Can you help plan an action at the NSA to honor the Catonsville Nine/Gene Sharp Taught Us How and Why Nonviolence Works

Friends,

The Committee for the Catonsville Nine 50th Anniversary has planned s Series of Commemorative events starting May 4. The series includes speakers, discussions, films, exhibitions, and theatre that will reflect upon the significance of the Catonsville Nine and support remembrance, discussion, and ongoing civic engagement. The events center on themes inspired by the Catonsville Nine, such as social justice, war and peace, citizen-led social change, and more. Most events are free and open to the public.

The Catonsville Nine 50th Anniversary Events can be found at http://www.catonsville9.org/50th-anniversary-commemoration/.  One event is still to be planned.  On Sunday morning, May 6, there will be a protest at the National Security Agency, located at Fort Meade, Maryland. This is the site of Phil Berrigan’s last protest.  Let me know if you can join us in planning the action.  And even if you were unable to help in the planning, let me know if you would be able to participate in an action at the NSA in the morning on May 6.  We hope that we can honor the memory of the Catonsville Nine at the NSA.  Thanks.

Kagiso,

Max 

Gene Sharp Taught Us How and Why Nonviolence Works 
-  Ann Tiffany and Ed Kinane

Activist, author and scholar Gene Sharp died this past January 28. Inspired by Gandhi and deeply informed by history, Sharp (b.1928) founded the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston. Back in the 80s, Ed plowed through Sharp’s three-volume, 900-page, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (Porter Sargent, 1973).

The tome pivots on Sharp’s “198 Methods of Nonviolent Action,” for toppling dictators and enlarging liberation. Widely reprinted, the systematic (though somewhat redundant) list examines methods that over the centuries had been successfully used at least one time or another across many cultures.

These methods apply not only to regime change, but also to other causes. Grassroots groups we’ve been a part of have used dozens of them. Many would be familiar to Peace Newsletter readers. For all its breadth, that iconic list still remains, as if in amber, at 198 items. Activists in this age of social media could now cite additional tactics.

Sharp wrote many books. His intellectually exciting Making Europe Unconquerable (Harper & Row, 1985) is highly practical. It draws on nonviolent tactics used by the Resistance during the Nazi invasions. At 93 pages Sharp’s more theoretical From Dictatorship to Democracy: a Conceptual Framework for Liberation (Bangkok, 1993) is Sharp’s most impactful work. It is downloadable for free and, according to the Albert Einstein Institution, has been translated into dozens of languages. Anti-tyranny activists circulated the handbook clandestinely during the East Europe color revolutions and during the Arab Spring. Some commentators claim that the handbook played a significant role in those mostly nonviolent upsurges of grassroots resistance.

Our local Beyond War and Militarism committee’s working paper, “Getting Beyond War and Militarism: A To-Do list” (Jan/Feb 2019 PNL), complements Sharp’s “198 List.” Where “198” is rich in examples and documentation, our single-page, 22-item to-do list points out major goals and policy areas for activists to pursue. Sharp provides tools for overthrowing state oppression, while ours seeks to counter the militarism infecting political parties and regimes, “democratic” or authoritarian. Unlike much mainstream media commentary, the to-do list can guide us in resisting US exceptionalism and imperialism.

To resist Mr. Trump, many US activists have recently taken their cues from “The Indivisible Guide,” also freely available online. Compiled by former Congressional staffers, the Guide has gone viral in the wake of Trump’s election. It promotes Tea Party –type electoral efforts. For a decidedly distinct approach we encourage activists to study Sharp – thereby getting beyond the Democrat/Republican duopoly with its bipartisan, heavily-lobbied, profit-hungry lust for war.

The New Poor People’s Campaign

The Gandhi-inspired PPC is one of any number of domestic US campaigns mobilizing to resist Trump. The new PPC, committed to nonviolence, channels Martin Luther King Jr’s 1980s Poor People’s Campaign. Today’s campaign is co-chaired by Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, longtime organizer among the poor, and by Rev. Dr. William Barber, the spark behind North Carolina’s Moral Mondays movement. Like MLK’s PPC, the new PPC calls out King’s three entwined evils: racism, poverty and militarism. Today’s PPC adds a fourth: global warming – an existential threat to many species.

Today’s PPC is organizing in over 30 states and envisions 40 days of civil resistance from Mother’s Day, May 13, to the June 21 summer solstice. We intend those 40 days to be a fresh start on defanging the Trump regime. In New York State, the PPC is preparing for a large civil resistance action in Albany on Monday, May 14, the day after Mothers’ Day. Details forthcoming. Here in Syracuse, one or more May 14 affinity groups are forming.

Why civil resistance? As Gandhi and Sharp and Poor People’s campaigners know, tyrannical regimes can only exist with the compliance of those they rule. We, the ruled, must forsake our fears, our distractions, our addictions, our co-optations and, to keep us free, resist the lure of consumer credit. If enough of us shed our aversion to risk, our habits of obedience and deference to power, and if we do what we can to thwart the complicity of institutions with the power structure, the pillars propping up the regime will give way.

In closing, let us leave you with yet another key resource to read: Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan’s Why Civil Resistance Works: the Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Columbia U. Press, 2011). These two heirs of Sharp don’t lean on either the idealistic or the spiritual. Like Sharp, they provide pragmatic and rigorous – yet accessible – analysis of why nonviolent tactics are usually more successful and always less destructive than militarism.

Ed and Ann have long been anti-militarism activists. Since 2010 they have worked to expose Reaper drone war crime perpetrated by Hancock Air Base, home of the 174th NYS National Guard Attack Wing. Reach them at edkinane340@gmail.com or anntiffany6236@gmail.com

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.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

Change Is Coming... And Not Through the Barrel of Our Guns

Change Is Coming... And Not Through the Barrel of Our Guns

commondreams.org/views/2018/03/29/change-coming-and-not-through-barrel-our-guns

Thursday, March 29, 2018

The uncontained force behind the national murder rate is dehumanization, and as this movement grows, it must — it will — look institutional dehumanization straight in the eye.

Robert C. Koehler

The cries of loss and anguish become public, at last. A million young people seize the truth:

“Half of my seventh grade class was affected by gun violence. My own brother was shot in the head. I am tired of being asked to calm down and be quiet.”

   The stories went on and on, speaker after speaker. We marched for our lives this past Saturday. I was one of the thousands of people who endured a bitter cold morning in Chicago to be part of this emerging movement, this burst of anger, hope and healing. Violence in the United States of America is out of control. It has its claws around the lives of its own children. It’s a terrifying symptom . . . of a society built around fear, of a political structure devoted to war.

  Something has to change.

   The Chicago march was one of more than 800 marches throughout the U.S. and all across the world. In Washington, D.C., where possibly as many as 800,000 people joined the call for change, Emma Gonzalez — a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. — read out the names of the 17 people shot and killed at her school last month, then stood in courageous silence for six minutes and 20 seconds: the length of time the gunman’s killing spree lasted.

    Moments such as this transcend rhetoric. People’s lives matter. Their murders cannot be reduced to statistics and merely laid to rest. The cry of anguish across this planet, for all the lives that have been needlessly cut short, will reverberate for as long as necessary: until this country’s politics catches up to the will and the awareness and the suffering of its people.

   The focus of the moment is tougher gun-control regulations, such as banning the sale of assault weapons. And three days after the marches, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (nota young person) published an op-ed in the New York Times, calling, my God, for the repeal of the Second Amendment, which he called “a relic of the 18th century.”

   The marches, he wrote, “reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.”

    I would add that they also reveal much more than that: public support, public demand, for a society that values life. This is not a simplistic demand. It is furiously complex, and pushes public policy well beyond the current status quo thinking that’s perfectly OK with a near-trillion dollar military budget, endlessly expanding wars across the planet and, uh, nuclear weapons.

   This emerging movement must address the whole spectrum of violence. As Rev. John Dear put it: “That means ending gun violence — but also racism and mass incarceration but also executions, drone attacks and trillions spent for war, and so also, the ongoing U.S. bombing raids and wars and the development and threat of nuclear weapons, and our mortally sinful corporate greed and of course, the destruction of the environment and all the creatures.”

The word that ties it all together is: dehumanization.

   The ability to dehumanize certain people — because of their race, their nationality, their gender, their politics, their place of work or learning — has no end. When a mass murderer does it, it’s called mental illness. When a soldier or cop or the president does it, it’s called national security.

   “How,” asked Stephanie Van Hook, executive director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, “could one forget the humanity of another and what does it tell us about who we really are?

“For insight into these questions, we might first explore the basic dynamic of conflict escalation. . . . Conflict escalates — that is, moves increasingly toward violence — according to the degree of dehumanization in the situation,” she writes, summarizing a point made by Michael Nagler in his book The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action. “Violence, in other words, doesn’t occur without dehumanization.”

  I believe this insight is at the core of what March for Our Lives is about. Gun regulations, even repeal of the Second Amendment, are bandages over the wound. The uncontained force behind the national murder rate is dehumanization, and as this movement grows, it must — it will — look institutional dehumanization straight in the eye.

   Let me return, for a moment, to the Chicago march this past weekend. As at other recent marches — other manifestations of the national stirring — the presence of creative signage has been impossible not to notice. These signs reflect not merely the mandated slogans du jour but, far more importantly, the participants’ deep-seated frustrations and fears, which are finding public resonance.

Some were heart-rippingly personal:

Am I next?

My outrage does not fit on this sign

Would you rather give up your guns or bury your children?

Others were unflinchingly political:

The only thing easier to buy than a gun is a GOP candidate

Grab ’em by the mid-terms

This one was my favorite:

I can vote in 10 years. Change is coming.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

FRIENDS: Now More Than Ever

 Independent journalism has become the last firewall against government and corporate lies. Yet, with frightening regularity, independent media sources are losing funding, closing down or being blacked out by Google and Facebook. Never before has independent media been more endangered. If you believe in Common Dreams, if you believe in people-powered independent media, please support us now and help us fight—with truths—against the lies that would smother our democracy. Please help keep Common Dreams alive and growing. Thank you. -- Craig Brown, Co-founder

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound is now available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.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

Baltimore Activist Alert - March 30 - May 6, 2018

35] Gender Violence on Campus – Mar. 30

36] Church and State: A Symposium -– Mar. 30

37] Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta Day – Mar. 30

38] Naturalization Workshop – Mar. 30

39] After Syria – Mar. 30

40] WIB peace vigils – Mar. 30

41] Justice Stations of the Cross – Mar. 30

42] Economic & Ecological Way of the Cross – Mar. 30

43] Protest military contractor and drone base – Mar. 30 & 31

44] DC Progressive Dinner – Mar. 30

45] Black Lives Matter vigil – Mar. 30

46] Returned Peace Corps Volunteers/Community Service Event -- Mar. 30

47] Exhibit on Burma – Mar. 30

48] Ballroom Dancing – Mar. 30

49] NIGHT OUT: Animal Farm– Mar. 30

50] Protest to Power March Canvass -- Mar. 31

51] Chester County Peace Vigil – Mar. 31

52] “We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now” – Mar. 31

53] THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PUERTO RICO – Mar. 31

54] Catonsville Nine Commemoration – May 4 – 6

55] Send Theresa Reuter to Cuba

56] Emergency Demonstration against an attack on Iraq or North Korea

57] JONAH HOUSE NEEDS WORKERS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

58] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records

59] Do you need any book shelves?

60] Do you need a stand up freezer?

61] Join the Global Zero campaign

----

35] –  On Fri., Mar. 30 from 9 AM to 3 PM,  participate in Approaching Gender Violence on Campus, hosted by CHEW at Johns Hopkins University, at Charles Commons, 3301 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218.  Tickets are available at docs.google.com.  This event is free to all attendees, but registration is limited! The registration link is bit.ly/2HnTu10.  The conference is open to everyone who is part of any campus community and will feature discussion based breakout sessions. Hear the experiences and perspectives of a wide variety of people on college campuses. Students, staff, faculty, admin, and anyone in between are welcome to attend. This will be an opportunity to meet and network with other institutions to discuss ideas and initiatives aimed at combating gender violence on a college campus.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1567741583261817/.

36] – On Fri., Mar. 30 from 9 AM to 2 PM,  there is Church and State: A Symposium on Religion and Individual Rights, hosted by American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law at American University Washington College of Law, 4300 Nebraska Ave. NW, WDC 20016.  Tickets are available at www.wcl.american.edu.  This symposium will discuss the legal issues surrounding religion and individual rights through two panels.  The first panel, “Heaven and Health,” will discuss legal issues surrounding religion, health laws, and religious objections.  The second panel, “God in the Classroom,” will discuss legal issues surrounding religion in the context of education, specifically prayer and symbols in school, and LGBTQ students. 

Registration is free, but required. To register go to www.wcl.american.edu/secle/registration.   CLE registration is $165. Contact the Office of Special Events & Continuing Legal Education at 202.274.4075 or secle@wcl.american.edu. See https://www.facebook.com/events/190208268252677/.

37] –  On Fri., Mar. 30 from 9 AM  to 8 PM,  enjoy Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta Day at George Washington University, Marvin Center, 800 21st St. NW, WDC. César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Day is an annual day of celebration and call to action at The George Washington University. Throughout this special day, bring awareness of who César Chávez and Dolores Huerta are, and to their commitment to social justice.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/2035740866707032/.

38] – On Sat., Mar. 31 at 10 AM,  come to a Naturalization Workshop, hosted by Yunus Law P.C. and ICNA Council for Social Justice at the Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W Pratt St., Baltimore 21201.  Consult Attorney Afia Yunus on any immigration matter and/or get help completing your citizenship application for free! Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1874384619239616/.

39] –   On Fri., Mar. 30 from 10 to 11:30 AM, hear about After Syria: The United States, Russia, and the Future of Terror, hosted by Emergency Manager's Weekly Report at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW, WDC 20036.  Tickets are available at mailchi.mp. The collapse of Islamic State control in Syria has been hailed in both Russia and the United States as a victory over terrorism. Both credit their country’s military involvement with victory. But the war that continues in Syria also lays bare Moscow and Washington’s conflicting definitions and approaches when it comes to terrorism, insurgency, and combat operations. Moreover, even if a path to stabilization in that country is found, America and Russia will continue to face terrorism and terrorists at home and abroad. The ways in which these two crucial countries respond as the threat evolves will shape both their own polities and the world as a whole.

40] – On Fri., Mar. 30 from noon to 1 PM, join a Women in Black peace vigil. A vigil will take place in McKeldin Square at the corner of Light and Pratt Sts.  STAY FOR LUNCH.  Warm-up, dry off, and enjoy a vegetarian chili lunch and lots of good conversation. Bring a side or topping for the chili.  There are still places at the table; invite a friend to come along with you.

  Another vigil is at Roland Park Place, 830 W. 40th St, Baltimore. 21211. However, if weather is iffy, contact Anne at awyattbr@gmail.com.  Lunch will take place at 1 PM at the RPP Café, 830 W. 40th St., Baltimore 21211.

A third vigil will be in Chestertown, Kent County at Memorial Park at Cross Street and Park Row.  This vigil is looking for more peace bodies on the Eastern Shore.  Welcome to the network, Chestertown Women in Black.

Wear black. Dress for who knows what kind of weather.  Peace signs will be available. When there are others to stand with, you don't need to carry the burden alone. Do this to be in solidarity with others....when everything around us says “Be afraid of the stranger.” Carpool and parking available. Just send an email that you need a ride to: wibbaltimore@peacepath911.org.

41] – Pax Christi Baltimore is organizing its annual Justice Stations of the Cross in downtown Baltimore.  Meet at City Hall at noon on Fri., Mar. 30.  The event will close back at City Hall around 2:30 PM.  The Justice Stations of the Cross will proceed in a light drizzle, but will be cancelled if there is a heavy rain.  Call Chuck Michaels at 443-846-5207.

42] –  On Fri., Mar. 30 from noon to 2:30 PM,  join the Economic & Ecological Way of the Cross, hosted by the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd starting at the National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC 20004. For over 20 years, this event has taken place on Good Friday to commemorate the passion of Christ through a Way of the Cross among D.C. institutions. See the script at http://maryknollogc.org/way-cross-economic-and-ecological-justice. 

The observance of Christ’s passion is an opportunity to reflect on the ways the covenant with God has been broken at the expense of other persons and creation. In the suffering of the earth and its creatures, the Divinity has been crucified. At each station, there will be a focus on a different economic or ecological challenge or sign of hope for our times. Persons of all faiths are welcome. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1919180634798826/.

43] – OUR POWER OF LOVE SHALL OVERCOME WAR... Join Good Friday, Mar. 30 at noon at Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, directly behind the King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia, PA. Deliver A Prayer for the Love of Humanity. Lockheed Martin is the world's largest war profiteer and a U.S.'s nuclear weapons contractor.  IGNITE PEACE in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 50th Anniversary of his assassination on April 4, 1968.  There will be an onsite meeting at 11 AM for those willing to engage in nonviolent resistance/civil disobedience and face arrest

   IGNITE PEACE on Easter Saturday, Mar. 31 from noon to 2 PM, at the drone war command center at Horsham Air Guard Station, Route 611/Easton Road & County Line Road.  Hold large banners and signs, hear bell tolling, and sing songs. People from the Circle of Hope ministry with conduct an Easter peace service planned for the second half of the demonstration. Rise up for justice, the earth, and peace.  Bring an umbrella in case of rain on Good Friday or Easter Saturday.  Visit the Brandywine Peace Community at www.brandywinepeace.com or call 484-574-1148.

44] – Join the DC Progressive Dinner for an unforgettable afternoon raising funds for LGBTQ youth in the DC metro area.  On Sat., Mar. 31 from noon to 3 PM, come to TRADE, 1410 14th St. NW, Ground Floor, WDC 20005.  Tickets are available here: tiny.cc/SMYAL4Spring.  Enjoy music.  SMYAL supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. By supporting youth leadership development, SMYAL creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to build self-confidence, strengthen critical life skills, and engage their peers and community through service and advocacy. SMYAL also provides comprehensive housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth in this area. More information on SMYAL can be found atwww.smyal.org.  This event is restricted to ages 21 and up.  Tickets are $25 in advance online and $30 at the door and include exclusive drink specials, amazing raffle prizes, and a fabulous Saturday afternoon in support of LGBTQ youth.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/212476775974414/.

45] – There is usually a silent vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends Meeting, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  The next scheduled vigil is on Mar. 23. Black Lives Matter.  

46] – On Fri., Mar. 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM,  be at the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers/Community Service Event at Calvary Women's Services, 1217 Good Hope Rd. SE, WDC 20020.  Tickets are at www.rpcvw.org. SPACES are LIMITED, an RSVP is REQUIRED HERE: www.rpcvw.org/comserveve_calvary.  During the month of March we honor all the important contributions women have made and will make to improve our world. In order for women to create positive change we need to help lift them up so they can own their gifts and strengths. Calvary Women’s Services offers housing, health, education, and an employment program to assist homeless women in DC. Join RPCV/W and Women Empowering Women, in supporting women by serving dinner at Calvary Women's Services. 

Volunteers will be providing and serving dinner for Calvary residents in the evening on Friday, March 30th, 2018. We will be serving in two shifts, from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm and from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Volunteers can sign up for one or both shifts. We will also be bringing the meal. So, if you wish to volunteer for this event, please be prepared to bring a dish to serve. There will be a sign up for dishes and supplies in subsequent emails. Help RPCV/W and WEW celebrate herstory with Calvary this month. CONTACT Hannah Savage at communityservice@rpcvw.org.

47] –  On Fri., Mar. 30 from 6 to 8 PM,  attend the As The World Watches Closing Reception, hosted by Gallery 102 and Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at the George Washington University, 801 22nd St. NW, WDC 20052.  This exhibition presents a select collection of responses to the humanitarian crisis affecting communities in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Like many other countries in our modern era, Myanmar is experiencing an increasingly fractured society and a growing radical movement within their politics. In keeping with some of history’s worst examples of conflict, the rapidly escalating violence in Myanmar is centered on religious and ethnic divisions. Recent riots have caused massive upheaval in the country, bringing long past due attention to the host of human rights issues affecting the Rohingya people. In the wake of this flood, the world has begun to turn its focus on the true cost and scope of a modern genocide. The aim of As The World Watches is to raise awareness of Myanmar’s long history of displaced peoples, and examine how the concept of “Other” has led to the systematic and ongoing annihilation of entire communities. Change can only begin with knowledge. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/2018416825099400/.

48] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at  8 PM.  Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St.  Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be on Mar. 30. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

49] – On Fri., Mar. 30 from 8 to 11 PM, get over to NIGHT OUT: Animal Farm, hosted by Baltimore Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21202.  Tickets are available at www.centerstage.org.  After the March 30 performance of George Orwell's Animal Farm we'll be joined by a panel of legislators in the Maryland area to discuss how far LGBT rights have come and what the next steps are, how important voting is. The panelists are Senator Richard Madaleno Jr., Dem., District 18, Montgomery County; Delegate Maggie McIntosh, Dem., District 43, Baltimore City; Delegate Mary Washington, Dem., District 43, Prince George’s County and Delegate Luke Clippinger, Dem., District 46, Baltimore City.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1604312369654798/.  Use promo code 18OUTAF to receive 25% off your tickets when you call the Box Office at 410.332.0033 or buy online. Members are also welcome to exchange into this performance at no extra cost.

50] –  From Protest to Power March Canvass is happening through November, as grassroots member-leaders from People’s Action organizations around the entire country will be knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors.  On Sat., Mar. 31, talk to voters about the issues they care most about and the candidates who will govern for and with our communities. For example, at 10 AM come to the Chadds Ford Community Center, 7211 Chadds Ford Dr., Brandywine 20613.  Door knock until 1 PM with Prince George's - Brandywine From Protest to Power Canvass.  RSVP at http://www.progressivemaryland.org/march_uppermalboro_canvass.  Contact Tamara Davis Brown · tamara@tamaradavisbrown.org.  There are other sites as well, including in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties.

51] – 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.

52] – On Sat., Mar. 31 from 3:30 to 4:30 PM, author Annelise Orleck  will discuss her book “We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now,” hosted by Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, WDC 20008.  From berry pickers to garment workers to home health care aides, and from Manila to Capetown, California to Morocco, low-wage workers are bearing the true costs of globalization. And they are fighting back. In this deeply researched profile of the new global labor movement, Orleck, a professor of history at Dartmouth College and author of “Storming Caesars Palace,” draws on interviews with 140 workers from around the world. Through these compelling and immediate stories, many related in the worker-activists’ own words, Orleck vividly conveys what’s at stake for these dedicated and resilient people as they struggle for a living wage, safe working conditions, and respect. This event is free to attend with no reservation required. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis. See https://www.facebook.com/events/154882208489359/. 

53] – Hear about THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PUERTO RICO on Sat., Mar. 31^t at 5 PM at the Festival Center 1640 Columbia Rd. NW,  WDC. Author Nelson A. Denis will speak about his book “War Against All Puerto Ricans.” Call Arturo at 202 445 0411. The talk is sponsored by Trabajadores Unidos & the People’s World Present.

54] – Save the Dates.  The fiftieth anniversary of the Catonsville Nine draft board raid will be commemorated  There will be a CATONSVILLE NINE SYMPOSIUM on FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2018 from 4 to 10 PM at the Shriver Center, University of Maryland – Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Cir, Catonsville, MD 21250. Enjoy Films, Lectures, Discussion Panels and Dramatic Readings.  There will be more CATONSVILLE NINE COMMEMORATION ACTIVITIES on SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2018 from 9 AM to 2 PM at the Baltimore County Public Library Catonsville Branch, 1100 Frederick Rd., Catonsville, MD 21228.  Enjoy more Films, Lectures, Discussion Panels and Dramatic Readings.  On Sun., May 6 there will be an opportunity to engage in direct action and later participate in a prayer service.  Go to http://www.catonsville9.org/50th-anniversary-commemoration/.

55] – The Baltimore Club of the Communist Party USA is asking you to help send Theresa Reuter, travelling with an educational group, to Cuba for May Day this year.  The cost is $1,200.  If you are able to contribute, would you please go to:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-click&hosted_button_id=XS2B8GYQWHV2A  or send a check made out to Cindy Farquhar, 115 Springside Drive, Timonium, MD  21093?  Call 443-604-2298.

Hello, I am Theresa Reuter, a 77 year old artist, mother and mostly-retired art teacher, and I have a years-long desire to visit Cuba.  Having studied human rights and social and arts issues for many years, I believe that socialism is the only path for society to succeed for the betterment of humankind and indeed for all beings.
   

Since before the blockade and after, first as a means for survival, then as means to flourish as a people, Cuba has succeeded in being a peaceful island, where no one goes hungry, where school is free, all are housed, streets are safe and youths may sing and dance freely in the streets. Cuba, of all the countries on earth, has produced enough doctors to send wherever they are needed.  Cuba helps heal the world after earthquakes, floods, and sickness.

This is the kind of country I would love to see my country become.  From years of working with the Communist Party USA, engaging in peace and justice and worker’s rights issues, in voter registration and public education promotion, all the while energized by civil rights issues such as Black Lives Matter, I am looking to visit Cuba where " People before Profits " works for everyone.

In solidarity,

Theresa Reuter
treesrpeace@gmail.com

56] – It is a violation of U.S. law for us to attack a country that has not attacked us, as only Congress can declare war. The Trump administration is nevertheless beating the war drums for war against Iran and North Korea. The Mueller investigation is tightening the vise, and could cause Trump to attack those countries in order to divert attention from Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Such a military strike would demand an immediate and unequivocal response from us to show that we will not tolerate his abuse of power.

Let's mobilize to show that we the people will not tolerate another military adventure, which would be bound to have profound negative consequences. If a preemptive military strike against Iran or North Korea takes place, then meet outside the War Memorial, 101 N. Gay St., Baltimore, MD 21202. If the attack is before 2 PM local time, then events will begin at 5 PM, local time. If the attack occurs after 2 PM local time, then events will begin at noon, local time, the following day. Contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.

57] – JONAH HOUSE NEEDS WORKERS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

   After 44 years of resisting weapons and war, Jonah House is Baltimore is in danger of shutting down. Two of the three core members have announced their intention to leave the community as of May 2018. That leaves one core member, Joe Byrne, who will remain to recruit and re-form intentional community. But if no one steps forward, Jonah House will have to close.

  Jonah House was founded by Phil Berrigan, Liz McAlister, and others, in 1973, during the Vietnam War. It was a center of resistance to that war. When the war ended, the focus of resistance became the nuclear arms race. This resistance blossomed into the Plowshares movement. Jonah House members have spent years in jail for Plowshares disarmament actions. Other members have spent years supporting them, and doing the work of the community in their absence. Resistance to weapons and war continues at Jonah House. More recently, Jonah House has also become involved in racial justice efforts in Baltimore, and the environmental justice movement.

   Jonah House is planted in the middle of a 22-acre, mostly-wooded cemetery in West Baltimore called St. Peter’s. Maintaining and slowly restoring St. Peter’s Cemetery is the work that pays the bills for the community. Jonah House also uses the property to serve the living as well as honor the dead. Our gardens and orchards feed the Jonah House community, and the surrounding neighborhood community, via a food pantry and weekly food distribution to low-income neighbors. We envision the cemetery—particularly the 11-acre forest patch—as a haven for the people of the neighborhood, international peace activists, and numberless living beings.

Jonah House is also an interfaith spiritual community. We pray or meditate together daily, and our spiritual practice informs and empowers everything we do, whether in the fields or in the streets.

To continue the vision, Jonah House is looking for a few new core members willing to commit to a two-year stint. We are also open to short- and long-term interns (3 months to a year). The work of radical peacemaking, direct service to the poor, and stewarding the land requires workers. We pray that God will send laborers to the vineyard (yes, we have that too) and that Jonah House will continue to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable for another 44 years!  For more information, call 443-804-3410, or email us at engage@jonahhouse.org.

58] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs, records, tarps and table cloths, contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at comcast.net.

59] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at comcast.net.

60] – Do you need a stand up freezer?  Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski2001 at comcast.net.

61] -- Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees.  This is an historic window of opportunity.  With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan

Parkland Students: Our Manifesto

Published on Portside (https://portside.org/)

Parkland Students: Our Manifesto

Editorial staff of the Eagle Eye

March 23, 2018

The Guardian

The Guardian invited student journalists from Parkland, Florida's high school newspaper, The Eagle Eye, to direct its coverage of the March for Our Lives gun violence protest. Throughout the weekend you’ll find exclusive features, interviews and live reports from the ground.

  As a student publication, the Eagle Eye works to tell the stories of those who do not have a voice. Today, we are the ones who feel our voice must be elevated.

  In the wake of the tragedy that occurred at our school on 14 February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, our lives have changed beyond what we ever imagined. We, along with our publication, have been transformed. We will remain so for the rest of our lives.

  We have a unique platform not only as student journalists, but also as survivors of a mass shooting. 

  We are firsthand witnesses to the kind of devastation that gross incompetence and political inaction can produce. We cannot stand idly by as the country continues to be infected by a plague of gun violence that seeps into community after community, and does irreparable damage to the hearts and minds of the American people.

  That’s why the Eagle Eye has come together and proposed these following changes to gun policy. We believe federal and state governments must put these in place to ensure that mass shootings and gun violence cease to be a staple of American culture.

  We will be marching this Saturday, 24 March, for those that we loved and lost, and we write this in the hope that no other community or publication will ever have to do the same.

The changes we propose:

Ban semi-automatic weapons that fire high-velocity rounds

  Civilians shouldn’t have access to the same weapons that soldiers do. That’s a gross misuse of the second amendment.

  These weapons were designed for dealing death: not to animals or targets, but to other human beings. The fact that they can be bought by the public does not promote domestic tranquility. Rather, their availability puts us into the kind of danger faced by men and women trapped in war zones.

  This situation reflects a failure of our government. It must be corrected to ensure the safety of those guaranteed the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Ban accessories that simulate automatic weapons

  High-capacity magazines played a huge role in the shooting at our school. In only 10 minutes, 17 people were killed, and 17 others were injured. This is unacceptable.

  That’s why we believe that bump stocks, high-capacity magazines and similar accessories that simulate the effect of military-grade automatic weapons should be banned.

  In the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas, 58 people were killed and 851 others were injured. The gunman’s use of bump stocks enabled vast numbers of people to be hurt while gathered in one of the most iconic cities in America. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. That’s why action must be taken to take these accessories off the market.

Establish a database of gun sales and universal background checks

  We believe that there should be a database recording which guns are sold in the United States, to whom, and of what caliber and capacity they are.

  Just as the department of motor vehicles has a database of license plates and car owners, the Department of Defense should have a database of gun serial numbers and gun owners. This data should be paired with infractions of gun laws, past criminal offenses and the status of the gun owner’s mental health and physical capability.

  Together with universal background checks, this system would help law enforcement stop a potentially dangerous person before they commit a gun crime.

Change privacy laws to allow mental healthcare providers to communicate with law enforcement

As seen in the tragedy at our school, poor communication between mental healthcare providers and law enforcement may have contributed to a disturbed person with murderous tendencies and intentions entering a school and gunning down 17 people in cold blood.

We must improve this channel of communication. To do so, privacy laws should be amended. That will allow us to prevent people who are a danger to themselves or to others from purchasing firearms. That could help prevent tragedies such as the Parkland massacre.

Close gun show and secondhand sales loopholes

  Thanks to loopholes, people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy firearms are able to purchase them at gun shows and secondhand sales. The existence of these loopholes reflects the ineptitude of state and federal legislators.

  If we are serious about preventing people from purchasing deadly weapons, we must monitor sales that take place at gun shows and on secondhand markets. This is especially urgent given the danger posed by mentally unstable and violent individuals armed with firearms.

Allow the CDC to make recommendations for gun reform

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be allowed to conduct research on the dangers of gun violence. The fact that they are currently prohibited from doing so undermines the first amendment. It also violates the rights of the American people.

  It is hypocritical to rally people to protect the second amendment, while remaining silent on the ways that blocking research violates one of our most basic constitutional freedoms.

Raise the firearm purchase age to 21

  In a few months from now, many of us will be turning 18. We will not be able to drink; we will not be able to rent a car. Most of us will still be living with our parents. We will not be able to purchase a handgun. And yet, we will be able to purchase an AR-15.

  Why is it that we will be able to legally obtain a weapon that has the ability to fire over 150 rounds and kill 17 people in about six minutes? That is unacceptable. It makes no sense that to buy a handgun, you have to be 21, but a gun of mass destruction and devastation like the AR-15 can be purchased when one is just becoming an adult.

   With the exception of those who are serving the United States in the military, the age to obtain any firearm must be raised to 21.

  Dedicate more funds to mental health research and professionals

  Federal and state government should earmark more funds specifically for mental health services. Those with mental health issues, especially those who express aggressive, violent, suicidal and/or homicidal thoughts should have the opportunity to receive the help they need regardless of their economic status.

  Schools specifically should receive more funds in order to hire more psychologists and guidance counselors who can aid students suffering from PTSD, depression and other debilitating mental illnesses.

  Many of those who commit mass shootings suffer from these kinds of illnesses. It is essential that more funds be dedicated to mental health research.

Increase funding for school security

  We believe that schools should be given sufficient funds for school security and resource officers to protect and secure the entire campus. As a school of over 3,000 students, teachers and faculty, Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school was only supplied funds to hire one on-campus armed resource officer by the state.

  Without backup, this officer’s hesitation proved to be disastrous and allowed for the senseless deaths of people who were killed on the third floor of the 1200 building.

   Though this idea has been proposed in the past, these funds should not be appropriated from the already scarce funding for public education. Governments should find resources to secure the millions of children that attend public schools without taking away from the quality of education that is offered at these institutions.

  The Eagle Eye is the newspaper of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school. Editorial staff: Madyson Kravitz, Dara Rosen, Taylor Yon, Leni Steinhardt, Emma Dowd, Brianna Fisher, Zoe Gordon, Kyra Parrow, Carly Novell, Rebecca Schneid, Kevin Trejos, Suzanna Barna, Nikhita Nookala, Richard Doan, and Christy Ma

---

Source URL: https://portside.org/2018-03-23/parkland-students-our-manifesto

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.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