Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Baltimore Activist Alert - November 17 - 18, 2015

28] Mass Incarceration – Nov. 17
29] Film “Okinawa: The Afterburn” – Nov. 18
30] Rights of Indigenous Peoples – Nov. 18
31] Support the Chagossian people – Nov. 18
32] Lobby Rep. Sarbanes – Nov. 18
33] Book talk THE OCCUPIERS – Nov. 18
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28] –   James Kilgore, author of "Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time," will speak on Tues., Nov. 17 at 6:30 PM in the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Poe Room, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore 21201. Understanding Mass Incarceration describes in plain English the many competing theories of criminal justice -- from rehabilitation to retribution, from restorative justice to justice reinvestment. Kilgore illuminates the difference between prisons and jails, probation and parole, laying out key concepts and policies such as the War on Drugs, broken-windows policing, three-strikes sentencing, the school-to-prison pipeline, recidivism, and prison privatization. He also addresses the rapidly increasing incarceration of women, Latinos and transgender people; the growing imprisonment of immigrants; and the devastating impact of mass incarceration on communities. James Kilgore is a writer, educator and social justice activist who teaches and works at the University of Illinois. He spent six years in prison, during which time he drafted his three published novels. Go to www.prattlibrary.org/.

29] – Come to the Weschler Theatre, Mary Graydon Center, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC, on Wed., Nov. 18 from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM to see “Okinawa: The Afterburn,” the first documentary to provide a comprehensive picture of World War II’s Battle of Okinawa and the ensuing 70-year occupation of Okinawa by the US military.

On April 1, 1945, the United States military launched its invasion of the main island of Okinawa, the start of a battle that was to last 12 weeks and claim the lives of some 240,000 people. This film depicts the Battle through the eyes of Japanese and US soldiers who fought each other on the same battlefield, along with Okinawa civilians swept up in the fighting, complemented by extensive footage from the US National Archives.

The film also depicts the long history of discrimination and oppression forced upon Okinawa by the US and Japanese governments. Including the controversy over the construction of a new US military base in Okinawa, the film explores the root causes of the widespread disillusionment and anger expressed by many Okinawans. Contact johnsteinbach1@verizon.net. 

30] – Amazon Watch, CIEL and the Indian Law Resource Center invite you to a "Green-Bag Lunch" presentation Building on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation in the UN and OAS on Wed., Nov. 18 from 12:30 to 2 PM at Amazon Watch / CIEL Conference Room, 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, #1100, (Above Cosi, Dupont Circle South), WDC.  The UN Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. It is a comprehensive and historic statement of the rights of indigenous peoples. More than ever before, indigenous leaders are arming themselves with awareness and knowledge of the Declaration, and they are calling for its implementation to realize their rights, both domestically and internationally.

This session will address the implementation of the UN declaration, in the follow-up work to the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations, and in negotiating the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Organization of American States. The Indian Law Resource Center is a nonprofit law and advocacy organization established and directed by American Indians. Leonardo A. Crippa is a Kolla lawyer from Jujuy, Argentina, with substantial experience in international law and policy. Karla E. General is a Mohawk lawyer and was raised on the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. She earned her Juris Doctor with a specialization in Global Affairs from Syracuse University College of Law and her Master's degree in Sociology from the Maxwell School in 2010.

31] – Come to American University, Hamilton Building 303, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC, on Wed., Nov. 18 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM and show support for the Chagossian people.  In the 1970s, the US Government created a military base on the Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia, in the British-controlled Chagos Archipelago. During the base’s creation, the Chagossians were deported and discarded in abject poverty. Since their expulsion, Chagossians have been barred from returning to their homeland. Bring your phones & laptops! You can contact your Congressional reps while enjoying good food. Contact Alyssa Rohricht at 202-885-2446 or rohricht@american.edu. 

32] – As part of the national "Educate Congress" Campaign Letter Drops, on Wed., Oct. 21 at 4:30 PM, the Pledge of Resistance will go to Rep. John Sarbanes’ office, 600 Baltimore Ave., Suite 303, Towson, MD 21204, to deliver a letter.  The letter urges him to vote against the Trans-Pacific Partnership and in favor of Voting Rights and to speak out against killer drone strikes. Let Max know if you can sign on to the letter and go to Sarbanes’ office--410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net. Are you a constituent?

33] – On Wed., Nov. 18 at 7:30 PM @ Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, Michael Gould-Wartofsky presents “The Occupiers.” Occupy Wall Street burst onto the stage of history in the fall of 2011. First by the tens, then by the tens of thousands, protesters filled the streets and laid claim to the squares of nearly 1,500 towns and cities, until, one by one, the occupations were forcibly evicted. In his book, Gould-Wartofsky offers a front-seat view of the action in the streets of New York City and beyond. Through the use of material gathered in the course of eighty interviews and two years of on-the-ground investigation, Gould-Wartofsky traces the occupation of Zuccotti Park—and some of its counterparts across the United States and around the world—from inception to eviction. He takes up the challenges the occupiers faced and explores the ways in which occupied squares became focal points for an emerging opposition to the politics of austerity, restricted democracy, and the power of corporate America. 

Much of the discussion of the Occupy phenomenon has treated it as if it lived and died in Zuccotti Park, but Gould-Wartofsky follows the evicted occupiers into exile and charts their evolving strategies, tactics, and tensions as they seek to resist, regroup, and reoccupy. Displaced from public spaces and news headlines, the 99 Percent movement has spread out from the financial centers and across an America still struggling to recover in the aftermath of the economic crisis. Even if the movement fails to achieve radical reform, Gould-Wartofsky maintains, its offshoots may well accelerate the pace of change in the United States in the years to come. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.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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