Events

Collateral Damage (exhibit), 11/30-12/17; Tufts University's Aidekman Arts Center on Talbot Ave, Medford MA; an installation of 25 muslin fabric panels filled with ribbons representing victims in the Iraq war; ( 617/901-5266; www.ase.tufts.edu/gallery/shows/thesis [5]

Gulag: Soviet Forced Labor Camps and the Struggle for Freedom and Territories of Terror: Mythologies and Memories of the Gulag in Contemporary Russian-American Art, 10/24-1/14/07; Boston University Art Gallery; paired exhibits focus on the history and current artistic responses to the Gulag; 617/353-3329; 808 and 855 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA; www.bu.edu/art [6]

What's Next? Creating Another World in a Time of War, Empire, & Ecological Devastation, 12/14, 7-9:30 pm; Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St, Boston MA; $20; with Noam Chomsky & Alice Lovelace; benefit event for new Boston movement-building space & organizing center, Encuentro 5; reception 5-6:30 pm ($50) by reservation only at Encuentro 5; 617/482-6300; www.encuentro5.org [7]

Annual Christmas Caroling at ACI Women's Prison Unit, 12/24, 7pm; Cranston, MA; dress warmly, bring flashlights, lanterns, unscented candles. Songsheets provided; Joyce 401/247-1434

First Annual Peace on Earth Event, 12/30, 6-10 pm; 85 Seaverns Ave, Jamaica Plain MA; music, silent auction, raffle, screening of Sir, No Sir (film about GI resistance during Vietnam war), discussion with veterans; benefit for Military Families Speak Out & People United for Peace (a project of Boston Mobilization); sponsored by United for Justice with Peace, POB 390449, Central Square, Cambridge MA 02139; 617/491-4857; www.justicewithpeace.org [8]

Walk for a New Spring: Protest Nuclear Power & Nuclear Weapons, 2/25; a walk from Putney VT to the Entergy headquarters in North Brattleboro; Reverend Gyori Kato of Leverett Peace Pagoda will lead this walk as part of the Mayors for Peace Project; support vehicles will be available for anyone needing assistance; this is an alcohol- & drug-free event; for more information, contact Citizens' Action Network at can@nukebusters.org [9] or Deb Katz at 413/339-5781

Gatherings

International Day to Shut down Guantánamo, 1/11; Washington DC or organize your own vigil, demonstration, or community event on the 5th anniversary of the first prisoners being brought to Guantánamo; for action ideas, fact sheets, etc., contact Witness Against Torture c/o Jonah House, 1301 Moreland Ave, Baltimore MD 21216; 410/233-6238; www.witnesstorture.org [10]

Bring the Mandate for Peace to Washington DC, 1/27-29; Washington, DC; join United for Peace & Justice in a massive march on Washington, DC to call on Congress to take immediate action to end the war; United for Peace & Justice, 261 W. 36th St, New York NY 10018; 212/868-5545; www.unitedforpeace.org [11]

Friends Facing Genocide & Humanitarian Crisis: What Are We Called to Do? 1/26-28; Pendle Hill Conference Center, Wallingford PA; weekend conference led by Jack Patterson (recently Quaker Representative to the United Nations in New York), with Landrum Bolling, Charles Nelson, & Mary Lord. How are Friends called to respond to genocidal situations like the one in Darfur & other humanitarian crises? Join with others for an interactive conference on this provocative challenge to our peace testimony; Matching scholarships available. The Steve Cary Memorial Lecture by Jack Patterson is at 8 pm on Friday, 1/26 & is open & free to the public; Pendle Hill, 338 Plush Mill Rd, Wallingford PA 19086; 610/566-4507; registrar@pendlehill.org [12]

Facing Race, 3/22-24; New York City NY; a conference bringing together key policy advocates, academics, researchers, organizers, & activists interested in exploring innovative strategies & successful models for changing public policy to produce more racial equity; sponsored by the Applied Research Center & the Center for Humanities at CUNY Graduate Center; ARC, 32 Broadway #1801, New York NY 10004; 212/513-7925; www.arc.org [13]

Walk for a Nuclear-free Future, 3/24- 4/1 (including a day of public fasting on 3/28; to observe the anniversary of the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Citizens Awareness Network & the Buddhist order of Nipponzan Myohoji will coordinate a walk through Vermont towns to support safe, sustainable energy choices & abolish nuclear power & nuclear weapons; host communities & colleges will discuss issues surrounding Entergy's application for a 20-year license extension of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor & the dangers Vermont Yankee creates for New England; support vehicles will be available for anyone needing assistance; this is a drug- & alcohol-free event; contact CAN at can@nukebusters.org [14] or call Deb Katz, 413/339-5781

Alternatives to Empire: Latin American Solidarity Conference IV, 4/14-15; Chicago IL; US grassroots solidarity activists will be joined by activists & organizers from Latin America & the Caribbean to plan, evaluate, & celebrate the growing US Latin America solidarity movement; participants will exchange information & develop action plans; art & culture, which is an integral part of grassroots movement- building throughout the Americas, will be a strong component of the conference; sponsored by the Latin America Solidarity Coalition, www.lasolidarity.org [15]

Summer Peacebuilding Institute, four 7-day sessions 5/7-6/19; Harrisonburg VA; a place to share your experiences & to discover the interconnections between hope, conflict transformation, equitable development, protections of human rights, sustainable management of the environment, & global security; apply by 1/7 to the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding, EMU, Harrisonburg VA 22802; 540/432-4672; www.emu.edu/spi [16]

United States Social Forum, 6/27-7/1; Atlanta GA; come to connect with others, share your story, gain leadership skills, get inspired, link with a global movement that is changing the world; www.ussf2007.org [17]

Campaigns

Stop Construction of the Boston Bioterror Lab; organizers are urging NIH to hold a community meeting to answer questions about the potential impact of the lab on our health & lives, & to obtain our input into the risk; for a community petition & more information, visit www.stopthebiolab.org [18]

No Name Calling Week, 1/22-26; No sticks, no stones, no dissing; an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities; www.nonamecallingweek.org [19]

Think Outside the Bottle; students & religious activists across the country are calling on Coca-Cola, Nestlé, & Pepsi to provide water quality information about bottled water comparable to reports provided by public water utilities; Corporate Accountability International, 46 Plymouth St, Boston MA 02118; 617/695-2525; www.stopcorporateabuse.org [20]

Opportunities

Earlham College seeks Peace & Global Studies Professor (tenure-track) who will also serve as Director of the Peace & Global Studies Program; applications will be accepted until position is filled; you can find this posting & more about Earlham & the PAGS program at www.earlham.edu/jobs/pags.html [21]

Leading from Spirit, 1/19-20 & 4/27-28; Boston MA; trainings & workshops to create a world that works for all; Women s Theological Center, 140 Clarendon St, Boston MA 02116; 617/585-5655; www.thewtc.org [22]

"I Dream a World" Youth Arts Competition; an opportunity for youth (ages 13-20) to express their thoughts on peace, justice, & capital punishment; two- or three-dimensional artwork, electronic media, written word, performances, photography may all be submitted; cash prizes; entries must be postmarked by 5 pm on 3/1/07; cosponsored by American Friends Service Committee, 56 Arbor St 2nd floor, Hartford CT 06106; www.afsc.org/ct/idream.htm [23]

Resources

TRUCE Annual Toy Action Guide from Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment, a national group of educators concerned about the impact of children's entertainment & toys on the play & behavior of children; the guide (available on-line) discusses ways to engage kids in creative, developmentally appropriate play, offers tips on how to help both children & adults resist pernicious marketing ploys, & recommends a few currently available toys (at affordable prices) for different ages; TRUCE, POB 441261, Somerville MA 02144; www.truceteachers.org [24]

Peace Bonds for $10-500; these beautiful "bonds," with designs chosen from annual international competitions, represent donations to the Nonviolent Peaceforce, which sends teams of unarmed peacemakers to areas of conflict in several countries; www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org [25]

Gifts with Heart & Hope; honor your family & friends with the gift of a goat for a family in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere; there are several other gifts to choose from as well, shop online at www.afsc.org/give/give.htm [26]

Chicana/Latina Education in Everyday Life: Feminist Perspectives on Pedagogy & Epistemology, Dolores Delgado Bernal, C. Alejandra Elenes, Francisca E. Godinez, & Sofia Villenas, eds.; also new from SUNY Press, Battered Black Women & Welfare Reform: Between a Rock & a Hard Place, by Dána-Ain Davis; Solving the Health Care Problem: How Other Nations Succeeded & Why the United States Has Not, by Pamela Behan; SUNY Press, 194 Washington Ave #305, Albany NY 12210; 518/472-5000; www.sunypress.edu [27]

Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families Left Behind; a report from Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, with a foreword from Amnesty International USA; this report, which grows out of the No Silence, No Shame project, presents the voices & experiences of three dozen surviving family members of people who have been executed in the United States; MVFHR, 2161 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02140; 617/491-9600; www.mvfhr.org [28]

Communities without Borders, David Bacon; 235 pp; 29.95 hb; 148 half-tones; In this work of photojournalism and oral history, David Bacon documents the new reality of migrant experience: the creation of transnational communities; Cornell University Press, www.cornellpress.cornell.edu [29]

Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq, Mike Ferner; an account of a peace activist's two journeys from Ohio to Baghdad, the first trip just before the US invasion in 2003, & the second a year later; includes interviews with soldiers, journalists, Iraqi citizens, Cliff Kindy of Christian Peacemaker Teams, & Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence; Greenwood Publishing Group, 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881; 203/226-3571; www.praeger.com [30]

Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace, Maxine Hong Kingston, ed.; contributors include combat veterans, medics, & others who have served in war, gang members, drug users, victims of domestic violence, draft resisters, deserters, & peace activists; Koa Books, POB 822, Kihei, HI 96753; www.koabooks.com [31]

What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, & the State of the Nation, edited by the South End Press Collective; this book takes readers beyond the Superdome & demonstrates why US government amnesia must not be permitted; in this book, survivors & commentators explore the complexity of what could be a fundamental turning point in US history; SEP, 7 Brookline St #1, Cambridge, MA 02139; 617/547-4002, www.southendpress.org [32]

Activist Forum: Films for Organizers

Peacework asked activists across the country to fill in the blank, "If I could show one under-appreciated film or video to a room full of potential organizers, I'd show..." and explain why or how they'd use that film. A selection of their responses follows. Several of the more commercial of these films can be located via www.imdb.com [33]. Some of them can be borrowed through the AFSC film and video library, www.afsc.org/resources/video-film.htm [34], and these films are marked below with an asterisk*. Please comment on these movies, and suggest your favorite activist films, on our first-ever, experimental, Peacework readers' forum [35]. If you wish, you can close the forum and return to this article [36], or to the table of contents for the December 2006/January 2007 issue [37] in which this article appeared.