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Economic, political and social crises are deeply affecting communities throughout the world. In the U.S. the long history of genocide of Indigenous peoples, enslavement of African peoples, the economic exploitation of working people including many immigrant communities, the inequality of women of these communities and classes, wars of conquest and expansion of the continental U.S., and ecocide have shaped the economic and political system of global capitalism in the United States for over five centuries. This system is rooted in white supremacy and gender oppression as part of the overarching domination of society and the state by the rich and powerful - by those who own the economic resources across the country and the globe and form today's global corporate class. These forms of injustice and inequality have been reproduced in every century since the late 1400s. In each century resistance and resilience have been a consistent part of daily life. Those communities and classes most adversely affected have organized and struggled against their oppression and exploitation, seeking freedom, liberation, justice, and equality. The work of our communities, organizations, and struggles exist within the objective realities of social history - the electronic revolution, the transformation of work, and destruction in every aspect of social life and the environment; a powerful global capitalism and its repressive and deadly neoliberal policies; and a violent U.S. empire spreading war, militarism, rape and violence against women, and abusive prison systems at home and abroad. In today's movement building moment, the United States Social Forum offered the space to grow our bottom-up justice and equality movement deeper and stronger, and to vision the world we are fighting for. We are using this process to build a movement worthy of uniting with our sisters and brothers in the Global South. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This interactive presentation will share the participatory action research project that we have been involved in since 1999. The first phase was completed by a partnership between Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide, a community-based movement building organization, and a group of grassroots and scholar activists representing Trinity Towers residents, including the Trinity Towers Tenant Association, and several Howard and American University graduate student volunteers. The project explored the housing crisis in Columbia Heights and Trinity Towers intensifying in 1999-2000 as the gentrification process spread throughout northwest Washington, DC. We sought to uncover the root causes of gentrification and the housing crisis and to ensure that the community's voice was heard and is part of the solution. The second phase was collaboration between CoRAL/Georgetown University and Project South that developed from conversations between Walda Katz-Fishman and Sam Marullo, scholar activists teaching and working on issues of social inequality and social justice at Howard and Georgetown Universities. Four undergraduate students enrolled in The Contemporary City, a course taught by Professor Marullo, joined a Project South team composed of a sociology doctoral student/community activist and a grassroots community activist to design and implement a participatory action research follow-up -- 2000 to 2002. It documented the organizing success of the Trinity Towers Tenant Association and the deepening housing crisis in the Columbia Heights neighborhood because of ongoing gentrification. The documentation from the first phase was published as a pamphlet The People's Story -- Trinity Towers & Columbia Heights… Gentrification and the Struggle for Housing in our Neighborhood.. The second phase documentation is a web page that is temporarily located at: www.projectsouth.org. The text from the pamphlet and the web page are attached and... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a powerful and challenging historical moment: the deepest economic crisis and meltdown of global capitalism since the Great Depression; election of Barak Obama, the first Black US President; ongoing social destruction of huge proportions; an ecological crisis that threatens survival of the planet; all while war, militarism, and repression intensify at home and abroad. Working class women and children, indigenous peoples, peoples of color, and immigrants are, as always, most adversely affected. This is also a moment of broadening social struggles on all fronts and rising social movements that are questioning the viability of global capitalism and looking for alternatives in socialism for the 21st century.Teaching and learning and the struggle for social justice and transformation in every space and context are essential in this moment. For those of us who are scholar and student activists, it is especially important to bring this home to our classrooms - our students and colleagues - and the larger communities we are part of. Schools and universities are not themselves revolutionary institutions (they tend to reproduce the social relations of society and the ideological hegemony of the ruling class). Nevertheless, they can be sites of consciousness raising and struggle given the intentionality of professors and students to create critical classrooms and connect to today's rising social movement and the world social forum process. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the historical development of the Dominican Republic from 1492 to 1891, using the economy as the foundation of political dynamics. The study uses a historical materialist theory and methodology to explore the economic and political development of the Dominican Republic from 1492 to 1891. A historical materialist theoretical framework examines the changes in the productive system of society, its mode of production, which includes both the forces of production and the relations of production, and analyzes the role of the political superstructure ? the state and political struggles ? within the economic context. Using a descriptive historical methodology the research draws economic and political data from existing historical studies on the Dominican Republic. The study, beginning with a brief description of the pre-colonial conditions, before 1492, is divided into two eras: Colonialism, 1492 to 1821, and Neo-Colonialism, 1822 to 1891. Each era is subsequently divided into periods. Within each period the mode of production and political superstructure are analyzed and the data are presented in tables for each of the periods. The findings of this research suggest that as the mode of production developed, corresponding shifts in the political superstructure occurred. Over the entire period of study, 1492 to 1891, the Dominican Republic went from a ranking society ? based in primitive agriculture, hunting and gathering techniques and relatively equal ownership, control and distribution of the forces of production ? to early stages of global capitalist development ?based in primitive accumulation and large-scale production of agricultural commodities for sale in the growing world market. The political superstructure also changed from a ranking society of Taino people to political struggles among the Spanish, French, Haitians, Mulattos and Mestizos for control of the Dominican state. The Dominican Republic gained its political independence in 1844 and by 1891 the United States emerged as the primary neo-colonial power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No Long Form in 2010 Census: Where's your social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics data coming from? Finding fresh research data used to be difficult. Now data are available on a wide range of topics whenever you want it. Rather than having to wait for the once-a-decade census, the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) has emerged as a resource that can strengthen many kinds of research projects with annual social, housing, and economic data. The ACS gives researchers three significant improvements in access to demographic, housing, social, and economic data. First, the Census Bureau's estimates of characteristics for local areas are now updated every year. Second, much of the survey is available through the Census Bureau's user-friendly Internet site, the American FactFinder. Third, the ACS provides a central database for ongoing research. This poster session focuses on the American Community Survey relative importance to the 2010 Census. The purpose of this presentation is to: 1. Provide an overview of the ACS and the ACS's importance to new demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics data collection methods and illustrate the shift in sources for small community data from the Census 2000 "Long Form" (discontinued) to the ongoing ACS (which now is the primary source for reliable and timely community demographic, housing, social, and economic data.) 2. Explain the various benefits of using the ACS data. 3. Share tools to assist the data user in acquiring ACS data. The ACS asks questions of a relatively small number of people living in both housing units (including apartments, single-family homes, and mobile homes) and group quarters (including prisons, nursing homes, college dormitories.) These people have been randomly chosen to represent an area's population and housing. Based on interviews with this small sample, the Census Bureau uses statistical methods to produce estimates of the characteristics covered by the survey for a broad set of geographic areas such as the nation, all states, congressional districts, counties, and more. If time permit, participants will be able to engage in an interactive dialog with a small group of members from the American Community Survey Office Staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]