Baltimore Activist Alert - April 2 - 18, 2016

11] HOLDING DEMONS IN SMALL JARS – Apr. 2

12] Marc Steiner at Ethical Society – Apr. 3

13] COLLECTIVE COURAGE – Apr. 3

14] Al Helm (The Dream): Martin Luther King in Palestine –Apr. 3

15] LGBT Choral Celebration Nuclear deals – Apr. 3

16] Interfaith Seder – Apr. 3

17] Pentagon Vigil – Apr. 4

18] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Apr. 4 – Apr. 8

19] Korean Peninsula – Apr. 4

20] Green Party meeting – Apr. 4

21] Film HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD! – Apr. 4

22] Global Campaign on Military Spending – through Apr. 18

23] Equitable Development Conference – Apr. 5

24] Women’s Rights in Afghanistan – Apr. 5

25] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Apr. 5

26] Protest JHU drone research – Apr. 5

27] Criminalization of Black Girls – Apr. 5

28] The Syrian Crisis – Apr. 5

29] WE TOO SING AMERICA – Apr. 5

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11] – On Sat., Apr. 2 at 7:30 PM come to Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, to hear JASMINE KUMALAH present HOLDING DEMONS IN SMALL JARS. This is her debut novel.  Three boys are brutally killed in a neighborhood in Diamante, the capital city of Bantunia, a fictional country healing from a tragic civil war. Follow the story of Detective Alu as he tries to piece together the story of their deaths. Kumalah is a Belgian born, Sierra Leonean and Togolese- American writer. She writes stories, poetry and pursues other creative endeavors. This book is her first published work. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

12] – 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 Apr. 3, Marc Steiner will talk about “Building Our City’s Future.”  Baltimore’s own Marc Steiner of WEAA and the Center for Emerging Media will bring up race, poverty, building our city’s future and his work in journalism. He previously worked for WYPR (and its predecessor, WJHU) from 1993 until his firing on February 1, 2008. He also operates his own production company, the Center for Emerging Media. Visit http://bmorethical.org/.  Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.

13] – A discussion "Collective Courage" Wisdom Circle, Part II will happen at Shaw/Watha T. Daniel Library, WTD Meeting Room, 1630 7th St. NW, WDC, on Sun., Apr. 3 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM.  The book “Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice,” is written by ONE DC and Shared Leadership Team member Jessica Gordon Nembhard. She chronicles African American cooperative business ownership and its place in the movements for Black civil rights and economic equality. Not since W. E. B. Du Bois's 1907 Economic Co-operation Among Negro Americans has there been a full-length, nationwide study of African American cooperatives. To tell the story, Gordon Nembhard uses a variety of newspapers, period magazines, and journals; co-ops' articles of incorporation, minutes from annual meetings, newsletters, budgets, and income statements; and scholarly books, memoirs, and biographies. Visit http://www.onedconline.org/wisdomcircle2?utm_campaign=mar16_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=onedctrac.

14] –Al Helm (The Dream): Martin Luther King in Palestine on Sun., Apr. 3 at 2:30 PM at Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, 4444 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, VA (Exit George Mason Drive SOUTH).  An African-American gospel choir is the Greek chorus for a Palestinian play on Martin Luther King Jr. which tours the West Bank preaching nonviolence. The choir is apprehensive about working with Palestinians whose American media image is that of angry, violent terrorists. For the Palestinian actors, Americans are unconditional supporters of their occupiers. It is a personal and cultural exchange where, over the course of the journey, their ideas about each other are radically transformed. Happy to finally visit the Holy Land, the choir witnesses life in the occupied territories, performs in a unique theater inside a refugee camp using art as an alternative to violence, and meet Fadi Quran, a young leader of a nonviolent movement for justice.  At the end of their tour reality will astonishingly mirror the play on MLK, a man who died for his beliefs. Go to www.facebook.com/VoicesHolyLand or www.uucava.org/page/voices.

15] –  An LGBT Choral Celebration featuring three of the mid-Atlantic region’s best LGBT choral groups will be held on Sun., Apr. 3 at 3 PM at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1320 Park Ave. (Bolton Hill), Baltimore.  Everyone is invited to this Tiffany Series concert.  Singing are Baltimore’s New Wave Singers; Philadelphia’s SheWho, a feminist women’s ensemble; and Potomac Fever, the D.C. Gay Men’s Chorus’ “tight harmony” ensemble (which has sung at the White House!).  Each group will perform individually, and then all will come together at the concert’s conclusion in a “massed chorus” piece.  A free reception will follow the event.

Tickets are $15 (students $5) and are available in advance at www.browndowntown.org, as well as at the door.  Parking (on Moser St., behind Mt. Royal Elementary/Middle School) and free shuttle service between the parking lot and the church will be available.  Call 410-523-1542 or email TiffanySeries.BrownMemorial@gmail.com.

16] – At the Calvary Baptist Church, 755 8th St. NW, WDC, on Sun., Apr. 3 from 5 to 8 PM, join the DC Metro Chapter of JVP for an inter-faith Passover Seder dedicated to freedom for all people.  They will use a blend of traditional and contemporary readings, poems and songs to shed a new light on the Passover story.  The chapter Seder is an ideal opportunity to share JVP's work with friends and family.  The Hagaddah (Passover ritual guide) is customized to share our focus on human rights and an end to the occupation of Palestine. This year's Seder will include a Pot Luck Dinner – bring a vegetarian dish, dessert or beverage to share in the Passover tradition.  No bread or baked goods made with flour please. The suggested donation is $7 in advance or $10 at the door.  No one will be refused due to cost. See http://jvpdcmetroseder.brownpapertickets.com/.

17] -- 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., Apr. 4, 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. 

18] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday fr6m 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.

19] – On Mon., Apr. 4 from 1 to 3:30 PM as part of ICAS Spring Symposium Prologue, Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Richard Weitz, Hudson Institute, will discuss "The Korean Peninsula Issues and U.S. National Security." Sponsored by ICAS Liberty Foundation, it will take place at Room 2237, Rayburn House Office Building, WDC 20515. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/icas-spring-symposium-prologue-tickets-24188324931.

20] – On Mon., Apr. 4 at 7 PM at the Baltimore Green Party office, 100 E. 23rd St., the group will have its last meeting before the May 1st Primary. The business of this meeting will focus on the upcoming primary and what needs to be done to get prepared.   Also to be discussed are two important aspects of the re-branding efforts. The first is the "North Carolina amendment," a national platform change that would clarify the economic position of the Green Party, and the second is a change to the mission statement of the BGP that would align the group more closely with activism.  RSVP at http://www.baltimoregp.org/baltimore_green_party_april_meeting.

21] –On Mon., Apr. 28 from 7 to 9 PM, Beyond the Classroom at the University of Maryland, College Park, South Campus Commons, Room 1102, Building 1, for another installment of their Spring 2016 Series on "People Power: Activism for Social Change." This installment will feature a screening of “HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD!” The documentary chronicles the adventures of an eclectic group of young pioneers – Canadian hippie journalists, photographers, musicians, scientists, and American draft dodgers – who set out to stop Richard Nixon’s atomic bomb tests in Amchitka, Alaska, and end up creating Greenpeace. Greenpeace was founded on tight knit, passionate friendships forged in Vancouver in the early 1970s. Together they championed a template for environmental activism which mixed daring iconic feats and worldwide media: placing small rubber inflatables between harpooners and whales, blocking ice-breaking sealing ships with their bodies, spraying the pelts of baby seals with dye to make them valueless in the fur market. The group had a prescient understanding of the power of media, knowing that the advent of global mass communications meant that the image had become a more effective tool for change than the strike or the demonstration. But by the summer of 1977, Greenpeace Vancouver was suing Greenpeace San Francisco and the organization had become a victim of its own anarchic roots – saddled with large debts and frequent in-fighting.  RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/907226892721648/.

22] – Global Campaign on Military Spending [GDAMS] 2016 is happening on Tues., Apr. 5 through Mon., Apr. 18.  On the 5th, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will publish the global military expenditure figures for 2015, together with its analysis of the trends. The 18th is Tax Day in the USA, a traditional moment in the calendar for civil society to challenge the uses put to public money. This new style ‘Global Day’ offers our participants more scope to choose a suitable moment to organize events that fit local or national contexts. As usual, IPB will publish all events that are within the GDAMS framework.  Go to http://demilitarize.org/gdams-2016-2/.

23] – Come to the 2016 Equitable Development Conference hosted by The George Washington University, 800 21st St. NW, Marvin Center Grand Ballroom, Third Floor, WDC, on Tues., Apr. 5 from 9 AM to 3 PM.  Info: Movement building is the focus of the third annual conference on equitable development in Washington, DC to be co-sponsored by ONE DC and George Washington University.  Bringing together residents from all parts of the DC area, organizers, students, developers, elected officials and all who are concerned with sustainable, equitable development, this conference will build on the ongoing efforts to create a more democratic and just community. Conference will also include community walking tours that highlight ongoing movement building work in DC.  To volunteer or help plan, email dmoulden@onedconline.org. Email organizer@onedconline.org.

24] – "Women's Rights and Political Participation in Afghanistan" is the topic at the Kay Spiritual Life Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC, on Tues., Apr. 5 at 3 PM.  Join Fatima Jafari as a part of the Human Rights Defenders Series. Tea and snacks will be served in the Key Lounge. Go to http://www.american.edu/ocl/kay/.

25] – 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 Mar. 29.  Call 215-426-0364.

26] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on Mar. 29  from 5:30 to 6:30  PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

27] – Catch a Book Talk about “Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools,” by Monique W. Morris on Tues., Apr. 5 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at BUSBOYS @ 5TH & K, 1025 5th St. NW, WDC.  Morris will discuss and sign her book and be hosted by Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality.  Dr. Morris, the cofounder and president of The National Black Women’s Justice Institute, is also the author of “Black Stats: African Americans by the Number in the Twenty-First Century” (2014) and “Too Beautiful for Words” (2012).  Visit http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/book-talk-pushout-the-criminalization-of-black-girls-in-schools-by-monique-.

28] – Join No Lost Generation at UMD in welcoming Mostafa Hassoun and Dr. Hisham Naji as they share their inspiring stories and experiences with Syria. Come hear Mr. Hassoun, a 23 year old refugee who fled Syria in 2015 and is currently living in Annapolis,., talk about his life in Syria, his life here, and the battles he has overcome and the challenges he faces today, living in an unfamiliar city and culture. Dr. Naji, a doctor and D.C. Chapter President of the Syrian American Medical Society, will be illustrating his role in aiding Syrian civilians impacted by the crisis, and his knowledge working in both Syria and North America.

The Syrian Crisis: An Inside Look takes place on Tues., Apr. 5 from 7 to 9PM in the Charles Carroll Room, Stamp Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park. RVSP at https://www.facebook.com/events/478206515717228/. Find No Lost Generation at UMD on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NoLostGenerationUMD/. No Lost Generation is a nationwide campaign that began at the George Washington University and is partnered with the State Department, Save the Children, the Malala Foundation, and others.

29] – Be at an Author Talk with Deepa Iyer who will talk about “We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future” at The Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd, NW, WDC, on Tues., Apr. 5 at 7 PM.  Join Deepa Iyer, author of We Too Sing America: for a book talk and conversation with advocates around the current politics of fear and hate, and what to do about it.  This event, co-sponsored by the Advancement Project, Many Languages One Voice (MLOV), and South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), will continue the work of reframing the conversation on race in the US with Iyer, giving particular focus to the current political climate in the US. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1708429806035417/.

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