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A newscaster has finally called Bush a fascist! But as we look to the work of changing our world, we know what really matters is that we can build with People Power. What does a climate of fear and distrust create inside & around us that erects barriers to change, shifts the ground beneath us, yet offers unexpected opportunities for justice?
Grace Ross helped to bring the Rainbow Coalition & Green Parties together in Mass., standing for election as their gubernatorial candidate in 2006. She is a long-time community organizer and former director of two grassroots non-profits. Her primary activist work has been organizing around issues related to abolishing poverty. She has also worked on other causes, from nonviolence, the environment & international solidarity to anti-racist struggles, women's empowerment, union organizing & gay/lesbian civil rights.
Stop The War Coalition is building an anti-war contingent for the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Anyone can participate and help us distribute stickers, flyers, or just march with us.
If interested, meet us at the Broadway red line T-stop at 12:30PM on 3/16 (St. Patrick's Day.) Both Ashmont and Braintree trains stop at Broadway.
Greater Boston Stop The Wars Coalition, Outreach Committee
"Breaking the Silence" Photos & Video Testimonials Three Israeli Soldiers Accompany the Exhibit
The LAST DAY of this exhibit is Sunday March 16. At Harvard Hillel, Beren Hall, Second Floor, 52 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
This exhibit features over 100 photographs and video testimonials, led by guided tours by former Israeli soldiers.
Remaining exhibit hours are: Sunday from 12 pm - 8 pm
Sponsored by: Americans for Peace Now, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom: The Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, the Progressive Jewish Alliance of Harvard University, Hashomer Hatzair, Jewschool.com, Meretz USA, the Union of Progressive Zionists, Open Society Institute's Documentary Photography Project, and the Foundation for Middle East Peace.
To schedule a tour of the exhibit or request a speaker
for your synagogue, classroom or community group,
contact Ben Murane at (646) 419-2016 or
Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who have served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada.
Soldiers who serve in the Territories are witness to, and participate in military actions which change them immensely. Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but are still excused as military necessities or explained as extreme and unique cases.
Discharged soldiers who return to civilian life discover the gap between the reality that they encountered in the Territories, and the silence that they encounter at home. In order to become a civilian again, soldiers are forced to ignore their past experiences. Breaking the Silence voices the experiences of those soldiers, in order to force Israeli society to address this reality.
PICKETING CONTINUES AT HARVEST COOP FOR FIRED WORKERS Sunday, March 16, from noon to 2pm. Come help us hold signs, pass out flyers and talk to customers. Harvest Coop 581 Mass. Ave., Cambridge 57 South St., Jamaica Plain
Management at the Harvest Co-op has thumbed their noses at members and workers by hiring a replacement for fired union supporter Deon Furtick, despite an ongoing investigation by the National Labor Relations Board, and weekly protests in front of the store.
Pay at the Harvest co-op is below industry standards. New hires in most positions can expect to make $8.00 an hour. ... Members, workers, and the community must not be ignored. We are now asking our supporters to call Marc Cutler directly on his cell phone. 617-304- 1137. Can you hear us now Marc? Give Deon Furtick and Diego Bencosme their jobs back with back pay before the National Labor Relations Board forces you to. Do it before the picket lines and bad publicity hurt the co-op any more. Do it for the sake of justice.
Contact
Matthew Andrews
IWW Worker / Organizer
Harvest Workers' Organizing Committee
FROM MARKEY'S OFFICE...
This past year, as Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Rep. Ed Markey has been able to focus on the scientific and economic evidence and impacts of our planetary crisis, and talked to the pre-eminent experts in the world on these issues. This weekend, Markey will sound the planetary alarm bell here in his home state of Massachusetts.
At events in Melrose and Weston this Sunday, March 16, Rep. Markey will give an update of what’s happening at his Select Committee and in Congress on these issues, and more importantly, discuss how the citizens of Massachusetts can reduce their carbon footprint and help reduce the impact of global warming.
Town Meetings on Global Warming and Energy Independence With Congressman Ed Markey
Melrose: Sunday, March 16th 12:30 – 2:30 PM Melrose Memorial Hall 590 Main Street, Melrose, MA
Weston: Sunday, March 16th 4:30 – 6:30 PM Eleanor Welsh Casey Theatre Fine Arts Center Regis College 235 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA
Mark C. Gallagher District Director U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey 781-396-2900 work 781-572-9368 cell
Fossil Fools Day Direct Action Workshop and Mini- Training
Sunday, March 16 3PM - 8:30PM Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth St, Jamaica Plain, MA Your local Fossil Fools Day Pranksters
Roll up, roll up! The climate circus is in town. Confronted with melting ice caps, unprecedented species extinction, droughts and extreme weather, climate change threatens our very survival. The fools at the head of the fossil fuel empire continue to plunder the earth, with the governments as willing court jesters at their side.They would have us believe that we can escape climate change with techno-fixes, market mechanisms and offset schemes - all technocratic acrobatics that distract us from the truth: the only real solution to climate change is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
On April 1st, 2008, we're going to turn the tables and show them who the real fools are.
This Sunday, your local pranksters will be in town to share their bag of tricks for the Fossil Fools industry. Want to plug in on April 1st? Here's your chance! We'll share the skills, resources, and give you all the info you need for high-impact action. Topics covered include consensus-based decision making, what is direct action, security culture, basic guide to roles in an action, strategies and tactics (i.e. blockades, demonstrations, occupations, media stunts, phone/email/website/fax clogs), know-your- rights, jail solidarity, media/messaging, health and safety, and affinity groups.
WHAT TO BRING: Water, food, and a friend!
QUESTIONS? Email us at
Boston Veg Society
4 PM - Seminar (Free)
5:15 PM - Vegan Buffet Dinner ($$)
4 PM SEMINAR (FREE)
"Cameroon Wildlife Aid Foundation: Fighting Against the Bushmeat Trade and For Primate Conservation in Cameroon"
In Central and West Africa, nearly 5 million tons of bushmeat are killed each year, rapidly emptying out the Forest and endangering primates, elephants, crocodiles, antelopes, snakes and many others. Raising population, logging/deforestation, availability of hunting weapons, and a growing international bushmeat trade are some of the contributing factors to the problem. CWAF aims to ensure that Cameroon's primates have a healthy future by working with the government, local communities and other ecological groups around the world.
Speaker: Achinoam Sivan.
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 (and remember the tip jar by the cash register for the hard-working staff!). Includes appetizers, soups, salad, numerous entrees, and fresh melons.
No RSVP needed. 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
Two Wars for the Price of One The Moral Cost of the Wars in Iraq and Palestine Dr. Barbara Nimri Aziz Sunday, March 16th, 6:00pm MIT Building 6-120
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of MA
PROTEST AGAINST RACIST PRO-WAR CONCERT Sun March 16, 2008 6:30 PM at the Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Inman Square, Cambridge (former site of the Zeitgeist Gallery)
This message is from Boston Anti-Zionist Action (BAZA)
On Sunday March 16 at 7 PM Lily Pad owner Gil Aharon and Gary Fieldman's phony "charity" group MuseAid will be hosting a RACIST PRO-WAR CONCERT at the Lily Pad. They are calling it a "benefit concert for Darfur". But it is really a benefit concert AGAINST Darfur.
The money will be going to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's (UUSC) "Drumbeat for Darfur" campaign which is a drumbeat for imperialist war against Sudan. The Drumbeat campaign is lobbying for more US government money to go to the US/UN military invasion and occupation force in Darfur Sudan.
he "Drumbeat for Darfur" money is not going primarily to humanitarian aid in Sudan. MuseAid claim their aim is "to provide relief to those in need" and that they raise "money for distribution to legitimate charity organization closely related to the relief effort defined." But Sunday's benefit concert will be raising money for racist pro-war lobbying in the "US" against the largest country in Africa.
Please join Boston Anti-Zionist Action (BAZA) outside the Lily Pad at 6:30 PM to protest this obscene racist pro-war concert.
Iraq Series at Harvard Law: Dabashi, Owen, Lutz, Nabulsi, Nitzan, Feldman, Kennedy, Gendzier & Zinn
Confronting Empire: Five Years of War in Iraq A Series of Lectures and Events at Harvard Law School, March 17-19
Monday, March 17 On Empire & (Re)Colonization in the Middle East, 5 pm, Austin Hall, West Classroom Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies, Columbia University, and Author of the Forthcoming, Islamic Liberation Theology: Resisting the Empire Roger Owen, Professor of Middle East History, Harvard University, and Author, State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law School, Moderator [Refreshments will be served.]
Resisting Empire, 7 pm, Austin Hall, West Classroom Catherine Lutz, Professor of Anthropology, Brown University, and Author, Homefront: A Military City and the American 20th Century Karma Nabulsi, University Lecturer in International Relations, Oxford University, and Author, Traditions of War: Occupation, Resistance and the Law
Tuesday, March 18 Accumulation through Crisis: Global Stagflation and the New Wars, 3 pm, Pound Hall, Room 107 Jonathan Nitzan, Professor of Political Economy, York University, and Co-Author, The Global Political Economy of Israel Talha Syed, Harvard Law School, Discussant
Empire and Nation-Building, 5 pm, Pound Hall, Room 107 Noah Feldman, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and Author, What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation- Building Duncan Kennedy, Professor of General Jurisprudence, Harvard Law School, and Author, A Critique of Adjudication
Wednesday, March 19 US Foreign Policy & Intervention in the Middle East, 12 pm, Austin Hall, North Classroom Irene Gendzier, Professor of Political Science, Boston University, and Author, Notes From the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East Howard Zinn, Historian and Author, A People's History of the United States
Iraq in Fragments, 7 pm, Langdell Hall, South Classroom Screening of James Longley's Iraq in Fragments, 2007 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature Faras Adel, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Discussant
For more information, go to harvardconfrontingempire.blogspot.com
Brought to you by Unbound: Harvard Journal of the Legal Left, HLS Peace, Justice for Palestine at HLS, National Lawyers' Guild at HLS. Co-Sponsored by Association for Justice in the Middle East and the KSG Arab Caucus.
-- Christopher Csikszentmihalyi Director, Computing Culture Group CoDirector, MIT Center for Future Civic Media David and Roberta Logie Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study E15-020A | 20 Ames Street Cambridge | MA | USA | 02139-5275 Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences MIT Media Lab csik@media.mit.edu www.media.mit.edu/~csik
The next Massachusetts AFL-CIO Organizing Roundtable is at the State House at 9:30 AM to discuss Governor Patrick's proposal to license three destination resort casinos in Massachusetts. In lieu of the regularly scheduled Organizing Roundtable, please join us at this special event at the State House to lobby on behalf of this proposal which will create tens of thousands of jobs for Massachusetts. This proposal presents an important opportunity to organize workers, and to organize around economic development for the Commonwealth.
If you have questions call Bill Corley, Organizing Roundtable Chair, at (617) 436-3710 or John Drinkwater, Organizing and Mobilization Coordinator, at (781) 324-8230.
4:00-6:00 PM Taubman 275 (Kalb), Kennedy School of Government Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum "Oil Crusades: America Through Arab Eyes"
Abdulhay Y. Zalloum is a leading international oil consultant, having participated in the grass-roots creation of several OPEC national oil companies, and is the chairman and CEO of Zalloum & Associates. He will be speaking about his book, "Oil Crusades: America through Arab Eyes".
Refreshments will be served
Co-sponsored by the Middle East Forum at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
On Wednesday, March 19, a bold, creative day of nonviolent direct action will take place in Washington, DC. There are huge pillars of support for this war and occupation -- our tax dollars, the military, the mainstream media, corporate war profiteers, and the security state. Our actions on March 19 in DC will target these pillars, demonstrating the real costs of war and offering visions for a more just and sustainable world, a world at peace.
Momentum is building and there's still time for you to make plans to JOIN US IN DC on March 19th! Go to 5yearstoomany.org to register and to find details about the actions, housing, rides, trainings and more resources. There will be many ways for those who do not wish to risk arrest to participate in and support the actions.
We've also just secured free mass housing for Sunday,
March 16, through Tuesday, March 18, at St. Stephens
Church in northwest DC. Please email
If you can't make it to DC, you can still help ensure the day's success by making the most generous donation you can to help cover expenses as well as any legal fees those risking arrest might incur. Your financial support will help make it possible for us to reach the full potential of this important day.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19th 5:00PM-6:00PM , Newton Dialogues on Peace and War will be dedicating its weekly Vigil in Newton Center to marking the 5th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq, and acknowledging the terrible costs of the war in human lives and suffering. Five Years in Iraq. 1.3 MILLION DEAD Iraqis. 4,000 Dead US Military. Over $500 Million spent so far - $3 Trillion projected costs so far. Please join us. Bring Candles, Flashlights, Black or White Armbands, and Signs.
NOTE: THAT THIS SPECIAL VIGIL WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY INSTEAD OF OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED THURSDAY VIGIL.
Film: "Just Married" by Ayelet Bechar Israeli filmmaker and Nieman Fellow, Harvard University (2005, 71 mins) Official Selection at BPFF 2007
Wednesday, March 19, 6:00 - 8:00 pm Tsai Auditorium (S010), CGIS South, Harvard U, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge Free Screening - Snacks will be provided.
Film Synopsis: What happens when two Palestinian couples decide to get married and find that Israel's new Law of Citizenship won't allow them to live together? Deftly managing to be intimate without being intrusive, Bechar's award-winning documentary follows the plight of two couples who fall into this legal void and who struggle with myriad uncertainties after deciding to marry despite the prohibition against their living together in Israel.
Presented by The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at Harvard University, showcasing the work of Harvard scholars from different disciplines working on the Middle East.
In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave.
All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.
In the wake of Argentina's dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They're part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system.
But Freddy, the president of the new worker's co-operative, and Lalo, the political powerhouse from the Movement of Recovered Companies, know that their success is far from secure. Like every workplace occupation, they have to run the gauntlet of courts, cops and politicians who can either give their project legal protection or violently evict them from the factory.
The story of the workers' struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they'll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive.
Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale.
With The Take, director Avi Lewis, one of Canada's most outspoken journalists, and writer Naomi Klein, author of the international bestseller No Logo, champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century. But what shines through in the film is the simple drama of workers' lives and their struggle: the demand for dignity and the searing injustice of dignity denied.
6:30pm at MIT 1-190
Please join the Lebanese Club and the World Lebanese Cultural Union on *Wednesday, March 19* for an exciting event that will draw Lebanese from around the Boston community.
The highlight of the evening will be a screening of an award-winning documentary on Fairuz.
WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH portrays the love of diverse Beirut inhabitants for this diva. Through the music, and the myths that grew around Fairuz, they tell their life stories, and narrate the tragic, stirring history of their city. Their reminiscences, combined with Fairuz' songs and her story, provide a moving commentary on Lebanon's tumultuous history, traces of which are still visible in Beirut's devastated cityscape and bullet-scared building.
In addition, a fundraiser will be held to support Lebanese charities, including SESOBEL -- an organization dedicated to helping disabled children and their families.
The agenda for the evening will be as follows:
6:30pm - Lebanese dinner will be served 7:15pm - Presentation/Fundraiser for SESOBEL and other Lebanese charities 7:30pm - Documentary Screening on Fairuz
Invest in America, Not Endless War Five Years Too Many
Candlelight Vigil at Natick Common Wednesday, March 19, 7 pm - 8 pm Organized by members of MoveOn.org
Residents of Natick will hold a vigil Wednesday to mark the end of the 5th year that the U.S. has been mired in the devastating war in Iraq. The event will honor the sacrifice of American soldiers killed in Iraq and participants will read personal accounts written by veterans and members of military families affected by war.
Candles will be supplied but bring your own if it is convenient.
Judith Rich
Jewish Voices Say End the Israeli Occupation of Palestine.
Join us on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00pm at St. John's United Methodist Church (80 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown)
Sponsored by the Justice with Peace Task Force
and
Watertown Citizens for Environmental Safety
wces@rcn.com
617-926-8560 mailbox 2
Cambridge Forum FREE and Open to the Public
GETTING A GRIP ON DEMOCRACY with Frances Moore Lappe. March 19, 2008 6:30 pm Reception for the speaker 7:30 pm Forum
Looking at a world beset by problems from poverty to hunger to environmental collapse---how can Americans find new inspiration to use the tools of democracy to achieve badly needed change? What are the sources of creativity that can shift us from a "circle of powerlessness" to a "circle of empowerment"? How can ordinary citizens rise above cynicism to restore our democracy?
Francis Moore Lappe, founder of Small Planet Institute, addresses these questions in her new book, Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad. She discusses her ideas at Cambridge Forum on March 19 at 7:30 pm. David Leslie (Executive Director of Food for Free) will moderate. The Forum is preceded by a reception at 6:30 pm to honor Ms. Lappe.
In 1971 Francis Moore Lappe wrote the legendary best seller, Diet for a Small Planet, that profoundly shaped the ethics of eating for generations. Her new book is the latest stop in her lifelong quest for an ethical relationship between human beings and the planet they live on.
Cambridge Forum, dedicated to promoting citizen
engagement with pressing contemporary issues, is taped
and edited for public radio broadcast. Edited CDs are
available to the public by contacting
Cambridge Forum 3 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-2727
NUCLEAR ABOLITION! A TALK BY AMBASSADOR JAMES GOODBY CO-AUTHOR OF THE REPORT: "REYKJAVIK REVISITED: STEPS TOWARD A WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS"
March 20, 2008 12 - 1:30 PM MIT E51-095
This preliminary report from Hoover Institution's "Reykjavik Revisited" conference, held in October 2007, examines the practical steps required to address the nuclear threat and to move toward the goal established by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev at their historic 1986 meeting in Reykjavik: the elimination of nuclear weapons. Co-editors: George P. Shultz, Sidney D. Drell and James E. Goodby. He will discuss the report and also talk about an international conference on disarmament, called "Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons," which was held in Oslo, Norway from February 26-27, 2008.
Ambassador Goodby was President Clinton's special Ambassador and Chief United States Negotiator for the Safe and Secure Dismantlement of Nuclear Weapons. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Research Affiliate of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at MIT.
Free and open to public. Light refreshments will be served. Please feel free to bring your own lunch.
For further information, please contact:
Subrata Ghoshroy, (617) 253-3846
THE COYOTE’S TRAIL (A film series on the Latin American immigration experience)
presents:
The Guestworker: Bienvenidos a Carolina del Norte (Hill, 2006)
6:00pm Thursday, March 20th Tsai Auditorium, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge
Having spent the last 40 years harvesting American crops, Candelario Gonzalez Moreno (Don Cande) is now a guestworker in the U.S. Government's H-2A Visa Program. While he has made the trip illegally many times before, the program ensures him safe passage but offers no hope of citizenship and the benefits that go along with it.
Filmed on both sides of the border, The Guestworker: Bienvenidos a Carolina del Norte chronicles Don Cande's life while looking at the H-2A program from contrasting perspectives. The film shows the pressure on farmers to produce their crops and documents the struggle farmworkers face to secure a future for their families back home in Mexico.
Sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
For more information contact Kit Barron at:
CGIS South S-214 or
617.495.3736 or
Anita F. Hill appearing to receive the 2008 Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award A Ford Hall Forum
Thursday, March 20 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall
As a lawyer, scholar, and civil rights activist, Professor Anita Hill (Brandeis University) has shed light on the legal and social forces shaping our nation and served as an inspiration to those seeking justice and truth in the face of great personal risk. Launched into the public sphere by her testimony in Justice Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, she used her potentially crippling experience to encourage those who have suffered from harassment and discrimination in the workplace to also "speak truth to power." She joins us tonight to receive the Ford Hall Forum's First Amendment Award and share her thoughts on her life and work. Moderated by Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Harvard University Law School.
Visit Venezuela: March 21-30, 2008
Experience the energy, hope, creativity and controversy of the Bolivarian Revolution! For yourself!
This 9-day delegation will be led by Lisa Sullivan, who has lived in Venezuela for over 20 years and is the Latin America Coordinator for SOA Watch. Participants will spend time both in the urban aread of Caracas and Barquisimeto, as well as in the rural area of Sanare in the foothills of the Andes. They will have the chance to meet with government and oppositions leaders, visit local communities to experience the many social programs, visit cooperatives, community television and radio stations, as well as dance to the rhythms of Afro-Venezuelan drums and soak up the beauty of a cloud forest.
Cost: $1200, includes accomodations, meals, transportation, translation and honoraria for host communities, speakers and groups (but NOT the cost of flight to and from Venezuela).
Co-Sponsors: Task Force on the Americas and SOA Watch.
Contact:
Dale Sorensen 415-924-3227 or
JOBS WITH JUSTICE NATIONAL CONFERENCE May 2-4, 2008 in Providence, Rhode Island Advance Registration Deadline: Friday, March 21st.
The 2008 JwJ National Conference will attract a diverse group of more than 1,000 labor, community, student, and religious activists from across the country and the world for sessions on building power for workers, health care for all, immigrant rights, the campaign for a floor wage in Asia, student and youth organizing, low-income worker organizing, music, art, fun, and more!
* EDUCATE * AGITATE * CELEBRATE *
Immigrant Rights Workshop on Saturday March 22nd from 11am - 3pm at the Arlington Street Church (351 Boylston Street, Boston by the Arlington T stop.)
Elena Letona, Executive Director of Centro Presente, will lead an interactive workshop on immigration issues and on immigrant rights. A Latino lunch will be provided.
If you plan to come to our workshop, please RSVP by
sending an email to
Questions? please contact-
Peter Lowber, member of Arlington Street Church
GRAGGER/NOISEMAKER!! Workmen’s Circle First Annual Radical Purim Party Celebrating Gender Justice!
Saturday, March 22 8pm-1am At Community Church of Boston 565 Boylston Street Sliding scale $10-20
All Ages Event Honoring Keshet and Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
Music by Zili Misik, DJ D’hana, and What Cheer Brigade!
Performance! Costume Contest!
The Gragger, the Jewish Noisemaker, is traditionally used to drown out the names of our foes. On this night, we’ll make some serious noise in a rowdy call for justice and joy!
WANT TO PERFORM AT GRAGGER? Online casting call starts today! Let us know if you are interested in playing a main part– or want to have a ton of fun as part of the general cast!
Marjorie Dove Kent
Program and Membership Coordinator
Boston Workmen's Circle
Giving a donation to Jewish Voice for Peace, JVP, right now is a way to take action to support an end to the siege of Gaza.
In late January, a convoy of Israeli peace and human rights organizations, in partnership with Palestinian civil society groups, drove to the entrance of the Gaza Strip to deliver badly needed food and medical supplies. Thousands of you wrote letters to your legislators to ask them to help end the siege. JVP supporters across the country stood on street corners, spoke to the media, and raised funds to support the convoy. On February 18, over 6 tons of supplies from the convoy were finally let through.
But the blockade goes on and JVP is not stopping its work on the Call to End the Siege of Gaza.
A gift of $35, $80 or $100 will bring thousands of people to support our work. The larger we are, the more powerful we are!
Join JVP's Call for an End to the Siege of Gaza. Donating is easy and will raise our voices to end the injustices in Gaza and the needless deaths of Palestinians and Israelis..
Bush's FY2009 budget request for $2.55 billion in military aid for Israel, a proposed increase of 9% over actual spending in 2007, now rests with the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
This proposed increase in military aid to Israel is the first installment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the United States and Israel in August 2007 to increase military aid to Israel by 25%, totaling $30 billion over the next decade.
Can you think of a better way to spend $30 billion instead of funding Israel's human rights abuses and illegal military occupation in violation of U.S. laws?
TAKE ACTION
Send a Personal Letter to Members of Congress on the
Appropriations Sub-Committee Challenging Military Aid
to Israel.
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
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.
Ed O'Reilly (PDA-endorsed candidate who advocates for single-payer health care, impeachment, stopping our current wars, and marriage equality) seeks the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now occupied by John Kerry.
In addition to making sure that Ed's name appears on the ballot, this is a great opportunity to identify new supporters and expand our network. So we really hope you can participate by gathering signatures from your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors.
To get on September's primary ballot Ed needs 10,000 signatures from registered Democrats and unenrolled (independent) voters. We need to file the signatures with city and town clerks no later than 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, on May 6, 2008.
Call the campaign (866-716-2008) and we will mail nomination signature forms for you to use.
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 Congressional Representative to vote against this awful legislation, which has passed the Senate and returned to the House. The House has stood up to pressure to provide telecom immunity to date, so don't let them buckle to pressure from the White House and Senate.
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.
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!
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.
These are the meetings where we decide on events and discuss strategies to end the war. Anyone is welcome -- from seasoned activists to beginners and we look forward to building a dialogue with anyone opposed to the war. Our main tenent is that we are independent of both the Democratic and the Republican Party, such that we can build an anti-war movement that survives elections and continues to oppose the war, regardless of which candidate is in office.
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.