Baltimore Activist Alert Nov. 17 – Dec. 2, 2010
"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 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.
The Baltimore IndyMedia Center publicizes peace-related events. Go to http://www.radicalendar.org/group/_baltimore.
1] Books, buttons and stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists
4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA
5] Used stamps for humanitarian causes
6] Bring the World Home continues
7] Cease violence contest through Dec. 6/event Dec. 10
8] You can buy Shiori's book of poetry – which is available Dec. 15
9] "Freedom's Sisters exhibit – through Jan. 17
10] Join the 25% campaign
11] Tell Sarbanes Vote Yes HR 4812 – Nov. 17
12] Philadelphia peace vigil – Nov. 17
13] Westminster WIB vigil – Nov. 17
14] Chestnut Hill, PA vigil – Nov. 17
15] Affordable housing discussion – Nov. 17
16] Gitmo prisoners' poetry – Nov. 17
17] Help plan a Pentagon protest – Nov. 17
18] Palestine/Israel Roundtable – Nov. 18
19] Book MOTHER FROM GAZA – Nov. 18
20] Restorative justice Conference – Nov. 18-20
21] FBI Vs. Democracy – Nov. 18
22] Save Maryland's education budget – Nov. 18
23] Protest at the Pentagon – Nov. 18
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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. "God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions" stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him
at 410-366-1637.
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 donmuller@msn.com. 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] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html.
Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. Make the check out to HoCoFoLA and send it with your order form to Nancy Meier, 10 Pepperdine Circle, Catonsville, MD 21228. Contact Pat McLaine at 410-964-0960 or pamcl@aol.com. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up.
5] – Brad Hathaway spearheads an effort to sell donated used stamps to raise money for different humanitarian causes around the world. Go to www.mattapoisettquakers.org, and click the link for the stamp ministry. Carefully clip canceled postage stamps and send to Quaker Missions, PO Box 795, Mattapoisett, MA 02739. Send no small flag stamps or Liberty Bell Forever stamps.
6] – Catch the "Bringing the World Home" exhibit in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps! The exhibit is in the UMBC Library Rotunda through the end of the semester and consists of 5 display cases featuring photos and artifacts from UMBC's faculty, staff and students who have served in the Peace Corps, including many current and alumni Shriver Peaceworker Fellows. The center case features pieces from the Peace Corps founding era (a tribute to Sarge Shriver!) and the surrounding case highlight experiences from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and the Americas. There is no formal "opening," but mark Tues., Nov.16 from 7 to 9 PM in your calendars for the "Practical Idealist Evening" event in the Library during which the exhibit will be featured. If you are coming from off campus, give Joby Taylor a call at (410) 455-6398, and he will give you a tour.
7] – Shiori was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1951 on August 15, six years after the day the initial announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allies was made, the official end of World War II. She describes herself as hapa, half-American, and half-Japanese— the child of the enemy amor. In her first chapbook collection of poetry from Finishing Line Press, the debut author weaves memoir and historical record into a lyrical and moving portrait of post-war immigration to the United States. Shiori's work has appeared in many publications, and she has won several awards including Thomas Merton poetry prizes.
Finishing Line Press is a poetry publisher based in Georgetown, Kentucky, and the Chapbook Series will be published on Dec. 3. However, early orders can be made by ordering online at http://www.finishinglinepress.com/ or directly from the publisher [$12, check or money order] at Finishing Line Books, PO Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324. Email finishingbooks@aol.com or call 859-514-8360. You may also contact Kathleen Hellen at khe1721111@aol.com or khellen@coppin.edu.
8] – Now through Dec. 6, Baltimore City and County School Students who submit an essay, poetry, or artwork for the David B. Wright Memorial Foundation, Inc. "Cease Violence / Increase Education Campaign" will be entered to win a Holiday Gift Card! To participate email SHAWNTE WRIGHT at snjwright@gmail.com. The Selected Student's Essay Winners will win a $100 card by Mon., Dec. 20. Submitted materials will not be returned and will be kept by the David B. Wright Memorial Foundation, Inc. for future displays. At the DBWMF, INC. Holiday Event on Fri., Dec. 10 from 6 to 10 PM, families and students can enjoy an evening of essay/poetry reading, art and culture and fitness dancing! Essay Winners will be Announced! The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for students. Register at www.DavidBWrightMemorialFoundation.org. Local business sponsors and vendors are needed! Call 443-438-5302.
9] – Catch the exhibit at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History & Culture, 830 Pratt St.—"Freedom's Sisters," which runs through Jan. 17. Twenty remarkable African-American women are profiled, including Coretta Scott King. Call 443-263-1800 or go to www.africanamericanculture.org.
10] – Fund Our Communities campaign is a grass roots movement to get support from local organizations and communities to work together with their local and state elected officials to pressure our Congresspersons and senators to join with Congressperson Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who have endorsed a 25% cut to the federal military budget. Then bring these savings home to state and county governments to meet the local needs which are under tremendous budget pressures. Go to www.OurFunds.org and www.PeaceActionMC.org.
11] – On Wed., Nov. 17, Progressive Democrats of America will be joined by CODEPINK and others in holding brownbag vigils outside (or inside) offices of members of the House of Representatives. Brownbaggers are demanding commitments to vote against more money for war and for progressive legislation. Slogans on their posters include: "Healthcare not Warfare," "Corporations out of Politics," "Bailout Main Street not Wall Street," and "Brownbaggers not Teabaggers". Go to http://tinyurl.com/brownbagvigil.
The Pledge of Resistance will go to Rep. John Sarbanes' office, 600 Baltimore Ave., Suite 303, Baltimore, MD 21204, on Nov. 17 at 4:30 PM. While inside, we will deliver a letter to urge the representative to pledge to vote against further funding of wars. He did sign on to HR 4812: the Local Jobs for America Act. From 5 to 5:30 PM, we will demonstrate on Bosley Ave. against U.S. wars in the Middle East.
12] – Each Wednesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the House of Grace Catholic Worker holds a weekly vigil for peace in Iraq outside the Phila. Federal Building, 6th & Market Sts. The next vigil is Nov. 10. Call 215-426-0364.
13] – WIB does a silent vigil mourning all violence the third Wednesday of the month. The next vigil is Wed., Nov. 17 from 6:30 PM to 7 PM at the intersection of Martin & Patrick Sts in downtown Frederick. Wear black, but bring no additional signs. Call 301-834-7581 or wibfrederick@mizmail.com.
14] – Each Wednesday, the Northwest Greens hold a peace vigil from 7 to 8 PM outside the Borders Book Store, Germantown Ave. at Bethlehem Pike in Chestnut Hill, PA. The next vigil is Nov. 10. Call 215-843-4256 or email nwgreens@yahoo.com.
15] – On Wed., Nov. 17, join the Homeless Persons Representation Project which is presenting its third speaker in a four-part series, Trudy Parisa McFall of Homes for America, who will discuss affordable housing. Then a panel of experts will consider the possibilities in Baltimore. The Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., will host the event in its Wheeler Aud. from 7 to 8:30 PM. Call 410-396-5430. Go to www.prattlibrary.org.
16] – Guantanamo poetry is to be featured in a Baltimore concert. Pioneering U.S. composer Annea Lockwood is about to present In Our Name, a new composition featuring poetry written by Guantanamo Bay prisoners, at An Die Musik, 409 N. Charles St., 2nd Floor, on Wed., Nov. 17 from 8 to 9 PM. Tickets are $12 for the general public, and $5 for students.
The performers are Thomas Buckner, baritone, David Behrman, guitar and laptop, Annea Lockwood, electronics and voice, and Ted Mook, cello. Lockwood's In Our Name, a collaboration with Buckner, builds on excerpts of poetry written by Jumah al Dossari and Osama Abu Kabir while incarcerated without trial at Guantanamo Bay. To request images or to arrange interviews with the composer or performers, contact Raymond Beegle at booking@thomasbuckner.com.
17] – Consider being on a National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance conference call on Wed., Nov. 17 at 9 PM EST to continue to plan a climate chaos action of nonviolent civil resistance at the Pentagon on Apr. 8, calling for an end to the wars and for an end to policies that make the Pentagon the biggest polluter of our earth. Call Max at 410-366-1637 or email him at mobuszewski at verizon.net to get the call-in number and access code.
18] – The WEEKLY ROUNDTABLE SEEKING A JUST PEACE IN PALESTINE/ISRAEL takes place from 12:30 - 1:30 PM on Thursdays at Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Road NW, WDC. Join a civil discourse which explores the history, issues, myths, realities, and truth of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Contact Alice Azzouzi at 202-232-5483.
19] – Laila El-Haddad, author of MOTHER FROM GAZA, will speak on Thurs., Nov. 18 from 12:30 to 2 PM at the Palestine Center. She describes her life as a Palestinian journalist who must live under occupation. Call 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.
20] – Maryland's 3rd Annual Restorative Justice Conference starts on Thurs., Nov. 18 from 6 until 8 PM and continues on Fri., Nov. 19 from 8 AM to 6 PM. Howard County Community College is hosting these two days. The theme is "Expanding the Circle: Schools, Communities, Courts."
The conference will continue on Sat., Nov. 20 from 10 AM to 1 PM at Towson Univ. This year's featured presenters are Melissa Hook and Lorraine Stutzman-Amstutz. Visit http://www.crimaryland.org/.
21] – On Thurs., Nov. 18 from 6 to 8 PM at the Belmont House, 1830 Belmont Ave. in NW in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, join the discussion on FBI vs. Democracy & How to Stop Government Surveillance. There are a number of sponsors including the Defending Dissent Foundation. Go to www.bordc.org or email info@bordc.org.
22] – Join Prince George's School Superintendent William Hite, budget experts and education advocates for Falling off the Edge: Maryland's Education Funding Cliff to learn what you can do to maintain funding for Maryland public schools! This event takes place on Thurs., Nov. 18 from 6:30-8:30 PM at Bowie High School, 15200 Annapolis Road, Bowie, MD 20715. Maryland faces a $1.1 billion budget deficit and federal stimulus funding will be lost after this fiscal year. The impact of state education funding cuts could be devastating to classrooms statewide. To ensure that all Maryland students are receiving an adequate education as guaranteed by the state's constitution, the ACLU is working with the Maryland Education Coalition to hold a forum to discuss the upcoming General Assembly session and what people can do to support education during these difficult economic times. RSVP by contacting Frank Patinella at 410-889-8550 x123 or patinella@aclu-md.org. If you need a ride from Baltimore City, call Charlie Cooper at 410-578-8291.
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
"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
