January 1998

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Thurs., Jan. 8, 10:0012:00 noon
SAN. Unitarian Church, Geary and Franklin.

Wed., Jan. 14, 1:303:00 p.m.
Board meeting at the office. All
welcome and invited!

Wed., Jan.May, 4:105:50 p.m.
Human Rights and Peace Law in the U.S. Course at SFSU in Philosophy Dept.,
Ann Fagan Ginger, Prof. Auditors welcomeno tuition (need to buy coursebook)
(510) 848-0599.

Fri., Sat., Jan. 16, 17, call for times
Seminar on Human Rights, Democracy and Economic Development. Sponsors:
International Center for Peace and Justice and Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom (WILPFSF). First Unitarian Church, Geary and
Franklin. Free. Call (415) 759-9774 for info.

Tues., Jan 20, 12:303:00 p.m.
General Meeting: Focus on Homelessness with speakers from the Alternative
Media Network, Bay Area Homelessness Program, and Coalition on
Homelessness. First Unitarian Church, Geary and Franklin.

Wed., Jan. 21, 7:009:00 p.m.
Electric Deregulation: Is Public Power the Answer? Presented by SF Green
Community at the NewCollege Theater, 777 Valencia St.

Thurs., Jan 22, 6:30 p.m.
N2N: Women's Building. 18thStreet near Valencia

PG&E Discount?
For a lot of info on Public Power and
Deregulation, subscribe to the SF Green Party
Newsletter. It's just $5.00 each year and goes into
public environmental policies in depth.
Attend the San Francisco Green
Community and the Alliance for Municipal Power
presentation by Daniel Perman, Ph.D., on Who Owns
the Sun? Wednesday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. at
the New College Theater.
As one resident recounted, "I just got
my December bill and it's more than 10% higher
than any I've received in the past six years. Does
that mean that it will go back to a little more
than normal in January?

January: Focus on Homelessness
We have invited three women who are
actively working to help homeless people who need
and seek shelter find a solution for their
misfortunes in San Francisco.
Kay Griffin, Alternative Media
Network, Roma Guy, Director, Bay Area Homelessness
Program, and Mara Raider, Coalition on
Homelessness, will tell us about their work with homeless
people from the young to the elderly, and what the
Gray Panthers can do to help them in their
worthwhile work.
This subject affects all of us by making
neighborhoods safe, our neighbors healthy and
secure, and our children's and grandchildren's lives
in our City viable. Bring your questions and ideas
to this Tuesday, January 20 meeting at the First Unitarian Church.

Leaders and Doers
Elected by acclamation at our December
party/meeting as new members of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco GP Network are
Augusta, Fanny, Karen, Mitzi, Inger and Franklin. They join continuing members Deetje,
Clarissa, Mary Frances, Eleanor and Aroza.
Board meetings are held the
second Wednesday of every month at the office at
1:30 p.m. Everyone is invitedurgedto attend and participate in Board meetings.

Seminar on Human Rights, Democracy and Economic Development
Attend an exciting and important Seminar
on Human Rights, Democracy and Economic Development, January 16 evening and
Saturday, January 17 at the First Unitarian Church.
The Seminar topics will include "The Effects of
Globalization and Free Trade on Human Rights and Economic Development"; "Combating
Racism, Fundamentalism, Ethnic ConflictImpediments to Economic Progress"; and "Women's
Equality Essential to Economic Progress." Speakers
include: Aileen Hernandez and Anuradha Mittal of
Food First; Brenda Cochrane, President of
Coalition of Labor Union Wemen (CLUW); Karen
Talbot and Ann Fagan Ginger.
The seminar will be held in observance of
the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and
the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. It is sponsored by the International Center for Peace and Justice and
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPFSF). Free! Call 759-9774.
Background on the Conference:
In San Francisco on November 1416,
the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA and Privatizations. The
nearly 400 participants came from 20
countriesmainly from North, South and Central America and
the Caribbean.
The Final Declaration stated: "We have
gathered to give testimony to the deleterious effects the transnational corporate agenda has
had on working people throughout the hemisphere and to improve our capacity for mutual
support and solidarity in our responses to this
assault upon living and working conditions and
democratic rights
"We have heard the reports of the
consequences of NAFTA We have explored the ramifications of the pending Multilateral
Agreement on Investment (MAI) ."
The conference proposed this common
Day of Action against NAFTA and its concommitant agreements, for April 1998 on the day when
the heads of state from the Americas will convene
in Chile to discuss the creation of a Free Trade Agreement for the Americas.
The full declaration and reports from
workshops are availabe through the SFGPs.

Jobs With Justice
As the first nation-wide action in
cooperation with our Washington D.C. staff and board
of directors, Gray Panthers of S.F. joined with
the Coalition for Ethical Welfare Reform in a day
of solidarity which originated with Jobs with Justice. At the demonstration we marched in
the opening circle, handed out excellent information, including a four-page comic strip
rendition of the problems of workfare as we know it.
Included in the coalition are POWER,
SEIU unions and the Labor Council, Lawyers Guild and the International Socialists. There were
ten speakers, including the Gray Panthers, talking about the problems people face forced to work
in lieu of general assistance or food stamps and
the conditions under which they must work.
POWER and the unions cooperated in
an earlier demonstration at the Muni barns resulting in the workfare workers being given
back their one-hour lunch break so they could go
to Martin DePorres for their food allotment. Additionally, the practice of separate bathrooms
was changed, and an agreement was reached to negotiate with POWER on future problems.
The issues between forced workfare jobs
and union workers, as well as other workers will
be made more difficult when people receiving what was previously called AFDC are forced to
work under CalWorks. Fortunately there is still
room for changes in CalWorks and we need to be vigilant and supportive.
The national demonstration on December
10 was the first step in a complicated process of placing welfare recipients into jobs under
the present economic system of downsizing, mergers, increased technology, exporting
jobs, NAFTA, WTO, IMF, and the proposed MAI.

The Newsletter of the San Francisco Gray Panthers is published each month, and distributed free of charge to members and friends of this nonprofit organization.

Editorial Board: Rebecca Hirshleifer, Mitzi Raas; Publisher, Astrid M. Spector; Art Director, Fannie Biderman; Proof, Lurilla Harris; Circulation: Harold Greenblatt and Mary Francis Smith. Printed by Graffik Natwicks; Webpage design: Barry Simpkins



	CALENDAR OF EVENTS Thurs., Jan. 8, 10:0012:00 noon SAN. Unitarian Church, Geary and Franklin. Wed., Jan. 14, 1:303:00 p.m. Board meeting at the office. All welcome and invited! Wed., Jan.May, 4:105:50 p.m. Human Rights and Peace Law in the U.S. Course at SFSU in Philosophy Dept., Ann Fagan Ginger, Prof. Auditors welcomeno tuition (need to buy coursebook) (510) 848-0599. Fri., Sat., Jan. 16, 17, call for times Seminar on Human Rights, Democracy and Economic Development. Sponsors: International Center for Peace and Justice and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPFSF). First Unitarian Church, Geary and Franklin. Free. Call (415) 759-9774 for info. Tues., Jan 20, 12:303:00 p.m. General Meeting: Focus on Homelessness with speakers from the Alternative Media Network, Bay Area Homelessness Program, and Coalition on Homelessness. First Unitarian Church, Geary and Franklin. Wed., Jan. 21, 7:009:00 p.m. Electric Deregulation: Is Public Power the Answer? Presented by SF Green Community at the NewCollege Theater, 777 Valencia St. Thurs., Jan 22, 6:30 p.m. N2N: Women's Building. 18thStreet near Valencia
	PG&E Discount? For a lot of info on Public Power and Deregulation, subscribe to the SF Green Party Newsletter. It's just $5.00 each year and goes into public environmental policies in depth. Attend the San Francisco Green Community and the Alliance for Municipal Power presentation by Daniel Perman, Ph.D., on Who Owns the Sun? Wednesday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. at the New College Theater. As one resident recounted, "I just got my December bill and it's more than 10% higher than any I've received in the past six years. Does that mean that it will go back to a little more than normal in January?		January: Focus on Homelessness We have invited three women who are actively working to help homeless people who need and seek shelter find a solution for their misfortunes in San Francisco. Kay Griffin, Alternative Media Network, Roma Guy, Director, Bay Area Homelessness Program, and Mara Raider, Coalition on Homelessness, will tell us about their work with homeless people from the young to the elderly, and what the Gray Panthers can do to help them in their worthwhile work. This subject affects all of us by making neighborhoods safe, our neighbors healthy and secure, and our children's and grandchildren's lives in our City viable. Bring your questions and ideas to this Tuesday, January 20 meeting at the First Unitarian Church.