CAGJ HAPPENINGS

Help CAGJ Build the Movement: Join our Steering Committee

The Trump administration represents an unprecendented attack on CAGJ's core values - social justice, sustainability, diversity and grassroots democracy. We must continue to RISE UP and RESIST and build the other world we know is possible by strengthening the food sovereignty movement! You can help CAGJ respond to this political moment by joining our leadership: we are currently seeking new at-large Co-Chairs, who are volunteers who agree to help lead CAGJ by becoming members of our Steering Committee. If you are passionate about food sovereignty and want to get more involved, please contact CAGJ's Director, Heather Day, for more info.

CAGJ has been in the streets (photo from Inauguration Day Immigrant Rights March), and will continue to protest and create space both for new people wanting to get involved, and long-time members eager to strategize together. In response to the recent unconstitutional attack on immigrant and refugee rights, we issued this statement: "CAGJ commits to keeping Seattle a sanctuary city for immigrants and refugees and holding our political leaders accountable to this goal. We support a widened vision of sanctuary for undocumented people, Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants, political refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTQ people, people of color, indigenous people, and political dissidents as we face an administration that seeks to persecute people who carry these identities and experiences. We support a strategy that demonstrates there is massive public support in protecting immigrants and refugees, because all are welcome here!"

SUN FEB 12, 10am-1pm

Worker and Immigrant Solidarity March - Join CAGJ contingent

Familias Unidas por La Justicia invites our Brothers and Sisters from all movements to join farmworkers in solidarity. Our struggles are not isolated. Worker Rights and the rights of immigrants are under attack. With the new administration, we can expect things to get harder. What we know: The appointed Secretary of Labor who is against raising the minimum wage and no overtime for workers. The president has vowed to "build a wall" to divide our people and to further criminalize immigrants. Programs such as DACA and DAPA will most likely be suspended leaving millions vulnerable to deportations. The Guest Worker Program is set to expand drastically as well. Environmental Protections that are supposed to protect workers and consumers will be taken away and further expose us to dangerous chemicals. Our local economy in Skagit County is dependent on our labor. We want to show our community that we will not be silenced or intimidated. The only way to be safe is to organize. Together we can come up with solutions and actions and make our community and workplace a safer one. March begins on the corner of Fairhaven Ave & Burlington Blvd. in Burlington, WA 98233 and ends at City Hall in downtown Mt Vernon. Share the Facebook event. Email CAGJ for info on car-pooling from Seattle!

MON FEB 20, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Monthly Food Justice Project Meeting

New volunteer orientation at 6pm! Please RSVP.

CAGJ stands with Northwest Tribes to protest GE salmon. Come to our meeting to hear an update on the campaign, and to help plan our March 11 Seafood Throwdown - a wild salmon cook-out, organized in partnership with Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project, and taking place at UW’s Intellectual House. We will also share updates on our Educate for Action workshops and Solidarity Campaigns, and keep developing our action-study group - we invite your perspectives, interests, and participation! Meetings are held at CAGJ’s Office in the ID, 606 Maynard Ave. S. Rm 102, Seattle. All are welcome! For more info, email Food Justice Project Co-Chair, Christina.

Block Andrew Pudzer from becoming US Labor Secretary

Please sign this petition today from UltraViolet to oppose Andrew Puzder as our new Secretary of Labor. Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restuaruants, which owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. His restaurants have received sexual harassment complaints from two-thirds of female employees, have illegally held overtime pay, and have records of wage theft violation. As the NYT reports, ‘In the months before California passed a law last year raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2022…Mr. Puzder was blunt: “How do you pay somebody $15 an hour to scoop ice cream? How good could you be at scooping ice cream?” he asked.’ Last month CAGJ signed onto a letter to the US Senate with over 100 food and farm groups opposing Trump’s nomination of Puzder. As stated in the letter, "Puzder’s confirmation would ensure that the interests of the fast food industry—and its large meat and food industry suppliers—would prevail over the needs of hard-working people in the food system who face some of the highest rates of food insecurity due to low wages and poor working conditions."

Replace NAFTA with a New Deal that Benefits Working People and the Environment in the US, Mexico and Canada

Citizen Trade Campaign has created a 10-point plan of what a NAFTA replacement must accomplish to put people and the planet first. Already, big corporations see the reopening of NAFTA as an opportunity to further rewrite the rules in their own narrow interests — padding their pockets with same disregard as to the consequences for working families, the environment and public health that characterized the initial NAFTA negotiations. Email your Reps NOW: Tell your members of Congress that labor, environmental, family farm and consumer groups, as well as civil society, have a clear vision for what must and must not be in any new NAFTA (click here).

Seattle Residents: Make sure you get your Democracy Vouchers!

Democracy Vouchers are a new way for Seattle residents to get more involved in their city government. Eligible Seattle residents will receive four $25 paper certificates they can use to support a candidate running for Seattle City Council or City Attorney. If you are registered to vote in Seattle and have not yet received your 2017 Democracy Vouchers in the mail, go here to request them! If you are not a registered voter, you may be eligible to apply.

CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS

Farm and food groups call for prioritizing fair and sustainable rural economies: US-Mexico relations should be based on Fair Trade, no xenophobia

CAGJ is a proud member of National Family Farm Coalition, who made this statement with four partner organizations Jan 27^th. Current U.S. trade policy is designed to promote the interests of agribusinesses and other multinational corporations over those of family farmers. The resulting agreements have contributed to the economic and social erosion of rural communities in the U.S. and oftentimes devastation of its trading partners and fail to address very real problems of price volatility and environmental sustainability. These problems will not be solved simply by increasing exports. We support the demands of many civil society organizations who reject NAFTA and similar free-trade agreements. NAFTA should be replaced with a different agreement with the goal of increasing living standards in all three countries. This should start from a thorough, open and democratic assessment of those agreements that involves both rural and urban communities. The trade negotiation process itself must be made more transparent to include the participation of all affected sectors, including independent farmers. If trade agreements include provisions related to agriculture, the overall goal should be to achieve balanced trade that supports fair and sustainable rural economies and food supplies. We call for the following priorities (read the full statement of principles): Restore local and national sovereignty over farm and food policy; Stop corporate giveaways in trade agreements; Ensure economic viability and resilience in rural communities.

AGRA WATCH Analysis: The Gates Foundation "Enabling the Business of Agriculture" By Matt Canfield

AGRA Watch has long been concerned with the Gates Foundation’s funding for agri-business and pro-corporate agricultural policies in Africa. However, what was at first a simple model of philanthrocapitalism—the use of apparent philanthropy to expand globally-integrated capitalist markets—has now turned into a full-throated effort to coerce states into embracing pro-market reforms. The “Enabling the Business of Agriculture” indicators (EBAs) represent a step in this direction by measuring and monitoring the implementation of corporate regulatory regimes across the world.The EBAs were developed by the World Bank in 2013 with approximately $4.5 million from the Gates Foundation and other national development agencies. As the 2016 World Bank report notes, these indicators were constructed to enable “policymakers to identify and analyze legal barriers for the business of agriculture and to quantify transaction costs of dealing with government regulations.” The EBAs rank countries across six areas of the agricultural supply chain based on how favorable the World Bank considers a country’s regulations are for agribusiness. Read the full article.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

THURS FEB 2, 7:30 PM

BEING HUMAN IN A TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave at Seneca. Environmental educator and National Geographic expert M. Jackson has spent years researching glaciers and climate change. In While Glaciers Slept, she effectively draws parallels, both literal and metaphorical, between the threat of climate change and the declining health and mortality of her parents. She poses a stark question: If losing one’s parents is so devastating, how can we survive the destruction of the planet that sustains us? Despite grim predictions for the future, Jackson encourages hope in the form of solar, wind, and geothermal solutions and educates people about how to slow the effects of climate change. Weaving this global crisis together with her own personal story of loss and recovery, she creates a palpable link between humanity and the earth. Tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Located downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street.

SAT FEB 4, 7:00 PM
SEATTLE LABOR CHORUS 20th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT
Keystone Church, 5019 Keystone Pl. N, Seattle, WA. Seattle Labor Chorus presents a concert honoring the songs and musicians who have inspired us all. Previously they have performed for the King County Labor Council, Washington State Labor Council, and many local unions, as well as in concert with folk musician Charlie King. This concert will feature Charlie King, Bev Grant and Lou Truskoff. Tickets are free, but a $20 donation is suggested. Doors open at 6:30. A reception will follow the show. For information and reservations, email [email protected] or call 206/524-7753.

SAT FEB 11, 7:30 PM

Muslim Roots in America

Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave at Seneca.The history of Muslims in America has largely been ignored and forgotten. Muslims are part of the fabric of these United States of America, but the primary narrative of modern political and social discourse is largely unaware of this history. Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah has spent much of his academic career studying, researching and writing about indigenous American Muslims. Join us as Dr. Abd-Allah shines a light on this rich past which not only shaped the current American Muslim community but has had an integral role in forming the broader American culture. Tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Located downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street.

SUN FEB 19, 2:00-3:30 PM

NEVER AGAIN: Japanese American WWII History and American Muslim Rights Today.

Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave. Join us for Never Again: Japanese American WWII History and American Muslim Rights Today, a presentation and conversation examining Japanese American incarceration during World War II and how it relates to racism today. Presented in partnership with Densho, CAIR-Washington State and ACLU of Washington. Tickets are free but parking is $7 in the Central Library garage. Registration is not required. For full event details, visit http://post.spl.org/2j7Cui8.

SUN Feb 26, 12 Noon

PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL AGAINST THE DETENTION CENTER

NW Detention Center, 1623 E J Street, Tacoma WA 98421. Don't miss the second People’s Tribunal Against the Detention Center! Tribunal organized by undocumented immigrants and formerly detained to highlight the inhumane conditions on which the immigration system operates and permits for private corporations to profit from people’s misery. The tribunal will be held right outside the main entrance to the immigration prison AKA Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Everyone is invited to join and share experiences on how the criminalization of people of color has impacted all our communities. Share the Facebook event.

THURS MARCH 2-4, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM

WESTERN WA LEADERSHIP SCHOOL

Georgetown Campus, South Seattle College, 6737 Corson Ave S.

The Washington State Labor Education and Research Center presents the first ever leadership program. In the three days participants attend, they will develop skills for labor leadership in their workplaces & communities, including public speaking, organizing, and campaign planning, learn about current and historical situations facing the labor movement, and socialize and build relationships with other union and community members. The school will include an introductory workshop offered by David Carpio of the AFL-CIO on Path to Power, a program for union members interested in running for office. The total cost is $150 per person and includes meals. To register, visit http://goo.gl/oBwOrR/. If you have any questions contact Kelly Coogan-Gehr at [email protected].