Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Baltimore Activist Alert - February 1 - 3, 2017

21] Rally at the State of the State – Feb. 1
22] Malcolm X Talk -- Feb. 1
23] Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform meeting – Feb. 1
24] Sister Giant Conference -- Feb. 2 - 4
25] Superhero petition delivery for earned sick days – Feb. 2
26] Forum on the Independent Commission on Multilateralism’s report – Feb. 2
27] See film 13TH – Feb. 2
28] Revolution Where You Live – Feb. 2
29] See film HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream?  – Feb. 3
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21] -- On Wed., Feb. 1 from 11 AM to noon, Rally at the State of the State!  Gov. Hogan will deliver the State of the State address in front of the General Assembly. While Governor Hogan shares his vision for 2017, we need to share ours: a frack-free Maryland. If you want to carpool – a vehicle will leave from the Food & Water Watch office, 3121 St. Paul St., Suite 28, Baltimore 21218, at 9:45 AM.  Email Rianna Eckel [mailto:reckel@fwwatch.org] if you intend to join the carpool. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1238858839562800/.

22] – The Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle are hosting on Wed., Feb. 1 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at The Real News Network, 231 Holliday St., Baltimore 21202, for the first Malcolm X Talk of 2017!   Also involved in sponsoring this month's talk is the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR). The group will present how MD residents can protect themselves from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, and state contracts. The MCCR receives complaints from any resident who experiences discrimination in those areas. Come learn the process of how to file a complaint.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1279156138844820/.

23] -- The Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform is holding a General Meeting on Wed., Feb. 1 starting with a potluck dinner at 6:30 PM at Stony Run Friends Meeting, 5116 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21210. MAJR is a nonpartisan association of over forty community organizations and churches with members in every part of the state, formed to support justice reinvestment. Individual supporters include judges, attorneys, corrections professionals, as well as returning citizens, victims, and service providers. Go to http://www.ma4jr.org.

24] – The times in which we live call for a critical re-evaluation of our relationship to life around us - to our fellow citizens, to our country and to our world. Yet in order to transform our current challenges, we must address them from a holistic perspective - recognizing not only the external but also the internal dimensions of both our problems and their solutions. SISTER GIANT is dedicated to forging a deeper conversation about what is happening in America today - and what we can do to change it. Join us at this time of national tumult that together we might rethink our country.

At this year's SISTER GIANT, Marianne Williamson partners with Derrick Harkins, Senior Vice-President at Union Theological Seminary. It will be held at the Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA, from Thurs., Feb. 2 through Sat., Feb. 4.  The Conference will bring together an illuminating mix of progressive voices, gathering to consider the state of our country on both spiritual and political levels. We will incubate ideas and contribute to plans by which each of us, particularly now, can help move America in a more enlightened direction. Go to http://sistergiant.com/.

25] –MomsRising has been fighting alongside Working Matters to make sure parents no longer have to face the impossible choice of missing a paycheck or sending a kid to school sick....and 2017 is the year! The MomsRising superhero delivery for earned sick days is on Thurs., Feb. 2 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM in the Miller Senate Building, Annapolis.  You will receive the exact location when you RSVP. RSVP at http://action.momsrising.org/signup/MD_PSD_2017_delivery/?ak_proof=1&t=3&akid=.2419400.CMo6SY&link_id=1&can_id=9c5bbb0ed9159a7bb5318410d9b7fb18&source=email-thursday-kids-capes-superheroes&email_referrer=thursday-kids-capes-superheroes___158825&email_subject=bring-your-superhero-on-thursday.

26] – Attend a Forum on the Independent Commission on Multilateralism’s report “Pulling Together: The Multilateral System and Its Future” on Thurs., Feb. 2 from 2 to 3 PM at The Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, WDC 20036.  RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIZ8wi8xVT9MZA5CQnnEIZ8knjZXiAT0BlgKb9qQ6l63jNMg/viewform. Presenting the report is Adam Lupel, vice-president at the International Peace Institute (IPI).

27] – On Thurs., Feb. 2 from 5 to 7:30 PM see a screening of 13th,  hosted by the Lawyers’ Alliance of the Public Justice Center, at the University of Maryland School of Law, 500 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore 21201. This powerful, award-winning documentary from Ava DuVernay explores the history of race and the criminal justice system in the United States. After the film, discuss reactions and questions with a panel of local advocates focused on “what comes next.”  Food will be provided. A reception will follow the discussion.  Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/1177473999035263/.45] – On Thurs., Feb. 2 from 6:30 to 8 PM, attend a meeting at the Food & Water Watch office, 3121 St. Paul St., Suite 28, Baltimore 21218. Discuss updates about Sen. Carter-Conway (there are some BIG ones) and then talk about what we can do to push the senator along toward supporting a fracking ban. The Senate bill will be introduced soon, and once it is, it will be up to US as Senator Conway’s constituents to get her to hold a vote for the bill. Bring a laptop. Call 410-394-7652. 

28] – On Thurs., Feb. 2 at 7:30 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, SARAH VAN GELDER WILL PRESENT THE REVOLUTION WHERE YOU LIVE: STORIES FROM A 12,000-MILE JOURNEY THROUGH A NEW AMERICA.  This event includes Marc Steiner, and will be dedicated to the memory of recently departed community solutions activist Jerry Raitzyk.  The U.S. faces huge challenges—climate change, social injustice, racist violence, economic insecurity. Journalist Sarah van Gelder suspected that there were solutions, and she went looking for them, not in the centers of power, where people are richly rewarded for their allegiance to the status quo, but off the beaten track, in rural communities, small towns, and neglected urban neighborhoods.  She bought a used pickup truck and camper and set off on a 12,000-mile journey through eighteen states, dozens of cities and towns, and five Indian reservations. From the ranches of Montana to the coalfields of Kentucky to the urban cores of Chicago and Detroit, van Gelder discovered people and communities who are remaking America from the ground up.  Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

29] -- The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES.  The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday.  After the 5 PM Black Lives Matter vigil, there will be a potluck dinner. At 7:15 PM, from January through March, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.  This series is named DOCUMENTARIES TO BOLSTER OUR RESOLVE IN THE TIME OF DONALD TRUMP.

On Feb. 3 see HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream? [USA, 2011]. This documentary, directed by Donald Goldmacher and narrated by Thom Hartmann, includes interviews with Bernie Sanders, Donna Edwards, Van Jones and David Cay Johnston. It argues that government deregulation, as promoted by Virginia lawyer Lewis F. Powell, Jr, led to the Great Recession. His 1971 memo to the United States Chamber of Commerce urged corporate America to become more aggressive in molding politics and law. HEIST shows that Roosevelt's New Deal is being dismantled piecewise. One example is the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act which led to the Big Banks engaging in high-volume Casino Capitalism. The film lays the blame for the crisis on the cozy relationship between politicians and corporations, citing as examples the administrations of Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama. The documentary ends with suggestions for how people might organize. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net for further information.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

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

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