Greg Moore

Greg Moore

Communist youth festival

The National Preparatory Committee for the 12th World Festival of Youth and Students met in New York on March 2 and March 23 1985.

The meetings of representatives of the area preparatory committees and participating national organizations reflected the tremendous growth of the Festival movement over the month. Three hundred endorsements' have, now peen gathered by the more than 40 area' preparatory committees. The APCs have nearly tripled in number since late January.

Brenda Davenport, youth coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Greg Moore, president of the U.S Student Association; Philip Oke of the UN Office of the Christian Peace Conference, Sharon Burgess of District 65 ~ New Jersey Region, United Auto Workers; and Bernice A. King; of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Change were among those that attended the latest meeting, Ms. King is the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr..

The NPC meetings called for stepping up the pace of the festival movement and agreed that the April 20 demonstration for peace. jobs and justice in Washington D,C. was a key part of the work. Many area committees reported renting buses and signing youth up to go.

At the March 2 meeting, Ethel Lobman of Local 3882 of the American Federation of Teachers said, "It is our duty to bring together all those who suffer from Reagan's policies to protest" Ms. Lobman' was also a delegate to the New York Central Labor Council and án activist in the labor outreach committee of the New York coalition building April 20th.

There wil be 250 delegates to the festival and 300 "special participants" who will attend the festival in Moscow for four days, then travel to other parts of the USSR for an additional ten days. It was agreed that 100 of the 250 delegates would be picked from a national "pool" in order to ensure the most representative delegation possible.

Five co-chairs were elected at the meeting including Brenda Davenport of SCLC: Julien Epstein, aide to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.); Andy Mager, the first New York draft registration resister to be imprisoned; James Steele, national chairman of the Young Communist League; and Sue Wray, president of the Student Association of the State University of New York. Two slots were left open for representatives from the trade union and Latino communities.

PDA meeting, Maryland

Thursday March 15, 2012, PDA National Director Tim Carpenter, PDA National Vice Chair emeritus Stephen Shaff, PDA National Deputy Field Director Andrea Miller and Mike Hersh welcomed speakers Rep. Donna Edwards (Md-6), Professor Eric Kingson from Social Security Works, and Alex Lawson from We Act 1480 AM Radio to Busboys and Poets in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Current and former PDA National Board Members Medea Benjamin, Joe Libertelli and Steve Cobble, Healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair Donna Smith, and Maryland Senator Paul Pinsky also helped welcome progressives to Prince George's County's newest meeting place. The turnout included several important progressive leaders from Maryland's 4th, 6th, and 8th districts.

Special thanks to the Very Important Progressive Host Committee including--Stephen Shaff; PDA board member Bill Fletcher, Jr., Raucus Activist Writer; Alex Lawson, Social Security Works and WE ACT Radio; Heather Booth, Activist; Steve Cobble, PDA Political Advisor, and Institute for Policy Studies; Medea Benjamin; Tom Hucker, MD Delegate, D-20; Greg Moore, NAACP/Political Consultant; Beth Becker, Progressive PST; Naomi Bloch, Activist who donated a small library of books; David Hart, Physicians for Social Responsibility; Beth Schulman, IPS; Greg Smith, Activist; Joe Libertelli; Mark Dudzic; Jimmy Tarlau, Communication Workers of America; Kerren-Pope Onwukwe, Attorney/Activist; and Andrea Miller.

References

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