Friday, April 3, 2009

Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 1

Baltimore Activist Alert Apr. 3 – May 7, 2009

 

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center.  Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com.  If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.  Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

 

The Baltimore IndyMedia Center publicizes peace-related events. Go to http://www.radicalendar.org/group/_baltimore.

 

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists  

4] Max is seeking housing/peace house is available

5] Chuck Michaels needs help with transportation

6] Buy Mankekolo’s book

7] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA

8] Witness Against Torture 100 Days Campaign – through Apr. 30

9] March on Wall Street – Apr. 3

10] WIB Inner Harbor peace vigil – Apr. 3

11] WIB Roland Park vigil – Apr. 3                   

12] White House vigil – Apr. 3                    

13] Memorial for Justice – Apr. 3

14] Goucher looks at Baltimore City – Apr. 3

15] Support The Congo demo – Apr. 3

16] Silent vigil at Homewood Friends – Apr. 3

17] Eco/Justice Café – Apr. 3

18] MUPJ conference – Apr. 3 & 4

19] Howard Zinn film – Apr. 3

20] Vigil at Walter Reed – Apr. 3

21] Ballroom dancing – Apr. 3

22] Antiwar march in NYC – Apr. 4

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available.  “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Call Max at 410-366-1637.

 

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/.  Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073.

 

3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].  It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed.  It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

 

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

 

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe.  It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing.  To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed.  If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.  

4] – Max is in need of housing.  If you have any leads, please call him at 410-366-1637.  Note that there may be an opportunity for two or three people to move into a “peace house.”  If interested, call Max.

5] – Chuck Michaels is now home, and he will continue his recovery through out-patient therapy.  He is doing very well, speaking well and regularly, getting around well, and also now has permission from his doctor to be left alone, that is unattended, as needed.

The big need going forward over the next few weeks is transportation for a portion of each day to the Sky Neurological Rehabilitation CenterPomona Square, 1700 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville 21208 - just inside the beltway. On a weekly basis, the web site at Caring Bridge will post the specific times that Chuck needs transportation assistance in getting to therapy. Go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chuckmichaels.  Call Jaymie at 240-475-0041 if you wish to help with Chuck's transportation to rehab.     

 

6] – Rev. Dr. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ngcobo has returned to live in Baltimore, and is writing her autobiography.  Consider purchasing her book" One A Day: Spiritual Vitamins. Be ready with daily Spiritual Vitamins from January 1 to December 31 in 2009.”  Send a donation of $10 with $3 shipping and handling to 3315 Mondawmin Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21216.

7] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/fair_trade/index.html.

Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. Make the check out to HoCoFoLA and send it with your order form to HoCoFoLA, PO Box 94, Columbia, MD  21045. Contact Pat McLaine at 410-964-0960 or pamcl@aol.com.  The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up.

8] – Witness Against Torture continues its 100 Days Campaign.  Go to www.100dayscampaign.org.   Groups have taken on each week through Apr. 30, and there will be daily vigils at the White House from 11 AM to 1 PM.  As well, there will be organized activities from film screenings to lectures and community meetings.  These activities are designed to mobilize people concerned about torture and keep sustained pressure on our elected officials to close Guantanamo with deliberate speed.  Witness Against Torture will have a team in D.C. for the duration of the campaign and will provide logistical support to all participants.  Call Carmen Trotta at 202 277 9869.           

WAT is looking for people who are willing to risk arrest in D.C. on Thurs., Apr. 30 to call attention to the plight of the 60 men at Guantanamo who have been cleared for release but still languish there. The proposed scenario calls for a 10 AM gathering at the Capitol Reflecting Pool. A procession to the White House will start at 11:15 AM with the 60 risking arrest and another 181 in jumpsuits.  There are still 241 men in Gitmo. RSVP to daloisio at riseup.net.

9] – March on Wall Street & AIG on Fri., Apr. 3 with an opening rally at 1 PM at Wall St. and Broadway.  Afterwards there will be a march to AIG at 70 Pine St. Then it is back to Wall Street on Sat., Apr. 4 at the intersection of Wall & Broad Sts. (The Stock Exchange). Go to www.TroopsOutNow.org.

Buses will leave Baltimore at 8 AM SHARP from 2011 N. Charles St. and return around 10 PM.  The price is $25-30, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.  Call 410-218-4835 for bus info.  There are many unemployed workers who want to go.  If you can make a donation, send checks to Bailout the People, 703 E. 37th St., Baltimore, Md. 21218.

10] – Women In Black sponsor a peace stand/vigil on Fri., Apr. 3 from noon-1 PM at the Inner Harbor, corner Pratt and Light.  Everyone welcome, wear black if you can.  See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.

11] – There is also a noon vigil on Fri., Apr. 3 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St.  Call 410-467-9114. 

 

12] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM on Pennsylvania Ave., by the press gate to the White House. It is organized by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Call 202-882-9649.

 

13] – On Fri., Apr. 3, gather at noon for a Memorial for Justice at the Phila. City Hall (west side), 15th & Market Sts. The theme is Beyond War: A New Economy is Possible. Visit www.brandywinepeace.com.   

14] – Goucher College is hosting a series of events that will explore obstacles and issues impacting Baltimore City. On Fri., Apr. 3 the film HARD TIMES AT DOUGLASS HIGH: No Child Left Behind Report Card will be shown at 4 PM at Kelly Lecture Hall. Join directors Susan & Alan Raymond and Najib Jamal, teacher and debate coach at Douglass.  Douglass High School in Sandtown was once a cultural Mecca for the Black community. Go to http://www.hbo.com/docs/docuseries/hardtimes/index.html.

At 7:30 PM at 2640 St. Paul St., there will be a Baltimore City Forum Potluck. Everyone can network and discuss the themes of the Forum. Then at 8 PM there will be a Radical Grass Roots Education Reform followed by Education & Hip Hop at 8:45 PM.  This is an open mic Hip-Hop performance by political artists focusing on issues of education. Also there will be music from Ari Witkin and DJ Samway.

15] – There is a peace vigil to support the Congo every Friday, 4 to 6:30 PM at the Rwandan Embassy, 1714 New Hampshire Ave, NW.  Call the Rwandan Embassy at 202-232-2882 and register your concern about Rwanda's aggression towards the Congo.

16] – There is a silent vigil on Fri., Apr. 3 from 5 to 6 PM outside of Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St., in opposition to war with Iraq. Placards say: "War Is Not the Answer." The silent vigil is sponsored by AFSC, Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings.

17] – Attend the monthly Eco/Justice Cafes at UDC 's Firebird Inn, 4200 Connecticut Ave., NW, Van Ness/UDC Red Line West exit--Building 39, B-Level, first Fridays from 6 to 10 PM. The Cafes are a reincarnation of the 90s MetNet Eco/Justice Coffeehouses. They feature great food, music, poetry, a dozen or so tabling organizations and more. The aim is to bring together a wide variety of activists from environmental and social justice groups for fun and networking.  A $15 donation is requested ($10 for students, $5 for kids under 12). The next Cafe will be on Mar. 6, followed by "First Fridays" on 4/3, 5/1 and 6/6. 

TABLE SPACE IS AVAILABLE for no charge. Contact GalinaSergen@yahoo.com to reserve your table or TO VOLUNTEER. Hosted by the University of the District of Columbia David Clarke School of Law, the District's public interest law school, go to http://www.law.udc.edu/?page=AFJ.

18] – The 24th annual Maryland Peace, Justice & Environmental Conference is on Sat., Apr. 4 at the Church of the Resurrection, 3315 Greencastle Road, Burtonsville, MD 20866, easily accessible off of Rt. 29.  It is jointly sponsored by Maryland United for Peace and Justice and Pax Christi Metro DC and BaltimoreThe theme is “Peace means taking care of ourselves, each other and the earth.”  The keynote speaker will be Richard Deats of Fellowship of Reconciliation.  Other presenters include Ray McGovern, Sister Anne Montgomery, David Hilkifer, Allison Fisher, Alisa Glassman, Pat Elder, MJ and Jerry Park and others.

The registration cost is $30, and for students $10.  Call Tony Langbehn at 301-390-9684. On Fri., Apr. 3 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, there will be a potluck dinner, followed by a networking and conference set-up to prepare for the annual MUPJ event.

19] – SHED LIGHT ON US WAR CASUALTIES: FROM THE FRONT LINE TO THE BACK DOOR of Walter Reed Army Medical Center (North Gate), every Friday night, from 7 to 9 PM in the middle of the 7100 block of Georgia Ave., NW. Call 202-441-3265. Go to http://www.codepinkalert.org/Local_CODEPINKs_Washington_DC.shtml. 

 

20] – HOWARD ZINN – YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN (2004) will be shown on Fri., Apr. 3 at 7 PM as part of the Just-Reel First Friday Film Series at the Peace Center of Delaware County.   The film by Deb Ellis & Denis Mueller, features music by Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie and Eddie Vedder and is narrated by Matt Damon. It documents the life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The peace center is at 1001 Old Sproul Road (just behind the Car Wash at the corner of Sproul Road & Old Marple Road) in  Springfield, PA.  For directions, go to www.delcopeacecenter.org.  Call 610-544-1818.

 

21] –  There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM.  Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St.  Drive on campus by taking the third left turn.  The next dance will be Apr. 3. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

 

22] – There will be a United for Peace and Justice demonstration in New York City on Sat., Apr. 4, anniversary of Dr. King's 1967 "Beyond Vietnam" speech and his assassination in 1968 and concurrent with international demonstrations for peace on the 60th anniversary of NATO.  Buses leave from Stony Run Friends, 5116 N. Charles St. at 7 AM with a return around 10 PM.  Tickets are $40.  Call Max at 410-366-1637. Go to www.unitedforpeace.org.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

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