Corrections Advisory Bd Thurs 2:30; Cuba Caravan report-back Mon 11/25, 7pm
716-332-3904 11/20/19 wnypeace.org
Dear Friends, Today was a busy day – hope you’re making it out to one of the 5 things we’ve organized and/or supported that are all happening today! (See wnypeace.org events calendar.) Tomorrow – Thurs, Nov 21 – at about 2:30pm, please join us when the Erie Co Leg Public Safety Committee will cover Legislator Baskin’s Resolution for the Corrections Advisory – for which we have nominated Heron Simmonds. See you at Old County Hall, 92 Franklin, 4th floor. Please come out to support! If you haven’t already, please sign the WNY Youth Climate Council’s petition to Buffalo Common Council to declare a Climate Emergency! Please Sign Now (if link doesn’t come through, you can go to our website’s Get Involved menu; and it’ll be immediately under Current Campaigns!) We hope you are patronizing small local business all year long. If, however, you somehow do happen to be getting something through AmazonSmile, you can now – as some of you have requested – select the WNY Peace Center as your charity of choice. Again, please don’t forget to support our Friends of Democracy Now! in Buffalo campaign. Democracy Now! gives vital news, and we need donations to help keep it on WBNY. Please contribute via the WNYPC – online or with a check sent (and made out) to WNY Peace Center, 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14209, and write in the memo line: Friends of Democracy Now! in Buffalo (or in a note in the online submission). DEMOCRACY NOW! is BROADCAST Live MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. and streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu. Of course, your donations – for Democracy Now! and/or for the WNYPC itself – are fully tax-deductible. As always, more below, and lots more at wnypeace.org, and on our facebook page, twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (wnypeace)! Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love. #Unite! #OneLove ————————————- Events this week: Erie Co Leg Public Safety Com – Corrections Advisory Bd Res’n November 21@ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm At Old County Hall, 92 Franklin, 4th floor, the Erie Co Leg Public Safety Committee will cover Legislator Baskin’s Resolution for the Corrections Advisory – for which we have nominated Heron Simmonds. Please come out to support!Wind Energy & Public Health: Panel Discussion November 21 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm UB Center for Tomorrow, UB North (Amherst) Campus (Easy parking). The Forum brings together prominent experts for a fact-based discussion on the topic. As wind energy development accelerates in western New York, the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, New Yorkers for Clean Power, the New York League of Conservation Voters, and the Union of Concerned Scientists have come together to co-host a public forum on the relationship between wind energy and public health. The event will feature a panel of experts from various disciplines for an open, transparent, and fact-based dialogue on the topic. Riverside Salem Environmental Cottage November 24 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Riverside Salem Environmental Cottage & UCC/DC – Various progressive spiritual activist and naturalist programs, Sundays, 4-6pm followed by a pot-luck. 3449 West River Road, Grand Island, NY 14072. This week Defend the Sacred: Native peoples buried in a foreign land. Talking Peace w WNYPC on WBNY 91.3FM November 18 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-3pm. Call-in show with Vicki Ross hosting with Russell Brown, Co-Chair of WNYPC & its Resist Militarism!Taskforce. Also streaming on-line at wbny.buffalostate.edu. This week’s special guest isEmily Rubino, PANYS Director of Policy and Outreach, on foreign policy, especially amendments to the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), and ending the AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force). No More Deaths! – Vigil at Erie Co Holding Center Weds, Nov 27 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – 4 DEATHS in 2 ½ months! Sheriff Howard is (yet another) elected official who needs to be impeached. Please join with the WNYPC’s Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce and our many allies at this regular Wednesday vigil at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). Come ahead – All are welcome. Grieving families will be joining us, and people with related lived experience are more than welcome! Please, too, bring signs. Cosponsored by Voice Buffalo, Brothers Doing Better, Prisoners Are People Too, Buffalo AntiRacism Coalition (BARC), Black Love Resists in the Rust, SURJ, and more. Also please call Gov Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 to urge him to remove Sheriff Howard as he clearly is not up to the job.
No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge November 22, 2-3pm At the corner of Busti Ave and Vermont St. in Buffalo NY. Vigil against the shipment of high level LIQUID radioactive spent fuel from Chalk River Ontario to Aiken South Carolina. If any of it spills out, it will be next to impossible to clean> Annual Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner November 24 @ 5:30 pm Give thanks non-violently. Please attend our compassionate and delicious… Annual Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner; at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst, 6320 Main Street, Williamsville. (On Main St. just east of Youngs Rd., across from ECC North Campus). The dinner is a fun(d)-raiser forthe Animal Advocates of WNY. Suggested donation $10 adults; $5 students.
(WNYPC) Peace Coffeehouse: Cuba & the US: Friendshipment Caravans November 25 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm At Canisius College – Science Hall (convenient parking on Main near Delavan) Cuba and the United States: Friendshipment Caravans Speakers Vicki Ross and Marie Schuster: a report on their experiences with the Pastors for Peace Caravan which visited Cuba this July, organized by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO). With IFCO, they challenged the travel restrictions imposed by the United States, which try to stop us from seeing the truth of Cuba for ourselves. Come learn about Cuba-US bilateral relations, reject the new activation of titles III and IV of the Helms-Burton Act, and call for the end of the US blockade against Cuba. Sponsored by Peace Action-Canisius, and www.lascwny.org/ and WNY Peace Center http://wnypeace.org/. Free and open to the public(WNYPC) Gender Justice Taskforce Mtg November 25 @ 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm At the Merriweather Library meeting room, 1324 Jefferson (at E Utica), Buffalo. Come out to discuss the Women’s March, intersectionality, and much more. All are welcome! (light snacks provided) The Great Law of Peace
November 26 @ 6:30 pm
At Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St, Buffalo. Reading group studying the Great Law of Peace. Sponsored by Nekanehsakt: Friends of the Ekawehweh (including Indigenous Women’s Initiatives and WNYPC).
*********** REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS in the One Struggle, One Vision, One Love: Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-3pm. Call-in show with Vicki Ross hosting. Also streaming on-line at wbny.buffalostate.edu. (See above) Buffalo Nekanesakt. Indigenous support group/allies. 1st & 3rd Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm. At Burning Books, 420 Connecticut Ave. All are welcome!! Reading group for the Great Law of Peace meets on the last Tuesday of the month. Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce – NO MORE Deaths! Vigil/protest Wednesdays 4-5:30pm at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). Another Death! 4 in 2 ½ months! The Sheriff’s Administration is a Public Health Emergency!! All are welcome. Please bring signs. Resist Militarism! Taskforce – Regular monthly planning meeting third Weds of the month, Nov 20; 5-6:30pm. at Isaías González-Soto Branch (formerly Niagara Branch) Library, 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo 14201. Interfaith Peace Network, 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, 9:15am at 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 entrance & parking round back.) Breakfast potluck, planning/publicizing, & discussion. End ICE Terror – Thursdays, 5-6pm, vigil in front of the ICE building on the corner of (@250) Delaware and Chippewa. Bring your signs and spirit of Solidarity. We will not stay silent! #EndICETerror #FamiliesBelongTogether #AbolishICE #CLOSETHECAMPS #NeverAgainIsNow Buffalo Youth Climate Strike – all are welcome 2-3pm at Niagara Square for a youth-led rally to stand up for People and the Planet, and radical change to mitigate and avert climate catastrophe. Bring signs! See you there! Environmental Justice Taskforce – Vigil to Protest the Shipments of VERY Dangerous Radioactive Liquid from Canada coming over the Peace Bridge. Fridays 2-3pm, Front Park at Vermont & Busti, Buffalo. Signs welcome and also usually available. Stop The Violence Coalition – 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month; 6pm, United Way Building, Delaware and Summer Sts. Women In Black – Nonviolence vigil, Bidwell and Elmwood. Saturdays, Noon-1pm. Signs also available. (and you don’t need to be a woman or dress in black) Riverside Salem Environmental Cottage & UCC/DC – Various progressive spiritual activist and naturalist programs, Sundays, 4-6pm followed by a pot-luck. 3449 West River Road, Grand Island, NY 14072. This week Defend the Sacred: Native peoples buried in a foreign land. Of note: Little Africa Culture Club, 356 S. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY. African Drumming Sundays, 12-2pm. We shall overcome #Unitethestruggles #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver *********** More listings on calendar and in previous email posts. To subscribe, write to weeklynews@wnypeace.org with “subscribe” in subject line. To unsubscribe, write to weeklynews@wnypeace.org with “unsubscribe” in subject line. (Sorry for delays!) Please submit possible listings for consideration to weeklynews@wnypeace.org. The time is now, and we are the people we’ve been waiting for! And remember to tune in: DEMOCRACY NOW! IS NOW BEING BROADCASTMONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu. *********** Si, se puede! We shall overcome. #Unite Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love. ***********Below are
– more event listings (see also calendar & facebook page); and – Taskforce items and campaigns. – Regularly scheduled events._____________________
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT* ECONOMIC JUSTICE
The WNY Poor People’s Campaign meets 2nd Mondays, 6pm at Raqs Solidarity, 322 Amherst St., Buffalo, NY.
* EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS
New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act (aka DASA or The Dignity Act) seeks to provide the State’s public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function. More information at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/
BOE Meetings Board of Education meetings begin at 5:30 pm and are held in room 801 at City Hall, unless a venue change is previously announced. These sessions are open to the public. A schedule of upcoming board of education meetings can be found at https://www.buffaloschools.org/Page/85931. More information on Buffalo Public Schools can be found at https://www.buffaloschools.org.* ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
|
Climate Emergency Petition Please sign on to the WNY Youth Climate Council petition to the Buffalo Common Council to declare a Climate Emergency. They want to get as many signatures as possible on paper or on the internet! So all are wanted (not just the young people!) to sign on and to help make a difference here in Buffalo. The online petition is here: Sign Now |
No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge Join us every Friday from 2 PM to 3 PM at the corner of Busti Ave and Vermont St. in Buffalo NY. Vigil against the shipment of high level LIQUID radioactive spent fuel from Chalk River Ontario to Aiken South Carolina. If any of it spills out, it will be next to impossible to clean.
______________
Two courageous activists were arrested for their work to prevent the outrageously destructive DAPL pipeline. Check it out Here:Dakota Access Pipeline Activists Face 110 Years in Prison, Two Years After Confessing Sabotage______________ Action Alert re Stone Dam Road Pipeline: go to wnypeace.org/environmental-justice/ _______________ – NAPL/Northern Access Pipeline (proposed to take fracked gas from PA through WNY) is looming again, as the fossil-fuel-profiteers never give up!! However, si, se puede! Please send your comments about it to the EPA BEFORE SeeNorthern Access Pipeline Information for more info. *GENDER JUSTICE (WNYPC) Gender Justice Taskforce Mtg November 25 @ 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm At the Merriweather Library meeting room, 1324 Jefferson (at E Utica), Buffalo. Come out to discuss the Women’s March, intersectionality, and much more. All are welcome! (light snacks provided)
* IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE JUSTICE
Vigil for Victims of ICE Terror – Thursdays, 5-6pm, ICE building on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa. Bring your signs and spirit of Solidarity. We will not stay silent! #EndICETerror #FamiliesBelongTogether #AbolishICE ________ __ Vive la Casa, shelter for people awaiting documents and/or sanctuary, still desperately needs personal hygiene products and of course, CASH. The recent large influx of refugees has put the facility under real stress. Please give generously. jrchc.org/vive (Checks to Jericho Road/VIVE) 50 Wyoming St., Buffalo, NY 14211, 892-4354.* LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY
Peace Coffeehouse: Cuba & the US: Friendshipment Caravans November 25 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm At Canisius College – Science Hall (convenient parking on Main near Delavan) Cuba and the United States: Friendshipment Caravans Speakers Vicki Ross and Marie Schuster: a report on their experiences with the Pastors for Peace Caravan which visited Cuba this July, organized by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO). With IFCO, they challenged the travel restrictions imposed by the United States, which try to stop us from seeing the truth of Cuba for ourselves. Come learn about Cuba-US bilateral relations, reject the new activation of titles III and IV of the Helms-Burton Act, and call for the end of the US blockade against Cuba. Sponsored by Peace Action-Canisius, www.lascwny.org/ and WNY Peace Center http://wnypeace.org/ Free and open to the public. (Light refreshments.) __________ Latin American Solidarity Committee website: http://www.lascwny.org/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/ _________ Vigil for Victims of ICE Terror Thursdays, 5-6pm, ICE building on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa. Bring your signs and spirit of Solidarity. We will not stay silent! #EndICETerror #FamiliesBelongTogether #AbolishICE _________ Other Latin American Solidarity news:Invest in the children of farmworkers! A donor has agreed to match gifts given through Rural and Migrant Ministry board members through the end of the year. Contact the Rural and Migrant Ministry for more details. www.ruralmigrantministry.org.
Venezuela Sanctions Petition People are suffering mightily, including with a breakdown to their water system. Please sign the petition to end US and Canadian sanctions: https://afgj.salsalabs.org/campaigntoendusandcanadasanctionsagainstvenezuela/index.html.The civilians and general populations are the ones to pay for this kind of foreign policy. The US government needs to stop penalizing the common people and destabilizing other countries. Please sign and share. Many thanks to Shontae Cannon-Buckley for her work on this issue!
– Cuba—IFCO/Irma Relief (same address) Phone: 212-926-5757. Please give generously – the situations continue to be terrible for many!! -Chenalhó, Chiapas— If you would like to provide much-needed help, go to weaving-for-justice.org * PRISONERS’ RIGHTS VIGIL Wednesdays 4-5:30pm – NO MORE! [Deaths, Brutality, etc!] Weekly protest/vigils at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). All are welcome. Malpractice and maltreatment under the current administration. Deaths at Erie Co Holding Center now at least 28 over Sheriff Howard’s tenure – outrageous!! Please bring signs. Vigil with concerned citizens as well as family members of victims of the maltreatment perpetuated in this system. Joseph Bialaszweski died on July 26, 2019 after being found unresponsive days earlier in a cell at the Erie County Holding Center in downtown Buffalo. Joseph’s body was taken to a local funeral home for cremation and his loved ones were instructed to pay $900 to recover the ashes, a steep price for an already grief stricken family who have been given very little information about their son’s death. Monica Lynch, sister to Connell Burrell who also died in the Erie County Holding Center just days later on August 2, 2019, heard about this gross injustice and decided to take action. She has been raising funds so that the Bialaszewski family might have some sense of closure after this unconscionable series of incidents. The two families have become acquainted through local rallies and speak outs as part of a greater effort to raise awareness about the 28 deaths that have occurred in Erie County jails under Sheriff Tim Howard and the egregious manners with which prisoners are treated while in custody. Local officials, including the Erie County Legislature, have chosen silence while human beings like Robert, Joseph and Connell are locked in cages and subject to violence and mistreatment under a system that targets people of color and poor folks. We hope you will join us in this fundraising: either by coming to the vigil and bringing a donation or by clinking on the link to give $30 TODAY. Lastly please call Gov Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 to urge him to remove Sheriff Howard as he clearly is not up to the job. ___________ Please join us in promoting the H.A.L.T. Solitary Confinement campaign: call your State Senators and ask them to cosponsor and vote for the bills S. 4784. (You can also thank the representatives who passed it in the Assembly!) Other Ways you can help: – Sign the petition to support the HALT Solitary Confinement Act: https://goo.gl/HLwqbK – Encourage your organization to endorse the HALT Solitary Confinement Act: https://goo.gl/forms/FM2F6DZAcPZp1co32
* RACIAL JUSTICE
Monthly meetings announced on our website calendar. _____________ THE CARIOL HORNE WHISTLEBLOWER FUND – The Western New York Peace Center has created a fund for the purpose of supporting police officers who face reprisals from their department from choosing to strictly uphold their oath to protect and serve the community. gofundme.com/cariol-horne-whistleblower-fund. The Peace Center has named this fund after Cariol Horne who saved the life of a citizen, but was fired just prior to earning her 20-year pension. Our goal is to encourage good police officers in following their moral conscience if and when it conflicts with the infamous blue wall of silence. Each Police District has a Chief and Community Police Meeting. We encourage people to go to them and communicate freely on issues of concern. See wnypeace.org calendar for listings, and/or call your District and ask when & where the next Chief and Community Police Meeting will be held.* RESIST MILITARISM!
Resist Militarism! Joint Meetings with Veterans For Peace #128, are 3rd Wednesdays of the month, 5-6:30pm. November 20. At Isaías González-Soto Branch Library (formerly Niagara Branch Library, 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo 14201). (Future date 12/18.)___________ Stand Up for Global Peace The world is facing a 25-year peak in violent conflict. It is the main cause of human suffering today – trapping millions of civilians in conflict and uprooting 66 million people from their homes. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, violence containment costs the world $14.3 trillion each year. There must be another way. Over the past two years, a coalition of peacebuilding, humanitarian, and faith-based organizations have drafted a bill that would address the root causes of violence and fragility. The resulting legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate as the Global Fragility Act (H.R. 1580/S.727). This bill would require the U.S. government – in collaboration with civil society – to develop a 10 year strategy to enhance stability and to reduce violence and fragility around the world. We know that too much foreign assistance and Pentagon spending is spent on treating the symptoms of violence instead of its causes. By passing this law, the U.S. will be able to more effectively prevent violence around the world and reduce its enormous cost on families. Today, hundreds of faith advocates will lift up the Global Fragility Act as part of their lobby day ask for the annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days. It is important for YOU to add your voice as well. Together, we CAN build a more Just and Peaceful World for All! Take action today to support the Global Fragility Act of 2019! https://p2a.co/Mc4rH0c For more information: Global Fragility Act ____________ Know about the King’s Bay Plowshares? 7 courageous and compassionate Catholic Workers who were just found guilty aftertheir trial this past week, facing potentially 25 years each. They went to largest submarine base in the world Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018. They went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares.”
- Send checks to: Plowshares, PO Box 3087, Washington, DC 20010
- Donate online: GoFundMe
EMAIL: Media: kbp7media@gmail.com
Please call our Senators and Congresspersons to urge them to make sure that the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes the amendments passed by the House to . . . *repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. *prohibit military force in or against Iran. *support an end to the Korean War. *prohibit support to and participation in the war on Yemen. *prohibit the sale of air-to-ground munitions, used in the conflict in Yemen, to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. *prohibit funds from the Special Defense Acquisition Fund to aid Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates if such assistance could be used to conduct or continue hostilities in Yemen. *prohibit funding the transfer of weapons to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates under the emergency authority of the Arms Export Control Act. *prohibit funding for missiles noncompliant with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. *support extending the New START Treaty, and prohibit the use of funds to withdraw from New START. *require that the U.S. military provide Congress with the cost and the national security benefits of every foreign military base or foreign military operation. *require the EPA to designate all PFAS (chemicals with which military bases poison ground water) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. *require the EPA to revise the list of toxic pollutants under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to include PFAS. *prohibit DoD funding to house any foreign nationals who are in the custody of and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. *study potential cost savings with respect to the nuclear security enterprise and force structure. *study cost increases for the W80-4 nuclear warhead life extension program and prevent $185 million from being obligated or expended until the study is completed. *prohibit the use of funds for an exhibition or parade of military forces and hardware. *prohibit the use of funds from being obligated or expended at properties owned by the President or that bear his name. *amend the current statutory prohibition on members of Congress contracting with the federal government to include the President, Vice President, and any Cabinet member. *codify a Department of Defense policy to report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System service members who are prohibited from purchasing firearms. If you’d prefer to send an email to your senators, please do so.
——————
#Unite #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver ***********More
listings on calendar and in previous email posts.
To subscribe, write to weeklynews@wnypeace.org with “subscribe” in subject
line.
To unsubscribe, write to
weeklynews@wnypeace.org with “unsubscribe” in subject line. (Sorry for
delays!)
Please submit possible listings
for consideration to weeklynews@wnypeace.org.
The time is now, and we are the
people we’ve been waiting for!
And remember to tune in:
DEMOCRACY NOW! IS NOW BEING BROADCASTMONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY
91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu.
***********
Si, se puede! We shall overcome. #Unite Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.