"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 and 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] “Fighting
for Our Youth" – Nov. 1
7] “Economy, Spirituality & Climate Change on the Road to
Paris" – Nov. 1
8] Gender
transformative communication – Nov. 1
9] The Day of the Dead – Nov. 1
10] Israeli military refusenik
– Nov. 1
11]
Pentagon Vigil – Nov. 2
12] Baltimore Green Forum – Nov. 2
11]
Pentagon Vigil – Nov. 2
12] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Nov. 2 – Nov. 6
13] Walk the Earth
in Safety – Nov. 2
14]
The Iran Deal – Nov. 2
15] Film "Tall
as the Baobab Tree" – Nov. 3
16] Global Frackdown
letter – Nov. 3
17] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Nov. 3
18] Film
“Battle of Algiers” – Nov. 3
19]
Vigil against JHU’s drone research – Nov. 3
20] Chronic
Effects of Pediatric Pesticides – Nov. 3
21] Animal advocacy – Nov. 3
22] Human Rights Award – Nov. 3
23] Peace Academy course
– Nov. 3
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1] –
Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless
the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Call Max 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.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 ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation
message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list
manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.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] – Janice and Max are looking to
buy a house in Baltimore. Let Max know if you have any leads—410-366-1637
or mobuszewski at Verizon dot net.
6] – 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 Nov. 1 the platform address is “Fighting
for Our Youth" with Melissa Rock, Child Welfare Director, AYC. Ms. Rock’s
talk will be about how Advocates for Children and Youth improves outcomes for
Maryland's foster youth through policy advocacy. She will explain how they
leverage their relationships with state agencies and use the state legislative
process to improve the lives of foster children. Ms. Rock is the Child Welfare
Director for Advocates for Children and Youth. She works with the statewide
child welfare administrators and stakeholders to improve the experience of
children and families involved with the abuse and neglect system. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.
7] – On Sun., Nov. 1 from 5 to 7 PM
hear a talk “Economy, Spirituality & Climate Change on the Road to
Paris" with Alfredo Sfeir Younis at the School of Life / Shanti Yoga
Ashram, 4217 East West Hwy,, Bethesda 20814. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED.
RSVP at shantiyoga2@earthlink.net. Sfeir Younis (born 1947) is a
Chilean economist, spiritual leader and healer, presently President of the
Zambuling Institute for Human Transformation, founded in 2005 in Washington,
DC. Before opening the Institute, he had a twenty-nine-year career at the World
Bank where he was hired as the World Bank’s first environmental economist in
1976 and later was appointed Director of the World Bank Office in Geneva,
Switzerland. He served as Special Representative to the United Nations and the
World Trade Organization from 1996 to 1999. Call 240-483-9458.
8] – In the framework of the 2030
Sustainable Development Agenda, and on the occasion of the International Day to
End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, the Inter-American Commission of
Women (CIM) seeks to open a hemispheric debate to foster gender transformative
communication, based on the exchange of good practices, with a view to driving
changes in communications media attitude and practices. It is happening at the
Organization of American States, 200 17th St. NW, WDC, on Mon., Nov. 2 from 9
AM to noon. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-right-to-gender-transformative-communication-el-derecho-a-la-comunicacion-promotora-de-la-tickets-18896407664.
9] – Get over to Lamont Park, Mount
Pleasant St. NW, WDC, on Sun., Nov. 1 from 3:30 to 6 PM as D.C. artists get
together for the annual celebration of the Day of the Dead/El dia de los
muertos. This is an afternoon of remembrance, music, poetry and culture. The
altar is being designed by artists Gabriela Lujan, Alfredo Herrera, Juan Lopez
and Mauricio Lopez. Gather at the park and then at 4 PM walk down Mt. Pleasant
in a colorful parade led by local musicians, then immediately come back to the
park for an artistic program. Bring photos of your relatives that have passed
away and add them to the altar. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/793631240747929/.
10] – Sahar
Vardi served three prison terms in Israel for refusing to serve in an army of
occupation. Now she is working to assist a new generation of Israelis who have
chosen to resist through military refusal. At this event in Arlington, VA, on
Sun., Nov. 1 from 5 to 7 PM, Sahar will discuss the current
state of the refuser movement and the continued importance of military refusal
as civil disobedience. For twelve years, Refuser Solidarity Network has
provided crucial financial and moral support to Israel's military refusers in
the toughest of political circumstances. Meet Sahar and learn about the work of
the RSN at a private apartment in Crystal City, VA, a block from the Crystal
City Metro Station. The full address will be sent to those who RSVP. The
suggested donation is $10, but no one will be turned away for lack of
funds. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/833824536732415/833857130062489/.
11] -- 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., Nov. 2, 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.
12] – 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.
13] -- Although significant progress
has been made in the last fifteen years, thousands of people continue to be
affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war. From preventing the safe
use of land to inhibiting economic development and presenting risks of personal
injury, these weapons impact all aspects of everyday life and pose
humanitarian, security, and development risks around the world. You are invited
to join the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for the official launch of the
2015 To Walk the Earth in Safety report, hosted by the Stimson Center, 1211
Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036, on Mon., Nov. 2 from 10:30 to
11:30 AM. The United States is the world leader in financing efforts to reduce
these threats, and has contributed over $2.5 billion in mine action support and
conventional weapons destruction programs since 1993. The report highlights the
breadth of programs undertaken by the United States around the world. The
event will feature a keynote address from Under Secretary of State for Arms
Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller and introductory
remarks from Ambassador Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr – former Assistant Secretary
of State for Political-Military Affairs and current Chairman of the Stimson
Board of Directors. A panel discussion will follow. The event will also be
joined by Puneet Talwar, Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs.
Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11krb66Df-POQhfnW_OfO2NwAzzf2Gk_qFT5fEM78V0M/viewform.
14] -- The Iran Deal and the Future of U.S.-Iranian Relations with Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Distinguished Fellow, Brookings
Institution, is happening on Mon., Nov. 2 from 4 to 5:30 PM at SIS
[School of International Service], Room 300, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC
20016. It is sponsored by the U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security program. Ambassador Pickering will be speaking on the
recent diplomatic achievement, the Iran Nuclear Deal. Go to http://www.american.edu/sis/calendar/?d=11/02/2015&h=89.
15] – At the University of Maryland,
College Park, 1104 South Campus Commons, Building 1, on Mon., Nov. 2 from
7 to 9 PM, see a documentary "Tall as the Baobab Tree."
In a rural Senegalese village poised at the outer edge of the modern
world, a teenage girl hatches a secret plan to rescue her 11-year-old sister
from an arranged marriage. A powerful voice from Africa’s young
generation, the film poignantly depicts a family struggling to find its footing
where questions of right and wrong are not always black and white.
Coumba and her little sister Debo
are the first to leave their family’s remote African village, where meals are
prepared over open fires and water is drawn from wells, to attend school in the
bustling city. But when an accident suddenly threatens their family’s survival,
their father decides to sell 11-year-old Debo into an arranged marriage.
16] – President Obama and State
Department officials will head to Paris next month to join other world leaders
for the United Nations' Paris Climate Conference. Before they leave, send a
message that climate leaders don’t frack! Join Americans Against Fracking at
the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC, on Tues., Nov. 3 at noon to
deliver the Global Frackdown letter. It is signed by hundreds of
international, national, state, and local organizations, and urges President
Obama and other global leaders to reject fracking and natural gas as a solution
to our global climate crisis.
17] – 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 Nov.
3. Call 215-426-0364.
18] –
In the Intercultural Center (ICC), Room 241, CCAS Boardroom,
Georgetown University, 3700 O St. NW, WDC, on Tues., Nov. 3 from
5 to 8:30PM, see a screening of “Battle of Algiers.” From 7 to 8:30
PM, enjoy a discussion with Sohail Daulatzai, Film and Media Studies, African
American Studies Program UCI. One of the most influential political films in
history and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, it vividly re-creates a key year in
the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in
the 1950s. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/466362556904096/.
19] – Vigil to say "No
Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. Join
this ongoing vigil on Nov. 3 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max
at 410-366-1637.
20] – Maryland
Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Chesapeake Physicians for Social
Responsibility are hosting An Overview of the Chronic Effects of Pediatric
Pesticides, Poisoning and Policy Implications, an Educational Event and Dinner
– CME (2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits) – on Tues., Nov. 3 at the MedChi Building,
1211 Cathedral St., Baltimore 21201. The guest speaker is Professor James Roberts
MD, MPH, FAAP, of the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Roberts is
co-lead author of the Pesticide Exposure in Children policy statement and
technical report for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Following Dr. Robert’s
presentation, Dr. Lorne Garrettson, Dr. Jerry Paulson and Julianna Simmons,
MSPH, will participate in a panel discussion. Dr. Lorne Garrettson is Professor
Emeritus of Pediatrics at Emory University. Dr. Jerry Paulson is medical
director for the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit
Program Eastern Office, consultant to the Mid-Atlantic Center for
Children’s Health & the Environment, and Professor Emeritus
of the George Washington University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.
Ms. Simmons is the Environmental and Occupational Health Program Manager for
the Migrant Clinicians Network. From, 6 to 6:30 PM, network and enjoy
inner. Dr. Roberts will speak from 6:30 to 7 PM. Then from 7 to-8:30 PM,
catch the panel discussion. The event is free, and you can register by email with
paula@mdaap.org. Priority given to health care professionals.
21] – Mark your calendars, animal advocates! You're invited to
special animal advocacy meetings across Maryland this fall to discuss hot
topics—including puppy mills and dog fighting—and give you insider tips on how
you can make Maryland a more humane state.
On Tues., Nov. 3 from 6
to 7:30 PM go to the Hyattsville Municipal Building, Mary Prangley Room, 4310
Gallatin St., Hyattsville. This meeting will have a special focus on the
local effort to repeal the Prince George's County pit bull ban. Delegate
Barbara Frush and Adrianne Lefkowitz of the Maryland Dog Federation will join
as guests. RSVP at http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/advocacy-center/maryland-were-coming-your-town-fall?ms=em_ade_MD-advocate-for-animals-meetings-article-advocacy-alert-20151026&initialms=em_ade_MD-advocate-for-animals-meetings-article-advocacy-alert-20151026&utm_source=MD-advocate-for-animals-meetings-article-advocacy-alert-20151026&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=advocacy. Contact Chloe
Waterman at chloe.waterman@aspca.org.
22] – The Guatemala Human Rights Commission is proud to announce that this year’s Alice Zachmann Human Rights Award will be presented to the community media group Prensa Comunitaria (Community Press). GHRC selected Prensa Comunitaria for its commitment to grassroots journalism and its focus on documenting important community struggles that often receive little to no coverage in the mainstream media. According to its mission statement, the group aspires to create a space for debate on a range of social issues, with the goal of strengthening democracy in Guatemala. Prensa Comunitaria is a network of communicators – including analysts, photojournalists, reporters and investigators – who work at the community level to document stories that affect residents’ lives, often through the use of personal testimonies. The network has been hugely important in raising awareness about under-reported community movements, efforts to defend land and human rights, and prominent human rights legal cases.
One of Prensa Comunitaria’s regions
of focus has been northern Huehuetenango, in the highlands of western
Guatemala. The area has experienced growing social conflict over the past
several years, particularly around mines and hydroelectric projects. Members of
Prensa Comunitaria have provided in-depth investigations, analysis and coverage
of local resistance movements, government repression and militarization,
attacks against community radio, and the criminalization of community leaders
from the region.
At St. Stephen's Church, 1525 Newton
St. NW, WDC, on Tues., Nov. 3 at 6:30 PM, Lorenzo Mateo, a member of Prensa
Comunitaria and an indigenous leader from Huehuetenango, will receive this
year’s award on behalf of the organization. Lorenzo currently works with the
Snuq’ Jolom Konob’ community radio station in Santa Eulalia, which has faced
continued persecution and censorship. Journalism is a dangerous profession in
Guatemala. The first six months of 2015 alone saw 59 documented attacks against
journalists including the murder of three journalists within one week in March.
In this context, correspondents from Prensa Comunitaria have continued to
challenge the systems that seek to silence them. Their valuable work represents
an ongoing effort to defend the right to freedom of expression and to freedom
of the press. Visit https://comunitariapress.wordpress.com/.
23] – The Peace Academy has four
course offerings ranging from family peace-keeping strategies to nonviolent
communication tactics. Each is to be conducted at The Perry School, 128 M St.
NW, WDC, or interested parties can arrange a course at their particular sites.
Registration can be completed online at www.lffp.org
or by contacting MJ Park at mjpeace@gmail.com or 240-838-4549. Details for the
first course is listed below.
On Tues., Nov. 3 from 7 to 8:30 PM,
you could attend Course III: Peaceful Parents, Peaceful Children: Session II:
Family Peacemaking Night: Potluck dinner, workshop with 'Win-Win' games and
'Peace Train.' The cost is $95 per family.
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
