Program History

2021

2021 was as unrelenting as 2020. The pandemic’s second and third waves surged through the new year, as more people across the globe succumbed to infection. In the US, the transition of power was nearly upended by far-right forces who—organized and abetted by the sitting president himself—lay siege to the Capitol and attempted to overturn an election and murder elected officials in broad daylight.
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2020

2020 was a year like no other in world history. The world was set aflame by an unprecedented global pandemic, catastrophic wildfires, and street clashes against police forces the world over. Undergirding each of these challenges was a battle against fascism, sharpened by the callousness and desperation of far-right governments clinging to power while their people perished in overburdened hospital wards.
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2019

2019 was marked by an international swell of people’s mobilizations against coercive state power and the increasingly grinding conditions under globalized capitalism. As workers, students, and peasants took to the streets in a series of global protests, CPE persisted in offering strategic programming that focused on international solidarity, resisting fascism, and identifying connections between past, present, and future struggles.
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2018

Fifty years on from the battles and uprisings of 1968, struggles against racism and political repression and for people’s power and international solidarity were as necessary as ever in 2018. In collaboration with organizers, activists, and authors, CPE offered programs that examined links with these past struggles and offered perspectives on new challenges.
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2017

2017 was a whirlwind. A new president in the White House, ramped up authoritarianism, nativism, and repression, attempts to suppress social justice movements and the media, and increased warmongering and militarism. 2017 also saw an increase in the range and depth of grassroots efforts to fight back and build people's power.

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2016

In 2016, CPE to a break to engage its past staff, collective members, allies, and collaborators to assess its work and chart a path forward.
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2015

During the 60th anniversary of the historic African-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, CPE worked to keep the fires of international solidarity bright and hot.

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2014

Rekindling the Socialist Imagination, The legacy of Cabral, resisting war and surviellance, The 45th anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz, and much more...

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2013

From updates on Venezuelan elections, to the political economy of sports, to an analysis of the rising right, CPE celebrated it's 15th Anniversary year by asking tough questions and drawing strong connections.

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2012

Somos el 99%: Latino Artists Respond to the Call of the Occupy Movement with Melanie Cervantes, Silencio Muteado, Xago Juarez, and Yosimar Reyes co-sponsored with Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Breaking the Chains of Violence in Mexico with Juan Fraire Escobedo and John Lindsay-Poland The History of Housing Co-ops and Labor/Worker Solidarity with Jamie Spector, SF Community Land Trust and Myrna Meigar, affordable housing and housing co-op expert Popular Education 101: Theory & Practice 2 sessions faciltiated by Levana Saxon, Practicing Freedom and Green for All Radio Venceremos with Carlos Henriquez Conalvi (aka Santiago) Cuando Una Mujer Avanza: San Francisco film premiere with producer Simón Sedillo; Mare (the film’s subject); Luta Candelaria; Wanda; and Mariposa Villaluna Participatory Action Research 101 2 sessions facilitated by Levana Saxon, Practicing Freedom and Green for All Si Se Puede!
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2011

Where is the Left at? with Cindy Weisner, Sendolo Diaminah, and Carl Bloice Raising Reds: Children & Families in Left Organizations with Diana Block, Tony Marks-Block, Miriam Ching Louie, Lung San Louie, Giuliana Milanese, Giulio Sorro, moderated by Mei-ying Williams Dancing with Dynamite: Social Movements and States in Latin America with author, Ben Dangl; Leila Salazar-Lopez, Amazon Watch; Gustavo Oliveira, Bay Area Friends of the MST Marxism 101 Class A four-part workshop and study group led by the collective of the Center offering a beginning/intermediate study of Marxist principles, theory, and relevance to today’s movement building.
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2010

Venezuela Speaks! Voices from the Grassroots with co-authors, Carlos Martinez and Michael Fox Voice of Roma: Benefit for the Voice of Roma Education Center in Kosovo with Sani Rifati, founder Voice of Roma and Marko Muir, educator at Voice of Roma Community Gathering and Benefit for Haiti film showing: Haiti: We Must Kill the BANDITS co-sponsored by Haiti Action Committee, SOUL, Chinese Progressive Association, PODER, POWER, and Teachers for Social Justice What’s Going On: Resisting Racism on California Campuses with Tiffany Dena Loftin, UC Santa Cruz student organizer US Social Forum 2010 Info Sessions: Get on the Road to Detroit information sessions to help  people prepare to attend the USSF.
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2009

The Victory of Resistance in El Salvador: the 2009 Elections and Beyond with Felix Salvador Kury, Cuba Educational Project and Franchesca Austin-Ochoa, CISPES Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt with author, John Gibler From the Civil Rights Movement to the Immigrant Rights Movement: Lessons Learned with Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez, activist and author; Phil Hutchings, Black Alliance for Just Immigration; and Renee Saucedo, organizer, advocate, and lawyer.
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2008

Black-Brown Alliances from Mexico to California with Ron Wilkins, Southern California activist, photographer and teacher: Maria Elena Ramirez, Bay Area activist and counselor at Ohlone College; and Sandra Mitchell, Bay Area teach and co-founder, San Francisco Freedom School Co-sponsored by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and the Institute on MultiRacial Justice Dismantle: Policing, Displacement, and the Criminalization of Poverty with Tiny Gray-Garcia, POOR Magazine; Elder Freeman, All of Us or None, Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth (HOMEY) The Electoral Arena: Challenges and Opportunities for the 2008 Presidential Election and Beyond with Linda Burnham, activist, and author of “Obama and Clinton: The Tightrope and the Needle”; James Tracy, Bay Area housing organizing and co-author”The Left and Elections” CHANGE: Environmental Justice and the Fight against the Prison Industrial Complex with  Susana DeAnda, Community Water Center; Patrice Douglass, Critical Resistance; and Mari Rose Taruc, Asian Pacific Environmental Network July 26 Celebration Screening of ¡Salud!,
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2007

From San Salvador to San Francisco: Workers Strike Back Film showing and discussion with workers from El Salvador and the Bay Area, sharing stories of factory take overs and campus shut downs. As Long As I Live: Comfort Women from Korea Film showing a number of the surviving women live in the House of Sharing and travel to the Japanese embassy for a weekly demonstration demanding an apology from the Japanese government and testimony from a surviving comfort woman, Koon-ja Kim, who was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
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2006

Freedom Fighters 101: Che & the Women of the Black Panther Party A two-part workshop for young people to look more deeply at individual revolutionary icons, the struggles they were a part of, their continuing legacy, and what it means that a figure like Che appears on handbags and advertisements today.
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2005

Music and Resistance Film Series Including the films Fela (Fela Kuti), Wattstax (about the 1973 concert), 5 Sides of a Coin (on the 5 elements of hip hop), and Salsa: Latin Pop Music in the Cities. The Rise and Fall of Mission Housing With the Committee to Save Mission Housing A discussion on the history of the struggles at Mission Housing and the Mission District more broadly, in light of economic and political pressures that lead to displacement of working class communities of color.
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2004

Battle of Algiers Post-Film Discussion A discussion led by Rayan El-Amine and Jason Ferreira contextualizing the film in the history of the 50’s and 60’s, highlighting the film’s relevance for activists and organizers today. In conjunction with the showing of the film at the Castro Theater.
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2003

Progressive Majority Series A four-month, six session series to develop strategic thinking on building a progressive majority in the U.S. and to create a dialogue and build ties between left activists in various communities and labor movements. Egypt and the Anti-War movement A discussion of the anti-war movement in Egypt with Atef Shehata of the Institute for Human Rights in Cairo, and Nadine Naber, Arab scholar and activist World Social Forum 2003 Report Back with several members of Bay Area youth delegation and local community groups War at Home: Recession and Repression with Ruthie Gilmore of Critical Resistance and California Prison Moratorim Project, Jody Sokolower of Education not Incarceration Coalition, and Jenny Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness and No on N Campaign.
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