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Fri Aug 29 2008

Columns

Alexander Cockburn

Ten good groups that need help
December 29, 2004

Iraq Veterans Against the War
216 South Meramec Ave
St. Louis, MO 63105
314-725-6005
www.ivaw.net

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a group of veterans who have served since September 11, 2001. They have called for an immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces. They are also calling on the Bush administration to give their soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen the benefits that are owed to them upon their return home.

Military Families Speak Out
P.O. Box 549
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-522-9323
www.mfso.org

Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military. They formed in November of 2002.

GI Rights Hotline
405 14th St., Suite 205,
Oakland, CA 94612
http://girights.objector.org/

The GI Rights Hotline offers a 24-hour toll free number (1-800-394-9544) that is answered by a coalition of nonprofit, non-governmental organizations who provide information to members of the military about discharges, grievance and complaint procedures and other civil rights.

The hotline provides information on discharges, stop-loss orders, de-enlistment, being AWOL, conscientious objection and other kinds of grievances with the military.

Campaign to End the Death Penalty
P.O. Box 25730
Chicago, IL 60625
773-955-4841
www.nodeathpenalty.org

For years, the Campaign has been holding regular meetings throughout Chicago and rallies to raise awareness of the wrongs of the death penalty. It forged relationships with those on Death Row and helped to give their own voices a place in this struggle. The Campaign was important in helping to build an activist front that played a role in persuading former Illinois Governor George Ryan to empty Death Row and pardon four members of the Death Row 10. The Campaign also publishes the New Abolitionist, the excellent bimonthly newsletter that serves as a forum for activists, Death Row prisoners and others to discuss the issues and to raise questions and debates about how to end the death penalty.

California Prison Focus
2940 16th Street #B-5
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-252-9211
http://www.prisons.org/

California Prison Focus is organized to end human rights abuses and torture in California prisons, including abolishing the Security Housing Units, end medical neglect and insure civil and human rights for all prisoners. CPF achieves its purposes by visiting prisoners, monitoring conditions, educating the public and policymakers, providing a voice for and working with prisoners, and encouraging legal advocacy.

Montana Environmental Information Center
P.O. Box 1184
Helena, Montana 59624
406-443-2520
http://www.meic.org

It was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dark Election Day. In a resounding victory, Montanans rejected Initiative-147 by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin. I-147 was the initiative to legalize open-pit, cyanide-leach mining in Montana by overturning the 1998 citizen initiative I-137 that banned the toxic form of mining.

The group primarily responsible for this victory was the Montana Environmental Information Center, based in Helena. This is far from the first big win for this small but influential group. MEIC and its fearless executive director, Jim Jensen, have been instrumental in the design, passage and implementation of many of Montana's landmark environmental laws. Many of the state's laws are used as models for other state and national legislation.

American Indian Religious Rights Foundation (AIRR)
P.O. Box 462
Hill City, South Dakota 57745-0462
www.airr.org

AIRR was created in 1999 as a nonprofit for the distinct purpose of building a public foundation of support to secure and protect the religious rights and spiritual needs of incarcerated American Indians. These individuals are essentially being cut off from communication and kinship with their tribe.

AIRR also pushes prison systems to establish a plan for the training and education of employees in American Indian religious beliefs and practices; record proper race identification of American Indians; and recognize Native American religion as a valid form of therapy and rehabilitation.

CARE
Animal Protection New Mexico
P.O. Box 11395
Albuquerque, NM 87192
e-mail: apnm@apnm.org
(505) 265-2322

Animal cruelty is recognized as an indicator of other forms of violence. Abuse or threats of abuse of companion animals can quickly turn into violence toward other family members and reach into the community. Such violence is often used to establish power or control over a partner within a relationship. Some abused partners are reluctant to leave a violent situation, fearing for their animals' safety if left behind. Animals at risk rarely have access to a temporary, safe place while their guardians seek help.

CARE is a program of Animal Protection New Mexico and the All Faiths Receiving Home (AFRH) in Albuquerque, N.M. CARE empowers individuals to leave abusive home environments by helping to provide temporary emergency care of victims' companion animals.

O'Shaugnessy's Journal
California Cannabis Medical Research Group
P.O. Box 9143
Berkeley, CA 94709

The California Cannabis Research Medical Group was founded by Tod Mikuriya M.D., to enable doctors who have been monitoring their patients' cannabis use to share data and observations.

Cannabis is not a conventional medicine at this time, and "O'Shaugnessy's" -- published by the CCRMG -- is not starting out as a conventional journal.

Our primary goals are the same as the stated goals of any reputable scientific publication: to bring out findings that are accurate, duplicable and useful to the community at large," says Fred Gardner, editor of "O'Shaugnessys." "But in order to do this, we have to pursue parallel goals such as removing the impediments to clinical research created by Prohibition, and educating our colleagues, co-workers and patients as we educate ourselves about the medical uses of cannabis."

Teamsters Rank & File Education and Legal Defense (TRF)
Box 10303
Detroit MI 48210
313-842-2615
www.tdu.org

What will it take to build a strong, progressive American labor movement?

TDU is a movement of rank and file Teamsters with a different approach to building union power. While top labor officials debate the seating arrangements around the AFL-CIO's boardroom table, TDU has been fighting on the front lines for nearly 30 years to rebuild labor from the bottom up. TDU's efforts and leadership made possible labor's biggest victory of the past decade, the 1997 UPS strike.

This past year, 2004, has been a good year for Teamster reform, during a time when progressive victories have been hard to find. Progressive and militant Teamsters have won leadership in local unions in Seattle, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. With plans to replace the present top Teamster leadership with a progressive one in 2006, there's a lot to do over the next year.

Alexander Cockburn is coeditor with Jeffrey St. Clair of the muckraking newsletter CounterPunch. He is also co-author of the new book "Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils," available through www.counterpunch.com. To find out more about Alexander Cockburn and read features by other columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2004 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

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