Baltimore Activist Alert -- December 29, 2023 through January 22, 2024

30] Weekly Town Hall Podcast about Media & Democracy – Dec. 29

31] Peace vigil at the White House -- Dec. 29

32] Women in Black vigil – Dec. 29

33] AFSC Action Hour for ceasefire – Dec. 29

34] Banner drop Ceasefire Now – Dec. 29

35] Bikemore Bike Party – Dec. 30

36] Banner drop Ceasefire Now – Dec. 30

37] Food pantry – Dec. 30

38] Food Pantry and Food Donation Center – Dec. 30

39] “Decolonizing Palestine” – deadline Dec. 30

40] Sing to President Biden – Dec. 31

41] March with Healthcare for All – Maryland – Jan. 15

42] Join protest at Northrop Grumman – Jan. 22

43] Medical supplies are needed in Ukraine

44] Tell JHU president to renounce nuclear weapons contracts

45] Read Dave Eberhardt’s book "For All the Saints- a Protest Primer"

46] Do you need a doctor?

47] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records

48] Do you need any book shelves?

49] Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil

-----

30] – The Democratic National Committee is holding a Weekly Town Hall Podcast about Media & Democracy on Fri., Dec. 29 from noon to 1:30 PM ET.  Tune in at https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/546677/?followup_modal_context=nonexclusive_newsletter_most_popular_virtual. The podcast will continue through Fri., Jan. 26 from noon to 1 PM ET

31] – The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker will host a peace vigil at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC, on Fri., Dec. 29 at noon.  Contact the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker: 202-882-9649 or artlaffin@hotmail.com.

32] – Every Friday from noon to 1 PM, Baltimore Women in Black vigil for peace with men and women who live in Roland Park. WIB invites all to join, and any peace sign is welcome, such as "Defuse Nuclear War."  The vigil takes place outside Roland Park Place at the corner of West 40th Street and Elm Street. Parking is free at RPP or at the Rotunda across the street. Contact Ann Vinup at annvinup@gmail.com.

33] – The American Friends Service Committee holds an Action Hour for a Cease-fire Now every Friday at noon ET. Join AFSC staff to hear updates from Gaza. Then, take action by contacting elected officials and call for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access to Gaza. Our elected officials need to keep hearing from us. RSVP at https://afsc.org/events/action-hour-cease-fire-now?ms=EMA24EI1103&emci=17faec34-887a-ee11-b004-00224832eb73&emdi=9695a439-f87c-ee11-b004-00224832eb73&ceid=764241

34] – Ronda Cooperstein <rondacooperstein@hotmail.com> wants you to know that BALTIMORE PEACE ACTION will gather on Fri., Dec. 29 at 3:30 PM ET on the pedestrian bridge over West Northern Parkway for a banner drop calling for a CEASEFIRE NOW in Gaza and an end to state-supported settler violence in the West Bank. The holidays are upon us.  Many people will be returning from work for a long weekend.  Please join if you are able.  Parking on the street by Springwell Retirement Community, 2211 West Rogers Avenue leads to the pedestrian bridge, approximately a five-minute walk. 

35] –Bikemore [info@bikemore.net] hopes you will be there  on Sat., Dec. 30 from 10 AM to noon ET for a Family Bike Party, riding from Wyman Park Dell to German Park. Bikemore will be providing ride support. Bring the kids and enjoy the new separated lane on 28th Street. As we head into the holidays, Bikemore is thinking about the upcoming election and legislative session. Major proposed transit cuts are on the table, and the group will be asking for help fighting for sustainable and increased transportation funding, not more austerity. Bikemore is also planning a mayoral and council president transportation forum, and will be launching our #IBikeIVote questionnaire.

36] – St. Matthew United Methodist Church, 101 Avon Beach Rd., Turner Station, MD 21222, holds a Food Pantry every Saturday from 10 AM to noon ET.  Please bring nonperishable items such as canned fruits & vegetables, pasta, cooking oil, mixes, etc. to the church or make out a check payable to St. Matthew UMC with "food pantry" in the memo line. Visit https://stmatthewts.org/

37] – On Sat., Dec. 30 from noon to 2 PM EST, get over to the Food Pantry and Food Donation Center at First and Franklin Presbyterian Church, 210 W. Madison St., Baltimore. This Food Pantry is open every Saturday. Get a grocery bag – breakfast, jelly and peanut butter (a good source of protein) for lunch, the makings for a balanced dinner such as beans and rice, pasta and sauce, soup, vegetables, fruit, and a paper goods. Also added is a little fun food, such as popcorn or cookies, for everyone enjoys a treat.  Contributions of shelf stable foods can be brought to Reid Chapel every Saturday between noon and 2 PM. If shopping is difficult for you, monetary donations earmarked food pantry may be sent to the church.  How else can you help? Volunteers are needed to help collect and distribute food. Contact the church office to volunteer. You can also help by spreading the word to those you know who are facing food insecurity. See https://www.facebook.com/firstfranklinbaltimore.

38] -- Eduard Loring [edloring@opendoorcommunity.org] is promoting a course by The Alternative Seminary “Decolonizing Palestine.” He has started reading the book, and brings to our attention that children and the elderly are starving to death in Gaza.  Since he states we are complicit, he hopes that people will act and learn what can be done to bring Peace to this war torn land.  If you have any questions or problems registering for the course, contact Will O’Brien at (267) 339-8989 or willobrien59@gmail.com.

 Settler Colonial Theory in Conversation with Palestinian Liberation Theology is a FOUR-WEEK VIRTUAL COURSE on Monday evenings, January 8 – 29 from 7 to 9 PM ET, led by Rev. Amy Yoder McGloughlin.  Two weeks before the war began, Palestinian liberation theologian, Mitri Raheb, released his latest book, Decolonizing Palestine:  The Land, The People, The Bible.  This book contains a much-needed framework to understand what's happening in Israel and Palestine, and to address the questions that often come up as folks struggle to understand the history and context of modern-day Palestine.  Discuss a chapter each week, and engage with Palestinian guest speakers to unravel the colonial mindset and envision a world where all are liberated from oppression. Amy is a Mennonite pastor who travels to Palestine every year and volunteers with Community Peacemaker Teams, an organization that monitors human rights violations in the West Bank and stands in solidarity with Palestinians using nonviolent practices.

A donation of $50 is recommended, to cover the costs associated with having Palestinian guest speakers, but please pay what you can.  The deadline for registration is December 30.  Register at https://bit.ly/DecolonizingPalestine

39] -- Andrew Hinz <ahinz61@outlook.com> hopes that on Sun., Dec. 31 from 10 PM to midnight ET you can bring in the New Year at 909 Centre Road, Wilmington, DE by singing to President Joe Biden. Highlight the need to stop LNG exports this year. Despite the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act which incentivizes clean energy investments, it fails to end fossil fuel expansion and incentivizes false solutions that harm us like carbon capture and methane from CAFO. Join Beyond Extreme Energy and sing to the president.

40] – As it has done for many years, Healthcare is a Human Right- Maryland will be participating in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Baltimore on Mon., Jan. 15.  Join in and march behind a banner that contains Dr. King's famous quote, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."  The t-shirts will say "Medicare for All" and "Healthcare is a Human Right." Signs will be available for all.  You are encouraged to join the parade and show your support for healthcare justice.

The parade starts at noon at MLK Jr. Blvd. and Eutaw Street.  HCHR-MD will gather there by 11:30 AM.  For additional information, please contact Rich Bruning [barbruland@gmail.com] at [410] 235-3504 or [443]-509-7095.

41] – According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the $43.7 billion spent by the U.S. on nuclear weapons in 2022 means that, every minute, $83,143 was diverted from healthcare, housing, and other needs in our country! And the leading nuclear weapons contractor in the U.S. is Northrop Grumman which in September 2020 was selected by the U.S. Air Force under a $13.3 billion contract awarded for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent [sic] (GBSD) program. Northrop Grumman is the third largest weapons contractor in the world taking in $32 billion in 2022 for military hardware.

According to the watchdog site Investigate, Northrop Grumman “supplies the Israeli military with a wide variety of weapons, including various missile systems. The company’s technologies are also integrated into Israel’s main weapon systems, including its fighter jets, missile ships, and trainer aircraft.” The company has provided Israel weapons for decades and, says Investigate, “these weapons have repeatedly been used against Palestinian civilians, resulting in numerous casualties as well as mass destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water and electric systems.” It has also supplied the Israeli Navy with Sa'ar 5 warships, which have participated in the assault on Gaza. 

Since 2017, Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland activists have celebrated the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The TPNW opened for signature at the United Nations in New York on 20 September 2017 and entered into force on 22 January 2021. As of 19 September 2023, the TPNW has 69 states parties while 28 further states have signed but not yet ratified.

 Pope Francis in the annual Christmas message condemned war and weaponry provided by the global arms industry. This year’s message also included condemnation of the ongoing slaughter in the Gaza Strip, as he mourned the children killed, which he called the "little Jesuses of today."

 Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland activists, on January 22 for the annual speak out in favor of the TPNW, will gather outside a Northrop Grumman complex to leaflet workers. The leaflet will explain that producing nuclear weapons is a theft from the poor, and that any military contractor supplying weapons to Israel will be complicit in the war crimes being committed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.  As part of the visit to Northrop Grumman, a letter would be delivered to Kathy Warden, CEO. The time and the site will be decided at a further date.  Contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net if you are interested in challenging Northrop Grumman. 

42] -- Eduard Loring [edloring@opendoorcommunity.org] issued a plea.  I cry out to you, as I have heard and ingested The Cry of the Poor from Palestine. Please act. Listen for Democracy Now every Monday through Friday.  Be inspired by a powerful Christmas Sermon straight from Bethlehem of Palestine.  Rev. Munther Isaac courageous homily is entitled “Christ in the Rubble.”  He is the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. Please purchase a Keffiyeh Scarf. Please purchase a large button Free Palestine – End the Occupation. Please join If Not Now and/or Jewish Voices for Peace.  When there is a call to march: march.  When there is a call to call your representative: Call and ask for a ceasefire.

43] --  If you are able to donate any kind of surplus medical supplies for field hospitals in eastern Ukraine, please email Brendan.walls@seaseton.org or call 410-721-5770 x231.  There is a colleague whose father is a medic on the front line. One container is shipped every month to the Donbass region. Donations can be picked up in Baltimore and Columbia every Thursday, and on other days in Annapolis and Crofton.

44] -- This is A PLEA TO CONVINCE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY TO OBEY INTERNATIONAL LAW. The world reached a historic milestone on January 22, 2021: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [TPNW] entered into force and become binding international law -- https://www.icanw.org/the_treaty.

Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland has called attention to the growing danger of nuclear war and the outrageous $1.7 trillion dollars we are spending to upgrade the nuclear arsenal. On July 18, 2017, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a U.S. Navy - affiliated research center received a seven-year, $92 million contract to continue its systems engineering and research-and-development services for the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. Help convince JHU to renounce nuclear weapons contracts. Contact the president, Ron Daniels, to urge him to reject all nuclear weapons contracts: Office of the President, 242 Garland Hall, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland 21218.  Call his office at (410) 516-8068 or email president@jhu.edu.

45] – David Eberhardt was a member of the Baltimore Four with Father Philip Berrigan, Tom Lewis and Rev. James Mengel.  The group poured blood on draft files on October 27, 1967.  They would be convicted and sentenced to prison. Dave has written a book "For All the Saints- a Protest Primer"- documenting the Baltimore Four action and many others up to and including the most recent Plowshares action – Kings Bay Plowshares 7.  

  Dave just printed 50 new copies of For All the Saints, a Protest Primer- 250+ pp w photos-therefore #'s 351-400 making it o so collectable with two Berrigan book reviews added. The books are signed, and the price remains $25. Will send free if need b- he is not in it for the money! If you want one, send him a check: or contact Dave Eberhardt, 4 Hadley Square North, Baltimore, MD 21218 by email at 1941mireille@gmail.com . 

46] – Yousef Zarbalian [yzarbali@gmail.com] started his own medical practice in December before the pandemic hit. It is called East-West Medicine and Rheumatology, and its website is EastWestMD.com.  Yousef is licensed in Maryland and Virginia. He is doing primary care as well as rheumatologic care (focusing on joint problems and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and sjogren's).  He is offering telemedicine visits, and he has very reasonable rates for uninsured individuals.  He makes use of herbs (which can be sent directly to patients from the herbal dispensary) as well as prescribing medications to their local pharmacy if needed.  

47] -- 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.

48] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at comcast.net.

49] – A Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981. Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282.

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/.

“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