Baltimore Activist Alert - March 19 - 21, 2015

52] Spring Rising – Mar. 19 - 21
53] Moms Clean Air Force Mama Summit – Mar. 19
54] Defending Dalit Rights -- Mar. 19 - 21
55] Rise up against corporate free trade – Mar. 19
56] Protest at the World Bank – Mar. 19
57] Impact of the Crimean and Ukrainian Crises on the Central Eurasian Islamic World -- Mar. 19
58] Unveiling Corporate Free Trade Agreements and How We Can Stop Them – Mar. 19
59] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
60] Join Fund Our Communities
61] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
62] Do you need any book shelves?
63] Join Global Zero campaign
64] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil
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52] – The Spring Rising continues on Thurs., Mar. 19. There will be lobbying on Capitol Hill. Meet at the Rayburn Building Cafeteria, 45 Independence Ave. South, at 9 AM. The War Criminal Crime Scene Bus Tour goes from 1 to 5 PM from the Capitol to the White House. It is sold out, but one can follow in a peace caravan. Go to http://cindysheehanssoapbox.com/the-peoples-uprising-tour-from-empire--war-to-justice-with-peace.html.

Then from 7 to 9 PM, catch Teach-In Part One: "Connected: U.S. Military Aggression & Climate Catastrophe” with Mai Abdul Rahman, David Schwartzman and others at La Casa, 3166 Mount Pleasant St. NW.

On Fri., Mar. 20 from 11 AM to 9:30 PM, participate in Teach-In Part Two at the University of the District of Columbia Law School, 4200 Connecticut Ave. NW. From 11 AM to 12:30 PM the topic is From Ukraine to ISIS to Drones: Why We Must Demilitarize US Foreign Policy with Marjorie Cohn, Matthew Hoh & Raymond McGovern. From 12:45 – 2:15 PM, catch Stopping Targeted Killing by the U.S. Around the World & Stopping Killing with Impunity by U.S. Police, Connections & Challenges with Marsha Coleman-Abedayo, Carl Dix and Nick Mottern. From 2:30 to 4 PM, it is End These Endless Wars: Perspectives from Veterans and Military Families with Kevin Lucey. From 4:15 – 5:45 PM, the subject is Tax Resistance. Next up from 6 to 7:30 PM is World Beyond War: An Alternative Global Security System with David Swanson, Matthew Hoh and Robert Fantina. Finally, from 7:45 – 9:30 PM the closing act is U.S. Wars of Aggression and Islamic Jihad: What is the Danger, and How Should the Anti-war Movement Respond? The speakers are William Blum, Alan Goodman, Raed Jarrar, Cindy Sheehan and Dalia Wasfi.

Then on Sat., Mar. 21 at noon, rally at Lafayette Park in front of the White House. At 1 PM, march from the White House through Chinatown to the Capitol. WARMING CENTERS will be available for music, cultural exchanges, meeting up, banner making… Email janezara@gmail.com or call 202-390-2449. This nonviolent intervention was originally proposed by Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox and the Soapbox People's Network.

53] – Of the 7 coal-fired power plants in Maryland, four are operating without modern pollution-cutting technology and two of those are within 15 miles of Baltimore. Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter have been spewing into the air from these plants for years! Every summer without stronger regulations is another summer where asthmatic kids in Maryland, and more acutely Baltimore, are being exposed to pollution that increases their chances of an attack. Come to Annapolis on Thurs., Mar. 19 and let your voice be heard at the Moms Clean Air Force Mama Summit in Maryland. Spread the word online by using the hashtag #MamaSummitMD. The registration will begin at 9 AM. Meet with each other and legislators, be recognized on the House floor at the State House, attend a press conference and debrief over a provided lunch at the Ram’s Head Tavern. Email the Moving Maryland Forward Network at info@movingmdforward.net.

54] – On Thurs., Mar. 19 (all day) through Sat., Mar. 21 (all day) at 125 Michigan Ave. NE, WDC, the International Commission for Dalit Rights (ICDR) and the Global Conference Organizing Committee are holding the 1st Global Conference on Defending Dalit Rights, set to occur on the campus of Trinity Washington University, just blocks away from the U.S. Capitol Building. The purpose of the Global Conference is to increase awareness of the injustices visited upon an estimated 260 million caste-affected individuals worldwide, who face caste-based discrimination, exclusion, inequality, and violence. Their plight is a modern humanitarian crisis, even referred to as the ‘apartheid’ of this Millennium; though, historically, this injustice has gone on for thousands of years. Every day, Dalits are forced into slave and bonded labor, denied access to communal water sources, and refused service at public establishments solely on the basis of their caste or descent. Dalit women and girls are, themselves, victims of rape and murder, with countless numbers forced into sex-trafficking.

As part of the Global Conference, ICDR and the Global Conference Organizing Committee present a #HumanChainDemo for Dalit Solidarity & Dignity on March 21, 2015 in front of the White House (on Pennsylvania Avenue) in Washington, D.C. at 1:30pm, encouraging advocates and allies to show their support and stand in solidarity with Dalit people worldwide. March 21 is recognized by the United Nations (UN) as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Global Conference Organizing Committee will announce their global strategy and the Declaration of Dalit Rights during the demonstration, with a press conference beginning at 12 noon (at the same location as the demo). The demonstration will also serve to implore President Obama and U.S. Congress members to support Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s House Resolution 566 (draft she introduced in May 2014, referred to House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific) that calls for Congress to “condemn discrimination against Dalit people.” Congresswoman Norton will be in attendance during the conference.

Various levels of registration for the conference include: General Admission ($100.00 for March 19 & 20), Student price ($50.00 for March 19 & 20), Family option for a couple ($125.00 for March 19 & 20), One Day General Admission ($50.00 for March 19 OR 20), and Student One Day price ($25.00 for March 19 OR 20). To register for the Global Conference please visit this link: http://bit.ly/1yfIdad. Go to http://www.ICDRINTL.org/. Contact Mikuak Rai, Global Conference Manager, for any logistics or other support at gc.manager@icdrintl.org or by phone at (202) 276-3099.

55] – Go to the Union Station Food Court on Thurs., Mar. 19 at 11:30 AM for lunch and training before heading to Congress. RSVP to mackenzie@popularresistance.org to keep in touch if details change. Across the country people are rising up against corporate free trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Through continuous organizing and creative action we have shown that we have the power to stop the world’s largest corporations, to end their assault on our communities, workplaces, democracy, and environment. Join in to “Flood Congress” to express collective disillusionment with the corporate “free trade” agenda. Flood the halls of Congress in silence, in protest of the secretive processes that have silenced voices and the democratic process. Wear blue! The action will end by 4 PM. Go to https://www.popularresistance.org/thursday-flood-congress-to-stop-fast-track-for-tpp/.

56] – Go to the World Bank, corner of H St. NW and 18th St. NW on Thurs., Mar. 19 from noon to 1 PM and join the AFL CIO, CARECEN, CASA, the Center for International Environmental Law, CISPES, Council of Canadians, Friends of the Earth, the Institute for Policy Studies, OXFAM America, Public Citizen, SHARE Foundation, Sierra Club, Sisters of Mercy, the Teamsters, Washington Ethical Society and others. Tell the World Bank and the U.S. Government: “End World Bank Tribunals — No Fast Track.” Inside the World Bank, a secret tribunal is getting ready to rule on a lawsuit by Pacific Rim/Oceana Gold a Canadian/Australian mining company that could force El Salvador to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars just for trying to protect its major river system from pollution from cyanide-based gold mining. Under trade provisions promoted by the U.S. government, corporations can use tribunals at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to challenge national laws and regulations protecting public health, the environment and human rights. The Obama administration is trying to expand these corporate rights in new agreements with Asia (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and Europe (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), and is pushing to “Fast Track” these controversial deals through Congress. Tell the World Bank that poisoning of El Salvador’s drinking water will increase poverty, not eradicate it. There will be music, and speakers including Vidalina Morales from the Salvadoran National Roundtable Against Mining, Cathy Feingold of the AFL-CIO, Sofia Vergara of Oxfam America, John Cavanagh of IPS, Lindolfo Carballo of CASA, Courtenay Lewis of the Sierra Club, and others. See https://www.facebook.com/events/802080586535198/.

57] – On Thurs., Mar. 19 at 12:30 PM, Dr. Weller's talk at 3700 O St. NW, Bunn Intercultural Center (ICC) Suite 260, WDC, will focus on four main, interrelated dimensions of the impact of the Crimean and Ukrainian Crises on the Central Eurasian Islamic World: (1) The response of the Crimean Tatar community and impact on Russo-Tatar relations within the Crimea religiously, socially, and politically; (2) Responses among related Turkic Muslim groups of Central Eurasia, particularly the Turks of Turkey, the Volga Tatars within the Russian Federation, and the Kazakh Muslims of Kazakhstan, with related reflections upon the impact of the crises upon Russo-Turkish relations politically, Russo-Volga Tatar relations socially and politically within Tatarstan, and Russo-Kazakh relations socially and politically within Kazakhstan; (3) the (potential) impact upon Russo-Chinese relations politically in connection with the Uighur independence movement; and (4) Responses from across the broader Muslim world, particularly the Middle Eastern and Western worlds. The presentation will argue that the Crimean and Ukrainian crises have provoked and, if maintained, will continue to provoke a predominantly negative reaction against not only Russia and Russian expatriates living in Central Eurasian states which are significantly populated by Muslims, but will serve to reinforce Muslim views of ‘The (Christian) West’ as imperialist and exploitative world powers, in spite of condemnation of the action by a large number of Western powers internationally, since Western condemnation is concerned primarily with safeguarding Ukraine as a pro-Westernizing force (and not the Crimean Tatar cause). See http://acmcu.georgetown.edu/about/contact/. You must RSVP to attend: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-impact-of-the-crimean-and-ukrainian-crises-on-the-central-eurasian-islamic-world-with-charles-tickets-15912435523.

58] – On Thurs., Mar. 19 at 7:30 PM @ Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, hear about Unveiling Corporate Free Trade Agreements and How We Can Stop Them. Join Popular Resistance organizers Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers as well as Sierra Club representative Marquita Bradshaw for a discussion about the ways that the Trans Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements that are being negotiated differ from earlier agreements in significant and harmful ways. They will give an overview of how these agreements will impact almost everything we care about, set back our work to protect our communities and the environment, and cement corporate power globally. They will close with information on how Fast Track legislation that will rush the TPP through Congress without meaningful oversight and involvement and what we can do to stop it. Call 443-602-7585. Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

59] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.

60] -- 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.

61] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

62] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

63] -- 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.

64] – A 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