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Every day countless youth, primarily low-income youth and youth of color, are targeted by the United States Armed Services for enrollment. Over and over again they tell lies and make false promises to manipulate young people into signing up to "serve their country". Raul will discuss with us the work being done on a state and national level to empower youth and young adults to speak for themselves and organize together against the military industrial complex.
Raul Matta works with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Western Massachusetts on counter-recruitment in schools and with HIPP (Help Increase the Peace Program). He is also a member of the newly developed Anti-Racism Collective (ARC) at Hampshire College.
The Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church invites you to a report back from the Cambridge-Bethlehem People-to- People Project (CBPP) in a presentation and conversation on Sunday February 17 at 12 Noon. A 15-person delegation with the Cambridge-Bethlehem People-to-People Project (CBPP) has just returned with images, stories and "facts-on-the-ground." Delegates Kathy and John Roberts and Martin R. Federman will be sharing their stories with us from their visits with students, teachers, theatre people, municipal officials, hospital staff and patients, business leaders, college professors, refugees in camps, women in cooperatives, and human rights workers and activists.
Kathy Roberts is an early childhood educator and consultant with the Cambridge Community Partnership for Children, and is founding member of Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment (Truce).
John is former executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, now retired, and founding member and former Chair of the board of the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA).
Martin R. Federman is a Jewish educator and is the co- chair of the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. He was Adjunct Professor at Gratz College in Philadelphia, PA, Director of Community Services for the Central Agency for Jewish Education in St. Louis, MO, and the Hillel Director and Jewish Chaplain at Northeastern University.
Coffee and light refreshments will be served.
Information: Karl Gustafson, Clarendon Hill Church: 617-625-4823
As concern about climate change builds and global security is challenged by the ever-increasing demand for energy worldwide, policy makers and the public debate the best ways to provide sustainable energy. Nuclear power is a popular solution, but it raises concerns about environmental consequences and security risks as more countries demand this energy source. This forum will discuss the challenges that energy issues create for global security, as well as how scientists and policy makers might work together to confront these issues to promote safe, sustainable solutions for current and emerging energy problems. Expert panelists will discuss various aspects of these complex challenges, and then student participants will meet in working groups to discuss potential pathways to energy security and sustainability.
The days are lengthening and it's a perfect time to think about the growing season ahead. We are pleased to have Frank Albani, an organic farmer, as our speaker. Frank is President of the Mass. Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, and Director of Soule Homestead Education Center in Middleboro. For many years Frank has worked to educate people about the benefits of local organic farming.
He will speak about organic produce farming in Massachusetts and give a brief overview of where we are and what it might take to create real sustainability in our food system, and the small steps that people are taking toward that goal. He will explain a little about Organic Certification, eating in season, and food buying choices including the farmers market model and Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, where consumers buy shares in a farm's output, and receive a certain amount of fresh, locally grown produce every week.
5:15 PM - SOCIAL DINNER - let us get to know you!
Stay and enjoy Grasshopper's delicious unlimited vegan buffet for "only" $9.50+tax+tip. Includes appetizers, soups, salad, numerous entrees, and fresh melons.
No RSVP needed, just come on by! Everyone is welcome; bring your friends.
LOCATION for seminar and dinner:
Grasshopper (an all-vegan restaurant)
1 North Beacon St.
Union Square, Allston (Boston)
617-254-8883
Note: We'll have a special introduction this month of some BVSers who volunteer in rescue and adoption with the House Rabbit Network. If you would consider adoption (or fostering) of a domestic bunny in need, these natural vegetarians can be affectionate, interesting, joyful companions! They can be litterbox trained.
Please RSVP Tickets (They are going fast!)
For ticket reservations, please email BWA Jobs Chair: Hakim Cunningham Or call 617-427-8108.
The Boston Workers Alliance (BWA) is an organization for unemployed and underemployed workers, fighting for employment rights. Please join us for a night of celebration, appreciation, food, entertainment and community. We are proud of our recent victories around CORI reform, and ask you to help us continue our work for justice and the uplift of our community.
Organizations and businesses are encouraged to purchase a quarter page advertisement in the BWA Program Booklet at $125.
Additional personal donations as well as donated gifts for a silent action are accepted and appreciated.
Please mail all donations c/o Boston Workers Alliance to:
51 Roxbury Street
Roxbury, MA 02119
The Ethos Roundtable is an informal group of people who are interested in 1) measuring and extending ethos, and 2) using technology for positive social change. We get together once a month for informal discussions and presentations. This is a totally non- scary setting, if you're interested in an introduction to the question of how information and communication technologies can be used for positive social change. The attendees range from distraught technophobes to hardcore geeks.
At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations. All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.
There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Please just come if you can, and feel free to invite others. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since the folks at TechFoundation will be providing free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.
Recommended reading: the wikipedia entry on "Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
The majority of people being displaced by foreclosures are low-income tenants and it’s becoming a gigantic problem in Boston’s working class neighborhoods where predatory lending is most common. The numbers are staggering, and increasing rapidly. The most affected targeted households consist of women, African American and Latino at every income level. City Life/Vida Urbana is helping tenants and owners in foreclosed buildings, both victims of subprime loans, save their homes.
The current public discourse around race assumes that we live in a color-blind society where the American Dream is attainable by all individuals who work hard enough. This deeply flawed discourse obscures the racial disparities in employment, education, criminal justice, housing, health care, etc. and provides a powerful but faulty rationale for leaving our systems and institutions the way they are. The issues presented at the Community Change Brown Bag Discussion Series are concrete examples of the structural racism that affects the lives of all, most acutely communities of color. The 2008 Series places these issues in their social/historical context and gives attendees a truthful discourse, as well as ways to put that discourse into action, in order to challenge institutional and systemic racism.
The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies Invites you to a Roundtable Discussion Moderated by Professor Ibrahim Warde with participation by Tarek Zeidan and Alain Hasrouny
This event is cosponsored by The Green Roundtable,
Environmental Leadership Program, Ceres, Union of
Concerned Scientists, Boston Climate Action Network.
To RSVP, complete this form.
Congresswoman recently visited Iraq in the company of our favorite experts and believes that the so-called government of Iraq must "step up to the plate". She says: "I will be hosting a town hall meeting to discuss the war in Iraq and other issues. I recently returned from a trip to Iraq where met with U.S. service men and women, General David Petraeus, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, as well as with Iraqi leaders. I want to share my experiences and the lessons I learned from the trip. I want to hear your views on the war.
"This trip reinforced my belief that the best and most responsible way to do this is to set a timetable that requires the Iraqi government to step up to the plate and that finally engages the international community to bring about a political solution to this conflict."
For more information, email Herb Chasan.
About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically modified ingredients and is not labeled. The biotechnology industry is spending $50 million a year to convince us that this technology is our only hope for feeding the world and saving the environment. Family farmers are disappearing at an astonishing rate as people continue to go hungry both here and abroad. Toxic agricultural chemicals continue to poison our air, food and water and put farm workers in serious danger. What's a person to do?
Using hilarious and disturbing archival footage (from archive.org) and featuring interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials and activists, FED UP! presents an entertaining, informative and compelling overview of our current food production system from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it. FED UP! explores the unintentional effects of pesticides, the resistance of biotechnology companies to food labeling and the links between government officials and major biotechnology and chemical companies.
FED UP! answers many questions regarding genetic engineering, the Green Revolution, genetic pollution and modern pesticides through interviews with Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey from the Center for Ethics and Toxics, Peter Rosset and Anuradha Mittal from Food First, Vandana Shiva from the Research Center for Science, Technology and Ecology, Ignacio Chapela from UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Martina McGloughlin, Director of UC Davis' Biotechnology Program and many others. FED UP! also introduces us to local Bay Area organic farmers from Purisima Greens Farm and Live Power Community Farm, presenting community supported agriculture and small- scale organic farming as real alternatives to agribusiness and industrial food.
Kenneth Miller, Brown University biology professor, textbook author and lead witness, will give an informal talk for teachers and community members. The format will allow Q and A and discussion about preserving the right to teach evolution in public schools.
Co-sponsored with the MIT Museum.
This program is free and open to the public; no
registration is required, but seating is first come,
first serve.
Make a difference— become a member of the UNITE HERE Organizing Team working to organize hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers in hotel, casino, retail and laundry work throughout North America. Help workers stand together and fight for their rights and economic security.
We are interviewing soon-to-graduate applicants for a two day intensive organizing skills workshop. Recommended participants will be offered paid organizer training apprenticeships and jobs. There are also immediate summer field internships for non- graduating students.
How to Apply: Fill out an online application.
For More Information contact Ellen Thomson.
Join a discussion about the ideas and example of struggle of Malcolm X and about the history of the fight against racism in the United States and the impact of this history on the struggles against attacks on immigrants and on civil rights today.
Note on the video: Malcolm X spoke at Oxford University on December 3 1964 as part of a panel of six speakers debating the proposition that “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” That quote came from a speech by Barry Goldwater in accepting the Republican Party nomination. Malcolm X spoke in defense of the proposition, as did two of the other six panelists.
Dinner: 6:30 p.m., Program: 7:30 p.m.
Suggested Donation -- Program: $5 • Dinner $5
Translation to Spanish available
Traducción inglés-español / español-inglés
By train, take the blue line to Maverick Station and
walk down Meridian about 5 blocks to Bennington, at
the Liberty Plaza intersection.
How is a world population of 8 billion fed? If China's economy fails, what impact will it have on global environment? As resources are depleted world- wide, what are the long term political and economic consequences? How can nations cut carbon emissions by the year 2020? What will mobilize citizens world-wide to take steps to save the planet?
Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and widely regarded as the world's leading environmental visionary, has updated his earlier Plan B---to even more starkly lay out the environmental crisis the world faces. Now updated to Plan B 3.0, Lester Brown will present his urgent analysis and call to action at Cambridge Forum, on Friday, February 22, at 7:30 pm. The forum will be held in the meetinghouse at First Parish in Cambridge (Mass Ave. and Church Street in Harvard Square).
"A personal recommendation on this one. I saw them the last time they played Community Church and they were great." Charlie Welch, act-ma
The Prince Myshkins (Rick Burkhardt, accordion, and Andy Gricevich, guitar) are the funniest and most bitingly brilliant political satirists you’ll ever encounter. They also happen to be two of the most accomplished young players to come down the pike, as well as the tightest ensemble you've ever heard.
"Their music is really hard to describe or categorize, but you will find within their magic, the strangest and most amazing confluence of Kurt Weill's cabaret sensibility, Tom Lehrer's bitingly comedic irony/satire, Gilbert and Sullivan's clever verbosity, and Woody Guthrie's razor sharp political pen. All of this and none, or more, I'm not sure which. YOU MUST COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT I MEAN. I've been affected in a profound way by this duo." Dean Stevens
They are also playing Friday, Feb 15 -- Leverett, MA, at the Echo Lake Coffee House with Charlie King.
David Swallow is a highly respected spiritual leader, sundance chief and one of the headmen of the Lakota Nation. He will speak on what he views as a "global warning" from The Earth, due to many recent harmful anthropogenic activities, prophecies concerning the birth in Pennsylvania a year ago of a rare white buffalo and the importance of coming together as human & spiritual beings to pray for the survival of Turtle Island.
Born and raised near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Oglala Reservation, Swallow is a member of the Teton Lakota Nation (the band of Crazy Horse).
Mr. Brown, founder and President of Earth Policy Institute, has been described by the Washington Post as "one of the world's most influential thinkers." President Clinton said, "Lester Brown tells us how to build a more just world and save the planet from climate change in a practical, straightforward way. We should all heed his advice." He will be introduced by Kevin Knobloch, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Brown is the author of numerous books, including "Plan B 3.0, Mobilizing to Save Civilization", in which he outlines a survival strategy for our early twenty- first century civilization. The scale and complexity of the issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent. Brown outlines an ambitious plan that includes cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020, achievable with existing technologies. "Plan B 3.0" is a comprehensive plan for reversing the trends that are undermining civilization. Its four overriding goals are climate stabilization, population stabilization, poverty eradication, and the restoration of the earth's ecosystems Brown's principal research areas include food, population, water, climate change, and renewable energy. He is the recipient of scores of awards and honorary degrees. In 1974, he founded Worldwatch Institute, of which he was President for its first 26 years.
Sponsored by the Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition. Copies of "Plan B 3.0" will be available for sale and the author will stay to sign copies for audience members.
The Federal Communications Commission is coming to Boston to hold a public hearing--featuring a rare local appearance of all five FCC Commissioners--about the future of the Internet.
In recent months cable and Internet companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon have repeatedly been caught blocking, filtering, and spying on consumers' Internet activities. The FCC is [assertedly] responding to the hundreds of thousands of people who have expressed their outrage over the anti-competitive practices by holding a hearing in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
We are in a unique moment in history when the government will decide whether we have a closed Internet controlled by a small handful of giant corporations, or an open Internet controlled by the people who use it. Come to make your voice heard or submit comments directly to the agency.
On February 26, 2008, Boston will welcome President Evo Morales of Bolivia. At the cutting edge of an Andean movement of social change from below, Evo came to power in 2006 following an innovative combination of protest, mass actions, people power and consistent electoral activity. His ascent marks the first time that a leader representing the indigenous majority is at the head of government since the advent of colonialism.
More than a new leadership, Evo Morales is leading a major social transformation of Bolivia and Latin America. His government has reworked the constitution to bring ordinary people into the democratic process; it has restored sovereignty over natural resources; it has placed human rights at the center of development, recognizing for example, the human right to water. It has restored dignity to peasants by legalizing traditional crops, including the coca plant.
Above all else, economic development strategy and social welfare are now part of the same process and not incidental to each other. Social security protections have been extended to the aged and to children.
Rejecting self-defeating ideological prescriptions, Evo has welcomed medical and development assistance from revolutionary Cuba and Venezuela.
Bolivia's future development and sovereignty is by no means guaranteed. It is subject to a host of challenges ranging from resources constraints to a global economic environment that is hostile to developing economies. Nonetheless, the revolution signaled by Evo's election, means that for the first time serious efforts are being made to develop all of Bolivia and create conditions that will keep Bolivians from having to cross borders in search of livelihoods.
Evo's trip to Boston is being organized by a growing coalition of grassroots organizations and advocacy groups. The evening's events begin at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26, 2008.
Exact location and admission information about the event will be made available as soon as the security and logistical details have been made available to the event organizers.
In the meantime, if you'd like to attend the event, please fill out the form at EvoInBoston.org.
If you represent a community-based organization and would like members of your community to attend the event, please send an e-mail to info@evoinboston.org or call 617-482-6300. Community-based organizations are encouraged to endorse the event and to work with the organizers to enable the community to attend.
This event is free to the public.. He will be speaking in Spanish with English translation.
Co-sponsored by United for Justice with Peace and Newton Dialogues.
Join outspoken former UN weapons inspector in Iraq Scott Ritter for a presentation and discussion on the Bush administration’s secret plans for the "War on Terror," including a possible nuclear attack on Iran. Find out why Ritter, who visited Iran on a fact-finding mission, commented, "We are seeing history repeat itself," referring to the disaster in Iraq which he also warned about. Strategies for the peace movement and ordinary Americans to end the war on Iraq and to stop this dangerous move towards expansion of the Iraq war to the whole Middle East will also be discussed. Talk followed by Q&A.
Ritter, author of TARGET IRAN and WAGING PEACE is on a national speaking tour. Both books will be available for purchase at the event.
Event admission: $10. Come early and meet Scott at our fundraising reception (wine, hors d'oeuvres) and book signing, 6:00-7:00PM, $30/$35 - in advance/at door; includes main event and reserved seating.
For tickets or more information, call 781-316-2018 or send an email. Download a copy of the flyer for this event at ArlingtonUJP.org.
Ample parking in municipal lot, corner Mass. Ave. and Rte. 60
MBTA: Bus 77 (Harvard Sq.), Bus 80 (Tufts/Medford)
Mass. House Bill #4477, if passed, would finally make it illegal for drivers of motor vehicles in Massachusetts to use hand-held phones while driving (as in NY and elsewhere). This bill recently passed the House and now is languishing in the Senate and may not come to the floor for a vote unless you phone or send a message to your friends in various towns and cities to have them urge their state senators (617-722- 5551) to vote for this bill.
According to Senate Assistant Majority Leader Marian Walsh, what needs to happen is for senators to get many phone calls from their constituents in favor of this bill. Passing House #4477 is a matter of public safety. Please call your senator and what would make a significant difference is for you to contact your friends throughout Massachusetts so House Bill #4477 becomes law.
U.S. war provocation against Iran: Another Tonkin
Gulf? Take Action NOW to Stop War on Iran!
The Bush Administration has initiated an extremely dangerous war provocation just off Iran's coast, in the Strait of Hormuz. With Bush on his way to the Middle East to mobilize a collection of oil-rich U.S. client states against Iran, the U.S. government is working overtime to create a phony public-relations incident to heighten tensions in the region and threaten a new war.
An aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) says the Lieberman/Warner climate change bill (S. 2191) “would be the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.” (E&E Daily, February 8, 2008)...
S. 2191 is expected to be debated on the Senate floor this Spring. Your help is needed.
For more information visit the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Congressman Robert Wexler's campaign office says that (unlike most of our Democratic Reps) he is pushing hard to force a committee hearing on Rep. Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment, recently introduced into the House of Representatives and referred to the Judiciary Committee.
This fight is not over. We must continue the pressure on our representatives or else Congress and its fellow lackey media will take no notice. That would be a historic mistake – one we must prevent Congress from making.
We stand at a critical juncture in our efforts. Forget all of those arguments that it is too late or that we have run out of time. You can’t run the clock out on our Constitution. Those of us dedicated to this fight – Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the online community, and millions of patriotic Americans – must keep the pressure on. Please continue to spread the word and help deliver accountability to the corrupt Bush-Cheney administration.Congressman Conyers needs a huge kick in the tail.
Please sign on to Congressman Robert Wexler's petition to help push the issue.
TOLL-FREE PHONE NUMBERS FOR THE U.S. CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD
US House of Representatives Web Sites
Another Day, Another FISA Veto Threat By The Bully In The White House
Yesterday, Bush again put the self interest of himself and his giant telecom criminal co-conspirators above our national security, by threatening to veto the FISA update bill unless we gave them all get out of jail free cards. And if Congress were to bend over yet again, he would still probably veto it to demand even more changes and/or defy other major provisions with a signing statement, as he so outrageously did with the recent defense bill.
We must be just as relentless as the criminals who are working overtime to gut our constitution. We have had two successful filibusters so far, and it looks like we're going to need a third. And we need strong opposition in the House too, for that is our last bulwark.
Tell your senators and Senator Reid to vote against this awful legislation. Look up of local district phone number for all members of Congress.
S 1959 "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" must be stopped at all costs. (It's already been approved by the House of Representatives by a HUGE majority.)
Pick up your phone and contact our US Senators' offices to instruct them to vote "NO" on S.1959, titled "To establish the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, and for other purposes".
If this bill is passed, and becomes law, your words and actions could be considered terrorism. S 1959 EVISCERATES FREE SPEECH, and empowers the govt. to declare ANYTHING they deem an "extremist belief system", instantly make you a terrorist, resulting in stripping of US citizenship, torture, and/or execution, with no habeas corpus rights, no ability to challenge even in the US Supreme Court.
What part of exercising power doesn't Harry Reid get? The Washington Post reports him "pleading" with the White House. And yet, it is his decision which version of the FISA bill to have the Senate consider, and by choosing to bring forward the bad one, he is knowingly forcing opponents of yet another "get out of jail free card" for Cheney cronies to get 60 votes to strip it out of the bill. Or filibuster yet again.
And what greater hero do we have than Dennis Kucinich, still standing strong as ever on every issue that matters. Here is his own leadership statement opposing telecom immunity.
And yet, even now, powerful corporations are pouring money into Dennis's district, to try to buy his seat out from under him by threatening him in his own primary. They are running malicious attack ads in heavy rotation. Please consider making a donation to Dennis now, to help him fight back.
Call the Harvest Cooperate at 617-661-1580 and ask for Marc Cutler, Manager of Operations. Tell him to stop union busting and give Deon Furtick his job back with back pay for hours missed!
Contact the Harvest Employee Organizing Committee
Matthew Andrews
617-633-1857
At the end of January, thousands of people all over the world will march, speak, celebrate, and dialogue in villages, rural zones, and urban centers, in the context of hundreds of decentralized self-organized actions. They will mobilize over a one-week period in January, culminating in a Global Day of Mobilisation and Action on the 26th to show that another world is possible.
At the same period, the "old" world will meet in Davos for the World Economic Forum, bringing together its economists, experts, ideologies and techniques that produce violence, exploitation, exclusion, poverty, hunger and ecological disaster, depriving people of human rights and our Earth of its resources.
The World Social Forum is an open space where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organisations come together to raise issues, debate ideas, formulate proposals, share experiences, and build networks for effective action. These movements are opposed to a world ruled by capitalism and all forms of imperialism and domination.
Since the first worldwide encounter in 2001, the World Social Forum has become a permanent global process seeking and building alternatives to neo-liberal policies.
World Social Forums have taken place at the end of January at different sites throughout the world every year for the past seven years, and this spirit of diversity will continue to be reflected in the activities planned for the Global Day of Mobilisation and Action in 2008.
Our website is the main connection tool for all participants in the decentralized WSF 2008. Invite your friends to join and contribute through action spaces, present your action, upload your videos, publish news and connect your actions with those of others.
Comcast has given us a glimpse of a world without Net
Neutrality, and it's a chilling sight.
An investigation by the Associated Press caught the
cable giant secretly inspecting online communications
and crippling users' ability to share information with
one another.
On 11-1-07, Free Press filed a legal complaint
demanding that the FCC take action to protect the free
flow of information on the Internet. By joining our
complaint, you can help stop Comcast and other
gatekeepers.
The MBTA on October 10th started broadcasting
continuous [corporate] radio ads and "music" at South
Station, North Station and Airport Station with a plan
to expand the continuous radio broadcast system-wide
after Thanksgiving. This will adversely monopolize
this historic First Amendment public space:
1. Curtail and Interfere with Conversations of all
MBTA patrons
2. Curtail and Interfere with Reading of all MBTA
patrons
3. Target ads to all School Children who use the MBTA
4. Eliminate Subway Musician Performances
We, the undersigned, support the diversity of
expression of patrons and artists in the subway. We
petition Governor Deval Patrick and Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority Board of Directors to stop
the T-Radio broadcast.
Congress will be debating war appropriations again, and the Senate - as the Republicans have routinely demonstrated - has the power to filibuster any appropriations it doesn't like. A filibuster in the Senate would effectively force an end to the war. So if each of us does our part in exposing the filibuster option, then we can apply tremendous pressure on our senators, the likes of which they haven't felt in decades!
Petition to sign.
"We do not support construction of new nuclear
reactors as a means of addressing the climate crisis.
Available renewable energy and energy efficiency
technologies are faster, cheaper, safer and cleaner
strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions than
nuclear power."
Doris Tennant and Ellen Lubell (of Newton) are representing a Guantanamo prisoner pro bono, so they are providing their time at no charge. However, their costs, including their own travel and that of a translator, translator fees, and Freedom of Information Act requests, are running at least $20,000 for this year, and will likely continue at that same pace or more. Most of the other attorneys who are representing Guantanamo detainees are members of large law firms that can cover these types of expenses, but in their case the two of them are the firm.
If you would like to make a contribution to help them defray costs, it would be much appreciated. Please make your check payable to "Tennant Lubell Detainee Fund." Your contribution will NOT be tax-deductible, but they promise to put it to good use to help provide fundamental legal rights to a man who remains in indefinite detention.
Doris Tennant, Esq.
Tennant Lubell, LLC
288 Walnut Street, Suite 500
Newton, MA 02460
617-969-9610, X 101
Fax: 617-969-9611
Action Alert: The Alliance for Democracy warns us to oppose Holt bill (HR 811). We call for a ban on the use of Direct Recording Electronic voting equipment (DREs) and to require the use of paper ballots.
AFD urgently calls upon all citizens to call their Representatives to demand amendments to rectify the defects in HR 811, specifically to ban the use of DRE voting machines and require the use of paper ballots in all elections in the United States.
1. DRE systems must be banned.
2. All voting must be by voter marks on a paper ballot.
3. All recounts must be by hand counting of paper ballots.
4. All elections must have a statistically significant verification.
5. All recounts at every level of government must be by hand counting.
6. All software must be subject to public disclosure.
7. No connections to the Internet should be allowed.
8. All election records should be available to the public.
Go to for on-line information and a link to a printable flier.
A call for all people of conscience
to donate to its Lebanon Palestine Emergency Relief Fund.
All donations will be used to help Palestinian and
Lebanese victims of the latest Israeli aggression.
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail link
We are happy to report that a new shipment of olive oil has arrived. The most recent harvest was excellent and per case prices are less than they were last year.
As with our previous shipments, this oil comes directly from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, PARC, a non-profit, non- governmental organization in the West Bank. PARC works with 15 different small cooperatives. This shipment comes from the Mazare' Al Nubani/ Ramallah and the Kufr Thulth, Jayous and Azzoun cooperatives. The labels are printed in the West Bank and the oil is bottled at the PARC bottling facility in Aram. PARC is a member of the International Fair Trade Association, and is the only Palestinian organization that has received the Palestine Standards Institution certification for its olive oil.
OLIVE BRANCH OLIVE OIL DONATIONS
As with past shipments, a percentage of the proceeds of olive oil sales is donated back to organizations working directly with Palestinians. Past recipients include:
Palestinian Medical Relief Society Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Birthright Unplugged American Friends Service Committee-Middle East Crisis Fund American Near East Refugee Aid Olive Harvest Coalition Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees Ibdaa Cultural Center International Solidarity Movement US OMEN Ta’ayush
THE IMPORTANCE OF OLIVE OIL TO THE PALESTINIAN ECONOMY
Olive oil is the backbone of the Palestinian agricultural economy. Eighty percent of cultivated land in Palestine is planted with olive trees, and the olive harvest provides between 25 to 50 percent of a farming family’s annual income. Olive trees, many of which are hundreds of years old, hold a deep significance in the culture and economy of the Holy Land. As the political and economic situation in Palestine continues to deteriorate, with increased restrictions on the mobility of people, goods and services, olive oil has become a matter of basic survival for many Palestinian families. Buying this oil is a constructive and tangible way to help alleviate poverty and build peace.
PARC assists at every stage of the olive oil production process, from helping farmers to reclaim rocky land, conserve water and implement sensible environmental practices (like re-cropping, dry-land farming and recycling of waste materials) to setting up regional labs for farmers to test their olive oil. PARC strictly monitors the quality of the oil, testing and re-testing it at its main laboratory to ensure that it meets all specifications. Extra-virgin olive oil comes from the first pressing of the olives, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste. There can be no refined oil in extra-virgin olive oil.
Palestinian farmers traditionally care for their trees without the use of pesticides or sprays. PARC is currently working with international agricultural organizations to obtain organic certification for its olive oil, which should be finalized in the next few months. Because both light and heat are known enemies of olive oil, Olive Branch Olive Oil comes in a dark green glass bottle that is optimal for storage.
Available in 750ml bottles, by the case (12 bottles, $145), or more.
For ordering and other info, please email us at palestinebostonoliveoil@yahoo.com or call Susie at 781-648-6307.
Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee will be holding a vigil for Gaza from 11:45 am to 12:15 pm on the steps of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. All who care for Palestine are invited to attend. Please wear black and spread the word widely.
Meet briefly at the statue to exchange thoughts,
then walk silently around the Yard and nearby streets,
returning to the statue by 12:30pm.
Southeast corner of Rt 27 and 30 (nearest to Brooks Pharmacy).
Come for all or part. Bring a candle, lantern, or flashlight.
Organizer: Sandy Coy.
Join the Boston Tea Party Conference call,
Participant call in: 402-756-9100; Access code: 680903#
Socialist Alternative Radio, 91.5 FM Boston
listen anytime on the Web at WMFO.org. A democratic socialist, working-class view of politics and culture, including solidarity announcements, interviews, music, and more.
Write to us at BostonSAradio@aol.com.
Join a Friday fast and/or protest in solidarity with illegal detentions. The fast began in 2005 when Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Adolpho Esquivel, (Argentina), along with others around the world, chose this method to seek the release of our unjustly detained and tortured brothers and sisters.
In Boston, local activists Susan McLucas and Phoebe Knopf have joined the Friday fast and will protest every Friday in front of the JFK Building from noon to one. The action, which is rooted in nonviolence, includes speakers, music, hand-outs and petitions to create public pressure to stop all illegal detentions and to try those responsible for the illegal treatment of thousands of detainees, most of whom are Arab and Muslim men. Susan and Phoebe will be wearing orange jumpsuits.