For your information . . .


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Democracy University Vol. 6...  3 Events with Noam Chomsky

Dear Justicevision Supporters and Other Friends-

Good news! Noam Chomsky's speaking again, and I was able to get there with our
camera. After having to postpone recent trips to Boulder and Calgary for
health reasons, Professor Chomsky spoke to packed audiences April 19th, 20th,
and 21st at Winona State University in Minnesota and at Indiana-Purdue
University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I am happy to say that I was able to bring
home 8 excellent hours of videotapes with Professor Chomsky's insights, of
which 6 hours were on politics and 2 hours were on language. After giving it
considerable thought, I have decided to combine all three of the political
events on one tape, instead of putting each on its own tape in combination
with something else. This will probably make it harder to recoupe the $700 the
trip cost me (planes, buses, train, rental car, and speeding ticket, trying to
get to a bus), so I'd really appreciate it if some of you will get multiple
copies as gifts or to sell, and/or will order other Democracy University
tapes (see the "special edition" tapes listed at the end). I've been taping
events almost daily and have enough good ones for 4 or 5 new Volumes in the
series, which I will announce when I get them finalized.

The following is from the label of Democracy University Volume 6:

3 Events with Political and Social Critic Dr. Noam Chomsky:
  "Market Democracy: Doctrines and Reality", 2 hours 37 minutes;
  "Whose World Order- Conflicting Visions", 2 hours 15 minutes;
  "Crackers with Noam": Chomsky in conversation (over beers and vodka) with
union members (at a reception in his honor) at the Northeast Indiana Central
Labor Council in Fort Wayne, following the previous event, but in a different
location. One hour 16 minutes.

Two Pacifica Radio stations have indicated there is the possibility of using
this tape (i.e., our videotape) as a premium (for donations of $100 or more)
in their coming fund drive. We're having a fund drive, too, but we're only
asking for a donation of $10 or more, for the same "premium".

Many ask me why I charge so little. I know that $10 is not a lot of money to
many of you. But if I raise my price above what I can afford, my tapes will no
longer be accessible to those others among you for whom, like myself, $10 is a
stretch.
I feel it is important that everybody can participate with me in this effort.
I hope you will.

To Order: Please order the videotape by phone or email and send a donation of
$10 or more (per tape) after you receive the videotape in the mail (I will
send along an envelope for that purpose). When ordering, please give your
street address, your email address (if I do not have it), and a phone number,
and which tape(s) you are ordering (DU6 if you are ordering Democracy
University Vol. 6).

Thanks for your consideration and your support, whether it be financial or
spiritual.

Ralph Cole, organizer,
JusticeVision;
(213) 747-6345; [log in to unmask] .

PS: I have taped a lot of really good events and some very important events
lately. I am trying to avoid putting them all into the Democracy University
series because there are so many of them that I'm afraid it would overwhelm
people, or make those who have gotten all the tapes so far feel like they have
to get them just because they are in the series. I do feel that I need to make
the important ones available to those that can use them, however. The
following are recent videos that are available for $10 each. Some of them have
events that will be going into future volumes of Democracy University when the
right combination of events becomes available; they may also be given volume
numbers and become volumes in the series just the way they are. For now,
however, I will refer to these as "Special Editions" (SEs) in the series.

SE1: Two talks and a panel discussion with author Bill Ayers, author of "A
Kind and Just Parent: The Juvenile Court", which was the topic of his first
talk (4/1/98, 1:21). The second topic was "Children at Risk/Children of
Promise" (4/2/98, 1:05). The panel was on "Children and the Juvenile Justice
System" (4/3/98, 1:16). The tape also includes a debate on the the voucher
system entitled "Should Public Money be Used to Fund Religious Educational
Institutions?", and includes Constitutional Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky
and several other professors on both sides of the issue.

SE2: FLUORIDATION: A debate before the Santa Cruz City Council, with a
spokesperson for the state of California among those on one side, and Dr.
David Kennedy and Jeff Green of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water on the other
(3/11/98, 4:42). The tape also includes "Fluoridation's Devastating Effects
Upon the Body" which is one of my alltime favorite tapes, by biochemist Dr.
John Yiamouyiannis (9/4/95, 1:12).

SE3: POLICE WATCH Tribute to Excellence Award Dinner with Johnnie Cochran,
Danny Glover, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Zinzun, and Hugh Manes. Mr. Manes
gives a memorable accounting of the difficulties encountered in the early days
of police abuse cases. If I'd attended this event some years ago I probably
would have stayed in law school (3/22/98, 2:03). I have this in combination
with Geronimo (Ji Jaga) Pratt's Homecoming speech (L.A., 7/26/97, 1:45), given
shortly after his release from prison after his conviction was overturned 27
years too late. The tape also includes a press conference with Attorney
Leonard Weinglass in which he details the evidence that Mumia Abu-Jamal,
presently on death row, was falsely accused and convicted in retaliation for
his investigative reporting on Philadelphia's police (4/2/95, 1:20).

SE4: Dick Gregory, April 17, 1998, about 2 hours and 15 minutes. A very
exciting, informative, and entertaining evening, by one of the greatest
political comedians. He discusses CIA involvement in drug trafficking,
presents photographic and sites other evidence that Ron Brown was murdered,
and touches on innumerable other topics. I haven't decided what else to put
with this one, but it may be Gary Webb, the San Jose Mercury reporter that
broke the Crack and the Contras story, together with former LAPD officer
Michael Rupert on 50 years of CIA drug dealing, if it all fits on one tape.

SE5: The Americans for Democratic Action's "Take Back the Democratic Party"
Conference (4/18/98, about 7 hours), with U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, Jeff
Cohen of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-
NY), actor Mike Farrell, Tom Hayden, International Law expert Karen Parker,
and Lt. Governor Gray Davis.

SE6: Greens In Office: highlights from the first convention of elected Greens.
Includes a workshop on how to run a winning campaign, with some very sensible
suggestions from some very knowledgeable people (2/21/98, tape 1 of 2 six-hour
tapes).

SE7: NOAM CHOMSKY: "New Horizons in the Study of Language", April 20, 1998, 2
hours, given at Winona State University, Minnesota. I'm not sure what I'll put
in combination with this. I was thinking of either the Dick Gregory event, or
an Angela Davis talk we recorded 3 weeks ago (if she decides to give us
permission to use it).
We could also distribute it with another earlier Chomsky event, or with the
videotape of an earlier Michael Parenti talk. Let us know what your thinking,
or if it doesn't matter what it comes with, or if you would just like it by
itself.

SE8: For those of you that would like the new Chomsky tapes in 2 hour mode so
you can edit them, I'll put DU6 on three VHS tapes for you. I would like $30
for the three, but could conceivably be persuaded down some.

PPS: If you would like a quantity discount, remember I ask a minimum donation
of $75 for 10 or more. If you don't want that many, order 6 or more and I'll
deduct $10 from the minimum donation.

PPPS: If you signed up for automatic mailing, I haven't gotten that figured
out entirely, so you may want to send in an order. In any case, you'll
probably get it sooner that way. If you do, I'll be careful to avoid dups.

PPPPS: When ordering, if you mention you already have my lists I will only
send the newest ones. Thanks!