Baltimore Activist Alert July 2 – September 22, 2015

Baltimore Activist Alert July 2 – September 22, 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] Cyprus Friendship Program

7] Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition – through Aug. 16

8] Starvin’ for Justice – July 2

9] Understanding Supreme Court rulings – July 2

10] Media freedom efforts in the Middle East – July 2

11] Remember Spencer Lee McClain – July 2

12] Palestinian music opportunity – July 2

13] Violence in Baltimore – July 2

14] Students read from their books –- July 2

15] Peace Vigil at the White House – July 3

16] Silent Quaker vigil – July 3

17] Film CHICAGO 10 – July 3

18] Ballroom Dancing – July 3

19] Independence Day in Philadelphia – July 4

20] Interdependence Day at the NSA – July 4

21] Commemorate Hiroshima & Nagasaki – August 6 & 9

22] Climate chaos, poverty & war actions – Sept. 22

23] Sign up with Washington Peace Center

24] Join Fund Our Communities

25] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records

26] Do you need any book shelves?

27] Join Global Zero campaign

28] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil

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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] – Since a civil war in 1974 the island of Cyprus has been divided in two with a United Nations patrolled border. Turkish/Muslim Cypriots are in the north. Greek/ Christian Cypriots are in the south. Animosities and prejudices run deep. Experts believe that Cyprus is at a crossroads between renewed conflict and becoming an example in the Middle East of how two such cultures can live in peace.

 

The Cyprus Friendship Program, based on the successful model that helped build peace in Northern Ireland, brings over a Muslim and Christian teen to stay with an U.S. host family for the month of July (or ½ month if paired with another host family). This bonding experience in a neutral environment almost always results in a strong friendship. Programming here and after their return to Cyprus turns them into peace builders who are trained in how to influence their peers.  The teens are chosen for their maturity, leadership potential, and English speaking ability. You choose the gender and age (from 15 to 17). To learn more contact Tom McCarthy at 301-774-7069 or Thomas.McCarthy@RaymondJames.com.

 

7] – Come to American University, Katzen Arts Center, Third Floor, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC 20016-8031to see the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition. Go to http://www.american.edu/calendar/?id=6383062.

 

See the Maruki Panel exhibit. Six of the world-famous panels will be exhibited outside Japan for the first time in many years. There will also be a display of artifacts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as 24 of the All Souls Church Honkawa School Children's drawings.  See the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition through Aug. 16. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the attacks, this powerful show will include 20 artifacts collected from the debris of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as 6 large folding screens that depict the horrors of the event. The 1995 Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Iri and Toshi Maruki, created a total of 15 screens over 32 years from 1950. This exhibition, made possible by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, is meant to deepen understanding of the damage wrought by nuclear weapons and inspire peace in the 21st century. Call 202-885-1000.  Email museum@american.edu. Admission is free, and the exhibit hours are Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 AM to 4 PM.

 

8] –  STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE is the Annual Fast & Vigil at the US (un)Supreme Court to Abolish the Death Penalty. The vigil takes place on the sidewalk in front of the court from 9 AM to 6 PM. In the evening there is a teach-in from 6 to 8 PM. Go to http://www.abolition.org/fastandvigil  Rid the country of state-sanctioned murder! The fast and vigil will conclude on Thurs., July 2.  At midnight the fasters will break their fasts.

 

    For four days, death penalty abolitionists from around the country will gather at the steps of the Supreme Court to call for an end to capital punishment in the United States. It is an energizing grassroots week of training, advocacy, action, community and education. Tens of thousands of tourists and locals, from all over the U.S. and throughout the world, pass by our vigil and table, so the opportunity for dialogue and discussion at a real grass-roots level is invaluable to the movement. Additionally, each evening we hear stories from murder victims’ family members, death row exonerees, death row families and leaders in the national abolition movement.

 

9] –Come to Arnold & Porter LLP, 555 12th St. NW, Paul Porter Room, WDC on Thurs., July 2 from noon to 2 PM. The Supreme Court has ruled on all major legal questions by the close of the Term on June 29th. The Court's formal decisions will be on the front pages, but what happens behind the scenes? The Justices and their clerks won't talk, but this panel of distinguished journalists who cover the Court will take a behind-the-headlines look at the major cases and issues before the Court this Term as well as the personalities and interactions among the Justices. They will also offer their annual predictions for next Term.

 

The speakers are Bob Barnes, The Washington Post, Joan Biskupic, Reuters, Adam Liptak, The New York Times, Tony Mauro, National Law Journal & American Lawyer Media, David Savage, The Los Angeles Times & Chicago Tribune, Kimberly Atkins, The Boston Herald, and Arthur Spitzer, American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital (Moderator).  Visit https://www.dcbar.org/marketplace/event-details.cfm?productCD=041601CLJC&type=event.

 

10] – Be at the Tenley-Friendship Public Library, 4450 Wisconsin Ave. NW, WDC on Thurs., July 2 at 1:15 PM as Nonviolence International invites you to attend this talk. Daoud Kuttab is a former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University (’07-’08). While at Princeton he taught a seminar on new media in the Arab world. Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and media activist. Born in Jerusalem in 1955, Kuttab studied in the United States and has been working in journalism ever since 1980. He has worked in the Arabic print press (Al Fajr, Al Quds and Assinara) before moving to the audio visual field. He established and presided over the Jerusalem Film Institute in the 90s. In 1995 he helped establish the Arab Media Internet Network (AMIN) a censorship free Arab web site--www.amin.org. He established and has headed since 1996 the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University until January 2008 when he resigned to focus on Community Media Network an Arab Media NGO registered in Jordan and Palestine. In 1997 he partially moved to Amman (because of family tragedy and remarriage) and in 2000 established the Arab world’s first internet radio station AmmanNet (www.ammannet.net). Mr. Kuttab is active in media freedom efforts in the Middle East. He is an award winning journalist and TV producer. Community Media Network includes Radio al Balad a community radio station broadcasting on 92.4 FM in Amman, Jordan, AmmanNet.net and PEN Media a media NGO that has been contracted to produce 52 new episodes of Shara’a Simsim, the Palestinian version of Sesame Street. Email Nonviolence International .

 

11] – Go to the Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th St. NW, WDC on Thurs., July 2 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM for an event which happens every Thursday. Participants will hold signs with the names of people who were killed by police, #BlackLivesMatter signs, and other messages.  There will be a Person of the Week—Spencer Lee McClain, June 2015, Baltimore--that will be studied and remembered. While holding signs, participants are encouraged to share what they learned about this person.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-Ethical-Society/39879906039.

 

12] – On Thurs., July 2 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, join the Jerusalem Fund for a night of music performed by acclaimed Palestinian musician Ramzi Aburedwan and the Dal’ouna Ensemble during their July tour of the DC metro area. Bringing together musicians from the Arab world and the West, their music crosses many boundaries by promoting diverse intercultural exchange through fusion of Palestinian folk music, world and classical music, and jazz.

 

Ramzi Aburedwan is the founder of the renowned Al-Kamandjati music centers, which have served thousands of Palestinian children in the West Bank, Gaza and in refugee camps in Lebanon. The Dal’ouna Ensemble is named after a festive Palestinian music genre whose influences extend from Egypt to Andalusia, passing through various regions and traditions of the Middle East and adding medieval and jazz accents. Dal’ouna combines traditional Arab instruments including the bouzouk, oud, and percussion with viola and accordion. Their repertoire ranges from instrumental to traditional poetic genres that focus on love, freedom, and nature. This performance at Bus Boys and Poets, 14th & V Sts., 2021 14th St. NW, WDC is co-sponsored by The Jerusalem Fund Cultural Program, Middle East Institute, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Jewish Voice for Peace - DC Metro Chapter. Go to http://dalouna.brownpapertickets.com/.

 

13] – On Thurs., July 2 from 6:45 to 9 PM at the Silver Spring Civic Center, 1 Veterans Pl., Silver Spring, attend a town hall panel discussion of critical concerns in the aftermath of violence in Baltimore, and in the context of persistent racial inequality in Maryland. How can we all help make progress?  Public input is invited after panel opening statements. See https://www.facebook.com/events/1591653457751506/.

 

14] – On Thurs., July 2 at 7:30 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, there will be a series of readings by recent graduates of George Washington Carver Center in Towson. As a senior thesis project, each student wrote a full-length book, and published it through Amazon CreateSpace. The books vary in style, genre, and topic: from historical fiction to poetry, from short stories to novels. Hear readings by Cerys Beckwith, Dyllan M. San Miguel, Alex Francis, Molly Simmons, Emilie Feldenzer, and Sam Saper. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org. 

 

15] – On Fri., July 3 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.

 

16] – 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 scheduled vigil is on July 2. Black Lives Matter.  However, on holiday weekends, the vigil is usually cancelled.

 

17] –  Go to Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA 19064 for the First-Friday Free Large Screen Film Series on Fri., July 1 at 7 PM to see CHICAGO 10 [2007].  The convention was drama; the trial was comedy. Directed by Brett Morgan, the film uses the voice talents of Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeffrey Wright. This is the historic Chicago Conspiracy Trial of 1968 with a unique mix of archival footage and brilliant animation, with today’s music bringing alive the events, characters, the hopes as well as the drama and farce of a new face of freedom that inspired current events and movements.  Doors open at 6:30 PM for light refreshments.  There is an after-film discussion. The screening is co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community. Go to http://www.delcopeacecenter.org/ or call 610-544-1818.

 

18] – 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 June 26. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

 

19] – DEMONSTRATE ON SATURDAY, JULY 4TH IN PHILADELPHIA at 10 AM.  STOP DRONE WARFARE & SPYING demonstration in front of the Phila. Federal Courthouse, 601 Market St, during the 4th of July Olde City parade festivities.  Protest the shadow of death across people's lives here and around the world.  Declare your independence from drone warfare and spying.

Everyone will hold up the same poster (which will be provided!) with the shadow of a drone across the constitution and the message END Drone Warfare & Spying, along with drone silhouettes on poles and large banners.  Stop the drone war command center in Horsham, outside of Philadelphia.  Hundreds and hundreds of passersby will see the signs and banners, and receive the leaflets before and during the parade which steps off from Independence Hall at 11 AM.  The parade's opening ceremony will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first major LGBTQ protest in the United States, and the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  What better day, what better place than Philadelphia, to add our anti-drone warfare and peace voices to the history of dissent and justice? Go to www.brandywinepeace.com/events or call (610) 544-1818

 

20] -- The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will do its annual Interdependence Day visit to the National Security Agency.  We will depart at 10:15 AM on July 4 for Fort Meade, and then vigil at the NSA from 11 AM to noon.  We will then have a 6 PM potluck picnic. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net.

 

21] – The annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration will begin on Thurs., Aug. 6 with a 5:30 PM demonstration at 33rd & North Charles Streets to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a ban on killer drone strikes and research.  Visitors from Japan will speak, and then we would eat dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

 

On Sun., Aug. 9, we will enjoy a potluck dinner at 6 PM.  Then Ralph Moore, a long-time Baltimore activist, will address the problems facing Baltimore.  If you are in a social change organization, you would be welcome to inform the gathering about your accomplishments. We are seeking performers.  Let Max know if you have any suggestions. 

 

22] -- The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance is planning an action on September 21 or 22 in the D.C. area. We will gather at 10 AM in the office of a member of the House of Representatives to challenge him/her that the wars must end, that Mother Earth must be saved and that we must eliminate income inequality. We will occupy Rep. Paul Ryan’s office.

 

After delivering a letter and speaking with staff members, we will next gather at 1 PM at the White House.  There we will try to deliver a letter to the White House, raise the same issues and risk arrest. Let Max know if you can join us in D.C. for this action.

 

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

 

24] -- 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. 

 

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

 

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

 

27] -- 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.

 

28] – 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