Bits & Peaces

EVENTS

An evening with Frances Moore Lappé: The Annual Pat Farren Lecture to Benefit Peacework Magazine, 9/10, 7pm (6 pm reception); Cambridge Friends Meetinghouse at 5 Longfellow Park (off Brattle St.); $35 sliding scale, $5 for high-school-age; introduction by Jill Stein; Frances Moore Lappé is the author of Diet for a Small Planet & Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, & Courage in a World Gone Mad; 617/661-6130, Peacework, 2161 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA 02140, www.peaceworkmagazine.org

The Boys of Winter, Fridays & Saturdays, 9/5-20, 8pm, Sundays 9/7-21, 2pm & 8pm; Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston; $20, $10 for students, seniors, & veterans Set in Minnesota in 1966 as 3 high school hockey players confront choices about war, peace, & their future; Co-written by Eric Small, Dean B. Kaner, & Barry Brodsky, a member of Veterans for Peace; www.boysofwinterplay.com

When Checks & Balances Fail: The Media & Civil Liberties in the 2008 Election, 9/16, 6-8pm, Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, Copley Square, Boston MA; with Eric Alterman (The Nation) , Ellen Hume (MIT Center for Future Civic Media), Callie Crossley, (Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University); Sponsored by ACLU, 617/482-3170; www.aclu-mass.org

Undoing Racism Workshop for Educators & Community Activists, 9/18-20, Bromley Heath Community Center, 10 Lamartine St., Jamaica Plain, MA; Trainers from the People's Institute for Survival & Beyond (www.pisab.org); Hosted by Haymarket People's Fund, Simmons College of Social Work, & others; Pre-registration required; contact Karla Nicholson, 617/522-7676; knicholson@haymarket.org; www.haymarket.org

Emma's Revolution, 10/18, St. Johns Church, Watertown, MA; $23 at door, $20 in advance, $10 students; a benefit concert for United for Justice with Peace; send check to UJP, 2161 Mass Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140, or pay at www.justicewithpeace.org

GATHERINGS

Building Cultures of Peace, 9/11-13; Portland, OR; explore historical, current, & potential future elements of the local, regional, national, & transnational struggles toward peace & justice by peaceable means; annual conference of the Peace & Justice Studies Association; www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference

The Justice Robert Jackson Conference for Planning the Prosecution of High Level American War Criminals, 9/13-14; Andover, MA; with Frances Boyle, Peter Weiss (Center for Constitutional Rights), Vincent Bugliosi (Prosecuting George W. Bush for Murder), & many others; info@war-crimes.info; www.war-crimes.info

Agape Community's Tribute to Dan Berrigan, SJ, 10/4; Ware, MA; Father Dan Berrigan, a beloved & revered poet & peace activist, will read his poetry at this event, & Professor Michael True will provide a retrospective of Dan's life & times so far; plus music, tributes by activists & friends, a youth forum on nonviolence, & more; contact John Paul Marosy 508/852-6322; Agape Community, 2062 Greenwich Rd, Ware MA; www.agapecommunity.org

CAMPAIGNS

Million Doors for Peace; Join 25,000 volunteers knocking on a million doors to call for an end to the US war in Iraq; sponsored by United for Peace & Justice, Truemajority.org, & many others. www.milliondoorsforpeace.org.

Petition Congress to Investigate the Murder & Rape of Army Private LaVena Johnson. The Army calls her death a suicide despite physical evidence to the contrary; Petition campaigns at www.colorofchange.org /lavena & lavenajohnson.com

Stop Discriminatory Sentencing; Federal sentencing guidelines treat 5 grams of crack the same as 500 grams of powder cocaine; Black people represent only 13% of drug users, but are 59% of those convicted, & the average drug sentence for black people is 49% higher than for whites; S.1711, the Drug Sentencing Reform & Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act, would eliminate the sentencing disparity; colorofchange.org/crackpowder

Congo Week, 10/19-25; According to a new mortality report from the International Rescue Committee, wars & humanitarian crises in the Congo have taken the lives of 5.4 million people in the last 10 years (www.theirc.org); during Congo Week campuses & communities across the globe (1000 campuses in over 100 countries are already signed up) will organize events & activities to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo; www.congoweek.org/english. In addition, 71 Congolese women's groups have called on the UN Security Council to help end sexual violence (www.friendsofthecongo.org/pressreleases/sexual_violence.php)

Resist AFRICOM: Teach-In & Day of Action, 10/24 & 10/31. Speaking out against the US military's new African Command; AFRICOM is currently staged in Stuttgart, Germany & is scheduled to be a fully functional military command in October 2008. Global student teach-in 10/24; day of protest 10/31. More info at www.africaaction.org

OPPORTUNITIES

American Friends Service Committee seeks Associate General Secretary for Inclusion; apply by 10/3; for more info see www.afsc.org/jobs

Public International Museum of Women calls for submissions from every corner of the world for a monthly exhibition on Women, Power, & Politics that showcases inspiring stories of women claiming & exercising their power; for questions or to submit online email subsmissions@imow.org, www.imow.org

Study Tour to Israel-Palestine; November 2008; In order to strengthen the voice of the international community, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions encourages people to visit the Occupied Territories & Israel to be an eye-witness to the situation on the ground; our study tours bring visitors to meet with key people from both sides of the divide examining several aspects of life today in Israel, Jerusalem, & Palestine. Sponsored by ICAHD & Experience Travel Tours; to learn more search "tours" at www.icahduk.org or email studytours80@hotmail.com

Open Society Fellowship seeks applicants for fellowships: innovative professionals -- including journalists, activists, scholars, & practitioners -- to work on projects that inspire meaningful public debate, shape public policy, & generate intellectual ferment within the Open Society Institute. More details at www.soros.org/initiatives/fellowship/focus_areas/guidelines

RESOURCES

American Wars: Illusions & Realities, Paul Buchheit, ed., 188 pp., $14.95 pb, 2008; Structured around 19 illusions about the Iraq war & all wars promoted by the US government & corporate media, Buchheit, the founder of fightingpoverty.org, has commissioned leading activists to, dispel the myths, one by one; Clarity Press, www.claritypress.com

Dissent: Voices of Conscience, Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq, Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright & Susan Dixon, eds., Foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; 278 pp.; $17.95 pb; One of the editors resigned her State Department post on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, both are peace activists. Howard Zinn wrote, "When the actions of government become dangerous to the security of the nation, it takes a special courage for men & women inside the government to speak out. If we care about keeping democracy alive, we must welcome this book." Koa Books, www.koabooks.com

We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now, Murray Polner & Thomas E. Woods, Jr., eds.; 352 pp; $16.95 pb; From classic statements to little-known letters, a collection of anti-war documents structured by the wars raging at the time. As the Union Theological Seminary 8 said, explaining their refusal to register for the draft in 1940, "We do not expect to stem the war forces today; but we are helping to build the movement that will conquer in the future." Basic Books, www.basicbooks.com

Baghdad Mon Amour, Selected Writings of Salah Al Hamdani, translated by Sonia Alland; 194 pp, $15 pb; Breyten Breytenbach says Al Hamdani, an Iraqi imprisoned by Hussein's regime in Abu Ghraib, is a poet & essayist in "the company of the ancient ones, the masters." Curbstone Press, www.curbstone.org

Everywhere All the Time: A New Deschooling Reader, Matt Hern, ed. ; 268 pp; $17.95 pb; Hern, the director of an alternative-to-school community center in Vancouver, compiled this collection of alternative educational voices, including Leo Tolstoy, Emma Goldman, Ivan Illich, & voices & artwork by alternatively schooled students; AK Press, www.akpress.org

Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor & A New Path Toward Social Justice, Bill Fletcher, Jr., & Fernando Gapasin; 304 pp; $24.95 hb; Mike Davis said, "a landmark in all debates about ëwhat next' for labor." University of California Press, www.ucpress.edu.

Reproduce & Revolt, Josh MacPhee & Favianna Rodriguez; 224 pp; $19.95; street posters, graffiti, bumper stickers -- activism depends on design to capture imaginations & spread a message. Reproduce & Revolt not only documents some of the best activist design work of the past few years, it shows readers how to do it themselves, & provides hundreds of images for free, unrestricted use; Soft Skull Press, www.softskull.com