Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert - January 6 - 9, 2015

16] Witness Against Torture Fast for Justice – Jan. 6 - 8
17] Know Your Rights workshop – Jan. 6
18] Write prisoners – Jan. 6
19] Resisting fracked gas infrastructure – Jan. 7
20] Film THE MESSENGER – Jan. 7
21] Peace and justice meeting – Jan. 7
22] No repressive agenda – Jan. 8
23] Peace vigil at White House – Jan. 8
24] WIB peace vigil – Jan. 8
25] Steven Salaita speaks – Jan. 8
26] Black Lives Matter – Jan. 8
27] Film THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT – Jan. 8
28] Ballroom Dancing – Jan. 8
29] Black Left workshop – Jan. 9
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16] – You’re invited to Washington, D.C., to join the Witness Against Torture community from January 3 through 13 to fast, reflect and lift the voices of the men unjustly detained at Guantanamo Bay Prison.  Jan. 11, 2016 marks 14 years of torture and indefinite detention at the prison, as well as President Obama’s 8th year of broken promises. This is the final chance to hold his administration accountable to its promise to release those unjustly detained and close the prison. Right now 107 men remain detained, 48 of whom have been cleared for release and are held without charge or trial.  Go to http://www.witnesstorture.org/events/.

WAT is operating out of the First Trinity Lutheran Church, 501 4th St. NW (entrance on 4th St.), WDC 20001 (4th and E Sts. NW).  Use Judiciary Square Metro.  On Wed., Jan. 6 at 6:30 AM, there will be a Street Action with Pastor Susanne.  Then the group will travel to Camden, NJ to provide support during the Fort Dix Five hearings.

On Thurs., Jan. 7 there will be morning readings and then morning reflection.  Finally plan for a day of actions.

17] – The government has been conducting immigration raids targeting recent arrivals and other undocumented immigrants. In response, the Esperanza Center along with the ACLU of Maryland and the Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition (MIRC) are holding a presentation on Wed., Jan. 6 at 5:30 PM to inform community members of their rights. The presentation will be held at the Assisi House behind Saint Patrick’s Church, 1728 E. Bank St. Contact Eric Seymour at 443-825-3433 or eseymour@cc-md.org.

18] – Come to the Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC, on Wed., Jan. 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM and join DC Stampede for a night of solidarity with the people in the movements who have had their freedom taken from them. Materials will be provided, as well as a list of prisoners from various radical movements with short bios, and a quick “how to” for anyone who would like some guidance. Government repression, as animal activists well know, has long attempted to chill dissent and divide movements. Spend the evening fighting back against the state’s attempts to divide communities. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1142651579087401/.

19] – Come to Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Road NW, WDC 20009, on Thurs., Jan. 7 from 7 to 9 PM and join members of SEED, We Are Cove Point and other organizations resisting fracked gas infrastructure for a presentation and discussion. Dominion Resources is constructing a dangerous liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Southern Maryland. This LNG terminal would export to India and Japan natural gas that is produced by fracking in the Marcellus Shale and transported by several pipelines that are being resisted across the mid-Atlantic. Along with worsening the major health risks to communities and environmental destruction caused by the fracking industry, Dominion Cove Point poses a catastrophic health and safety threat to the rural community living on and around the beautiful Cove Point peninsula on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The fight to stop this project is on!

SEED (Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction) is a direct-action-based group from the mid-Atlantic created to work against energy projects that are harming residents in the region. This includes mountaintop removal, coal exports, fracking, compressor stations, gas pipelines and the under-construction Dominion Cove Point LNG export terminal. Since its inception in 2014, SEED has been working with other groups and community members in Lusby, Maryland (the town that includes Cove Point), to help protect the welfare of Calvert County residents impacted by this terminal and to do what it can to make sure the project is never completed. Visit seedcoalition.wordpress.com or http://pottershousedc.org/event-blog/.

20] –  See "The Messenger" in partnership with the Audubon Maryland-DC and Lights Out Baltimore on Thurs., Jan. 7 at 7:30 PM at the Creative Alliance at The Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore 21224.  Email info@creativealliance.org or call 410/276-1651. Tickets sold in advance are $10, and &7 for members.  Tickets are the door are $12 and $9 respectively.  The director of the 2015 Canadian film is Su Rynard.  For thousands of years, songbirds were regarded as messengers from the gods. Today, these creatures – woven inextricably into the fabric of our environment – are vanishing at an alarming rate. Under threat from climate change, pesticides and more, populations of hundreds of species have dipped dramatically. As scientists, activists, and bird enthusiasts investigate this phenomenon, amazing secrets of the bird world come to light for the first time in this acclaimed and visually thrilling documentary. Find out what’s killing our songbirds, and what can be done about it. As in ancient times, songbirds may once again be carrying a message to humans – one that we ignore at our own peril.  This film won the prize for Best Conservation Program at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Special thanks to Audubon Maryland-DC, Lights Out Baltimore, and the Phoenix Wildlife Center.

21] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore now meets on Thursdays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings take place at Max’s residence.  There will be a meeting on Thurs., Jan. 7 at 7:30 PM.  The agenda will include Freddie Gray & local organizing, killer drones and Obama, an action at the State of the Union, the refugees, lobbying John Sarbanes, the MLK march and the unending wars. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net.

22] – Mayor Bowser has a plan to end traffic injuries and fatalities by 2024 called Vision Zero. The council will be holding a hearing about the plan on Fri., Jan. 8 at 11 AM in room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC. While we all want our roads to be safer, Mayor Bowser has consistently shown that her vision for public safety and human services is to criminalize everything and increase penalties. Her policies show a consistent bias towards regressive tactics of policing behavior. Start the year by reminding the council to not back the Mayor's regressive agenda. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/916221765123103/.

23] – On Fri., Dec. 25 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! This vigil will take place at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contract Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.  Members of Witness Against Torture will attend.

24] – On Fri., Jan. 8 from noon to 1 PM, join Women in Black peace vigil. This vigil will take place at the corner of Light and Pratt Sts.  Stay for as long as you can. Wear black. Dress for who knows what kind of weather. Bring your own poster or help with the "NO WAR IN MY NAME" banner.  When there are others to stand with, you don't need to carry the burden alone. Do this to be in solidarity with others....when everything around us says, Be afraid of the stranger.

25] – On Fri., Jan. 8 from 1 to 2 PM at the Palestine Center, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC, hear from Steven Salaita. In the summer of 2014, the American Indian Studies professor had his offer of a tenured professorship revoked by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Salaita's employment was terminated in response to his public tweets criticizing the Israeli government's summer assault on Gaza. His firing generated a huge public outcry, with thousands petitioning for his reinstatement, and more than five thousand scholars pledging to boycott the University of Illinois. His case raises important questions about academic freedom, free speech on campus, and the movement for justice in Palestine. In this book, Salaita combines personal reflection and political critique to provide a thorough analysis of his controversial termination. He situates his case at the intersection of important issues that affect both higher education and social justice activism. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/53904.

26] –There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  The next scheduled vigil is on Jan. 8. Black Lives Matter.  Since this is a First Friday, there will be a potluck dinner afterwards, followed by a DVD showing.

27] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES.  The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday. At 7:15 PM, from January through June, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The series theme is CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.

On Fri., Jan. 8 see THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT [2010] Director Lisa Cholodenko’s film is about two children who were conceived via artificial insemination.  They want to meet their father.  The actors are Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson.  This beautifully acted tale of a lesbian couple and their children offers an acute study of modern relationships. It is a smart comedy about the relationship between the sperm donor and the postmodern family--a lesbian couple and their children. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net for further information.     

28] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at  8 PM.  Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St.  Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Jan. 8. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

29] – On Sat., Jan. 9 from 10 AM to 2 PM, check out a popular education workshop for Black Left positive action at Institute for Policy Studies, 1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600, WDC 20036.  This multi-media presentation and discussion --designed for African/Black and people of color in mind and led by Netfa Freeman-- will be an interactive workshop that will include a brief overview of the Black Liberation struggle and its transcontinental manifestations. Through a combination of compelling slide and video presentations, artistic expression, and popular education techniques, workshop participants will examine the historical context and relevance of the African national independence and U.S. Black Power movements of the 50s to 70s with today's Black Lives Matter movement. The workshop will also show how the Black Lives Matter movement is poised to break barriers and exercise power with oppressed people from Ferguson to Gaza to Colombia to Burkina Faso. Buy tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lessons-of-black-lives-liberation-pan-africanism-tickets-19717600875.   

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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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