8 O'Clock Buzz

The United Nations Association-Dane County Chapter celebrations the 76th Anniversary of the United Nations through our upcoming event United Women, United Nations: Shaping the Future of Our World.

They are celebrating the work of our speaker, Bandana Rana, the Vice Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Also being honored as the recipient of the 2021 Global Citizen Award is Dr. Floyd Rose, head of The 100 Black Men of Madison.

You can join this virtual event on Sunday, November 14, 2021 from 11:30 to 1 pm by registering in advance on their website.

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Aaron Williams, past Director of the Peace Corps under Obama and first African American American to lead USAID as Executive Secretary, will be in town next week as a featured speaker of the “International Education Week” at U. W. Madison. He will speak on his life from growing up in Chicago to international community service and recent book “A Life Unimagined: The Rewards of Mission-Driven Service in the Peace Corps and Beyond. Learn more about the event or register here. The event is at 6 PM, November 15th, and can be viewed virtually or at an on-campus watch party.

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Next week, November 15-21, 2021, is “National Apprenticeship Week” and Lisa Goodman, Business Agent from IBEW Local 159, talks about the week’s activities and what a career in the trades can offer, well, basically anyone. And you can get paid while you learn!

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“A foot in the door” — that’s how Karen Dolan, Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, calls the Biden “Build Back Better Bill” making its way through Congress. Though considerably pared down by just a couple of Democrat hold-outs, Dolan says these wildly popular programs, favoring some lower drug pricing, paid medical leave, and more, could prepare the Senate for a Democratic advantage which could lead to even more benefits to workers, children, seniors, and the underprivileged.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown…

Kristen Taylor, lead organizer for Worker Justice Wisconsin, and Sara Gia Trongone, Labor Solidarity Co-Chair of AFT Local 3220 (TAA) join us to talk about labor issues including the current organizing and worker justice actions, increasing minimum wages, Striketober, the John Deere strike in Iowa and the condition of organized labor in Madison.

More on Worker Justice Wisconsin and their monthly membership meetings (every third Thursday) at the Madison Labor Temple to learn and build community: https://workerjustice.org/

More on UW-Madison TAA (AFT Local 3220): https://taa-madison.org/

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a pledge online at wortfm.org!

Kristen Taylor’s passion for promoting social justice and workers’ rights brought her to Worker Justice Wisconsin in 2009, where she worked as a bi-lingual volunteer advocate and helped with the daily office tasks around the center. In 2010 she was hired on as staff and for over 10 years, she has dedicated countless hours assisting low wage and immigrant workers in Wisconsin in their fight against workplace inequalities. At the worker center, Kristen provides direct advocacy assistance to workers, teaches weekly trainings that educate workers about their rights and trains workers to organize collectively to demand better working conditions. She has been involved with several campaigns and projects over the years including, but not limited to, The “Just Dining Guide”, the Fight for $15 movement, and the training and building of worker cooperatives.  

This year, Kristen is a lead organizer of WJW’s new worker membership program, providing monthly meetings and a safe place for workers to join forces, organize and fight back against workplace injustices. Worker Justice members can participate in these monthly meetings to learn new leadership tools, learn about worker organizing victories around the United States and network together. This group fosters empowerment that happens when workers join forces to solve workplace problems.

Sara Gia Trongone is a proud and active union member. She currently serves as the Labor Solidarity Co-Chair of AFT Local 3220 and is a founding member of the University Labor Council. She (sort of) earns a living as a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studies labor and social movements.

Photo by Lance Cheung for USDA: https://flic.kr/p/2mCYz7N 

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · TNW Ensemble Theater To Premier “Sketchy Ideas”

Founded in 1985 by Danielle Dresden and Donna Peckett

TNW Ensemble Theater (formerly known as TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater) has invented, produced, and performed new works for audiences of all ages for the past 36 years.

Their upcoming production “Sketchy Ideas” premiers Nov. 13 and brings to life a series of illustrated letters, of the same title, created by Madison-based visual artist Randall Berndt. Joining Friday Buzz host, Chali Pittman, to talk more about the production is co-founder co-producing artistic director of TNW Theater, Donna Peckett.

 

 

(Image courtesy of TNW Ensemble Theater)

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · UW Madison’s Historic Raising of the Ho-Chunk Nation Flag

The land that UW Madison currently occupies was home to the Ho-Chunk people for centuries until an 1832 treaty forced them off of their land.

For the first time in its history, UW Madison will raised the Ho-Chunk Nation flag Friday morning.

Aaron Bird Bear is the Tribal Relations Director at UW Madison and is of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. He joins Friday Buzz host, Chali Pittman, to talk more about the significance of the flag raising and what it means for the relationship between the First Nations of Wisconsin, the University, the State of Wisconsin.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Jonah Brown on Unsplash and Aaron Bird Bear)

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The U. S. spends eleven times as much money on border security than it does on climate action, according to Todd Miller, co-author of a new comprehensive report “Global Climate Wall: How the World’s Wealthiest Nations Prioritize Borders over Climate Action“. The “Border Industry” in the U. S. has been awarded over 100,000 contracts, as climate change is threatening countries with sea level rise, desertification, and other issues.

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Wall Street, and the newly formed Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEC), is working hard to financialize the ecosystem. Randy Wray, Professor of Economics at Bard College and Co-editor of the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, breaks down what this means as a part of the continuing exploitation of capitalism on the world’s resources. As the IEC describes, “In partnership with the New York Stock Exchange, IEG is providing a word-class platform to list these companies for trading, enabling the conversion of natural assets into financial capital”

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After centuries of “Global Bleaching” — colonization with the goal to expand the territory of white conquerors and remove local cultures — Edgar Villanueva, author of “Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance”, has updated his book with a second edition. His goal is to “offer truth, reconciliation, and healing from the ails of colonization through education, radical reparative giving, and narrative change”, and suggests ways that this can be done.

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