Baltimore Activist Alert April 30 – May 1, 2015
"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.
1] Books, buttons & stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists
4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa
5] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore
6] Two friends are coming to Baltimore, and need a place to stay – May 8 & 9
7] Get your animal friend in the Maryland SPCA 2016 calendar – through May 15
8] Out of Rubble exhibit – through May 16
9] Out of Rubble talk – April 30
10] May Day Rally -- May 1
11] Silent Peace Vigil – May 1
12] What about the Kurds? – May 1
13] Protest at the Australian Embassy – May 1
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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 Francine Sheppard at 5639B, Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia 21044. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Francine at 410-992-7679 or FrancineMSW@aol.com.
5] – Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore. Let Max know if you have any leads—410-366-1637 or mobuszewski@verizon.net.
6] – Two friends are coming to Baltimore, and need a place to stay the evenings of May 8 & 9. Let Max know if you have any suggestions—410-366-1637 or mobuszewski@verizon.net.
7] – Enter a photo of your animal friend in the Maryland SPCA 2016 Calendar for $50. Each entry also includes one (1) free calendar! Participants can send photos after registration, so don't worry if you need a little extra time to find the purr-fect photo of Fluffy! To enter, go to www.mdspca.org/photo and use discount code "SPCAcalendar" during checkout, or contact Jennifer Mion at petcalendar@mdspca.org or 410-235-8826, ext. 133.
The 2016 Pet Calendar will be a full-color wall calendar, released in the fall of 2015. Thirteen of the best photos will be selected for the cover and pet-of-the-month pages. Photographs must be of animals, no people, and must be in color. High-resolution horizontal photos are preferred. Small photos, especially those taken by phones, are difficult to enlarge. All entered photos will appear in the calendar. A maximum of 400 photos will be accepted through May 15, 2015. The calendar is an important fundraiser for the Maryland SPCA. Proceeds benefit the needy and homeless animals in our care!
8] – Out of Rubble is an exhibit currently on display at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture until May 16 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The exhibition reacts to the wake of war — its realities and its representations. The rubble that each war leaves behind shapes today and tomorrow — physically, psychologically and spiritually. Responding to a wide range of violent encounters taking place over four continents, Out of Rubble presents works by seventeen artists and architects from over ten countries who consider its causes and consequences, its finality and future, moving from decimation and disintegration to the possibilities of regeneration and recovery. Featured artists and architects include Susanne Slavick, who curated the exhibit is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.
9] – On Thurs., Apr. 30 at 7 PM, she will deliver a public lecture on the exhibition in the 132 Performing Arts and Humanities Building. Slavick will speak about the exhibition and the accompanying book of the same title. Slavick’s work, as an artist and as co-founder of 10 Years + Counting, led her to research and edit Out of Rubble, an anthology of works by contemporary artists who address the aftermath of current and past wars. The book includes essays by Slavick and Holly Edwards and works by numerous international artists from Diana Al-Hadid to Xu Zhen. The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM and is located in the Fine Arts Building. Call 410-455-3188.
10] – Go to WMATA HQ, 600 5th St. NW, WDC on Fri., May 1 at 11:30 AM, join Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) for a May Day Rally! Help hold WMATA accountable to its paratransit passengers and workers, to provide a dependable and accessible MetroAccess system, as well as a living wage for paratransit employees. The closest Metro stops are Judiciary Square and Gallery Place. See https://www.facebook.com/events/874172962624894/.
11] – On Fri., May 1 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! The vigil takes place at the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.
12] – At the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Choate Room, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC on Fri., May from noon to 1:30 PM, hear about the rise of the Kurds as a key player in the fight against the Islamic State and how this has put U.S. relations with the governments in Baghdad and Ankara to the test. The Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies is pleased to host a panel discussion on these and other aspects of the challenges and opportunities in U.S. relations with Turkey and with Iraq in light of the growing regional influence of the Kurds. Visit http://www.mei.edu/events/kurds-new-clout-us-ties-turkey-and-iraq.
13] – On Fri., May 1 at noon, it will be noted that indigenous people have been displaced all over Tuttle Island. There will be an educational rally on the problem & the wider issue of colonization as it applies to all Indigenous people. From McPherson Square, participants will march to the Australian embassy 1601 Massachusetts Ave. NW WDC 20036. See https://www.facebook.com/events/1415696225404706/
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
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Freddie Gray’s Death Reveals a Dark History of 'Nickel Rides' and Police Van Torture
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
By John Vibes [1] / The Free Thought Project [2]
April 28, 2015
Baltimore, MD — This week, protests and riots erupted in Baltimore, in response to the police murder of an innocent 27-year-old man named Freddie Gray. [3]
According to police, Gray was first stopped and arrested by officers at 8:39am on April 12 and was thrown in the back of a police van 15 minutes later. An entire hour later an ambulance was called to give him medical care, but he sadly fell into a coma died soon after. He suffered broken vertebra and an injured voice box, which required emergency spinal surgery that he never recovered from.
Many suspect that Gray was the victim of a “Nickel Ride”, a horrific police torture tactic where a suspect is handcuffed and placed in the back of a police van without restraints, and driven recklessly around town by police officers. This practice has also been called a “Rough Ride” or a “Cowboy Ride.”
“We know he was not buckled in the transportation wagon, as he should have been. No excuses for that, period,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts [4]said Friday. “We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times.”
According to NBC News, [4]
Davis said the police van stopped three times before arriving at the station. It stopped first so police could place “leg irons” on Gray, and stopped a second time “to deal with Mr. Gray, and the facts of that interaction are under investigation,” Davis said.
The van stopped a third time to pick up a second prisoner and went on to the Western District police station, where an ambulance was called, Davis said. “At no point was he wearing a seat belt,” while in the police van, Davis said. Police policy requires all prisoners to wear seat belts during transport.
A second video surfaced that showed the second stop and without a doubt that Gray was not belted in and in fact placed in leg irons.
Last year, Nickel Rides became notorious in Philadelphia [5], after a court case revealed that police were using this tactic as a witness-free way to punish unruly, uncooperative, or arrogant suspects – without ever laying a hand on them. For rogue police, it was a literal way to deliver “street justice.”
The practice was exposed through the lawsuit of a man named James McKenna, who was awarded $490,000 after he was able to prove in court that he was intentionally injured during his ride in a police van.
Baltimore itself also has a dark history of police van torture. In fact, Baltimore Police have paid out millions of dollars in settlements to victims who were critically injured during rides in police vans. In 2012, a woman from Baltimore named Christine Abbott [6] sued police after she was badly injured during a bumpy ride in the back of a police van.
That same year, the death of Anthony Anderson [7] was ruled a homicide, he too died of injuries sustained while riding in a police van.
John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [8]
[9]
________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/freddie-grays-death-reveals-dark-history-nickel-rides-and-police-van-torture
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/john-vibes
[2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
[3] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/man-dies-police-break-sever-spine-arrest/
[4] http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/freddy-grays-death-baltimore-mayor-demands-answers-n347966
[5] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/hear-nickel-ride-philly-cops-gave-man-one-tax-payers-giving-490k/
[6] http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2015/04/24/baltimores-history-of-police-van-injuries/26342051/
[7] http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/10/02/lawyer-death-ruled-homicide-for-east-baltimore-man-who-died-in-police-custody/
[8] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Freddie Gray’s Death Reveals a Dark History of 'Nickel Rides' and Police Van Torture
[9] http://www.alternet.org/
[10] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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
By John Vibes [1] / The Free Thought Project [2]
April 28, 2015
Baltimore, MD — This week, protests and riots erupted in Baltimore, in response to the police murder of an innocent 27-year-old man named Freddie Gray. [3]
According to police, Gray was first stopped and arrested by officers at 8:39am on April 12 and was thrown in the back of a police van 15 minutes later. An entire hour later an ambulance was called to give him medical care, but he sadly fell into a coma died soon after. He suffered broken vertebra and an injured voice box, which required emergency spinal surgery that he never recovered from.
Many suspect that Gray was the victim of a “Nickel Ride”, a horrific police torture tactic where a suspect is handcuffed and placed in the back of a police van without restraints, and driven recklessly around town by police officers. This practice has also been called a “Rough Ride” or a “Cowboy Ride.”
“We know he was not buckled in the transportation wagon, as he should have been. No excuses for that, period,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts [4]said Friday. “We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times.”
According to NBC News, [4]
Davis said the police van stopped three times before arriving at the station. It stopped first so police could place “leg irons” on Gray, and stopped a second time “to deal with Mr. Gray, and the facts of that interaction are under investigation,” Davis said.
The van stopped a third time to pick up a second prisoner and went on to the Western District police station, where an ambulance was called, Davis said. “At no point was he wearing a seat belt,” while in the police van, Davis said. Police policy requires all prisoners to wear seat belts during transport.
A second video surfaced that showed the second stop and without a doubt that Gray was not belted in and in fact placed in leg irons.
Last year, Nickel Rides became notorious in Philadelphia [5], after a court case revealed that police were using this tactic as a witness-free way to punish unruly, uncooperative, or arrogant suspects – without ever laying a hand on them. For rogue police, it was a literal way to deliver “street justice.”
The practice was exposed through the lawsuit of a man named James McKenna, who was awarded $490,000 after he was able to prove in court that he was intentionally injured during his ride in a police van.
Baltimore itself also has a dark history of police van torture. In fact, Baltimore Police have paid out millions of dollars in settlements to victims who were critically injured during rides in police vans. In 2012, a woman from Baltimore named Christine Abbott [6] sued police after she was badly injured during a bumpy ride in the back of a police van.
That same year, the death of Anthony Anderson [7] was ruled a homicide, he too died of injuries sustained while riding in a police van.
John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [8]
[9]
________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/freddie-grays-death-reveals-dark-history-nickel-rides-and-police-van-torture
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/john-vibes
[2] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
[3] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/man-dies-police-break-sever-spine-arrest/
[4] http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/freddy-grays-death-baltimore-mayor-demands-answers-n347966
[5] http://thefreethoughtproject.com/hear-nickel-ride-philly-cops-gave-man-one-tax-payers-giving-490k/
[6] http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2015/04/24/baltimores-history-of-police-van-injuries/26342051/
[7] http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/10/02/lawyer-death-ruled-homicide-for-east-baltimore-man-who-died-in-police-custody/
[8] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Freddie Gray’s Death Reveals a Dark History of 'Nickel Rides' and Police Van Torture
[9] http://www.alternet.org/
[10] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Ten Shocking Facts About Baltimore
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Ten Shocking Facts About Baltimore
By Bill Quigley [1] / AlterNet [2]
April 28, 2015
Were you shocked at the disruption in Baltimore? What is more shocking is daily life in Baltimore [3], a city of 622,000 which is 63 percent African American. Here are ten numbers that tell some of the story.
5 -- Blacks in Baltimore are more than 5.6 times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana [4] than whites even though marijuana use among the races is similar. In fact, Baltimore county has the fifth highest arrest rate for marijuana possessions in the USA.
5.7-- Over $5.7 million has been paid out by Baltimore [5] since 2011 in over 100 police brutality lawsuits. Victims of severe police brutality were mostly people of color and included a pregnant woman, a 65 year old church deacon, children, and an 87 year old grandmother.
6 -- White babies born in Baltimore have six more years of life expectancy [6] than African American babies in the city.
8 -- African Americans in Baltimore are eight times more likely to die [6] from complications of HIV/AIDS than whites and twice as likely to die from diabetes related causes as whites.
8.4 -- Unemployment [7] is 8.4 percent city wide. Most estimates place the unemployment in the African American community at double that of the white community [8]. The national rate of unemployment [9] for whites is 4.7 percent, for blacks it is 10.1.
9 -- African American babies in Baltimore are nine times more likely to die before age one [6] than white infants in the city.
20 -- There is a twenty year difference in life expectancy [10] between those who live in the most affluent neighborhood in Baltimore versus those who live six miles away in the most impoverished.
23.8 -- 148,000 people, or 23.8 percent of the people in Baltimore [3], live below the official poverty level.
56-- 56.4 percent of Baltimore students graduate [11] from high school. The national rate is about 80 [12] percent.
92 -- 92 percent of marijuana possession arrests in Baltimore were of African Americans, one of the highest racial disparities in the USA [4].
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. He is also a member of the legal collective of School of Americas Watch, and can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com. [13]
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [14]
[15]
________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/ten-shocking-facts-about-baltimore
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/bill-quigley
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24510.html
[4] https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/1114413-mj-report-rfs-rel1.pdf
[5] http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/
[6] http://urbanhealth.jhu.edu/media/reports/healthdis_baltimore.pdf
[7] http://www.dllr.state.md.us/lmi/laus/
[8] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/05/14/fact-check-ganslers-dramatic-line-on-unemployment-in-baltimore/
[9] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t02.htm
[10] https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2013/04/24/hopkins-conference-tackles-link-between-wealth-and-health/
[11] http://www.education.umd.edu/TLPL/centers/MEP/Research/College/MD%20Grad%20Rates_1.2014.pdf
[12] http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014391.pdf
[13] mailto:quigley77@gmail.com
[14] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Ten Shocking Facts About Baltimore
[15] http://www.alternet.org/
[16] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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
Ten Shocking Facts About Baltimore
By Bill Quigley [1] / AlterNet [2]
April 28, 2015
Were you shocked at the disruption in Baltimore? What is more shocking is daily life in Baltimore [3], a city of 622,000 which is 63 percent African American. Here are ten numbers that tell some of the story.
5 -- Blacks in Baltimore are more than 5.6 times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana [4] than whites even though marijuana use among the races is similar. In fact, Baltimore county has the fifth highest arrest rate for marijuana possessions in the USA.
5.7-- Over $5.7 million has been paid out by Baltimore [5] since 2011 in over 100 police brutality lawsuits. Victims of severe police brutality were mostly people of color and included a pregnant woman, a 65 year old church deacon, children, and an 87 year old grandmother.
6 -- White babies born in Baltimore have six more years of life expectancy [6] than African American babies in the city.
8 -- African Americans in Baltimore are eight times more likely to die [6] from complications of HIV/AIDS than whites and twice as likely to die from diabetes related causes as whites.
8.4 -- Unemployment [7] is 8.4 percent city wide. Most estimates place the unemployment in the African American community at double that of the white community [8]. The national rate of unemployment [9] for whites is 4.7 percent, for blacks it is 10.1.
9 -- African American babies in Baltimore are nine times more likely to die before age one [6] than white infants in the city.
20 -- There is a twenty year difference in life expectancy [10] between those who live in the most affluent neighborhood in Baltimore versus those who live six miles away in the most impoverished.
23.8 -- 148,000 people, or 23.8 percent of the people in Baltimore [3], live below the official poverty level.
56-- 56.4 percent of Baltimore students graduate [11] from high school. The national rate is about 80 [12] percent.
92 -- 92 percent of marijuana possession arrests in Baltimore were of African Americans, one of the highest racial disparities in the USA [4].
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. He is also a member of the legal collective of School of Americas Watch, and can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com. [13]
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [14]
[15]
________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/ten-shocking-facts-about-baltimore
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/bill-quigley
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24510.html
[4] https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/1114413-mj-report-rfs-rel1.pdf
[5] http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/
[6] http://urbanhealth.jhu.edu/media/reports/healthdis_baltimore.pdf
[7] http://www.dllr.state.md.us/lmi/laus/
[8] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/05/14/fact-check-ganslers-dramatic-line-on-unemployment-in-baltimore/
[9] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t02.htm
[10] https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2013/04/24/hopkins-conference-tackles-link-between-wealth-and-health/
[11] http://www.education.umd.edu/TLPL/centers/MEP/Research/College/MD%20Grad%20Rates_1.2014.pdf
[12] http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014391.pdf
[13] mailto:quigley77@gmail.com
[14] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Ten Shocking Facts About Baltimore
[15] http://www.alternet.org/
[16] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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
Baltimore Activist Alert - April 27 - 28, 2015
40] Israeli right has targeted MK Haseen Al Zoubi – Apr. 27
41] Ignore Westboro Baptist church – Apr. 27
42] NAACP-DC Labor Committee meeting – Apr. 27
43] Film “The Farmer and His Prince” – Apr. 27
44] Pledge of Resistance/FOC meeting – Apr. 27
45] Green Working Group – Apr. 28
46] Peace vigil – Apr. 28
47] No JHU Drone Research -- Apr. 28
48] “Sobukwe: A Great Soul” – Apr. 28
=====
40] – On Mon., Apr. 27 from 1 to 2 PM at the Palestine Center, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC, MK Haneen Al Zoubi will talk about this newly empowered alliance and its potential in improving the human, civil, and political rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. She will discuss the recent elections and the ramifications of the Likud party winning another term. For the 1.7 million Palestinians living as citizens of Israel, deep-seated racism and discrimination are part of everyday life. Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently chided Palestinians who disagree with his right-wing policies, saying "Those who are against us, there's nothing to be done - we need to pick up an ax and cut off his head." Lieberman also reinforced his long-held advocacy of "transfer," that is, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by removing them from the state of Israel. And then on the final night of the Israeli election, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu infamously said that "the Arabs are voting in droves," an alarmist warning that their votes could sway the election in a dangerous direction, thus inciting further racism.
As a Palestinian lawmaker and Member of the Israeli Knesset, Haneen Al Zoubi has also faced humiliating treatment by Israeli lawmakers, who regularly attack her personally and politically. The Israeli right has targeted MK Al Zoubi for many years, trying to revoke her citizenship and to disqualify her from reelection. The Knesset Ethics Committee suspended her for six months based on her political views and the Israeli High Court affirmed the suspension. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Election Committee refused to qualify her as a candidate but upon review by an Israeli court, MK Al Zoubi was permitted to run for reelection. The Israeli Election Committee attempted to prevent MK Al Zoubi from running in the 2013 election as well. Despite this massive campaign to silence MK Al Zoubi, she easily won re-election this past March. Her Balad party is now part of the Joint List, a coalition of four Arab parties that garnered thirteen Knesset seats in the March 2015 election. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/51622/pid/187. Call 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.
41] – On Mon., Apr. 27, the Westboro Baptist Church will be at Georgetown University to protest LGBTQ equality and treatment at the university and in the country. Instead of having a counter protest, engaging with the Westboro Baptist Church, and giving them any power over us Hoyas, GUPride will be having a solidarity event in Red Square on the campus from 3:45 to 4:45 PM during the church protest. Having an event that celebrates Georgetown's diversity in a loving and inclusive atmosphere is the best way to counter the hate speech generated by the few WBC protestors who will be coming to the event. Join GUPride, GU Queer People of Color, and other campus sponsors in not engaging with the WBC and in promoting love and solidarity instead. Visit http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.net/node/14741.
42] – Come to the Shaw Public Library, 1630 7th St. NW, WDC on Mon., Apr. 27 from 6 to 8 PM for a meeting with the NAACP-DC Labor Committee. The group will discuss progress on their research paper on the State of Extended Hours Child Care in D.C. There will be discussion to plan the June 29th Race and Labor Event in Partnership with the AFL-CIO. Also discuss the fight for $15! Email Jeremiah Lowery (jeremiah@rocunited.org) if you would like to attend this event.
43] – See the film “The Farmer and His Prince” (Der Bauer und sein Prinz) Forging the Future at the Goethe-Institut Washington, 812 7th St. NW, WDC on Mon., Apr. 27 at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $7. Call (202) 289-1200 or email info@washington.goethe.org. See http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/en14147942v.htm.
44] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore usually meets on Mondays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings take place at Max’s residence. The next meeting will be on Mon., Apr. 27. The proposed agenda will include anti-drone activities, Freddie Grey, a march from the EPA to the Pentagon, May Day and the MUPJ conference. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net.
45] – At 1825 Central Place NE, WDC on Tues., Apr. 28 from 4 to 5:30 AM, the Green Working Group is going on a road trip to discuss sustainability. The first stop, solar projects, will be a tour of a Habitat for Humanity developed Passive House with GRID Alternatives Solar Installations in Ivy City, DC. Engage in conversations regarding access to solar, the importance of energy efficiency, the new community solar law, opportunities resulting from it, and how to best advocate to ensure that economic development and affordable housing are front and center. Space is limited to 15 participants, so RSVP to Scott Bruton (sbruton@cnhed.org). After the tour, head over to Union Market, 1309 5th St. NE) for food, drink, and conversation.
46] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine. The next vigil is Apr. 28. Call 215-426-0364.
47] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. Join this ongoing vigil on Apr. 28 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-366-1637.
48] – At Bloombars, 3222 11th St. NW, WDC 20010, on Tues., Apr. 28 from 7 to 9 PM, join BloomBars and Africa World Now Project to commemorate Freedom Day in South Africa (April 27th), with the presentation of “Sobukwe: A Great Soul” (2011, 104 min), by Mickey Madoda Dube. It celebrates the life of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, restoring him to his rightful place as a leading figure in South African history. This full length drama-documentary charts the course of a leader who has been all but forgotten in the annals of history. The documentary explores Sobukwe's life and provides a platform for his voice to be heard decades after he made his mark, putting his name back on the world map of great liberators. See http://tinyurl.com/sobukwe-trailer. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Mwiza Munthali, host of the radio show "Africa Now," on WPFW 89.3FM. The suggested donation is $10. Proceeds support both the Africa World Now Project and BloomBars. Enjoy organic popcorn. BloomScreen Indie Film Night is a weekly series of independent and foreign films, accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, experts and other guests. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/654075701291329/.
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
41] Ignore Westboro Baptist church – Apr. 27
42] NAACP-DC Labor Committee meeting – Apr. 27
43] Film “The Farmer and His Prince” – Apr. 27
44] Pledge of Resistance/FOC meeting – Apr. 27
45] Green Working Group – Apr. 28
46] Peace vigil – Apr. 28
47] No JHU Drone Research -- Apr. 28
48] “Sobukwe: A Great Soul” – Apr. 28
=====
40] – On Mon., Apr. 27 from 1 to 2 PM at the Palestine Center, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC, MK Haneen Al Zoubi will talk about this newly empowered alliance and its potential in improving the human, civil, and political rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. She will discuss the recent elections and the ramifications of the Likud party winning another term. For the 1.7 million Palestinians living as citizens of Israel, deep-seated racism and discrimination are part of everyday life. Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently chided Palestinians who disagree with his right-wing policies, saying "Those who are against us, there's nothing to be done - we need to pick up an ax and cut off his head." Lieberman also reinforced his long-held advocacy of "transfer," that is, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by removing them from the state of Israel. And then on the final night of the Israeli election, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu infamously said that "the Arabs are voting in droves," an alarmist warning that their votes could sway the election in a dangerous direction, thus inciting further racism.
As a Palestinian lawmaker and Member of the Israeli Knesset, Haneen Al Zoubi has also faced humiliating treatment by Israeli lawmakers, who regularly attack her personally and politically. The Israeli right has targeted MK Al Zoubi for many years, trying to revoke her citizenship and to disqualify her from reelection. The Knesset Ethics Committee suspended her for six months based on her political views and the Israeli High Court affirmed the suspension. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Election Committee refused to qualify her as a candidate but upon review by an Israeli court, MK Al Zoubi was permitted to run for reelection. The Israeli Election Committee attempted to prevent MK Al Zoubi from running in the 2013 election as well. Despite this massive campaign to silence MK Al Zoubi, she easily won re-election this past March. Her Balad party is now part of the Joint List, a coalition of four Arab parties that garnered thirteen Knesset seats in the March 2015 election. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/51622/pid/187. Call 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.
41] – On Mon., Apr. 27, the Westboro Baptist Church will be at Georgetown University to protest LGBTQ equality and treatment at the university and in the country. Instead of having a counter protest, engaging with the Westboro Baptist Church, and giving them any power over us Hoyas, GUPride will be having a solidarity event in Red Square on the campus from 3:45 to 4:45 PM during the church protest. Having an event that celebrates Georgetown's diversity in a loving and inclusive atmosphere is the best way to counter the hate speech generated by the few WBC protestors who will be coming to the event. Join GUPride, GU Queer People of Color, and other campus sponsors in not engaging with the WBC and in promoting love and solidarity instead. Visit http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.net/node/14741.
42] – Come to the Shaw Public Library, 1630 7th St. NW, WDC on Mon., Apr. 27 from 6 to 8 PM for a meeting with the NAACP-DC Labor Committee. The group will discuss progress on their research paper on the State of Extended Hours Child Care in D.C. There will be discussion to plan the June 29th Race and Labor Event in Partnership with the AFL-CIO. Also discuss the fight for $15! Email Jeremiah Lowery (jeremiah@rocunited.org) if you would like to attend this event.
43] – See the film “The Farmer and His Prince” (Der Bauer und sein Prinz) Forging the Future at the Goethe-Institut Washington, 812 7th St. NW, WDC on Mon., Apr. 27 at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $7. Call (202) 289-1200 or email info@washington.goethe.org. See http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/en14147942v.htm.
44] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore usually meets on Mondays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings take place at Max’s residence. The next meeting will be on Mon., Apr. 27. The proposed agenda will include anti-drone activities, Freddie Grey, a march from the EPA to the Pentagon, May Day and the MUPJ conference. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net.
45] – At 1825 Central Place NE, WDC on Tues., Apr. 28 from 4 to 5:30 AM, the Green Working Group is going on a road trip to discuss sustainability. The first stop, solar projects, will be a tour of a Habitat for Humanity developed Passive House with GRID Alternatives Solar Installations in Ivy City, DC. Engage in conversations regarding access to solar, the importance of energy efficiency, the new community solar law, opportunities resulting from it, and how to best advocate to ensure that economic development and affordable housing are front and center. Space is limited to 15 participants, so RSVP to Scott Bruton (sbruton@cnhed.org). After the tour, head over to Union Market, 1309 5th St. NE) for food, drink, and conversation.
46] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine. The next vigil is Apr. 28. Call 215-426-0364.
47] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. Join this ongoing vigil on Apr. 28 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-366-1637.
48] – At Bloombars, 3222 11th St. NW, WDC 20010, on Tues., Apr. 28 from 7 to 9 PM, join BloomBars and Africa World Now Project to commemorate Freedom Day in South Africa (April 27th), with the presentation of “Sobukwe: A Great Soul” (2011, 104 min), by Mickey Madoda Dube. It celebrates the life of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, restoring him to his rightful place as a leading figure in South African history. This full length drama-documentary charts the course of a leader who has been all but forgotten in the annals of history. The documentary explores Sobukwe's life and provides a platform for his voice to be heard decades after he made his mark, putting his name back on the world map of great liberators. See http://tinyurl.com/sobukwe-trailer. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Mwiza Munthali, host of the radio show "Africa Now," on WPFW 89.3FM. The suggested donation is $10. Proceeds support both the Africa World Now Project and BloomBars. Enjoy organic popcorn. BloomScreen Indie Film Night is a weekly series of independent and foreign films, accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, experts and other guests. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/654075701291329/.
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
Baltimore Activist Alert - April 29 - May 1, 2015
49] "Chemical Safety and Security: New Frontiers in Reducing the Threat of Chemical Weapons” – Apr. 29
50] "Deterrence Instability and Nuclear Weapons in South Asia," – Apr. 29
51] Why Classroom Diversity Matters in Early Education – Apr. 29
52] The Japan Council Against A & H Bombs – Apr. 29
53] Solidarity with Freddie Gray -- Apr. 29
54] Speak Out – Black Lives Matter – Apr. 29
55] Promoting Healthy Minds – Apr. 29
56] Movies from the street – Apr. 29
57] "Screening and Discussion of Winds of Chemical Warfare" – Apr. 29
58] Debriefing of its legislative agenda – Apr. 30
59] The Japan Council Against A & H Bombs – Apr. 30
60] Film CHASING ICE – May. 1
61] MUPJ conference – May 1 & 2
62] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
63] Join Fund Our Communities
64] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
65] Do you need any book shelves?
66] Join Global Zero campaign
67] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil
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49] – From noon to 2 PM on Wed., Apr. 29, Michael Luhan and James Markarian, International Center for Chemical Safety and Security, will tackle "Chemical Safety and Security: New Frontiers in Reducing the Threat of Chemical Weapons” at Green Cross International, 1100 15th St. NW, Suite 1100, WDC. RSVP to Paul Walker by email. pwalker@globalgreen.org. The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is an annual event held on April 29 as a "tribute to the victims of chemical warfare, as well as to reaffirm the commitment of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the elimination of the threat of chemical weapons, thereby promoting the goals of peace, security, and multilateralism." It is officially recognized by the United Nations (UN) and has been celebrated since 2005. On the 2013 observance day, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech where he stated: “On this Remembrance Day, I urge the international community to intensify efforts to rid the world of chemical weapons, along with all other weapons of mass destruction. Let us work together to bring all States under the Convention and promote its full implementation. This is how we can best honor past victims and liberate future generations from the threat of chemical weapons.” [Wikipedia]
50] -- Deterrence in South Asia is becoming less stable with the passage of time and an increase in nuclear weapon capabilities. India and Pakistan have not addressed basic issues in dispute, nor have they agreed to set them aside. In 2015, the two countries are no closer to resolving their differences than they were seven years ago, after members of Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out attacks against Mumbai landmarks.
The Stimson Center is publishing a collection of essays, "Deterrence Instability and Nuclear Weapons in South Asia," edited by Michael Krepon, Joshua T. White, Julia Thompson, and Shane Mason. These essays by Manoj Joshi, Shashank Joshi, Michael Krepon, Jeffrey D. McCausland, Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Sarang Shidore, and Joshua T. White and Kyle Deming clarify how doctrinal, strategic, and technological developments contribute to growing deterrence instability in South Asia. Taken together, these chapters point to serious challenges associated with increased nuclear dangers unless leaders in India and Pakistan work to resolve their grievances, or consider measures to mitigate their costly and risky strategic competition. A book launch and an on-the-record discussion with a light lunch and free copies of the book made available at The Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036 on Wed., Apr. 29 from 12:30 to 2 PM. RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DdfZvda1T2Aa9g67QMrErLb_5IwRsT5PuPYX5YMYCm8/viewform. FOLLOW: @Stimson Center on Twitter for event news, and use #StimsonToday to join the conversation.
51] – The Century Foundation and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council invite you to attend a Capitol Hill Briefing on a new report, A Better Start: Why Classroom Diversity Matters in Early Education on Wed., Apr. 29 from 2 to 3 PM--arrive 15 minutes early to allow time to clear security—in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2226 (House Judiciary Committee Hearing Room), 45 Independence Ave. SW, WDC 20219. Opening Remarks will be made by Mark Zuckerman, President, The Century Foundation & Congressperson Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Ranking Democratic Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. After that, there will be a panel discussion. Over the past decade, public investments in early childhood education have increased, and policymakers have focused on creating high-quality, sustainable preschool programs. However, largely missing from early childhood policy discussions is consideration of classroom diversity and how it affects the equity, quality, and sustainability of preschool programs. Studies have shown that socioeconomically and racially diverse preschool classrooms offer important cognitive and social benefits for children, but few children enrolled in public preschool programs have access to these types of classrooms. Email events@tcf.org. Research for A Better Start was supported by The Century Foundation and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and led by Jeanne L. Reid and Sharon Lynn Kagan of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/capitol-hill-briefing-why-classroom-diversity-matters-in-early-education-tickets-16399401050.
52] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 2 to 3:30 PM, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Area and All Souls Church, in cooperation with Peace Action, will gather with a delegation of approximately 50 Japanese nuclear disarmament activists at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The delegation represents the Japan Council Against A & H Bombs, the largest peace group in Japan and is coming to the nation’s capital directly from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held every five years at the United Nations. The delegation will include Ms. Sachie Yoshizaki, born in Nagasaki on April 21, 1940. At age 5, she suffered from the atomic bombing together with her family members. She is a long-time peace activist who toured the U.S. in 1985.
During the visit, the delegation will tour the Air and Space Museum and see the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the Hiroshima Bomb, and visit the Holocaust Museum. At the White House, they will gather signatures for the Signature Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Over the years, Gensuikyo has gathered tens of millions of signatures calling for nuclear disarmament. Contact John Steinbach at 703-822-3485.
53] – On Wed., Apr. 29 at 3 PM at Freedom Square at Towson University, raise your voice and take a stand in solidarity with Freddy Gray and his family! At 4:22 PM. The students will board the Collegetown Shuttle as well as take cars to Baltimore’s Penn Station to meet up with students from other universities and high schools in the Baltimore area as well as community activists. March to City Hall. See https://www.facebook.com/events/1114419315250140/.
54] – Every 28 hours a Black person is killed in America by law enforcement officers. Go to a speak-out in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. on Wed., Apr. 29 at 5:30 PM. Remember Rekia Boyd and honor the lives of the many Black Women, Transwomen, and Girls impacted by violence. This event will be a time for healing and reflection. Bring your signs. #BlackLivesMatter #RekiaMatters #Blackgirlsmatter. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/471843469632767/.
55] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM attend Promoting Healthy Minds to Support Safe Communities: A Community Conversation About Behavioral Health at 605 Rhode Island Ave. NE, WDC 20001. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/362918153917774/.
56] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, Street Sense, D.C.’s economic opportunity media center, presents the first three productions from its groundbreaking filmmaking cooperative. Cinema from the Street is made up of eight currently or formerly homeless men and women. The Street Sense Filmmakers’ Co-op trains individuals technically and conceptually in the art of visual images. At the Landmark E Street Cinema, 555 11th Street NW, WDC, in part one of a two-part showcase, grapple with a Street poet fighting for his life as he recounts his past to himself, and the world, for the first time. Run with an aspiring Late Show intern in NYC as he attempts to force a meeting with David Letterman and free himself from a third decade in transitional housing. And go toe-to-toe with D.C.’s homeless-run advocacy group as they take on local politicians and stage a rally. The screening concludes with a Q&A with the filmmakers. Tickets are free to the public, but space is limited. Donations may be accepted on site. Visit http://streetsense.org/event/cinema-from-the-street/#.VRwJVPzF-Sr.
57] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 7 to 8:30 PM, Paul Walker, Green Cross International, Labienne Lips-Dumas, filmmaker and Andrew Weber, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, will discuss "Screening and Discussion of Winds of Chemical Warfare" at the Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP at https://www.armscontrol.org/civicrm/event/register?id=40&reset=1.
58] – On Thurs., Apr. 30 from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, VA, 4444 Arlington Blvd., 22204VACOLAO invites you for a debriefing of its legislative agenda. This lunchtime discussion will focus on bills impacting immigrants introduced during the 2015 Virginia General Assembly. In addition to the legislative record, there will be a discussion of new issue advocacy efforts including the push to provide access to driver’s licenses to aspiring citizens in support of safer roads and the strengthening of Virginia’s economy. Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ef6chrNRg81evvd-yLhSybECDPLqVjb5mLFEdblU7Mw/viewform?c=0&w=1. Call 703-772-1555.
59] – On Thurs., Apr. 30 at 6:30 PM at All Souls Church, 1500 Harvard St. NW, WDC, there will be a community welcome for a delegation from the Japan Council Against A & H Bombs. See “Pictures from A Hiroshima School Yard, a film about how the children from All Souls Church and the children from Honkawa School near ground zero in Hiroshima, in 1946, reached out to each other in friendship following the atomic bombings.
At 8 PM, there will be a community program welcoming the Gensuikyo. In addition to Ms. Yoshizaki’s testimony about her suffering during the Nagasaki bombing, the gathering will hear from Professor Peter Kuznick, Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, and Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action, the nation’s largest grass roots peace group. In addition there will be reports from the NPT Conference and time for questions.
60] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. CHASING ICE [USA, 2012] will be shown with a discussion to follow on Fri., May 1 at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, around 7:15 PM. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at Verizon.net.
This documentary is about James Balog and his team on the Extreme Ice Survey as they assemble a multiyear chronicle of the planet's rapidly melting glaciers. Jeff Orlowski expertly films this risky attempt to "chase ice." Balog has photographed many stories and films for National Geographic, often about endangered species. This time he made repeated expeditions to Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and Montana to install stop-motion cameras in order to view the devastation wreaked by climate chaos on glaciers. The Extreme Ice Survey has been collecting the results since 2007, and it is terrifying to see glaciers retreating from ice mountains to expose the rock they rest on. Determined to continue the project, this scientist has to undergo knee surgery, after all of those mountain treks. Yet you will see him returning to inspect his cameras — on crutches. This documentary qualifies as a horror film.
61] – Hold the Dates for the 30th Annual Peace, Justice, & Environment Conference, sponsored by Maryland United for Peace and Justice/Institute For Positive Action. Coordination and Cooperation for Action to Achieve Peace and Social Justice is happening Fri., May 1 and Sat., May 2 at Salem Lutheran Church, Catonsville, MD. Email phamm001@earthlink.net or call 443-418-5479 (c-Paulette). Go to www.mupj.org.
62] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.
63] -- 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.
64] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
65] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
66] -- 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.
67] – 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
50] "Deterrence Instability and Nuclear Weapons in South Asia," – Apr. 29
51] Why Classroom Diversity Matters in Early Education – Apr. 29
52] The Japan Council Against A & H Bombs – Apr. 29
53] Solidarity with Freddie Gray -- Apr. 29
54] Speak Out – Black Lives Matter – Apr. 29
55] Promoting Healthy Minds – Apr. 29
56] Movies from the street – Apr. 29
57] "Screening and Discussion of Winds of Chemical Warfare" – Apr. 29
58] Debriefing of its legislative agenda – Apr. 30
59] The Japan Council Against A & H Bombs – Apr. 30
60] Film CHASING ICE – May. 1
61] MUPJ conference – May 1 & 2
62] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
63] Join Fund Our Communities
64] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
65] Do you need any book shelves?
66] Join Global Zero campaign
67] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil
---
49] – From noon to 2 PM on Wed., Apr. 29, Michael Luhan and James Markarian, International Center for Chemical Safety and Security, will tackle "Chemical Safety and Security: New Frontiers in Reducing the Threat of Chemical Weapons” at Green Cross International, 1100 15th St. NW, Suite 1100, WDC. RSVP to Paul Walker by email. pwalker@globalgreen.org. The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is an annual event held on April 29 as a "tribute to the victims of chemical warfare, as well as to reaffirm the commitment of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the elimination of the threat of chemical weapons, thereby promoting the goals of peace, security, and multilateralism." It is officially recognized by the United Nations (UN) and has been celebrated since 2005. On the 2013 observance day, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech where he stated: “On this Remembrance Day, I urge the international community to intensify efforts to rid the world of chemical weapons, along with all other weapons of mass destruction. Let us work together to bring all States under the Convention and promote its full implementation. This is how we can best honor past victims and liberate future generations from the threat of chemical weapons.” [Wikipedia]
50] -- Deterrence in South Asia is becoming less stable with the passage of time and an increase in nuclear weapon capabilities. India and Pakistan have not addressed basic issues in dispute, nor have they agreed to set them aside. In 2015, the two countries are no closer to resolving their differences than they were seven years ago, after members of Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out attacks against Mumbai landmarks.
The Stimson Center is publishing a collection of essays, "Deterrence Instability and Nuclear Weapons in South Asia," edited by Michael Krepon, Joshua T. White, Julia Thompson, and Shane Mason. These essays by Manoj Joshi, Shashank Joshi, Michael Krepon, Jeffrey D. McCausland, Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Sarang Shidore, and Joshua T. White and Kyle Deming clarify how doctrinal, strategic, and technological developments contribute to growing deterrence instability in South Asia. Taken together, these chapters point to serious challenges associated with increased nuclear dangers unless leaders in India and Pakistan work to resolve their grievances, or consider measures to mitigate their costly and risky strategic competition. A book launch and an on-the-record discussion with a light lunch and free copies of the book made available at The Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036 on Wed., Apr. 29 from 12:30 to 2 PM. RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DdfZvda1T2Aa9g67QMrErLb_5IwRsT5PuPYX5YMYCm8/viewform. FOLLOW: @Stimson Center on Twitter for event news, and use #StimsonToday to join the conversation.
51] – The Century Foundation and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council invite you to attend a Capitol Hill Briefing on a new report, A Better Start: Why Classroom Diversity Matters in Early Education on Wed., Apr. 29 from 2 to 3 PM--arrive 15 minutes early to allow time to clear security—in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2226 (House Judiciary Committee Hearing Room), 45 Independence Ave. SW, WDC 20219. Opening Remarks will be made by Mark Zuckerman, President, The Century Foundation & Congressperson Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Ranking Democratic Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. After that, there will be a panel discussion. Over the past decade, public investments in early childhood education have increased, and policymakers have focused on creating high-quality, sustainable preschool programs. However, largely missing from early childhood policy discussions is consideration of classroom diversity and how it affects the equity, quality, and sustainability of preschool programs. Studies have shown that socioeconomically and racially diverse preschool classrooms offer important cognitive and social benefits for children, but few children enrolled in public preschool programs have access to these types of classrooms. Email events@tcf.org. Research for A Better Start was supported by The Century Foundation and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and led by Jeanne L. Reid and Sharon Lynn Kagan of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/capitol-hill-briefing-why-classroom-diversity-matters-in-early-education-tickets-16399401050.
52] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 2 to 3:30 PM, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Area and All Souls Church, in cooperation with Peace Action, will gather with a delegation of approximately 50 Japanese nuclear disarmament activists at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The delegation represents the Japan Council Against A & H Bombs, the largest peace group in Japan and is coming to the nation’s capital directly from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held every five years at the United Nations. The delegation will include Ms. Sachie Yoshizaki, born in Nagasaki on April 21, 1940. At age 5, she suffered from the atomic bombing together with her family members. She is a long-time peace activist who toured the U.S. in 1985.
During the visit, the delegation will tour the Air and Space Museum and see the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the Hiroshima Bomb, and visit the Holocaust Museum. At the White House, they will gather signatures for the Signature Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Over the years, Gensuikyo has gathered tens of millions of signatures calling for nuclear disarmament. Contact John Steinbach at 703-822-3485.
53] – On Wed., Apr. 29 at 3 PM at Freedom Square at Towson University, raise your voice and take a stand in solidarity with Freddy Gray and his family! At 4:22 PM. The students will board the Collegetown Shuttle as well as take cars to Baltimore’s Penn Station to meet up with students from other universities and high schools in the Baltimore area as well as community activists. March to City Hall. See https://www.facebook.com/events/1114419315250140/.
54] – Every 28 hours a Black person is killed in America by law enforcement officers. Go to a speak-out in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. on Wed., Apr. 29 at 5:30 PM. Remember Rekia Boyd and honor the lives of the many Black Women, Transwomen, and Girls impacted by violence. This event will be a time for healing and reflection. Bring your signs. #BlackLivesMatter #RekiaMatters #Blackgirlsmatter. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/471843469632767/.
55] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM attend Promoting Healthy Minds to Support Safe Communities: A Community Conversation About Behavioral Health at 605 Rhode Island Ave. NE, WDC 20001. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/362918153917774/.
56] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, Street Sense, D.C.’s economic opportunity media center, presents the first three productions from its groundbreaking filmmaking cooperative. Cinema from the Street is made up of eight currently or formerly homeless men and women. The Street Sense Filmmakers’ Co-op trains individuals technically and conceptually in the art of visual images. At the Landmark E Street Cinema, 555 11th Street NW, WDC, in part one of a two-part showcase, grapple with a Street poet fighting for his life as he recounts his past to himself, and the world, for the first time. Run with an aspiring Late Show intern in NYC as he attempts to force a meeting with David Letterman and free himself from a third decade in transitional housing. And go toe-to-toe with D.C.’s homeless-run advocacy group as they take on local politicians and stage a rally. The screening concludes with a Q&A with the filmmakers. Tickets are free to the public, but space is limited. Donations may be accepted on site. Visit http://streetsense.org/event/cinema-from-the-street/#.VRwJVPzF-Sr.
57] – On Wed., Apr. 29 from 7 to 8:30 PM, Paul Walker, Green Cross International, Labienne Lips-Dumas, filmmaker and Andrew Weber, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, will discuss "Screening and Discussion of Winds of Chemical Warfare" at the Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP at https://www.armscontrol.org/civicrm/event/register?id=40&reset=1.
58] – On Thurs., Apr. 30 from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, VA, 4444 Arlington Blvd., 22204VACOLAO invites you for a debriefing of its legislative agenda. This lunchtime discussion will focus on bills impacting immigrants introduced during the 2015 Virginia General Assembly. In addition to the legislative record, there will be a discussion of new issue advocacy efforts including the push to provide access to driver’s licenses to aspiring citizens in support of safer roads and the strengthening of Virginia’s economy. Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ef6chrNRg81evvd-yLhSybECDPLqVjb5mLFEdblU7Mw/viewform?c=0&w=1. Call 703-772-1555.
59] – On Thurs., Apr. 30 at 6:30 PM at All Souls Church, 1500 Harvard St. NW, WDC, there will be a community welcome for a delegation from the Japan Council Against A & H Bombs. See “Pictures from A Hiroshima School Yard, a film about how the children from All Souls Church and the children from Honkawa School near ground zero in Hiroshima, in 1946, reached out to each other in friendship following the atomic bombings.
At 8 PM, there will be a community program welcoming the Gensuikyo. In addition to Ms. Yoshizaki’s testimony about her suffering during the Nagasaki bombing, the gathering will hear from Professor Peter Kuznick, Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, and Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action, the nation’s largest grass roots peace group. In addition there will be reports from the NPT Conference and time for questions.
60] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. CHASING ICE [USA, 2012] will be shown with a discussion to follow on Fri., May 1 at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, around 7:15 PM. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at Verizon.net.
This documentary is about James Balog and his team on the Extreme Ice Survey as they assemble a multiyear chronicle of the planet's rapidly melting glaciers. Jeff Orlowski expertly films this risky attempt to "chase ice." Balog has photographed many stories and films for National Geographic, often about endangered species. This time he made repeated expeditions to Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and Montana to install stop-motion cameras in order to view the devastation wreaked by climate chaos on glaciers. The Extreme Ice Survey has been collecting the results since 2007, and it is terrifying to see glaciers retreating from ice mountains to expose the rock they rest on. Determined to continue the project, this scientist has to undergo knee surgery, after all of those mountain treks. Yet you will see him returning to inspect his cameras — on crutches. This documentary qualifies as a horror film.
61] – Hold the Dates for the 30th Annual Peace, Justice, & Environment Conference, sponsored by Maryland United for Peace and Justice/Institute For Positive Action. Coordination and Cooperation for Action to Achieve Peace and Social Justice is happening Fri., May 1 and Sat., May 2 at Salem Lutheran Church, Catonsville, MD. Email phamm001@earthlink.net or call 443-418-5479 (c-Paulette). Go to www.mupj.org.
62] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.
63] -- 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.
64] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
65] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
66] -- 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.
67] – 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
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
State of Emergency in Baltimore, and the Beat goes on
Friends,
As peace and justice advocates, we have a responsibility to aid those who are suffering, especially in Baltimore. These are serious times with serious problems in Baltimore, and we need serious solutions.
About 50 % of the federal budget goes to warmongering, and those are tax dollars which are not going to rebuild our infrastructure. And the war machine only protects the 1 %. And where are the living wage jobs? Let me know of any suggestions you might have to help solve the immediate needs of the suffering in Baltimore, as well as any long-term solutions. The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore and probably other groups want to do something. Finally, note that I am fine, and that I will be protesting John Hopkins University swarming drones research at 33rd & N. Charles Streets on Tuesday, April 28 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM.
Kagiso,
Max
Willa Bickham - Viva CW House
Vivacatholicworker at gmail.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 6:52 AM
April 28, 2015
Dear Friends,
We received many e-mails and phone calls about the situation in Baltimore. This is how we view things looking up from the bottom.
Viva House is located on South Mount St., roughly three-quarters of a mile from North Mount and Presbury Sts. where Freddie Gray was arrested and murdered by the Baltimore police. The closest fires are about 5 blocks from the house. As we write, our block is tense but safe.
The rioting, looting, and mayhem are the results of decades of police brutality and outright murders of Baltimore residents. We have our own list of victims whose murderers run free without indictments.
The unrest and anger are the results of decades of unemployment (over 50% in our zip code), decades of miserable uninhabitable housing, decades of under-funded chaotic schools, decades of the drug trade, and, it goes without saying, centuries of racism.
The violence began with Columbus and has become “as American as cherry pie.” Most recently our merciless invasion of Vietnam, our invasions and bombings of Iraq/Afghanistan, teach our youth that all of this genocide is right and just. Indeed, the “chickens have come home to roost.” This time in Baltimore. The ruling class, the economic elites, the 1% have always been protected by the military and all branches of local police. The most violent country in the world has produced citizens, unfortunately another generation of young people, who will believe that violence is the solution to all problems.
The week-long curfew will end. The National Guard will pull out. The ball parks will re-open. The dice will roll at the casino. Shopping for useless junk will resume. People who work in finance, investment, development, and tourism will go back to making money. Probably even more money. And, all of this as if nothing happened.
And life in the “outer harbor,” life in the other Baltimore where people struggle and suffer great injustice, will also continue. But we know what has been happening. The future?
As for Viva House….we open this Wednesday as usual. And nonviolence will be served too.
All the best,
Viva,
Willa and Brendan Walsh - Viva CW House
Vivacatholicworker at gmail.com
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
As peace and justice advocates, we have a responsibility to aid those who are suffering, especially in Baltimore. These are serious times with serious problems in Baltimore, and we need serious solutions.
About 50 % of the federal budget goes to warmongering, and those are tax dollars which are not going to rebuild our infrastructure. And the war machine only protects the 1 %. And where are the living wage jobs? Let me know of any suggestions you might have to help solve the immediate needs of the suffering in Baltimore, as well as any long-term solutions. The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore and probably other groups want to do something. Finally, note that I am fine, and that I will be protesting John Hopkins University swarming drones research at 33rd & N. Charles Streets on Tuesday, April 28 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM.
Kagiso,
Max
Willa Bickham - Viva CW House
Vivacatholicworker at gmail.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 6:52 AM
April 28, 2015
Dear Friends,
We received many e-mails and phone calls about the situation in Baltimore. This is how we view things looking up from the bottom.
Viva House is located on South Mount St., roughly three-quarters of a mile from North Mount and Presbury Sts. where Freddie Gray was arrested and murdered by the Baltimore police. The closest fires are about 5 blocks from the house. As we write, our block is tense but safe.
The rioting, looting, and mayhem are the results of decades of police brutality and outright murders of Baltimore residents. We have our own list of victims whose murderers run free without indictments.
The unrest and anger are the results of decades of unemployment (over 50% in our zip code), decades of miserable uninhabitable housing, decades of under-funded chaotic schools, decades of the drug trade, and, it goes without saying, centuries of racism.
The violence began with Columbus and has become “as American as cherry pie.” Most recently our merciless invasion of Vietnam, our invasions and bombings of Iraq/Afghanistan, teach our youth that all of this genocide is right and just. Indeed, the “chickens have come home to roost.” This time in Baltimore. The ruling class, the economic elites, the 1% have always been protected by the military and all branches of local police. The most violent country in the world has produced citizens, unfortunately another generation of young people, who will believe that violence is the solution to all problems.
The week-long curfew will end. The National Guard will pull out. The ball parks will re-open. The dice will roll at the casino. Shopping for useless junk will resume. People who work in finance, investment, development, and tourism will go back to making money. Probably even more money. And, all of this as if nothing happened.
And life in the “outer harbor,” life in the other Baltimore where people struggle and suffer great injustice, will also continue. But we know what has been happening. The future?
As for Viva House….we open this Wednesday as usual. And nonviolence will be served too.
All the best,
Viva,
Willa and Brendan Walsh - Viva CW House
Vivacatholicworker at gmail.com
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
Friends: Man's death after arrest reveals Baltimore dynamics
Protest will take place on Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 1:30 PM at City Hall, and at 5 PM at the Western District Police Station.
http://www.englishbmt.com/w/28265/wires/ap/article-3050147/Protesters-Baltimore-streets-mans-death.html
Friends: Man's death after arrest reveals Baltimore dynamics
By Associated Press
Published: 23:21 EST, 22 April 2015 | Updated: 23:22 EST, 22 April 2015
BALTIMORE (AP) — Slight and slender at just 5-feet 8-inches and 145 pounds, 25-year-old Freddie Gray was a warm, funny, generous figure in Baltimore's predominantly poor and African American Sandtown community, his friends and relatives said.
The young man who died of traumatic spinal injury a week after his April 12 arrest used to give his hand-me-down clothes to younger children and crack jokes whenever anyone was having a bad day, they said.
But as demonstrators poured into Baltimore's streets following Gray's death, community members said Gray — who like many of his peers also had a criminal record — symbolizes the experiences of many black men in Baltimore, living in poverty and in fear of the police who patrol their neighborhoods.
A member of the Baltimore Police Department stands guard outside of the department's Western District police station as men hold their hands up in protest during a march for Freddie Gray, Wednesday, April 22, 2015, in Baltimore. Gray died from spinal injuries about a week after he was arrested and transported in a police van. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
"He was a typical Sandtown kid," said Sean Price, who grew up there. "He wasn't perfect, but neither is anybody. This isn't anything new. Freddie Gray is just a microcosm of what happens every day in Sandtown, in Baltimore."
Gray was arrested April 12 after police "made eye contact" with him and another man in an area known for drug activity, police said, and both men started running. Gray was handcuffed and put in a transport van.
Exactly what happened in the van and how he was injured are still unknown. But he died a week later in a hospital of what police described as "a significant spinal injury."
The six officers involved in the arrest have been suspended with pay. Attorney Michael Davey, whose firm contracts with the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police, said five of the six gave voluntary statements. Davey said all six are under criminal investigation.
Demonstrators who have protested peacefully against Gray's death for several days took to the streets again Wednesday in two separate actions.
As one group cursed at police and threw some soda cans at them at a police barricade, another marched 20 blocks to City Hall, at times blocking intersections and disruption traffic as they shouted: "No justice, no peace."
Three people were detained, no one was hurt, and the protests remained largely peaceful.
Bernadette Washington, who said she has been marching every day since Gray's death, said: "All we want is justice."
The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday that it will investigate to determine whether police violated Gray's civil rights. Local authorities have promised to conduct a transparent investigation.
At a news conference Wednesday, Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 President Gene Ryan acknowledged a need "to improve the relationship between the police department and the community," and said most police officers "are very professional, highly trained and self-motivated."
The Sandtown neighborhood in West Baltimore surrounds blocks of red-brick public housing called the Gilmor Homes. Trees are sparse amid abandoned lots overgrown with grass and crumbling, burned-out row homes, their doors and windows boarded up.
James Brown, who lives across from the corner where Gray was arrested, said he saw Gray taken away in the police van. Brown said the community has many questions.
"But what I want to know is, why did they chase him?" he added.
As a boy, friends said, Gray loved to play sports, and was on the football team at Carver Vocational-Technical High School. Childhood friend William Stewart, who had known Gray for 20 years, said he "laughed all day and smiled all the time.
"He had that spark," he said.
Gray also had several drug-related convictions and was scheduled to appear in court on a recent charge in May. In high-crime areas like Sandtown, residents say criminal records are not uncommon.
"He also had his troubles, but so does everybody," Stewart said. "I have a criminal record. But if I'm walking down the street minding my own business and the police kill me, does that have anything to do with it?"
Danielle Hall, another friend of Gray's, said the relationship between law enforcement and the neighborhood is so contentious that many believe it's safer to run from police than stand still.
"People run every day from the police. Why wouldn't you run when every time you turn you're getting harassed? ... Why stop when you already know what they'll do to you? Rough you up, throw you on the ground?"
Police said Wednesday that investigators had met with the six suspended officers. Five provided statements, which police said would be turned over to the Baltimore state's attorney.
The Baltimore police commissioner, mayor, state's attorney and city council president are all African American. But racially charged tension between the police and Baltimore residents — roughly 63 percent black and 23 percent below the poverty line, according to 2013 census statistics — persists.
In 2010, the city settled a long-running lawsuit alleging improper arrests. Sonia Kumar, an ACLU attorney, said at the time it was filed roughly 30 percent of arrestees were released without charges. Today, that number is closer to 4 percent.
But Kumar said work remains to be done.
"There have been countless conversations in the past several years about the relationships between police and the residents of Baltimore," Kumar said. "In virtually every conversation there's recognition of a profound mistrust and the need to correct it."
Protesters in Baltimore took to the streets in 2013 and 2014 over three other deaths in police custody. None of the officers in those cases were charged.
"The police are supposed to protect and serve," said Davon Crawford, 28, as he watched a crowd gather on the site of Gray's arrest Tuesday evening. "But who are they protecting? If you're here protecting me, why would you hurt me?"
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Barakat contributed to this report.
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
http://www.englishbmt.com/w/28265/wires/ap/article-3050147/Protesters-Baltimore-streets-mans-death.html
Friends: Man's death after arrest reveals Baltimore dynamics
By Associated Press
Published: 23:21 EST, 22 April 2015 | Updated: 23:22 EST, 22 April 2015
BALTIMORE (AP) — Slight and slender at just 5-feet 8-inches and 145 pounds, 25-year-old Freddie Gray was a warm, funny, generous figure in Baltimore's predominantly poor and African American Sandtown community, his friends and relatives said.
The young man who died of traumatic spinal injury a week after his April 12 arrest used to give his hand-me-down clothes to younger children and crack jokes whenever anyone was having a bad day, they said.
But as demonstrators poured into Baltimore's streets following Gray's death, community members said Gray — who like many of his peers also had a criminal record — symbolizes the experiences of many black men in Baltimore, living in poverty and in fear of the police who patrol their neighborhoods.
A member of the Baltimore Police Department stands guard outside of the department's Western District police station as men hold their hands up in protest during a march for Freddie Gray, Wednesday, April 22, 2015, in Baltimore. Gray died from spinal injuries about a week after he was arrested and transported in a police van. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
"He was a typical Sandtown kid," said Sean Price, who grew up there. "He wasn't perfect, but neither is anybody. This isn't anything new. Freddie Gray is just a microcosm of what happens every day in Sandtown, in Baltimore."
Gray was arrested April 12 after police "made eye contact" with him and another man in an area known for drug activity, police said, and both men started running. Gray was handcuffed and put in a transport van.
Exactly what happened in the van and how he was injured are still unknown. But he died a week later in a hospital of what police described as "a significant spinal injury."
The six officers involved in the arrest have been suspended with pay. Attorney Michael Davey, whose firm contracts with the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police, said five of the six gave voluntary statements. Davey said all six are under criminal investigation.
Demonstrators who have protested peacefully against Gray's death for several days took to the streets again Wednesday in two separate actions.
As one group cursed at police and threw some soda cans at them at a police barricade, another marched 20 blocks to City Hall, at times blocking intersections and disruption traffic as they shouted: "No justice, no peace."
Three people were detained, no one was hurt, and the protests remained largely peaceful.
Bernadette Washington, who said she has been marching every day since Gray's death, said: "All we want is justice."
The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday that it will investigate to determine whether police violated Gray's civil rights. Local authorities have promised to conduct a transparent investigation.
At a news conference Wednesday, Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 President Gene Ryan acknowledged a need "to improve the relationship between the police department and the community," and said most police officers "are very professional, highly trained and self-motivated."
The Sandtown neighborhood in West Baltimore surrounds blocks of red-brick public housing called the Gilmor Homes. Trees are sparse amid abandoned lots overgrown with grass and crumbling, burned-out row homes, their doors and windows boarded up.
James Brown, who lives across from the corner where Gray was arrested, said he saw Gray taken away in the police van. Brown said the community has many questions.
"But what I want to know is, why did they chase him?" he added.
As a boy, friends said, Gray loved to play sports, and was on the football team at Carver Vocational-Technical High School. Childhood friend William Stewart, who had known Gray for 20 years, said he "laughed all day and smiled all the time.
"He had that spark," he said.
Gray also had several drug-related convictions and was scheduled to appear in court on a recent charge in May. In high-crime areas like Sandtown, residents say criminal records are not uncommon.
"He also had his troubles, but so does everybody," Stewart said. "I have a criminal record. But if I'm walking down the street minding my own business and the police kill me, does that have anything to do with it?"
Danielle Hall, another friend of Gray's, said the relationship between law enforcement and the neighborhood is so contentious that many believe it's safer to run from police than stand still.
"People run every day from the police. Why wouldn't you run when every time you turn you're getting harassed? ... Why stop when you already know what they'll do to you? Rough you up, throw you on the ground?"
Police said Wednesday that investigators had met with the six suspended officers. Five provided statements, which police said would be turned over to the Baltimore state's attorney.
The Baltimore police commissioner, mayor, state's attorney and city council president are all African American. But racially charged tension between the police and Baltimore residents — roughly 63 percent black and 23 percent below the poverty line, according to 2013 census statistics — persists.
In 2010, the city settled a long-running lawsuit alleging improper arrests. Sonia Kumar, an ACLU attorney, said at the time it was filed roughly 30 percent of arrestees were released without charges. Today, that number is closer to 4 percent.
But Kumar said work remains to be done.
"There have been countless conversations in the past several years about the relationships between police and the residents of Baltimore," Kumar said. "In virtually every conversation there's recognition of a profound mistrust and the need to correct it."
Protesters in Baltimore took to the streets in 2013 and 2014 over three other deaths in police custody. None of the officers in those cases were charged.
"The police are supposed to protect and serve," said Davon Crawford, 28, as he watched a crowd gather on the site of Gray's arrest Tuesday evening. "But who are they protecting? If you're here protecting me, why would you hurt me?"
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Barakat contributed to this report.
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
In Stealth Move, Congress Backs Israeli Right's War on Settlement Boycotts
Published on Portside (https://portside.org)
In Stealth Move, Congress Backs Israeli Right's War on Settlement Boycotts
http://forward.com/opinion/306743/congress-backs-israeli-rights-war-on-settlement-boycotts
April 26, 2015
J.J. Goldberg
Friday, April 24, 2015
Forward
The finance committees of the House and Senate have approved amendments to a trade bill that equate boycotts of West Bank settlement products with boycotts of Israel, strengthening efforts by the Israeli right to silence opponents of West Bank settlements.
Both committees approved the amendments unanimously. Each committee then approved its version of the trade bill on a split vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats divided for and against.
The nearly identical amendments [1] require U.S. trade negotiators to “discourage politically motivated actions” by foreign countries and international organizations that aim to “penalize or otherwise limit” commercial relations with Israel or “persons doing business in Israel or in territories controlled by Israel.” The Senate Finance Committee took its action on Wednesday evening and the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday evening.
A separate measure approved by the House panel as an amendment to the customs bill goes a step further and takes action against some foreign companies if they shun the settlements, as called for by 16 of the 28 member-states of the European Union.
A press release [2] issued Thursday evening by the main sponsor of the House measure, GOP Rep. Peter Hoskam of Illinois, said the amendments “aim to counter the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel by requiring U.S. trade negotiators to make rejection of BDS a principal trade objective in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the European Union.”
“This is nothing short of a historic win for the U.S.-Israel relationship and a hammer blow to the BDS movement — a campaign solely dedicated to the delegitimization and isolation of our ally Israel,” Hoskam was quoted as saying.
The phrase “in Israel or in territories controlled by Israel” is identical to the language of an Israeli anti-boycott bill that was adopted by the Knesset [3] in 2011 and upheld [4] by Israel’s High Court of Justice last week, punishing Israelis who advocate either type of boycott.
The addition of the phrase “or in territories controlled by Israel” is significant because “Israel” is defined — in both U.S. and Israeli law — as the area inside the pre-1967 armistice line known as the Green Line. Despite the insistence of many pro-Israel activists that the Green Line never constituted a border, most of the territory captured by Israel in 1967 remains under the administration of the Israeli military and outside Israeli sovereignty as defined by Israel.
The Knesset extended Israeli civil law to the captured areas of East Jerusalem in 1967 and 1980 and to the Golan Heights in 1981, but none of the measures spoke of “annexation” or of extending Israeli sovereignty to those areas.
Most nations regard Israeli civilian settlements in the post-1967 territories as illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which governs the treatment of territories captured by one nation from another nation in war and forbids transfer of the occupying nation’s civilians into the occupied territory. Israel says the convention doesn’t apply to the West Bank because the territory was captured from Jordan, which was not the legal sovereign. No other nation accepts Israel’s reading. The United States rejects Israel’s reading of the convention but has declined to label the settlements “illegal,” preferring to call them “obstacles to peace.”
This week’s congressional committee measures appear to be the first-ever formal step toward U.S. government recognition of the settlements’ legitimacy. None of the Capitol Hill sources contacted appeared to be aware of the explosive significance of the “territories under the control of Israel” clause.
The global BDS movement [5], launched in 2005 by a group of Palestinian non-governmental organizations, pressures governments, unions, companies, universities and others to end all commercial, academic and cultural ties with Israel “until it meets its obligations under international law.” It seeks to end Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands,” attain “full equality” for “Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel” and permit “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.” Proponents are divided on whether or not they seek to eliminate the independent existence of the state of Israel.
Advocates of boycotting settlement products, by contrast, seek to protest the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on the belief that settlements make it increasingly difficult for Israel to contemplate withdrawing from the territories, which they see as essential to ensure Israel’s long-term security.
Israeli rightists have sought in recent years to conflate the two efforts — boycotting Israel as a way of weakening it, versus opposing settlements as a way of ensuring Israel’s future — by referring to both as variants of global BDS. The aim is to cripple opponents of the settlements, both inside and outside Israel, by painting them as anti-Zionists opposed to Israel’s survival. The passage of the 2011 anti-boycott law by the Netanyahu coalition was a major victory for the right’s pro-settlement effort.
Far-right groups in the United States, including the Zionist Organization of America and some smaller groups, have brought that effort into this country in recent years. Among other things they’ve sought to bar Labor Zionists from running candidates in the World Zionist Congress elections; prevent the New Israel Fund and Partners for Progressive Israel, the parent organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, from participating in New York’s annual Salute to Israel Parade; and remove New Israel Fund donors from leadership positions in New York’s UJA-Federation.
Leaders of mainstream organizations have dismissed the rightists’ efforts as marginal and doomed to failure. The new measures in Congress will undoubtedly add new fuel to the rightists’ efforts.
The congressional anti-boycott amendments are attached to bills easing White House efforts to negotiate controversial trade agreements. Both versions specify that the new anti-boycott provisions apply only to negotiations with Europe over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and not to the better-known Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asia.
European boycott efforts currently in effect or in the pipeline that might fall under the new congressional measures are nearly all limited to the settlements, not to Israel proper. Moreover, the United States already has stiff measures on the books, going back to the 1970s, that target boycotts against Israel. The sole effect of the new congressional measures, therefore, is to extend U.S. protection to the settlements “in territories controlled by Israel.”
The Senate amendment was cosponsored by Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. It was based on a stand-alone measure [6] introduced by Cardin in March.
The House amendment was sponsored by Roskam and Democrat Juan Vargas of California. The language was taken from a far more sweeping measure that Roskam submitted to the House in February, the United States-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act (H.R. 825 [7]). It was adopted Thursday night as part of the Ways and Means committee’s markup of a customs bill.
Unlike the amendments adopted this week, Roskam’s larger bill wouldn’t merely “discourage” European boycotts of Israel and the settlements. It also would amend existing law to require direct federal action to prevent boycotts of Israel and the settlements.
Among other things, the Roskam bill would require the president to report to Congress on foreign efforts to boycott Israel or “territories under the control of Israel,” as well as on steps taken by the United States to combat boycotts. It would also amend the New Deal-era Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require that foreign entities issuing stocks or bonds in the United States report any participation in boycotts, as well as any effort by a foreign government to induce them to boycott.
The bill makes reference to the American anti-boycott laws enacted in 1976 and 1979, which impose tax and other sanctions on companies boycotting Israel. However, a House staffer said the new measure doesn’t amend those laws to include the settlements, because they’re specifically targeted at entities complying with the Arab League’s boycott of Israel.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2015-04-27/stealth-move-congress-backs-israeli-rights-war-settlement-boycotts
Links:
[1] http://roskam.house.gov/sites/roskam.house.gov/files/ROSKAM_022_xml.pdf
[2] http://roskam.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-senate-panels-adopt-measures-to-combat-boycott-of-israel
[3] http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Anti-boycott-bill-becomes-law-after-passing-Knesset
[4] http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/High-Court-rules-on-boycott-law-398206
[5] http://www.bdsmovement.net/
[6] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/619/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22S+619%22%5D%7D
[7] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/825/text
- See more at: https://portside.org/print/node/8634#sthash.D6zXiI6Y.dpuf
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
In Stealth Move, Congress Backs Israeli Right's War on Settlement Boycotts
http://forward.com/opinion/306743/congress-backs-israeli-rights-war-on-settlement-boycotts
April 26, 2015
J.J. Goldberg
Friday, April 24, 2015
Forward
The finance committees of the House and Senate have approved amendments to a trade bill that equate boycotts of West Bank settlement products with boycotts of Israel, strengthening efforts by the Israeli right to silence opponents of West Bank settlements.
Both committees approved the amendments unanimously. Each committee then approved its version of the trade bill on a split vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats divided for and against.
The nearly identical amendments [1] require U.S. trade negotiators to “discourage politically motivated actions” by foreign countries and international organizations that aim to “penalize or otherwise limit” commercial relations with Israel or “persons doing business in Israel or in territories controlled by Israel.” The Senate Finance Committee took its action on Wednesday evening and the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday evening.
A separate measure approved by the House panel as an amendment to the customs bill goes a step further and takes action against some foreign companies if they shun the settlements, as called for by 16 of the 28 member-states of the European Union.
A press release [2] issued Thursday evening by the main sponsor of the House measure, GOP Rep. Peter Hoskam of Illinois, said the amendments “aim to counter the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel by requiring U.S. trade negotiators to make rejection of BDS a principal trade objective in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the European Union.”
“This is nothing short of a historic win for the U.S.-Israel relationship and a hammer blow to the BDS movement — a campaign solely dedicated to the delegitimization and isolation of our ally Israel,” Hoskam was quoted as saying.
The phrase “in Israel or in territories controlled by Israel” is identical to the language of an Israeli anti-boycott bill that was adopted by the Knesset [3] in 2011 and upheld [4] by Israel’s High Court of Justice last week, punishing Israelis who advocate either type of boycott.
The addition of the phrase “or in territories controlled by Israel” is significant because “Israel” is defined — in both U.S. and Israeli law — as the area inside the pre-1967 armistice line known as the Green Line. Despite the insistence of many pro-Israel activists that the Green Line never constituted a border, most of the territory captured by Israel in 1967 remains under the administration of the Israeli military and outside Israeli sovereignty as defined by Israel.
The Knesset extended Israeli civil law to the captured areas of East Jerusalem in 1967 and 1980 and to the Golan Heights in 1981, but none of the measures spoke of “annexation” or of extending Israeli sovereignty to those areas.
Most nations regard Israeli civilian settlements in the post-1967 territories as illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which governs the treatment of territories captured by one nation from another nation in war and forbids transfer of the occupying nation’s civilians into the occupied territory. Israel says the convention doesn’t apply to the West Bank because the territory was captured from Jordan, which was not the legal sovereign. No other nation accepts Israel’s reading. The United States rejects Israel’s reading of the convention but has declined to label the settlements “illegal,” preferring to call them “obstacles to peace.”
This week’s congressional committee measures appear to be the first-ever formal step toward U.S. government recognition of the settlements’ legitimacy. None of the Capitol Hill sources contacted appeared to be aware of the explosive significance of the “territories under the control of Israel” clause.
The global BDS movement [5], launched in 2005 by a group of Palestinian non-governmental organizations, pressures governments, unions, companies, universities and others to end all commercial, academic and cultural ties with Israel “until it meets its obligations under international law.” It seeks to end Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands,” attain “full equality” for “Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel” and permit “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.” Proponents are divided on whether or not they seek to eliminate the independent existence of the state of Israel.
Advocates of boycotting settlement products, by contrast, seek to protest the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on the belief that settlements make it increasingly difficult for Israel to contemplate withdrawing from the territories, which they see as essential to ensure Israel’s long-term security.
Israeli rightists have sought in recent years to conflate the two efforts — boycotting Israel as a way of weakening it, versus opposing settlements as a way of ensuring Israel’s future — by referring to both as variants of global BDS. The aim is to cripple opponents of the settlements, both inside and outside Israel, by painting them as anti-Zionists opposed to Israel’s survival. The passage of the 2011 anti-boycott law by the Netanyahu coalition was a major victory for the right’s pro-settlement effort.
Far-right groups in the United States, including the Zionist Organization of America and some smaller groups, have brought that effort into this country in recent years. Among other things they’ve sought to bar Labor Zionists from running candidates in the World Zionist Congress elections; prevent the New Israel Fund and Partners for Progressive Israel, the parent organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, from participating in New York’s annual Salute to Israel Parade; and remove New Israel Fund donors from leadership positions in New York’s UJA-Federation.
Leaders of mainstream organizations have dismissed the rightists’ efforts as marginal and doomed to failure. The new measures in Congress will undoubtedly add new fuel to the rightists’ efforts.
The congressional anti-boycott amendments are attached to bills easing White House efforts to negotiate controversial trade agreements. Both versions specify that the new anti-boycott provisions apply only to negotiations with Europe over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and not to the better-known Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asia.
European boycott efforts currently in effect or in the pipeline that might fall under the new congressional measures are nearly all limited to the settlements, not to Israel proper. Moreover, the United States already has stiff measures on the books, going back to the 1970s, that target boycotts against Israel. The sole effect of the new congressional measures, therefore, is to extend U.S. protection to the settlements “in territories controlled by Israel.”
The Senate amendment was cosponsored by Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. It was based on a stand-alone measure [6] introduced by Cardin in March.
The House amendment was sponsored by Roskam and Democrat Juan Vargas of California. The language was taken from a far more sweeping measure that Roskam submitted to the House in February, the United States-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act (H.R. 825 [7]). It was adopted Thursday night as part of the Ways and Means committee’s markup of a customs bill.
Unlike the amendments adopted this week, Roskam’s larger bill wouldn’t merely “discourage” European boycotts of Israel and the settlements. It also would amend existing law to require direct federal action to prevent boycotts of Israel and the settlements.
Among other things, the Roskam bill would require the president to report to Congress on foreign efforts to boycott Israel or “territories under the control of Israel,” as well as on steps taken by the United States to combat boycotts. It would also amend the New Deal-era Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require that foreign entities issuing stocks or bonds in the United States report any participation in boycotts, as well as any effort by a foreign government to induce them to boycott.
The bill makes reference to the American anti-boycott laws enacted in 1976 and 1979, which impose tax and other sanctions on companies boycotting Israel. However, a House staffer said the new measure doesn’t amend those laws to include the settlements, because they’re specifically targeted at entities complying with the Arab League’s boycott of Israel.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2015-04-27/stealth-move-congress-backs-israeli-rights-war-settlement-boycotts
Links:
[1] http://roskam.house.gov/sites/roskam.house.gov/files/ROSKAM_022_xml.pdf
[2] http://roskam.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-senate-panels-adopt-measures-to-combat-boycott-of-israel
[3] http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Anti-boycott-bill-becomes-law-after-passing-Knesset
[4] http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/High-Court-rules-on-boycott-law-398206
[5] http://www.bdsmovement.net/
[6] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/619/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22S+619%22%5D%7D
[7] https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/825/text
- See more at: https://portside.org/print/node/8634#sthash.D6zXiI6Y.dpuf
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
Monday, April 27, 2015
Sister Rice Goes After the Bomb
Published on Portside (https://portside.org)
Sister Rice Goes After the Bomb
http://otherwords.org/sister-rice-goes-after-the-bomb/
Peter Weiss
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Other Words
Last March, Sister Megan Rice stood before a federal court in Cincinnati. Along with her companions Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, the 85-year-old Catholic nun was appealing a serious conviction.
Their charge? Sabotaging the “national defense.”
Sabotage, which conjures up images of derailed troop trains or water poured into the gas tanks of military vehicles, is a charge prosecutors hardly ever invoke in peacetime. What could these gentle activists have done to warrant it?
On a summer’s eve in 2012, they made their way to the federal Y-12 Nuclear Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. There, the Department of Energy warehouses the enriched, weapons-grade uranium used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Armed only with bolt cutters and small hammers, the three defendants cut their way through a number of fences to reach the storage building. In a series of symbolic gestures of protest, they poured some of their own blood on the outside of the building and hammered away a tiny piece of one of its corners.
Then they prayed, sang hymns, and waited to be arrested. They caused no functional damage to the building and didn’t attempt to enter it.
Pressed by federal prosecutors, the three people of faith refused to accept a guilty plea for “depredation of government property.”
Nuclear Controlled Area
rocbolt/Flickr
They believed that the object of their protest — a nuclear weapons arsenal capable of wiping out the human race — was infinitely more criminal than their act of protest itself. So the government, in an unprecedented demonstration of spitefulness, raised the charges to sabotage.
Legally, sabotage consists of two elements, both of which must be present to produce a conviction.
The first is the destruction of “national defense property” — in this case, holes cut in four fences. The second is intent to injure or obstruct “the national defense of the United States.”
Where was that injury at Oak Ridge? The government argued, incredibly, that the temporary distraction of a few security personnel fit the bill. Even more incredibly, the jury bought that argument.
The Y-12 employees who came to arrest the old nun and her fellow protesters weren’t taken away from computers monitoring incoming rockets — there are no such computers at Y-12. They weren’t waiting for word from the president to launch nuclear weapons at an enemy — there are no launch pads for ballistic missiles at Y-12.
In fact, Y-12 is a warehouse, not a command center. And the defendants had no access to the nuclear material stored there, nor did they seek it. If anything, they served the “national defense” by demonstrating how inadequate the security was at Y-12.
There’s more at stake in this case than the heavy sentences — three years for Sister Rice, five each for her companions — imposed on the three defendants. If the court upholds their convictions, it will vastly increase the definition of “sabotage” to include nonviolent protest against government policies.
A similar redefinition is underway for the charge of “espionage,” which prosecutors have levied against conscientious whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. In both cases, the government has found new weapons to punish people whose only real crime is embarrassing the authorities.
The three protesters at Oak Ridge called their action “Transform Now Plowshares [1],” taking their cue from the prophet Isaiah’s mandate to transform swords into plowshares.
But if their convictions stand, it will set a precedent for transforming protest into sabotage.
Peter Weiss is the President Emeritus of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2015-04-25/sister-rice-goes-after-bomb
Links:
[1] https://transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com/
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
Sister Rice Goes After the Bomb
http://otherwords.org/sister-rice-goes-after-the-bomb/
Peter Weiss
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Other Words
Last March, Sister Megan Rice stood before a federal court in Cincinnati. Along with her companions Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, the 85-year-old Catholic nun was appealing a serious conviction.
Their charge? Sabotaging the “national defense.”
Sabotage, which conjures up images of derailed troop trains or water poured into the gas tanks of military vehicles, is a charge prosecutors hardly ever invoke in peacetime. What could these gentle activists have done to warrant it?
On a summer’s eve in 2012, they made their way to the federal Y-12 Nuclear Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. There, the Department of Energy warehouses the enriched, weapons-grade uranium used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Armed only with bolt cutters and small hammers, the three defendants cut their way through a number of fences to reach the storage building. In a series of symbolic gestures of protest, they poured some of their own blood on the outside of the building and hammered away a tiny piece of one of its corners.
Then they prayed, sang hymns, and waited to be arrested. They caused no functional damage to the building and didn’t attempt to enter it.
Pressed by federal prosecutors, the three people of faith refused to accept a guilty plea for “depredation of government property.”
Nuclear Controlled Area
rocbolt/Flickr
They believed that the object of their protest — a nuclear weapons arsenal capable of wiping out the human race — was infinitely more criminal than their act of protest itself. So the government, in an unprecedented demonstration of spitefulness, raised the charges to sabotage.
Legally, sabotage consists of two elements, both of which must be present to produce a conviction.
The first is the destruction of “national defense property” — in this case, holes cut in four fences. The second is intent to injure or obstruct “the national defense of the United States.”
Where was that injury at Oak Ridge? The government argued, incredibly, that the temporary distraction of a few security personnel fit the bill. Even more incredibly, the jury bought that argument.
The Y-12 employees who came to arrest the old nun and her fellow protesters weren’t taken away from computers monitoring incoming rockets — there are no such computers at Y-12. They weren’t waiting for word from the president to launch nuclear weapons at an enemy — there are no launch pads for ballistic missiles at Y-12.
In fact, Y-12 is a warehouse, not a command center. And the defendants had no access to the nuclear material stored there, nor did they seek it. If anything, they served the “national defense” by demonstrating how inadequate the security was at Y-12.
There’s more at stake in this case than the heavy sentences — three years for Sister Rice, five each for her companions — imposed on the three defendants. If the court upholds their convictions, it will vastly increase the definition of “sabotage” to include nonviolent protest against government policies.
A similar redefinition is underway for the charge of “espionage,” which prosecutors have levied against conscientious whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. In both cases, the government has found new weapons to punish people whose only real crime is embarrassing the authorities.
The three protesters at Oak Ridge called their action “Transform Now Plowshares [1],” taking their cue from the prophet Isaiah’s mandate to transform swords into plowshares.
But if their convictions stand, it will set a precedent for transforming protest into sabotage.
Peter Weiss is the President Emeritus of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2015-04-25/sister-rice-goes-after-bomb
Links:
[1] https://transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com/
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
Video: Drones Will Now “Hunt” In Packs and Fly In Swarms
Video: Drones Will Now “Hunt” In Packs and Fly In Swarms
http://yournewswire.com/video-drones-will-now-hunt-in-packs-and-fly-in-swarms/Posted by Royce Christyn in Sci/Environment, US 1 week ago
In a move that is making waves across global media, the United States Navy has released video footage (above) of a new technology for drones called LOCUST, which stands for “Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarming Technology”. The technology will allow drones to now fly in packs, like a flock of killer birds, in order to more accurately eliminate their target.
In essence, LOCUST will allow whoever launches them to have a massive advantage over their enemy by overwhelming them with lethal force, whilst at the same time protecting those that have launched them into the air.
According to an article from RT entitled “Drones will hunt in packs, as US Navy unveils LOCUST prototype launcher“”:
Drone technology is getting ever more deadly. The US Navy has released a video detailing LOCUST – the new tool allowing multiple drones to coordinate and swarm the enemy autonomously. It’s designed to protect large US vessels nearby.
The concept was detailed by the Navy last year, which only this month allowed the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to demonstrate what LOCUST – or the Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarming Technology program – can do. They’re touting the tool as a new era in autonomous warfare.
LOCUST is essentially a system that can launch swarming UAVs to overwhelm the enemy and provide the marines and sailors operating them with a massive tactical advantage, ONR explains in the press release.
“The recent demonstrations are an important step on the way to the 2016 ship-based demonstration of 30 rapidly launched autonomous, swarming UAVs,” program manager Lee Mastroianni says.
“This level of autonomous swarming flight has never been done before… UAVs that are expendable and reconfigurable will free manned aircraft and traditional weapon systems to do more, and essentially multiply combat power at decreased risk to the warfighter,” he adds.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30533" src="http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-17-at-12.50.08-PM.png" alt="drones" />
The program acts in several stages: first, a tube-based launcher will fire a swarm of UAVs from a ship, aircraft, or any surface, for that matter – owing to the device’s small footprint. Once airborne, the drones share information and coordinate an offense or a defense, each drone playing its allotted part.
ONR says the technology is revolutionary in its heavy advantage over remote-controlled UAVs. But safeguards are always needed, so human personnel will be standing by to take over if necessary.
The added benefit of the new drone program, and drones in general, is their ability to save greatly on costs for the US military. The emphasis on autonomy on the battlefield will become even greater over the next 10-15 years, according to the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert’s outline of the strategy.
The ONR is not the first to research the field of multiple UAVs linking up to perform joint tasks. The famous Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA has been pursuing its Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) program, which aims to allow a single pilot to operate multiple drones at once, as well as his own aircraft.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-30534 size-full" src="http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-17-at-12.50.16-PM.png" alt="drones_Screen Shot 2015-04-17 at 12.50.16 PM" width="600" height="304" />
In January, the US military openly declared preparations for new strategies that would drastically change aerial drone warfare. The key objective of this is to move UAVs toward a ‘pack mentality,’ as the LOCUST and CODE programs show.
- See more at: http://yournewswire.com/video-drones-will-now-hunt-in-packs-and-fly-in-swarms/#sthash.xHt0yPfg.dpuf
© 2015 Copyright Your News Wire.
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
http://yournewswire.com/video-drones-will-now-hunt-in-packs-and-fly-in-swarms/Posted by Royce Christyn in Sci/Environment, US 1 week ago
In a move that is making waves across global media, the United States Navy has released video footage (above) of a new technology for drones called LOCUST, which stands for “Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarming Technology”. The technology will allow drones to now fly in packs, like a flock of killer birds, in order to more accurately eliminate their target.
In essence, LOCUST will allow whoever launches them to have a massive advantage over their enemy by overwhelming them with lethal force, whilst at the same time protecting those that have launched them into the air.
According to an article from RT entitled “Drones will hunt in packs, as US Navy unveils LOCUST prototype launcher“”:
Drone technology is getting ever more deadly. The US Navy has released a video detailing LOCUST – the new tool allowing multiple drones to coordinate and swarm the enemy autonomously. It’s designed to protect large US vessels nearby.
The concept was detailed by the Navy last year, which only this month allowed the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to demonstrate what LOCUST – or the Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarming Technology program – can do. They’re touting the tool as a new era in autonomous warfare.
LOCUST is essentially a system that can launch swarming UAVs to overwhelm the enemy and provide the marines and sailors operating them with a massive tactical advantage, ONR explains in the press release.
“The recent demonstrations are an important step on the way to the 2016 ship-based demonstration of 30 rapidly launched autonomous, swarming UAVs,” program manager Lee Mastroianni says.
“This level of autonomous swarming flight has never been done before… UAVs that are expendable and reconfigurable will free manned aircraft and traditional weapon systems to do more, and essentially multiply combat power at decreased risk to the warfighter,” he adds.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30533" src="http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-17-at-12.50.08-PM.png" alt="drones" />
The program acts in several stages: first, a tube-based launcher will fire a swarm of UAVs from a ship, aircraft, or any surface, for that matter – owing to the device’s small footprint. Once airborne, the drones share information and coordinate an offense or a defense, each drone playing its allotted part.
ONR says the technology is revolutionary in its heavy advantage over remote-controlled UAVs. But safeguards are always needed, so human personnel will be standing by to take over if necessary.
The added benefit of the new drone program, and drones in general, is their ability to save greatly on costs for the US military. The emphasis on autonomy on the battlefield will become even greater over the next 10-15 years, according to the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert’s outline of the strategy.
The ONR is not the first to research the field of multiple UAVs linking up to perform joint tasks. The famous Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA has been pursuing its Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) program, which aims to allow a single pilot to operate multiple drones at once, as well as his own aircraft.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-30534 size-full" src="http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-17-at-12.50.16-PM.png" alt="drones_Screen Shot 2015-04-17 at 12.50.16 PM" width="600" height="304" />
In January, the US military openly declared preparations for new strategies that would drastically change aerial drone warfare. The key objective of this is to move UAVs toward a ‘pack mentality,’ as the LOCUST and CODE programs show.
- See more at: http://yournewswire.com/video-drones-will-now-hunt-in-packs-and-fly-in-swarms/#sthash.xHt0yPfg.dpuf
© 2015 Copyright Your News Wire.
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
Baltimore Activist Alert April 24 - 26, 2015
Baltimore Activist Alert April 24 - 26, 2015
"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.
1] Books, buttons & stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists
4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa
5] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore
6] Get your animal friend in the Maryland SPCA 2016 calendar – through May 15
7] SOA Spring Days of Action – through Apr. 25
8] Controlling the use of killer drones – Apr. 24
9] Peace vigil at White House – Apr. 24
10] "Atomic Aversion and Just War Principles" – Apr. 24
11] Max at JHU Spring Fair – Apr. 24 – 26
12] Silent Peace Vigil – Apr. 17
13] NPT gathering – Apr. 24 - 26
14] Together Restoring Economic Empowerment – Apr. 24
15] Benefit at the Orioles game -- Apr. 24
16] Stop Fast Track -- Apr. 24
17] Ballroom Dancing – Apr. 24
18] Mobilized for social change – Apr. 25
19] Volunteer for anti-corruption campaign – Apr. 25
20] West Chester, PA demo -- Apr. 25
21] A vegan speaks – Apr. 25
22] Town hall on females of color – Apr. 25
23] Protest drone war command center – Apr. 25
24] Justice for Freddie Grey – Apr. 25
25] Strengthening Interfaith and Ecumenical Bonds – Apr. 25
26] Concert for Fair Development -- Apr. 25
27] Ascension Towson Nicaragua Partnership Annual Variety Show – Apr. 25
28] Film WITHIN REACH -- Apr. 25
29] Benefit for a homeless shelter and Nicaragua -- Apr. 25
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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 Francine Sheppard at 5639B, Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia 21044. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Francine at 410-992-7679 or FrancineMSW@aol.com.
5] – Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore. Let Max know if you have any leads—410-366-1637 or mobuszewski@verizon.net.
6] – Enter a photo of your animal friend in the Maryland SPCA 2016 Calendar for $50. Each entry also includes one (1) free calendar! Participants can send photos after registration, so don't worry if you need a little extra time to find the purr-fect photo of Fluffy! To enter, go to www.mdspca.org/photo and use discount code "SPCAcalendar" during checkout, or contact Jennifer Mion at petcalendar@mdspca.org or 410-235-8826, ext. 133.
The 2016 Pet Calendar will be a full-color wall calendar, released in the fall of 2015. Thirteen of the best photos will be selected for the cover and pet-of-the-month pages. Photographs must be of animals, no people, and must be in color. High-resolution horizontal photos are preferred. Small photos, especially those taken by phones, are difficult to enlarge. All entered photos will appear in the calendar. A maximum of 400 photos will be accepted through May 15, 2015. The calendar is an important fundraiser for the Maryland SPCA. Proceeds benefit the needy and homeless animals in our care!
7] – Through Sat., Apr. 25, the 2015 Spring Days of Action (SDOA) theme is "Growing Stronger Together - Resisting the 'Drug War' Across the Americas." The “Drug War” is militarizing, incarcerating, and killing communities in Latin America and in the U.S., especially traditionally oppressed peoples. Tell Congress the War on Drugs must end.
The enforced disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico proved once again that the disastrous results of US military aid and training in Latin America are ongoing. Similarly, in Ferguson and other U.S. cities have reminded us that police militarization and the treatment of black and brown people as internal enemies are also major problems in the US, while putting into context what militarization looks like on the ground for so many in Latin America and beyond. Visit http://SOAW.org. Contact Arturo at arturo@soaw.org or call (202) 234-3440.
On Fri., Apr. 24 participate in Grassroots Lobbying, Direct Action, Critical Mass Bike Ride and an 8 PM Concert. Call office for more details at (202) 234-3440. The concert will feature Elena y los Fulanos, Fenomedon. On Sat., Apr. 25 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, there will be an SOA Watch Forum and Strategy Session at the University of District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW.
SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots movement that works to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents.
8] – The United States has been a leader in the use of drones, but the absence of clear policy guidelines and a well-articulated strategy has prompted controversy over key legal and ethical issues. Questions of proper oversight and accountability for drone proliferation and use remain an issue of domestic and international contention.
In light of this continued debate, the Stimson Center – in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America – is convening an expert panel to discuss the challenges posed by drone proliferation, and the potential for developing common international standards to govern their use. The panel will highlight key ethical, legal and proliferation concerns that have been raised by government officials, industry and civil society in the United States and around the world, and will discuss possible approaches to establishing a political or legal framework to guide the transfer and use of drones.
The discussion on drone proliferation, and the potential for developing international standards to guide their sale, transfer, and use will take place at the Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036 on Fri., Apr. 24 from 10 to 11:30 AM. RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13CJcJ7EqGDoLMv-phmkQTylTVlCdKDUHz5cnw6JpKas/viewform.
The panelists are Rosa Brooks, Senior Fellow, New America; Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Elke Schwarz, Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University, and Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law.
Follow @StimsonCenter @StimsonMAB and @rachelstohl on Twitter for news and information on the event, and use #StimsonToday to join the conversation. Contact Shannon Dick at sdick@stimson.org.
9] – On Fri., Apr. 24 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! The vigil takes place at the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.
10] – On Fri., Apr. 24 from noon to 1 PM Scott Sagan, Stanford University, will expound on "Atomic Aversion and Just War Principles" at the Wilson Center, Fifth Floor, Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP at http://pages.wilsoncenter.org/20150424--AtomicAversion_NPIHPEvent.html.
11] – Max will be selling books, vinyl, buttons, bumperstickers and more at the Johns Hopkins Spring Fair on Fri, Apr. 24 from noon to 8 PM, Sat., Apr. 25 from 10 AM to 8 PM and Sun., April 26 from 10 AM to 6 PM. My booth is #1 in the Upper Quad by the Eisenhower Library on the Homewood campus. Call 727-543-3227.
12] – There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St. The next vigil is on Apr. 24, and it will remind us that War Is Not the Answer and that there is the need to stop torture, and prosecute the torturers.
13] – The Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force in 1970 and includes the only existing legal mandate for nuclear disarmament. NPT Article VI calls for all signatories including the USA to negotiate: "a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control." Over 280 organizations--including Physicians for Social Responsibility--have endorsed a series of events in New York City to show public support for disarmament. PSR and Student PSR members will participate in the April 24-25 Peace and Planet conference and the Sun., Apr. 26 rally, interfaith service, march and peace festival.
On the eve of the 5-year Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, thousands of people from around the globe will gather in New York City to demand a nuclear-free, peaceful, just and sustainable world. Activists, scholars, and students with anti-nuclear, peace, and environmental justice movements will call on the NPT Review Conference meeting at the United Nations to mandate the commencement of “good faith negotiations” for the complete elimination of the world’s nuclear arsenals, as required by the Treaty.
Peace and Planet events will kick off with an international conference on Fri., Apr. 24 from 6:30 to 9 PM & Sat., Apr. 25 from 9 AM to 7 PM at the historic Cooper Union, featuring speakers from more than a dozen countries. On Saturday, there will be a PSR-sponsored workshop: “The Humanitarian Impact Initiative” with speakers Shannon Gearhart, MD, Alfred Meyer of PSR-New York, and Martin Fleck, PSR Security Program Director. Go to http://www.peaceandplanet.org/conference-program/.
On Sun., Apr. 26 there are Peace and Planet Events in NYC. From 11 AM to 12:30 PM, there is an Interfaith Convocation for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at the Tillman Chapel of the Church Center at the United Nations, 777 First Ave. Then at 1 PM Rally in Union Square North, East 14th St., Park Avenue South & Broadway NYC 10003. At 2 PM, March starting at Union Square North. Finally, from 3 6 PM get over to the Peace Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, East 47th Street, 2nd Ave., NYC 10017, where millions of petition signatures will be presented to UN and NPT officials. The rally will launch a “Global Wave,” with participants symbolically waving goodbye to nuclear weapons. The Global Wave will travel west, by time zone, with public events scheduled in Papeete, Manila, Amman, Bethlehem, Stockholm, Paris, London, Sao Paulo and points in-between. An Interfaith Service will precede the rally. See http://www.peaceandplanet.org/.
14] – Come to the Moot Court Room, 5th Floor, 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW, WDC 20008 on Fri., Apr. 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM for Together Restoring Economic Empowerment (TREE). Bridge the gap between millennials and substantive plans of action, particularly in minority communities. They are excited about the potential change they can facilitate, and they want to excite others about TREE and our mission, which is why they are hosting this launch event. Go to http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.net/node/14751.
15] – 2015 O's Public Defenders Nights at Camden Yards continue. On Fri., Apr. 24 at 7:05 PM, the Orioles play Boston. Tickets are $13, and net proceeds will be shared among MdSPCA, Md Public Interest Law Program (MPILP), University of Baltimore Students in Public Interest Law (UBSPI), Maryland Legal Aid, Public Justice Center, Md. Criminal Defense Attorneys' Assn. (MCDAA), NACDL's Foundation for Criminal Justice,
Association for the Public Defender of Maryland (APDM), and the Norm Uziak memorial children's scholarship fund. For tickets contact Lou Curran at lcurran@opd.state.md.us or 410-499-8899.
16] – In April 47 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous last speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” which inspired a nation before his assassination. In his speech, he challenged the injustice of poverty experienced by sanitation workers in Memphis and calls us to action to be responsible for making America a better nation. We will celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and continue the dream by highlighting the injustices past trade deals have inflicted on families, workers, and the environment. On Fri., Apr. 24 from 7:30 to 9:30 PM, come to the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church, 9601 Cedar Lane, Bethesda to continue to make a stand for communities and the environment. Preserve the legacy of Dr. King by challenging injustice and disparities at the “Stop Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership” Town Hall.
The Cedar Lane Unitarian Church’s Environmental Task Force has open its doors to the AFL-CIO, Communication Workers of America, Chesapeake Sustainable Business Council, Food & Water Watch, We are CASA, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and the Sierra Club to have an interactive Town Hall "Stop Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership." Each panelist will discuss how trade deals impact our daily lives while highlighting tools we can use to build a new model of trade. Following, there will be a moderated discussion led by leaders from labor, environmental, food sovereignty, small business, and immigrant communities to discuss the importance of opposing fast track for the Trans Pacific Partnership. Email Mgoines@aflcio.org.
17] – 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. 24. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.
18] –The National Museum of the American Indian, Rasmuson Theater, Independence and 4th St. SW, WDC on Sat., Apr. 25 from 9:45 AM to 8:30 PM presents a national conversation by hosting a daylong symposium, History, Rebellion and Reconciliation: Communities Mobilized for Social Change. Admission is free and open to the public; however, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and reservations are recommended. Reserve your free tickets by visiting Eventbrite. Please note if you wish to attend all panels, be sure to reserve a ticket for each panel. View the daylong symposium at Ustream. A dialogue on social media will be held throughout the symposium. The public may follow the museum on Twitter @NMAAHC to participate in the discussion using #HRRlive or #WordsMatter. Email NMAAHCpubpgms@si.edu or call (202) 633-1000.
19] –If you love music and want to help spread the word about an Anti-Corruption Campaign, Represent.Us will be at the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival in Druid Hill Park on Sat., Apr. 25 and the group needs volunteers. If you volunteer, you will get FREE access to the festival. Volunteer shifts will run from 10 AM to 3 PM and 2 to7 PM. If you’re interested in volunteering for one of those shifts, email Christi at Represent.Baltimore@gmail.com.
20] – 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.
21] – At Native Foods Café, 1150 Connecticut Ave., WDC on Sat. Apr. 25 from 11:30 AM to 2 PM, hear from the founder, Aviram Rozin, who will speak about Sadhana Forest, a Vegan Volunteer Community. He is here from India, and his nonprofit addresses issues of deforestation, food security, and climate change in India, Haiti and Kenya. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/425667364271156/.
22] – At Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore on Sat., Apr. 25 from noon to 4 PM, join the African American Policy Forum and the University for a Town Hall Hearing on the challenges facing women and girls of color. RSVP at bit.ly/baltimoretownhall. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/847387361964656/.
23] – Join the demonstrations on the last Saturday of the month, noon to 2 PM, in front of the drone war command center at the Horsham Air Guard Station, Route 611/Easton Road and County Line Road, Horsham, PA. Go to www.brandywinepeace.com/events. Call (610) 544-1818.
24] – Join Justice 4 Freddie Grey citywide protests on Sat., Apr. 25 at 1 PM at Riggs & Mount Sts. Activists will be gathering at the Western District Police Headquarters in the neighborhood where Freddie Grey was arrested. March to downtown Baltimore. There will be support vehicles for those who cannot walk the entire distance. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1573560009587646/.
25] – Strengthening Interfaith and Ecumenical Bonds is happening on Sun., Apr. 26 from 2:30 to 5 PM at Saint John Paul II National Shrine Auditorium, 3900 Harewood Road NE, WDC 20017. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/apr-26-230pm-strengthening-interfaith-and-ecumenical-bonds-tickets-16644813084. Also there will be a discussion on Muslim, Christian and Jewish Initiatives and Resources for Addressing and Countering Violent Extremism including the Threat of ISIS.
26] – Free Your Voice is organizing a celebratory Concert for Fair Development the week of Earth Day on Sat., Apr. 25 from 3 to 5 PM at Benjamin Franklin High School, 1201 Cambria St., Baltimore 21225. It will highlight healthy and equitable alternatives including solar farm projects, zero waste reuse and recycling industries, and local agricultural initiatives.
Amanda Maminski, Curtis Bay resident, “We believe there are other alternatives to the proposed incinerator, alternatives that will not involve poisoning the already-toxic environment within and around the Curtis Bay community. One of those alternatives gaining popular community support is a solar facility, a solar farm, on the tract of land currently owned by FMC Corporation.” RSVP at http://stoptheincinerator-unitedworkers.nationbuilder.com/attend_the_concert_for_fair_development?utm_campaign=school_board&utm_medium=email&utm_source=unitedworkers. Email Greg Sawtell at greggalen@gmail.com.
27] – Enjoy the Ascension Towson Nicaragua Partnership Annual Variety Show on Sat., Apr. 25 at 7 PM at the Ascension Lutheran Church, 7601 York Road, Towson 21204. Come for a 6 PM potluck supper. Also there will be a reception after the concert. There is a plan to have some familiar faces join a guitar group for singing "Motherless Child" and "Colores." Free will donations support the missions of Faith and Hope Lutheran Church headquartered in Managua, Nicaragua. A portion of funds raised at the Variety Show will be allocated to an emergency drought relief effort in Northwestern Nicaragua. Call 410-825-1725 or check the Ascension web site under Partnerships.
28] – Celebrate Earth Day at Bloombars, 3222 11th St. NW, WDC 20010, on Sat., Apr. 25 from 7 to 9 PM. Watch “Within Reach: Journey to Find Sustainable Community” (2012, 98 min), produced by Derek Alan Rowe. It is a one-of-a-kind documentary about one couple's pedal-powered search for a place to call home. See http://tinyurl.com/within-reach-trailer. Mandy and Ryan gave up their jobs, cars, and traditional houses to 'bike-pack' 6500 miles around the US seeking sustainable community. Rather than looking in a traditional neighborhood, they begin to recognize that community is the secret ingredient to living sustainably and along the way they explore ecovillages, cohousing communities, co-op houses, communes, transition towns and a "green" town. Their journey asks the question: Is it possible for all of us to live in a sustainable way? After circling the country, they find that not only is it possible, but it’s already underway.
The screening will be followed by audience discussion and Q&A (via Skype) with producer Derek Alan Rowe - about what it means to "redefine community" in our own lives. The suggested donation is $10. Proceeds support BloomBars. Savor free organic popcorn. BloomScreen Indie Film Night is a weekly series of independent and foreign films, accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, experts and other guests. Go tohttps://www.facebook.com/events/1660440610844742/.
29] – Carol Berman and Barbara Larcom invite you to their birthday party on Sat., Apr. 25 from 8 to 11 PM at ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, 27th & St. Paul Sts., Baltimore 21218 (27th St. entrance). Enjoy great music, dancing, and wonderful food! Instead of presents, we welcome your donation to St. John’s. Proceeds will equally benefit Heart’s Place Services for the homeless and Casa Baltimore/Limay, a friendship-city project which promotes goodwill and sustainable development in San Juan de Limay, Nicaragua. RSVP to Carol at 410-435-0392 or Barbara 410-662-6292. This will help to plan for food and drink.
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
"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.
1] Books, buttons & stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists
4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa
5] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore
6] Get your animal friend in the Maryland SPCA 2016 calendar – through May 15
7] SOA Spring Days of Action – through Apr. 25
8] Controlling the use of killer drones – Apr. 24
9] Peace vigil at White House – Apr. 24
10] "Atomic Aversion and Just War Principles" – Apr. 24
11] Max at JHU Spring Fair – Apr. 24 – 26
12] Silent Peace Vigil – Apr. 17
13] NPT gathering – Apr. 24 - 26
14] Together Restoring Economic Empowerment – Apr. 24
15] Benefit at the Orioles game -- Apr. 24
16] Stop Fast Track -- Apr. 24
17] Ballroom Dancing – Apr. 24
18] Mobilized for social change – Apr. 25
19] Volunteer for anti-corruption campaign – Apr. 25
20] West Chester, PA demo -- Apr. 25
21] A vegan speaks – Apr. 25
22] Town hall on females of color – Apr. 25
23] Protest drone war command center – Apr. 25
24] Justice for Freddie Grey – Apr. 25
25] Strengthening Interfaith and Ecumenical Bonds – Apr. 25
26] Concert for Fair Development -- Apr. 25
27] Ascension Towson Nicaragua Partnership Annual Variety Show – Apr. 25
28] Film WITHIN REACH -- Apr. 25
29] Benefit for a homeless shelter and Nicaragua -- Apr. 25
----
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 Francine Sheppard at 5639B, Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia 21044. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Francine at 410-992-7679 or FrancineMSW@aol.com.
5] – Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore. Let Max know if you have any leads—410-366-1637 or mobuszewski@verizon.net.
6] – Enter a photo of your animal friend in the Maryland SPCA 2016 Calendar for $50. Each entry also includes one (1) free calendar! Participants can send photos after registration, so don't worry if you need a little extra time to find the purr-fect photo of Fluffy! To enter, go to www.mdspca.org/photo and use discount code "SPCAcalendar" during checkout, or contact Jennifer Mion at petcalendar@mdspca.org or 410-235-8826, ext. 133.
The 2016 Pet Calendar will be a full-color wall calendar, released in the fall of 2015. Thirteen of the best photos will be selected for the cover and pet-of-the-month pages. Photographs must be of animals, no people, and must be in color. High-resolution horizontal photos are preferred. Small photos, especially those taken by phones, are difficult to enlarge. All entered photos will appear in the calendar. A maximum of 400 photos will be accepted through May 15, 2015. The calendar is an important fundraiser for the Maryland SPCA. Proceeds benefit the needy and homeless animals in our care!
7] – Through Sat., Apr. 25, the 2015 Spring Days of Action (SDOA) theme is "Growing Stronger Together - Resisting the 'Drug War' Across the Americas." The “Drug War” is militarizing, incarcerating, and killing communities in Latin America and in the U.S., especially traditionally oppressed peoples. Tell Congress the War on Drugs must end.
The enforced disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico proved once again that the disastrous results of US military aid and training in Latin America are ongoing. Similarly, in Ferguson and other U.S. cities have reminded us that police militarization and the treatment of black and brown people as internal enemies are also major problems in the US, while putting into context what militarization looks like on the ground for so many in Latin America and beyond. Visit http://SOAW.org. Contact Arturo at arturo@soaw.org or call (202) 234-3440.
On Fri., Apr. 24 participate in Grassroots Lobbying, Direct Action, Critical Mass Bike Ride and an 8 PM Concert. Call office for more details at (202) 234-3440. The concert will feature Elena y los Fulanos, Fenomedon. On Sat., Apr. 25 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, there will be an SOA Watch Forum and Strategy Session at the University of District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW.
SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. SOA Watch is a nonviolent grassroots movement that works to stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents.
8] – The United States has been a leader in the use of drones, but the absence of clear policy guidelines and a well-articulated strategy has prompted controversy over key legal and ethical issues. Questions of proper oversight and accountability for drone proliferation and use remain an issue of domestic and international contention.
In light of this continued debate, the Stimson Center – in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America – is convening an expert panel to discuss the challenges posed by drone proliferation, and the potential for developing common international standards to govern their use. The panel will highlight key ethical, legal and proliferation concerns that have been raised by government officials, industry and civil society in the United States and around the world, and will discuss possible approaches to establishing a political or legal framework to guide the transfer and use of drones.
The discussion on drone proliferation, and the potential for developing international standards to guide their sale, transfer, and use will take place at the Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036 on Fri., Apr. 24 from 10 to 11:30 AM. RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13CJcJ7EqGDoLMv-phmkQTylTVlCdKDUHz5cnw6JpKas/viewform.
The panelists are Rosa Brooks, Senior Fellow, New America; Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Elke Schwarz, Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University, and Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law.
Follow @StimsonCenter @StimsonMAB and @rachelstohl on Twitter for news and information on the event, and use #StimsonToday to join the conversation. Contact Shannon Dick at sdick@stimson.org.
9] – On Fri., Apr. 24 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! The vigil takes place at the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.
10] – On Fri., Apr. 24 from noon to 1 PM Scott Sagan, Stanford University, will expound on "Atomic Aversion and Just War Principles" at the Wilson Center, Fifth Floor, Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP at http://pages.wilsoncenter.org/20150424--AtomicAversion_NPIHPEvent.html.
11] – Max will be selling books, vinyl, buttons, bumperstickers and more at the Johns Hopkins Spring Fair on Fri, Apr. 24 from noon to 8 PM, Sat., Apr. 25 from 10 AM to 8 PM and Sun., April 26 from 10 AM to 6 PM. My booth is #1 in the Upper Quad by the Eisenhower Library on the Homewood campus. Call 727-543-3227.
12] – There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St. The next vigil is on Apr. 24, and it will remind us that War Is Not the Answer and that there is the need to stop torture, and prosecute the torturers.
13] – The Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force in 1970 and includes the only existing legal mandate for nuclear disarmament. NPT Article VI calls for all signatories including the USA to negotiate: "a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control." Over 280 organizations--including Physicians for Social Responsibility--have endorsed a series of events in New York City to show public support for disarmament. PSR and Student PSR members will participate in the April 24-25 Peace and Planet conference and the Sun., Apr. 26 rally, interfaith service, march and peace festival.
On the eve of the 5-year Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, thousands of people from around the globe will gather in New York City to demand a nuclear-free, peaceful, just and sustainable world. Activists, scholars, and students with anti-nuclear, peace, and environmental justice movements will call on the NPT Review Conference meeting at the United Nations to mandate the commencement of “good faith negotiations” for the complete elimination of the world’s nuclear arsenals, as required by the Treaty.
Peace and Planet events will kick off with an international conference on Fri., Apr. 24 from 6:30 to 9 PM & Sat., Apr. 25 from 9 AM to 7 PM at the historic Cooper Union, featuring speakers from more than a dozen countries. On Saturday, there will be a PSR-sponsored workshop: “The Humanitarian Impact Initiative” with speakers Shannon Gearhart, MD, Alfred Meyer of PSR-New York, and Martin Fleck, PSR Security Program Director. Go to http://www.peaceandplanet.org/conference-program/.
On Sun., Apr. 26 there are Peace and Planet Events in NYC. From 11 AM to 12:30 PM, there is an Interfaith Convocation for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at the Tillman Chapel of the Church Center at the United Nations, 777 First Ave. Then at 1 PM Rally in Union Square North, East 14th St., Park Avenue South & Broadway NYC 10003. At 2 PM, March starting at Union Square North. Finally, from 3 6 PM get over to the Peace Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, East 47th Street, 2nd Ave., NYC 10017, where millions of petition signatures will be presented to UN and NPT officials. The rally will launch a “Global Wave,” with participants symbolically waving goodbye to nuclear weapons. The Global Wave will travel west, by time zone, with public events scheduled in Papeete, Manila, Amman, Bethlehem, Stockholm, Paris, London, Sao Paulo and points in-between. An Interfaith Service will precede the rally. See http://www.peaceandplanet.org/.
14] – Come to the Moot Court Room, 5th Floor, 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW, WDC 20008 on Fri., Apr. 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM for Together Restoring Economic Empowerment (TREE). Bridge the gap between millennials and substantive plans of action, particularly in minority communities. They are excited about the potential change they can facilitate, and they want to excite others about TREE and our mission, which is why they are hosting this launch event. Go to http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.net/node/14751.
15] – 2015 O's Public Defenders Nights at Camden Yards continue. On Fri., Apr. 24 at 7:05 PM, the Orioles play Boston. Tickets are $13, and net proceeds will be shared among MdSPCA, Md Public Interest Law Program (MPILP), University of Baltimore Students in Public Interest Law (UBSPI), Maryland Legal Aid, Public Justice Center, Md. Criminal Defense Attorneys' Assn. (MCDAA), NACDL's Foundation for Criminal Justice,
Association for the Public Defender of Maryland (APDM), and the Norm Uziak memorial children's scholarship fund. For tickets contact Lou Curran at lcurran@opd.state.md.us or 410-499-8899.
16] – In April 47 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous last speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” which inspired a nation before his assassination. In his speech, he challenged the injustice of poverty experienced by sanitation workers in Memphis and calls us to action to be responsible for making America a better nation. We will celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and continue the dream by highlighting the injustices past trade deals have inflicted on families, workers, and the environment. On Fri., Apr. 24 from 7:30 to 9:30 PM, come to the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church, 9601 Cedar Lane, Bethesda to continue to make a stand for communities and the environment. Preserve the legacy of Dr. King by challenging injustice and disparities at the “Stop Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership” Town Hall.
The Cedar Lane Unitarian Church’s Environmental Task Force has open its doors to the AFL-CIO, Communication Workers of America, Chesapeake Sustainable Business Council, Food & Water Watch, We are CASA, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and the Sierra Club to have an interactive Town Hall "Stop Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership." Each panelist will discuss how trade deals impact our daily lives while highlighting tools we can use to build a new model of trade. Following, there will be a moderated discussion led by leaders from labor, environmental, food sovereignty, small business, and immigrant communities to discuss the importance of opposing fast track for the Trans Pacific Partnership. Email Mgoines@aflcio.org.
17] – 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. 24. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.
18] –The National Museum of the American Indian, Rasmuson Theater, Independence and 4th St. SW, WDC on Sat., Apr. 25 from 9:45 AM to 8:30 PM presents a national conversation by hosting a daylong symposium, History, Rebellion and Reconciliation: Communities Mobilized for Social Change. Admission is free and open to the public; however, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and reservations are recommended. Reserve your free tickets by visiting Eventbrite. Please note if you wish to attend all panels, be sure to reserve a ticket for each panel. View the daylong symposium at Ustream. A dialogue on social media will be held throughout the symposium. The public may follow the museum on Twitter @NMAAHC to participate in the discussion using #HRRlive or #WordsMatter. Email NMAAHCpubpgms@si.edu or call (202) 633-1000.
19] –If you love music and want to help spread the word about an Anti-Corruption Campaign, Represent.Us will be at the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival in Druid Hill Park on Sat., Apr. 25 and the group needs volunteers. If you volunteer, you will get FREE access to the festival. Volunteer shifts will run from 10 AM to 3 PM and 2 to7 PM. If you’re interested in volunteering for one of those shifts, email Christi at Represent.Baltimore@gmail.com.
20] – 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.
21] – At Native Foods Café, 1150 Connecticut Ave., WDC on Sat. Apr. 25 from 11:30 AM to 2 PM, hear from the founder, Aviram Rozin, who will speak about Sadhana Forest, a Vegan Volunteer Community. He is here from India, and his nonprofit addresses issues of deforestation, food security, and climate change in India, Haiti and Kenya. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/425667364271156/.
22] – At Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore on Sat., Apr. 25 from noon to 4 PM, join the African American Policy Forum and the University for a Town Hall Hearing on the challenges facing women and girls of color. RSVP at bit.ly/baltimoretownhall. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/847387361964656/.
23] – Join the demonstrations on the last Saturday of the month, noon to 2 PM, in front of the drone war command center at the Horsham Air Guard Station, Route 611/Easton Road and County Line Road, Horsham, PA. Go to www.brandywinepeace.com/events. Call (610) 544-1818.
24] – Join Justice 4 Freddie Grey citywide protests on Sat., Apr. 25 at 1 PM at Riggs & Mount Sts. Activists will be gathering at the Western District Police Headquarters in the neighborhood where Freddie Grey was arrested. March to downtown Baltimore. There will be support vehicles for those who cannot walk the entire distance. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1573560009587646/.
25] – Strengthening Interfaith and Ecumenical Bonds is happening on Sun., Apr. 26 from 2:30 to 5 PM at Saint John Paul II National Shrine Auditorium, 3900 Harewood Road NE, WDC 20017. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/apr-26-230pm-strengthening-interfaith-and-ecumenical-bonds-tickets-16644813084. Also there will be a discussion on Muslim, Christian and Jewish Initiatives and Resources for Addressing and Countering Violent Extremism including the Threat of ISIS.
26] – Free Your Voice is organizing a celebratory Concert for Fair Development the week of Earth Day on Sat., Apr. 25 from 3 to 5 PM at Benjamin Franklin High School, 1201 Cambria St., Baltimore 21225. It will highlight healthy and equitable alternatives including solar farm projects, zero waste reuse and recycling industries, and local agricultural initiatives.
Amanda Maminski, Curtis Bay resident, “We believe there are other alternatives to the proposed incinerator, alternatives that will not involve poisoning the already-toxic environment within and around the Curtis Bay community. One of those alternatives gaining popular community support is a solar facility, a solar farm, on the tract of land currently owned by FMC Corporation.” RSVP at http://stoptheincinerator-unitedworkers.nationbuilder.com/attend_the_concert_for_fair_development?utm_campaign=school_board&utm_medium=email&utm_source=unitedworkers. Email Greg Sawtell at greggalen@gmail.com.
27] – Enjoy the Ascension Towson Nicaragua Partnership Annual Variety Show on Sat., Apr. 25 at 7 PM at the Ascension Lutheran Church, 7601 York Road, Towson 21204. Come for a 6 PM potluck supper. Also there will be a reception after the concert. There is a plan to have some familiar faces join a guitar group for singing "Motherless Child" and "Colores." Free will donations support the missions of Faith and Hope Lutheran Church headquartered in Managua, Nicaragua. A portion of funds raised at the Variety Show will be allocated to an emergency drought relief effort in Northwestern Nicaragua. Call 410-825-1725 or check the Ascension web site
28] – Celebrate Earth Day at Bloombars, 3222 11th St. NW, WDC 20010, on Sat., Apr. 25 from 7 to 9 PM. Watch “Within Reach: Journey to Find Sustainable Community” (2012, 98 min), produced by Derek Alan Rowe. It is a one-of-a-kind documentary about one couple's pedal-powered search for a place to call home. See http://tinyurl.com/within-reach-trailer. Mandy and Ryan gave up their jobs, cars, and traditional houses to 'bike-pack' 6500 miles around the US seeking sustainable community. Rather than looking in a traditional neighborhood, they begin to recognize that community is the secret ingredient to living sustainably and along the way they explore ecovillages, cohousing communities, co-op houses, communes, transition towns and a "green" town. Their journey asks the question: Is it possible for all of us to live in a sustainable way? After circling the country, they find that not only is it possible, but it’s already underway.
The screening will be followed by audience discussion and Q&A (via Skype) with producer Derek Alan Rowe - about what it means to "redefine community" in our own lives. The suggested donation is $10. Proceeds support BloomBars. Savor free organic popcorn. BloomScreen Indie Film Night is a weekly series of independent and foreign films, accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, experts and other guests. Go tohttps://www.facebook.com/events/1660440610844742/.
29] – Carol Berman and Barbara Larcom invite you to their birthday party on Sat., Apr. 25 from 8 to 11 PM at ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, 27th & St. Paul Sts., Baltimore 21218 (27th St. entrance). Enjoy great music, dancing, and wonderful food! Instead of presents, we welcome your donation to St. John’s. Proceeds will equally benefit Heart’s Place Services for the homeless and Casa Baltimore/Limay, a friendship-city project which promotes goodwill and sustainable development in San Juan de Limay, Nicaragua. RSVP to Carol at 410-435-0392 or Barbara 410-662-6292. This will help to plan for food and drink.
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
Baltimore Activist Alert - April 26 - May 1, 2015
30] March for the Animals – Apr. 26
31] “J. Robert Oppenheimer and Nuclear Agony” – Apr. 26
32] Walk to end genocide – Apr. 26
33] Planting trees, planting hope – Apr. 26
34] Support workers – Apr. 26
35] Green Forum – Apr. 26
36] Tech solutions – Apr. 26
37] Another future possible? – Apr. 26
38] Pentagon Vigil – Apr. 27
39] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Apr. 27 – May. 1
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30] – The big day for the animals is this Sunday at Druid Hill Park, 3001 EAST DRIVE, BALTIMORE, MD 21217 from 10 AM to 2 PM for the 20th Annual March for the Animals. Enjoy an Animal Costume Contest! Games! Demonstrations! And, so much more! It is a 1.5-mile walk around Druid Hill Lake! There's plenty to see and do. If you're an animal-lover, this is the place to be.
It's not too late to raise money for the March. Ask your friends, family members and co-workers to sponsor you and your dog. Bring your donations with you and register at the event. Registration opens at 9 AM. If you can't make it in the morning, drop by in the afternoon. Donate $40 and receive the official 2015 March for the Animals T-shirt, a goody bag and a dog bandana, all while supplies last. The March for the Animals is the Maryland SPCA's largest fundraising event of the year. The group receives no operating funds from the government or the ASPCA. Go to http://marchfortheanimals.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1129030.
31] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 AM to noon. On Apr. 26, hear an address “J. Robert Oppenheimer and Nuclear Agony.” Today, over 16,300 nuclear weapons make Russian, North Korean and terrorist aggression all the more alarming. Despite the end of the cold war, nuclear weapons are still ready for launch around the world. Even a limited nuclear war would cause unimaginable suffering, something known only too well to the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Raised in Ethical Culture, taught by its founder Felix Adler, Oppenheimer felt impelled to serve his country and do good. His heroic efforts landed him on the covers of Time and Life magazines. Soon, tormented by the horror of his own creation and persecution by his own government, Oppenheimer’s life took a tragic turn. Hugh Taft-Morales explores this story in the context of current efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. He also serves as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.
32] – On Sun., Apr. 26 from 1:30 to 4 PM participate in the First WASHINGTON, DC WALK TO END GENOCIDE. "Take a stand. Raise your voice. Step in the right direction. WALK to End Genocide!" Start behind the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, WDC 20024. For directions, visit http://www.mapquest.com/. "The first Washington D.C. Walk to End Genocide is organized by the Darfur Interfaith Network in partnership with Jewish World Watch.
"The purpose of this event is to educate fellow citizens, to advocate our own government to take an increased leadership position toward actions and policies to end genocide and mass atrocities, and to raise funds to be used for humanitarian aid to improve the lives of surviving victims of this horrific behavior. Also, we'll recall past genocides in order to remember and honor those victims. There will be information booths providing educational information on these topics." See http://dc.walktoendgenocide.org.
33] – On Sun., Apr. 26 from 2 to 4 PM catch Planting Trees, Planting Hope with Aviram Rozin at the Greenbelt Youth Center, 99 Centerway, Greenbelt, hosted by the Greenbelt Climate Action Network. Join us to hear the inspiring story of the establishment and growth of an ecological and humanitarian effort that is protecting animals and improving living conditions for some of the world's poorest people. Aviram Rozin will share innovative techniques for planting trees and conserving water in some of the harshest and most arid corners of the world, as well as pioneering methods for growing sustainable communities.
He is the founder and director of SADHANA FOREST, a vegan volunteer community and non-profit addressing issues of deforestation and climate change in India, Haiti and Kenya. Eleven years after its founding and with the help of thousands of international volunteers, Sadhana Forest teaches vegan Permaculture and sustainable living, increases plant-based food security through ecological transformation, reclaims wasteland to productivity and restores groundwater levels, all of which help to raise local living standards. See https://www.facebook.com/events/426127067561533/.
34] – On Sun., Apr. 26 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM, support the 700,000+ Maryland workers forced to choose between their health and their job. Join for a campaign meeting to spread the message! They need a strong community voice supporting workers' dignity and well-being. Can you come to IMPACT Silver Spring Basement Office, 8807 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring 20910? Visit http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5483/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=74478.
35] – The BALTIMORE GREEN FORUM, a monthly environmental education and discussion forum, will occur on Sun., Apr. 26 starting at 4 PM at the Maryland Presbyterian Church, 1105 Providence Road, Towson 21286. This month learn about A Unique, Holistic Approach to Sustainability at The Johns Hopkins University: The Environment, Energy, Sustainability & Health Institute. The speaker is Katie Irgrec, Program Coordinator for this Institute.
Addressing environmental challenges requires holistic approaches that cut across fields to understand causes and consequences of environmental change, as well as to develop sustainable solutions. The Environment, Energy, Sustainability and Health Institute (E²SHI) coordinates and encourages innovative, integrative and interdisciplinary research, teaching, policy and practice of environmental sustainability by leveraging the expertise of scholars from across Johns Hopkins University. Katie Irgrec will provide an overview of the Institute’s work and highlight some of the research that aims to contribute to addressing environment challenges, including those in Baltimore. Visit http://e2shi.jhu.edu.
The Forum seeks to educate and stimulate dialogue about what humans can do to make modern civilization more sustainable, including adjusting to finite resource limits and preserving biodiversity and a healthy environment. This is done through 8 monthly meetings a year. The topics are far ranging. They vary from local to planetary and from philosophical to scientific to very practical. The Meeting Format: There is a speaker and Q&A from 4-5:15 PM. Then there are brief announcements by representatives of other organizations that also seek sustainability and environmental protection. The idea is to promote collaboration among these organizations. Next, there is an optional roundtable discussion until 6:30 PM. Finally, there is often a small gathering at a nearby restaurant.
BGF is open to the public and is free of charge, but donations to Maryland Presbyterian Church are collected during the meeting to thank the church for their generous gift of the space to us. Call Sam Hopkins at 410 554 0006 or email baltimoregreenforum@gmail.com. Visit http://www.baltimoregreen forum.org.
36] – Go to Busboys and Poets (Brookland Location), 625 Monroe St. NE, WDC on Sun., Apr. 26 from 6 to 8PM to hear a panel discussion with representatives from Clearly Innovative, Code for Progress, TechChange and others. Collectively their work is revolutionizing the way we envision social justice. Following the panel discussion, attendees will participate in an hour-long workshop where they will learn how to use design-thinking principles to create technologies that solve social problems. Following the event, there will be a networking session where attendees can mix with the panelists as well as representatives from General Assembly. General Assembly is offering a 30-day free trial to their online tech-training platform, Front Row, to all attendees.
DC+Acumen & Social SolutionsThe Social Innovation Lab is a collaborative effort between Busboys & Poets, DC+Acumen, and Social Solutions. The Social Innovation Lab brings together individuals from a variety of backgrounds to build a community that designs innovative solutions to social problems. The Social Innovation Lab covers a variety of topics, and is presented in a variety of form such as: artistic performances, w http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/socent-presents-the-tech-revolution-social-justice-through-tech-design-and-orkshops, panel discussions, and community forums. Social Innovation Lab takes place the fourth Sunday of every month at Busboys & Poets Brookland. See http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/socent-presents-the-tech-revolution-social-justice-through-tech-design-and-.
37] – On Sun., Apr. 26 at 7 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201 ask the question What is the future of America? Constant war and a bloated defense budget that divert funds from social needs? The proliferation of racist attacks, primarily on young African American males? A further rollback of a woman's right to choose? Growing economic inequality and wage stagnation? Economic cycles that produce national and international recessions or depressions every several years? Growing evidence of human damage to the climate?
Or is another future possible? – A socialist future where the economic motives for war, racism and exploitation are eliminated; not a utopia but a society where people’s needs are more important than corporate profits. Come and meet John Bachtell. Discuss with him how today’s struggles are related to our hopes for a better future. The talk is sponsored by the NE Baltimore Club, Communist Party of Maryland: Call 410-433-3269 or email md@cpusa.org or visit Facebook at CPUSA Maryland.
38] -- 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., Apr. 27, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. The vigil will be outside the Pentagon's south Metro entrance and in the designated "protest zone" behind bicycle fences across from the entrance to the Metro. By Metro, take Yellow Line and get out at the "Pentagon" stop. Do not go to the Pentagon City stop! Go up south escalators and turn left and walk across to protest area. By car from D.C. area, take 395 South and get off at Exit 8A-Pentagon South Parking. Take slight right onto S. Rotary Rd. at end of ramp and right on S. Fern St. Then take left onto Army Navy Dr. You can "pay to park" on Army Navy Dr., and there is meter parking one block on right on Eads St. Payment for both of these spots begin at 8 AM. No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. Restrooms are located inside Marriott Residence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr.
39] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday from 10 AM to noon 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
31] “J. Robert Oppenheimer and Nuclear Agony” – Apr. 26
32] Walk to end genocide – Apr. 26
33] Planting trees, planting hope – Apr. 26
34] Support workers – Apr. 26
35] Green Forum – Apr. 26
36] Tech solutions – Apr. 26
37] Another future possible? – Apr. 26
38] Pentagon Vigil – Apr. 27
39] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Apr. 27 – May. 1
-----
30] – The big day for the animals is this Sunday at Druid Hill Park, 3001 EAST DRIVE, BALTIMORE, MD 21217 from 10 AM to 2 PM for the 20th Annual March for the Animals. Enjoy an Animal Costume Contest! Games! Demonstrations! And, so much more! It is a 1.5-mile walk around Druid Hill Lake! There's plenty to see and do. If you're an animal-lover, this is the place to be.
It's not too late to raise money for the March. Ask your friends, family members and co-workers to sponsor you and your dog. Bring your donations with you and register at the event. Registration opens at 9 AM. If you can't make it in the morning, drop by in the afternoon. Donate $40 and receive the official 2015 March for the Animals T-shirt, a goody bag and a dog bandana, all while supplies last. The March for the Animals is the Maryland SPCA's largest fundraising event of the year. The group receives no operating funds from the government or the ASPCA. Go to http://marchfortheanimals.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1129030.
31] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 AM to noon. On Apr. 26, hear an address “J. Robert Oppenheimer and Nuclear Agony.” Today, over 16,300 nuclear weapons make Russian, North Korean and terrorist aggression all the more alarming. Despite the end of the cold war, nuclear weapons are still ready for launch around the world. Even a limited nuclear war would cause unimaginable suffering, something known only too well to the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Raised in Ethical Culture, taught by its founder Felix Adler, Oppenheimer felt impelled to serve his country and do good. His heroic efforts landed him on the covers of Time and Life magazines. Soon, tormented by the horror of his own creation and persecution by his own government, Oppenheimer’s life took a tragic turn. Hugh Taft-Morales explores this story in the context of current efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. He also serves as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.
32] – On Sun., Apr. 26 from 1:30 to 4 PM participate in the First WASHINGTON, DC WALK TO END GENOCIDE. "Take a stand. Raise your voice. Step in the right direction. WALK to End Genocide!" Start behind the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, WDC 20024. For directions, visit http://www.mapquest.com/. "The first Washington D.C. Walk to End Genocide is organized by the Darfur Interfaith Network in partnership with Jewish World Watch.
"The purpose of this event is to educate fellow citizens, to advocate our own government to take an increased leadership position toward actions and policies to end genocide and mass atrocities, and to raise funds to be used for humanitarian aid to improve the lives of surviving victims of this horrific behavior. Also, we'll recall past genocides in order to remember and honor those victims. There will be information booths providing educational information on these topics." See http://dc.walktoendgenocide.org.
33] – On Sun., Apr. 26 from 2 to 4 PM catch Planting Trees, Planting Hope with Aviram Rozin at the Greenbelt Youth Center, 99 Centerway, Greenbelt, hosted by the Greenbelt Climate Action Network. Join us to hear the inspiring story of the establishment and growth of an ecological and humanitarian effort that is protecting animals and improving living conditions for some of the world's poorest people. Aviram Rozin will share innovative techniques for planting trees and conserving water in some of the harshest and most arid corners of the world, as well as pioneering methods for growing sustainable communities.
He is the founder and director of SADHANA FOREST, a vegan volunteer community and non-profit addressing issues of deforestation and climate change in India, Haiti and Kenya. Eleven years after its founding and with the help of thousands of international volunteers, Sadhana Forest teaches vegan Permaculture and sustainable living, increases plant-based food security through ecological transformation, reclaims wasteland to productivity and restores groundwater levels, all of which help to raise local living standards. See https://www.facebook.com/events/426127067561533/.
34] – On Sun., Apr. 26 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM, support the 700,000+ Maryland workers forced to choose between their health and their job. Join for a campaign meeting to spread the message! They need a strong community voice supporting workers' dignity and well-being. Can you come to IMPACT Silver Spring Basement Office, 8807 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring 20910? Visit http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5483/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=74478.
35] – The BALTIMORE GREEN FORUM, a monthly environmental education and discussion forum, will occur on Sun., Apr. 26 starting at 4 PM at the Maryland Presbyterian Church, 1105 Providence Road, Towson 21286. This month learn about A Unique, Holistic Approach to Sustainability at The Johns Hopkins University: The Environment, Energy, Sustainability & Health Institute. The speaker is Katie Irgrec, Program Coordinator for this Institute.
Addressing environmental challenges requires holistic approaches that cut across fields to understand causes and consequences of environmental change, as well as to develop sustainable solutions. The Environment, Energy, Sustainability and Health Institute (E²SHI) coordinates and encourages innovative, integrative and interdisciplinary research, teaching, policy and practice of environmental sustainability by leveraging the expertise of scholars from across Johns Hopkins University. Katie Irgrec will provide an overview of the Institute’s work and highlight some of the research that aims to contribute to addressing environment challenges, including those in Baltimore. Visit http://e2shi.jhu.edu.
The Forum seeks to educate and stimulate dialogue about what humans can do to make modern civilization more sustainable, including adjusting to finite resource limits and preserving biodiversity and a healthy environment. This is done through 8 monthly meetings a year. The topics are far ranging. They vary from local to planetary and from philosophical to scientific to very practical. The Meeting Format: There is a speaker and Q&A from 4-5:15 PM. Then there are brief announcements by representatives of other organizations that also seek sustainability and environmental protection. The idea is to promote collaboration among these organizations. Next, there is an optional roundtable discussion until 6:30 PM. Finally, there is often a small gathering at a nearby restaurant.
BGF is open to the public and is free of charge, but donations to Maryland Presbyterian Church are collected during the meeting to thank the church for their generous gift of the space to us. Call Sam Hopkins at 410 554 0006 or email baltimoregreenforum@gmail.com. Visit http://www.baltimoregreen forum.org.
36] – Go to Busboys and Poets (Brookland Location), 625 Monroe St. NE, WDC on Sun., Apr. 26 from 6 to 8PM to hear a panel discussion with representatives from Clearly Innovative, Code for Progress, TechChange and others. Collectively their work is revolutionizing the way we envision social justice. Following the panel discussion, attendees will participate in an hour-long workshop where they will learn how to use design-thinking principles to create technologies that solve social problems. Following the event, there will be a networking session where attendees can mix with the panelists as well as representatives from General Assembly. General Assembly is offering a 30-day free trial to their online tech-training platform, Front Row, to all attendees.
DC+Acumen & Social SolutionsThe Social Innovation Lab is a collaborative effort between Busboys & Poets, DC+Acumen, and Social Solutions. The Social Innovation Lab brings together individuals from a variety of backgrounds to build a community that designs innovative solutions to social problems. The Social Innovation Lab covers a variety of topics, and is presented in a variety of form such as: artistic performances, w http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/socent-presents-the-tech-revolution-social-justice-through-tech-design-and-orkshops, panel discussions, and community forums. Social Innovation Lab takes place the fourth Sunday of every month at Busboys & Poets Brookland. See http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/socent-presents-the-tech-revolution-social-justice-through-tech-design-and-.
37] – On Sun., Apr. 26 at 7 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201 ask the question What is the future of America? Constant war and a bloated defense budget that divert funds from social needs? The proliferation of racist attacks, primarily on young African American males? A further rollback of a woman's right to choose? Growing economic inequality and wage stagnation? Economic cycles that produce national and international recessions or depressions every several years? Growing evidence of human damage to the climate?
Or is another future possible? – A socialist future where the economic motives for war, racism and exploitation are eliminated; not a utopia but a society where people’s needs are more important than corporate profits. Come and meet John Bachtell. Discuss with him how today’s struggles are related to our hopes for a better future. The talk is sponsored by the NE Baltimore Club, Communist Party of Maryland: Call 410-433-3269 or email md@cpusa.org or visit Facebook at CPUSA Maryland.
38] -- 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., Apr. 27, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. The vigil will be outside the Pentagon's south Metro entrance and in the designated "protest zone" behind bicycle fences across from the entrance to the Metro. By Metro, take Yellow Line and get out at the "Pentagon" stop. Do not go to the Pentagon City stop! Go up south escalators and turn left and walk across to protest area. By car from D.C. area, take 395 South and get off at Exit 8A-Pentagon South Parking. Take slight right onto S. Rotary Rd. at end of ramp and right on S. Fern St. Then take left onto Army Navy Dr. You can "pay to park" on Army Navy Dr., and there is meter parking one block on right on Eads St. Payment for both of these spots begin at 8 AM. No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. Restrooms are located inside Marriott Residence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr.
39] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday from 10 AM to noon 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
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