Baltimore Activist Alert Oct. 18 - 19, 2015

Baltimore Activist Alert Oct. 18 - 19, 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 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] “Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence” – Oct. 18

7] Prayers for Peace in the Middle East – Oct.18

8] Pentagon Vigil – Oct. 19

9] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Oct. 19 – Oct. 23

10] Reform the Baltimore Police Department – Oct. 19

11] Morality of Nuclear Weapons – Oct. 19

12] Green Neighbors meeting – Oct. 19

13] A prisoner’s music – Oct. 19

14] ACLU dinner – Oct. 19

15] “Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley” – Oct. 19

16] Film BLOOD BROTHER – Oct. 19

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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 Oct. 18 the platform address is “Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence” with Suzanne Bailey.  Can crimes like domestic violence, human sex trafficking and sexual assault be opportunities to send a message of compassion and love to someone who is suffering?  In a twelve month period between 2013 and 2014, 54 people in Maryland were killed as a result of domestic violence (Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence).  An estimated 466,000 Maryland women have experienced rape in their lifetime, or 20.5% of the female population in the state (Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault).  Up to 300,000 Americans under 18 are lured into the commercial sex trade every year (Ark of Hope for Children).

We each can play a role in stopping domestic violence and sexual assault before they occur by becoming upstanders not bystanders. Being an upstander means promoting healthy and positive relationships that are based on respect, safety, and equality for each person in the relationship.  Helping to end violence can make a huge impact in a victim’s life. It also sends a powerful message to the perpetrator and the community about what is acceptable behavior towards others.  Discuss how we can send these powerful messages of respect, safety and equality in our own city and state.

Bailey is an attorney and currently Director for the Women’s Law Center of Maryland’s Multi-Ethnic Domestic Violence Project (MEDOVI) which is a statewide program that provides pro bono immigration legal assistance to Maryland residents who are foreign born victims of domestic violence, human sex trafficking, intimate partner stalking or sexual assault. Read more at www.wlcmd.org.  Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.

7] – On Sun., Oct. 18 from 3 to 5 PM, the Holy Land Peace Fellowship Foundation will hold a Day of Prayers for Peace in the Middle East.  The speakers are Presiding Bishop Richard H. Graham, Dr. Sahar Khamis, National Director, Middle East Peace Working Group, and Mr. Joel R. Segal.  This great event will be held at the Memorial Chapel, University of Maryland College Park. Go to www.hlpff.org/events or call 301-257-0276. The HLPFF is a nonprofit organization of civil society and faith leaders, representing different faiths, races, and nationalities that believe in promoting the culture of lasting peace through fellowship and public service. 

8] -- 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., Oct. 5, 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. 

9] – 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.

10] – As Baltimore and the nation prepare for the trial of the police officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death, the Center for American Progress and the Campaign for Justice, Safety, and Jobs will release a set of six recommendations to reform the Baltimore Police Department—recommendations that could be adapted and applied to police departments across the nation that are also working on rebuilding community-police relations. Come to the Center for American Progress, 1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor, WDC, on Mon., Oct. 19 at noon as CAP Senior Fellow and Campaign for Justice, Safety, and Jobs Co-Convener Ben Jealous will moderate a conversation with advocates, organizers, and researchers to discuss how policymakers can begin to build trust between the police in Baltimore and the communities they have sworn to serve. RSVP at https://www.americanprogress.org/events/2015/10/06/122788/towards-trust-recommendations-for-police-reform-in-baltimore/?evlc=rsvp. Contact Tanya S. Arditi at tarditi@americanprogress.org or 202.741.6258.

11] – The humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons are now central to the debate about the future of nuclear deterrence, owing to the efforts of a new global movement. Just within the last few weeks, Pope Francis has called for complete nuclear disarmament on ethical grounds and the new leader of Britain’s Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has said that, as prime minister, he would never authorize nuclear use.  The Morality of Nuclear Deterrence is a discussion which will take place at the Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036, on Mon., Oct. 19 from 12:30 to 2 PM.  Is there indeed a contradiction between the strategic goals of nuclear deterrence and its moral dimension? Could the use of nuclear weapons ever be justified? And do humanitarian considerations have any implications for states’ nuclear posture or employment policies?

The panel features James M. Acton, Co-Director of the Carnegie Endowment's Nuclear Policy Program, Drew Christiansen, Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Global Development, Georgetown University, Elbridge Colby, Robert M. Gates Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security, and Thomas Moore, Independent Consultant.  RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JiD28gs2_0yCPJqEqCzRJENobe93uDbRWo0yAQyfMTo/viewform.  

12] – At the Petworth Library, 4200 Kansas Ave. NW,  WDC, on Mon., Oct. 19 from 6:30 to 8 PM, Green Neighbors DC will talk about new developments with the PEPCO-Exelon merger, hear a report-back from the Railroad Safety Conference, and have a discussion of a possible Green Neighbors event series. Go to https://greenneighborsdc.wordpress.com/.

13] – Dennis Sobin accepts assignments from other nonprofits who wish to utilize his musical skills that he acquired during his time in prison. Says Dennis, "My purpose in performing gratis is to demonstrate to other groups and their supporters that the mission of the Safe Streets Arts Foundation of helping men and women in prison develop their artistic skills is an exciting and worthwhile objective." Come see Dennis perform a set of classical guitar music on Mon., Oct. 19 at 6:30 PM at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. during the ACLU Bill of Rights Awards Dinner.  Call Brigid Slipka at (202) 601-4265 or email brigid AT aclu-nca.org.   

   In addition to selling prison art in our retail outlets and offering the art to organizations and businesses around the world to sell on consignment, we provide the names and addresses of our imprisoned artists to anyone who wishes to use their artistic services. This is ideal for individuals, nonprofits and entrepreneurs who have a need for art or graphics of any type, including wall decorations, logos, brochure and website illustrations, or custom-made portraits from photos. Go to www.SafeStreetsArts.org. 

14] – Join the American Civil Liberties Union for their 2015 Bill of Rights Awards Dinner, with a keynote address by Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA). At the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, WDC, on Mon., Oct. 19 at 6:30 PM.  Tickets are $185, and can be purchased at http://aclu-nca.org/store/products/tickets-for-2015-bill-of-rights-awards-dinner.

15] – At the West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW, WDC, on Mon., Oct. 19 from 7 to 9 PM see the D.C. premiere of a groundbreaking documentary about the 2009 coup d'état in Honduras sparking a landless farmers’ movement that took control of the plantations. This screening of the English version will include a discussion with filmmaker Jesse Freeston and other panelists, moderated by IPS Associate Fellow Manuel Pérez-Rocha.  When a 21st century coup d’état ousts the only president they ever believed, these farmers take over the plantations…with no plans to ever give them back. Shot over four years, “Resistencia: The Fight for The Aguan Valley” follows three members of Honduras’ landless farmers’ movement as they take control of the plantations of the most powerful man in Honduras.  It is without doubt one of the most daring acts witnessed in recent Latin American history. Currently in Honduras, the movement is back in the streets with a new tactic. Marches every Friday night, with torches in hand, demanding the immediate resignation of a president who both supported and inherited the coup. Go to https://secure2.convio.net/ips/site/Ticketing/1675763915;jsessionid=1E5E3FCFDDFF995CEF0421A57081BF55.app202a?view=Tickets&id=100521.

16] – See “Blood Brother,” a story of friendship and of a life, stripped down to its essence. Most of all, it is a story about love, enduring in the face of death. It will be screened in the South Campus Commons Building 1, Room 1102, University of Maryland, 4230 Knox Rd., College Park, on Mon., Oct. 19 from 7 to 9 PM.  Rocky Braat, a young man from a fractured family and a troubled past, went traveling through India without a plan. Then he met a group of HIV positive children living in an orphanage — a meeting that changed everything for him. Rocky left his life, friends, and career in Pittsburgh to live with the kids. Steve Hoover, his best friend and filmmaker, was unsettled and intrigued by this drastic action. In an effort to find out what compelled Rocky to give up every source of stability in his life, Hoover decided to trace Rocky’s story, following him to India. He witnessed Rocky and the kids endure disease, abject poverty, and death. But, strangest of all, in the midst of these troubles, he also saw their deep joy. And he came to understand why Rocky had given up everything he had to experience it. RSVP https://www.facebook.com/events/765889600187211/.

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