Saturday, February 13, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert February 13 – 15, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert February 13 – 15, 2016

"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 410-323-1607 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] Peace & Planet – Feb. 13
7] Kindness for Paws – Feb. 13 - 14
8] Support Donna Edwards – Feb. 13 & 15
9] West Chester peace vigil – Feb. 13
10] Community causes – Feb. 13
11] Resistance to racism – Feb. 13
12] Film FLY BY NIGHT – Feb. 13
13] Town Hall on elections – Feb. 13
14] Healing through Humanism – Feb. 13
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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 410-323-1607.

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] – On Sat., Feb. 13 from 9 AM to 3:15 PM participate in the Sacred Heart Gathering for Peace and Justice: “Peace and Planet: Imperatives for the 21st. Century.” Register from 8:15 to 8:45 AM. Lunch will be provided. The guest speakers are Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, retired auxiliary bishop of the Detroit archdiocese, leading voice for peace, justice, and civil rights in the United States, and  Mark Doorley, Ph.D., director of the Ethics Program in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Villanova University. The gathering is co-sponsored the Brandywine Peace Community. Call Linda Hayes, 609-792-1094.

7] –   Our third annual animal-welfare-inspired art collection is on display by the students of Perry Hall Middle School and General John Stricker Middle School. The artworks will be on display at the White Marsh Mall the weekend of Sat., Feb. 13 and Sun., Feb. 14. There will be a name-your-donation art sale on Sunday from 11 AM to 1 PM. All proceeds from "Kindness for Paws" will go towards helping animals in need at the Maryland SPCA. Visit mdspca.org/kindness.

8] –   Can you join a Donna Edwards Baltimore City Phone Bank and Canvass at 10 AM on Sat., Feb. 13 at 11 East Mount Royal Ave. 1st Floor, Baltimore 21202? How about joining the Baltimore County Canvass at 10 AM on Sat., Feb. 13 at 7619 Clays Lane, Windsor Mill 21244? Finally, there is a Women United for Donna Meeting featuring: Donna Edwards and Dr. Julianne Malveaux at 6 PM on Mon., Feb. 15 in the Chesapeake Building, 1701 N. Charles St., Suite 200, Baltimore 21201. RSVP at http://action.donnaedwardsforsenate.com/.

9] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com

10] – At the Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Place SE, WDC, on Sat., Feb. 13 from 1 to 3 PM, join Don Murray and Parisa Norouzi as they reflect on their work in political and community activism and how their efforts have influenced social change in the communities they have lived, then and now.  Murray is a long-time resident of the District and has been active in community organizing since the late 1960s.  Newer on the scene is Ms. Norouzi, Executive Director, Empower DC, who has been active in community causes since the 1990s. Email ACMinfo@si.edu.  Go to http://anacostia.si.edu/Events?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent&eventid=117619148.

11] – Until recently many perceived black Baltimore as having an apathetic track record for resistance to racism/white supremacy. In fact, the opposite is true. Baltimore- home of the Goon Squad, the Mitchell, Jackson and Carter families- has a rich and longstanding tradition of resistance.  This event at the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W Franklin St., Baltimore, on Sat., Feb. 13 from 3 to 5 PM will focus specifically on the role of churches, advocates, and labor in the movement.  Come make the connection that there is no past/present movement-there is ONE movement of resistance. Email bmoreantiracist@gmail.com.  Go to http://bmoreantiracist.org/.

12] – Come to 1901 Fort Pl. SE, Anacostia Community Museum Program Room, WDC, on Sat., Feb. 13 from 4 to 6 PM to see the documentary “Fly By Light!”  This is a part of a series of events being held to celebrate Black History Month organized by One Common Unity.   A group of teenagers board a bus for West Virginia, leaving the streets of Washington, DC to participate in an ambitious peace education program. For the first time in their lives Mark, Asha, Martha, and Corey play in mountain streams, sing under the stars, and confront the entrenched abuse, violence and neglect cycles of their past. But as they return to DC, each young person faces an unforgiving series of hurdles and roadblocks that challenge their efforts to build a better life. Through breathtaking visuals from street corners to mountaintops, “Fly By Light” is an intimate exploration of the chaotic, confusing, and emotional journey to rewrite a young person’s future.

Directed by filmmaker Ellie Walton and produced by HawaH, this film follows the experience of a select group of youth who participated in this program facilitated by One Common Unity. Also involved is the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum. Go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/movie-screening-fly-by-light-tickets-20980870348?aff=erelorgpanelorg.

13] – Emerge USA is co-hosting a town hall on the 2016 elections on Sat., Feb. 13 from 6 to 8 PM at the Providence Recreational Center, 7525 Marc Drive, Falls Church, VA 22042 .  This is the first of several events, and the Hillary Clinton campaign is sending a representative to meet and address the community.  Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/election-2016-american-muslim-townhall-tickets-21000659538. The featured speaker will be The Honorable Farah Pandith, a friend and representative of Hillary Clinton. 'This is an important convening to engage a presidential campaign to learn and discuss the issues important to you. Pandith was the first Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State under Hillary Clinton. Visit http://www.emerge-usa.org.

The 2016 election is an extremely important election for the Muslim community. As election day approaches, Emerge USA and Makespace will be hosting a series of town hall events to discuss important issues for the Muslim community and to engage campaigns at the local, state and federal levels.

14] – 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 Feb. 14, the topic is “Healing through Humanism: Grief Beyond Belief and the Secular Support Movement.” Following the death of her infant son, she recognized a need for grief-support services free of the constant references to heaven, angels, spirits and signs that dominate mainstream grief support. When she did not find the kind of community she needed among the many grief-support sites on the internet, Rebecca Hensler created Grief Beyond Belief, an online community in which grieving non-believers gather to share their memories, experiences and emotions, including their anger and frustration with religious and spiritual “comfort.” The network that she founded now includes a Facebook page, a closed Facebook group, and an independent website, and collaborates with a variety of affiliates from a secular pet-loss group to a Portuguese-language grief-support group out of Brazil.

   Rebecca will speak on the needs of those grieving without faith and the comfort offered by secular peer-to-peer grief support, how Humanism informs secular grief support and helps nonbelievers learn to live with grief, the role of the growing secular support movement in the broader freethought community, and expansion of Grief Beyond Belief from the internet into real-life grief-support workshops. Following her talk, Rebecca will welcome questions about surviving and healing from grief as a nonbeliever, as well as about Grief Beyond Belief itself. She is the founder of secular grief support network Grief Beyond Belief. She has a BA in Political Activism and an MS in Counseling, and works as a middle school dean in San Francisco. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.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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