October 2003

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

PIECES

Exploring the Reality of Privilege & Entitlement (half-day conference series); $15 per session; all programs 10 am-1 pm, at Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Ave., Cambridge MA 02138; 10/9, "The Invisible Legacy of Male Privilege" with Allan Johnson; 10/16, "What is Heterosexual Privilege?" with B.K. Hipsher; 10/23, "How Many Privileges are Rooted in Economics?" with Robert Reich; 10/30, "Privilege is Invisible to Those Who Have It" with Karen Hansen; 11/6, "The Costs of Privilege for the Dominants" with Shulamit Reinharz; 11/13, "What Incentives Are There for Dominants to Change?: The Complexities of Breaking Out of Privilege & Entitlement" with Jill Stein; 11/20, "Dismantling Privilege" with Mary Elizabeth Hobgood; for more information visit http://hds.harvard.edu/TOP

So Who Is this Columbus Guy Anyway? 10/12, noon-6 pm; music, speakers, & the film Is the Crown at War With Us (1 pm); sponsored by the North American Indian Center of Boston, 105 South Huntington Ave, Boston MA 02130; 617/232-0343

Tainted Legacy: 9-11 & the Ruin of Human Rights, 10/19, 10 am; First Parish Church, 75 The Great Road on the Town Common of Bedford, MA; Reverend William Schulz is the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; for more information call 781/275-7994

Cambridge Peace & Justice Awards, 10/25, 6:30-10 pm; Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle St., Cambridge MA; suggested donation $10 adults, $5 children; presentations & performances by Soul Brown, Underground Railway Theater, Dagger, A Besere Velt; dancing to Beats not Bombs DJ Ben Yamin; please RSVP by 10/20; child care available if requested by 10/10; Cambridge Peace Commission, 51 Inman St., Cambridge MA 02139; 617/349-4694

Race in the College Classroom, 11/5, 7 pm; Simmons College, 3rd Floor Conference Center, 300 The Fenway, Boston; Did affirmative action programs solve the problem of race on American college campuses? If so, why does talking about race in anything more than a superficial way make so many students uncomfortable? Authors Bonnie Tusmith & Maureen Reddy call on a variety of academic disciplines to take a bold first step toward a nationwide conversation. Wheelchair accessible; co-sponsored by the Center for New Words, 186 Hampshire St, Cambridge MA 02139; 617/876-5310; www.centerfornewwords.org

Celebrate 35 Years of Action for Racial Justice, 11/8, 6 pm; Boston Center for the Arts, in Boston's South End; Founded in 1968, Community Change, Inc. is a center for action & collaboration among individuals & multiracial grassroots groups in the fight to achieve racial justice & equity; music, silent auction, "Images of Purpose" (exhibit by photographers Reginald Jackson, Lou Jones, & Don West), & CCI founder Horace Seldon's 80th birthday!; CCI, 14 Beacon St., Boston MA 02108; 617/523-0555

Bread & Puppet comes to Cambridge! "Oratorio of the Possibilitarians," 11/13-23, Thurs-Sun, 8 pm (first week) & Wed-Sun, 8 pm (second week); "Victory over Everything Circus" (a family-friendly show), 11/22 & 23, 3 pm; both shows will be at the YMCA in Central Square, Cambridge MA; B&P is world-renowned for its creative, subversive performances featuring masked characters & giant papier-mache puppets; volunteers sought to participate in these performances! (dancers, actors, puppeteers, painters, musicians, sculptors, office workers, truck drivers, carpenters) Rehearsals required; in addition, there is a "Symposium on Subversive Papier Mache & Other Tools for Creative Dissent" 11/17, 7 pm; $5 (free for volunteers); for more information contact Mary Curtin, 617/241-9664; Bread & Puppet, 700 Andersonville Rd, W. Glover VT 05875

Noam Chomsky, 12/2, 7 pm; Merrimack College, North Andover, MA; $7; benefit for Massachusetts Anti-Corporate Clearinghouse; buy your tickets now, as we expect to sell out! MACC. POB 1382, Lawrence MA 01842; 978/683-3967; info@stopcorporatecontrol.org

Take Back Your Time Day, 10/24; Overwork threatens our health & relationships, reduces employment, reduces our participation in our democracy, & contributes to the destruction of our environment; on 10/24, take part or all of the day off work & join in to initiate a much-needed national conversation about work/life balance & how we can reclaim it; visit www.timeday.org

End Child Labor; today an estimated 250 million children in the world work as child laborers, despite important, internationally ratified treaties making child labor illegal; contact Earth Action, a network of legislators, organization, & citizens, for a media packet, action postcards, educational materials, posters ("You Are a Child: You Work More Hours a Day than Your Age"), & more; Earth Action, 30 Cottage St, Amherst MA 01002; 413/549-8118; www.earthaction.org

No Torture for Profit; the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), a law passed in 1789 by the first US Congress, is the human rights tool that provides victims of the most egregious human rights violations perpetrated by corporations with an avenue to stand up for their rights & seek justice in US courts. The law is now under attack by organizations representing some of the world's most powerful corporations. EarthRights International recently launched the No Torture for Profit Campaign to defend the ATCA; for more information visit www.notortureforprofit.org

Peace Calendar 2004 celebrates & honors the unprecedented, worldwide peace movement that sprang to life in opposition to the illegitimate US war on Iraq; $12.95; full-color; also available, the 2004 Women Artists Datebook ($13.95) & the Rebels & Radicals Perpetual Calendar ($10.95), a colorful tribute to the power of music, with vibrant cut-paper art; bulk discounts available; Syracuse Cultural Workers, Box 6367, Syracuse NY 13217; 315/474-1132 x102; www.syrculturalworkers.org

Power Trip: US Unilateralism & Global Strategy after September 11, John Feffer, ed.; $14.95 pb; 254 pp; The Bush administration's aggressive, first-strike military doctrine & dangerous disregard of international norms represent a decisive shift in US global policy. Power Trip presents original essays from leading legal, geopolitical, & cultural analysts that tackle the substance & consequences of this shift; authors include Barbara Ehrenreich, Ahmed Rahid, Coletta Youngers, Michael Klare, & others; Seven Stories Press, 140 Watts St, New York NY 10013; 212/226-8760; www.sevenstories.com

Ideas for Action: Relevant Theory for Radical Change, Cynthia Kaufman; $40 hb/$20 pb; 332 pp; notes, index, bibliography; from Marxism to post-structuralism, feminism to critical race theory, Cynthia Kaufman interrogates & evaluates both strengths & weaknesses of a wide range of political movements & ideologies; South End Press, 7 Brookline St #1, Cambridge MA 02139-4146; 617/547-4002; www.southendpress.org

An Eye for an Eye Makes the World Blind, Allen Cohen & Clive Matson, eds.; $18 + $4 s&h; poetry anthology that creates an alternative historical record to the din of collective madness & uniformity that has characterized our national dialogue; foreword by Michael Parenti; poets include Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Shepherd Bliss, Robert Pinsky, Lyn Lifshin, Michael McClure, Nellie Wong, Coleman Barks, Diane di Prima, devorah major, Robert Creeley, Daniel Berrigan, Al Young; Regent Press, 6020-A Adeline Street, Oakland CA 94608; 510/547-7602

Empire is Not Healthy for Children & Other Living Things: Exploring the Dynamics & Human Costs of US Empire, 10/10-11; Simmons College, Boston MA; American Friends Service Committee's third annual New England-wide peace conference; with Zia Mian, Ellen Frank, Irene Gendzier, Magdalena Gomez, Nancy Murray, Joseph Gerson, Ed Rodman, & others; to register, send $30 payable to AFSC (memo "10/10 conference"), 2161 Mass. Ave, Cambridge MA 02140; scholarships available; co-sponsored by Simmons Institute for leadership & Change & Simmons College History Department; for more information, contact Joseph Gerson, 617/661-6130

Seeking Justice, Ending Homelessness, 10/18, 9:30 am-4 pm; Plymouth Church UCC, Framingham MA; $25 (scholarships available); sponsored by Faith Into Action Together & the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless; contact Sr. Linda Bessom, 617/423-9162 x103; lindabmch@aol.com

Making the Connection: Human Health & Environmental Exposures, 10/24, 8 am-5 pm; University of New England, Biddeford ME; keynotes by Richard Jackson & Sandra Steingraber; register with Donna Richard, 207/283-0170 x2589; drichard@une.edu; sponsored by Maine Physicians for Social Responsibility, POB 1771, Portland ME 04104; 207/772-6714

Demonstrate to End the Occupation of Iraq, 10/25; Washington, DC; a massive rally co-sponsored by Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) & United For Peace & Justice (UFPJ); for information visit www.unitedforpeace.org

Global Warming: An Interfaith Service of Repentance & Renewal, 11/12, 11 am; New York City; gather at the Community Church of NY for the service, then process to the UN to visit various UN missions & speak out about global warming; this date marks 5 years since the US signed the UN Kyoto Protocol to reduce fossil fuels. It was never ratified; sponsored by Religious Witness for the Earth, POB 642, Littleton MA 01460-2642; 413/625-6967; www.religiouswitness.org

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health & Sexual Rights Conference, 11/13-16; Spelman College, Atlanta GA; registration $45; participation is open to all; sponsored by National Center for Human Rights Education, POB 311020, Atlanta GA 31131; 404/344-9629; www.sistersong.net

Sow Justice, Reap Security Conference, 11/15, 9 am-5 pm; Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge MA; In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Grassroots International, a full day of stimulating exchange with our partners from around the world doing path-breaking social justice work; keynote by Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians); presenters include Josefina Aranda (State Coordinator of Coffee Producers of Oaxaca, Mexico), Osman Idris (National Union of Eritrean Youth & Students, Eritrea), Celine Noel (Peasant Movement of Papaye, Haiti), Massachusetts Representative Byron Rushing, & many more; awards, music, food, dancing; register with GI, 179 Boylston 4th fl., Boston MA 02130; 617/524-1400 x10

Justice for the People of the Americas--Converge on Fort Benning, GA, 11/22-23; though recently renamed, this US military facility continues to offer an education in the tactics & techniques of oppression, & is still producing notorious human rights abusers in Latin America & elsewhere; for more information, contact School of the Americas Watch, POB 4566, Washington DC 20017

Public Conversations Project Trainings (all trainings are in Watertown, MA or Newton, MA); 10/23-24, "Reflective Leadership in Frenzied Times"; 11/20-22, "The Power of Dialogue: Constructive Conversations on Divisive Issues"; PCP, 46 Kondazian St, Watertown MA 02472; 888/727-8326; www.publicconversations.org

Boston Office Space Available for Nonprofit; sublet from Community Change, Inc.; 1 room, 330 rentable square feet plus large storage closet & access to meeting space & conference room; location is 14 Beacon St across from the Statehouse in Boston; inquire with Paul Marcus or Carol Rinehart, 617/523-0555

Buddhist Inmate Project is an independent interfaith Sangha dedicated to providing spiritual support for Buddhists behind bars; Buddhist books, magazines, videos, & audiocassettes are donated to prisons & inmates around the US upon request; donations of new or used books & literature on Buddhism & Eastern philosophy are welcome at Buddhist Inmate Sangha, c/o Betty Lu Buck, POB 16, Culp Creek OR 97427-0016; if you would like to be a pen pal for an inmate, e-mail buddhistinmatesangha-owner@yahoogroups.com

Whites Confronting Racism, 11/14-15; Philadelphia PA; a day & a half for white folks who want to learn how to begin to be anti-racist allies; with Antje Mattheus & Lorraine Marino; Training for Change, 1501 Cherry St, Philadelphia PA 19102; 215/241-7035; www.trainingforchange.org

Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship, a 6- to 9-month program that provides college graduates the opportunity to work in Washington, DC, with a public interest organization focusing on arms control & international security issues; the fellowship provides a stipend, health insurance, & travel costs to Washington; deadline 2/1 for the fall 2004 fellowship; both US citizens & foreign nationals residing in the US are eligible to apply; to learn more, visit www.scoville.org

Poets Against the War Seeks Submissions; The war goes on, & so does poetsagainstthewar.org; more than ever, we need to speak out, share our poetry, & take action to end this war--which is not over, despite the words of the Bush Administration. Help us make a powerful statement for peace, joining with thousands of other poets around the world. To submit a poem, become a member (free PAW t-shirt!), or organize a poetry reading against the war, visit http://poetsagainstthewar.org

Theology Researcher seeks congregations who have sustained interfaith/interrreligious relationships & ministries in their community. Also interested in congregations who have worked to address social/economic class. Contact Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138; 617/868-3450 x344; skujawa@episdivschool.edu

Volunteer with Tech Corps in Boston's Public Schools; if you have skills in web development, tech support, HTML, databases, software development, you can help make technology make a difference for a Boston school; contact Amy Carrier, Tech Corps, 2 Clock Tower Place #340, Maynard MA 01754; 978/897-0281; www.techcorps.org

Peacewriting seeks book-length manuscripts about the causes, consequences, & solutions to violence & war; prizes for best non-fiction manuscript, best imaginative work, & work for young people; deadline 12/1; PeaceWriting, 2582 Jimmie Ave, Fayetteville AR 72703-3420; 501/442-4600

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