Thursday, February 4, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert - February 5, 2016

45] Peace vigil at White House – Feb. 5
46] WIB peace vigil – Feb. 5
47] Fire Graziano – Feb. 5
48] Paid family leave -- Feb. 5
49] Black Lives Matter – Feb. 5
50] Film BEYOND HATRED – Feb. 5
51] Film CITIZENFOUR – Feb. 5
52] Film VALENTINO’S GHOST – Feb. 5
53] Benefit for St. Stephen’s – Feb. 5
54] Blacktivism: The New Generation – Feb. 5
55] Ballroom Dancing – Feb. 5
56] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
57] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
58] Do you need any book shelves?
59] Join the Global Zero campaign
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45] – On Fri., Feb. 5 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. 

46] – On Fri., Feb. 5 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.

47] – It is suspected that Baltimore housing commissioner Paul Graziano knew that his employees were forcing women to have sex in exchange for crucial home repairs for years--yet he still has a job. It's shocking that Graziano hasn't been fired yet, but momentum is growing to get him out of office. Last week, over 3,000 UltraViolet members called the mayor's office and billboard trucks highlighting the controversy blanketed Baltimore and garnered headlines. Now, the organization will deliver over 35,000 signatures to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Can you join them? On Fri., Feb.5 from 12:30 to 1 PM, come to City Hall, 100 Holliday St, Baltimore.  Look for the people holding purple signs! RSVP http://act.weareultraviolet.org/survey/baltimore_delivery/?t=1&akid=2701.609822.sXOA2k

48] – Visit The Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC, on Fri., Feb. 5 from 5 to 6 PM and find out more and learn how you can get involved in the PAID FAMILY LEAVE campaign which believes that everyone living and working in the District deserves the financial stability and dignity of paid time off to care for their families and ourselves when life happens. Currently, District residents are forced to make impossible choices between caring for the people we love and earning the money they need when, for example, a new baby arrives or a partner is diagnosed with cancer. You can change this by advocating for a paid family and medical leave insurance program in DC. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1717768911775167/.

49] –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 Feb. 5. Black Lives Matter.  Since this is a First Friday, there will be a potluck dinner afterwards, followed by a DVD showing.

50] – 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., Feb. 5 see BEYOND HATRED [France, 2007]. In September 2002, three skinheads were roaming a park in Rheims, France, looking to "do an Arab," when they settled for a gay man instead. Twenty-nine-year-old François Chenu fought back fiercely, but he was beaten unconscious and thrown into a river, where he drowned. The acclaimed French vérité documentary is the story of the crime's aftermath; above all, of the Chenu family's brave and heartrending struggle to seek justice while trying to make sense of such pointless violence and unbearable loss. With remarkable dignity, they fight to transcend hatred and the inevitable desire for revenge. Call 410-323-1607 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

51] –  Go to the Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA 19064 for the First-Friday Free Large Screen Film Series on Fri., Feb. 5 at 7 PM to see  CITIZENFOUR. Doors open at 6:30 PM for light refreshments.  Call (610) 544-1818 or visit www.delcopeacecenter.org.  The screening is co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community.

Have your heard?  Oliver Stone's next film, due out in May, is a dramatization of the Edward Snowden story. Get the story by seeing CITIZENFOUR [a 2014 documentary by Laura Poitras at 1 hr., 54 min.]. ‘My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.’ —Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower.

The film is last year's Oscar winner for “Best Documentary” about National Security Agency whistleblower and exile (code-name: "citizenfour"), the global reach and extent of U.S. government spying, and the cost of revealing it. The documentary is the gripping and first-hand account of the meaning and price of the biggest national security intelligence coup of our time. Go to https://ad.atdmt.com/c/go;p=11042209007763;a=11042209015489;ev.a=1;idfa=;idfa_lat=;aaid=;aaid_lat=;cache=.

52] –    On Fri., Feb. 5 from 6:45 to 7:45 PM, join the Palestine Center at the Jerusalem Fund Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC 20037,  for VALENTINO’S GHOST [2012], narrated by Mike Farrell.  The film exposes the way the US foreign policy agenda in the Middle East influences Hollywood and mainstream media portrayals of Arabs and Muslims. It tracks the transition from the Arab as "Romantic Hero" to the Arab today as the embodiment of evil. It highlights the question of why do supremely talented artists and intellectuals in the United States consider it perfectly "realistic" to depict Arabs and Muslims in a fashion that would be described as bigoted, if applied to blacks, Jews, gays, Native Americans, et al.? 

This 95-minute film features fresh, riveting and often stunning perspectives from the legendary late American writer Gore Vidal; John Mearsheimer, author of The Israel Lobby; celebrated British war correspondent Robert Fisk; Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anthony Shadid; Harvard and Oxford historian Niall Ferguson; historian Melani McAlister; TV star Tony Shalhoub; media expert Jack Shaheen; and Hollywood writer Alan Sharp. 

The 2015 re-release of VALENTINO’S GHOSTt condenses the film's earlier version by 15 minutes and adds 20 minutes of new material, including segments regarding the Israeli bombing of Gaza, the Charlie Hebdo murders, the Hollywood film AMERICAN SNIPER, the San Bernardino mass shooting, and Donald Trump's anti-Muslim crusade, while redirecting the 2012 version's attention to the Arab Uprisings, toward the current phenomenon of ISIS. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/RegisterForEvent/i/57155.

53] – There is a Positive Force DC Benefit Concert for St. Stephen's, 1525 Newton St. NW, WDC, on Fri., Feb. 5 from 7 to 11 PM.  This is part of a new monthly benefit concert series hoping to curate a space to highlight new and upcoming artists while supporting causes you care about!  RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/229305210734109/.

54] – On Fri., Feb. 5 from 7 to 9 PM at 805 21st St. NW, GWU School of Media & Public Affairs, 2nd Floor Reception Area, WDC, come and enjoy an art & multimedia exhibit about the experiences of black lives, shown through the mediums of photography, painting, sculpting, written pieces and a musical performance by the One Common Unity Performance Troupe! Blacktivism: The New Generation will capture and visualize their progression. The photos will represent freedom and hope. Each photo will have a quote by it from someone in the new generation of black leaders, who ties in with what the photo represents.  See https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blacktivism-the-new-generation-w-one-common-unity-tickets-20980386902.

55] – 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 Feb. 5. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

56] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.

57] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

58] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

59] -- Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees.  This is an historic window of opportunity.  With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.

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/.

“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


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