A tie-in to the National Folk Festival being held this weekend (october 13 through the 15), Richmond Moving Image Co-op has organized a program celebrating Appalachian culture through independent film.

Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the Firehouse Theatre (1609 W. Broad Street). Admission is $5.

Featuring the films of APPALSHOP and director Herb E. Smith (The Ralph Stanley Story), Folk Film will screen the following 4 short films:

Nimrod Workman: To Fit My Own Category (directors Scott Faulkner & Anthony Stone, b & w, 35 mins., 1975)
Quilting Women (director Elizabeth Barrett, color, 28 mins., 1976)
Unbroken Tradition: Jerry Brown Pottery (director Herb E. Smith, color,
28 mins., 1989) w/ director Herb E. Smith in person!
Minnie Black’s Gourd Band (director Anne Johnson, color, 28 mins., 1988)

Protest Bush in Richmond
Thursday, Oct. 19th
3 - 6 pm
Science Museum of VA
2500 W. Broad

“i�? is a meditation on the relationship between media and power as it is manifested by the worlds largest all volunteer network of media activists — Indymedia. The feature-length documentary follows the first year of a small collective in Buenos Aires as it struggles amidst assassinations, a collapsing economy, and a whirlwind of political upheaval.

This event will be an opportunity to view and discuss the role of independent media in the world and here in our city. Richmond IMCistas will be hosting the event, and making available the opportunity to get directly involved with the maintainence and organizing of Richmond IMC.

Tuesday October 17, 2006
TONIGHT!!
7:00 pm
@ Nonesuch, 918 W. Grace St.

The 289-seat lecture hall overflowed with students and adults from across the generations Wednesday night. organizers estimate that well over 300 people attended the public forum on "Torture and the War on Terror", an event co-sponsored by Amnesty International and the Richmond Peace Education Center.

Severely poor are fastest growing segment of U.S. population

RICHMOND, Va. (Aug. 29, 2006) – Americans are getting poorer each year despite reports of positive economic growth, and the severely poor are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University study.

With Northside students set to return to class after summer break, the recent bout of rain has flooded the grounds of A.V. Norrell Elementary School on Fendall Ave in Battery Park. The school, originally built on top of a refuse landfill in 1965, is also suffering from a ruptured sewage line that was damaged during tropical depression Gaston two years ago. This problem was not fixed, however, because the sewer pipes are inaccessible beneath a layer of toxic trash remains that lies underneath a recently built golf course next to the school. The combination of recent heavy rains and contaminated soil has created a noxious smell and a possibly unsafe environment for children.

Poverty wages, brutal conditions, crippling injuries--5,500 workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina face this every day at the world's largest hog processing plant. Cited by Human Rights Watch for violating international human rights standards, Smithfield Packing has created an environment of intimidation, racial tension, and sometimes violence for workers who want a voice on the job. The company, which at one time created its own private police force, was found liable by the National Labor Relations Board and the DC Court of Appeals of assaulting, intimidiating, and illegally firing its workers. In a separate case, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Smithfield illegally threatened workers with arrest by Federal Immigration officials. A century since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle shocked the world about the atrocious conditions endured by workers in meatpacking plants; time stands still at Smithfield. Join the civil rights, religious, community, and labor organizations that are helping workers in the fight to win justice at Smithfield.

Senator George Allen should be punished for his racist remarks. All Virginians should be ashamed that we have let a bigoted man like Allen represent us as Governor, or in the US Senate. Take action to have George Allen punished (courtesy of ColorofChange.org).

Michael de Beer died on Sunday, August 6th, 2006 while on a kayaking trip in New Hampshire. He was the lead organizer for Richmonders Involved in Strengthening Communities (RISC). Memorial services info will be shared as we receive it.

Richmond-VAWN organizes caravan to the August 12th National Emergency March on Washington D.C.

Stop the U.S.-Israeli Attacks on the People of Lebanon and Palestine! Saturday -- Aug. 12 -- Noon -- The White House

Richmonders Demand an End to Israeli Aggression

Wednesday, July 19th over 25 Richmonders joined an emergency demonstration to demand that Israel stop it's barbaric military offensives in Lebanon and Palestine. The demonstration also demanded that the U.S. stop funding the Israeli war machine.

King Salim Khalfani, Virginia NAACP Executive Director, will be honored by the Richmond Peace Education Center as Richmond Peacemaker of the Year at its annual dinner and auction on October 27.