FORUM
FORUM PURPOSE STATEMENT
The forum brings together Unitarian Universalists of San Francisco and fellow citizens to gain a deeper understanding of the issues of our time and to hear powerful presentations that both inform and inspire.
UPCOMING FORUM
SAN FRANCISCO: WHAT’S ITS FUTURE?
Sunday Forum with Supervisor Dean Preston
Sunday, September 10, 9:00 am, TSK Room (online & in person)
While many American cities have faced pandemic-related challenges, San Francisco has stood out with a rapidly changing economic landscape and persistent downtown commercial vacancies, an escalating public health crisis related to worsening street conditions with a huge influx of cheap and dangerous drugs, and a perennial shortage of housing that working people can afford. At the same time, San Francisco has emerged as a leader in stopping pandemic related evictions, providing tenants facing displacement with free legal counsel, and working to reduce the number of homeless people living on our streets.
Dean Preston serves on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing District 5, which includes the Tenderloin, Fillmore, Western Addition, Hayes Valley, Lower Pacific Heights, Japantown, Alamo Square, North of Panhandle, Lower Haight, and Upper Haight.
You can phone in at +1 669 900 6833. Meeting ID: 925 6460 7793, Passcode: 282345.
THE EUROPEAN REFUGEE CRISIS
Sunday Forum with Richard Hardigan
Sunday, September 17, 9:00 am, TSK Room (online & in person)
In 2015 over 1.3 million people applied for asylum in Europe. They were escaping violence, conflict, religious or ethnic discrimination and poverty. Roughly half of the asylum seekers came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, where war and violence caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. This surge of refugee arrivals in Europe in 2015 is part of what is often called the European Refugee Crisis.
Richard Hardigan is a professor at San Francisco State University. He has worked with refugees on the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos, in the forests along the Balkan Route and on the rescue ships Sea Watch and SOS Humanity in the Central Mediterranean.
You can phone in at +1 669 900 6833. Meeting ID: 947 2473 6105, Passcode: 305456.
THE CUBA EMBARGO MUST END
Sunday Forum with Mark Ginsburg
Sunday, September 24 in the TSK Room & Zoom 9:30 am PT/12:30 pm ET.
President Obama removed Cuba from the State Department’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism” in 2015, a small step in weakening the embargo of Cuba that was already nearly 60 years old. President Trump reversed that decision, and President Biden has not undone this meritless designation. The unjustified blockade or embargo inflicts great human suffering on the people of Cuba and must end. Professor Mark Ginsburg will discuss the current state of affairs in Cuba, efforts to change U.S. government policy and developments in Cuba, including the new constitution that was approved in 2019.
Mark Ginsburg is a Visiting Scholar in the International Education Policy program at University of Maryland (USA). Although he is now retired, he continues to work with graduate students on their research.
You can phone in at +1 669 900 6833. Meeting ID: 926 0549 9816, Passcode: 725532.
A light breakfast available at 9am.
CALIFORNIA, A SLAVE STATE
WITH JEAN PFAELZER
Part of our Human Rights Working Group and Forum Series called Dangerous Truths Episode 7.
Sunday, Oct. 1 in the TSK Room & Zoom 9:30 am PT/12:30 pm ET.
Jean Pfaelzer is a commentator, historian, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. A life-long Californian, she has written extensively for popular and academic audiences on the state’s origins, and has authored many books on 19th Century American studies, especially about California.
Her most recent book, California, A Slave State, upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle. In deep research across three centuries, vivid storytelling and interviews, she documents that our state’s beginnings and sunny utopian prosperity have a history of brutal multiracial bondage, resistance, and servitude that persists today. As other states are banning the teaching of our true history in schools and academia, her work stands out as a beacon of light and hope for the future. Join us for this powerful presentation and a most interesting discussion!
You can phone in at +1 669 900 6833. Meeting ID: 981 0785 5084, Passcode: 752327.
A light breakfast available at 9am.