Friday Night Free Press Salon

On August 12. 2022, The Columbus Free Press is hosting an in person social . Please come to join CICJ Board President Pete Johnson at his home to re - kindle a live progressive presence in Columbus, Ohio.

Join us at Pete Johnson’s house:
2228 Balmoral Rd, Columbus, 43229
Beginning at 6 PM until 11 PM.

The event will be outdoor and will be modeled after Saturday Night Salon's that have been held pre-Covid at Bob and Suzanne's home on E Broad St.

Anyone wishing to bring a dish or dessert is welcome to do that. We will provide food as well. BOB with respect to alcoholic drinks. Please bring a lawn chair.

I last saw Councilmember Shayla D. Favor on Tuesday, August 2nd. She and I had arrived at our mutual polling location at the Blackburn Community Center to cast our ballots in the Democratic primary election. As luck would have it, we’re registered in the same district, District 1. 

Our exchanges over the previous two months had been contentious if cordial, negotiable if slightly adversarial. As Chair of Housing and Health and Human Services, her office had the keenest interest in Camp Shameless, a houseless camp for which I advocate as a member of a local nonprofit called FIRST Collective, a group of activists making art, creating social infrastructure and fostering community through mutual aid.

My position as an executive committee member with the Columbus Coalition for Rent Control has put us in a place of needed negotiation given Councilmember Favor’s position as well. 

It seemed all but a done deal: Israel is finally managing to bend the Arabs to its will, and Palestine is becoming a marginal issue that no longer defines Israel’s relations with Arab countries. Indeed, normalization with Israel is afoot, and the Arabs, so it seems, have been finally tamed. 

 Not so fast. Many events continue to demonstrate the opposite. Take, for example, the Arab League two-day meeting in Cairo on July 31 - August 1. The meeting was largely dominated by discussions on Palestine and concluded with statements that called on Arab countries to reactivate the Arab boycott of Israel, until the latter abides by international law. 

PART ONE:  

A DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO GRASSROOTS VICTORY IN 2022…& THE GLOBAL NUKE NIGHTMARE, FROM UKRAINE TO DIABLO CANYON

On the GREE_GREE zoom #105 we offer a definitive template on the nuts and bolts of the grassroots organizing needed to turn the people’s will in the 2022 mid-term elections.

ANDREA MILLER and RAY MCCLENDON fill us in on the granular steps that forced the 2021 “Georgia Miracle” onto the changing face of American politics.  They’re followed by TATANKA BRICCA who adds to the narrative his hands-on experience organizing with the likes of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

Co-Convenor JOEL SEGAL then joins ROBERT WILSON with their accounts of parallel campaigning in North Carolina.  Joel and Robert later introduce us to LARRY HALL, a critical leader of the NC Legislature.

On August 29 we’ll convene a National Congress of Grassroots 2022 Organizing to link on-the-ground groups together from all over the US.  WENDI LEDERMAN is compiling a master list of the nation’s on-the-ground operations to be represented as we further gather the progressive momentum needed to save this nation.