Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert - February 11 - 18, 2015

44] Criminalizing homelessness – Feb. 11
45] Oil train town hall – Feb. 11
46] Democracy Spring meeting – Feb. 11
47] Jobs With Justice National Conference – Feb. 12 - 14
48] Peace vigil at White House – Feb. 12
49] WIB peace vigil – Feb. 12
50] Protest at the Bahraini embassy – Feb. 12
51] “Where to Invade Next” -- Feb. 12 – 18 [at least]
52] Just Hours – Feb. 12
53] Black Lives Matter – Feb. 12
54] Film TRIP ALONG EXODUS – Feb. 12
55] From Baltimore to Chicago to the World -- One Struggle – Feb. 12
56] The Vagina Monologues – Feb. 12
57] Rent court – Feb. 12
58] Ballroom Dancing – Feb. 12
59] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
60] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
61] Do you need any book shelves?
62] Join the Global Zero campaign
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44] – Come to 1317 G St. NW, WDC, on Thurs., Feb. 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM and hear from a panel of experts about the rise in the criminalization of homelessness in D.C. and across the United States and how you can be a part of the solution.  Refreshments will be provided. There are at least five speakers. Visit StreetSense.org.

45] – Join the discussion Lac-Megantic to Baltimore: Oil Train Town Hall in the 2640 Space at St. John's Church, 2640 St. Paul St., Baltimore 21218, on Thurs., Feb. 11 from 7 to 8:30 PM.  Over the past year, Chesapeake Climate Action Network halted plans for a new crude oil shipping terminal in South Baltimore. However, oil trains already run through the city. Hear from Marilaine Savard, a mom who lived through the Lac-Megantic oil train disaster in Canada, City Council representatives, and experts.  During the meeting, discuss plans for 2016, including passing a city ordinance requiring the first-ever health and safety study on oil trains in Baltimore. Go to http://org.salsalabs.com/o/423/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=85268.

46] – It’s time to take mass nonviolent action on a historic scale to save our democracy. This April, demand a Congress that will take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in our politics and ensure free and fair elections in which every citizen has an equal voice.  The campaign will begin on April 2nd with a 10-day march from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia to DC, where on April 11th, thousands will gather to reclaim the Capitol building in a powerful, peaceful, and massive sit-in that no one can ignore.

On Thurs., Feb. 11 from 7:15 to 9 PM at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St. NW, WDC, come to the launch for the local hub in D.C. that allows you to plug into this inspiring movement! This work will make it possible for thousands to participate in this powerful action, bring this issue to the national attention, and create a momentous shift in the political weather to ensure a democracy that is responsive to we the people. Go to democracyspring.org.

47] – Get over to the 2016 Jobs With Justice National Conference from Fri., Feb. 12 through Sun., Feb. 14 in the Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW.  WDC. The nearest Metro is at Union Station. While online registration is closed, there will be on-site registration.  Contact Amy Smoucha at (202) 393-1044 x105 or conference@jwj.org.

48] – On Fri., Feb. 12 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! This vigil will take place at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contract Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416. 

49] – On Fri., Feb. 12 from noon to 1 PM, join Women in Black peace vigil. This vigil will take place at the corner of Light and Pratt Sts.  Stay for as long as you can. Wear black. Dress for who knows what kind of weather. Bring your own poster or help with the "NO WAR IN MY NAME" banner.  When there are others to stand with, you don't need to carry the burden alone. Do this to be in solidarity with others....when everything around us says Be afraid of the stranger.

50] – Be at 3502 International Dr. NW, WDC, on Fri., Feb. 12 from noon to 4 PM, join ADHRB as its members Rebuild the Roundabout at the Bahraini embassy in Washington, DC, and show the Bahraini people that you stand in solidarity with their cause. Commemorative speeches will be delivered by Maryam Alkhawaja, human rights activist, Matar Ebrahim Matar, NED fellow and former Bahraini MP, Brian Dooley, director of the Human Rights Defenders program at Human Rights First, and Husain Abdulla, ADHRB executive director.  In February 2011, thousands of Bahrainis gathered for a month-long vigil around the Pearl Roundabout to protest for the government to recognize their rights. One month later, the government violently assaulted the movement, demolishing the Roundabout.  Bullhorns, posters, water, and a 12-FOOT INFLATABLE PEARL ROUNDABOUT will be provided! Email events@adhrb.org or visit https://www.facebook.com/events/904874556297842/.

51] –Note that Michael Moore is ill, and unable to promote his latest film “Where to Invade Next.”  So we must promote it.  It opens at the Charles Theatre, 1711 N. Charles St., Baltimore, on Fri., Feb. 12, and the show times are as follows: 1:40 PM, 4:10 PM, 7:00 PM, 9:25 PM.  It will at least stay at the Charles until Thurs., Feb. 18.  Of course, the run can be extended if the crowds turn out.  Call 410-727-FILM or email charlestheatre@yahoo.com.

52] – Working people are winning better wages in cities and states around the country, but there’s one big group standing in the way of ensuring a fair return on work for the men and women with retail and service industry jobs. Opponents of the movement will keep fighting tooth and nail to undermine the needs of these workers, so disrupt business as usual on that turf.  At 400 New Jersey Ave. NW, WDC, on Fri., Feb. 12 at 3:15 PM, join the hundreds of activists, organizers, and leaders in town for the National Jobs With Justice Conference, DC Jobs With Justice & many others as they march to stop the corporate abuse of “on-call” scheduling and take the fight for “Just Hours” and fair wages to the public!  The march will kick off right outside the conference at the Hyatt Regency Washington and make its way downtown, ending in a brief rally. Visit http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?561660.

53] –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 Feb. 12. Black Lives Matter. 

54] – The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC, on Fri., Feb. 12 from 6 to 8 PM.  See the film "Trip Along Exodus," which explores the last 70 years of Palestinian politics through the prism of the life of Dr. Elias Shoufani, who left a tenured position at an American university in the early 1970s to join the underground PLO in Beirut. Born in Mi’liya in the Galilee and educated at the Hebrew University and Princeton, the multilingual and erudite Dr. Shoufani became one of the Arab world’s leading analysts of Israeli affairs for more than a generation. As a leftist intellectual, he was also one of the leaders of the opposition to Arafat within Fatah. He was opposed to policies meant to lead toward a two-state solution, grounded in a political clarity and prescience about the direction in which Israel was headed, and in his understanding that the two-state solution would never actually be allowed to be realized.

To try and understand his choices, his daughter, Hind Shoufani, made a documentary that traced her family’s journey through Palestine’s 20th century history.  It starts in Palestine in 1948 and ends in current day war-torn Syria, traveling through Washington DC, New York City, the Galilee (Israel), Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. In recreating Palestinian history, the film uses archival footage, poetry, family photos/8mm films, glitter, cartoons, animation, macro-photography, interviews, and multimedia formats to produce both a personal and political memoir.

Hind Shoufani is a Palestinian filmmaker and poet. A Fulbright scholar with an MFA in filmmaking from NYU, she has been working in the film/TV and literature worlds for seventeen years. This is her first feature documentary. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/57180/pid/187.

55] – On Fri., Feb. 12 from 7 to 9 PM, come to Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, 430 E. Belvedere Ave., Baltimore 21212 for a Black History Month program From Baltimore to Chicago to the World -- One Struggle.  Use the #8 bus line. Make a free will offering. 

   What do the murders of Laquan McDonald and Freddie Gray have in common?  Civil and Justice Rights activist Frank Chapman will discuss the role of police violence in propping up an unjust social order here and abroad.  Chapman was wrongfully convicted of murder and armed robbery in 1961 and sentenced to life and fifty years in the Missouri State Prison. His case was taken up by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) and after 14 years of imprisonment he was released in 1976.  In 1983 he was elected Executive Director of NAARPR. For the past three years he has been a leading figure in the struggle in Chicago to stop police crimes, especially murder, torture, beatings and racial profiling.  He is presently Field Organizer and Educational Director of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

  There will be performances by Lady Brion, Baltimore Grand Slam Champion, and the Charm City Labor Chorus.  Doors open at 5:30PM.  Come early and enjoy an exhibit of 20th century African-American Communist freedom fighters and a dinner special, which includes a vegetarian dinner for a $10 donation.  The evening is sponsored by Maryland Friends of the Peoples World [go to www.peoplesworld.org] and the Communist Party of Maryland [email md@cpusa.org].

56] -- The Vagina Monologues: A Performance is happening at 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW, Room 515, WDC 20008, on Fri., Feb. 12 from 7:30 to 9 PM.  Join students of the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law for a benefit performance for the Amara Legal Center.  This event is a result of the collaboration of the International Human Rights Law Student Association, the Women's Law Society, local actors, and members of the community. The performance will highlight the need to promote and protect human rights, rights for women, social justice, the importance of law for protecting rights, and the use of theater as a tool for activism and giving voice to the voiceless. Tickets are $5.  Visit http://www.law.udc.edu/event/VMonologues.

57] –  On Fri., Feb. 12 at 7:30 PM come to Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, as the Right to Housing Alliance presents a panel on Baltimore City Rent Court. More than half of households in the city rent their housing. Half who rent are paying more than 30% of our income to pay for housing, and one in four is paying more than half of one’s income. Baltimore has some of the least affordable rental housing in the country according to median income, and for many, safe, affordable housing is out of reach. Rental housing is often riddled with habitability issues: mold, pests, lack of heat or hot water, leaking pipes, faulty wiring.  

Each year, 150,000 Baltimore families struggling to afford safe housing—overwhelmingly black women—are summoned to walk through “the eviction pipeline” at Baltimore City rent court, and as many as 7,000 of those families are ultimately evicted.  A recent report by the Public Justice Center and Right to Housing Alliance shows how the court diverts renters from deserved justice. The results of the study are a launch pad to transform the court to one of justice.    Panelists include Jessica Lewis, organizer with Right to Housing Alliance; and Zafar Shah, staff attorney with the Human Right to Housing Program at Public Justice Center. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

58] – 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 Feb. 12. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

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

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

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

62] -- 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.

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




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