Baltimore Activist Alert Dec. 1, 2013

Baltimore Activist Alert Dec. 1 – Dec. 7, 2013 "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. Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org. 1] Books, buttons & stickers 2] Web site for info on federal legislation 3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists 4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa 5] Vietnam Photograph Exhibit – through Feb. 23 6] World Aids Day 24-hour vigil – Dec. 1 7] “Tree of Life” – Dec. 1 8] Peace and Pancakes – Dec. 1 9] World Aids Day service – Dec. 1 10] Pax Christi Baltimore Advent Prayer Series – Dec. 1 11] Israeli refusniks in D.C. -- Dec. 1 12] Pentagon Vigil – Dec. 1 13] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Dec. 2 – Dec. 6 ----- 1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him 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. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. 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 mobuszewski at Verizon dot net. 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 mobuszewski at Verizon dot net. 4] – 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. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags. Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net. 5] – An-My Lê's photographs come to the Baltimore Museum of Art's Front Room. 21 Black-and-white and color photographs explore the roles of the military and war, showing tensions between nature and human influence and machinery. The exhibit runs through Feb. 23 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive. Call 443- 573-1700. Go to http://artbma.org. 6] – On Sun., Dec. 1, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns is hosting a 24-hour prayer vigil on World AIDS Day to remember those who are living with or whose lives were cut short by HIV or AIDS. Maryknoll missioners have worked in ministries focused on persons living with HIV and AIDS since the early 1980s, before the extent of the pandemic would be known, long before the loss of millions of lives from AIDS. In the ensuing years, Maryknollers have accompanied people dying of AIDS, worked with children orphaned by AIDS, supported women and girl children who are at risk of violence or sexual abuse, and witnessed the direct impact of debt, trade issues and poverty on societies being decimated by AIDS. First held in 1988, World AIDS Day is commemorated every year on December 1. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 33.4 million people around the world are currently living with HIV/AIDS; more than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide since the first cases were reported in 1981. While cases have been reported in all regions of the world, almost all those living with HIV (97 percent) reside in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and most of them have limited or no access to prevention, care, and treatment; no cure exists. Sign up for the vigil at http://www.maryknollogc.org/alerts/dec-1-world-aids-day-24-hour-prayer-vigil. 7] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4517, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 to noon. The platform address on Sun., Dec. 1 is “The Tree of Knowledge: Celebrating the Roots of Humanism,” and it will be explored by Hugh Taft-Morales, leader, Baltimore Ethical Society. The roots of humanism run deep in many written traditions – from ancient religions to ancient Greece, from the middle ages to the renaissance to the enlightenment to today. Humanists revere many books – books of faith and skepticism, knowledge and opinion. Libraries serve as sacred humanist sites. Fearful of reason and reading, intolerant mobs have burned books and destroyed libraries in the vain hope of cutting the roots of the tree of knowledge. Thankfully, freethinkers and scholars have kept this tree alive. Join Taft-Morales as he explores this hostility towards knowledge and celebrates the liberating power of books. Call 410-581-2322 or contact Kathryn Sloboda at katamui@gmail.com. Go to http://bmorethical.org/; Twitter: @bmorethical; or Facebook: http://fb.com/bmorethical/. 8] – Join the Kadampa Meditation Center for Peace and Pancakes on Sundays at 10:30 AM at KMC Maryland, 2937 North Charles St. All are invited to participate in guided meditation and chant praying for world peace. There will be a talk based on Buddhist thought followed by brunch. Call 410- 243-3837. Brunch is $5. 9] – You are invited to a World AIDS Day Prayer Service on Sun., Dec. 1 at 3 PM at Shiloh AME Church, 2601 Lyndhurst Ave.,, Baltimore 21216. Pray with Rev. Dr. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ngcobo, servant, Life Restoration Ministry, 3315 Mondawmin Avenue, Baltimore 21216. The guest speaker is Dr. Nomonde Xundu, Minister Councilor & Health Attaché, South African Embassy. Enjoy a reception after the service. Email mankekolo@aol.com. 10] – The Pax Christi Baltimore Advent Prayer Series 2013 begins on Sun., Dec. 1 with a theme “The Peace In Our Hearts.” Molly Corbett, director of Asylee Women Enterprise, will speak at 5 PM and entertain questions until 6 PM. A reception will follow at the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart Chapel, 1001 West Joppa Road, Towson, MD 21204. A free will offering is requested. Spend an hour remembering what the Season of Advent is all about with music, readings, and commentary. Some lively conversations will take place at the reception. Contact Chuck Michaels at cwmichaels@igc.org. 11] – Get over to the Middle East Café for The Soldier and the Refusenik: Two Israelis, Two Choices, One Conclusion. Israeli refusenik, Maya Wind, and Eran Efrati, veteran Israeli soldier, are in D.C. as part of their U.S. wide tour. They will share their experiences of growing up in segregated Jerusalem and their efforts to encourage Israelis to shed the country’s ingrained militaristic culture, and instead embrace a joint Israeli-Palestinian struggle for justice and equality. Meet them on Sun., Dec. 1 from 6 to 8 PM at Busboys and Poets, 5th and K Sts. NW, WDC in the Cullen Room. Efrati, born and raised in Jerusalem, after his service with the Israeli Defense Force, joined Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers working to raise awareness about the daily reality in the Occupied Territories. Wind, also raised in Jerusalem, was part of the Israeli Shministim youth refusenik movement. She was imprisoned for refusing to serve in the Israeli army. Since her release, she has worked for various Israeli peace and justice groups, including New Profile (Israeli feminist demilitarization movement), the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and Rabbis for Human Rights. Contact Jewish Voice for Peace DC Metro Chapter at 240-425-7581 or jvpdcmetro@gmail.com. Go to http://www.soldierandrefusenik.com/. 12] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop. The next vigil is Mon., Dec. 2, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. 13] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday from 9 to 11 AM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org. The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org. To be continued. 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/. "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