WHAT: A rally at the U.S. Mission at the United Nations to deliver thousands of handprints and messages from all over the country demanding decisive U.S. action to end genocide in Darfur.

WHEN: May 22, 2008; Noon - 2:00 PM

WHERE: U.S Mission to the United Nations in New York, 140 East 45th St, between 3rd and Lexington Avenues.

WHY NOW: The U.S. takes over the presidency of the U.N. Security Council on June 1, 2008. This is our opportunity to demand decisive action. With this public event, we can push the U.S. government to use its influence in the UN to achieve the complete and fully equipped deployment of a UN-led peacekeeping force to Darfur.

WHO: While Africa Action is the lead organizer, everyone is invited to co-sponsor and participate. To co-sponsor, you need to make a commitment to bring at least 5-10 people to the event.

LAST CALL: We call on all those yet to submit their handprint banners to our office to send them in now! Find the address below.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Briggs: briggs[at]africaaction[dot]org.

This World Fair Trade Day, Fair Trade advocates around the globe aim to set a world record for the largest ever coffee break. In order to break the world record, events must draw over 5,000 people throughout the U.S. participating at the same time.

The DC World Fair Trade Day Coffee Break, is co-hosted by DC Make Trade Fair!, the local Fair Trade consumer action group, and Maryland-based, Fair Trade Certified Ethiopian coffee company, Abol Coffee, Inc. D.C. Make Trade Fair!, directed by DC resident, Elizabeth Gilhuly, will take an Ethiopian Fair Trade Coffee Break, celebrating Ethiopia, the birthplace of the coffee bean.

Abol Coffee will feature the cultural tradition of the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony to allow on-lookers to sample and experience the manner in which Ethiopians savor the, “coffee of the first bean,” the Ethiopian coffee bean.

Fair Trade Certified coffee and other samples of fairly-traded products will be distributed, including Fair Trade Certified™ sugar and chocolate, provided by Alter Eco USA, Fair Trade Certified Numi Teas, and Sencha Natural’s Green Tea Mints and Green Tea Bars, with Fair Trade Certified green tea extract and Liz Lovely cookies and snacks with Fair Trade Certified ingredients. A special screening of the film “Black Gold,” a documentary about global coffee trade, will be played throughout the afternoon.

3:00 - 5:00 PM.

The Wilson Center Africa Program is pleased to invite you to a book discussion with Robert H. Bates, Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, MA, and author of the book When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late Century Africa.

The book departs from contemporary treatments and studies on this subject. Instead of probing the motives of rebels or the nature of their organizations, Bates voices concerns such as, why would governments adopt policies that impoverish their citizens? Why would they "overextract" wealth from their domains? Why would they alter the distribution of income so grossly that it would become politically unsustainable? By examining these questions, Bates explores the ways in which incumbent regimes prepared the field for the forces of political disorder. This book covers a wide range of territory by drawing on materials from Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia and Congo. It studies the role of economic forces and offers new perspectives on ethnicity, the resource curse, and democratization, some of the central topics addressed in studies of violence.

10:00 - 11:30 AM. To RSVP click here.

Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Dialogue, Global Health Initiative, and Africa Program for the following film screening: A Walk to Beautiful, featuring Mary Olive Smith, Director, Producer, and Cinematographer.

The award winning feature-length documentary, A Walk to Beautiful, tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.

3:00 - 5:00 PM. The screening of this film will be followed by a reception. Please RSVP to globalhealth[at]wilsoncenter[dot]org with your name and affiliation.

Note: Due to heightened security, entrance to the building will be restricted and photo identification is required. Please allow additional time to pass through security.

Keynote Address by His Excellency Bockari K. Stevens, Ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone. The public is invited and it is free to attend.

From this conference/workshop, we will develop and set up coordinated and directed set of actions and activities to enforce compliance to the "free & fair" intent of the electoral laws, procedures and regulations governing the conduct of the voting process and counting of the votes. At this event, you will meet and talk with leaders of many African political parties North American branches and join in setting up a diaspora network for such groups.

Conversations on Africa (COA) supports organizations and groups working to prevent elections rigging in Africa.

5:00 - 8:00 PM. Please RSVP if interested in attending.