[FFCF-Fundraising] Banquet speaker

[Rychard Withers]

I talked to Kataya at speakoutnow.org and she said the following people would
probably be available as part of a California tour in oct/early Nov.  Others
might be possible, but more expensive:

Your thoughts on this list? Anyone else at www.speakoutnow.org to consider?

Thanks 
Rych

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Michael Albert
Radical Visions for Radical Change

 Michael Albert co-founded Z Magazine and ZNet, its online incarnation, where he
writes about economics and economic vision, foreign affairs, media and political
strategy. A veteran student and community activist, Albert is a dynamic, moving,
and challenging speaker. He talks on current events and the class/race/sex/power
dimensions of contemporary life. Understanding the role of reforms, Albert is
nonetheless a forthright and militant advocate of transforming basic
institutions. He addresses not only problems but explores real solutions. He is
the author of a dozen books including Stop the Killing Train and Looking
Forward: Participatory Economics for the Twenty-First Century.
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Haunani-Kay Trask
Hawaiian Sovereignty and Indigneous Human Rights

 Haunani-Kay Trask is an Indigenous Hawaiian nationalist, political organizer,
poet, and professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai'i. The winner
of Honolulu Magazine’s Islander of the Year Award, Trask is a member of Ka Lahui
Hawai’i, the largest sovereignty organization in Hawai’i. She is a riveting
speaker on Hawaiian sovereignty, Indigenous human rights and the prostitution of
Native cultures by global tourism. She is the author of three books, including
>From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i and is
co-producer of the award-winning documentary, "Act of War: Overthrow of the
Hawaiian Nation." 
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Jello Biafra
Government Follies and Mistruths

 Engaging and thought provoking, the ranting and intelligent Jello Biafra
questions everything that is held sacred. Biafra address censorship, social
responsibility, government follies and mistruths, educational overhaul, the
decriminalization of drugs and why he isn't nostalgic about punk rock's "glory
days." 

Biafra's main media is spoken word. Spoken word is an umbrella term for crossing
the boundaries of poetry, commentary, comedy, theater, and performance art or in
Biafra's case, all of the above. 

Biafra is best-known as leader and vocalist of the Dead Kennedys, a pioneering
punk rock band featuring smart, political lyrics with furious music. He ran for
mayor of San Francisco in 1979. While he did not win, he became a magnet for the
vote of those dissatisfied with the leading candidates. During his campaign he
never lost his sense of humor, wearing T-shirts from an opponent's previous
campaign, and vacuuming leaves off another opponent's front lawn. 

Biafra ranks as the first musician to be put on trial, because of the content of
a record album (in 1985, three years before 2 Live Crew). The Frankenchrist
album released with his group, Dead Kennedys, contained in its original release
a reproduction of a painting by Swiss artist H.R. Geiger. Obscenity charges
followed, under the urging of Tipper Gore and the Parent's Music Resource
Center, after a woman spotted the record in her daughter's collection. It was
because of this painting that Biafra's house in San Francisco was raided and
torn apart by a squad of Los Angeles and San Francisco police officers. Former
L.A. deputy city attorney Michael Guarino, regrets the episode. Stating, "About
midway through the trial we realized that the lyrics of the album were in many
ways socially responsible, very anti-drug and pro-individual." 

Biafra practices what he preaches by recording albums of his music and
spoken-word pieces on his own record label, Alternative Tentacles. As a devoted
advocate of free speech, artistic freedom, and just plain getting your ideas out
in the open, he created A.T. 
as a means for out-of-the-mainstream artists to record and distribute their
work. His 1998 spoken-word album, If Evolution is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will
Survive, is a triple-CD opus which takes on the topics of the media, censorship,
and the death-penalty appeal case of journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. 

His latest album, released in November 2000, entitled Become the Media is a
no-humor-barred account of the "fiscal year of uprising" starting with the
Seattle protests, his Green Party and election activities, and the rise of
independent media. He was involved in the Seattle protests of the WTO, and
recorded a music EP under the moniker "No WTO Combo" with Kim Thayil
(Soundgarden) and Krist Novoselic (Nirvana). At a past 
spoken word show, he said, "One of the worst forms of censorship is what people
are not being told." His live performances take that idea head-on, with Biafra
weighing in on the entire spectrum of social, political, and artistic topics. 
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Shakti Butler and "The Way Home"
Gender, Race and Class in the U.S.

 Shakti Butter is an African-American woman of mixed West Indian and
Russian-Jewish heritage whose work as a creative and visionary bridge builder
has challenged and inspired learning for over twenty-one years. As the Executive
Director of World Trust, a non- profit organization committed to creating
sustainable communities, Shakti initiated Heart to Heart Conversations which is
a national program of public dialogue that speaks to critical social issues of
race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. 

Shakti is the producer and director of the ground - breaking documentary, The
Way Home. She has intentionally designed this powerful video tool as a catalyst
for transformative learning, healing, and change. The video serves as a model
for dialogue and sets the context for constructive conversations on oppression
through the lens of race. It moves the conversation beyond black and white and
speaks to the inter-connectedness of racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia. 

Ms. Butler is an inspirational facilitator, trainer and lecturer whose
consulting, writing, and lecturing style support her use of mind, body, and
Spirit or Consciousness as an approach to challenging deeply embedded beliefs
and generating new questions. Her work emerges from years of inner exploration,
experience lecturing, speaking, designing workshops, teaching and training in
colleges, universities, religious institutions and organizations. Shakti is a
warm and compassionate person who uses her exceptional ability to listen and ask
pertinent questions along with her intuitive capacity to support self-directed
learning. She enriches peopleís ability to move toward an expanded understanding
of their own capacity for greatness. 

Each and every viewing of The Way Home is greatly enriched when the stories and
ideas presented in the film are tied to the opportunities and challenges
connected to the personal stories, hearts, and minds of the people watching it.
Shaktiís speaking style incorporates group participation through dialogue,
critical self inquiry, reflection, and whole body learning to connect the
stories from the documentary with those of the viewers to create powerful
learning outcomes. In this way, attention is paid to building community amongst
audience participants 

However, any tool, no matter how powerful, must be carefully framed and
contextualized so that the members of its organization or institution will learn
and grow. In addition, the best diversity and educational awareness work must
link the concerns of the individual to the larger objectives and challenges of
the institution or organization. Shakti actively partners with your organization
to help create a shared vision of your goals and objectives that will maximize
learning. 

Ms. Butler graduated Magna Cum Laude from City College of New York, holds a MA
in Guidance and Counseling from Bank Street College of New York, and is an ABD
doctoral candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the school
of Transformative Learning and Change. She a contributing author to The New
Entrepreneurs, an anthology on new paradigm business practices and learning
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