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Palestine Summer Encounter participants live with a local family, study Arabic and volunteer with a local church, school, hospital, nonprofit or humanitarian organization. They also have an opportunity to visit sites of historic, political and religious significance such as Jerusalem, Jericho, the Galilee, Hebron, Nazareth and the Dead Sea. Participants can join the program for 1, 2 or 3 months.
More information is available at middleeastfellowship.org
“Olive Branch” Extra Virgin Olive Oil is raised without pesticides or sprays and First-Cold-Pressed. This year we are importing the oil directly from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC), a non-governmental, non-profit organization in Ramallah which has been on the forefront of supporting Palestinian agriculture since the 1980’s. PARC buys its olive oil from 85 different small farmer cooperatives in the West Bank. It takes care of testing, quality control, bottling, labeling and marketing. Available in 750ml bottles, by the case (12 bottles), or more. Now more than ever, important to Palestinian farmers. For ordering and other info, please email us at palestinebostonoliveoil@yahoo.com or call Susie at 781-648-6307.
Despite its attempt to create a socially responsible image, Starbucks' failure to meaningfully embrace Fair Trade coffee has left coffee farmers and their children teetering on the brink of starvation in the Global South. A new documentary, Black Gold (blackgoldmovie.com), reveals in detail the pained existence of coffee farmers under the purchasing practices of Starbucks and other multinational corporations. In Starbucks cafes, baristas are paid a poverty wage and the company insures a lower percentage of employees than Wal-Mart. Starbucks baristas are organizing a union (starbucksunion.org) with the Industrial Workers of the World for a better life on and off the job. In response, the company has waged a fierce and relentless anti-union campaign that tramples on workers' rights. In this union-busting operation unburdened by the law, Starbucks routinely retaliates against baristas for supporting the union. In addition, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz recently broke the union of roasting plant employees. If you or your group is interested in getting involved with the campaign on the ground floor please contact IWW organizer and Starbucks barista Daniel Gross at dgross@iww.org or 917-577-1110.
Former Vice President Al Gore presents this important documentary on the planet-wide crisis of global warming. In a riveting multi-media lecture, he presents a wide array of facts and information that reveal the truth about climate change: if this issue is not addressed, all life on the planet will be devastated. Gore became interested in this startling issue while at college 30 years ago, and in the past few years, since retiring from politics, he has traveled the globe staging free events for small, invited audiences on this issue. He works exhaustively to disabuse doubters of the notion that climate change is debatable. His proof is the indisputable correlation between CO2 emissions and exponentially rising temperatures, an epidemic which is already responsible for ice-cap melting, drought, and rising sea levels. This is not a political issue, rather one of global stability, and Gore's goal is to lay out the facts for the audience to draw their own conclusions. With humor and searing intelligence, he outlines crucial steps we must take to avert impending disaster and proves that inaction is no longer an option in fact, it's downright immoral.
United Baptist Church
322 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130
617 - 522 - 7293
Speaker
Chaplain Danny Croce
Good News Jail and Prison Ministry
Plymouth County Correctional Facility
Kim Foltz and Nina Ortiz will be talking about how Boston's progressive activists were able to organize real participation in the recent World Social Forum tht took place in Caracas at the end of January. The diverse delegation from Boston, all 50 of them, had the opportunity to experience first-hand the Bolavarin revolution, the Venezuelan path to another possible world. Kim is active with North American Alliance for Fair Employment and mass Global Action; Nilda Ortiz, a young Latina student at the New England Institute of Arts; they will both report back about their experiences in Caracas. Also a 20 minute video will be shown.
The Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition invites you to a Strategy Session for anti-war organizing in the Boston area. The event will be held on June 4th at Encuentro Cinco, 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th floor, in Boston (Chinatown) and will go from 12:00 noon until 6:00 PM.
This strategy session is open to all who are interested. We are seeking to bring together a diverse group of participants with a wide array of views to consider the current state and future of the antiwar movement and how we can advance forward.
The format of June 4th is still being worked out and we appreciate any input that you may wish to provide. Although this event is being organized by the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition, we hope that participation in organizing and attending this event will come from social justice activists in different sectors of the movement and from different communities.
Please contact us if you anticipate attending the Strategy Session or have questions and comments. If there are other individuals or groups that you feel should be invited, please spread the word. If you would like to become involved in organizing this event let us know and we can add you to our email list.
Steve Fake on behalf of Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition
617-721-1089 or freeradical83@gmail.com
Protest against US Congressman James McGovern, who is an advocate of US war against Sudan and who will be giving a pro-war speech. This is a rally on the public sidewalk to tell McGovern and others present that McGovern is wrong about Sudan, that US intervention has been a disaster for the people of Sudan, and that we insist that US and US/Israeli-sponsored intervention in Sudan must stop!
Community groups are seeking your attendance Monday at a Boston City Council meeting including a hearing on the proposed BU level 4 biolab and emergency preparedness and evacuation plans. "This Monday from 3 - 8 p.m. at Boston City Hall in the City Council chamber." City Councillor Charles C. Yancey will preside.
Yancey proposes to determine whether Boston can survive an incident of terrorism, natural disaster, or accidental release of lethal agents at the proposed BU Bioweapons Lab.
"Why invite disaster by constructing a level 4 biolab in a densely populated area," Yancey asked. "We're talking about microscopic organisms that can kill thousands." Yancey noted that there are approximately 125,000 people living within a 1.5 mile radius of the proposed biolab site at 625-710 Albany Street, Boston. "If the City of Boston suffers a terrorist attack on the biolab, we won't be talking about evacuation; we'll be talking about quarantine and ordering body bags," he said.
Yancey said lethal weapons and natural environmental disasters make every Boston citizen vulnerable. "We need to know if our City and State officials are prepared to take appropriate action in the event of an emergency or disaster," he said, citing the Hurricane Katrina tragedy in which slow governmental response resulted in multiple casualties.
Deirdre Doran, home 617-524-0224
Klare Allen, home 617-442-7822
Klare Allen bio from Z magazine follows: Klare Allen is a mother of four children and a long-time welfare and environmental justice activist. When welfare moved her and her family into a hotel after she became homeless, she started organizing the other mothers. Later she brought her organizing skills to Alternatives for Community and the Environment (ACE), an environmental justice group. She co-coordinates the youth-based Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP) and is a leader in the fight to stop Boston University from building a Level 4 security weapons lab in a highly populated urban neighborhood.
Related news story: the Conservation Law Foundation & others are suing the NIH for failing to follow their own policies for public input on the biolab. This brings the total number of law suits against the biolab up to three (before its been built). Details at clf.org.
Local tip: check for interesting new reporting on the level 4 biolab in the launch of The British journal Nature's new Boston-based web site-to go live on Tuesday!
SafetyNet is asking us to wear white t-shirts with arrows pointing in all 4 directions drawn on the front and Which way do I go? on the back. The idea is to wear something over the t-shirts and we'll all unveil them at the same time. Of course, we want to pack the hearing room so come and bring your friends.
The Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition invites you to come to a combination celebration/planning evening. We urge you to join in this exciting and terribly important venture by coming on Wednesday, June 7, to share cake and coffee, discussion and ideas, and the empowering opportunity to take one small step for mankind.
The week of June 7th, people around the country will be taking action to show support for HR 676, the "United States National Health Insurance Act," also known as the "Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Bill", introduced by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). This bill would extend Medicare to cover everyone in the U.S., including coverage of prescription drugs, mental health care and long term care. The bill text and list of cosponsors is available here. JwJ coalitions in Detroit, Boston, Cleveland, Toledo, Providence, and Bellingham, WA are building for events now. To learn more about the campaign and to find out about events near you, visit healthcare-now.org .
For a lot of us, when we think of affordable housing, we think of the needs of renters. But there is a huge population of folks in Massachusetts who face another kind of housing struggle - no affordable homeownership options. These are families who throw away money on rent year after year, decade after decade. Studies show that homeownership is one of the most significant factors in stopping the cycle of poverty. But in Massachusetts right now, homeownership is practically impossible for families making less than $100,000. (Yes, that number is correct. The median home price in Massachusetts is currently around $350,000. To afford that, a family of 5 needs to make over $90,000 a year, and that's utilizing an affordable mortgage program).
So - how do we make affordable homeownership more of a reality for Massachusetts families? For one, we support affordable homeownership programs already existing in the state. AND we work to get more opportunities out there.
And where do you come in? On June 7th, MAHA (the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance) is having a huge community event, and it is important for many people to come. We have invited all of the candidates for Governor to come out to the Reggie Lews Center in Roxbury and commit to: more affordable homes, more low-cost mortgages, and an end to unfair mortgage lending. The event will begin at 7:00pm. If you or anyone you know is looking to purchase a home in the next few years, there will be a Homeownership Fair starting at 6:00. Come get your questions answered about homeownership.
We're really trying to fill the room - to let our future governor know that affordable homeownership is important to us.
Professional Childcare Available
COME EARLY AND GET INFORMATION ABOUT HOMEOWNERSHIP!
Starting at 6:00PM
Tables will be open to share information on:
-1st Time Homebuying Opportunities
-Affordable Home Lotteries
-Refinancing Your Home
-Affordable Mortgage Products
-Foreclosure Prevention
-Classes for Homeowners
.. . . and more!
RAFFLES!! RAFFLES!! RAFFLES!!
For more information call MAHA at 617-822-9100
We would like to invite you and your organization, network, community group, faith group, coalition, union, etc... to consider participating in an On-Line Discussion Group on the topic of Immigration, Free Trade and US Farm Policy, to take place as a yahoogroup listserve starting on June 7th and running through June 28th, 2006.
With the historic mobilizations and public debate on immigrant rights in the US, whether documented or undocumented, following the passage in the House of Representatives of the punitive and draconian Sensenbrenner Bill in the House of Representatives, many issues have bubbled to the surface. What is often ignored, however, is that the most important root cause of the high levels of immigration to the US in the past two decades is due to a shift in economic policy emanating from Washington D.C.
The proposed on-line discussion is designed to be a short course on some of these interconnections and structural issues, as well as a place to learn about excellent advocacy work and to participate in such work to change these policies. We believe that learning should be a form of reflection and action followed by more reflection and more action. To honor that way of learning, this on-line discussion will also invite participants to action and into long-term networks who are working for change. The sponsors will be providing 5 or 6 documents but the bulk of the content of this on-line discussion will be the discussion itself shared among the participants in a give and take, a write and read process, a virtual roundtable forum.
To join, send an email to: ImmigrationRootCauses-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The first document by the sponsors of this discussion will be posted to the list on June 7.
The on-line discussion begun on June 7 will be terminated on June 28 by the moderator so as not to risk further occupying your inboxes after that date.
On Thursday, June 8th, the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights is organizing a demonstration in Harvard Square from 4 pm to 6 pm to protest against the siege and starvation of the Palestinian people. The event is co-sponsored by the Israel-Palestine Task Force of United for Justice with Peace; Boston to Palestine; Dorchester People for Peace; Boston to Palestine, and other groups. This important event is open to the public. Come one, come all if you care for human rights, or justice and peace.
At this one-of-a-kind event, you'll join with hundreds of activist groups from across the country to share successful precautionary strategies, tools, and programs. The conference will bring together people working on toxics, nuclear waste, disease prevention, pesticides, worker safety, and many other issues. It features over 35 workshops and strategy sessions.
Learn about more than 50 model local, state, and nationwide precautionary policies from across the globe. Add practical new tools to your arsenal, such as how full-cost accounting addresses the "hidden costs" of pollution. Participate in trainings on community organizing, fundraising, advocacy, media outreach, and more. Help build the movement for precautionary action to prevent harm from environmental hazards by registering today! To download a conference brochure, as well as registration and scholarship forms, please visit besafenet.com.
Director of Administration and Policy
Jewish Voice for Peace
A leader in the Jewish peace movement!
Join us for an introduction to Jewish Voice for Peace and an exciting
presentation and discussion by Mitchell on one of the latest
developments in Israel and our role as US Jews.
Will your vote count? Are Mass voters disenfranchised or does that only happen in states like Ohio? Are young voters involved? Are elections bought rather than won? Are districts drawn fairly?
These questions will be discussed by John Bonifaz and Jill Stein, candidates for Secretary of State (the officer who runs Mass elections), together with voting rights groups, including: Common Cause, Hyde Square Task Force, Mass Vote, Mass Voters for Fair Elections, Oiste, The Union of Minority Neighborhoods.
Sponsored by: Mass Citizens for Voting Integrity and the Social Action Committee of the Arlington St. Church (H461k@aol.com, 617-262-5427)
"Sir! No Sir!" energetically reveals the untold story of the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam. This is the story of one of the most vibrant and widespread upheavals of the 1960s - one that had a profound impact on American society, yet has been virtually obliterated from the collective memory of that time. This hidden history combines fast-paced archival footage with thoughtful interviews, "perfectly timed with new doubts about the Iraq War" ("Variety").
Times are listed at Brattle Film, they vary from day to day.
This film is highly recommended because it is about the organizing done by soldiers against the Vietnam war -- lessons for today.
Synopsis* *
In the 1960's an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. This movement didn't take place on college campuses, but in barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. It was a movement no one expected, least of all those in it. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. And by 1971 it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War has been the subject of hundreds of films, both fiction and non-fiction, but "this" story-the story of the rebellion of thousands of American soldiers against the war-has never been told in film. This is certainly not for lack of evidence. By the Pentagon's own figures, 503,926 "incidents of desertion" occurred between 1966 and 1971; officers were being "fragged"(killed with fragmentation grenades by their own troops) at an alarming rate; and by 1971 entire units were refusing to go into battle in unprecedented numbers. In the course of a few short years, over 200 underground newspapers were published by soldiers around the world; local and national antiwar GI organizations were joined by thousands; thousands more demonstrated against the war at every major base in the world in 1970 and 1971, including in Vietnam itself; stockades and federal prisons were filling up with soldiers jailed for their opposition to the war and the military.
Yet today, with hundreds of thousands of American GIs once again occupying countries on the other side of the world, these history-changing events have been erased from America's public memory.
"Sir! No Sir!" aims to change all that. The film does four things: 1) Brings to life the history of the GI movement through the stories of those who were part of it; 2) Reveals the explosion of defiance that the movement gave birth to with never-before-seen archival material; 3) Explores the profound impact that movement had on the military and the war itself; and 4) Tells the story of how and why the GI Movement has been replaced with the myth of the spat-upon veteran.
"Sir! No Sir!" is a film that challenges deeply-held beliefs not just about the Vietnam War and those who fought it, but about the world we live in today. It is a vivid portrayal of William Faulkner's famous observation that "The past isn't dead; it isn't even past."
Program Description
On Saturday, June 17, 2006 over 200 individuals from community-based organizations throughout the Northeast will come together for the 7th Annual Grassroots Use of Technology Conference. Sponsored by Organizers' Collaborative (OC) and the CTC Vista Project at UMASS Boston, this national conference will provide valuable training and information to nonprofit professionals and activists on how they can best use technology to effect social change. The conference will take place at UMASS Boston from 8:00 am to 5:30pm. The registration fee is ***[ $60 ]***, which includes breakfast and lunch.
This year's conference theme is Making Technology Relevant to Nonprofit and Social Change Groups, with a focus on helping community organizations to better serve their constituents. "We are really excited about this year's program," said OC's founding executive director, Richard Cowan. "It will feature over fifteen different workshops and panels geared towards nonprofit organizations, techies, and activists at all levels of technical expertise." Past participants have described the conference as a valuable and rare opportunity to meet, network, learn new trends, and share experiences about using technology to advance the goals of their organizations. This year's special guest speakers will include Terra Friedrichs of CitizenActionTeam.org, who will discuss how her organization utilized technology to mobilize thousands of survivors during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The conference will be followed by a supporters' dinner at South Kitchen & Wine Bar. The dinner will feature an awards presentation to community organizations in the Boston area that exemplify the use of grassroots technology. Tickets for the dinner are ***[ $55 ]*** and can be purchased online.
For more information about the conference and dinner visit the conference website: conference.oc-tech.org or call: 617-720-6190.
434 Jamaicaway, Jamaica Plain
Conference room of the Rogerson House Alzheimer's Center
(one block from Centre Street, off of Beaufort Street)
Visit MPHA for directions.
Free and open to the public.
Refreshments will be provided.
For more information, or to RVSP contact Roberta Friedman at MPHA:
617-524-6696, ext. 103 or Rfrie-@mphaweb.org