Baltimore Activist Alert June 17 - 22, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert June 17 -22, 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] SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION – June 17 - 20

7] Remember Joe Morton – June 18

8] Learning to Breathe -- June 19

9] A Sunday Kind of Love – June 19  

10] Pentagon Vigil – June 20

11] Marc Steiner on WEAA – June 20 – June 24

12] Film “Amreeka” -- June 20 

13] DC Statehood Teach-in – June 20

14] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – June 21

15] Protest JHU drone research – June 21

16] MAOISM & THE CHINESE REVOLUTION -- June 21

17] Torture Survivor Awareness Week Conference – June 22

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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—410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon dot net.

6] – A SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION is happening from 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM on Fri., June 17, through Mon., June 20. This year’s celebration will be focused on our relationship to the Sun; we will gather for Sunrise and Sunset meetings. The teachings of Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov in his book, “Towards a Solar Civilization” give us a clear understanding of the importance of the Sun for the existence of our planet and ourselves. The meetings include morning prayers and ceremony, and will occur at 4209 East-West Highway (Jerusalem House) and 4217 East-West Highway (Rishikesh House.).  Call 301 654 6759 or go to www.theessenechurchofpeace.org.

7] –  A memorial service for Joe Morton, a retired Goucher College philosophy department chair who founded a peace studies program, will be held at 1 p.m. June 18 at the Athenaeum on the school's Towson campus.

8] – 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 June 19 the topic is “Learning to Breathe” with Karen Elliott.  Qi Gong is an ancient Chinese practice that is still common today, not just in China but all over the world. Exercises that coordinate breath with movements are done in a meditative way. Karen Elliott will talk about qi gong and then lead some simple qi gong exercises. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.

9] – Catch a Sunday Kind of Love Reading and Open Mic Series at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, WDC, on Sun., June 19 at 5 PM.  Sunday Kind of Love offers a stage for emerging and established poets from the Washington, D.C. area and around the nation. It includes featured poets and an open mic segment. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased online the day of the event or at the door: http://busboysandpoets.com/events/info/get-tickets. Email info@splitthisrock.org. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1095762943802839/.

10] – 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., June 20, 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. 

11] – 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.

12] – On Mon., June 20, the Reel & Meal film series presents the feature film “Amreeka.” It explores how a family of Palestinian immigrants from the West Bank search for a place to call home in rural Illinois. The film is set at a time just a few years back, when many Americans were afraid of immigrants from the Middle East. It sets a stage for discussion about ongoing fears of immigrants and about policy concerning refugees.  The venue is the New Deal Cafe, 113 Centerway in Greenbelt's Roosevelt Center. The free film starts at 7 PM, following a vegan buffet for $14 served from 6:30 PM. The "Reel and Meal at the New Deal" film series is a collaboration of three Greenbelt affinity groups: Green Vegan Networking, Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group and Prince George’s County Peace and Justice Coalition, which plans this month’s documentary

Linda Rabben, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland and author of Give Refuge to the Stranger: The Past, Present, and Future of Sanctuary, will help lead the discussion following the film. She will be joined by Bshara Nassar, a Palestinian now living in Hyattsville, who created the Nakba Museum: Project of Memory and Hope, an exhibit about Palestinians' history and experiences. Bshara has a master’s degree from the Eastern Mennonite University Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and advocates for nonviolent resolutions to conflict. Nakba refers to the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in 1948 when the State of Israel was created. See http://www.nakbamuseumdc.org  for more information about this project.

13] – There is a DC Statehood Teach-in at UDC Law, 4340 Connecticut Ave., Room 518, WDC, on Mon., June 20 at 6:15 PM.  Hear speakers to learn about the struggle for D.C. statehood and discuss civil rights in the 21st century at this teach-in! Go to

http://www.law.udc.edu/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=822065&group=.

14] – 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 June 20.  Call 215-426-0364.

15] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on June 20  from 5:30 to 6:30  PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

16] – ELLIOTT LIU PRESENTS: MAOISM & THE CHINESE REVOLUTION: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION on Tues., June 21 at 7:30 PM @ Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201.  The Chinese Revolution changed the face of the twentieth century, and the politics that issued from it—often referred to as “Maoism”—resonated with colonized and oppressed people from the 1970s down to the anti-capitalist movements of today. But how did these politics first emerge? And what do they offer activists today, who seek to transform capitalist society at its very foundations? Elliott will offer a brief overview of the course of the Chinese revolution and how it shaped what became Maoism, and facilitate a discussion of how Maoist politics have been interpreted and applied locally and in the U.S. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

17] – Get involved with a Torture Survivor Awareness Week Conference in Gowan Hall, Catholic University, 620 Michigan Ave. NE, WDC, on Wed., June 22 from 9 AM to 5 PM.  Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) is holding activities in Washington, DC for International June Survivors Week. The theme is “We Will Not Be Silent.” Email Kelsey@tassc.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