Saturday, August 10, 2019

Baltimore Activist Alert – August 11 to 12, 2019


Baltimore Activist Alert – August 11 to 12, 2019

"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 mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Get involved with NCNR   
4] Buy an Anti-War Veteran hat  
5] Lawyers Against War
6] SUPPORT AMAZON WORKERS OF CONSCIENCE
7] Little Friends for Peace
8] Plans to Prosper You – through Aug. 11
9] JAPANESE-AMERICAN ART EXHIBIT – through Aug. 23
10] The Warmth of Other Suns – through Sept. 22
11] Feed the Homeless and the Hungry Aug. 11
12] Thinking Creatively in 3 Dimensions – Aug. 11
13] DC VegFest 2019 – Aug. 11
14] Black Lives Matter – Aug. 11
15] Canvas with Bill Henry – Aug. 11 and more
16] Adoption Sunday – Aug. 11
17] Close the Camps & Prisons – Aug. 11
18] The ERA Call – Aug. 11
19] Protest the Pentagon – Aug. 12
20] Food Rescue – Aug. 12
21] World Elephant Day – Aug. 12
22] Food Rescue – Aug. 12
23] Terps for Bernie: Phonebank & Textbank -- Aug. 12 – 14
24] See the film JOY – Aug. 12
25] Talk Steel – Aug. 12
26] Presentation on Impeachment – Aug. 12
27] Climate Change Mitigation – Aug. 12
28] Get Money Out of Maryland – Aug. 12  
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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 U.S. wars.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

4] – Get a good-looking black hat which says Anti-War Veteran in the front and Viva House 50th in the back.  The cost is $10. Contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.

5] – Jeff Ross, an attorney in Maryland, is interested in gathering with other lawyers to discuss ways in which the legal profession and the law generally can be conceptualized as a peace-building and war-resisting institution and redirected to these ends. Areas to explore might include: 1) ways in which this group could support with legal analysis/writing those lawyers who are representing peace-builders/war-resisters in criminal prosecutions; 2) ways in which, from a more theoretical perspective, the law might be grounded in an ethic of non-violence; and 3) ways in which law students and young lawyers might be exposed to a non-violent vision of the law. All religious, philosophical, and critical perspectives on the law are welcome. The group might want to call itself Lawyers Against War. Jeff can be reached at 443-690-6872 and jross50@hotmail.com.

6] -- SUPPORT AMAZON WORKERS OF CONSCIENCE.  We are in a deep struggle to support conscience within the high tech community, which may be the only way to prevent a major leap into artificial intelligence warfare that we see the beginnings of in the expanding global U.S. drone war system.  This may be of particular interest to Johns Hopkins' Navy-funded researchers, some of whom have been working on swarming drone technology.

These are not major asks and can be a powerful reinforcement of conscience at an extremely critical moment.  Please consider circulating this link to your lists encouraging people to sign the linked RootsAction petition - https://www.knowdrones.com/blog/2019/3/6/support-amazon-workers-who-dont-want-to-work-for-war and leafletting Whole Foods in your areas. This is a link to the leaflet -- https://gallery.mailchimp.com/dd110b000ca250d868d4f419b/files/107fc695-8af9-4f7e-a523-ecd1d1dfd28f/Wholefoods_Leaflet.pdf. Should you have interest in circulating the links and possibly leafletting, contact Nick Mottern at  nickmottern at gmail.com.

7] -- Little Friends for Peace (LFFP - http://www.lffp.org/) has been conducting summer peace camps around the Metro DC area for well over 30 years.  For approximately the last ten years, LFFP has been offering free tuition to children of TASSC (Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition - https://www.tassc.org/) members.  Recently they have also been welcoming children of refugees to their camps without regard for tuition payment. If you would like to assist with this undertaking, there are many ways you can including:

Driving - many of the TASSC and other refugee families want their children to attend camp but they do not have the ability to drive them there and back.  For the last 8 to 10 years, Helen Schietinger has been working with LFFP and TASSC to provide drivers for these children.  If you can drive some children even one way, on one day on any day during the following three weeks of peace camp this summer, it would be much appreciated.  Many drivers from past years have moved or "aged out" of feeling comfortable driving and we really need as many volunteer drivers as possible.  If you can possibly drive, please contact either Helen (202-344-5762 - h.schietinger@verizon.net ) or Bob Cooke (301-661-0449 or cookerh1251@gmail.com) regarding exactly when you can drive and from where you might be comfortable driving.  Most of the children live in PG County, D.C. or Montgomery County.

The weeks drivers are needed include: August 5 - camp is in Colesville/Silver Spring, MD and August 19 - camp is in Mt. Rainier, MD.  Share this information.

Donate for Scholarships. In order to help as many scholarship asylee, refugee (and other) children attend camp, LFFP (http://www.lffp.org/donate.html) can use as much scholarship money donations as possible.  No amount of scholarship money is too little.  

8] – Plans to Prosper You is hosted by Save Bethesda African Cemetery and credited to anthropologist Delande Justinvil and Professor Adrienne Pine.  There is an exhibit Plans to Prosper You: Reflections of Black Resistance and Resilience in Montgomery County's Potomac River Valley. The last day to see exhibit is Sun., Aug. 11 from 9 AM to 5 PM at American University's Katzen Museum.  See https://www.facebook.com/events/2053174084987910/.

9] – BALTIMORE SISTER CITIES [baltimoresistercities.org] is hosting through August 23 a JAPANESE-AMERICAN ART EXHIBIT AT CITY HALL called “Flightless Cranes/Tobenai Tsuru” in the North Gallery, 100 N. Holliday St., Baltimore 21202.  The title means “a crane cannot fly.” The curator is Kirk Butts, and the artists are Aimi Chinen Bouillen, Ahraun Chambliss, Mary Champagne, Kei Ito, Sanzi Kermes, and Ayaka Takao.  Admission is free, but you need an ID in order to enter the building.  The exhibit celebrates the 40th year anniversary of Baltimore and Kawasaki’s sister city relationship. It showcases 6 young Japanese, American, and Japanese-American artists, looking for commonalities in their immigrant identity and relocation themes that are part of their artistic heritage. The artists include several members of Baltimore Kawasaki Sister City Committee and other artists both local and national.

10] – The Phillips Collection (TPC) in Washington, D.C. has a dedicated mission of addressing contemporary social justice issues of global significance. The museum has recently undertaken an extraordinary exhibition on the urgent topic of immigration and the global migration crisis entitled: The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement. This important exhibition presents 75 historical and contemporary artists—from the United States as well as Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, UK, Vietnam, and more—whose work poses urgent questions around the experiences and perceptions of migration, internal and cross-border displacement, and the current global refugee crisis. Check out https://www.phillipscollection.org/events/2019-06-22-exhibition-the-warmth-of-other-suns.

   In conjunction with the exhibition which is on view through Sept. 22, the museum has also created a slate of dynamic programming including artist talks.  Exemplarily, on Aug. 29, Millennium Arts Salon Executive Director Juanita Hardy will feature a Salon Panel Talk on the issue of migration. Contact Phillips Director of Communications Miriam Magdieli at MMagdieli@phillipscollection.org for complimentary passes, or to RSVP for Phillips After 5. If you have a group she can also help to arrange a tour with museum staff.  The Phillips Collection is eager to engage in partnerships with organizations working with migrant communities, whether by advocacy, direct action, or support for migrants here in DC.

11] – On Sun., Aug. 11 [and Sept. 11] from 10 AM to noon, Neighbors Without Walls:  Feeding the Homeless & Hungry at the Terra Cafe Bmore, 25th and St. Paul Sts., Baltimore. Homelessness is by far one of the largest issues that plague our city and there is something, no matter how small, we all can do to about it. Terra Cafe is the proud sponsor of Neighbors Without Walls. On the 2nd Sunday of each month at 10 AM Terra Cafe and a group of volunteers, prep, package and distribute meals, water, clothing and care packages to homeless residents of Baltimore City. Our "Neighbors" come to expect our giving and support. Terra Cafe is grateful to be in our 10th year of giving back to our Community! Thanks everyone, for your generous support. Together, we really can make a difference. Love offerings and donations are welcome. See https://www.facebook.com/events/447127372744434/?event_time_id=447127376077767.

12] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 2521 St. Paul St., Baltimore 21218, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion at 10:30 AM.  On Sun., Aug. 11, the platform address is Thinking Creatively in 3 Dimensions.  Combine your problem solving skills with length, width, and height in a limited amount of time (bringing a fourth dimension into it – wow!). How do you engage the space? What does that even mean? Come for some art play and find out! Retired Baltimore County art teacher Therese Spadaro loves to paint landscapes, capturing the mood and moment in time of the surrounding countryside.  She currently shows her paintings at Hamilton Art Gallery and is affiliated with Baltimore Arts Guild and Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association.  Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org. 

13] – On Sun., Aug. 11 from 11 AM to 5:30 PM, come to the DC VegFest 2019 at 1500 South Capitol St., WDC 20003.  Compassion Over Killing's annual DC VegFest, the largest vegan festival on the East Coast, is free and open to everyone.  Check out DCVegFest.com.  Sign up as a sponsor or vendor: https://event.dcvegfest.com/. Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/414468056060625/.

14] -- On Sun., Aug. 11 from noon to 1 PM, join the Black Lives Matter Vigil at Governor Warfield Pkwy. and Windstream Drive, Columbia.  On the second Sunday of each month, gather to give public witness to the problem of anti-Black racism in our neighborhood, our nation, and our world. Join us to show that all lives WILL matter when Black Lives Matter. Look at https://www.facebook.com/events/360549541311148/?event_time_id=360549551311147.

15] – Canvass with Bill Henry in Greenmount West on Sun., Aug. 11 at noon or 2 PM, hosted by Friends of Bill Henry starting at 1601 N Calvert St., Baltimore 21202-2803.  Sign up here to knock on doors with Councilmember Bill Henry -- https://bit.ly/2KCmxCP.  Now more than ever, there is a need an independent voice in City government to promote accountability and transparency from top to bottom.  You will get all the training you need to be successful and have fun. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/2332524157000119/?event_time_id=2332524160333452.

16] – On Sun., Aug. 11 from noon to 3 PM, get over to Adoption Sunday at Howl, hosted by the Animal Allies Rescue Foundation.  Animals will be available for adoption at Howl, 3531 Chestnut Ave., Baltimore 21211. AARF is an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to promoting rescue and adoption of abandoned, abused, homeless, and neglected animals.  Through education and community involvement, AARF aims to increase public awareness surrounding the issues of animal abuse, the importance of spaying and neutering, and the fallacies of breed discrimination. Look at https://www.facebook.com/events/633774430453415/.

17] – On Sun., Aug. 11 at 2 PM at Lafayette Park, Pennsylvania Ave. NW & 16th Street NW, WDC, join a rally to Close the Camps hosted by the National Council of Jewish Women.  See https://www.facebook.com/events/2017741874992940/.  Tisha B’av is a Jewish day of mourning, commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar and will be used to mourn and resist the policies of our current government that are endangering, imprisoning, and deporting refugees and immigrants seeking safety. See https://closethecamps.us/tishabav/. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/2017741874992940/.

Also on Sun., Aug. 11 at 3:30 PM, Jews For Justice will be holding a similar rally at the ICE Detention Center, 7301 Waterloo Road, Jessup 20794.  The theme is to convince Howard County Chair Calvin Ball that he should not cooperate with ICE. Welcome the Stranger will be theme.  Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/463899701075235/

18] – On Sun., Aug. 11 from 4 to 5 PM, get on The CALL - ERA Education Program at Katrina's Dream, PO Box 32003, WDC 20007.  Tickets are at www.katrinasdream.org.  Please come each Sunday and help build the groundswell. The collaboration of grassroots organizers, lobbyists, and professionals is dedicated to promoting and educating folks across the United States of America to empowering women around the world.

The CALL IN NUMBER is 563.999.2090, the CONFERENCE NO: 898879#.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1710130249022424/?event_time_id=1710130255689090.

19] – 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 Aug. 12, 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.

20] – On Mon., Aug. 12 at noon, there will be a Food Rescue at Land of Kush, 840 N. Eutaw St., Baltimore 21201. Food Rescue Baltimore is honored to partner with The Land of Kush each and every Monday to bring access to free vegan/plant-based food in the community. Bring a bag. Take what you want from noon to 1PM or while supplies last. No purchase is necessary to take advantage of the Food Rescue Baltimore give away. Items from The Land of Kush's menu are not included in the give-away but will be available for sale. See https://www.facebook.com/events/415842178868197/.

21] –   On Mon., Aug. 12 from 1 to 3 PM, appreciate World Elephant Day, hosted by Elephants DC at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., WDC 20500. For the love of elephants on August 12, unite in Washington DC on the eve of #WorldElephantDay.  At noon, march to the White House from the Lincoln Memorial. The procession will turn left onto Constitution Ave. near 1 PM after passing E Street on 15th. A peaceful demonstration before the White House with keynote speakers & live music by Philadelphia artist Birksmith shall follow.  Call on the United States of America, for the seventh consecutive year, to ban ALL ivory sales NOW via executive order & in conjunction with Supreme Court precedent that the intrinsic worth the American bald eagle has more value than a country where they have been made extinct for any reason. Ivory trade is an ancient, ultimately outright evil tradition of killing elephants for their tusks and skins and to steal their wild-caught little ones in culling crimes built on multilateral excuses: https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2016/10/13/world-body-that-could-protect-elephants-decides-not-to/.

Children learn 'E' is for 'Elephant' for a reason. Roughly 100 WILD African elephants are killed every single day. Rangers are killed. Families destroyed. Have the courage to honor the foundation of the #EndangeredSpeciesAct by taking a stand for a symbol of hope, strength, and love in millions of nurseries in rooms across America with dreamy newborns and imaginative toddlers alike. Our children deserve to grow up, least of all inherent, a planet where wild elephants still thrive least of all exist. Since 2016, it has been internationally confirmed and nationally that elephants are now being killed -- for ivory alone -- faster than the species birthrate. This spells extinction.  See https://www.facebook.com/events/2314078782160503/.

22] –On Mon., Aug. 12 from 3 to 4 PM, there is a Food Rescue Pop-Up at Flourish, 3418 Belair Road, Baltimore 21213-1233.  Bring a bag, and take home healthy, free food! View https://www.facebook.com/events/301851223848295/?event_time_id=301851250514959
This will continue into the future.

23] – Join the Terps for Bernie: Phonebank & Textbank! It is happening at 5:30 PM on Mon., Aug. 12, 7 PM on Tues,, Aug. 13 and 5:30 PM on Wed., Aug. 14. Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/416009585678263/?event_time_id=416009592344929.  This is happening in the McKeldin Library, Room 2100E.  Tickets are at airtable.com. Join the students of Terps for Bernie to call or text voters and ask them to join our historic campaign to defeat Trump and transform America. In addition to a cell phone, you will need a laptop or tablet to use the Bernie Dialer. If you don’t have a laptop, you can check out one at the McKeldin Library Equipment Loan desk on the 2nd floor. Sign up for this event here: https://airtable.com/shrTz0LycJt60kpFO. Find the location for this event here: ter.ps/berniersvp. Text (301) 458-0220 for location or if you get lost. There is visitor parking which includes street locations, surface lots, and campus garages, which are controlled by pay stations and credit card meters. All visitor parking is enforced seven days a week from 7 AM to midnight, unless otherwise noted on the meter. During these hours, guests must pay $3 per hour, with no daily rate. Many visitor parking zones allow for payment through the Parkmobile app.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/416009585678263/?event_time_id=416009625678259.

24] –On Mon., Aug. 12 from 6 to 9:30 PM,  Sex Workers Advocates Coalition presents the film JOY, followed by a panel discussion at the Eaton Hotel, 1201 K St. NW, WDC 20005.  The film is centered on the realities of migrant sex workers. Afterwards have a discussion on the film, decriminalizing sex work in D.C., and the relationship between consensual sex work and sex trafficking. Donations will be accepted at the door. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/JSKyvJgmBjQXTqaT9.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/2122361864723366/.

25] – Bill Barry will be talking about a new book ALL WE DO IS TALK STEEL [Oral Histories of Sparrows Points] on Mon., Aug. 12 at  6 PM at the Hamilton Library, 5910 Harford Road.  He will give some background on the book and of the workers interviewed, and will play video clips of them. Contact William Barry at [mailto:billbarry21214@gmail.com].

26] – On Mon., Aug. 12 at 7 PM, attend a meeting of Indivisible Highlands & Beyond, and catch a presentation on impeachment, by Mary Brigid McManamon, Prof. of Law, Widener Law School, at the Woodlawn Library, 2020 W. 9th St., Wilmington, DE 19805. RSVP at pkblckbur@aol.com.

27] – On Mon., Aug. 12 from 7 to 9 PM, get over to the General Meeting: Climate Change Mitigation, hosted by Our Revolution Arlington at Summers Restaurant & Sports Bar, 1520 N. Courthouse Rd., Arlington, VA 22201.  The main speaker of the night will be Johanna Bozuwa, who is co-manager of the Climate and Energy Program in The Next System Project at The Democracy Collaborative.  If you were affected by the recent torrential rains and flooding here in the DMV, you will not want to miss this talk. Johanna recently authored a lengthy report on Building Resiliency through Green Infrastructure: A Community Wealth Building Approach, in which she highlights the challenges cities face in mitigating the effects of climate change, and how we might do that in a way that invests not only in infrastructure but people too. With climate scientists predicting more and more rain for the Eastern United States as a result of climate change, it is imperative for cities to explore how we might overthrow the existing gray infrastructure regime. Johanna will present on her report and discuss how certain existing community wealth building projects might be scaled up and incorporated into a Green New Deal (you can also ask her about energy democracy!).   You will also hear from ORA member Roshan Abraham on the new corporate resident Amazon's ties to ICE and from the next Commonwealth Attorney for Arlington and Falls Church Parisa Tafti-Dehghani on her successful run in the Democratic primary. See https://www.facebook.com/events/1199056793599710/.

28] – Join the Get Money Out of Maryland Teleconference on Mon., Aug. 5 from 8:30 to 9:30 PM.  Call 605-475-6711, code 1136243#.  Work only on brainstorming ideas for participation in the upcoming General Election.

To be continued

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

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