Mountain Justice Blacksburg

If you are interested in going to Mountain Justice Spring Break, for the whole week (March 7-14) or just part of it, please let Sally know. It is a great opportunity to learn more about coal related issues and resistance. Check out the website (www.mjsb.org), and email Sally directly at smorga05@vt.edu as soon as possible if you are interested in going.

It coincides with Virginia Tech’s spring break, so you won’t be missing any school. It is located in East Tennessee, and we will be arranging carpools for people.

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From cradle to grave, the destructive process of mining and burning coal leaves whole mountains decimated, streams contaminated and communities endangered by toxic pollutants and mining related disasters.

Mountain Justice Spring Break 2009 will bring you face to face with the devastating effects of mountain top removal and the dirty coal industry and give you the skills and knowledge you need to *fight back*! Through education, community service, speakers, hiking, music, poetry, direct action
and more, you will join local communities in the struggle to maintain their land and culture.

The People United
Tuesday, February 24, 7:00pm
Squires Student Center Room 341
http://www.thepeopleunited.org

On Tuesday, February 24, The People United will be coming to the Virginia Tech campus to speak about the proposed immigrant detention center planned for Farmville, VA.  The People United is a network of justice-seeking people found mostly in Virginia and the surrounding areas.  Many of them are busy organizing in their local areas with groups like Food Not Bombs, Sowers of Justice, their local Peace Education Centers, and immigrant solidarity networks.

In late September of 2008, a press conference was held to announce plans for a new 1,040-bed immigrant detention center to be constructed in Farmville, VA. The proposed center is to be a partnership between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the City of Farmville, with whom they plan to contract to house the detainees. Farmville, in turn has subcontracted the construction and management of the center to Immigration Centers of America – Farmville, LLC (ICA) with a no-bid contract. This is a private corporation created for this purpose. ICA has no experience managing detention or correctional facilities. The principal investors, including those responsible for the day-to-day operation of the center are two real estate developers and the CEO of an industrial bakery supply.

The People United is coordinating a campaign to convince the Farmville Town Council to rescind its agreement with ICE and ICA and seek other, more appropriate vehicles to revitalize Farmville’s economy. Concerned individual, student, religious and civic organizations are meeting regularly with members of the immigrant community to plan and implement this campaign.

Come hear them Tuesday, February 24, at 7:00pm in Squires Student Center Room 341 on the Virginia Tech campus.
http://www.thepeopleunited.org

A flyer for the event is here.

Find out how democracy was betrayed and why the people and the environment are in danger!  The Concerned Citizens of Giles County will be speaking at Virginia Tech:

Wednesday, February 11

Squires Student Center

5:00pm

A flyer for the event is available here.

Non-Violent Direct Action leverages the power of the people against that of private interests by refusing to cooperate with unjust circumstances and by peacefully embodying the change we wish to see in the world.

In recent years, non-violent direct action has been used by groups like Blue Ridge Earth First! and Students for a Democratic Society to draw attention to and directly intervene in the construction of new coal-fired power plants, the primary cause of climate change.
On March 2nd, hundreds of people will converge in Washington DC to engage in non-violent civil disobedience to put an end to coal and to save the climate. Join us!
Come to a Non-Violent Direct Action training:

Monday, February 9, 7:00pm
Squires 236, Virginia Tech

http://www.CapitolClimateAction.org
http://www.BlueRidgeEF.com
http://www.StudentsForaDemocraticSociety.org

A flyer for the event can be found here.