May 2000

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

Benefit Concert for the Jean Hosmer Memorial Fund, 5/6, 8 pm; First Churches of Northampton, 129 Main St.; $5-15 sliding scale; with Andrea Ayvazian, Jim Armenti, & Janet Hood; proceeds will help fund the plaque being placed on Center Street in Northampton where Jean Hosmer was killed by her estranged husband in October 1999; sponsored by AFSC, 140 Pine St. #10, Florence MA 01060; 413/584-1801

Millennium Rainbow, an exhibit celebrating Greater Boston's LGBT Youth, 5/6-31; Gallery Lounge, Northeastern University, Curry Student Center #142 (first floor); opening reception 5/6, 4-6 pm; gallery open 10 am-8 pm daily; sponsored by The History Project, 46 Pleasant St., Cambridge MA 02139; Jay Laird, 617/349-6486; project10e@aol.com

Panama Deception (film), 5/12, 7 pm; Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, 170 Park St., Bangor ME 04401; 207/942-9343

Kids for Peace Benefit Concert, 5/13,
7 pm; Maple Ridge Bruderhof, Ulster Ridge NY; $17/adult, $12/child; MRB, 10 Hellbrook Ln., Ulster Park NY 12487; 914/339-6680

Annual Mothers' Call for Peace; 5/13,
11 am-1 pm; Ellis Square, 225 Cabot St., Beverly MA; focus on the abolition of land mines, silent vigil from 11-noon, program from noon-1 with Mary White; child care provided; sponsored by the North Shore Friends Meeting, c/o Glen Urquhart School, 74 Hart St., Beverly Farms MA 01915

A Mother's Walk for Peace, 5/14, 8 am (registration 6:30 am); Fields Corner, Dorchester MA; a 3.6 mile pledge walk to remember homicide victims & highlight the need for parents to band together to protect each other's children; to support the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, 1452 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester MA 02122; 617/825-1917; peace@thecia.net; www2.thecia.net/users/peace

Mothers' March: Honoring the Labor of Women, 5/15, 11 am; starts from African Meeting House, 8 Smith Ct. (off Joy St., Beacon Hill); join Coalition for Basic Human Needs, Working Massachusetts, and others on this march to the State house to honor the labor of mothers; music, speakers, rally; to confirm starting point, route, other info, contact Working Massachusetts, 145 Tremont St., Boston MA 02111; 617/482-4471 x19; wkgmass@aol.com

From Consumers to Citizens: Preparing Leadership for the New Commons, 5/16, 7:30 pm; McCarthy Recital Hall, St. Michael's College, Colchester VT; Larry Daloz & Sharon Parks, Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World, will discuss key factors in forming a commitment to the common good, & implications for both personal & professional life; St. Michael's College, 1 Winooski Park, Colchester VT 05439; 802-654-2535

AFSC Tag Sale, 5/20, 9:30 am-2:30 pm; Cambridge Friends Center, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge MA; to benefit AFSC's Material Assistance Program; volunteers needed to sort, tag, publicize, set up, & sell; bring your jewelry, knickknacks, and household items (in excellent condition, please, to sell for over $3!) by 5/16. Call Annie Goglia, AFSC, 2161 Mass. Ave, Cambridge MA 02140; 617/676-5312

Imprisoned Art: Doodles of a Caged Man, reception 5/21, 7 pm; 1369 Coffee House & Gallery, 757 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA; exhibit open all of May; Bernard Patrick, an artist in maximum security prison, teaches art to other prisoners and has frequently been punished both for his art and for his activism; many of his drawings are on the envelopes in which he sends out mail, and this exhibit includes many of these pieces; exhibit will also be on display 6/7-7/5 at the Zeitgeist Gallery, 312 Broadway, Cambridge MA, with reception 6/17, 7 pm; contact American Friends Service Committee, Criminal Justice Program, 2161 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA 02140; 617/661-6130

"Home to Tibet," 5/21, 2 pm; Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury VT; film & talk by Sonam Lama, a stonemason, and high school student Yang Chen Tsempo, who escaped from Tibet after the Chinese occupation; North Country Coalition for Justice and Peace, c/o Eleanor Bonney Simons, Overcliff Rd., St. Johnsbury VT 05819; 802/7483663

Help Plan the Newport Peace Festival, 5/21, 6/18, 7/16, 4-6 pm; Providence Friends Meetinghouse, at Olney & Morris; New England wide meetings to plan the October festival; contact Rhode Island Mobilization for Peace & Justice, POB 23157, Providence RI 02903-4102; 401/273-4650; or Greg Gerritt at 401/331-0529

Art exhibit "Refugees & Immigration", 5/5-28; Gallery of Social & Political Art, Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116; artists' reception 5/5, 5:30-7:30 pm; gallery hours Fri & Sat 2-6 pm, Sun 1:30-5 pm; for info call 617/266-6710GSPA, 565 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116, attn. Yosh; 508/830-0468

Tribute to Abigail Adams; 6/7; Fleet Boston Financial, 100 Federal St, Boston MA; will recognize & honor 6 Massachusetts' women leaders who demonstrate through work &/or community activism an outstanding commitment to equal political, economic, & social rights for women; for info contact MA Women's Political Caucus, 294 Washington St., #849, Boston MA 02108; 617/451-9294; mxpchq@aol.com; www.mwpc.org

Renewal & Regeneration: Roxbury Artists at the Millennium; 6/10-11; noon-5 pm; Museum of Our National Heritage, 33 Marrett Rd, Lexington MA 02421; will showcase & celebrate the works of artists nurtured by the Roxbury community; roundtable discussion with artists, 6/11, 3 pm; art available for purchase; Marcia Butman, Bridges Program, 8 White Pine Way, Lexington MA 02421; 781/861-8893

ACT V: Corporate Control vs. the Public Good, 6/17, noon-5 pm; Unitarian Universalist Church, 120 Park St., Bangor ME; with Robert McChesney, Rich Media, Poor Democracy; fifth annual Active Community Training; sponsored by Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, 170 Park St., Bangor ME 04401; 207/942-9343; peacectr@mint.net

Political Research Associates seeks Director, & seeks Associate Research Analyst; PRA is a 19-year-old independent non-profit research center that monitors & analyzes the political Right from a progressive perspective; for job descriptions contact PRA, 120 Beacon St. #202, Somerville MA 02143; 617/661-9313; www.publiceye.org

Bread & Jams seeks Administrator/Fundraiser; Bread & Jams is a homeless empowerment organization; B&J, 1151 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge MA 02138

ColorLines seeks Associate Editor; ColorLines is a national quarterly magazine of race, culture, & action; resume, 3 writing samples, & 3 references to Bob Wing, ColorLines, 3781 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94611; fax 510/653-3427; colorlines@arc.org

Faces of 200,000 People; an art project to celebrate the Women's Art College in Hiroshima, and teach about the dangers of nuclear weapons; send a photo of yourself (passport size) or a group picture (no bigger than 3"x5") for a piece that will include 200,000 portraits (roughly the number of A-bomb victims in Hiroshima); to be exhibited 8/8-13 in Hiroshima; send photos by 5/31 to the Peace & Economic Security Program, AFSC, 2161 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA 02140

Gallery of Social & Political Art accepting entries for "War, Peace, Justice" exhibit; ideologies, guns for profit, children/women as expendable; slides due 8/28; for prospectus contact GSPA, 565 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116, attn. Yosh; 508/830-0468

Peace Brigades International training for volunteers in Indonesia & East Timor; training 5/30-6/7, Bangor PA; $350-500 sliding scale; PBI, an independent, non-governmental organization, has established a long-term presence of nonpartisan, international volunteers in the region; PBI volunteers respond to requests for protective accompaniment from individuals and groups threatened with political violence, facilitate peace education workshops, & disseminate first-hand reports internationally; application materials available from PBI, c/o Winnie Romeril, 6354 Ridge Rd., Prattsburgh NY 14873-9444; 607/566-3453; wromeril@aol.com; www.igc.org/pbi

Peacemaker Training Institute Summer 2000 hosts programs in Nyack NY & Bangor PA for youth 17-25 as well as the People's Campaign for Nonviolence 7/1-8/9 in Washington DC; sessions offer nonviolent strategies to deal with social injustices, & interaction with experienced activists & diverse cultures; for application contact PTI, Fellowship of Reconciliation, POB 271, Nyack NY 10960; 914/358-4601; pti@forusa.org; www.forusa.org

Protest "Rules of Engagement"; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) asks that people organize local demonstrations against this Paramount film, one of the most racist anti-Arab movies ever made by a major Hollywood studio; for ADC's analysis of the film, the text of ADC's letter to Paramount, and information about protests, contact ADC, 4201 Connecticut Ave. NW #300, Washington DC 20008; 202/244-2990; adc@adc.org; www.adc.org

Mobile Chernobyl Action Alert; The US Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2000, also known as Mobile Chernobyl, passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives and will be sent to President Clinton. The bill would make Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the single national repository of spent nuclear fuel from power plants. The Congressional vote held more than enough "no" votes to sustain the President's promised veto of this bill. Contact the White House and urge Clinton to keep his promise: President Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC 20500; 202/456-1414; fax 202/456-2461; president@whitehouse.gov; for more information, contact the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, 15 East 26th St. #915, New York NY 10010; 212/726-9161; aslater@gracelinks.org; www.gracelinks.org

International Call-in Days to Oppose Star Wars, 5/1-15; end Pentagon's plans to deploy the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system which would circumvent the 1972 ABM Treaty outlawing the development of such weapons, contact Clinton at president@whitehouse.gov & Gore at vice.president@whitehouse.gov; for information contact Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, POB 90083, Gainesville FL 32607; 352/337-9274; www.globenet.free-online.co.uk

The ABC's of the Vietnam War, Paul Shannon; 20 pp.; 75¢ ea (discounts available for bulk orders); an easy-to-read, challenging narrative which raises pointed questions about the way the war is generally understood in post-war US society; drawing on the Pentagon Papers & other primary sources not readily available, it anchors the reader's understanding of the Vietnam experience in the actual historical record; includes 3 pages on the staggering costs of the Vietnam War; available from Indochina Newsletter, 2161 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA 02140; 617/497-5273

Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists, Mary Susannah Robbins, 346 pp.; $24.95 pb, $49.95 pb + $4 s&h for 1st book; essays illustrate themes relevant then & now, such as the right to dissent, & the "living nature of a continued controversy"; Syracuse University Press, 621 Skytop Road #110, Syracuse NY 13244; 800/365-8929; twalsh01@syr.edu

President Clinton, a Corporate Offensive, & Okinawan Bases, Daniel Schirmer; 22 pp.; available from Boston Okinawa Network c/o American Friends Service Committee, 2161 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA 02140

Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs, Noam Chomsky; 164 pp; $40 hb, $14 pb; South End Press; in his newest book, Chomsky holds the world's superpowers to their own standards of the rule of law--and finds them appallingly lacking. Also new from SEP: Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, bell hooks; Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions & War, Anthony Arnove, ed.; Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire, interviews with David Barsamian; Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy, Grace Chang; SEP, 7 Brookline St. #1, Cambridge MA 02139-4146; 800/533-8478; southend@igc.org

E-Advocacy for Nonprofits: The Law of Lobbying & Election-related Activity on the Net; $25; includes summaries of federal law, & applies IRS and FEC roles to Email, listserves, & the web; order from Alliance for Justice, 2000 P St. NW #712, Washington DC 20036; 202/822-6070; www.afj.org/pubs.html

Tool Box, the catalog of The Center for Living Democracy, provides access to hundreds of resources that offer practical guidance to citizens seeking to solve problems in their own communities; CLD, 289 Fox Farm Rd., POB 8187, Brattleboro VT 05304-8187; 802/254-1234; www.livingdemocracy.org

Legislative Action Center, a website sponsored by World News Daily at <congress.nw.dc.us/wnd>; includes a guide to Congress (search by name, state, or committee), a listing of legislators & governors in all 50 states, & more.

Friends Committee on National Legislation Website; provides ready information on urgent topics & an "Act Now" section with draft letters sent via handy congressional database; on-line newsletter, involvement opportunities, & legislative updates; www.fcnl.org

Book Covers for Students with "Eracism: Celebrate Diversity" or "Be All You Can Be: Work for Peace," green letters on flecked gray stock; available for donation/postage from Maine Veterans for Peace, 6 Beal St., Winthrop ME 04364; 207/377-2370

Annotations: A Guide to the Independent Critical Press; $28; eye-opening coverage of 328 magazines & newspapers that are changing the world, with summary reviews; Independent Press Association, 2390 Mission St., #201, San Francisco CA 94110; 877/INDYMAG; www.indypress.org

A Call for Healing: Women in Prison, Families in Crisis, 5/13, 8 am-4 pm; Dimock Community Health Center, 55 Dimock St., Roxbury MA; with Tina Williams & Judge Kathleen Coffey; workshops & panels on health care, parenting, transitional issues, substance abuse, healing, & more; free; for more information, Jamie Suarez-Potts, AFSC, 2161 Mass. Ave., Cambridge MA 02140

RadFest 2000: Activists & Academics Working for Progressive Change, 5/19-21; Upham Woods, WI; sponsored by The Havens Center for the Study of social Structure & Social Change; Havens Center, 8117 Social Science Bldg., 1180 Observatory Dr., University of Wisconsin, Madison WI 53706; 608/262-1420; havensce@ssc.wisc.edu; havensce@ssc.wisc.edu

Race Rules: Equity, Justice, & Public Policy, 5/19-20; American University, Washington DC; one year before the UN World Conference on Racism, this meeting will focus on action; Grass Roots Innovative Policy Program, 145 W. Campbell Ave., #314, Roanoke VA 24011; 540/857-3088; www.arc.org/gripp

An Economy that Works for Everyone: How Do YOU Fit In? 6/3-4; St. Michael's College, Alliot Hall, Colchester VT; What does an economy that values us all look like? Is it realistic? Wheelchair accessible; child care by arrangement; register by 5/13 with Interfaith Economic Justice Coalition, POB 5724, Burlington VT 05402-5724; 802/862-3945; jmathews@together.net

Birth Gazette Conference: We Are Becoming Strong, 6/8-11; Summertown TN; for midwives & all interested in midwifery & feminist health care; with Ina May Gaskin, Spiritual Midwifery; Birth Gazette, 42 The Farm, Summertown TN 38483; 931/964-3798; brthgzt@usit.net

Underground Publishing Conference, 6/10-11; Bowling Green OH; a meeting of zine readers & writers discussing the culture of independent publishing; register with UPC, Jason Kucsma, 216 S. Church St., Bowling Green OH 43402; upcon2000@hotmail.com

Management & Community Development Institute 6/12-15; Tufts' Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship & Public Affairs offers one-, two-, & three-day courses in skills building & practice in community economic development, affordable housing production & management, & organizational capacity building; register by 5/31; MCDI, Lincoln Filene Center for C&PA, Medford MA 02155; 617/627-3453

Conflict, Sovereignty, & Intervention: What Role for International Community? 6/14-16; annual summer faculty institute on world security affairs; for details & application forms, contact Yogesh Chandrani, Peace & World Security Studies, Hampshire College, Amherst MA 01002; 413/549-4600; pawss@hamp.hampshire.edu; pawss.hampshire.edu/summer_institute.html

Public Broadcasting & the Public Interest, 6/15-17; Orono ME; keynote Robert McChesney, Rich Media, Poor Democracy; sponsored by Department of Communications , 168 College Ave., University of Maine, Orono ME 04469; www.umaine.edu/pbconference/partic.htm

Women's Summit: Redefining Security, 6/22-25; Okinawa, Japan; as part of a month-long series of activities leading up to the G8 summit, women activists & researchers from Korea, the Philippines, Okinawa, mainland Japan, the US, & other countries will share information about the negative effects of military security in all our countries; we will share projects we are involved in to create genuine security, & present a statement of demands to G8 leaders; for information call 315/859-1397

Fourth Conference on Whiteness, 6/23-25; Boston MA; an experiental look at the dynamics of whiteness within Boston neighborhoods with dialogues, networking, strategizing, meditation, etc.; Women's Theological Center, POB 1200, Boston MA 021171-1200; 617/536-8782; wtc@world.std.com

Doug Hostetter, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Nyack, NY

Thank you for including my photographs and some journal entries in the "Vietnam Remembered" section of the April issue of Peacework. The picture caption with my 1968 photograph of prisoners shortly before their execution was erroneous. The caption identified the captives as "National Liberation Front soldiers," while in fact, as is visible from their peasant clothing, they were simply civilian males who had the misfortune of living in an area of Thang Binh District outside of the control of Saigon Government and the US military. At the time of the photograph, I asked the American advisor, who was with the Saigon Government troops who had captured the men, what proof he had that the men were NLF soldiers. He replied with a smirk, "They were wearing belts that they could have hung hand grenades from."