Baltimore Activist Alert – October 27 - 29, 2019

Baltimore Activist Alert – October 27 - 29, 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] Lawyers Against War

5] Tree Maintenance -- Oct. 27

6] Defending Environmental Defenders – Oct. 27

7] Not a Film Fest: Anticolonial Conversations – Oct. 27

8] Screening of “Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man” – Oct. 27

9] Pentagon Peace Vigil – Oct. 28

10] Promote the ERA – Oct. 28

11] Food Rescue – Oct. 28

12] Plastic Pollution Coalition -- Oct. 28

13] Food Rescue Pop Up – Oct. 28

14] Running Out of Time – Oct. 28

15] Stand up for Water Justice – Oct. 28

16] Re-negotiate Baltimore City’s PILOT Agreement with Johns Hopkins – Oct. 28

17] WHAT'S HAPPENING AT OUR SCHOOLS? – Oct. 28

18] Terps for Bernie Organizing Meeting – Oct. 28

19] Book Talk: “Justice for Some” – Oct. 28

20] Transportation committee meeting – Oct. 28

21] Get Money Out of Maryland – Oct. 28

22] DC Statehood Phone Bank – Oct. 29

23] Food Rescue at YO! Baltimore West – Oct. 29

24] Key issues in economic policymaking – Oct. 29

25] Alliances at Crossroads -- Oct. 29

26] Peace Vigil -- Oct. 29

27] Protest killer drone research at JHU – Oct. 29

28] Pine cone clustering party – Oct. 29

29] Baltimore Ceasefire Public Meeting -- Oct. 29

30] “Blueprint for Maryland’s Future” – Oct. 29

31] “A Jewish Resistance Fighter Among Nazi Soldiers” – Oct. 29

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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] – 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.

5] – On Sun., Oct. 27 from 10 AM to 1 PM, get with Tree Maintenance, hosted by Gunpowder Valley Conservancy at the Loch Raven Skeet and Trap Center, 12301 Dulaney Valley Rd., Phoenix 21131. Tickets are at gunpowdervalleyconservancy.org.  Newly planted trees need TLC to survive. Spend several hours to help young trees grow into healthy forests!  Tree maintenance involves removing invasive plants, checking planted trees to see if the shelter needs to be removed and removing if necessary, digging out the planting tube, and making sure the plant is upright.

Register online at https://gunpowdervalleyconservancy.org/event/tree-maintenance-october-27/.  Look at https://www.facebook.com/events/327481971384679/.

6] – On Sun., Oct. 27 at 1:30 PM, check out Defending Environmental Defenders, hosted by Malaya Movement DMV/Baltimore at Cleveland Park Public Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave. NW, WDC 20008. Please join Kabataan Alliance and Malaya Movement's community forum to learn about environmental justice and the situation of environmental defenders in the Philippines. The forum will feature a guest speaker and environmental defender from the Philippines Clemente "Enteng" Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/defending-environmental-defenders-in-the-philippines-tickets-77925181315. Learn more about Enteng Bautista: http://www.yestolifenotomining.org/enteng-ylnm-coordinator-tailed-and-harassed-by-suspected-military-agents/. See https://www.facebook.com/events/257205941840484/.

7] – Not a Film Fest: Anticolonial Conversations in Baltimore, hosted by Baltimore-Palestine Solidarity on Sun., Oct. 27 from 4 to 8 PM at the 2640 Space, 2640 St. Paul St. It explores the theme of social justice movements of the past and present that have largely been unrecognized or misrepresented. By crafting a program anchored in film, lively conversation, and debate, make clear the intimate (and sometimes problematic) connections between struggles nationally and internationally. The program includes a series of diverse events across Baltimore city that make clear the connections between liberation struggles, regardless of manufactured borders, and to inspire a conversation locally that is global and intersectional in its commitment to justice and emancipation. See https://www.facebook.com/events/699747870447705/?event_time_id=699747873781038. Email notafilmfest@gmail.com. 

8] – On Sun., Oct. 27 from 5 to 6:30 PM, see a special Film Screening of “Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man,” hosted by Struggle - La Lucha for Socialism and Socialist Unity Party at 2011 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218-5927. Thomas Sankara is the former president of Burkina Faso. This inspiring film will commemorate the assassination of Thomas Sankara, who was known as "the African Che."  There is no charge. On Oct. 15, 1987, Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s West African revolutionary leader, was assassinated. It is interesting to note that at a time when youth have focused the world’s attention on the dire issue of climate crisis, and workers and Indigenous people in Ecuador are rising up against the International Monetary Fund’s austerity demands — that Sankara spearheaded major programs in both areas. He promoted and led a massive people’s campaign called the “One village, one grove” program to combat desertification of the Sahel (the area between the Sahara Desert and Sudanian Savanna). Over 10 million trees were planted. That legacy lives on.

Under Sankara’s leadership, Burkina Faso nationalized land and mineral wealth and refused aid from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which incurred the wrath of both U.S. and French imperialism. This began in 1983, when a group of revolutionaries under the leadership of 33-year-old Thomas Sankara led a popular revolt that took power. One of the first acts of Sankara and the new revolution was to rename the colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means “The Land of the Upright People” in Mossi. It was an act in defiance of French imperialism, which had coined the name “Upper Volta.” The assassination of Thomas Sankara and the overturn of this amazing revolution is reminiscent of the Paris Commune. While brief, the revolution’s legacy deserves to be studied and remembered by generations to come. The spirit of revolution continues today in the fight of the workers and Indigenous people in Ecuador and those in the streets everywhere fighting capitalist crisis and imperialist domination and war. Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/823493611399727/.

9] – 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 Oct. 28, 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.

10] – Urge Congress to Hold Hearings on the ERA, which would be supported by Katrina's Dream.  Each Monday, including Oct. 14, at 8 AM, make calls to Senator Graham at (202) 224-5972 and your senators for the ERA. Hold hearings on S.J. Res 6, and S.J. Res. 5 which calls for the removal of a deadline for passage of the ERA. Click on this link https://bit.ly/2T1B8wp, and check out https://www.facebook.com/events/246467582967063/?event_time_id=246467699633718.

11] – On Mon., Oct. 21 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/.

12] -- On Mon., Oct. 28 from noon to 1 PM, attend the Washington, D.C. Coalition Speaker Lunch, hosted by the Plastic Pollution Coalition at 1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200, WDC 20036. Tickets are at www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org.  Get together with current and potential Coalition members for a lively discussion about topics related to plastic pollution and its toxic impacts.  Jen Fela, Global Engagement Specialist for the Greenpeace USA campaign to prevent plastic pollution, will be talking about efforts to tackle plastic pollution globally. The gathering will be at Oceana, 1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200, WDC 20036.  RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/419413728971441/.

13] – On Mon., Oct. 28 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=301851330514951. This will continue into the future. 

14] – On Mon., Oct. 28 from 4:30 to 6 PM, get with Running Out of Time: Climate Change's Impact on International Development, hosted by SAIS Perspectives at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies | SAIS, 1740 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC 20036. It is no secret that climate change is among the most urgent challenges that every living being faces today. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the ramifications of environmental pressures — issues of food security and forced migration have become even more pertinent in the face of changing ecosystems. Devote this year's issue of Perspectives to creating dialogue and debate around some of the issues' most crucial components.  A reception and photo exhibition will follow. Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/405177993490813/.

15] – On Mon., Oct. 28 from 4:45 to 6:30 PM, Stand Up for Water Justice at City Council’s 2nd Reader Vote! It is hosted by Baltimore Right to Water Coalition at Baltimore City Hall, 100 Holliday St., Baltimore 21202. This is the second reader vote of Baltimore's water equity bill -- the Water Accountability and Equity Act.  Show your support for the City Council to pass a strong bill despite the director of the Department of Public Works, Rudy Chow, who will attempt to weaken it. Tell the City Council to stand with the people of Baltimore and reject any weakening amendments. Show your support for a strong Water Accountability & Equity Act! Wear BLUE and meet in the Council Chambers (4th floor) at 4:45 PM to get a sticker! Make sure to bring your ID to get in to City Hall. Get with https://www.facebook.com/events/925177864505465/.

16] -- The Coalition for a Humane Hopkins is presenting to the Mayor and City Council the need to re-open and re-negotiate Baltimore City’s PILOT Agreement with Johns Hopkins and other major non-profit institutions in the city. These institutions should be paying their fair share to help provide the much-needed resources for the services our city so desperately needs. Join the Coalition on Mon., Oct. 28 at 5 PM in front of City Hall for the presentation to the Mayor and City Council.   In June 2016, fifteen of Baltimore’s not-for-profit hospitals, colleges and universities including Johns Hopkins Hospital, entered into a ten-year agreement with the City of Baltimore Board of Estimates. Under the agreement, the 15 not-for-profit institutions annually make a combined $6 million Payment in Lieu of Taxation (PILOT) to the City of Baltimore.

Baltimore’s $15.9 billion in tax exempt properties account for nearly a third (30.9%) of its total property base. Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview jointly contribute $1,399,972 annually to the $6 million total. If they were for-profit corporations, they would be required to pay the City of Baltimore a combined $35.5 million annually on an estimated $1.7 billion worth of property.  JHH and JHBMC’s annual contribution of $1.4 million to the City of Baltimore is just 3.9% of what they would have to pay every single year as for-profit corporations. Contact Harrison Weber at <HWeber@calnurses.org> and 714-343-8779.

17] –WHAT'S HAPPENING AT OUR SCHOOLS? Come to the Baltimore #FundOurSchools Parent Town Hall. Hear directly from parents about experiences with school conditions on Mon., Oct. 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center, 2601 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore 21224.

18] – Get over to the Terps for Bernie Organizing Meeting on Mondays from 6 to 7 PM –  Oct. 28, Nov. 4 and Nov. 11 – at the University of Maryland, College Park 20742.  Tickets are at airtable.com.  Meet fellow Bernie supporters and learn about the strategy to win the nomination for Bernie and get plugged into the work we need to do the most at the University of Maryland to win in 2020.  If you're new to Terps for Bernie, please signup to join and RSVP for the location here: ter.ps/berniesignup.  If you're a current member of Terps for Bernie, you may RSVP for the location here: ter.ps/berniersvp.  Consider going to https://www.facebook.com/events/2371346926457059/?event_time_id=2394407947484290.

19] – On Mon., Oct. 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, get over to the Book Talk: “Justice for Some” with Noura Erakat, hosted by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW, WDC 20036.  Join the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights for a book talk and conversation about the future of justice in Palestine with Palestinian human rights attorney, author, and USCPR advisory board member Noura Erakat and USCPR Executive Director Yousef Munayyer.

Erakat's newly-published bestseller, "Justice for Some," offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom by exploring how international law can serve the cause of justice when it is mobilized in support of a political movement. Erakat is at Rutgers University, New Brunswick in the Department of Africana Studies and the Program in Criminal Justice. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/658468231344284/.

20] – Attend the Sierra Club monthly transportation committee meeting on Mon., Oct. 28 at 7 PM. Discuss setting goals for 2020 to reduce pollution, expand transit, promote biking and pedestrian infrastructure, and EVs.  For location, go to https://zoom.us/j/422577525 or +1646-876-9923, PIN 422577525.  Contact Lindsey Mendelson at lindsey.mendelson@mdsierra.org or (240) 706-7901. Join a Sierra Club-hosted Invasive Weed Pull at the Community Ecology Institute on Tues., Oct. 29 from 9:30 to 11:30 AM.  This is at the former Shaw Farm, in Columbia, which is being transformed into an amazing educational space that will bring the community together. Contact Patricia Soffen at patricia.soffen@gmail.com or (443) 416-1000.  The weed pulling, organized by the Howard County Group, will be at 8000 Harriet Tubman Ln., Columbia 21044.

21] – Join the Get Money Out of Maryland Teleconference on Mon., Oct. 28 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.

22] –  Can you participate in a DC Statehood Phone Bank on Tues., Oct. 29 from 10 AM to 6 PM at the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC 20004 in room G-9. Join the Washington, DC Statehood Office for a DC Statehood Phone Bank. Call state legislatures across the US to raise awareness of DC residents' lack of full and equal voting representation in Congress.   Phones, scripts, materials, and light refreshments will be provided. The Phone Bank continues each Tuesday. See Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/673834763077915/?event_time_id=673834803077911.

23] – On Tues., Oct. 29 from noon to 1 PM, and continuing each Tuesday, come to a Food Rescue at YO! Baltimore West, 1510 W. Lafayette Ave., Baltimore 21217.  Enjoy fresh, delicious, and free food. Bring a bag. Bring a friend! Take what you want.  See https://www.facebook.com/events/403785397093000/?event_time_id=403785490426324.

24] – On Thurs., Oct. 29 from noon to 1:30 PM, the Economic Policy Institute, 1225 I St. NW, Suite 600, WDC 20005,  invites you to hear about exploring the evolving thinking on key issues in economic policymaking—with a keen focus on how increased diversity in economics has brought change—and the challenges going forward. A light lunch will be served.  The Featured Speakers are as follows: Janet Yellen, Former Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Brookings Institution Fellow, Nina Banks, Associate Professor of Economics at Bucknell University, EPI Board Member, and Kayla Jones, Harvard Research Scholar Initiative and the Sadie Collective.  The moderator is Heather Long, Economics Correspondent, The Washington Post.  RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-economics-washington-edition-tickets-75168072729?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=91d7d52e2a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_02_06_32_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-91d7d52e2a-59830565&mc_cid=91d7d52e2a&mc_eid=72ea77dbdd.

25] –On Tues., Oct. 29 from 1:30 to 4:45 PM at the Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC 20036, hear the discussion Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific Dialogue: Alliances at Crossroads.  The speakers are scholars from the Brookings Institution, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), and the Asian Institute (multiple speakers).  Three years into the Trump administration’s “America First” approach to foreign policy, the president’s repeated criticisms of alliances, muddled messaging, and policy confusion have placed the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific alliance systems under strain. The impact of these policies on allies and the shifting geopolitical dynamics will be examined. How do U.S. allies perceive the U.S. commitment to these decades-long relationships? How have European and East Asian countries adjusted their approaches to the United States and to their neighbors? As the deepening U.S.-China rivalry has developed into the new norm, how do our allies view their role in their respective regions and their security interests in this framework? What are the implications for regional security and cooperation?  Go to https://www.brookings.edu/events/trans-atlantic-and-trans-pacific-dialogue-alliances-at-crossroads/.

26] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine.  The next vigil is Oct. 29.  Call 215-426-0364.

27] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" at 33^rd and N. Charles Sts. on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 5 to 6 PM. Contact Max at mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net or 410-323-1607. 

28] –  On Tues., Oct. 29 at 5 PM, Pacem in Terris is  hosting a Pine-cone Clustering Party for Wreaths for Peace at Pacem office at Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse, 401 N. West St., Wilmington. Get free pizza and have fun. Call 302-656-2721 or email info@depaceminterris.org.

29] –  On Tues., Oct. 29 from 6 to 7:30 PM, come to a Baltimore Ceasefire Public Meeting – WEST, hosted by Beth Am Synagogue, 2501 Eutaw Place, Baltimore 21217.  Learn more about the Baltimore Ceasefire movement. Pick up flyers and posters for the Nov. 1 - 3 Ceasefire Weekend. Get over to https://www.facebook.com/events/852633278484482/.

30] – Progressive Maryland is hosting forums to find out more about the Kirwan proposals: the “Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.” How about more funding for education? The next forum is on Tues., Oct. 29 at 6 PM at Aberdeen High School, 251 Paradise Road, Aberdeen.  Another forum will be on Tues., Oct. 29 at 7 PM at the Delaplaine Arts Center, 40 S. Carroll St., Frederick.  Look at https://www.marylandblueprint.org/.

31] – On Tues., Oct. 28 from 7 to 9 PM, hear about a new book “A Jewish Resistance Fighter Among Nazi Soldiers,” hosted by Left Voice at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 1225 Cathedral St., Baltimore 21201.  Author Nathaniel Flakin will tell the fascinating true story of a German Jew who risked his life among Nazi soldiers. In 1943, the Soviets are destroying the Germans at Stalingrad. The tide is finally beginning to turn against Hitler. Enter Martin Monath, whose short life needs little embellishment. His identity shrouded in mystery, the events of his life read like a detective novel.

Escaping from Berlin, he arrives in Paris in 1943 and befriends a number of occupying German soldiers – young men who barely remember anything before fascism. In clandestine meetings, the group begins to question the ideals that they’ve been brought up with. With a borrowed printing press, Monath and his comrades in the résistance secretly distribute their own propaganda in an effort to turn German soldiers against their commanders and be part of a revolution to overthrow Nazi rule. Look at https://www.facebook.com/events/587387745133869/.  Go to http://redemmas.org/.

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