UNESCO Literacy Prizes. 2007. No. 479.

Literacy projects in China, the United States, Nigeria, Senegal and the United Republic of Tanzania are the winners of the five UNESCO Literacy Prizes* this year. The laureates were proclaimed by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, on the recommendation of an international jury. A programme in Spain was also awarded an Honourable Mention. The theme for this year’s Prize was “Literacy and Health”, in particular, literacy related to general health care, nutrition, family and reproductive health and health-related community development.

Historians Against the War: Call for Papers. No. 478.

HISTORIANS AGAINST THE WAR.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE.
11-13 APRIL 2008
ATLANTA, GEORGIA


WAR AND ITS DISCONTENTS: UNDERSTANDING IRAQ AND THE U.S. EMPIRE

A Conference for Historians and Activists

Historians Against the War invites proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, workshops, and posters for our upcoming national conference at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, 11-13 April 2008.

We envision a conference that will attract historically minded scholars, activists from a variety of social movements, graduate students, educators, artists, and independent researchers and writers. We construe the theme of our conference broadly. We want to fashion a program that grounds the Iraq War in the histories of Iraq, the U.S., the Middle East, and the wider world; contextualizes the U.S. empire in terms of race, class, gender, culture, and citizenship as well as political economy and the state; explores the politics, identities, and society of modern Iraq; assesses current and historical antiwar, anti-intervention, and solidarity movements in the U.S.; compares political Islam, Zionism, and the U.S. Christian right; examines opposition to war and militarism in society, within the military, and among young people subject to conscription or recruitment; tracks U.S. strategies towards other zones of turbulence and targets of intervention; weighs the capacities of states and movements to resist U.S. hegemony and construct a polycentric alternative; and considers the future of the "war on terror," the new imperial presidency, and democracy after the Bush administration.

In addition to the presentation of academic papers, we encourage interactive formats that promote open dialogue and collective learning among people on the program and members of the audience. Thus we welcome proposals for roundtables and workshops that engage, for example, with activism or teaching. If there is sufficient interest, we
will hold a poster session. We also welcome proposals for cultural performances and curated exhibits as well as submissions (and recommendations) for our concurrent film and video festival.

Proposals are due on 30 October 2007. Please include a title and description of your proposed contribution (including each part of a group proposal, as in a panel with three papers or a roundtable with four participants), a biosketch for each contributor or participant, and complete contact information. For group proposals, please make every
effort to put together a balanced and diverse group of contributors or participants. Submit your proposal electronically to conf@historiansagainstwar.org.

Please help us build this conference by spreading the word to scholars and activists!

REFORMA ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR THE NATIONAL WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN. No. 477.

REFORMA ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR THE NATIONAL WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN FOR
DIALOGUE
Washington, D. C., July 6, 2007 — REFORMA joins other national organizations such as the AFL-CIO, LULAC and NCLR in its support of the National White Ribbon Campaign for Dialogue .
In line with REFORMA President Mario Ascencio’s presidential theme, “Libraries and Justice for All”, REFORMA will sign on the organization’s support of the White Ribbon Campaign for Dialogue. REFORMA President Ascencio encourages all library users and supporters to wear a white ribbon in support of the effort to “achieve a thoughtful, rational, and respectful debate on the complex issue of immigration reform which leads the country toward solutions rather than further division and frustration”.
REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, has a strong history of taking a formal stand against legislation that infringes on the rights of citizens or non-citizens in the use of library services, resources and programs. REFORMA passed resolutions opposing the REAL I.D. Act (2005), the Sensenbrenner Bill (2006) and a resolution that clearly supports immigrant rights and their use of library services and programs (2007). REFORMA members also developed a Library Toolkit to respond effectively to anti-immigrant sentiment which is available on the REFORMA website
# # #
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Selina Gomez-Beloz
Public Relations Chair, REFORMA
360-264-2369
selina-reforma@comcast.net
www.reforma.org

National Commission on Adult Literacy. No. 476.

The National Commission on Adult Literacy is an independent panel of leaders from labor, business, government, education, literacy, and philanthropy. The Commission represents an extraordinary opportunity for adult education and literacy in America. Never before has such an outstanding group of influential Americans come together for such an extended period of time – nearly two years – to consider the future of adult education.

The US Social Forum, 2007. No.475.

This e-mail from PLG Coordinating Committee Member, Monika Antonelli, speaks to Librarian involvement at the US Social Forum as well as to how Libraries Change Communities and Communities Change Libraries.
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Kudos to everyone who attended the World Social Forum. The work you did was very important. Showing up is 90% of being able to effect change. I wish I could have gone with you but my new job did not allow me that flexibility.

I think it was important for librarians to attend this event because everyone who did attend the WSF are our potential allies. That being said, I think we need to continue to educate this vast network of organizations on how the libraries and librarians can and do support their organizations work and the work of the entire activist community. If we could energize this immense pool of concerned and dedicated people to support libraries because libraries support them, just imagine what a powerful engine for change that would create. I am personally going to take on this challenge.

An idea came to me while I was reading Bill McKibben's new book, "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future." This is a man who understands the importance of community for the creation of a livable future. I ask you, what organization is more important to a community than the library? The library is there for the community. Each public library tailors itself to support the needs of the community, be it helping the elderly understand and apply for new health care plans, or helping Katrina survivors fill out FEMA forms, or helping adults get their GED, or helping immigrants apply for citizenship, or having computers available for personal use, or just offering story hour to children. You all know that the list of what libraries do for their community goes on and on.

So why don't the people who are working for change utilize us more? Why don't they tell others about what the library has to offer? Why don't they ask us to order books, CDs, DVDs, they would like to read/hear/watch? Why aren't more of them booking rooms for meetings in the library? And why aren't more of them telling their city officials why it is important to fund libraries? I think it is because we have not gotten our message out to the activist communities. Some may be aware of what libraries have to offer but many activist are not. I discovered this first hand when I took my permaculture course in 2005.

My fellow permie students, who were very savvy people, many who functioned as leaders in their community, did not know that they could go to their public library and ask them to order books on topics they wanted to research. They did not know that the library was there for them and that they could have influence in the selection of items purchased by libraries. An example of this was brought to my attention by Fred a young man who works as a computer tech in Iowa City. Fred has dedicated himself to educating people on the need to get rid of their lawn and use it to produce food and wildlife habitat. After the permaculture course he took my advice and went to his public library to request that they order some permaculture books. He was surprised and thankful when they did. He wrote to me and told me this. He also told me if I had not educated him on what the library could do for him he would never have approached the library for these books. Now Fred can continue to educate people in his community and also he can refer them to the public library for books that support his work.

I think we need to get the message out to the activist communities that Libraries Change Communities and Communities Change Libraries. This is a message that Leslie Burger, Past ALA President championed during her year as ALA President. We can do this by educating local groups, but on a larger scale we can also do this by educating authors like Bill McKibben. He and other authors writing about the coming post carbon future are looking for solutions to the problems ahead. I think we have one solution in the library and it is a win-win situation for everyone involved. By reaching out to these communities we make the library more relevant and also by engaging these communities to support libraries we prove our worth.

So bravo and brava to all of the librarians who attended the World Social Forum. I hope you will join me in continuing to build on this work.

Sincerely,
Monika

Memory of the World. No. 474.

For the last fifteen years, the programme Memory of the World has focused on conservation and digitization of humanity’s documentary heritage. With UNESCO’s support, measures have been taken to preserve dozens of archive collections, thousands of meters of film, millions of pages of manuscripts, books and periodicals.
Memory of the World Register
The Memory of the World Register lists documentary heritage which has been identified by the International Advisory Committee in its meetings in Tashkent (September 1997), in Vienna (June 1999), in Cheongju City (June 2001), in Gdansk (August 2003), in Lijiang (June 2005) and in Pretoria (June 2007) and endorsed by the Director-General of UNESCO as corresponding to the selection criteria for world significance.

New heritage includes:

Argentina - Human Rights Documentary Heritage 1976 - 1983 – These “Archives for Truth, Justice and Memory in the struggle against State Terrorism” testify to a period in history when human rights were violated by the Argentine state.
South Africa - Criminal Court Case No. 253/1963 (State versus N. Mandela and Others): proceedings of the trial of the leaders of the African National Congress (ANC), during which Nelson Mandela stood in the dock and proclaimed the goals of the ANC, before his incarceration on Robben Island until 1990.