Weekly Update – February 24, 2016

WNY Peace Center Weekly Update – February 24, 2016                                Contact: 716-332-3904

Contents:
1. Events (WNYPC general, followed by Taskforces, then allies – chronological w/in category)
2. WNY Peace Center Membership Drive
3. ** Special Public Outcry Section: TPP (Federal) and Anti-BDS (New York State)
+ General Info

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1. Events
Racial Justice Taskforce Meeting
Saturday, February 27, 3pm. Sewing Souls Studios, 356 S. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY
Topics: Community policing, including speakout on Cariol Horne case.

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Peaceful Conflict Resolution / Peace Education Project
For Teens:
PeaceJam is an international organization with 13 Nobel Laureates on its board that uses fun activities to provide youth with inspiration, education, and action.
PeaceJam also fulfills community service hours!
Wednesdays 5:00-6:30pm – every Wednesday that school is in session.
(Dinner served at 5pm. – Program starts at 5:30pm.)
Delavan – Grider Community Center, 877 East Delavan Avenue, Buffalo, NY
Contact Vicki (716-931-3520) for more information.

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Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce
Vigil at Erie County Holding Center
Wednesdays, 4-5 pm. Corner of Delaware Ave. and Church St.
For more information, call Chuck Culhane (716) 348-4006 or culhane9@gmail.

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Resist Militarism! Taskforce
Monthly meeting: Thursday, March 3, 5 pm at WNY Peace Center, NRC Building, 1272 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

CodePink Saudi Summit: Go to http://www.codepink.org/2016saudisummit
Dates: March 5-6, 2016
Times: Saturday, 8:00am to 9:00pm, Sunday, 8:00am to 5:00pm
Location: The UDC David A. Clarke School of Law (4340 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008)
This Summit will address issues such as human rights; Saudi internal and foreign policy; and the prospects for change inside the kingdom and in U.S.-Saudi relations.
Contact WNYPC 332-3904 for more info.

Vigil: Disrupt the death squadron operating at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (NFARS).
Join us at the main gate to the NFARS on the 2nd & 4th Thursday each month (March 10 and 24) at 3:30-4:30pm (or pick another day of the week and bring a group with signs).
For more information, contact Russell Brown, at 716-570-5200; hobadoxa@me.com.

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Environmental Justice Taskforce
Ban Trapping on Public Land in Grand Island!
Campaign to put pressure on the local politicians to ban trapping on ALL public land.
David A. Reilly, Ph.D. and Nicole Gerber, initiators of this campaign, became aware that Grand Island currently has NO restrictions on trapping on public land when their dog almost stepped into a trap set for foxes and coyotes. Passing a law that prohibits such trapping on all public lands – not just parks and trails – will help ensure that people and pets are protected from physical harm or possible death of a pet that could occur from any type of body-gripping trap.
At least eight states have laws that restrict or ban trapping on public land. Eighty-eight countries have trapping bans as well.
Learn more at:
https://www.change.org/p/supervisor-amp-town-board-of-grand-island-end-trapping-on-public-lands-in-grand-island-and-western-new-york?recruiter=352406760&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

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SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, April 30
WNY Peace Center ANNUAL MEETING

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Book Launch! Jalil Muntaqim
Saturday, February 27, 5:30 pm at El Buen Amigo, 114 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo.

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Prisoners Are People Too Meeting
Monday, February 29, 7pm – 9pm, at the Pratt-Willert Center, 422 Pratt St., Buffalo.
Screening: “The Released.”
Produced in 2009, this film follows the stories of several mentally ill men who struggle with getting their lives on track following release from prison.
Guest speaker, Ms. Artelia “Tia” Lewis, of the Mental Health Peer Connection, Western New York Independent Living Project in Buffalo.

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Art exhibit: “Climate Change, System Change, Personal Change” Opening reception
Friday, March 4, 6-9 pm, ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery for Contemporary Art, 148 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo.
Explores the underlying systemic causes of the climate crisis, including its deep connections to racism, classism and environmental destruction.
More info at: http://photolangelle.org/2016/02/04/4441/#sthash.wHysiHqt.dpuf

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GMO Labeling Rally and Lobby Day
Tuesday, March 8. Albany NY.
Let’s urge our legislators to support NY’s GMO Labeling Bill A.617 in the Assembly and S.485 in the Senate by joining this gathering in Albany or by spreading the word to ensure disclosure of genetic modification!!
For more info including carpooling and/on bus from Rochester, please contact Evelyn at aehartz@roadrunner.com.

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Film showing: [T]ERROR
Tuesday, March 15, 7pm. Hallwalls, 341 Delaware Ave (at Tupper), Buffalo.
Film screening on FBI entrapment
, [T]ERROR is the first documentary to place filmmakers on the ground during an active FBI counterterrorism sting operation.
Come out and see this amazing exposé. [2015 Sundance Film Festival (World Premiere, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award – Break Out First Feature)]
Sponsored by the WNY Peace Center and Hallwalls. For more info, call 716-332-3904, or go to http://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/films/terror

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Breaking New Ground in Renewable Heating & Cooling
New York’s Premier Geothermal Conference
Presented by the New York Geothermal Energy Organization (NY-GEO) with prime sponsorship from NYSERDA, WaterFurnace and Bosch.
Learn more about geothermal heat pumps–the energy-efficient, reliable, renewable heating and cooling source available 24/7/365, night and day, rain, shine or snow.  Its time has come!
April 19-20, 2016, Albany, NY
Register early by March 1 and get 10% Early Bird Registration discount. Use the discount code “EARLY/2016” at NY-GEO.

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SAVE THE DATE! Evening Celebration
Kathy Kelly, keynote speaker for Bissonette Evening of WNYPC
Thursday, April 21.
Kathy will speak on humanitarian aid in war-torn countries, from Latin America to Afghanistan.
More to follow! To get involved with event planning, contact Terry Bisson@canisius.edu or Vicki 332-3904.

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Women In Black – weekly vigil for nonviolence. Every Saturday, noon to 1pm, Bidwell and Elmwood. Signs provided. (You don’t need to be a woman or wear black.)

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2. WNY Peace Center – Membership Drive!

You know how important our mission is right now. Please help us stop militarism, racism and weaponized drones and work for human rights, justice (including economic and environmental) and peace education.
Your donation is a key ingredient to making it all happen!

*** If your membership has lapsed, now’s the time to renew. That’ll enable you to vote on anything that comes up, and support the work you know is so important!! So . . .
Please RENEW your current or previous membership and/or
JOIN and be a NEW member!

Although knowing that you are a part of the solution is the best reward, we offer you Thank-You gifts to show our deep gratitude.
* Bumper sticker at the $10+ Student/Low Income membership level
* T-shirt + Bumper sticker at the $50+ Peacenik level
* Noam Chomsky DVD at the $125+ Sustainer’s Circle level
* “Blood on the Tracks,” a book by S. Brian Willson + Chomsky DVD when you join the Director’s Circle at $250+
* Book, DVD, T-shirt and Bumper sticker when you join as a Major Donor at $1000+ or a Lifetime Membership for $2,500+

To join:
Make a check payable to: WNY Peace Center, and mail it to: WNY Peace Center, 1272 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo NY, 14209. Please write “Membership” on the memo line of your check.
or:
Pay securely on-line via PayPal with your credit card. Go to http://www.wnypeace.org/new/membership.html

The Peace Center is a 501(c)(3) organization. Your membership is tax-deductible. A copy of our latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from the WNY Peace Center (1272 Delaware Ave., Buffalo NY 14209) or from the NYS Charities Bureau (120 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10271).

Thank you so much!
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3. ** Special Public Outcry Section: TPP (Federal) and Anti-BDS (New York State)
Human and Civil Rights Alerts!!!

Please contact
– your federal Senators and Congress members re the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
– your local NYS Assemblymember re Anti-Boycott/Divestment/&Sanction legislation
The first, detailed below, outlaws specific constitutionally-protected political action. And the second allows corporations to make their own rules and judge their own cases. Both are severe challenges to our civil and human rights. Again, see below.
And go to
http://act.commoncause.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sunlight_advocacy_list_page
to find all of your federal and state representatives.
Peace and Thanks.
Vicki

TPP per Democracy Now! Feb 4, 2016:
One of the world’s biggest multinational trade deals, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, has been signed by 12 member nations in New Zealand and will now undergo a two-year ratification period in which at least six countries must approve the final text for the deal to be implemented. The Trans-Pacific Partnership encompasses 12 Pacific Rim nations, including the United States, and 40 percent of the world’s economy. Opponents say it will benefit corporations at the expense of health, the environment, free speech and labor rights.
Activists have kicked off a worldwide series of protests around the signing of the trade pact, including a nonviolent blockade of the convention center in Auckland where the signing took place. A Maori tribe refused a request to perform at a welcome ceremony for trade ministers, saying the TPP threatens sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the White House has warned Congress that a delay in ratifying the deal will cost the U.S. economy. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the Obama administration is doing everything in its power to move it forward. But Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, argues, “We have to make sure every member of Congress says there’s no way, we’re not meant to do this.” The deal has also become a campaign issue, and Wallach notes, “There’s no presidential candidate in any state polling over 5 percent who supports the TPP.”

TPP per Public Citizen:
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): More Job Offshoring, Lower Wages, Unsafe Food Imports
Have you heard? The TPP is a massive, controversial, pro-corporate “free trade” agreement among the United States and 11 other countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Although it is called a “trade” agreement, the TPP is not mainly about trade. Of TPP’s 30 chapters, only six deal with traditional trade issues.
Secret TPP Text Unveiled: It’s Worse than We Thought

In early November 2015, after seven years of close-door negotiations with the public, press and policymakers locked out, the final TPP text was released. In chapter after chapter, the final text is worse than expected, with the demands of the 500 official U.S. trade advisers representing corporate interests satisfied to the detriment of the public interest. The text reveals that the pact replicates many of the most controversial terms of past pacts that promote job offshoring and push down U.S. wages.
If passed, the TPP would:
– make it easier for big corporations to ship our jobs overseas, pushing down our wages and increasing income inequality,
– flood our country with unsafe imported food,
– jack up the cost of medicines by giving big pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market,
– empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards,
– ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs,
– roll back Wall Street reforms,
– sneak in SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom,
– and undermine human rights.

The TPP can take effect only if the U.S. Congress approves it, and its fate in Congress is uncertain at best. Fast Track trade authority only passed through Congress by the narrowest of margins after a series of legislative maneuvers, with reluctant support from some key swing members contingent upon certain provisions being in the final TPP. The released text shows these concerns have been largely ignored.

And an unprecedented array of organizations have joined together in a powerful and diverse coalition to stop the TPP. Groups united on this extend well beyond labor unions and include consumer, Internet freedom, senior, health, food safety, environmental, human rights, faith, LGBTQ, student and civil rights organizations. Opposition to the TPP is growing at home and in many of the other countries involved.

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Dangerous Anti-BDS Legislation Blacklists Political Activists
Hi, All! For those of you who haven’t heard about the anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) bills:

– A bill was passed quickly in the NYS Senate that would blacklist and ban companies that are boycotting an ally country of the US, from doing business with NYS.  The boycotts being targeted by this legislation are those directed at Israeli businesses operating in the (illegal) settlements, although it would apply to boycotts etc. re any allied country. The bill passed the Senate with no debate (Sens. Kennedy, Pannepinto, and some 96 senators voted in favor with only 6 NYC senators voting against).
– See huge problems with the bills re (BDS) below under talking points.
– We had a conference call with Leah Halton-Pope, aide to Assemblymember Crystal Peoples-Stokes. We are hoping the bill can be stopped in the Governmental Operations Committee the Assemblywoman chairs due to the illegal nature of the action, i.e., blacklisting those engaging in constitutionally-protected political action. PeaceAction NYS, Jewish Voices for Peace, End the Occupation, and Palestinian Legal were all on the conference call with the WNYPC.

Below also is the WNYPC Memo in Opposition

We are hoping many groups will file Memos in Opposition and send them to the Governmental Operations Committee. You can use ours below as a prototype. Also Leah suggested we reach out to members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus that she is also part of, a logical and cogent move.

Letters to the Editor would also be very helpful. There’ve already been 3 in two days from the pro-Israel anti-BDS side, calling us anti-Semites, etc. Couldn’t be more incorrect. Any moves to increase public awareness are great. We will also be reaching out to our local officials at all levels.

If political action against “allies” is outlawed, how well will it be received re the US Govt? The implications are terrible.

We hope you can help out. We’re all in this together.

Peace and Thanks.        Vicki

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Talking Points for New York State Bills
Note: There are two distinct but similar bills at issue:
1. S.6378A/A.9036 — applies to boycotts of “ally” countries, including Israel (This bill is moving)
2. S.6086/A8220 — applies specifically to boycotts of Israel

Talking Points (these talking points focus on Israel but apply to both bills)
– These bills infringe on our First Amendment rights to free speech by 1) creating a blacklist of individuals, companies, and nonprofits that boycott Israel because of its human rights abuses; 2) denying those on the blacklist the opportunity to do business with New York, and 3) requiring the state’s public pensions to divest from businesses that boycott Israel.
– The Supreme Court has long held that boycotts to bring about political, social, and economic change are protected under the First Amendment. In fact, our country has a proud history of protecting boycotts as a form of political speech – from pre-Civil War boycotts against slavery to the Montgomery bus boycotts during the Civil Rights Movement to the boycott of apartheid South Africa.
– New York should be a leader on human rights issues. It has no business shielding Israel from boycotts protesting human rights abuses and settlements, which are considered illegal under international law and violate official US policy going back decades.
– Even Human Rights Watch recently issued a report calling for companies to cease doing business with illegal Israeli settlements. Incidentally, Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights defenders in the country, would be blacklisted under these bills.
– Our state legislature should be passing laws that protect our First Amendment rights, not laws that restrict those rights.
– As someone who supports the BDS movement, I would be blacklisted by the State of New York if these bills pass.
– Efforts such as these to punish individuals who choose to engage in boycotts to protest Israeli human rights abuses have an unconstitutional chilling effect on the First Amendment right of all Americans to engage in human rights boycotts of any kind.

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WNY Peace Center

1272 Delaware Ave Buffalo, New York 14209 Phone: (716) 332-3904

Victoria Ross, Director

victoryross9@gmail.com

Phone: (716) 931-3520

Memorandum of Opposition

Anti-Boycott Bills
S6086/Gianaris and A8220/Lavine S6378A/Martins and A9036/Weinstein

Position: OPPOSE February 2, 2016

The Western New York Peace Center is a community-based peace and social justice organization founded in the 1960s. Its office is located in Buffalo, New York, and it has a circulation list of nearly 2,000 Western New Yorkers. For fifty years the Peace Center has resisted war and injustice and has been a voice for peace, justice, non-violence, and human and civil rights. We oppose the “anti-boycott bills” listed above because they attempt to legitimize injustice and because they are a direct assault on free speech and the right of individuals and organizations to oppose injustice.
Specifically, the bills listed above are designed to undermine and “outlaw” the Constitutionally- guaranteed right of individuals and businesses in New York State to join boycotts to protest Israeli human rights violations against the Palestinian people. These bills would prevent any person or company participating in a boycott related to Israeli human rights abuses from doing business with the State of New York. Also, the state’s pension fund would have to divest from such companies. The bill would create a McCarthy Era-like blacklist that would include our group as well as a great number of prestigious organizations like Human Rights Watch, which has issued a report on the violence and injustice caused by Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and called on companies to stop doing business with them.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that boycotts to bring about political, social, and economic change are protected under the First Amendment. We should never forget the honorable and meritorious role boycotts have played in achieving civil rights in the U.S. and ending apartheid in South Africa. Now, as Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and many other
leaders have proclaimed, we face another form of apartheid – one inflicted against the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. This apartheid deserves similar condemnation and opposition including by boycotts.
Human rights abuses take place daily in the occupied territories. Moreover, Israel has allowed and encouraged Jewish settlers to steal the land of Palestinians who are ruled by a repressive Israeli military regime. These settlements are major stumbling blocks to peace and are regarded as illegal by the international community. Today, there are an incredible 200+ settlements and 650,000 Israeli settlers. In this arid land, settlers have also seized water resources which don’t belong to them and which are necessary for survival.
We want to make clear that our opposition to these bills has nothing to do with anti-Semitism – though we realize that over-zealous supporters of the bills may try to characterize and dismiss all opponents by making false charges of this type against them. Like the United States, Israel is not a perfect nation and it can and should be criticized on its merits. Our criticism of the settlements is not an expression of prejudice toward members of the Jewish faith. In fact, many Jews and Jewish organizations strenuously oppose the injustice of these settlements on Palestinian land. Moreover, the WNY Peace Center has always been strongly opposed to anti-Semitism.
New York should be a leader on human rights issues. Accordingly, it should not be shielding Israel from boycotts protesting human rights abuses in the settlements. Not only are these settlements illegal under international law, they violate official US policy going back decades.
The Western New York Peace Center opposes the bills listed above for all these reasons and respectfully requests that the New York State Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo firmly and unequivocally reject them.
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General Info :
PEACE CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION

For questions, comments, inquiries, suggestions, and concerns regarding the Peace Center, contact our Executive Director at:
Victoria (Vicki) Ross
Phone: (716) 931-3520
Email: victoryross9@gmail.com

Our Weekly Office Hours (for drop-in visits, calls, etc.) are:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 1-3 p.m., or by appointment.
1272 Delaware Avenue (use back entrance and ring buzzer to get inside), Buffalo, NY 14209
Phone: (716) 332-3904

PEACE CENTER TASK FORCE CONTACT INFORMATION

ECONOMIC JUSTICE:
Eric Gallion
Phone: (716) 310-4292
Email: egallion@verizon.net

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
Charley Bowman
Phone: (716) 688-2374
Email: CandABowman@verzion.net
Website: http://wnypeace.org/new/projects.html
and
Frank Gage
Phone: (716)893-5584
Email: snowbird1967@roadrunner.com

LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE (LASC):
Phone: (716) 876-3872
Main Website: http://www.lascwny.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/
WNY Peace Center Page: http://wnypeace.org/program/lasc.php/

PEACEFUL CONFLICT RESOLUTION/PEACE EDUCATION PROJECT:
Victoria Ross
Phone: (716) 884-0582, (716) 931-3520
Email: victoryross9@gmail.com

PRISONERS’ RIGHTS:
Chuck Culhane
Phone: (716) 228-2076
Email: culhane9@gmail.com
Website: http://wnypeace.org/program/Prison%20Action%20Committee.php/

RACIAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE
Heron Simmonds-Price
Email: heronimousphunk@gmail.com
Phone: (716) 768-2986

RESIST MILITARISM! TASKFORCE
Russell Brown
Phone: (716) 570-5200
Email: hobadoxa@me.com
Website: http://wnypeace.org/program/ResistMilitarism.php/

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DONATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Student/Low Income: $10
Peacenik: $50
Sustainer’s Circle: $125
Director’s Circle: $250
Major Donor:  $1000
Lifetime Membership: $2500
Other Donations (you may indicate any reason):
Send Checks and/or Money Orders (made out to “WNY Peace Center”) to:
Western New York Peace Center, 1272 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209. Please write “Membership” or your purpose for your donation on the memo line of your check.
You can also pay with your credit card via PayPal at www.wnypeace.org

PEACE CENTER WEBSITES
Main Website: http://wnypeace.org/new/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WesternNewYorkPeaceCenter/
Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/wny8peace8center/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-irmY8IAJdDGF8oFTB98nA/feed/

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