13th Annual Progressive Festival

13th Annual Progressive Festival

Pulitzer Prize awarded novelist, poet, and activist, Alice Walker, will be the featured guest at the 13th Annual Progressive Festival, Sunday, Sept. 26, 12noon-5pm, at Walnut park, Petaluma Blvd. and D Street, Petaluma. Ms. Walker will speak about her experiences and read from her new book, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing.

Come early to mingle with progressive organizations, listen to music and hear all the speakers addressing vital issues of our time, including: Norman Solomon, author and Activist for Social Change, proponent of a Green New Deal in the North Bay; Richard Heinberg, Author, his most recent book is Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis; Cynthia Boaz, Consultant on Civil Resistance and Nonviolent Action, Associate Professor at SSU; Mike Prysner, Iraq War Veteran, opposing US invasions/occupations; Janet Kobren, participant on the flotilla to Gaza; and Tom Gaffey, Director of Petaluma’s de facto teen center, The Phoenix Theater.

Also, speakers from: Project Censored; Code Pink; Go Local; Committee for Immigrant Rights; Climate Protection Campaign; Racial Justice Allies; War Tax Resisters; Not My Priorities (Pentagon Budget)

There will be music by: CantaFlor, Troubadours of the Latin American New Song Movement and La Nueva Trova; and Olembe Nguebari, Conscious Hip-Hop.

Tamales, rice, beans, other goodies and drinks will be available for purchase. Many social justice, environmental, labor, and community organizations with informational booths are the core of the Festival. They will continue the Festival’s tradition of a lively exchange of ideas and the chance to network with progressives who are taking action in many arenas.

The event is produced by the Petaluma Progressives and is sponsored by KPFA 94.1FM, the Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County, The Bohemian and the Committee for Immigrant Rights, Sonoma County. It takes place at Walnut Park, Petaluma Blvd South and D Street, downtown Petaluma. It is free to the public.