to the more recent gluten-free movement, her overview of these eating habits will touch on every aspect of truly American cuisine. Why does America have such a high rate of obesity? Why is “having it our way” so unique to the U.S.? Egan, who studied under Michael Pollan, will offer insight into these and other questions in her talk.
 
FRI-SUN May 13-15
Break Free Actions
On May 13th, 14th and 15th thousands of people are converging upon the Shell and Tesoro refineries on March Point in Anacortes, WA for the Break Free campaign. The Shell and Tesoro refineries near Anacortes are the largest source of carbon pollution in the Northwest and refine 47% of all the gas and diesel consumed in the region. This system must change—within years, not decades. Join us as we take mass action to Break Free from Big Oil and hasten a just transition to 100% renewable energy. Hundreds of people will risk arrest by engaging in peaceful civil disobedience. Please consider joining this historic convergence and helping begin the global break from fossil fuels. Sign-up to join us there!
 
 
 


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Community Alliance for Global Justice
1322 S Bayview St, Ste 300
Seattle, WA 98144