Closed May Day

The Bloom Collective will not be open during regular hours Thursday, May 1 so that our volunteers can attend the local IWW/Starbucks press conference, 4 p.m. at the East Grand Rapids Starbucks, 2172 Wealthy St SE. Come out and show your support!

Summer Volunteers Needed!

Come to the 5/17 potluck if you think you'd like to help out.

Summer Hours

* Monday - Closed
* Tuesday - 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
* Wednesday - 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
* Thursday - 5 - 8 p.m.
* Friday & Saturday 1--5 p.m.

Upcoming Events

04/30 - FILM: MEETING RESISTANCE
7PM @ THE DAAC (115 S. DIVISION AVE)

What would you do if America was invaded? Meeting Resistance raises the veil of anonymity surrounding the Iraqi insurgency by meeting face to face with individuals who are passionately engaged in the struggle, and documenting for the very first time, the sentiments experienced and actions taken by a nation's citizens when their homeland is occupied. Voices that have previously not been heard, male and female, speak candidly about their motivations, hopes and goals, revealing a missing perspective from the Iraq War.

Following the film there will be a brief presentation by the local antiwar group, ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS) about antiwar organizing in Grand Rapids. $2 donation encouraged but not required.

Sponsored by The Bloom Collective and Mediamouse.org

5/ 17 ANARCHISM: 101 VEGAN POTLUCK &
DISCUSSION 3 P.M. @ The Bloom, 1134 Wealthy SE.
There's a good chance you are an anarchist and just don't know it.

5/ 18 BIKE REPAIR WORKSHOP
1 PM @ The Bloom, 1134 Wealthy SE.
Learn basic maintenance and repair. Bring your bike and get help fixing it!

Benefit The Bloom Collective

Were you a part of the fun at the Meanwhile Bar benefit for The Bloom Collective? The Bloom Collective does accept donations, from people like you and from events like the Meanwhile benefit. One small point: we can't accept checks or credit cards. Want to support radical social change? Contact us for more information on how you or your organization can benefit The Bloom Collective. We're also looking for tabling opportunities so we can invite even more people to become a part of The Bloom Collective.

New Materials

Books:
-I See Black people: The Rise and Fall of African American-owned Television and Radio
-From Outrage to Courage: Women Taking Action for Health and Justice
-McCain: The Myth of a Maverick
-Conversations with Edward Said
-Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent The US Big City
-The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World

DVDs

-What Would Jesus Buy?
-A Place Called Chiapas
-Putting Ward Connerly on Trial
-Fraude Mexico 2006 Spanish with English subtitles
-De Dadie Spanish, no subtitles
-Elogio de Virtud (the life of Fidel Castro) Spanish, no subtitles
-Injerencia (history of CIA intervention in Latin America) Spanish, no subtitles.

Puppets & People Power

On Wednesday, April 9 some 30 people snuggled into The Bloom Collective space at 1134 Wealthy to hear a presentation by 2 members of a group called Root Force. By using a puppet show, a sing along song, video excerpts and Q & A, the Root Force team talked about the importance of demolishing colonialism at its foundation. They said that for the infrastructure of colonialism & capitalism consisted of things like ongoing resource extraction, transportation of resources & goods and a means to power the production and extraction of resources. If you can stop one of these components the system is vulnerable. Root Force members said we can all learn from what the Animal liberation movement did by focusing on anti-vivisection as a way of exposing how vulnerable the industry of testing/experimenting on animals was. This caused major problems for the industry and forced many of the companies to stop testing/experimenting on animals.

Applying that same thinking the two Root Force members talked about the super highways that are being built to connect Central America, Mexico, the US and Canada in what some are calling the NAFTA Super Highway. The capitalist power structure wants to create a corridor from Panama to Toronto to be able to move goods and resources from poorer countries in Central America to the US and Canada. If we can make it difficult for these transportation systems to be constructed it could seriously threaten the system. The Root Force members spoke about what people in El Salvador and Mexico are doing to resist and how we need to do the same thing here in the US, either where the highways are being built or at the headquarters of the companies that are involved. They spoke about tactics and strategies and encouraged people to visit their website for ideas, resources and organizing a Root Force chapter locally. (http://www.rootforce.org/) The discussion after the presentation was lively and we were all happy that so many people came to hear this important presentation.

Love & Rage,
The Bloom Collective