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EVENTS
"My Name is Rachel Corrie" & "Pieces" (two plays), 3/8-30; tickets $10-25; New Repertory Theater, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown MA 02472; "My Name is Rachel Corrie" is taken from the writings of a 23-year-old US activist who was killed in the West Bank trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a civilian home in the Gaza Strip; edited by Alan Rickman & Katharine Viner; "Pieces" is the autobiographical account of Zohar Tirosh as she recounts her two years in the Israeli army, performed by the author; the plays will be performed in rotating repertory & each performance will be followed by a post-show "talkback" with the actress & a member of the New Rep Theater artistic staff; other events & exhibitions to accompany the plays as well; for tickets call 617/923-8487 or visit www.newrep.org [4]
Celebrate Cathy Hoffman & the Peace Commission, 3/9, 5:30-8:30 pm; Washburn Hall, Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge MA; please join Derrick Jackson, Jimmy Tingle, Cathy Hoffman, & Cambridge to celebrate 20 years of Cathy's work & 25 years of the Cambridge Peace Commission, as Cathy, the Commission's first Director, prepares for retirement; for more info, nancyryan4@comcast.net [5]
Building Workers' Power! 3/20, 7 pm (6 pm reception); Suffolk Downs, 111 Waldemar Ave, East Boston; tickets sliding scale from $40; annual dinner of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, this year honoring Ed Boyle, Boston Hotel Workers Rising, Verizon business workers, Quincy teachers, SLAM, & the Harvard hunger strikers; JwJ, 3353 Washington St, Boston MA 02130; 617/525-8996; www.massjwj.net [6]
Good Friday Peace Vigil, 3/21, 11 am-2 pm; Tremont Street sidewalk near Park Street Station, Boston MA; Friends Meeting of Cambridge sponsors this silent vigil, which speaks to Boston for the Quaker peace testimony on Good Friday every year; meeting for worship is hosted by nearby Beacon Hill Friends House (6 Chestnut St, 617/227-9118) at 10 am before the vigil; join us for worship or any part of the vigil; for more information call Cambridge Friends at 617/876-6883
Silent Vigil Against the Death Penalty, 3/21 (Good Friday), 4-6 pm; Reading
Common (intersection of Rtes 28 & 129) in Reading MA; sponsored by Mass Citizens
Against the Death Penalty; contact A.E. Cerino, 671/246-2627
GATHERINGS
Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan, 3/13-16;Washington DC; sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Winter Soldier will allow returning veterans to testify about atrocities they have witnessed or committed, & to present photographic & video evidence; in addition, there will be panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, & other specialists to give context to the testimony; the event will be televised live through Dish Network & many public access cable stations, & live audio stream will be available at www.kpfa.org [7]; IVAW, POB 8296, Philadelphia PA 19101; 215/241-7123; www.ivaw.org [8]
Split This Rock Poetry Festival, 3/20-23; Washington, DC; Come celebrate our great tradition of poetry of witness & resistance; readings, workshops, panel discussions on poetry & social change, youth programming, films, parties, walking tours, & activism -- a unique opportunity to hone our activist skills while we assess & debate the public role of the poet & the poem in this time of crisis; with Jimmy Santiago Baca, Carolyn Forche, Galway Kinnell, Semezhdin Mehmedinovic, Sonia Sanchez, & many others; STRPF, Institute for Policy Studies, 1112 16th St NW #600, Washington DC 20036; 202/787-5210; www.splitthisrock.org [9]
WAM! Women, Action, & the Media, 3/28-30, MIT's Stata Center, Cambridge, MA. Share facts & ideas, develop skills, build collaborations, & create action plans to amplify progressive women's public voices in society. Keynotes by Helen Thomas & Iraqi columnist Haifa Zangana. Co-sponsored by the Center for New Words, 7 Temple Street, Cambridge, MA 02139; 617/876-5310, www.centerfornewwords.org/wam [10]
White Privilege Conference, 4/2-5; Springfield, MA; an annual opportunity to critically examine systems of racism, power, & privilege; the workshops, keynotes, institutes not only inofrm participants, but also engage & challenge them, while providing practical tips and strategies for combating racial inequality; this conference is not about beating up on white folks, but about critically examining the society in which we live & working to dismantle systems of pwere, prejudice, privilege, & oppression; sponsored by the Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity & Inclusion at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; for more information or to register, visit www.uccs.edu/wpc [11]
StratCom: The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, 4/11-13; Omaha, NE; annual space organizing conference of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space; rally, workshops, & speakers including Joanne Sheehan, Bruce Gagnon, Bal Pinguel, & many more; Global Network, PO Box 652, Brunswick ME 04011; 207/443-9502; www.space4peace.org [12]
National Conference for Media Reform, 6/6-8; Minneapolis MN; join activists,
media makers, educators, journalists, policymakers
& concerned citizens in calling for real & lasting changes to our nation's
media system; with Amy Goodman, Dan Rather, Bill Moyers, Van Jones, & Naomi
Klein, & many others; sponsored by Free Press, 501 Third St NW #875, Washington
DC 20001; 202/265-1490; www.freepress.net [13]
CAMPAIGNS
The International Violence Against Women Act , if passed in the US Congress,
would consistently incorporate solutions for reducing violence against women into
US foreign assistance programs. Sign the IVAWA petition at www.womensedgecoalition.org [14].
OPPORTUNITIES
United Students Against Sweatshops seeks Development Coordinator, Domestic Campaigns Coordinator, & International Campaigns Coordinator; all positions based in Washington DC; letter, resume & completed application by 3/15; USAS, 1150 7th St NW #200, Washington DC 20036; 202/667-9328; www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org [15]; to register@usasnet.org [16]
Green Job Board launched by Grist.org to connect socially & environmentally conscious employers with progressive, green-leaning job candidates; http://jobs.grist.org [17]
Be the Change: Upstanders for Human Rights (free on-line workshop for educators), 4/7-18; through facilitated online activities, educators will learn a variety of ways they can use the "Be the Change" web site with their students; receive feedback, share lesson ideas & resources, & connect with other educators from around the globe; sponsored by Facing History & Ourselves, 16 Hurd Rd, Brookline MA 02445; 617/232-1595; www.facinghistory.org [18]
RESOURCES
Fire Sale for Peace & Justice; United for Peace & Justice is clearing out merchandise at dramatically reduced prices: packs of 500 "Bush Lies, Who Dies?" stickers are now just $17.50; "He's Not My President" t-shirts, sweatshirts & baby onesies are up to 70% off! "We the People Say No to the Bush Agenda" flags now just $20 each! & finally, our beautiful 2008 Peace Calendars are now available for just $3! All proceeds will help UFPJ to accomplish our ambitious program of work for 2008; UFPJ, POB 607, Times Square Station, New York NY 10108; 212/868-5545; www.unitedforpeace.org [19]
We Interrupt this Empire... (video, 2003); 52 mins; available on-line or on DVD; a collaborative work by many of the Bay Area's independent video activists which documents the direct actions that shut down the financial district of San Francisco in the weeks following the US invasion of Iraq; with live broadcasts from the SF Independent Media Center, the documentary takes a look at the diverse show of resistance as well as providing a critique of the corporate media coverage of the war; Whispered Media, POB 40130, San Francisco CA 94140; 415/789-8484; noempire@videoactivism.org [20]
Share an Organizing Tip! [21] Did you ever receive a pearl of social change wisdom? Please pass it on to others. What idea, tactic, approach, strategy, mind-set, or tool do you wish you began to grasp earlier?
Ask for an Organizing Tip! [22] With what organizing issue are you struggling? Maybe you can answer someone else's question.
What organizing resource [23] should be added to Peacework's Organizing Resources [24] list? Please share your ideas.