Arts & Culture
IN THE MOVEMENT TO ABOLISH POVERTY
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Featured Artist: Paintings by Ron Casanova


A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

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untitled drawing #2, by POWER member jlv
untitled drawing #2 by jlv
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ARTS & CULTURE
IN THE MOVEMENT TO ABOLISH POVERTY
 
INCLUDING PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, VIDEOS, MUSIC, & MORE!
This is a brand new page on P.O.W.E.R.'s website where we will be displaying various examples of arts & culture by artists, musicians, performers, and cultural workers whose work is for and/or about ending poverty and economic justice, including artiststs/cultural workers whom are also struggling to obtain their economic rights. Below is an index to help you navigate all of what's available on this page, including video, song, paintings, & more! ENJOY!

Arts & Culture Index
[main page]
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A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for POWER's Arts & Culture page
Video & Film


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NEW!!!
Healthcare Crisis
Produced by POWER's Video Committee, April 2008

   
Healthcare Crisis, 4/3/08 [6:21 mins] 
Larger screen | Watch movie on YouTube | Visit POWER's YouTube channel | ( TOP )
Short video piece exposing the US healthcare crisis & calling for people to speak out
and tell their stories of struggling to get the healthcare they need. Video was produced
by POWER's Video Committee & includes the song Healthcare Justice!, written &
performed by Colette Washington; please visit www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org.

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NEW!!!
Public Forum for Healthcare Justice!
Produced by POWER's Video Committee, February 2008

POWER's Public Forum on Healthcare Justice 12/10/07 [1hr:18mins]
Watch it on Google Video

Note: this video is also currently being televised on local
Community Public Access Channels 2 & 4 in Portland, ME.
For schedule of air times, please visit: http://ctn4maine.org/
If you'd like to get a copy of this footage to air on a local public
access station near you, please contact POWER today!
 
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NEW!!!
Demonstration for Healthcare Justice
Produced by POWER's Video Committee, February 2008


POWER's Demonstration for Healthcare Justice, Feb. 2008, [10:00 mins]
Larger screen | Watch movie on YouTube | Visit POWER's YouTube channel

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NEW!!!
National Housing Action Workshop,
At the US Social Forum in Atlanta Georgia; Produced by POWER's Video Committee;

National Housing Action Workshop 6/30/07 [25:01mins]
Watch it on Google Video | ( TOP )

This video was filmed on site by POWER delegates to the 1st ever US Social Forum (USSF), held in Atlanta, Georgia, from June 27 - July 1, 2007. The National Housing Action Workshops were organized by several organizations including Chicago Coalition to Protect Public Housing & Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), & each was attended by housing rights activists from all over the country (including POWER of Maine!).The goal of these workshops was to begin building a national movement for housing justice in the United States. Such a movement aims to save what public & subsidized housing we currently have (housing which is currently being threatened from coast to coast), and to expand access to TRULY affordable housing to all. This video includes footage from the second workshop, as well as footage of the demonstration to the Atlanta Housing Authority that followed, an event which was planned during the workshop itself. At this rally,demonstrators served AHA with an eviction notice in response to their plans to demolish over 1,000 units of public housing, which will lead to  the displacement thousands of low-income residents and their families.  
 
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POWER Goes to the US Social Forum
Directed & Produced by POWER's Video Committee, July 2007
 
A video slideshow featuring photographs of & by POWER delegates to the
US Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia June 27 - July 1, 2007. Includes music
by Colette Washington, of the California Nurses Association, & M.I.A.


POWER Goes to the US Social Forum, 6/27-7/1/07, [6:41 mins]
Larger screen | Watch movie on YouTube | Visit POWER's YouTube channel


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NEW!!!
Economic Human Rights Truth Commission
Produced by POWER's Video Committee, September 2007

POWER's Economic Human Rights Truth Commission, 11/30/05 [28:51mins]
Watch it on Google Video

This video documents Maine's 1st Economic Human Rights Truth Commission. Held on November 30, 2005, at the University of Southern Maine (USM) Library in Portland, Maine, this event was organized by Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights (POWER) & co-sponsored by the USM Student Social Work Organization. Participants included 13 Testifyers, who testified about economic injustice they had experienced, and 12 Commissioners who witnessed & responded to these testimonies. In all, over 100 people gathered to witness the stories of 13 Testifyers who spoke out about violations to their economic human rights. We heard about their experiences struggling to obtain housing, healthcare, prescriptions, living wage jobs, & education, and other basic needs, as well as stories of families torn apart by DHHS due to conditions of poverty. Following the testimonies we heard responses from 4 of the12 Commissioners, each of whom spoke to the need for sweeping change to end these injustices and abolish poverty. 

Poverty on Trial: Testimonies of Maine People Speaking Out,
POWER's  self-published booklet of the testimonies from this
Truth Commission, is available for a suggested donation of $5-$25;
to order a copy please contact POWER. 

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P.O.W.E.R. World Health Day Movie
Directed & Produced by POWER's Video Committee, June 2007

A video about POWER's World Health Day Demonstration in front
of Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine - the state's largest
hospital facility - to protest the fact that millions of us are locked
out of the US health care system. What do we want?
EVERYBODY IN: UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE NOW!!!
POWER World Health Day Movie, June 2007, 9:58 minutes
Larger screen | Watch movie on YouTube  |  Visit POWER's YouTube channel
 
 
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Health Care Crisis USA
By Poor Voices United & The Media College of the University of the Poor

HEALTH CARE CRISIS USA is about Poor Voices United,
a group in Atlantic City, NJ that is fighting back and organizing
for the right to health care.

Health Care Crisis USA, PART 1, 8:26 minutes.


Health Care Crisis USA, PART 2, 9:06 minutes.


Health Care Crisis USA, PART 3, 2:26 minutes.

Other ways to watch Health Care Crisis USA
Part 1  [8:26 mins] - on YouTube
Part 2  [9:06 mins] - on YouTube
Part 3  [2:26 mins] - on YouTube
 
 
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Copy This Tape
Produced by the Media College of the University of the Poor

COPY THIS TAPE provides an introduction to the
Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, a
coalition of groups dedicated to building a movement
to end poverty across color lines led by the poor.
 

Copy This Tape, PART 1, 9:44 minutes | Watch on YouTube



Copy This Tape, PART 2, 8:08 minutes | Watch on YouTube 
 
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Poverty Outlaw
A Skylight Pictures production, Produced & directed by Peter Kinoy & Pamela Yates

POVERTY OUTLAW is a story of hard choices posed by living in poverty without society’s “safety net.” It is told by one woman who descends from middle-class security to welfare, and then to abject poverty. Her fierce and tenacious drive to raise her children has brought this woman up against bureaucrats, politicians, and her own self-doubt. Eventually the chouces she must make have put her on the wrong side of the law. As she tells us: I’m an outlaw. My crime? Being poor. I, or I should say we, have taken over empty houses to live in, stolen thrown-away food and eaten it, found used clothing and worn it, and for those simple acts of survival the city is out to throws us in jail… I never thought I’d be and outlaw, so here’s how it happened. 
More about Poverty Outlaw...


Poverty Outlaw, TRAILER, 2:31 minutes

Other ways to watch the trailer for Poverty Outlaw [2:31 mins]:
 
 
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Outriders
A Skylight Pictures production, Produced & directed by Peter Kinoy & Pamela Yates

In the heady boom times people at the bottom of the economic ladder are becoming invisible, but a handful of desperately poor Americans refuse to disappear. Fifty of them; infants, teens, mothers, and grandmothers, crowd into a "freedom bus" and criss-cross the United States documenting the effects of "welfare reform" on other poor people. Their mission: to place evidence of growing American poverty before the United Nations.  
More about Outriders... 


Outriders, TRAILER, 3:24 minutes
 
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Takeover
A Skylight Pictures production, Produced & directed by Peter Kinoy & Pamela Yates

TAKEOVER begins on May 1st, 1990, when homeless people in eight cities
around the country seized empty (HUD) federal housing simultaneously. It was
the first national coordinated homeless housing takeover ever. Skylight Pictures
followed the takeovers with 12 crews in the eight cities, documenting the secret
planning, the illegal occupations, and the hopeful aftermath of this bold endeavor.
More about Takeover...

Watch the trailer for Takeover [2:31 mins]:

 

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Battle for Broad
A Skylight Pictures production, by Peter Kinoy & Pamela Yates

BATTLE FOR BROAD chronicles four tense days in July, 2000, as poor
and homeless families from the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the
Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign prepare to take on the
Philadelphia police in a battle to march up Broad Street on the opening
day of the Republican National Convention. More about Battle for Broad...


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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Directed & Photographed by Kim Bartley & Donnacha O'Briain; Ireland, 2003; 74 MINUTES
  
THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED: On April 11, 2002,
the first coup d’état of the 21st century took place: the democratically elected
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was overthrown. Within hours, top business-
man Pedro Carmona had proclaimed himself president, with the support of the
United States and the direct complicity of the Venezuelan media. For seven
months before the coup, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O Briain had been filming
Hugo Chavez as he attempted to put into practice his election promises to end
corruption and redistribute oil revenue. They had intended to make a personal
profile of the charismatic leader, but current events turned the film into something
completely different. The filmmakers were right on the spot at the presidential
palace at the moment of the coup and Chavez’s surprise return to power less
than 48 hours later. Taking advantage of their full access to Chavez, they filmed
the mounting tension, the behind-the-scenes action and the street demonstrations
during the whole intense period of coup and counter-coup.
More about The Revolution Will Not Be Televised...


Google video allows you to watch The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 
in its entirety (74 minutes) - for FREE - on-line: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

Watch The Revolution Will Not Be Televised on YouTube:
Part 1 [9:37 mins]   Part 5
Part 2                     Part 6
Part 3                     Part 7
Part 4                     Part 8

 
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SiCKO: the official trailer!

This is the trailer for Michael Moore's upcoming health care
documentary "SiCKO," in theaters everywhere June 29th.
For more information visit the following links:
- Michael Moore's website (http://michaelmoore.com)
- The SiCKO Movie website (http://sicko-movie.com)
- SiCKO's YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/sickothemovie)
- The SiCKO group on YouTube (http://youtube.com/group/SiCKOthemovie)


SiCKO TRAILER [2:24 mins] | Watch on YouTube | Sicko's YouTube channel.



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Michael Moore wants to hear from you:
Let's send our health care horror stories to Congress! 

This might hurt a little. Acclaimed filmmaker Michael Moore's new documentary sets out to investigate the American healthcare system. Michael wants YouTube members to share your Healthcare Horror Stories and tell us about an experience you had. This is the group where you can post your videos to share with Michael, who will be screening them and sharing them with Congress. To learn more and share your story, visit sick-movie.com and/or the YouTube SiCKO group at http://www.youtube.com/group/SiCKOthemovie!

How is the US health care crisis affecting you?
Michael Moore wants to hear from you!
Watch on YouTube | Sicko's YouTube channel


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Homeless Hero: The Story of One of the 12
Most Endangered Activists in America
From: www.alternet.org/blogs/video/75947
Homeless Hero tells the story of Cheri Honkala's rise from
homelessness to the leadership of a growing popular movement
in America -- the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.
This moving and engrossing video is from an Al Jazeera segment called Homeless Hero.
It explores the activism of Cheri Honkala, a single mother and former homeless person
herself, who has fought passionately in defense of homeless Americans, who are routinely abused by authorities and/or the system itself. watch video

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Music & Song

Healthcare Justice - by Colette Washington
Listen [MP3 file - 4.17 MB]
 


"About Time For 89"
By Colette Washington - for more information please visit www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org
The California Nurses Association Presents: "About Time for 89" - The First Ever Rap Song and Music Video About a Proposition! Written and Performed By: Colette Washington. Available now at www.YesOn89.org. Videography by Kaptur Films and editing by James Johnson at JJ Post. Visit the California Nurses Association YouTube channel!
 
Rich Man's House
Listen | Lyrics

All of Our Rights Now!
Listen | Lyrics

Up & Our of Poverty Now!
Listen | Lyrics


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Lyrics

Richman's House
This song came out of the 1998 New Freedom Bus Tour organized by Kensington Welfare Rights Union - founding member of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.
The song was inspired by the song "The Enemies Camp" which freedom riders learned and sang while visiting a church in Durham, NC.

Well I went down to the rich man's house*, and I
Took back what he stole from me -
Took back my dignity
Took back my humanity
(Repeat)

And now it's under my feet
Under my feet 
Under my feet 
Under my feet!
Ain't no system gonna walk all over me!

*For the following verses, replace "rich man's house" with: "president's house,"
  "governor's house," "mayor's house," "welfare office," etc.

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All of Our Rights Now!
By Margie Wilkes & Kensington Welfare Rights Union. This song was written just before KWRU's 1998 New Freedom Bus Tour left Philadelphia; it expresses some of the mission of the freedom bus.

What do we all need?
All of our rights now!
Keeping us all where?
Off of the street!
What do we all need?
All of our rights now!
We stand united -
We'll not be moved.

Right now -
We won't back down, no.
Right now -
We'll not be moved
Right now -
We've staked our claim, now.
Right now -
We've mapped out our route.

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Up & Our of Poverty Now!
This song came out of the struggles of the Union of the Homeless in the late 80's and early 90's

So long, they've kept their feet on our necks
So long, they've been walking on our backs
We must overcome, and stand tall as one

(CHORUS)
We're going to move up and out of poverty now
That is what we're fighting for
We're going to move up and out of poverty now
That is what we're living for.

So long they've kept us far apart
For too long, they've told us its all our fault
We must overcome and stand tall as one...

(CHORUS)

So strong, we have begun to unite
So strong, we've built our army to fight
With help from above, God's giving us love...

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Paintings & Drawings

Untitled, drawing by POWER member jlv  Untitled Drawing, by POWER member jlv
     untitled drawing #1                  untitled drawing #2
   by POWER member jlv              by POWER member jlv

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Featured Artist: Ron Casanova
For our very first featured artist on our new Arts & Culture page, we are pleased to be able to share with you the work of our dear friend & fellow freedom fighter Ron Casanova. Among his many, many accomplishments, Ron is a brilliant artist, a published author, a veteran in the struggle to end poverty, a founder of the New York City-based organization Artists For A Better America, & a core leader in the School of Arts & Culture of the University of the Poor, the educational arm of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. We are most honored to have the privilege of displaying his work. To see Ron's paintings, please click on the link Paintings by Ron Casanova!and scroll down to see the virtual picture gallery. Once there, click on any image to see a larger version of that same image. [pictured above left: Still Praising God, by Ron Casanova]
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Photography
 
MORE COMING SOON!!!


POWER'S PICTURES PAGE
LD 1538 Hearing May 2007 
National Truth Commission Jul 2006 [current page]
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Writing & Literature

MORE COMING SOON!!!

"Each One Teach One" by Ron Casanova
Each One Teach One:
Up and Out of Poverty,
Memoirs of a Street Activist
By Ron Casanova
Edited by Stephen Blackburn;
published by Curbstone Press;
October 1, 1996; 250 pages;
ISBN 978-1-880684-37-5 

Click here to read an excerpt
Available for purchase at Curbstone Press & Amazon.com.
FROM THE BACK COVER:
Each One Teach One chronicles Ron Casanova's struggle out of poverty, homelessness, and drug addiction to find dignity and purpose in his life. Through his own dramatic awakening, this Black, Puerto Rican activist ultimately finds his answer in helping other people.

Born into a dysfunctional family and placed into an orphanage on Staten Island at an early age, Casanova faced overwhelming odds. His story illuminates some of the major events of our time, including the "police riot" at Tompkins Square Park, the "Housing Now" march of the homeless on Washington, and community takeovers of housing in Kansas City, New York, and Philadelphia.

Underlying Each One Teach One, with its vivid cast of characters and intimate descriptions of Harlem and other urban areas, is the profound sense that no matter what your circumstance, you can use your past experience to help others. Ultimately, Casanova's story is a message of hope for the future and for the possibility of self-sufficiency and self-empowerment for each individual.

As Casanova writes: "Each One Teach One will reveal to others that once you are fully awake, you can appreciate the beauty of life and its rewards. But this will only happen when you make up your mind that poverty in all of its forms is not the way anyone should live, that you have to understand the need to fight to save your life and the lives of others - to get Up and Out of Poverty Now!"

Ron Casanova has served as Vice President of the National Union of the Homeless, Editor of the Union of the Homeless National News, and former director of the Kansas City Union of the Homeless. He has worked as a house manager for Dignity Housing, an organizer of special events for the Employment Project in Philadelphia, an AIDS counselor, and as a drugs couselor for juvenile offenders. He currently lives in New York City.

Photograph of Ron Casanova, as published in his book "Each One Teach One"
                                                        Photograph of Ron Casanova,
                                                         from Each One Teach One


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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
for POWER's Arts & Culture page!

CALLING ALL ARTISTS & CULTURAL WORKERS
THAT CARE ABOUT ENDING POVERTY!!!
Are you an artist/cultural worker whose work addresses issues of poverty &/or economic injustice &/or oppression? Do you use your creativity to speak out about these important issues? Do you have ideas about using arts & culture in building a movement to end poverty? Are you as an artist/cultural worker struggling with your own issues of poverty and/or economic injustice, like access to affordable healthcare and/or housing, etc?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, we want to hear from YOU!
  • PLEASE CONTACT US & LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE WORK YOU'D LIKE TO SUBMIT FOR OUR ARTS & CULTURE PAGE.
  • Please also contact us if you're interested in joining POWER &/or helping POWER incorporate arts & culture into our efforts to build a local movement to end poverty.
Maybe you're a poet, a singer, a photographer, a dancer, a painter, a rapper, a play-write, a sculptor, a print-maker, a composer, a puppeteer, a story-teller, a performer, a guitarist, a novelist, a designer, a potter, or someone who likes to sew or knit or draw - or whether  you're another kind of cultural creator. If you and the cultural work you do are inspired by the idea that poverty and economic injustice can and must be ended - we would be honored to display your work!!

By the way - you don't have to be a POWER member to have your artwork displayed on this page (though please feel free to join!). All that matters is that your work is about or related to ending poverty. So what are you waiting for = contact us today!

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A Special Note about POWER's Arts & Culture Page:
This is a brand new page on P.O.W.E.R.'s website where we will be displaying various examples of arts & culture by artists, musicians, performers, and cultural workers whose work is for and/or about ending poverty and economic justice, including artiststs/cultural workers whom are also struggling to obtain their economic rights. You don't have to be a POWER member to have your artwork displayed on this page (though please feel free to join!). All that matters is that your work is about or related to ending poverty. More about submitting artwork...

Please note that POWER's Arts & Culture Page displays work by various artists & cultural producers, including works created by POWER, POWER members, other members of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, other members/schools the University of the Poor, and/or works by unaffiliated artists/producers whose work we feel addresses our issues and help in building a movement to end poverty. We've done our best to properly give credit to each artist. Please alert us in the event you notice any errors or ommissions so that we may correct them.

Also, we ask that you please be patient with us = we're all hard-working volunteers struggling the best we can (most of us are low-income ourselves) and we're still learning how to make this technology work, working with (often buggy) second hand equipment. 

Thank you!!!

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Thank you for visiting POWER's Arts & Culture Page!
We will be posting more and more artwork in the coming days, weeks, & months
so don't forget to check back again soon to see our latest additions!

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Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights = POWER!
Contact POWER

Winning our economic human rights;
Putting poverty on trial;
Building a Maine that truly is the way life should be - for ALL of us!!!


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