 October 2001
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
PIECES
Events Peace Vigils, at Newport War College in Providence RI, Tuesdays 7-9 am; at Undersea Warfare Center in Middletown RI, Thursdays 3:30-5 pm; contact Rhode Island Mobilization for Peace & Justice, POB 23157, Providence RI 02903-4102
Paris Carriger - 21 Years on Death Row, 11/6, 8-9:30 pm;
Amnesty International,
Readings at New Words Women's Bookstore; all events
at New Words Bookstore, 186 Hampshire St, Cambridge MA 02139 (wheelchair
accessible); 11/8,
Fashion Show for the Clothing Center, 11/9, 6-8:30 pm;
Cambridge Friends Center,
Political Research Associates' 20th Anniversary Celebration,
11/9, 6-8:30 pm; the Abiel Smith School (next to the African Meeting
House), 48 Joy St., Boston MA; help us celebrate 20 years of PRA's
work as a leader in research & publications on right wing
efforts to limit justice & equality; for more information,
contact PRA, 1310 Broadway #201, Somerville MA 02144;
Byron Rushing on "Prayer in Public Life",
11/16, 7:30 pm; Haley House, A Question of Color, 11/30-12/2; $15; a dramatic reading of playwright Michael Bettencourt's script examining the outcome of America's miscegenation laws at the beginning of the 20th century & their impact on one family; appropriate for high school students; Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., Cambridge MA 02141; 617/577-1400; www.cmacusa.org Charlie King's Christmas Concert, 12/7, 7:30 pm; Haley House, 23 Dartmouth St., Boston MA 02117; potluck dinner at 6 pm; 617/236-8132; www.haleyhouse.org Opportunities American Friends Service Committee seeks Youth & Militarism Program Assistant; letter & resume by 12/3 to Clara Wright, Human Resources Dept., AFSC, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102-1479; www.afsc.org Rethinking Schools seeks Managing Editor; RS is an independent, non-profit educational publisher advocating the reform of public schools; resume, clips, & sample publications to Personnel Committee, Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milwaukee WI 53212; www.rethinkingschools.org Nonviolent Peaceforce seeks Fundraising Coordinator to take the organization to the next level as we plan our international convening event; Nonviolent Peaceforce, 301 Front Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103; 651/487-0800; www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org
Tallahassee for Equality & Action in Ministry seeks
Lead Organizer; TEAM is a coalition of churches working for justice
in Tallahassee, FL; resume by 11/15 to Ben McConnell, The Dart
Center, 1612 Valentine Rd. #2W, Kansas City MO 64111;
Quaker United Nations Office seeks 2 interns from 9/02-8/03;
stipend & medical coverage; applications due 2/8; for information
& application form, contact QUNO,
Woodbury College Weekend Mediation/Conflict Management Program;
Peacemaker Training Institute; 1/2-8; Bangor PA; helps
youth ages 17-25 become more effective peace & justice leaders;
developed by the Fellowship of Reconciliation; Kirkridge Retreat
& Study Center, Bangor PA; POB 271, Nyack, NY 10960; Seminars on Building & Maintaining an EEO Workplace, 11/27, 12/13, & 1/29, 8-10 am; Massachusetts Bar Association, 20 West St., Boston MA; $10; each session has a different theme; walk-ins welcome, but advance registration appreciated; sponsored by Affirmative Action Voices, POB 380928, Cambridge MA 02238-0928; 617/876-4185 Environmental & Labor Delegation to Colombia: Impacts of US Drug War Policy, 1/15-27; sponsored by Witness for Peace; for application & information contact Elizabeth Miller, 202/588-1471; miller@witnessforpeace.org Resources Syracuse Cultural Workers Peace Calendar; $12.95; with a glorious picture of frog-headed can-can dancers on the cover ("When Puppets Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Puppets"), many other gift items as well; to order or request a catalogue, SCW, Box 6367, Syracuse NY 13217; 315/474-1132; www.syrculturalworkers.org Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International, Jonathan Power; $30 hb; 352 pp.; Northeastern University Press, c/o CUP Services, Box 6525, Ithaca NY 14851; www.unpress.neu.edu
Going Public: Conscientious Objectors of the Gulf War (24-page
booklet) reports on a February 2001 gathering of US military resisters
from the Gulf War; like the gathering, the booklet is forward-looking,
not nostalgic; $2; Harold Jordan, American Friends Service Committee,
1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102; Jim Hightower's New Chautauqua (video & audio recordings); recordings of the September Chautauqua in Unity, ME include Richard Grossman "The History of Human/Corporate Confrontation: How They Got the Upper Hand"; Jim Hightower "The Modern Populist Renaissance: Why This Time is Different, Why We Can Win"; Doris "Granny D" Haddock "Cutting Corporate Wealth, Noise, & Power Out of Politics for Good"; Carolyn Chute "Not Right or Left, but Up or Down: Bringing the Force Back Down to the People"; & more speakers, plus music; videotape of whole event $25; audiotapes of each half $15; Roger Leisner, Radio Free Maine, POB 2705, Augusta ME 04338; rleisner04330@yahoo.com; www.radiofreemaine.com
Surviving in a Material World: The Lived Experience of People
in Poverty, Ronald Paul Hill; $22.95 hb; 184 pp; summaries
of the author's scholarly research, photographs, &
short narratives of individuals' lives, focusing on 6 different
aspects of poverty; University of Notre Dame Press, Chicago Distribution
Center, 11030 Still Separate & Unequal: US Schools Increasingly Move Backwards in Desegregation, lead article by Gary Orfield in Fall 2001 issue of Rethinking Schools; $7.50 individual issue, $15 for 6-issue subscription; RS, 1001 E. Keefe Ave, Milwaukee WI 53212; 414/964-9646; www.rethinkingschools.org Hebron Journal: Stories of Nonviolent Peacemaking, Arthur Gish; $18; 256 pp; from 1995 to 2001, Gish lived with Muslim families, engaging in nonviolent actions with Israelis & Palestinians, and working with Christian Peacemaker Teams to find creative responses to situations of injustice; Herald Press, 616 Walnut Ave, Scottdale PA 15683-1999; 800/245-7894; www.mph.org Gateside Hospitality Centers provide shelter, food, & information to families visiting inmates at 36 of New York State's 70 prisons. For more information or to support the Centers, contact Patmos Associates, 62 Park Terrace West #A28, New York NY 10034; 212/567-0995 Gatherings Youth Conference: Building Resistance Peace by Piece, 11/12, 10 am-4 pm; Deerfield MA; a forum for youth dedicated to building resistance to violence in all its forms, discussion of the roots of violence & racism in the military & our society; with workshops led by youth organizers, activists, & hip hop artists; information on draft resistance; for more information, directions, or to reserve a space, call the American Friends Service Committee at 413/584-8975
Human Rights & How the Changing Face of the World Affects
Vermont;
Close the School of the Americas,
Campaigns
Do Something: Buy Nothing! 11/23 is Buy Nothing Day, a
universal consumption boycott on the year's busiest shopping
day; in Providence, bring a winter coat for someone in need to
the RI State House, 11 am-3 pm; for events in other areas or to
plan one yourself, contact Adbusters, 1243 West 7th Ave., Vancouver
BC, V6H 1B7 Canada;
Contacting US Policy Makers At <government.aol.com> you can easily find how who your US Senators and Representatives are, who their staff people are, and how to reach them. And here are a few other important people to address: President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice can all be contacted at:The White House, 1600 Pennsylvanian Avenue, Washington, DC 20500; 202/456-1414; Fax: 202/456-2461 <president@whitehouse.gov>
Secretary of State Colin Powell, US Department of State,
2201 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20520; 202/647-4000; Fax: 202/261-8577
<secretary@state.gov> Not all contacts get the same attention. Opinions vary about what kind of communication makes the biggest difference. The following scale of effectiveness, although not true science, is said to generally apply: Email or petition: Least effective (and sometimes disregarded, due to government mailboxes filled with "spam.") Faxed message: 10 times more effective Phone call: 100 times more effective Letter: 1000 times more effective (Eds. note: In this era of anthrax, postcards may get better mileage) Faxes: Good choice because of anthrax Personal visit: Most effective
--Compiled by William Thompson, PhD <wthomson@umich.edu>
Denise Altvater Receives Ford Foundation Award
Denise Altvater, coordinator of American Friends Service Committee's
Wabanaki Youth Program, has been chosen as one of 20 recipients
of the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World
Award. The award provides $100,000 of program support over a two-year
period, with an additional $30,000 for independent learning. The
award recognizes and supports Denise Altvater's work helping
members of the Wabanaki Confederacy--made up of four northeast
New England native tribes--to break through the isolation
and poverty of rural Maine. To reach the Wabankai Program: Denise
Altvater, 207/853-6691; daltvater@afsc.org Blankets for Afghan Refugees
Blankets, quilts, and sleeping bags in excellent condition--and
cash are needed for Afghan refugees. To help, mail your donation
to: American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia
PA 19102-1479; earmark your contribution for "AFSC-Afghan
Relief." You may also deliver your blankets in person to
the above address, Monday through Friday, 9 am-5 pm, or to the
AFSC Clothing Center, in the basement of Cambridge Friends Meeting,
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge Massachusetts on Tuesdays & Thursdays,
10-5. In Cambridge, blankets must be received by 12/6.
To contribute via Visa or Mastercard, call 888/588-2372 x1; for
more information on AFSC call 215/241-7060.
Letters Peter Loeb, Boston:
How can we once again live in such a season of hate? I grew up
hearing the recorded sounds of the English blitz, of the sirens
going off.... In the fifties I walked London streets where many
buildings were former buildings, just holes in the ground. Pain--has an Element of Blank-- It cannot recollect When it begun--or if there were
A time when it was not-- It has no Future--but itself-- Its Infinite contain Its Past--enlightened to perceive New Periods--of Pain.
--Emily Dickinson, Poem #650 Nick Kennedy, Oakland, CA
With the increasing complexity and interdependence of today's
world, and the growing availability of the technology capable
of bringing it to a halt and causing mass destruction, I think
that to acheive any kind of security (national or global) it is
necessary to realize that we are all existing at each other's
forbearance. Of course it is necessary to put in place rational
security measures, but it is even more important not to create
a class of people who have nothing to lose. From a joint statement by many Catholic Worker communities in the US and Mexico. We are Catholic Workers and we are still pacifists. We invite you to participate with us in all of our wildest dreams for peace. We invite you to clamber off the wheel of violence. It is the only worthy legacy we can offer to those who have died. We invite you to join us as we re-examine our consciences, our spiritual paths, our concepts of God, our commitment to a better world.
We are Catholic Workers and we still believe... the only solution
is love. Correction In the October 2001 issue of Peacework, we printed an excerpt with the title "From a Statement by the Dalai Lama." We have since learned from the Office of Tibet in Exile to the Americas, which is the official representative of the Dalai Lama, that he did not in fact issue this statement. To learn what communications the Dalai Lama has made since September 11, contact the Office of Tibet, 241 E. 32nd St., New York NY 10016; 212/213-5010; otny@igc.org. |
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