Events

 Sat. July 5, 12-4 pm $15-50 (to benefit Shaping San Francisco)

Chris Carlsson conducts a provocative and informative tour through the dramatic saga of San Francisco’s class wars, going back to the original movement for the 8-hour day through the various efforts to start political parties for workers, major strikes, the ebb and flow of business profits and worker opposition, a careful look at the Big Strike of 1934, and much more... Info/Reservations: 415.608.9035.

Bring a bag lunch!

or Laborfest's Opening Night feature this year is a movie by veteran film director, Ken Loach, which was voted Best Screenplay, Venice Film Festival 2007 and Best Film, Seville Film Festival 2007. Loach also directed Land and Freedom (Best Film, European Film Awards 1995) and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Palm d'Or Winner, Cannes Film Festival 2006). See
http://www.sixteenfilms.co.uk/people/ken_loach/

On July 5 , there are two screenings, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. of
It’s A Free World (96 min) 2008 West coast Premier
Director: Ken Loach (England), Writer: Paul Laverty, Starring: Kierston Wareing, Juliet Ellis, Leslaw Zurek

 Support SMARTrain at the July 8
Novato City Council Meeting

Tuesday, July 8, 2008
6:30 PM

On Tuesday, July 8th the Novato City Council will be directing Novato's Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART)/Transportat ion Authority of Marin (TAM) representative Carole Dillon-Knutson on how she should vote regarding SMART for the November 2008 election.

The SMART District Board of Directors will be voting on July 16th at their regular meeting regarding the expenditure plan language to place a quarter-cent sales tax on the ballot to build a train and pathway that would run between Larkspur and Cloverdale (70 miles).

The Eighth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival will be screened for free at the Bay Area Video Coalition on Thursday July 10th from 6pm to 8pm.

Media That Matters staff and possibly some filmmakers from past festivals will be in attendance to discuss the Festival and the films in this year's collection.

The Media That Matters Film Festival is the premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action.

 SOUTH BAY FIRST THURSDAYS (SBFT) presents:

OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID IN THE SILICON VALLEY (YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE)

We've all experienced the severe pressures of work: the looming, high-pressure deadlines, the lack of respect for work by our managers, being expected to work late or through the weekend just to "get the job done," the bitter taste of getting paid too little for what it takes to survive in the Valley. Unless you're a highly educated, highly skilled, upper income worker, there is little upside to being a rat in the rat race. Yet what's it like being a rat in the race when you do mostly invisible and unrespected work? Or when labor is back-breaking instead of paper pushing?

Deepa Kumar will discuss her new book, Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike (University of Illinois Press, 2008). She will argue that the working class is still the “gravedigger of capitalism” and further, that even the powerful corporate media can be bent to serve the interests of workers. This event is free and open to the public.