Baltimore Activist Alert January 7 - 10, 2017

Baltimore Activist Alert January 7 - 10, 2017

"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] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore

5] Drone Death Walk – Jan. 7

6] Witness Against Torture events – Jan. 8 - 10

7] Slop the evictions – Jan. 8

8] Pentagon Vigil – Jan. 9

9] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Jan. 9 – Jan. 13

10] No to Trump’s cabinet -- Jan. 9

11] Movement for a Culture of Peace meeting – Jan. 9

12] Get Money Out Maryland conference call – Jan. 9

13] Peace vigil in Philadelphia – Jan. 10

14] Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" – Jan. 10

15] Resist Trump meeting -- Jan. 10

16] Author Talk – They Can't Kill Us All -- Jan. 10

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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] – 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.

5] – On Sat., Jan. 7 from noon to 1PM, you can join an ANTI-WAR DRONE DEATH WALK/VIGIL IN PHILADELPHIA. Meet at 12th & Arch Sts., across from Convention Center. Please wear BLACK for symbolic effect, white masks provided.  Call Marge Van Cleef at 267-763-1644.  From Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia to Libya, Killer Drones bring death and endless war. Go to www.brandywinepeace.com/events or call 484-574-1148.

6] – Gallery 102 presents The Tea Project with Ghaleb Al-Bihani & Djamel Ameziane from Sun., Jan. 8 through Fri., Jan. 20, in collaboration with The Center for Constitutional Rights,  Witness Against Torture and The National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms.  In the company of the full installation of 779 porcelain teacups, one for each individual that has been detained at Guantanamo, Amber Ginsburg, Aaron Hughes, and their collaborators will host events that allow audiences a role in telling the story of the current involvement in war and detention with a specific focus on the legal and human rights issues surrounding Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, the Global War on Terror, and growing Islamophobia. Gallery 102 is located at George Washington University, 801 22nd St. NW, WDC 20052.

Alongside the Tea Project will be the works of Ghaleb Al-Bihani and Djamel Ameziane. Shown for the first time will be a substantial selection of the more than 100 works by Ghaleb, who has been detained without charge in Guantanamo since 2002 and has been cleared for transfer since 2014. Ghaleb, who discovered a talent for art in routine classes offered to detainees, told CCR, “Painting makes me feel as if I am embracing the universe….I also see things around me as if they were paintings, which gives me the sense of a beautiful life.” The Tea Project is also grateful to show three pieces of work by Djamel, an Algerian national who was detained without charge in Guantanamo from 2002 to 2013.

Placing the 779 Teacups will happen on Sun., Jan. 8 throughout the day.  During their week long fast in solidarity with Guantanamo detainees, Witness Against Torture will place each cup in the installation, one for every individual detained in Guantanamo since 2001. Each teacup is carved with a design based on the national or native flower, one design for each of the forty-nine countries that has had a citizen detained in Guantanamo, together with the name a detainee.

The opening reception and program, WORDS FROM THE GRASSROOTS: Strengthening our Resistance to State Violence, will be a night of viewing, tea, poetry, and words from the movement on Tues., Jan. 10 from 7 to 9:30 PM.  Speakers will share stories of hope and learnings from the front lines of their work. Tea will be served throughout.  Spoken Word & Music will be by the Peace Poets and Warrior Writers.  Contact Matthew W. Daloisio by email [mailto:daloisio@earthlink.net] or phone 201.264.4424.

Breathing Fire: A Teach-In on Teargas in Prison is happening on Sun., Jan. 8 from 6 to 8 PM at First Trinity Lutheran Church, 501 4th St. NW, (entrance on 4th Street), WDC 20001 (4th and E Sts. NW).  Use the Judiciary Square Metro. This Teach-In is hosted by the War Resisters League. RSVP to attend this workshop by emailing tara[@]warresisters.org.

Join Witness Against Torture on Mon., Jan. 9 from 1:30 to 3 PM at the Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC 20530, to deliver 13,000+ signatures of folks across the country wanting to end teargas in prison!  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/210198856106456/.

7] – 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 Sun., Jan. 8, the Sunday Platform Address is ‘Solutions to Baltimore’s Eviction Crisis, Community Land Trusts, and Affordable Housing Requirements in Developments such as Port Covington’ with John Nethercut, executive director, The Public Justice Center.

Baltimore has the second highest rate of eviction filings in the nation, second only to Detroit, due largely to a lack of affordable housing as well as outdated court processes.  In addition, the foreclosure crisis is seriously harming homeowners and their tenants alike.  Affordable housing requirements (in government-backed community development projects such as Port Covington), community land trusts, and legal reforms are innovative solutions being demanded by social justice advocates to create affordable, accessible and non-discriminatory, rental housing. John Nethercut’s life in social justice advocacy began with community organizing with the United Farm Workers and tenant union organizing in Boston.  He was a legal aid worker in a variety of U.S. cities, and a Deputy Chief of the Maryland Consumer Protection Division before leading the Public Justice Center since 2002.  Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org. 

8] – 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 Jan., 2, 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. 

9] – 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.

10] – On Mon., Jan. 9, take part in a Day Against Denial to fight back against Trump’s nomination of Rex Tillerson and the rest of his proposed climate denial cabinet. Hold rallies and have direct conversations with your senators and staff to pass along the message that you do not accept Trump’s dangerous nominations. Call your Senator at 1-855-636-8150 to say you oppose Rex Tillerson and Trump’s reckless climate denying cabinet picks. Go to htps://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/day-against-denial?source=greenpeace-usa&referrer=greenpeace-usa.

On Mon., Jan. 9 people in all 50 states will send a message to every US Senator: reject President Elect Donald Trump's reckless climate denying cabinet nominees.  In Philadelphia at noon, people will gather at Senator Casey's office then march to Senator Toomey's office (just a few blocks away at 1628 JFK Boulevard) and deliver the message. Go to https://actionnetwork.org/events/philadelphias-day-against-denial. 

In Baltimore from noon to 12:30 PM, rally outside Senator Cardin's Baltimore office, 100 S. Charles St., Baltimore 21201, to support him in standing up against Trump's corporate agenda.  RSVP on Facebook here!  https://www.facebook.com/events/566876403518895/

11] -- On Mon., Jan. 9 at 3 PM, there is a Movement for a Culture of Peace meeting at the Pacem in Terris office, Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse, 401 N. West St. Wilmington, DE.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/wilmingtonpeace/.

12] – Get Money Out of Maryland has a weekly teleconference, every Monday evening at 8:30 PM.  Call 605-475-6711, and use the Code 1136243#.  Go to http://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/.

13] – 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 Jan. 10.  Call 215-426-0364.

14] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on Jan. 10  from 5:30 to 6:30  PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

15] –  There is an organizing to resist Trump meeting on Tues., Jan.10 at 7 PM at Montgomery Blair High School Cafeteria, 51 University Blvd E, Silver Spring, MD 20901, to learn about and plan ways to resist Trump and build a better county and state. Discuss ideas on advancing police reform and racial justice, ensuring that our county remains as safe as possible for all immigrants, and fighting institutional Islamophobia. Come prepared to roll up your sleeves and get organized for resistance and change! RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1879999965565451/.

16] – They Can't Kill Us All – There is an Author Talk with Wesley Lowery at 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC, on Tues., Jan. 10 from 7 to 9 PM.  THEY CAN'T KILL US ALL is a deeply reported book that brings alive the quest for justice in the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray, offering both unparalleled insight into the reality of police violence in America and an intimate, moving portrait of those working to end it.  Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.

In an effort to grasp the magnitude of the repose to Michael Brown's death and understand the scale of the problem police violence represents, Lowery speaks to Brown's family and the families of other victims other victims' families as well as local activists. By posing the question, "What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?" Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs. RSVP via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1195407040496033/.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; 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