Saturday, November 12, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert November 12 – 15, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert November 12 – 16, 2016

"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 mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists  
4] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore
5] March for Standing Rock – Nov. 12
6] Transgender Progress – Nov. 13
7] Annual Multi-faith Service & Conference for Peace – Nov. 13
8] Prepare to visit Sen. Joan Carter Conway for a fracking ban - Nov. 13
9] Father Greg Boyle in D.C.  – Nov. 13
10] Pentagon Vigil – Nov. 14
11] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Nov. 14 – Nov. 18
12] Urge Bishops to Speak Out for Women’s Ordination, Gender Justice – Nov. 14
13] Call for a ban on fracking – Nov. 14
14] Abolitionists will meet -- Nov. 14
15] Wolf-PAC & GMOM Meet-up – Nov. 14
16] Palestinians in Syria – Nov. 15
17] Baltimore’s Stand with Standing Rock – Nov. 15
18] D.C.’s Stand with Standing Rock – Nov. 15
19] Peace vigil in Philadelphia – Nov. 15
20] Annapolis joins Standing Rock – Nov. 15
21] Peace vigil in Philadelphia – Nov. 15
22] Nonviolent Direct Action Training – Nov. 15
23] Film "Fracking Western Maryland?" – Nov. 15
24] 4th Annual Peace Dinner – Nov. 15
25] Book talk WATCHED – Nov. 15
26] What’s Next for Labor? – Nov. 15
27] VIETNAMESE REFUGEE DIASPORA – Nov. 15
28] Rebuilding Alliance, Containing Adversaries – Nov. 16
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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 the war in Iraq.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski at Verizon.net.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe.  It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing.  To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed.  If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

4] – Janice and Max are looking to buy a house in Baltimore.  Let Max know if you have any leads—410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon dot net.

5] – A march and rally to protest the construction of an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota is scheduled to take place in Annapolis on Sat., Nov. 12 starting at 12:30 PM.  A Facebook page advertising the event, called "Maryland Stands with Standing Rock," says participants will march to the State House and then to the waterfront, where they will hold a nonviolent demonstration with a "solidarity prayer." Local Native Americans will lead the march which is set to begin at Susan Campbell Park, said Felicia Nolan, special events coordinator for the city. Supplies, like sleeping bags and firewood, will be collected for the activists camps in North Dakota. A full list of supplies being sought by the camps can be found at http://sacredstonecamp.org/supply-list/.

6] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 AM to noon.  On Sun., Nov. 13, the platform address is “Transgender Progress.”  Despite deep-rooted bigotry toward transgender individuals, over the last decade there has also been remarkable progress toward fuller rights, respect, and visibility for those who don’t identify with the gender identity assigned to them at birth. Hugh Taft-Morales, a cis-gendered heterosexual, explores his own path toward fuller appreciation of the challenges for the transgender community. What can Ethical Culturists and humanists do to better defend the rights of transgender individuals? November 20, 2016 is the Transgender Day of Remembrance? This day of remembrance on November 20 will be commemorated at First Unitarian Church, Charles and Franklin Sts., at 6 PM. Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org

7] – Come to the 37th Annual Multi-faith Service & Conference for Peace- "Preventing a New Nuclear Arms Race!"  It will take place in Princeton on Sun., Nov. 13 at 11 AM. Go to https://www.peacecoalition.org/events/759-36th-annual-interfaith-service-a-conference-for- peace-2.html. Sister Megan Rice, anti-nuclear activist and major protagonist in Dan Zak's “Almighty” will be there. The sermon will be delivered by Imam Sohaib Sultan, Muslim Life Coordinator and Chaplain at Princeton University, at 11 AM in the Princeton University Chapel. A free will offering to support the educational work of the Coalition for Peace Action will be requested. The Conference for Peace is from 1:30 to 5 PM in Guyot Hall, Room 10.

8] – On Sun., Nov. 13 from 5 to 7 PM, attend a poster making and phone bank party to prepare for calling on Senator Joan Carter Conway to ban fracking. Contact Rianna at 978-835-6230.

9] – On Sun., Nov. 13 at 5:30 PM hear from Father Greg Boyle at Gonzaga High School, 19 I St NW, WDC.  Gang violence intrudes in too many lives—locally, nationally and internationally as well. Often law enforcement can’t contain the crimes and killings.  Father Greg found one model that curtails the brutality and coaches “homies” into jobs:  Homeboy Industries. He will be speaking at a benefit for Salvadoran Enterprises for Women.   Tickets are on line at http://www.sewinc.org/.

10] – 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 Nov., 14, 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. 

11] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday fr6m 10 AM to noon on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org.   The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.

12] – Join a Witness to Urge Bishops to Speak Out for Women’s Ordination, Gender Justice on Mon., Nov. 14 at noon outside the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna St., Baltimore, MD 21202. Activist priests Roy Bourgeois and Janice Sevre-Duszynska will witness for women priests as the 300 bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gather for their annual conference. Fr. Bourgeois was excommunicated five years ago for his support of women priests. He has continued to speak out for gender justice in the Roman Catholic Church. “Pope Francis,” Bourgeois wrote in his letter, “who are we, as men, to say that our call from God is authentic, but God’s call to women is not? Isn’t our all-powerful God, who created the cosmos, capable of empowering a woman to be a priest?” Sevre-Duszynska made this comment: “Women priests are living out an inclusive and egalitarian non-clerical priesthood. Lack of gender equality within the Church diminishes the Church and causes more suffering in our world.” Go to The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, www.arcwp.org   Contact Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP activist priest of eight years, at 859-684-4247 or rhythmsofthedance1@gmail.com or Fr. Roy Bourgeois, former Maryknoll priest of 40 years, founder of the School of the Americas Watch and advocate for women priests and the LGBTIQ community, at 706-570-5359. 

13] -- Senator Joan Carter Conway, 43rd District, is the chair of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, the committee that the fracking ban will first have to pass through. Sen. Conway is a long standing advocate for environmental issues, championing bills such as the ban on bee-killing pesticides, the ban on arsenic in chicken feed and the two-year fracking moratorium. We just need to show her that this issue is one her constituents care deeply about. Join a Rally to Tell Senator Conway: Ban Fracking Now! It is happening on Mon., Nov. 14 from 3 to 3:45 PM at Senator Conway’s Office, 2831 Hillen Road, Baltimore 21218.  Contact Rianna Eckel at reckel@fwwatch.org or 410-394-7652. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1440554335959439/.

14] -- On Mon., Nov. 14 at 7 PM, Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty will hold its 2016 Annual Meeting.   Karen Peterson will speak on "Capital Punishment in Delaware: Reviewing Past Legislation & Creating a Path Forward." Get over to the Kirkwood Library, 6000 Kirkwood Hwy, Wilmington. Email mg@depaceminterris.org,

15] – On Mon., Nov. 14 at 7:30 PM at the Waterfront Hotel,  1710 Thames St., Baltimore 21231, get over to the Wolf-PAC & GMOM Meet-up. It will be an opportunity to meet like-minded people who care about fixing our democracy. The atmosphere will be laid back as people strategize about the coming year and the plan to add Maryland to the growing list of states demanding a Free and Fair Elections amendment to the U.S. Constitution. RSVP at http://www.wolf-pac.com/baltimoremeetup?utm_campaign=baltimore_2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=wolfpac. Contact Michael Monetta at mike@wolf-pac.com or 603-812-8173. Visit http://www.wolf-pac.com/.

16] –"Palestinians in Syria: Nakba Memories of Shattered Communities" with Dr. Anaheed Al-Hardan is happening at 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC, on Tues., Nov. 15 from 12:30 to 2 PM.  A light lunch will be served at 12:30 PM, and the talk begins promptly at 1PM.  One hundred thousand Palestinians fled to Syria after being expelled from Palestine upon the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Integrating into Syrian society over time, their experience stands in stark contrast to the plight of Palestinian refugees in other Arab countries, leading to different ways through which to understand the 1948 Nakba, or catastrophe, in their popular memory. Conducting interviews with first-, second-, and third-generation members of Syria’s Palestinian community, Anaheed Al-Hardan follows the evolution of the Nakba—the central signifier of the Palestinian refugee past and present—in Arab intellectual discourses, Syria’s Palestinian politics, and the community’s memorialization. Al-Hardan’s sophisticated research sheds light on the enduring relevance of the Nakba among the communities it helped create, while challenging the nationalist and patriotic idea that memories of the Nakba are static and universally shared among Palestinians. Her study also critically tracks the Nakba’s changing meaning in light of Syria’s twenty-first-century civil war.

Al-Hardan is an assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Media Studies at the American University of Beirut. Copies of “Palestinians in Syria: Nakba Memories of Shattered Communities” will be available for purchase at the event. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/events/upcoming/palestinians-syria-nakba-memories-shattered-communities.

17] – Stand with Standing Rock on Nov. 15 #NoDAPL - Day of Action at Army Corps of Engineers  There is a No DAPL: Baltimore Solidarity Action on Tues., Nov. 15 at 4:30 PM at US Army Engineer District City Crescent Building, 10 S. Howard St., Baltimore 21201. Indigenous leaders are calling on us to take to the streets and disrupt "business-as-usual" one week after the election to demand that President Obama's Army Corps of Engineers and the incoming administration stop the Dakota Access Pipeline -- and all those after it. As of now, there are 102 events planned (see map). It's time for the Administration to take immediate action to stop this pipeline. See https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/nov-15-nodapl-day-of-action-at-army-corps-of-engineers

18] – On Tues., Nov. 15, there will be a solidarity action in Washington, D.C. for the Standing Rock water protectors. Demand President Obama step in and stop the pipeline. Gather from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, 441 G St. NW, WDC 20314. Go to https://greenwire.greenpeace.org/usa/en/events/nodapl-day-action-washington-dc.

19] – 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 Nov. 15.  Call 215-426-0364.

20] – Annapolis activists will join #nodapl on Nov. 15 at 5 PM at the US Fish & Wildlife, 177 Admiral Cochran Dr., Annapolis 21401.

21] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on Nov. 15  from 5:30 to 6:30  PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

22] – Get over to a Nonviolent Direct Action Training at All Souls Church, Unitarian, 2835 16th St. NW, WDC, on Tues., Nov. 15 from 6:15 to 8:30 PM. Direct Action 101- What is this thing and how do you do it? During this training you will learn the importance of collective action, its connection to collective liberation, the basics of NVDA (nonviolent direct action) Theory, some legal factors to consider, and some basic tactics on shutting things down to open them up. This training is intended for White activists who want to plan solidarity actions for racial justice, but is open to all. The training will be led by Robby Diesu and Sonia Silbert, two long-term DC White activists with over 20 combined years of doing direct action in DC. RSVP at https://goo.gl/forms/l3Q8o7TJ9WN9JX8j2.

23] – The film "Fracking Western Maryland?" will be shown by the Student Environmental Organization at Towson University on Tues., Nov. 15 at 6:30 PM in the Psychology Building Room 304. Citizens across Maryland are currently rallying in order to get Fracking banned in Maryland. The film is by Towson Alum, Michael Wicklein, Mr. Wicklein has captured the contentious issues surrounding the fracking moratorium bill that was passed in the 2015 legislative session. The film features citizens of Garrett County and legislators in Annapolis. Use the Towsontown Garage, off Towsontown Boulevard. Then walk through the Liberal Arts Building to get to the Psychology Building. Or ride the York or Charles Street buses.  Call 410-5771.

24] –   On Tues., Nov. 15 at 6:30 PM, the 4th Annual Peace Dinner will be held during the USCCB Fall Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland. The dinner is being sponsored by the Catholic Peace Fellowship, Pax Christi Metro Baltimore/DC, the Community of Sant’Egidio and the Catholic Worker and will be held at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 120 N. Front St.  It begins with a prayer led by the Community of Sant’Egidio in the Church.  The theme this year will be on creating a space in the church for encounter, listening, and accompaniment of military veterans and their loved ones. We hope to consider together what it means for the church to faithfully attend to what modern clinicians, philosophers and theologians call “moral injury” and what St. Augustine called “anguish of soul” or “heartfelt grief” stemming from combat and war.

  We will be joined this year by Warren Kinghorn, M.D., Th.D. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pastoral and Moral Theology at Duke University Medical Center and Duke Divinity School and Staff Psychiatrist at the Durham VA Medical Center. Dr. Kinghorn’s work centers on the role of religious communities in caring for persons with mental health problems and on ways in which Christians engage practices of modern health care. Much of his work focuses on the moral and theological dimensions of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, the applicability of virtue theory to the vocational formation of clinicians and clergy, and the contributions of the theology and philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas to contemporary debates about psychiatric diagnosis, psychiatric technology, and human flourishing. RSVP to Brother Seoirse Murray, a monk of Holy Resurrection Monastery within the Eparchy of St George in Canton, Ohio, at monk.seoirse@gmail.com or (920) 663-9427.

25] – On Tues., Nov. 15 at 7 PM, enjoy a reading and Q&A with Marina Budhos & Deepa Iyer at The Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC.  Budhos’s extraordinary and timely novel WATCHED examines what it’s like to grow up under surveillance, something many Americans experience and most Muslim Americans know. She will be joined by Deepa Iyer, a South Asian American activist, lawyer, and author of “We Too Sing America, South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future,” winner of the 2016 American Book Award. Naeem is far from the “model teen.” Moving fast in his immigrant neighborhood in Queens is the only way he can outrun the eyes of his hardworking Bangladeshi parents and their gossipy neighbors. Even worse, they’re not the only ones watching. Cameras on poles. Mosques infiltrated. Everyone knows: Be careful what you say and who you say it to. Anyone might be a watcher. RSVP via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/595364097314883/.

26] – Bread & Roses: Election 2016: What’s Next for Labor? This discussion will be at Busboys and Poets (Takoma), 235 Carroll Street NW, WDC, on Tues., Nov. 15 from 6 to 8 PM. Labor’s political work does not end on Election Day. Upcoming hot issues include paid family leave, workplace scheduling and other worker bills pending in the DC City Council, fighting the Trans Pacific Partnership, the Supreme Court vacancy and labor-related battles in Congress. Metro Washington Council Executive Director Carlos Jimenez moderates a discussion with political writer Harold Meyerson, Dyana Forester, lead political and community representative for UFCW Local 400, Joanna Blotner, DC Paid Family and Medical Leave Program Campaign Manager at Jews United for Justice AND YOU!

Bread & Roses is a monthly labor series that features a variety of events focused on workers and organized labor. The name “Bread & Roses” was inspired by a poem/song written by James Oppenheim that appeals for both fair wages and dignified conditions. Bread & Roses is held on the second Tuesday of every month at Busboys and Poets, Takoma. Go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-roses-election-2016-whats-next-for-labor-tickets-29268513913.

27] –   THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEE DIASPORA AND THE RACIAL POLITICS OF ISRAEL will be explored on Tues., Nov. 15 at 7:30 PM in the Free School Classroom, Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201. What does it mean to extend Vietnamese diaspora studies beyond North America? Join in exploring the place of Vietnamese refugees in Israeli racial politics, including how the figure of the Vietnamese refugee was mobilized in Israel's nation-building project.  From 1977- 1979, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin granted asylum and citizenship to 369 non-Jewish Vietnamese refugees: an unprecedented event in the state of Israel’s history of strict asylum policies. This event stands in stark contrast to Israel’s displacement of Palestinians due to ongoing settlement and occupation in Palestine. Given this context, what points of connection may arise between Vietnamese Israelis and displaced Palestinians? How may “home” signify differently for these two populations? To what degree are Vietnamese Israelis implicated in the Israeli settler colonial project—what Jodi Byrd has termed “arrivant colonialism”? In other words, is solidarity between Vietnamese Israelis and Palestinians even possible when the condition of legibility as citizen for one population is predicated on the dispossession of the other? Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.  

28] – The 70th Annual Conference: Rebuilding Alliance, Containing Adversaries will happen at the Capital Hilton Hotel, 1001 16th St. NW, WDC, on Wed., Nov. 16 from 9 AM to 5 PM. Seismic political changes, civil wars, and inflamed regional rivalries have challenged President Obama's Middle East agenda and will confront the next administration as it seeks to promote America's interests. Washington's relations with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and Israel, and its path forward with Iran, will be decisive in addressing the Middle East's armed conflicts and rebuilding stability. What role do states in the region hope or expect the United States to play in the Middle East? What more should Washington do to help resolve conflicts and promote security? And how can it better navigate complex relationships with Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Ankara and improve ties strained during the Obama administration?  Go to http://www.mei.edu/events/2016Conference.

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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