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Zerqa Abid describes herself as an “activist mother” which is quite an understatement. Zerqa Abid is the founder and president of Muslims for Ohio PAC and the MY Project USA, an organization that works on poverty and human trafficking issues in Columbus. She has organized Columbus Unity Meetings to bring all the socially conscious activist groups in Columbus together and she is active in Indivisible Columbus.
Originally from Pakistan and then from North Carolina, Zerqa studied mass communication, TV production and journalism at North Carolina State University. Her professional experience ranges from working in MSNBC’s Newsroom and managing a TV station to organizing international trade and commercial shows. Right now her priority is saving our children from drugs and pimps.
Ordinary people have extraordinary power.
That’s the philosophy behind Defund Injustice, a newly formed coalition based in Columbus that seeks to organize the people’s power of the purse. In a consumer-driven economy, the power of the purse is king. Where people choose to spend and invest their money can be a remarkably persuasive driver of social change. The same can be said of where cities choose to spend and invest taxpayer dollars.
Take, for example, the recent consumer-driven change in the production of eggs. Twenty years ago there were three types of eggs widely available to consumers: small, medium and large. The recent, and growing, interest in more humane egg production practices has resulted in the widespread availability of cage-free and free-range eggs. Last year major restaurant chains, like McDonalds, Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts, promised to use cage-free eggs in their food production.
Tuesday, April 4, 12-3pm
OSU Moritz College of Law, 55 W. 12th Ave. FREE
Facebook Event
Ohio has seen a boom in the storing of fracking wastewater, much of it from neighboring states, and this wastewater includes a mix of toxic chemicals—many of which are harmful to human health. Some communities have responded by trying to limit wastewater dumping, but the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that municipalities have no power to regulate or limit the disposal of fracking waste. Many of the Ohio Supreme Court justices who made this decision received large campaign contributions from fracking companies and other fossil fuel interests.
Please save the date for this exclusive event co-sponsored by Why Courts Matter Ohio, Ohio Fair Courts Working Group, OSU American Constitution Society, the Ecologic Institute, Common Cause Ohio, the Ohio Environmental Council, and the Piper Fund. You will receive registration information soon.
The administration at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) has been targeting and restricting Hasan's communication access on any pretense they can find or invent since his outspoken support for the nation-wide prisoner strike on September 9th of 2016.
Hasan and another prisoner, Jason Robb began refusing food when the OSP administration put them on a 90 day communication restriction for being interviewed by the Netflix documentary series Captives. Hasan appealed the RIB's decision, arguing that they violated policies regarding timelines, access to witnesses, and prisoners' due process rights. Director Mohr's response to the appeal was a form letter that did not address any of the issues Hasan raised.
Photo report here
The march — and the storm — approaches…
In what would become an unforgettable march celebrating the end of the week-long fast by students and alumni at The Ohio State University — and the start of a rolling fast of students across the Fair Food Nation in support of the Wendy’s Boycott — nearly 500 farmworkers and their consumer allies braved cold winds and a soaking rainstorm to march three miles through the streets of Columbus this past Sunday in pursuit of justice for the workers who pick Wendy’s fruits and vegetables.
As the marchers gathered at Goodale Park for the opening rally and chose the signs and banners they would carry for the day, some small, and some very tall, the weather — long predicted to be absolutely miserable — gave fleeting signs of hope that the worst might just hold off. But it wasn’t long before marchers began prudently battening down the hatches for what was clearly going to be a rough patch ahead.
Fifth Annual Ohio Move To Amend Network Gathering
Saturday, April 1, 9:30am-4:30pm [registration begins at 8:30am], First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Rd. Facebook Event
A statewide gathering of local chapters of the national Move to Amend organization that is calling for a U.S. Constitutional amendment to reverse several U.S. Supreme Court decisions during the past century and thereby to firmly establish that corporations are not people and that money is not free speech. Join us on April Fools’ Day to debunk several long-standing constitutional hoaxes — including the legal fictions that corporations are “persons” and that money is equivalent to “free speech” — and together build the growing national movement to create real democracy.
Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright scolded young women for supporting Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton before the 2016 presidential primary. They implied that in supporting a candidate based on politics instead of gender, millennials are either ignorant or complacent about the feminist struggle.
On March 8, the International Women’s Day celebration on the Ohio State campus revealed just the opposite. Many of the young women, men, and non-cisgender people who gathered on the Oval had just come from a 1,000-strong solidarity teach-in organized by Columbus Coalition for International Women’s Day. Most were far more in touch with the radical foundations of the women’s movement than its most recognized “icons” are.
“I’m a Marxist feminist, like Angela Davis and Rosa Luxemburg,” said Emily Shaw of the International Socialist Organization.
Authentic Relating. It is the art of getting someone’s world.
Authentic Relating Games is made up of a series of facilitated activities that help people connect and dive deeper, below surface-level small-talk.
We have a weekly reoccurring class at Thompson Recreation Center from March 23 through May 25 - Thursdays at 7pm -8pm.
The class is free
Each week is different and has a unique theme.
Come here to make new friends, build emotional intelligence, feel connected to those around you, and leave feeling seen and better understood.
Authentic Relating is a warm, open, inclusive, safe place.
A little about me, I went to Ohio State for undergrad. I moved to Austin for grad school. I started going to Authentic Relating there. I have moved back now and want to keep the practice in my life.
No Dakota Access Pipe line 2017 Ohio Statehouse Protest
March 29, 11am-1pm
Ohio Statehouse
Come together right now over the Dakota Access Pipeline construction. We need to shut down Trump and his regime of oil slickers.
Just doing lunch time protest in front of the Ohio Capital building 11am-1pm.
Get some awareness out and speak truth to the public.
Indigenous need us more than ever! This is a chance to help.
Bring drums,bring signs, but most importantly bring your loving and caring self to make a difference.
Peace brothers and sisters.
Rudy Gerdeman, common man.