Events

All those who identify as a woman are invited to join us for a meeting to discuss our upcoming events: a bellydancing workshop, a self-defense class, film screenings and events just waiting to be planned!

To honor the memory of influential historian and activist, Howard Zinn, Monkey Wrench will be screening "Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train."

"This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential writings shine light on and bring voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor."
-First Run Features

Featuring rare archival materials and interviews with Zinn and colleagues such as Noam Chomsky, You Can’t Be Neutral captures the essence of this extraordinary man who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years.

Narrated by Matt Damon • Featuring music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie & Billy Bragg!

Join Si Kahn for a discussion of his new book "Creative Community Organizing: A Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists, and Quiet Lovers of Justice" and learn about the work of Grassroots Leadership. This latest work by the legendary activist, musician and author, is a different kind of community organizing book. As with other books, including some by Kahn himself, it does outline many of the practical tactics organizers use. But it's also about community organizing as a way of thinking and a way of life. "Creative Community Organizing" suggests ways that readers can identify and analyze the various options for action, weigh the positives and negatives and make choices among them. In other words, focus on the end goal and then determine the best strategies, tactics and methods to achieve that goal. It will help established community organizers become more creative and innovative, encourage them to question established principles and decide whether or not they still work.

How are Austin artists resisting, depicting-- and sometimes participating in-- gentrification? Come hear Michael Schliefke (author/artist of Tales of the Really White Vigilante), Shea Little (artist and co-founder of the East Austin Studio Tour), and Ben Reed (writer and former 'Accidental Gentrifist' columnist for the Austinist) talk about urban politics, what's going up and coming down on the east side, and what artists have to say about it.

Introductory remarks by Eliot Tretter, local urban geographer, dramatic reading, and discussion of what gentrification is doing to Austin.

Join us for a screening of "The Future of Food," an eye-opening documentary that sheds light on a shadowy relationship between agriculture, big business and government. By examining the effects of biotechnology on the nation's smallest farmers, director Deborah Koons Garcia reveals the unappetizing truth about genetically modified foods.

Globetrotting troublemaker John Ross will read from his two new cult classics: "Iraqigirl", the diary of a teenager coming of age under U.S. occupation in Mosul, Iraq that has been called "an Anne Frank for our time", and "El Monstruo - Dread & Redemption in Mexico City", the tangled tale of the most contaminated, corrupt, crime-ridden, and chaotic city in the Americas that has just been selected as "book of the year" by the San Antonio Express News.

Representatives of the Speaker's Bureau for Austin's important comprehensive plan will be speaking at Monkeywrench to get community members involved in the planning process.

The Speakers Bureau presentation is designed to introduce citizens to the Comprehensive Planning Process and what it means for the Austin community. Here is the website for IMAGINE Austin: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/compplan/ The web site is loaded with information including the planning process, the project journal, how to sign up to the interest list and take the on-line survey.

Join our new group of radical female-identified people for a screening of "Teeth," a feminist horror movie. What does that mean? Well, come find out! In keeping with the theme, bring your favorite (vegan) movie snack.

SYNOPSIS: High school student Dawn works hard at suppressing her budding sexuality by being the local chastity group's most active participant. Her task is made even more difficult by her bad boy stepbrother Brad's increasingly provocative behavior at home. A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend her anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the power of being a living example of the vagina dentata myth.

http://www.teethmovie.com/

*Event open to female-identified people only.*

Metahuman is a hip-hop lyricist, filmmaker, speaker and performance poet, a political dissident, radical transsexual activist, autobiographical confessionalist, outspoken social misfit, friend, lover, and teacher. Metahuman mixes politics with the visceral love of flow to create a unique sound that blends old-school rap metaphors with radical queer politics. Metahuman also writes and produces films, including the short comedy “Queerer Than Thou” which has screened at over 30 film festivals worldwide. He also runs the LA-based arts collective Trans/Giving.

In addition to the performance at Monkey Wrench, Metahuman will also present a workshop on transgender youth at the Abriendo Brecha VII conference at UT on Saturday, February 20th, 11:30-12:45, Asian Culture Room, Free and open to the public.

While the Honduran military coup of June 28th, 2009 is not without historical precedent, the massive and ongoing Honduran resistance to it is. No one expected Hondurans to rise up as they have—daily and in the hundreds of thousands—in protest against a de facto government that can most accurately be described as fascist. One of the most interesting elements of the Honduran resistance is its avidly non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian character, despite a near-complete absence of self-consciously anarchist organizing within Honduras prior to the coup. In this talk Adrienne Pine will discuss what we can learn from the Honduran experience and how we can act in solidarity with Hondurans, whose situation has only worsened with the institutionalization of the coup government through a U.S.-led fraudulent election.

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“Caught in the Storm: Navigating Policy and Practice in the Welfare Reform Era,” a new book written by Dr. Miguel Ferguson, Heather Neuroth-Gatlin and Dr. Stacey Borasky, is a narrative about the staff and clients at Helping Hands, a small nonprofit social service agency set in the fictional community of River City. The issues about social welfare policy, program administration, and client practice that the authors choose to highlight emerge through action and dialogue among the book’s characters. The story’s protagonist, Martha, is the insightful and energetic executive director at Helping Hands. Martha and her staff reach out to other nonprofit and faith-based organizations to implement a welfare-to-work program that will make a difference in the lives of the low-income clients they serve.

Drawing on his own experience, Ashanti will speak about the relevance of black liberation, the Zapatistas, and anarchism to modern radical organizing in the US.

Ashanti Alston is a former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, and was a political prisoner for over 12 years. Residing in New York, he is presently the national co-chair of the Jericho Amnesty Movement, and an active member of Estacion Libre, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and Critical Resistance. Ashanti publishes the zine “Anarchist Panther” and has spent time in Chiapas, Mexico, studying the autonomous structure of Zapatista communities.

Join us for a screening of "The Corporation," a documentary that explores the rise of your favorite evil institution.

You have undoubtedly heard of them, Labor Ready, Volt, Labor Finders, Adecco are some of the names. You can check in the Yellow Pages under "employment, temporary" and find probably two dozen halls similar to those spoken about in this book. Seasoned journalist Dick Reavis reported to a labor hall each morning, hoping to "catch out," or get job assignments. To supplement his retirement savings, the sixty-two-year-old North Carolinian joined people dispatched by an agency to jobs for which they were paid at the end of each day. Written with the flair of a gifted portraitist and storyteller, Catching Out describes Reavis's jobs at a factory; as a construction and demolition worker, landscaper, road crew flagman, auto-auction driver and warehouseman; and several days spent sorting artifacts in a dead packrat's apartment.

The Texas Prison Caucus is dedicated to connecting students, prisoners and community members in research, education and action surrounding hyper-incarceration and the prison industrial complex. This semester, students at UT will be reaching out to formerly incarcerated students, hosting a second Prison Machine Teach-In and holding other prison-related film screenings, events and actions. All are welcome to join our efforts on and off campus. This open meeting will create a space for the free world community to learn more about the Caucus and provide a space to work in solidarity with currently and formerly incarcerated folks. For more information, contact txprisoncaucus@gmail.com.

Peter Gelderloos, author of How Nonviolence Protects the State, will give a presentation on his new book, Anarchy Works, which details over 90 histories and recent stories showing anarchy in practice.

According to Gelderloss, "Anarchism is the boldest of revolutionary social movements to emerge from the struggle against capitalism—it aims for a world free from all forms of domination and exploitation. But at its heart it contains a simple and convincing proposition: people know how to live their own lives and organize themselves better than any expert could. Others cynically claim that we need a government to protect us. They claim anarchy is impractical and utopian: it would never work. On the contrary, anarchist practice already has a long record, and has often worked quite well."

All those who identify as a woman are invited to join us for a meeting to discuss our upcoming events: a bellydancing workshop, a self-defense class, film screenings and events just waiting to be planned!