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Massachusetts Power Shift – this Friday through Monday – aims to unite a diverse base of students, community members, and organizations around the climate change crisis. Website says registration is now $20.
From April 11-14, Students, young people, and community members from all walks of life are descending on Boston for Massachusetts Power Shift (MAPS), pushing to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act, and growing a diverse movement for climate solutions, green jobs & green justice.
Remainder of schedule...
Sunday April 13th
Boston University & Boston Common
10:15AM - 11:30PM Lobby Training on how to advocate for the Global Warming Solutions Act (Psychology Building, BU)
11:45PM - 1:00PM Community Break-Out Strategy Sessions on Green Jobs (various buildings at BU, see Community Breakout Sessions page)
1:00PM - 3:00PM Lunch on Your Own & Transport to Boston Common Boston Common
3:00PM - 5:00PM Soul Purpose Live on Boston Common
5:00PM - 6:30PM Dinner on Your Own
6:30PM - 8:00PM Closing Plenary, featuring Miss Rhode Island 2006, Allison Rogers! (Morse Hall, BU)
8:00PM - 10:00PM Evening Entertainment (Morse Hall, BU)
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Monday April 14th
Massachusetts State House
9:00AM - 4:00PM Lobbying around the Global Warming Solutions Act (State House)
1:30PM Press Conference with State Legislators in State House and 1,000 cookies in the Climate Cookie Challenge! (State House)
10:00AM 12:00, 2:30PM-4:00PM Open Space Discussions on Boston Common in between/after/before lobbying appointments. (Boston Common)
Several lawyers at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP in Boston, working through the Center for Constitutional Rights, have represented pro bono six Bosnian-Algerian men detained since 2002 at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The case (Boumediene v. Bush), recently heard by the Supreme Court, challenged whether the petitioners' indefinite military imprisonment as "enemy combatants" lacks Congressional authorization and hence violates due process. Upcoming efforts will focus on the European Court of Human Rights to secure justice for their clients.
Manique Bloom worked, prior to law school, as an advocate in a program that provides career planning & job placement for a network of homeless shelters and later interned with Cambridge/Somerville Legal Services, assisting on housing & disability issues. Jeremy Robbins interned with the Office of Legal Affairs at the Drug Policy Institute in California and then assisted two Argentine human rights organizations in developing & implementing projects for the betterment of prison conditions there.
People should not get through Harvard Square without being exposed to 9/11 information!
The Conspiracy Cafe at 45 Mt. Auburn St. in Harvard Sq. is now open EVERY Sunday from noon to 8:00 pm. It offers a unique setting for 9/11 Truth activists and those curious to learn more about current events through books, DVDs, film screenings and informal discussions, in a casual cafe environment. The Conspiracy Cafe offers a wide selection of books, cds, & other media. So whether your desires are social, intellectual or oriented toward activism, the Conspiracy Cafe has something for everyone.
Who migrates from family and home--and why? What is life in New England like for migrants who come to work here? What is the economic impact of immigrant workers- -and why are immigrants hired? What US policy changes could improve lives on BOTH sides of the border?
A parish priest in Oaxaca City, Mexico, and Coordinator for the Peace and Justice Commission of the Diocese of Oaxaca, Padre Uvi will deepen the discussion of migration by focusing on its root causes. He will also speak about his region's vibrant citizen movement and the struggle for justice and dignity for Oaxaca's peoples.
For more information
Lynette Culverhouse 781-641-3076
Peter Buck at Equal Exchange 775-776-7414
Or WFP Regional coordinator at 802-434-2980
"Beyond the Law" with Gene Baur
SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2008
4 PM - Seminar (Free to all)
5:15 PM - Vegan Buffet Dinner ($$)
Gene Baur, President and Cofounder of Farm Sanctuary, will present the important topic of how animal agribusiness operates beyond the law in areas of animal welfare, environmental protection, health and labor laws, anti-trust, and obtains billions of dollars in government support.
Grasshopper (an all-vegan restaurant)
1 North Beacon St.
Union Square, Allston (Boston)
617-254-8883
Evelyn Kimber
Boston Vegetarian Society
617-424-8846
Call and join us if you are interested in joining a potluck and discussion with the "No Bases" activists -
Jan Tamas
No to Bases Initiative in the Czech Republic
and
Olivier Bancoult
Chagos Refugees Group for the people of Diego Garcia -
Paul Shannon wrote:
A unique chance to learn about the military
infrastructure that makes U.S. invasions of Iraq and
elsewhere possible....
DAVID VS. GOLIATH: OPPOSING U.S. MILITARY BASES ABROAD
An AFSC national speakers tour comes through Cambridge
Speakers:
Jan Tamas
No to Bases Initiative in the Czech Republic
Olivier Bancoult
Chagos Refugees Group for the people of Diego Garcia
JAN TAMAS - Spokesperson of the Czech Opposition to a U.S. Radar Military Base
Washington has proposed to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar military base in the Czech Republic, purportedly meant to defend against Iran when, in fact, they represent a new expansion of U.S. global military power and an escalation of the arms race with Russia. In the Czech Republic, 70% of the country's population is opposed to accepting the radar and a potent grass-roots movement, led by Mr. Tamas, has formed in opposition.
OLIVIER BANCOULT - Leader in the struggle against the U.S. military base in Diego Garcia
Between 1965 and 1973, 2,000 native people were deported from the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to allow the construction of a US military base on Diego Garcia, the archipelago's largest island. The Chagossians were dumped in Mauritius, 1200 miles from home, without jobs, education, or homes; most have lived in poverty since. As the leader of the Chagos Refugees Group, Mr. Bancoult continues to wage a legal battle seeking restitution & return to the islands. Today the Diego Garcia base is a key component of the U.S. attack on Iraq and reportedly serves as a secret prison for detainees abducted around the world as part of the U.S.' "extraordinary rendition" program.
THE REACTIONARY SIDE OF FORD HALL FORUM
Herman Badillo
Sunday, April 13
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House
One Nation, One Standard: An Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Can Succeed Just Like Other Immigrant Groups
Congressman Herman Badillo, who rose from poverty [sold his soul] to become the first Puerto Rican native elected to the U.S. Congress, says his community's path to prosperity, political unity, and the American mainstream must be through self-reliance. Does liberal social policy do more harm than good? Does success for immigrant communities lie in the restoration of traditional values? Join us tonight as Herman Badillo addresses these questions that impact every American.
Book signing will follow lecture and discussion.
This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
LINK TV PRESENTS "USA vs AL-ARIAN"
DOCUMENTARY TRACKS ARREST, IMPRISONMENT AND TRIAL OF
ARAB-AMERICAN SAMI AL-ARIAN
The film follows Al-Arian, his wife Nahla and their five American-born children throughout the trial and its aftermath as they fight terrorism charges. This powerful documentary also explores themes of freedom of speech, civil liberties and the right to a fair trial. It is an up-close family portrait that documents a battle waged both in court and in the media.
Exclusive footage includes in-depth interviews with Al- Arian, his wife and children. See it on LinkTV Sunday, April 13 at 11:00 p.m. ET. Program will be streamed in its entirety through May 7 at "USA vs AL-ARIAN".
Maryann writes to remind everyone to send a short letter via email to the Boston Metro on this coming Monday, the 14th. lease keep it concise and use your own words. please address the following issues:
Why has Menino blatantly ignored the people of the south end and roxbury for six years?
Why won't he even meet with the stop the biolab coalition? (we've been requesting meetings for six years now, and more recently we put in a request over a month ago and his secretaries haven't even given us a tentative date that he will get back to us).
Why is he advocating for a dangerous lab that the people of that community don't want? etc etc...
To get the idea of it all, visit 2-line URL
Then send your letter to the Metro.
Senior Action Day 2008.
Monday April 14, 2008 starting 10:30am
Please join us in the Great Hall at 10:30 on Monday, April 14th for a rally before we head out to talk with our legislators about issues affecting seniors and all people in Massachusetts. This year we are focusing on saving senior housing, home care, bringing down the cost of prescription drugs, safe staffing, and our campaign to reopen the gardner auditorium entrance to people with disabilites. All are welcome. A light lunch will be served. Buses are available from several locations.
617-442-3330
SALUD! A film on Cuban Healthcare
Monday Apr. 14, 6 pm Sharp
Dudley Branch Library
65 Warren Street (at Dudley Square), Roxbury
Free and open to the public
SALUD! examines the curious case of Cuba, a cash-
strapped country with what the BBC calls "one of the
world's best health systems." From the shores of
Africa to the Mississippi Delta "Salud" hits the road
with some 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in
68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of
international medical students in Cuba- now numbering
30,000. Their stories bring home the complex realities
confronting the movement to make health care a human
right. Featuring Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in
Health, the subject of Tracey Kidder's Mountains
Beyond Mountains.
The movie is mostly in Spanish with English sub- titles.
Co-sponsored by the Friends of the Dudley Library Inc., D7 Roundtable, Inc, the July 26 Coalition and TecsChange.
The movie also features the Latin American School of Medicine, established in 1999 and operated by the Cuban government, ELAM has been described as possibly being the largest medical school in the world by enrollment with approx. 10,000 or 12,000 students from 27 or 29 countries reported as enrolled in 2006/early 2007. All those enrolled are international students from outside Cuba and mainly come from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Africa. The school also accepts students from the United States.
Info 617-566-2861 info@july26.org.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 6-9pm
Community Change Renews the Commitment - Challenging Racism: Where we have been...Where we are going?
Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama (South End).
The event celebrates the 40th anniversary of Community Change and the 85th birthday of our founder, Horace Seldon. This festive occasion will include 300 - 400 individuals and organizations from greater Boston and beyond coming together to celebrate our accomplishments, honor the life and work of Horace Seldon, honor emerging leaders of the antiracist movement.
Please email janet@communitychangeinc.org for more information.
An Atlas of Radical Cartography is a collection of 10 maps and 10 essays about social issues from globalization to garbage; surveillance to extraordinary rendition; statelessness to visibility; deportation to migration. The map is inherently political--and the contributions to this book wear their politics on their sleeves.
Come to the LPC to here a talk by one of the co- authors of 'An Atlas of Radical Cartography'.
Best-selling author KEVIN PHILLIPS discusses BAD MONEY: The Global Crisis of American Capitalism. Free and Open to the Public
Subprime lending. The housing bubble. A falling dollar. Imploding credit. Just how bad is the American financial situation? Author Kevin Phillips argues that "bad money has driven out good," in his most provocative book yet, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism. Analyzing the domestic upheavals and the global dangers resulting from the rising influence of Wall Street over the past twenty years, Phillips demonstrates how every aspect of American life, from political campaigns to regulatory legislation, from the cost of oil to the cost of food–has been put at risk by the "bad money" that has come to dominate the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. How can the nation extricate itself from its current dilemmas? Where is the political will to solve our economic problems? How painful will the coming "correction" be for individual citizens and for a nation that finds itself dependent on, rather than driving, the global economy?
Kevin Phillips, a former Republican strategist, has been a political and economic commentator for more than three decades. He is currently a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio and also writes for Harper's Magazine and Time. He has written thirteen books, including The New York Times bestsellers American Theocracy and American Dynasty.
Audience discussion, moderated by Richard Parker of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, follows the presentation. Copies of Phillips's book will be for sale at the event courtesy of Harvard Book Store.
Events are taped and edited for public radio broadcast throughout the nation. Edited CDs are available to the public by contacting 617-495-2727.. Select forums can be viewed in their entirety on demand by visiting our website at Cambridge Forum or clicking on the WGBH Forum Network.
In the next two weeks, share news on this "Week of Truth" grassroots campaign that could get 9/11 out into the mainstream public, and help stop its unholy wars. "Week of Truth" (April 16-22) is a week during which each purchase of Steve Alten's best-selling new book "The Shell Game" triggers a financial contribution by its author to help wake up the reading public to the need for 9/11 truth.
Bailout people before banks
April 16 and 17 in Washington DC
*THE MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION (MBA)*--- the biggest national lobby of all the banks---including the criminal predatory lenders, that are busy evicting your neighbors, relatives, friends and maybe you from your home---is holding it's annual policy conference in Washington D.C., on April 16 and 17. Their main goal is to make sure that bankers continue to get bailed out while families get tossed out!
Losing our homes: A NATIONAL EMERGENCY: And it's getting worse. One in every 4 subprime mortgage victims are either in or near foreclosure. Soon, almost 10% of the homes of working families across the country could be in foreclosure. For these families, this isn't a recession---it's a depression and a national emergency that calls for emergency measures.
A MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES & EVICTIONS --- politicians have the authority to do it. Many may not realize that Governors, State Legislatures, the President and Congress (as well as the department of Housing and Urban Development) have the statutory authority to declare a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions during a time of either natural or economic emergency disaster (it's important to include evictions because record numbers of renters are also losing their apartments).
This fight is for all of us. Come to D.C. on April 16 bring a bus, van, or a carload of people. Whether you are directly effected by the home foreclosure epidemic, or just outraged that the Government seems ready to give hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue banks from failing while doing nothing for those who are losing their homes, join people from around the country in Washington, D.C. on April 16 to shake up the bankers and wake up the government. Let's not wait until we're all homeless.
Israel/Palestine: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 4:30 pm
Gasson Hall room 305, Boston College
Featuring:
Dr. NORMAN G. FINKELSTEIN, internationally acclaimed
scholar, author of Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of
Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History; Image and
Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict; and The
Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of
Jewish Suffering.
Norman G. Finkelstein is one of the world's foremost authorities on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the politics of anti-Semitism. His work has been enthusiastically praised by many of the leading scholars in the fields he works in, including Raul Hilberg, Avi Shlaim, Sara Roy, Edward Said and Noam Chomsky. He was fired from DePaul University after a high-profile dispute about academic freedom with Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz.
Contact: Email Alexandra or call (305) 733-5595
Central Massachusetts Coalition for Middle East Peace presents Worcester’s Second Annual...
MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL : Wednesday April 16-19th at
Worcester State and Clark University.
Wednesday, April 16 at 7PM: "Le Grand Voyage"
Ismaël Ferroukhi, France, 2004
at Eager Auditorum, Sullivan Bldg, Worcester State
“It's a tribute to my parents and the 97 percent of Muslims that we never hear about in the Western world," says director Ferroukhi about this film which depicts the road trip of French-Morroccan Reda and his devout Muslim father to Mecca. The father convinces his reluctant teenage son to drive them from their home in France to Saudia Arabia on his once-in-a- lifetime religious pilgrimage, the hajj. The film has won awards and been featured in film festivals from Milwaukee to Venice to Marrakesh and Jerusalem.
Thursday, April 17 at 7PM: "Occupation 101"
Sufyan and Abdallah Omeish, USA, 2006
at Eager Auditorum, Sullivan Bldg, Worcester State
A powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Occupation 101”presents an analysis of the facts and underreported details surrounding this high- stakes conflict. Winner of multiple best film awards, the film features voices rarely heard in the American mainstream press, including Middle East historians, Israeli peace activists, journalists, and humanitarian workers.
Friday, April 18 at 7PM: "Offside"
Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2006
at Ghosh Center, Worcester State College
Inspired by the day when his own daughter was refused entry to a soccer stadium in Iran, Jafar Panahi’s “Offside” follows a day in the life of a group of Iranian girls attempting to watch their team's World Cup qualifying match against Bahrain at the stadium in Tehran. A disparate group of girls, united only by their desire to see their beloved team play, disguise themselves, risking arrest to try to get into the game. Winner of the Silver Bear Award, Berlin International Film Festival, 2006.
Saturday, April 19 at 7PM: "Bosta"
Philippe Aractingi, Lebanon, 2006
at Razzo Hall, Traina Center for Arts, Clark
University, 92 Downing St., Worcester
A blockbuster in Lebanon, "Bosta" (Bus in Arabic), recounts the story of seven former school friends who reunite to tour Lebanon and dance dabke, the traditional Lebanese dance, to traditional music mixed with a new techno beat. "Bosta" is a 100% Lebanese film, written, directed, filmed and fully financed by Lebanese investors. Join us for the film that has pleased audiences worldwide in its joyful portrayal of Lebanese culture and a hope for a new tomorrow!
All are welcome! Suggested Donation $5. Please, join us for refreshments and discussion after every screening.
For information:
Worcester Activist
or call 508-753-3588 or 781-864-8879.
Thursday and Friday, April 17-18, 2008 (times unstated)
Raising Women's Voices for the Healthcare We Need. A national conference with keynote speakers Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former surgeon general, Miriam Yeung of the National Asian Pacific Women's Forum, and Byllye Avery of the Avery Institute for Social Change Black Women?s Health Imperative.
Registration is $150!!!
($20 if affiliated w/Simmons)
This event is open to the public, but R.S.V.P. is required. To register, visit www.raisingwomensvoices.net.
Jamie Bissonette's "When the Prisoners Ran Walpole"
Book Release
Apr-17-2008 05:30PM - 08:30PM
Episcopal Divinity School
99 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
Come together with some of the major actors in this
historical milestone in the movement to attain
prisoner self-determination and prison abolition.
One of those actors is one-time MA Commissioner of
Corrections John O. Boone (first black commissioner of
corrections in the entire history of the USA), who
began systemic reforms. Boone returns for this event
35 years after being ousted by corrupt, powerful
detractors who subsequently succeeded in making the MA
prison system a disgrace.
"When the Prisoners Ran Walpole" brings much overdue
attention to the achievements of the MA citizenry,
inmate and out, under the seasoned leadership of John
Boone, for the reform of the MA prison system. Yet
such revelations cannot be made without also exposing
the violent backlash visited on the prisoners, also by
MA citizens and "leaders." For example, the Herald's
Howie Carr, with his signature nonsense stories and
incendiary headlines (one is "Boone the Coon")
ultimately claimed credit for Boone's ouster.
For more info.
"News Dissecting from Boston to a Global Stage: A Multi-media Pioneer Challenges His Profession and Calls for Media Reform" with Danny Schechter
moderated by Sarah-Ann Shaw former WBZ-TV reporter
Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector," launched a media career in Boston on WBCN Radio. He became a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, a reporter at WGBH, a producer at WLVI and WCVB, and then went on to CNN and ABC News where he won two Emmys. However, he believes media, the field in which he has worked for four decades, is harming our democracy. His books include "Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception" and "The More You Watch the Less You Know."
Joshua Marcus, Harmony Thompson and the Gargoylez Play Music
"To walk in to a new or familiar place, sit down and play a tune and hear the crowd sing along, to have a meaningful exchange with someone or a group of folks you know or don't know by making music, or be part of an experience that stems from a song or night of singing, that is an extraordinary part of life." Joshua Marcus lives in Philadelphia, PA and has produced nine recordings under different bands and monikers in the last nine years, including Fan of Friends. This spring Marcus will release and tour his newest recording, Reverse the Charges, with violinist and longtime friend Harmony Thompson. Joshua is currently working on a collaborative project to produce a folk recording dealing with current U.S. social and environmental justice struggles.
The Gargoylez are a groovy girl group partial to polka- dots and collaborative crooning. They live in the eaves of an abandoned Gothic Cathedral in Portland, Maine, where they practice their flying and singing.
The national symposium, “What’s Up With Venezuela: Participatory Democracy or Democracy as Usual?” is rapidly approaching!
On April 18-20 (in Washington DC), we will be bringing together a talented and influential group of panelists who have a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the political, economic, environmental and social spheres of Venezuela today, including Supreme Court Justice Fernando Vegas Torrealba, Afro-Venezuelan advocate Jorge Guerrero, Mayor Julio Chavez, Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez, authors Eva Gollinger and Steve Ellner, economist Mark Weisbrot, indigenous rights activist Noeli Pocaterra, women’s movement leader Clara Herrera, and Vice Minister to the Environment Manuel Rodriguez.
The symposium will take place at historic Howard University in Washington, DC Friday-Sunday, April 18- 20, with an opportunity to gain experience lobbying Congress on Monday, April 21.
A request by the White House for an additional $110 Billion in Iraq war funds is making its way through Congress right now.
A House floor vote is expected for the week of April 21, 2008.
Suggestion: sign on to a letter to Rep. John Murtha, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. This letter will be sent to every member of Congress.
All Congressional contact information can be found here.
It was the first hate-based murder in the wake of September 11, 2001–one of thousands of reported and unreported hate crimes in the years that followed. The victim: a turbaned Sikh man in Mesa, Arizona, where his family had sought religious freedom, searching for the American Dream. Meet a family still determined to believe in that dream, even as the nightmare continues for many religious and ethnic minorities in a climate of xenophobia and fear.
Please join the Jamaica Plain Forum for a free preview of "A Dream in Doubt,"followed by a community discussion with Mr. Navjeet Singha, regional director of SALDEF, the Sikh-American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
For listeners who would like to replace John Kerry with his opponent for Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate, Ed O'Reilly:
Submit by April 19th--Signatures Made Easy As you know, we need a minimum of 10,000 certified signatures from Massachusetts Democratic or Unenrolled voters. The good news is that we are closing in on the 10,000 signature mark! However, because many signatures are invalidated for a variety of reasons (signing twice, being a Republican, etc.), our goal is to reach the 18,000 mark. With this in mind, we have hired a company to help the people gathering signatures and simplify the process of getting the signatures certified by local Registrars of Voters. If you have uncertified signatures in by April 19th to the Gloucester Campaign Office, 46 Middle Street, Gloucester, MA 01930, the signatures will be certified for us. (After that, it's more work.)
For info: 866-716-2008
or email ed.
We have quietly been working away at TecsChange in Roxbury to refurbish computers. We recently sent one of our bigger shipments of 15 computers to a series of radio stations in Oaxaca, Mexico.
We work most Thurday evenings and Saturday afternoons
(1pm to at least 4 PM, usually longer)
We have one day a week where daytime volunteers come in. Presently it's Mondays but it might change soon.
Please call if you are interested.
TecsChange Office
617-442-4456
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.