BALTIMORE ACTIVIST ALERT - Nov. 2-9, 2013

53] KidsPeace Trick or Trot 5K/1 Mile Walk – Nov. 2 54] Olney Peace vigil – Nov. 2 55] West Chester, PA demo – Nov. 2 56] Silent vigil at Capitol – Nov. 2 57] Silent Anti-DRONE MARCH -- Nov. 2 58] Protest cuts to food stamps – Nov. 2 59] Support GM Workers in Colombia – Nov. 2 60] Education or Incarceration? – Nov. 2 61] PSR dinner – Nov. 9 62] Support Pvt. Manning 63] Max is seeking a place to live 64] Support the Transform Now Plowshares 65] Support Red Emma’s in its move 66] Sign up with Washington Peace Center 67] Join Fund Our Communities 68] Temporary housing needed for Palestinian family 69] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records 70] Do you need any book shelves or file cabinets? 71] Join Global Zero campaign 72] War Is Not the Answer signs for sale 73] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil ---- 53] – Participate in the KidsPeace Trick or Trot 5K/1 Mile Walk on Sat., Nov. 2 at 8 AM at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 333 W. Camden St. Show your support for Kidspeace, a non-profit foster care organization at this great event. Run, trot, walk, do what you can to help out a local organization. Call 410-685-9800. 54] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Nov. 2. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167. 55] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com. 56] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Nov. 2. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com. 57] – On Sat., Nov. 2, from noon to 1PM, join the monthly (1st Saturday of the month) Center City Phila. Silent Anti-War/Anti-Drone Death Walk. Now in its fourth year, banners, signs and white masks will be provided. RSVP to Marge Van Cleef at 267-763-1644. 58] – SNAP to it! The national action to protest cuts to food stamps takes place on Sat., No. 2 from noon to 2 PM at the DuPont Circle Fountain. This Wednesday, the House and Senate will begin conference on a House farm bill that would cut SNAP by an additional $40 billion, which would kick 4 million people off the program and deny 210,000 low-income children free meals during school. SNAP is the most important anti-hunger program in the country. For the 23 million families (76% with children) who depend on it, these cuts would be devastating. Join DC Food Not Bombs and poverty activists to protest these cuts and to kick start the conversation on how federal budget priorities should recognize the poverty crisis in America. Food Not Bombs will provide meals for all in attendance. Email districtofcolumbiafnb@gmail.com. 59] – Join an Action in Solidarity with GM Workers in Colombia on Sat., Nov. 2 at 2 PM at the Fitzgerald Auto Mall, 11411 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, MD 20653. The D.C. IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) will take action in solidarity with Colombian autoworkers at a dealership which sells General Motors vehicles. The dealership is a short walk from the White Flint Metro stop on the Red Line. The Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colmotores (ASOTRECOL) has been fighting for justice against GM since 2011. Their organization is made up of workers who were illegally fired after suffering permanently disabling injuries at work. ASOTRECOL’s fight has ranged from occupying the sidewalk in front of the U.S. embassy in Bogota (which they have sustained for more than 2 years) to 3 hunger strikes in which the workers sewed their lips shut. The workers have connected with other GM employees across Latin America, and UAW rank-and-file members in the U.S. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/216811868443061/. 60] – Education or Incarceration? A Community Conversation will occur on Sat., Nov. 2 from 3 to 6 PM at 733 Euclid St. NW, WDC 20001. Are we missing the purpose of education? Is mass incarceration a form of genocide? What can the community do to support our students and our educators? Does our community understand prison privatization? Do our educators understand their importance? What do parents need to know and do? How do we teach good character to our children? The panelists for this discussion will be Mama Abena Walker- Educator, Author, Organizer and Baba Tshango Mbilishaka- Educator, Intellectual Maroon. Hosted by the Black Men’s Optimal Health Collective, Students Against Mass Incarceration and the Kwame Ture Society. Visit www.ecacollective.org. 61] – The Chesapeake Chapter of the Physicians for Social Responsibility invites you to its Annual Chapter Dinner on Sat., Nov. 9 from 6 to 9 PM at the Episcopal Diocesan Center, 4 East University Parkway, Baltimore. The featured speaker is Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. Dr. Makhijani holds a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and is an expert on clean energy and nuclear power. His Institute's website is http://ieer.org/projects/carbon-free-nuclear-free. A vegetarian dinner will be served at 6:30 PM, and Dr. Makhijani will speak at 7:30 PM. Hear about Arjun's carbon-free and nuclear-free energy strategy for Maryland. The cost of the dinner is $35. Limited financial assistance is available. RSVP to twhitehouse@psr.org or 240-246-4492 by Oct. 25. 62] – As part of Pvt. Manning's application to Convening Authority Major General Buchanan for leniency, we are collecting letters from professors, law experts, human rights advocates, politicians, artists, veterans, and concerned citizens. Please help us collect well-written letters to include. The letters should be one-page long and submitted by November 1. You can find the full list of guidelines on our website: http://www.bradleymanning.org/featured/write-a-letter-supporting-pvt-mannings-request-for-clemency. 63] – Max is seeking a place to live. Let him know of any possibilities. He can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.dot net. 64] – You can support the Transform Now Plowshares resisters by writing the judge and the prisoners. Greg Boertje-Obed, Michael Walli and Megan Rice are currently in the Irwin County Detention Facility in Ocilla, GA, awaiting their sentencing on January 28, 2014. The three were found guilty by a jury in Tennessee in May on two counts. Judge Amul Thapar revoked their pre-trial release saying they were technically guilty of a crime of violence and must be held. Here are the addresses: Gregory Boertje-Obed 22090 Irwin County Detention Center 132 Cotton Drive, Ocilla, GA 31774 ***Michael Walli 4444, Irwin County Detention Center, 132 Cotton Drive, Ocilla, GA 31774. Megan Rice 22100, Irwin County Detention Center, 132 Cotton Drive, Ocilla, GA 31774. You must make sure to include your entire return address on the outside of the envelope. No staples or paperclips can be included in your mail; no oversized envelopes. Magazines and books must be sent directly from the publisher or bookstore/Amazon. Photocopies of brief articles are likely to be permitted (based on our past experience). If you include inappropriate material or fail to comply with these rules, your mail will not get through—it will be returned to you. The second thing you can do is send a letter to Judge Thapar. We have suggested guidelines for your letter, and we are asking people to send their letter to Bill Quigley, lawyer for Mike Walli (address below), so they can be collected and delivered to the judge. If you want to send a copy of your letter to us, that would be great—our address is also below. Invite Judge Thapar to think about sentencing in light of the fact that this was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience intended to awaken the conscience of the nation, and no evidence was presented that it was an act of terrorism meant to harm anyone. You could write that you share the court's concern that Congress would write a law that wouldn’t allow a judge to distinguish between peace activists and terrorists, and are disturbed that the government defines the crime they stand convicted of as a violent "crime of terrorism.” As testimony of the defendants showed during trial, they carried out their action in a spirit of nonviolence and hope. Without making it the focus of the letter, you could mention that the action was carried out with the clear understanding of the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons, and intent to uphold higher laws. Encourage him to consider downward departures from the high guidelines for the charges, and to use his discretion at sentencing to bring more justice into the situation by recognizing that the defendants are NOT violent terrorists as the government has implied through its interpretation of the crime; and remind him of the intentions of the three nonviolent activists: to follow the words of the prophet Isaiah to beat swords into plowshares, and build a safer and more secure world for all. Our purpose with these letters is not to reargue the case, nor is it to condemn nuclear weapons production—the judge is not engaging those issues at this time. Our purpose is to address the legal system’s distortion of the nonviolent action of the TNP resisters and to provide support to the judge for a sentencing decision that takes into account the nature of their action and their nonviolent behavior throughout their action. Letters should be sent to US District Judge Amul R Thapar, c/o Professor Bill Quigley, Loyola Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice, 7214 St. Charles Ave., Campus Box 902, New Orleans, LA 70118. If you care to send a copy to OREPA that would also be appreciated--orep@earthlink.net or OREPA, PO Box 5743, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. 65] – Red Emma's has closed the location at 800 St. Paul St., and is reopening in a much larger new space on North Avenue in the fall. The collective is seeking your help. It's time to reinvent the project started in 2004 to build a self-sustaining progressive space in Baltimore, committed to providing a daily reminder that another world was possible and that there were people working in the city to build it. Here's how you can help: donate money, provide skilled help, and share these needs. Email john@redemmas.org or go to http://indiegogo.com/redemmas2. 66] – The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org. 67] – Fund Our Communities campaign is a grass roots movement to get support from local organizations and communities to work together with their local and state elected officials to pressure Congresspersons and senators to join with Congresspersons Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who have endorsed a 25% cut to the federal military budget. Bring home the savings to state and county governments to meet the local needs which are under tremendous budget pressures. Go to www.OurFunds.org. 68] – A little boy from the West Bank, born with bladder extrophy, will have surgery at Hopkins in November. He will be accompanied by his mother, and they need a host family. They could be here through the holidays. His trip is organized through PCRF. If any of you know of someone who would like to host them, let me know. I did this last year for an Iraqi girl. It was a really rewarding experience. Call me if interested at 410-960-0960. I would be able to help out occasionally with rides and language and medical issues...I already know the surgeon, Dr. Gearhart. Kim 69] – If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net. 70] – Can you use any book shelves? Can you use any file cabinets? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net. 71] – Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees. This is an historic window of opportunity. With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many. 72] – WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER signs from Friends Committee on National Legislation are again for sale at $5. To purchase a sign, call Max at 410-366-1637. 73] – Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981. Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282. 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. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/. "One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan