Baltimore Activist Alert - November 16 -23, 2016

29] Maximizing the Opening with Iran -- Nov. 16

30] Film DRONE – Nov. 16

31] Baltimore Rising – through Nov. 23

32] Nonviolence and Just Peace – Nov. 16

33] Progressive fiscal policy – Nov. 17

34] Demilitarizing America's Police -- Nov. 17

35] Stability in South Asia -- Nov. 17

36] Promote a people’s agenda – Nov. 17

37] Our Own Refugee Crisis – Nov. 17

38] BALTIMORE LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW – Nov. 17

39] National Health Program Leadership Training -- Nov. 17

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29] – On Wed., Nov. 16 from 9:45 to 11:15 AM, the National Iranian American Council hosts "Maximizing the Opening with Iran: How the Next President Can Secure American Interests in the Middle East" at the Stimson Center, Joint Conference Room A/B, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, eighth floor, WDC. RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdxTiBfDq3vFqwCOPiBpSqmvdfqf9W0iVpv_EtSwmvfohalkA/viewform.

30] – On Wed., Nov. 16 at 6:30 PM., The Philadelphia Area Anti-Drone Network (PAAN), along with its member groups, including the Brandywine Peace Community, invites you to preview the powerful 80 min. 2014 film documentary from Norway, DRONE,  at Friends Center/Rufus Jones Room, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA . DRONE follows people on both sides of drone warfare technology. The unique access to drone victims in Waziristan is juxtaposed to drone pilots who struggle to come to terms with the new warfare. The film covers diverse and integral ground from the recruitment of young pilots at gaming conventions and the re-definition of “going to war”, to the moral stance of engineers behind the technology, the world leaders giving the secret “greenlight” to engage in the biggest targeted killing program in history, and the people willing to stand up against the violations of civil liberties and fight for transparency, accountability and justice. The film preview will be followed by a time of discussion. Call Marge Van Cleef at 267-763-1644.

31] - Baltimore Rising is on exhibit at MICA's Fred Lazarus IV Center for Graduate Studies, through Wed., Nov. 23. Go tohttps://www.mica.edu/Baltimore_Rising.html. On Wed., Nov. 16 from 7 to 9 PM. there will be a panel discussion on the exhibit at the Lazarus Center Auditorium, 131 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, considering the question, What is the role of the arts in revolution? Panelists are photographer J.M. Giordano, visual artist and musician Paul Rucker, multi-disciplinary artist and educator Joyce J. Scott, and MICA painting chairperson Tony Shore. It will be moderated by University of Maryland professor Sheri Parks. The panel will reflect upon how the arts can serve as a tool to examine society and to amplify the voices that most need to be heard. Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/can-artists-ignite-a-revolution-registration-28590856020.

32] - On Wed., Nov. 16 at 7:30 PM at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel catch Nonviolence and Just Peace, sponsored by Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore.  This talk will be in a “hospitality room” at the USCCB Fall Conference to discuss the 2016 Rome Conference on Nonviolence and Just Peace that has gotten much momentum, and that has produced an appeal to the Catholic Church, a document, challenging the “just war” theory. There will be panelists making initial presentations, and there is the hope to have several bishops in attendance to discuss and converse the implications of this widening movement.

33] – Join the Economic Policy Institute and the Century Foundation’s Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative on Thurs., Nov. 17 from 9 AM to 2:15 PM to discuss comprehensive tax reform and progressive fiscal policy with the nation’s leading experts and policymakers including Reps. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Sander Levin (D-MI) and EPI’s Josh Bivens. Get over to the Westin Washington, D.C. City Center, 1400 M St. NW, WDC 20005. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/paying-for-progress-a-tax-reform-agenda-for-the-next-president-tickets-28458138057?mc_cid=8a36977506&mc_eid=e80ca75913.

34] - The Constitution Project: Demilitarizing America's Police will be on the agenda at Reed Smith Washington, 1301 K St. NW, Suite 1000, East Tower, WDC 20005, on Thurs., Nov. 17 from noon to 2 PM. Join a panel of experts to discuss the impact of the Obama administration's changes to federal military acquisition programs and what immediate and long-term steps the next administration, states, and Congress can take to curb the militarization of law enforcement and to improve the relationship between police and communities. A light lunch will be served. Some of the panelists are Cheye M. Calvo, Committee on Policing Reforms and former mayor, Berwyn Springs, MD, Sakira Cook, counsel, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Tracey Trautman, deputy director for the Programs Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. CONTACT David Janovsky, Program Assistant, The Constitution Project at 202.580.6927 or djanovsky@constitutionproject.org.

35] – On Thurs., Nov. 17 from 12:30 to 2 PM, Nasir Hafeez, from Pakistan’s National Defence University (NDU), will comment on "Strategic Stability in South Asia: An Emerging Nuclear Order" at Johns Hopkins, SAIS, Room 806, 1619 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP to southasia@jhu.edu.

36] – On Thurs., Nov. 17 from 1 to 3 PM in Upper Senate Park, near the U.S. Capitol, 200 New Jersey Ave. NW, WDC, join Sen. Bernie Sanders and broad array of labor, environmental, healthcare, consumer and other advocacy groups in Washington, D.C. to promote a people’s agenda and a common commitment to stepping up grassroots mobilizations for economic and social justice and equality as the incoming Trump administration takes office. Share support for an agenda that creates good paying, environmentally friendly jobs, allows for climate action, and seeks an end to threats against people of color, women, and LGBT people that have escalated since the election. Also celebrate the apparent defeat of the fatally flawed Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, following months of protests by labor and progressive organizations that culminated in the opposition to the trade deal by all three leading Presidential candidates. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1808829649366043/.

37] - Our Own Refugee Crisis: Dilemmas and Solutions is the topic of discussion on Thurs., Nov. 17 from 6 to 7:30 PM, followed by a reception.  This is happening at Montgomery College, Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus. Commons Bldg., Room 211 (NY & Takoma Aves.), Participants are Antoinette Akingabire, Jeanne Atkinson, Sarah Pierce, and Linda Rabben. The discussion will be moderated by Professor Marisa Prosser, MC Anthropology. 

Akingabire is originally from Burundi. Her family arrived in Maryland in 2015 from a refugee camp in Tanzania. She recently completed a Certified Nursing Assistant program at Montgomery College and works as a CNA.  Atkinson is the executive director of CLINIC, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. She partnered in the development of the CARA Family Detention Project to provide volunteer legal representation and advocacy on behalf of mothers and children held in Dilley and Karnes City, Texas. She speaks on topics including family detention and implementation of immigration reform. Pierce is an associate policy analyst for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Her research expertise includes U.S. legal immigration processes and actors, the employment-based immigration system, and unaccompanied child migrants. Ms. Pierce practiced immigration law with a Chicago-based law firm in immigration court, Board of Immigration Appeals, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. consulate offices abroad. Rabben is an author, human rights activist and associate research professor of anthropology at the University of Maryland. She did field research in Brazil over a 25-year period and worked for Amnesty International, the Rainforest Foundation, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and other NGOs on human rights, migration, environmental and international development issues. Her eighth book, “Sanctuary and Asylum: A Social and Political History,” was published by University of Washington Press in September 2016.

38] – The Maryland League of Conservation Voters invites you TO A BALTIMORE LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW on THURS., NOV. 17 FROM 6:30 TO 8:30 PM at the Maryland Science Center, Lobby Area, 601 Light St., Baltimore 21230.  Join advocates, elected officials, and conservation-minded voters in a discussion of some of the most important environmental issues of the 2017 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session. Light refreshments will be served.  Register at http://mdlcv.ngpvanhost.com/form/-1309157039978510336. 

39] – There is a Physicians for a National Health Program Leadership Training at the Westin City Center, 1400 M St. NW, WDC, on Fri., Nov. 18 (all day).  The training is designed for Physicians for a National Health Program members who want to become active in PNHP and help get the single-payer message out in their communities and medical specialties. Register at info@pnhp.org or 312-782-6006.

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