Baltimore Activist Alert -- August 15 - 21, 2022

19] Make calls with the DNC – Aug. 15 & 16

20] COVID Test and Treatments Global Access Campaign – Aug. 15

21] All in PA Statewide Virtual Phone Bank – Aug. 15 & 17

22] Election Protection webinar – Aug. 15

23] Progressive Harford County Monthly Meeting – Aug. 15

24] See the film “The Vow from Hiroshima” – Aug. 15

25] Train to Get out the Vote Phone Banking for the DNC – Aug. 15. 17 & 20

26] End U.S. support for the Saudi-led war – Aug. 15

27] Plan Colombia – Aug. 15

28] National Organizing Call – Aug. 15

29] Gorbachev/ Shultz Legacy Youth Award – Aug. 16

30] We Are All Organizers – Aug. 16

31] Voter Protection Phone banks with Common Cause – Aug. 16, 19 and 21

32] Russia out of Ukraine protest – Aug. 16

33] Deep Canvass Skills Series training – Aug. 16

34] Make calls for Beto – Aug. 16, 19 and 20

35] Examine the massive 2023 military budget – Aug. 16

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19] – Make Calls virtually with the DNC National Call Crew to voters in battleground states to build strength for the 2022 Midterms. Please email digitalorganizing@dnc.org. Sign up for up to eight shifts on Mon., Aug. 15 from 2 to 10 PM ET, and six shifts on Tues., Aug. 16 from 2 to 8 PM ET. For a training, sign up at https://events.democrats.org/event/440875/. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/388091/?followup_modal_context=nonexclusive_newsletter_most_popular_virtual.

20] – Ryan Harvey [gtwaction@citizen.org] wants you to attend on Mon., Aug. 15 at 3 PM an Activist Briefing: COVID Test and Treatments Global Access Campaign. The decision to prioritize pharmaceutical monopolies’ profits over global access to COVID vaccines, tests and treatments continues to kill thousands of people around the world each day. Fortunately, public health advocates in countries like Colombia, Peru, Chile, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, India, Indonesia and more have had enough and are pushing back hard!  Hear from members of the Trade Justice Education Fund about the next steps in the campaign for global vaccine justice.  RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a4DkkW30TrOvcdNqcFiz3g?link_id=2&can_id=4b9d4061aec5469758759317ac0f5285&source=email-tell-congress-no-secrecy-in-us-indo-pacific-trade-talks-3&email_referrer=email_1631272___subject_2107824&email_subject=monday-activist-briefing-covid-test-and-treatments-global-access-campaign.

21] – Join a Pennsylvania Statewide Virtual Phone Bank, hosted by All in PA 2022.  On Mon., Aug. 15 from 4:30 to 6:30 PM and Wed., Aug. 17 from 5 to 7 PM ET, join the phone bank. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/445906/?followup_modal_context=nonexclusive_newsletter_most_popular_virtual. Talk with voters about electing Pennsylvania Democrats up and down the ballot!  You'll need a computer, reliable internet service and a browser program, such as Firefox or Chrome. This will continue through September 1.

22] – The Emergency Election Protection Coalition is happening at 4:30 PM ET on Mon., Aug. 15. Please submit any questions to: Solartopia@gmail.com. Sign up at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYldumtrjIiH9L7_KfcFV1n8ynuO3anTGwp. Progressive Democrats of America are part of the coalition.

23] – On Mon., Aug. 15 at 7 PM ET, attend a Progressive Harford County Monthly Meeting. RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/progressivemaryland/event/481987/?followup_modal_context=organization_newsletter_custom_recommendations.  Participate in a post-primary election review. Some of the endorsed candidates will speak about how the primary went for them.

24] – On Mon., Aug.15 at 7 PM ET, the Reel & Meal film series will screen “The Vow from Hiroshima,” shortly after the anniversary of the first dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan.  The event will be both in-person at the New Deal Café in Greenbelt, MD and online via Zoom. Register at https://tinyurl.com/ReelnMealAug15).  Bullfrog Films portrays Setsuko Thurlow as a passionate 85-year-old survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.  It weaves her own moving story into that of her growing friendship with a second-generation survivor, Mitchie Takeuchi. Setsuko was miraculously pulled out of a fiery building after the bomb was dropped but was unable to save her 27 classmates who were burned to death alive. That experience shaped her life forever. She has tried to keep her pledge made to her friends, that thereafter no one should ever again meet their horrible fate.

Directed by Susan Strickler, the film explores the global dangers of nuclear weapons by showing Setsuko’s campaign with ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) and the peak of her decades of activism as she accepts the 2017 Nobel Peace Awards.  An update adds an epilogue about the ratification and enactment of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force last year, January 22, 2021. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research will lead the discussion following the film. Over the past twenty years he has conducted many studies on nuclear fuel, nuclear weapons production and testing, and nuclear waste.

  See the film at the New Deal Café, 113 Centerway (Roosevelt Center) in Greenbelt, MD and enjoy the new wide-screen film projection system. Masks are encouraged. Please check the Cafe's Facebook page for updates on current in person guidelines. The café will open at 6:30 PM for those purchasing meals there. Please buy a vegan meal at the New Deal Café, which supports the mission focused on environmental, social justice and animal rights issues. To watch virtually, register at https://tinyurl.com/ReelnMealAug15.

  The Reel and Meal at the New Deal is a monthly film series focused on environmental, social justice and animal rights issues, presented by Utopia Film Festival, the Prince George’s County Peace and Justice Coalition and Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group.  This month’s film is sponsored by Peace and Justice.  Go to www.facebook.com/reelandmealNDC and to https://fb.me/e/2HWVEn6D5. Email Lucy Duff at lucyduff@comcast.net. 

25] – Learn how to make calls to voters in battleground states on your schedule with the DNC National Call-Crew! The DNC National Call-Crew brings volunteer power to battleground states where it's needed most for the Midterms! In this Zoom-based training, you will learn how to make calls and get your questions answered through an amazing online community. After training, during calling hours, you'll be able to schedule shifts on the hour or stop by to call when it's most convenient for you. The first half of the session, you will be set up to call, and the second half you'll be making calls to voters in battleground states. The next trainings are on Mon., Aug. 15 from 7 to 8 PM ET, Wed., Aug. 17 from 7 to 8 PM EDT and Sat., Aug. 20 from 4 to 5 PM EDT.  Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/northcentralmassvolunteers/event/440875/.

26] – Demand Progress [info@demandprogress.org] wants you to register on Mon., Aug. 15 at 8 PM ET for a webinar: Opening the Phone Lines to end Saudi War Crimes.  August is a crucial month for peace in Yemen. The truce continues to be fragile, and this is a critical moment to advocate for Congress to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war.  REGISTER at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XYOOO80kQLubrCGqyaJpRw. Call and email our Members of Congress. Yemen can’t wait. 

27] – The Colombia Support Network invites you to join a ZOOM presentation and discussion with Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) on Mon., Aug. 15 from 8 to 9:30 PM EDT. Register at https://forms.gle/GT8yacYvY142geup7. Isacson is currently the director for WOLA’s Defense Oversight Program. Colombia has been a central focus for his work, as Colombia has been the primary recipient of U.S. security assistance in the Western Hemisphere since the early 1990s. His path-breaking work at WOLA has focused on the Colombian Armed Forces and U.S. Government support for Colombia’s military, through Plan Colombia up to the present. Monitoring U.S. aid, and advocating for peaceful resolution to Colombia’s long armed conflict, has led him to visit Colombia more than 70 times. He has done work in 23 of the country’s 32 departments.

28] – Join the LIVE National Organizing Call on Mon., Aug. 15 at 8:30 PM ET with Jasmine Crockett, who’s headed to the US House from TX-30, to talk about how we grow progressive power in Congress. Dig into the importance of winning at the local level with Megan Green on her run for chair of the Board of Aldermen in St. Louis, MO and Robert Jackson on his race for re-election to the NY State Senate. RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/ourrevolution/event/148017/?akid=3251.8252965.cUOrQl&rd=1&t=12. The next organizing call will be on Aug. 29.

29] – Basel Peace Office [info@baselpeaceoffice.org] is inviting you on Tues., Aug. 16 from 11 AM to 12:30 PM ET for the Gorbachev / Shultz Legacy Youth Award and Youth Fusion at the United Nations. It will be live-streamed on Basel Peace Office Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/BaselPeaceOffice/.

30] –  On Tues., Aug. 16 from 2 to 3:30 PM and 7:30 to 9 PM ET,  the Democratic National Committee has put together We Are All Organizers: Community Organizing Training. RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/404981/?followup_modal_context=nonexclusive_newsletter_most_popular_virtual.  Learn how to organize in your community.  Community organizing focuses on the most important tools at our disposal: our relationships and our ability to talk with one another about things that matter. Go over the best ways to make a difference, and how to be a leader and organize in your community. You will receive a link to join on Zoom closer to the day-of.

31] – Join the Voter Protection phone banks with Common Cause to work together to demand bold changes to our democracy to create a government that represents all of us, not big corporations or special interests. Call voters in New Hampshire to connect them with Gov. Sununu and encourage him to veto SB 418 and voters in Michigan to recruit them for events happening around their state. These phone banks are subject to change based on variables outside of our control (i.e. a Senator's mailbox is full).

  On Sundays, call voters in Michigan to recruit them for events happening around their state. On Tuesdays (in partnership with Newburyport Indivisible-RISE), call New Hampshire voters to connect them with Gov. Sununu and encourage him to veto SB 418.  On Fridays, there will be the Our Democracy phone bank. These shifts also always will include training for first-timers before you make calls! Call on Tues., Aug. 16 from 4 to 6 PM ET, Fri., Aug. 19 from 4 to 6 PM, and Sun., Aug. 21 from 6 to 8 PM ET. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/dfadcoalition/event/376178/?followup_modal_context=newsletter.

32] – Join the Baltimore Nonviolence Center on Tues., Aug. 16 from 4:30 to 5:30 PM ET for joining the CODEPINK call for support demonstrations for the people of Ukraine.  Gather at 33rd and N. Charles Sts. The invasion of Ukraine has the potential to become a war extending throughout Europe.  Putin has destroyed Aleppo and Grozny and has threatened the use of nuclear weapons.  Russian soldiers were sent into the area around the contaminated and still radioactive Chernobyl nuclear plant. Now they stationed in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.   People who believe in peace and justice should come forward and take the risks of peace. Contact Max at mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net or 410-323-1607.

33] – People's Action [info@peoplesaction.org] hopes you will be available on Tues., Aug. 15 and Wed., Aug. 16 from 6 to 9 PM ET. This two-part Deep Canvass Skills Series training includes script structure, compassionate curiosity, storytelling, and assertiveness. Deep canvassing is one of the only tactics scientifically proven to reduce prejudice, inoculate people against fear-based messaging, and change hearts and minds on our most divisive issues in a way that lasts. Build a future where everyone can thrive, but to do that, we must heal the wounds inflicted by the people who want to divide us for profit. The strategy is called deep canvassing, which is about creating mutual understanding grounded in lived experience, instead of in debate or talking points. Deep canvassing was developed by organizers and volunteers in the LGBTQ rights movement as a way to turn the tide of a decade of losses at the ballot box.  Register at https://www.mobilize.us/peoplesaction/event/476151/.

34] – Beto for Texas [info@betoorourke.com] needs your help phone banking to help elect a new governor in Texas.  Sign up for a shift on Tues., Aug. 16 from 7 to 9:30 PM, Fri., Aug. 19 from 6 to 7:30 PM, Sat., Aug. 20 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM ET and Sun., Aug. 21 from 1:30 to 3:30 PM ET. Help make direct, personal contact with as many Texans as we can. You can join in from anywhere. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/betofortexas/event/438569/?utm_source=ema20220727-200206.

35] -- On Tues., Aug. 16 from 8 to 9:30 PM ET, join CODEPINK Congress and Massachusetts Peace Action for a Capitol Calling Party and examine the massive 2023 military budget and all that entails. Let’s mobilize opposition before the Senate votes this fall on an $858 billion military budget. That’s $45 billion more than President Biden requested & $100 billion more than Trump’s military budget. What’s in this behemoth? Plenty of giveaways to military contractors –$$$ for new nuclear warheads, new plutonium pits – $$$ for more F-35’s, $$$ for more weapons to Ukraine and $$$ for Israel’s Iron Dome. Also tucked into the NDAA is expansion of the use of foreign proxies and mercenaries against Iran, North Korea, Russia and China. Register at https://www.codepink.org/08162022.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  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