Baltimore Activist Alert – August 4 to 5, 2019

Baltimore Activist Alert – August 4 to 5, 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] Jose needs your help

9] Plans to Prosper You – through Aug. 11

10] JAPANESE-AMERICAN ART EXHIBIT – through Aug. 23

11] The Warmth of Other Suns – through Sept. 22

12] Ms. Michiko Kodama, a survivor of Hiroshima, will give testimony – Aug. 4

13] 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment – Aug. 4

14] Animal Safe Haven and Adoptions – Aug. 4

15] Canvas with Bill Henry – Aug. 4

16] Close the Camps & Prisons – Aug. 4

17] Poor People's Campaign gathering – Aug. 4

18] Climate Change Education Program – Aug. 4

19] Film SHORED UP – Aug. 4

20] Protest the Pentagon – Aug. 5

21] Climate Change Education Program – Aug. 5

----

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 50^th 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] –  José, a family man who works at Zen West, was detained on July 18th and is possibly facing deportation. His family is being faced with legal fees and many financial needs while José is detained. The Immigration Outreach Service Center has been working with Zen West to try to provide help to the family as they struggle with José’s detention, legal fees, and trying to hold their family together.  Please consider donating to the Go Fund Me page -- https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-joses-deportation.  Call 410-323-8564.

9] – Plans to Prosper You is hosted by Save Bethesda African Cemetery through Sun., Aug. 11 at 5119 River Road, Bethesda 20816.  Thanks to anthropologist Delande Justinvil and Professor Adrienne Pine, you are invited to a very special event: Plans to Prosper You: Reflections of Black Resistance and Resilience in Montgomery County's Potomac River Valley. The exhibit is to be seen from 9 AM to 5 PM at American University's Katzen Museum.  See https://www.facebook.com/events/2053174084987910/.

10] – 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.

11] – 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.

12] – On Sun., Aug. 4 at 10:15 AM  for a Church Service, and at 11:30 AM for full testimony at All Souls Unitarian Church, 1500 Harvard St. NW (at 16th St.), WDC 20009. Ms. Michiko Kodama, a survivor of Hiroshima, will give testimony to the devastating effects of war and the promise of peace. Contact John Steinbach at 703-822-3485 or <johnsteinbach1@verizon.net>.

13] – 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. 4, the platform address is the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment.  Each year the Director of National Intelligence presents to Congress the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. BES member Emil Volcheck served for two years on the staff of the National Intelligence Manager for Cyber at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). He will present excerpts from the 2019 assessment dealing with cyber threats and provide some explanation and background. Volcheck served as BES president from 2012 to 2015 and received the Anna Garlin Spencer Award of the American Ethical Union in 2018.  He works in the Research Directorate of the National Security Agency. He received the NSA Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 2017. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org. 

One day in 2003, in the lead up to the Iraq War, British intelligence specialist Katharine Gun received a memo from the NSA by Frank Koza with a shocking directive: the United States is enlisting Britain's help in collecting compromising information on U.N. Security Council members to blackmail them into voting in favor of an invasion of Iraq. Unable to stand by and watch the world be rushed into war, Gun makes the gut-wrenching decision to defy her government and leak the memo to the press.  A dramatic film, coming out in late August and called OFFICIAL SECRETS, will highlight the courage of Katherine Gun to take this act of resistance.

14] – On Sun., Aug. 4 from 11 AM to 2 PM, attend an Animal Safe Haven and Adoptions event at Clipper's Canine Cafe in Old Ellicott City, PO Box 2773, Columbia 21045. Meet adoptable kittens! See https://www.facebook.com/events/363674614320210/.

15] – Canvass with Bill Henry in Original Northwood on Sun., Aug. 4 at noon or 2 PM, hosted by Friends of Bill Henry starting at 1108 Argonne Drive, Baltimore 21218.  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/483360812238264/?event_time_id=483360828904929.

16] – On Sun., Aug. 4 from 3 to 4:30 PM, attend a Protest & Press Conference to Close the Camps & Prisons, hosted by ICE Out of Baltimore and Youth Against War and Racism at the Howard County Detention Center, 7301 Waterloo Rd., Jessup 20794.  Demand that Maryland close its 3 existing ICE concentration camps and that the U.S. abolish ICE once and for all! Join the campaign against ICE building a new concentration camp for immigrants and refugees in Baltimore.

On July 18, the Baltimore Sun announced that ICE is looking to open a new immigrant detention center around Baltimore City. This new ICE prison would house between 600 and 800 immigrant men, women, and children. Maryland already has 3 ICE detention centers in Howard, Worcester, and Frederick counties.

ICE is waging a horrific, racist war on immigrants and refugees, especially children. Meanwhile in Baltimore City and around the country, racist law enforcement continues its war of mass incarceration and police brutality on Black and Brown people. Both prisons and ICE detention centers are concentration camps for the poor. We will be rallying in front of the Howard County ICE detention center. Since 2013, Howard County has made more than $14 million from its contract with ICE. ICE agents have been seen making arrests and stopping people for no reason whatsoever in Columbia, which has a large Latinx immigrant population. All across the country, people have been holding demonstrations and conducting direct actions at ICE detention centers. In Fort Sill, Oklahoma, hundreds of immigrant rights and indigenous activists descended on the Fort Sill concentration camp, blocking the entrance to the site and shutting down freeway traffic for several hours. Close the camps and prisons now! ICE out of Baltimore, ICE out of everywhere! See https://www.facebook.com/events/2419250944762914/.

17] – This is a dangerous yet important time in our nation. An attack on the most vulnerable among us and policy violence is occurring right in our face. Our nation is in sore need of a moral revival. On Sun., Aug. 4 from 3 to 6 PM, the Poor People's Campaign will host a quarterly statewide gathering. This will be an opportunity for you to meet with other like-minded people whose conscience compels them to come together as a movement. We seek to end poverty and the distorted moral narrative against the poor. It is at Cedarhurst Unitarian Universalist Church, 2912 Club House Rd., Finksburg 21048.  Contact Rev. Amy Williams-Clark at amy@mdpoorpeoplescampaign.org.

18] – On Sun., Aug. 4 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] – On Sun., Aug. 4 from 6 to 8:30 PM, see a “Shored Up” Screening and Q&A with Director Ben Kalina, hosted by PennEnvironment and Cherry Street Pier, 121 N. Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia 19106. As we’ve seen with the extreme heat and flooding this month, climate change is already taking its toll on Southeastern PA. As the earth continues to warm, Philadelphia will face many adverse impacts, including rising sea levels that threaten our low-lying communities. So, PennEnvironment is partnering with South Philadelphia director Ben Kalina for a FREE screening of his critically acclaimed film which tells the story of rising sea levels in coastal communities on the Jersey Shore and the Outer Banks. RSVP for this FREE event at https://secure.everyaction.com/ETO7E4WzUk-j88aEYy5mwg2.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/618657321959581/.

20] – 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. 5, 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.

21] – Attend the Summer Institute of Climate Change Education Program, hosted by Eco-Voice and Lowell School on Mon., Aug. 5 from 8 AM to 5 PM and continuing through Wed., Aug. 7 at the Lowell School, 1640 Kalmia Rd. NW, WDC 20012.  Tickets are at www.climategen.org.  Participants will receive a free copy of the new humanities resources––including book guides and curriculum to support climate fiction novels (supported by C3 Social Studies Standards and ELA Common Core).  This a role-playing exercise of the UN climate change negotiations.  Join the day-long field trip around Washington D.C. featuring sites in their climate action plan showing local solutions.  Look at https://www.facebook.com/events/709079166202882/?event_time_id=709079169536215.

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