DON'T see your item listed?!? Don't let us make that mistake again! Please send your calendar listing to CCAWR (at) aol.com with the subject heading "CALENDAR."

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COUNTER-INAUGURAL PROTESTS!

Get on the buses to DC! Protest the coronation of Bush!! Buses leave Chicago Wednesday evening, January 19 and return Friday morning, January 21. Round trip tickets are $80. Go to www.chicagoactions.org/cocci/ for more info. on protests here in Chicago and in DC.

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ONGOING - 24/7 Union Picket - Support the Congress Hotel Strikers! Congress Hotel, 520 S. Michigan. Sponsor: HERE Local 1. Info: www.congresshotelstrike.info

ONGOING - There is an exhibit on free speech in Chicago at the Newberry Library, located at 60 West Walton, at Clark Street, about two blocks south of Division. The exhibit is called "Outspoken: Chicago's Free Speech Tradition." The library is located directly across the street from Washington Park, popularly known as "Bughouse Square." The square has long been a place for the exercise of speech by groups and individuals not favored of the establishment. The exhibit includes photographs of the demonstrations for marriage equality held earlier in the. Organized by Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society, more information on the exhibit or other aspects of the programming on free speech can be had by contacting jthomas (at) newberry.org or going to the website at www.newberry.org/.

ONGOING – Riders Don't Pay! Workers Don't Collect! The CTA has slated January 2nd 2005 as Doomsday. This is the day services are to be cut by 20%, 1250 jobs are to be terminated and paratransit fares will be increased by 100%. While CTA officials claim the only solution would be extra money from the state, we have been holding CTA president Frank Kruesi and his board responsible. It is the CTA who has known this crisis was coming and has made the decision to dump it on the backs of workers and riders. They are the ones who ignored it as they built their new $119 million Lake Street office. It is also Kruesi and his buddy mayor Daley who are still talking about spending almost 2 billion dollars on a new Circle line, just so rich folks can get from their neighborhoods to the airport a little bit quicker. If there is money for such luxury, there is no excuse for cutting our service, terminating our jobs and raising our fares! In response, Midwest Unrest has called for a fare strike starting December 15th. If no final decision to scrap these cuts, job terminations and fare increases has been announced by then, we are calling on all CTA riders to ride their routes like they do everyday but without paying. The CTA depends on us paying and collecting fares. This is where our power to pressure them lies. This tactic has been successful before, in San Francisco, Italy, France and elsewhere. In Chicago, there is widespread support for a fare strike among bus operators, many of whom have already received pink slips. They've said time and again, "It's not our job to collect the fares." Sponsor: Midwest Unrest. Info: www.midwestunrest.net/farestrike/

Thursday, December 16 – “Moolade,” Ousmane Sembene’s film drama about female circumcision. Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport.

Thursday, December 16 – “Romance and Reaction.” Eric Miller discusses Stendahl's “The Red & the Black,” one of the great novels of the 19th century. The hero, the provincial cleric Julien Sorel, is a young man on the make in post-Napoleonic France. Ambitious and amoral, yet sensitive and intelligent, Julien manages to dazzle the small-town locals with his ability to memorize - if not internalize - the Latin bible. However, Julien secretly admires and emulates the fallen Emperor, a symbol of secularism, progress and personal aspiration. It is from this split in Julien's personality that the book takes its name: Red symbolizing the soldier, the armies of his beloved Napoleon, and Black symbolizing the priesthood, Julien's ticket out of the countryside. "For Julien, to make his fortune meant first of all to get out of Verrieres … he would dream with delight that he would one day encounter the beautiful women of Paris." The author describes Sorel's social and amorous maneuvering with precision and bemused detachment. Stendhal's irony-tinged realism and psychological insight inspired a generation of European masters, including Flaubert (see A Sentimental Education) and Tolstoy (see Resurrection). The Red and the Black is a self-consciously historical novel, capturing in an almost scientific way the manners, morals and feel of the corrupt French Restoration society just prior to the July Days of 1830, the revolution that decided the social question in France in favor of the bourgeoisie. 7 pm, Acme Art Works, 1741 N. Western. Sponsor: Open University of the Left. Info: 847.677.5474.

Thursday, December 16 – Court date for wrongfully convicted Harold Hill and Dan Young, police torture victims who were cleared through DNA analysis. 8:30 am, Crook County Court House, 26th & California. Please join the Enough Is Enough campaign as we stand against wrongful convictions before the Crook County Court house and say enough is enough! to innocent people languishing in prison.

Thursday, December 16 – “Edward Said: The Last Interview,” author & Palestinian activist talks with British journalist Charles Glass. 6:15 pm, Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State.

Friday, December 17 – Incarcerated Girls Speak Out on Chicago Buses, the debut of four ads to run on Chicago-area buses and trains. 6 pm, Acme Artworks, 1741 N. Western. Sponsor: Girl Talk. Info: 312.427.4460, x24

Friday, December 17 – "After the death of Arafat: Is there a way forward for Israel and Palestine?" 7:30 pm, 36 S. Wabash Avenue, Room 1440. Kevin Anderson, author of “Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the seductions of Islam” will lead the discussion (forthcoming from Univ. of Chicago Press). Info: 312.236.0799

Friday, December 17 – The Enough Is Enough! Campaign hosts Illinois’s first exonerated former death row prisoner, Darby Tillis, in an off off broadway musical play fundraiser, “Xmas on Death Row.” Based on a true story of an innocent man condemned to die. He was tried 5 times - including 3 hung juries (more times than anyone in the history of America's judicial system). Come see a spell binding musical as we follow an innocent man's fight for freedom! 8 pm at the Enough is Enough Campaign headquarters, 614 E. 71st Street. $10 donation for tickets. Info: 773.488.4238

Friday, December 17 – Tonight the Chicago Gay Youth Center, 1218 W. Addison, will begin hosting monthly youth parties called "Curiosity" for LGBT youth 18 – 23. 9 pm at the Center. Youth 18 and under must be CGY members to attend for legal purposes.

Friday, December 17 – Café Intifada - spoken word poetry, music, art, open mic, and culture - for the liberation of Palestine. Proceeds will go to help fund 1) the work of Generation Y, the youth activist wing of the Southwest Youth Collaborative, who are in the midst of an organizing campaign entitled "Still We Rise," which is demanding police accountability and challenging the racial profiling policies inherent in the practices of Chicagoland police departments; and 2) future delegations to Palestine. The AAAN's own spoken word poet, Gihad Ali, will be one of the featured performers. Doors open at 7 pm, show starts at 8 pm. Arab American Action Network, 3148 W. 63rd Street, 2nd Floor. Entrance fee is $10, but nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, or if you are a poet or spoken work artist and would like to perform at the Cafe, please email Gihad Ali (bluedemonphd (at) yahoo.com) or Azusena Olaquez (olaguez_a (at) hotmail.com); or call 773.436.6060, x109, or 773.476.3534, x27. Co-sponsored by the Arab American Action Network (www.aaan.org), Generation Y, Palestine Solidarity Group (www.psgchicago.org), and the Southwest Youth Collaborative (www.swyc.org)

Friday, December 17 – Health Care Justice Public Policy Seminar sponsored by the Campaign for Better Healthcare. 9-11:30 am, Depaul University, 243 S. Wabash, 9th Floor. Info: 217.352.5600

Friday, December 17 – Vigil For Peace and Witness Against War, sponsored by Voices in the Wilderness. 4:30-6:30 pm, VA Medical Center, 820 S. Damen. Info: 773.784.8065

Saturday, December 18 - Rally Against the War Recruiters! Noon – 2 pm outside of the Marriott Hotel, 540 N. Michigan Ave. A coalition of Chicagoland students, youth, parents, teachers and members of the faith and peace and justice community invite you to participate in a local "Organizing Rally" against the upcoming Military Recruiting Conference and to raise the following demands: Bring the Troops Home Now!; End the Racist Poverty Draft!; Military Out of Our Schools!; and, Funding for Education, Not for Occupation! Four hundred military recruiters and support personnel will gather in downtown Chicago this coming weekend as part of the Army's annual recruiter training conference. This is where recruiters receive training, exchange resources, coordinate their recruitment strategies and get on with the business of marketing and recruiting for war. The Bush Regime, in order to continue the project of imperialism, must constantly feed new meat into the grinder of war and repression. Military recruiting has become a big business with more than $200 million going to Leo Burnett annually for developing the "Army of One" campaign and a total expenditure on recruiting from the Pentagon of over $2.4 Billion. When approached directly many recruiters will admit that their promises of job skills training, money for college, opportunities for advancement and a life of adventure are gross distortions of the truth and outright lies in many cases. Racist recruiting practices target the poor and youth of color disproportionately who then die disproportionately in increasingly unpopular and unjustified wars of aggression. Incidents of racial, gender and sexual discrimination occur at a much higher rate within the military than in civil society and people of color are disciplined and discharged under less than honorable conditions at a much higher rate than their white counterparts. VA hospitals are closing all around the country from a lack of funding, benefits for veterans and current GI's are being slashed, many veterans are being denied basic medical coverage, and 1/3 of the existing homeless population in this country are veterans of the U.S. armed forces. Info: S4SJ (at) hotmail.com

Saturday, December 18 – Stop Cat (Catapillar, Inc.) Coalition meeting. 1-3 pm, New World Resource Center, 1300 N. Western Avenue. Info: ISMinChicago (at) aol.com or 773.489.3505

Sunday, December 19 – Winterfest Party 2004 - Music, beverages, class struggle, more. 3-7 pm, Gallery Cabaret, 2020 N. Oakley. Sponsor: Chicago Socialist Party. Info: www.chicagosocialistparty.com/events/winterfest.html

Sunday, December 19 – ISM-Chicago monthly potluck meeting. 5-7 pm. Sponsor: International Solidarity Movement / Chicago. Info: ISMinChicago (at) aol.com or 773.489.3505

Sunday, December 19 – Chicago Independent TV, 7:30 pm on CAN TV, sponsored by the CIMC Video Collective. This month’s show includes: a video by the Southwest Youth Collaborative showing us some extreme dancing; Part 3 of the interview we conducted last April with Voices in the Wilderness co-founder Kathy Kelly. In this installment, Kathy tells us what Voices has been up to recently and discusses the on-going issues caused by our military presence in Iraq; Bush and Kerry: Flush ‘em Both; and two disgruntled Chicago activists resort to extreme methods to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the democratic party at their National Convention in Boston. The Bush/Kerry debates gave voters a limited view of the election. Left out were any voices outside of the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the protests that occurred outside in the streets. A. L. Loy reports some of the things you missed (show rebroadcast at 11 pm on December 27th).

Sunday, December 19 – Activist and educator Bill Ayers will speak on “Teaching Toward Freedom: Moral Commitment and Ethical Action in the Classroom,” 10 am, Third Unitarian Church, 301 N. Mayfield.

Monday, December 20 – Young Feminists’ Book Group at Women & Children First Bookstore. 7:30 pm, 5233 N. Clark Street. Tonight's discussion will focus on Angela Davis's book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?,” which explores the human rights catastrophe in our jails and prisons. Davis's book is short, thoroughly researched, and very powerful. New members welcome; ask for a 10% discount. Info: 773.769.9299 or wcfbooks (at) aol.com

Tuesday, December 21- Due to the holidays, there will be no Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism meeting tonight. The next meeting will be 6:30 pm, Tuesday, January 4th at 1st Methodist Temple, 77 W. Washington (at Clark), lower level. All who want to organize against war and racism are welcome! Call 888.471.0874 or e-mail CCAWR (at) aol.com for information.

Tuesday, December 21- Women's Book Discussion & Holiday Potluck at Women & Children First Bookstore. . 7:30 pm, 5233 N. Clark Street. Tonight’s discussion is of “Against Love,” by Laura Kipnis, is described as "engagingly acerbic" and "extremely funny" and is designed to shake up our idealistic notions about love and coupling. New members welcome; bring food or drink to share. 10% discount. Info: 773.769.9299 or wcfbooks (at) aol.com

Wednesday, December 22 - The Ying and Yang of Film showings, with "Holes in Heaven," a documentary about the HAARP system, "Another World Is Possible, North American Voices at the World Social Forum," followed by a discussion about Intentional Living Communities. All the while enjoying a Vegetarian Christmas Potluck, bring what ever you would like to share including wine! 7pm-whenever they kick us out, no donation! Healing Earth, 3111 N. Ashland. Info: drlora (at) ameritech.net

Wednesday, December 22 – End the War in Iraq Vigil and Procession. 5:30 pm, St. James Cathedral Courtyard, 65 E. Huron. Candlelight vigil for peace and procession down Michigan Ave. Info: 312.427.2533

Thursday, December 23 – Be MARY! Celebrate the holidays with the Gay Liberation Network (formerly Chicago Anti-Bashing Network) at their annual holiday soiree. “A List” gays NOT invited! Strictly B to Z, regardless of sexual orientation. At 7 pm, a FREE showing of the Emmy-nominated “Where We Stood” film about Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive Protest at the start of the war on Iraq. 6 pm - ?, home of Bob Schwartz, 5445 N. Kenmore, 2nd floor, Chicago. Info: 773.878.3697

Monday, December 27 – Chicago Independent TV, 11 pm on CAN TV, sponsored by the CIMC Video Collective. This month’s show includes: a video by the Southwest Youth Collaborative showing us some extreme dancing; Part 3 of the interview we conducted last April with Voices in the Wilderness co-founder Kathy Kelly. In this installment, Kathy tells us what Voices has been up to recently and discusses the on-going issues caused by our military presence in Iraq; Bush and Kerry: Flush ‘em Both; and two disgruntled Chicago activists resort to extreme methods to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the democratic party at their National Convention in Boston. The Bush/Kerry debates gave voters a limited view of the election. Left out were any voices outside of the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the protests that occurred outside in the streets. A. L. Loy reports some of the things you missed (see December 19 for duplicate showing).

Friday, December 31 – Critical Mass Bike Ride. 5:30 pm, Daley Plaza. Info: www.critical-mass.org

Friday, December 31 – New Year’s Eve Party and Benefit for the Cow Van! 100% vegan New Year's Eve Party
Sponsor: www.cowvan.org/

Tuesday, January 4 – Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism general meeting. All who want to organize against war and racism are welcome! 6:30 pm, 1st Methodist Temple, 77 W. Washington (at Clark), lower level. Call 888.471.0874 or e-mail CCAWR (at) aol.com for information

Wednesday, January 5 - The Three Arts Club of Chicago present Ruben Alvarez & RAICES, featuring Sonia Perez. Call 312.944.6250 for tickets ($20 standard admission for one concert, $150 series admission for eight concerts). www.threearts.org

Monday, January 10 – Attention CAN TV Supporters! You’re invited to a discussion of CAN TV’s future, 5:30-7:30 pm in the large conference room at CAN TV, 322 S. Green Street. For now, CAN TV’s funding problems have been resolved. A three-year funding package has been offered by Comcast and a CAN TV / RCN settlement is nearing final approval. Over the next two years, CAN TV will continue to work on resolving the long-term funding with the City and cable companies. Join a discussion about CAN TV’s future viability and what has been recently accomplished. Resfreshments will be served. Please RSVP by 1/7/05 to 312.738.1400 or to info (at) cantv.org

Wednesday, January 12 - Reeltime Independent Film and Video Forum and the North Suburban Peace Initiative present a free showing of "Graveyard of the Fireflies" by Isao Takahata (1988, 88min). Roger Ebert of the Sun-Times says "It belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made." 7:30 pm, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University -Evanston Campus, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL. Called "elegiac and riveting" by the New York Times, this award-winning film follows two orphaned children as they struggle to survive in the Japanese countryside after American planes firebomb their village during World War II. Director Isao Takahata utilizes the poetic power of animation to depict an empathetic anduniversal portrait of the human cost of war. Guest speakers for the program are Northwestern University Film Professor Scott Curtis and Jack Kelley, president of the North Suburban Peace Initiative, an organization that has focused on peace action and education in Chicago’s northern suburbs for the past 25 years. Info: www.reeltimeevanston.org, 847.866.0312, or filmvideoforum (at) yahoo.com

Friday, January 14 - Monthly youth party, "Curiosity," for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered youth, ages 18 – 23, 9 pm at the Chicago Gay Youth Center, 1218 W Addison. Youth 18 and under must be CGY members to attend for legal purposes. "Curiosity" is an Outreach Fair as well. Several LGBT organizations will provide case managers, peer educators, and HIV/STD Prevention staff members at each party in our Education Room on the second floor. Info: Events Coordinator Brian Shepherd at 773.610.5320.

Saturday, January 15 – Counter-Inaugural event. 2 pm, location to be announced. Sponsored by the Chicago Counter-Inaugural Organizing Coalition. Info: www.chicagoactions.org/cocci/

Wednesday, January 19 – Get on the bus to the counter-inaugural protest in Washington, DC! $80 round trip. Sponsored by the Chicago Counter-Inaugural Organizing Coalition. Info: www.chicagoactions.org/cocci/

Wednesday, January 19 - Sister Helen Prejean in Chicago. Info: 847.446.8880

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On-Going Events:

Daily, 7-9 am - Democracy Now! is now in Chicago! Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, and their guests are a daily independent source of news on matters like the occupation of Iraq. WZRD, 88.3 FM

Mondays thru Fridays, 3:45 pm - Hear Pacifica's Free Speech Radio News on WZRD 88.3 FM

Mondays thru Fridays, 6 pm - Hear Pacifica's Free Speech Radio News on WLUW 88.7 FM.

Mondays, 6 pm - Peace Pledge Chicago meetings, 2502 W. Division.

Mondays, 7-9 pm - 1st Monday of the month - Monthly meetings of Andersonville Neighbors for Peace, at North Shore Baptist Church, 5242 N. Lakewood, room 131 (Lakewood is three blocks east of Clark, and the church is one block north of Foster).

Mondays - First Mondays of each month - Department of Peace Coalition meetings. 7 pm, Thomas Ford Library, 800 Chestnut, Western Springs. (MarjorieZ (at) DOPC.us)

Tuesdays, 8 am - Silent Presence for Peace at the Federal Building - Peace Vigil, Federal Plaza, Dearborn & Jackson. 8th Day Center for Justice: 312.641.5151

Tuesdays, 9 am - noon - Progressive radio show on WZRD-FM, 88.3 FM

Tuesdays, 6-7 pm - Weekly protest against the occupation of Iraq, northwest corner of 95th and Western Ave. Proceeds the weekly 7:30 pm meeting of South Siders for Peace at the Beverly Unitarian Church, 10244 S. Longwood Dr, Chicago. Info: lswolf (at) imaxx.net

Tuesdays (second Tuesday of each month) - "Beyond Today" Peace and justice organization general planning meeting. 6:30 pm, non-violence study group, 7:30 pm, main meeting. Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church, 4511 N. Hermitage (Sunnyside & Hermitage). Info: BeyondToday (at) beyondtoday.com or www.beyondtoday.com/

Tuesdays, 7 pm, 2nd & 4th of each month - Hyde Park Committee Against War and Racism weekly meeting at University Church, 57th and University, Chicago. Info: www.chicagoantiwar.org/hydepark/hpcawr.html

Wednesdays, 3 pm - Food Not Bombs: Meals for the Hungry. Loyola El Station.

Wednesdays, 4-6 pm - Northside Peace Gathering. Three Cornered Island of Peace: Milwaukee, Logan & Kedzie Aves. Protesting war and empire since Sept. 2, 2003. Info: www.mundopaz3 (at) hotmail.com">hotmail.com

Thursdays & Saturdays at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 3pm throughout
December 04 and into January come what holidays may: THE JOY OF NEWS, Aaron
Freeman's new comedy: Therapy for the downcast after 11/2. PROP THTR 3504
N. Elston (just south of Addison, Kedzie, Elston tri-corner) CALL 773
539-7838 for tickets or info or go to Aaronfreeman.com or propthtr.org

Thursdays, 1:30 pm - "The Ministry of Truth," a weekly haven for left-wing thought and comment with Chicago Media Action's Mitchell Szczepanczyk. WHPK 88.5-FM radio. Info: msszczep (at) midway.uchicago.edu or whpk.uchicago.edu

Thursdays, 5-6 pm - "Party from Damascus" radio program on WHPK, 88.5 FM. Politics plus Arab music - shaabi, pop, dabke, khaleeji and MORE!

Thursdays, 7:30-9:30 pm - Neighbors for Peace weekly meeting. St. Nicholas Church, 806 Ridge Ave. Evanston (3 blocks west of the Main St. 'L' station).

Thursdays, 7 pm - Southside Slam. Open Mics at N'diga Coffee & Books, 3510 W. 63rd Street. List opens at 6 pm, performances begin at 7 pm. Bring a gently used book and get in free ($2 otherwise, performers free, no cookbooks please). Non-smoking, children friendly environment. Info: 773.925.2517

Thursdays, 9 pm - Homolatee, Queer Words and Music, hosted by Scott Free. No Exit Café, 6970 N. Glenwood. www.scottfree.net/homolatte.html

Every last Saturday of the month - Waukegan Food-not-Bombs will be serving vegetarian and vegan food to all those who wish to eat at Jack Benny Plaza in downtown Waukegan. People who can bring or donate food are highly appreciated, but the most important thing is your stomach and your sense of social justice. Please contact the RedAlert Collective for more info. www.redalertcollective.cjb.net or redalertcollective36 (at) hotmail.com

Saturdays, 9 am - "Live from the Heartland" progressive radio show. WLUW 88.7-FM. Info: www.heartlandcafe.com

Saturdays, 9 am - "This Is Hell" irreverent radio show. WNUR 89.3-FM. Info: www.thisishell.net

Saturdays, 2-4pm - Northside Peace Gathering. Three Cornered Island of Peace: Milwaukee, Logan & Kedzie Aves. Protesting war and empire since Sept. 2, 2003. Info: www.mundopaz3 (at) hotmail.com">hotmail.com

Saturdays, 5 pm - Food Not Bombs serving at 18th Street and Loomis.

Sundays, Noon-1 pm - Not In My Name weekly vigil: End Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip & East Jerusalem. Water Tower Place, 830 N. Michigan. For more info, go to www.nimn.org

Sundays, 1:00-2:45 pm - Food Not Bombs serving free vegetarian meals to the hungry @ corner of Lincoln and Fullerton.

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Emergency Response Plan to War & Racism
Sponsored by the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism

1. If the U.S. starts another full scale war on another country besides Iraq, a protest will take place at 5 pm+ at the Federal Plaza, Adams & Dearborn Streets, Chicago, the day the bombing begins. There will be a larger follow up protest at the same time & place the day after.

2. In the event of a provocative attack on community leaders or organizations in the Chicago area, CCAWR has constructed a phone tree to mobilize the community to quickly protest the attack, whether at a police station, federal government office, or other appropriate place. To get on the Emergency Response phone tree / e-mail list and receive regular calendar updates such as this one, send your contact information to CCAWR (at) aol.com

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Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism
CCAWR (at) aol.com, 888.471.0874