Baltimore Activist Alert - Feb. 20 & 26, 2914

23] Testify for paid sick leave - Feb. 20
24] Stop Cove Point – Feb. 20
25] Healthy Maryland hearings – Feb. 20 & 26
26] "The Criminalization of Activism" – Feb. 20
27] "A Preview of the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit" – Feb. 20
28] Sex Trafficking Awareness Training – Feb. 20
29] Film OMAR – Feb. 20
30] Film SWEET DREAMS – Feb. 20
31] Criminal to speak at Goucher – Feb. 20

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23] – On Thurs., Feb. 20, head to Annapolis to testify in support of Paid Sick Leave legislation. Currently, almost 700,000 Marylanders are without paid sick leave. When they take time off from work, due to illness or family emergency, they risk losing their job and sacrificing much-needed income at a time when they can least afford it. The hearing will take place in the Senate Finance committee at 1 PM (SB 753). Meet with the United Workers team at 11 AM outside of the House Office Building (6 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD). Before the hearing, visit your representatives at their offices, to urge them to support Paid Sick Leave. Email ncosten(at)gmail.com or call 410.230.1998. You may park at the Navy-Marine corps Memorial Stadium and take the trolley to the House building. It is $2 and runs every ten minutes. There is also a fee for the parking lot. Rides are available from Baltimore.

24] – STOP COVE POINT: Rally and March Against Fracking & Climate Change on Thurs., Feb. 20 from noon to 1:30 PM in the War Memorial Plaza, near City Hall. RSVP at http://bit.ly/BmoreFeb20. Virginia-based company Dominion Resources wants to build a $3.8 billion facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland to liquefy gas from fracking wells all across the mid-Atlantic. Then Dominion wants to ship it all to Asia, generating greenhouse gas emissions worse than coal. Make a historic stand to stop this radical plan.

Featured speakers include Lois Gibbs of Love Canal fame, the Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus and Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Also enjoy live music, and do a short march through roped-off downtown streets to the Maryland Public Service Commission office to say, “No Cove Point! No Cove Point!” Contact Shilpa Joshi at shilpa@chesapeakeclimate.org or 240-396-2029.

25] – Hearings for the Healthy Maryland Initiative (HB 443/SB 589) proposal to fund expanded public health programs with a $1.00 increase in the state's tobacco tax will be held on Thurs., Feb. 20 at 1 PM in the House Ways and Means Committee and on Wed., Feb. 26 at 1 PM at the Senate Budget and Tax Committee. Thanks to Del. Luetke, Del. Frush, and Del. Tarrant, as well as Sen. Jones-Rodwell and Sen. Madaleno for being true public health leaders. Thank you also to the 57 co-sponsors in the House and 19 co-sponsors in the Senate! For information on how to testify and how we can help with your oral or written testimony, contact Matt Celentano at matt@healthcareforall.com.

26] – Will Potter will discuss his book "The Criminalization of Activism" on Thurs., Feb. 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 at UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW. Join the National Lawyers Guild, American Constitution Society, Environmental Law Society & the Animal Law Society in welcoming Will Potter, an independent journalist and public speaker, based in Washington, D.C. He has written for several publications, including the Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, and Legal Affairs. In his writings, he has focused on how the "war on terrorism" affects civil liberties. He has become a leading critic of the Green Scare, through his website, Green Is The New Red. He has written several articles on this topic, as well as participating in conferences and giving lectures at universities, with some of his papers used in courses. Go to For More Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/216195241915163/.

27] – On Thurs., Feb. 20 from 6 to 8 PM, Graham Allison, Harvard University will address "A Preview of the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit" at George Washington University, Lindner Family Commons, Room 602, 1957 E St. NW, WDC. RSVP at
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15AU0ZJqGIZzU8N35-UCOTGzZBMBGKhr4fNJjjvKKHGQ/viewform.

28] – Come to a Sex Trafficking Awareness Training on Thurs., Feb. 20 at Asbury Church, 11th and K Sts. NW, WDC 20005, and learn about human trafficking and prostitution issues in D.C. Washington is one of the largest hubs for human trafficking in the world! The average age of entry into prostitution is 13!!! Speakers include retired FBI Special Agent, Greg Bristol, and head of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's Human Trafficking Unit, Lt Bryan Christian, who will be available to answer your questions and address your concerns. Email Connie Huntsman, Esq. at chuntsman @ stopmodernslavery.org. RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/wdcsms/ events/164435352/?a=ea1_grp& rv=ea1&_af_eid=164435352&_af= event.

29] – See a screening of Oscar-Nominated Palestinian Film "Omar" with Director Hany Abu-Assad and Producer Waleed Zuaiter on Thurs., Feb. 20 from 6 to 10 PM at the Angelika Film Center-Mosaic, 2911 District Ave,, Fairfax, VA. Join two-time Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner (Paradise Now) director Hany Abu Assad and producer/actor Waleed Zuaiter as they bring the first Palestinian feature film to be almost entirely financed by Palestinians and where all major cast and crew are Palestinian. OMAR depicts Palestinian life as never before seen in an Oscar nominated film! Hailed as a "masterpiece", Omar wowed audiences at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, winning the coveted Jury Prize. It is presented by the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. RSVP required at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/private-screening-of-omar-with-hany-abu-assad-and-waleed-zuaiter-tickets-10595594709.

It is a tense, gripping thriller about betrayal, suspected and real, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. By day, Omar (Adam Bakri) is a baker who must routinely climb over the separation wall, dodging bullets, to be with Nadia, the love of his life (Leem Lubany). By night, he’s ready to risk himself to strike at the Israeli military with his childhood friends Tarek (Eyad Hourani) and Amjad (Samer Bisharat). Arrested after the killing of an Israeli soldier and tricked into an admission of guilt by association, Omar agrees to work as an informant. So begins a dangerous game—is he playing his Israeli handler Rami (Waleed F. Zuaiter) or will Omar really betray his cause to be with the woman he loves? Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now) has made a dynamic, action-packed tour de force about the insoluble moral dilemmas and impossible choices facing those living across a riven Palestinian landscape.

30] – On Thurs., Feb. 20 at 7:30 PM, see the film "Sweet Dreams" which is about Rwanda's first and only all women's drumming troupe called Ingoma Nshya. Made up of women from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the troupe offers a place of support, healing and reconciliation. When the group decides to partner with two young American entrepreneurs, Jennie Dundas and Alexis Miesen of Brooklyn's Blue Marble Ice Cream, and open Rwanda's first ever ice cream shop, these remarkable Rwandan women embark on a journey of independence, peace and possibility. The directors are Lisa and Rob Fruchtman, and their film was released in 2013. See it at the Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore 21224. Call 410-276-1651. Tickets are $12, but members pay $7.

31] – Security and Privacy: Values and Conflict is the topic of the 2014 President's Forum on Thurs., Feb. 20 at 7:30 PM in the Hyman Forum, the Athenaeum, with John C. "Chris" Inglis. He retired from his role as deputy director of the National Security Agency on January 10, 2014. Following more than 41 years of federal service--including 28 years at NSA--Inglis stepped down as the agency's second in command and senior civilian, responsible for guiding and directing criminal strategies, operations and policy. He will give a lecture on NSA operations past, present, and future and will answer questions. Email boxoffice@goucher.edu or call 410-337-6333. Let Max know if you would be interested in protesting the speaker--410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at Verizon.net.

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