Impeachment Rally Tues 5pm (Bidwell & Elmwood); Celebrate Sunday & Monday (RS & LASC)

Written by Victoria Ross on December 14, 2019. Posted in Latin American Solidarity, Talking Peace News, Urgent Appeal

716-332-3904 12/14/19 wnypeace.org

Dear Friends,

Please join us on Tuesday 5pm at Bidwell & Elmwood for an Impeachment Rally on the eve of the historic vote. We have seen the criminal behavior in the White House (and previously) and have been calling for this since the 7/2/17 Impeachment Rally. Come on out and dress warmly! Signs welcome to this family event we’re cosponsoring with MoveOn. Maybe some will see the light who haven’t already. This is the opposite of a partisan issue!

Also, please call our Senators and urge them not to vote in favor of the NDAA. Virtually all the excellent amendments we and other allies were striving for were not included. The Bill is a huge boondoggle to militarism and will of course cause more security problems. “This bill authorizes $738 billion in Pentagon dollars with almost nothing to constrain the Trump administration’s erratic and reckless foreign policy,” we and our allies said in a statement. “It is a blank check for endless wars, fuel for the further militarization of U.S. foreign policy, and a gift to Donald Trump.”

It should not be passed!! Please take a moment to call:
-Senators Kirsten Gillibrand – (202) 224-4451, or locally (716) 854-9725; regional rep Austin Ponce; and
-Senator Chuck Schumer – (202) 224-6542, or locally (716) 846-4111; regional rep Jordan Nicholson.

Again, a lot is going on besides the holiday rush, so – don’t get overwhelmed! And don’t miss some of these great events:

– Christmas in the Woods, 4-7pm, singalong and potluck at Riverside Salem on Sunday;
– Celebrate Fair Trade and Justice with LASC/WNYPC & El Buen Amigo at El Buen Amigo fair trade store, Mon 7-9pm at 114 Elmwood, Potluck-Presentation-More;
– Rally to get Cuomo to sign the SWEAT bill to stop employer theft of employee wages, Tues, 12-1:30pm at Lafayette Sq (btwn Main & Central Public Library) – or call Gov Cuomo at 518-474-8390;
– Nekanesakt’s Future Generations Ride Potluck, Tues at 6:30, at Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St – Potluck, presentation, and opportunity to support the annual Ride to Wounded Knee by Water Protectors who stood/ lived at Haudenosaunee Camp at Oceti during Standing Rock.

Again, please join us for a special vigil outside the Holding Center this coming Weds, 12/18, when we’ll be joined by Voice Buffalo and for a Radical Love Holiday Candle vigil at the usual 4-5:30 time frame in front of the Holding Center, remembering the many lives lost there, the shared suffering, and the determination to change all that! And here’s another reason/need to call Gov Cuomo (518-474-8390): pleae urge him to recall Sheriff Howard for his terrible performance of his duties.

We met for the Women’s March WNY planning. Save the Date!: the WM will be Sunday, January 19, on a Weekend of Action (with Women’s March DC and the Celebration of Rev Dr Martin Luther King weekend). We also have a snow date of Sunday, March 8 – International Women’s Day. Groups are welcome to bring a banner to march behind at the event 1/19/20.

The “To Suspend or Not to Suspend” event organized by the WNYPC Education & Human Rights Taskforce with CAO will be held at Northland Workforce Training Center, Tues, 12/17 at 5:30-7:30pm. (Light refreshments will be on hand.)

And please join us for the Resist Militarism! Taskforce meeting this Weds, 5:30-7pm, at Isaías González-Soto Branch Library (formerly Niagara Branch), 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo NY. We’ll be discussing grounding the drones – at Niagara Falls – and ending the wars, as well as the Back from the Brink campaign.

Also, please remember to support our Friends of Democracy Now! in Buffalo campaign. This is such a good time of year to make sure we continue to have this important news source broadcast locally 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).

Again, your donations – for Democracy Now! or for the WNYPC itself – are fully tax-deductible.

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 wnypeace.org, select Get Involved; and it’ll be immediately under Current Campaigns!)

As always, more below, including regularly scheduled events & vigils, and lots more at wnypeace.org, and on our facebook page, twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (wnypeace)!

Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.

#Unite! #OneLove
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Events this week:

Christmas In the Woods

December 15 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

At Riverside Salem Environmental Cottage, 3449 W River Rd (between Whitehaven & Bedell Rds), Grand Island, NY 14072. All are welcome to this carol sing and pot-luck. With Nan Hoffman, Joe Tumino, Kathy de Loughry, and all of us! Program 4-6pm followed by pot-luck. Info: Nan (716-773-5315) or June (716-773-1426).

Celebrate fair trade & justice with LASC at El Buen Amigo

December 16 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

At El Buen Amigo, 114 Elmwood Ave. Music and Refreshments welcome El Buen Amigo (the Good Friend) opened on Elmwood in 1989 as part of the Latin American Cultural Association. They deal directly with crafts people, cooperatives and small family businesses, and returns profits to the artists and their communities. Everyone welcome to our party. With reports on Chiapas and political developments in Mexico from Tom Potts and Bill Jungels, and other solidarity news.

www.elbuenamigo.org WNY Peace Center: www.wnypeace.org
& its taskforce, the Latin American Solidarity Committee: www.lascwny.org

Rally to Demand Gov. Cuomo sign the SWEAT Bill

December 17 @ 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

At Lafayette Sq, Buffalo, NY. Workers in NYS lose one billion dollars a year to wage theft. Undocumented people and low wage workers are among the most effected. Less than one percent of successful lawsuits against wage theft actually result in recovering lost wages because employers can hide their assets.

To Suspend Or NOT To Suspend Event

December 17 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

At Northland Workforce Training Center, 683 Northland Ave, Buffalo, New York 14211. When should or shouldn’t a student be suspended? When does a student get suspended? (What does the research say?) Please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/to-suspend-or-not-to-suspend-that-is-the-question-tickets-85162720991 This event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.

Resist Militarism! Taskforce Mtg

December 18 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

At Isaías González-Soto Branch Library (formerly Niagara Branch), 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo NY. Discuss, among other things, a possible spring action at the NF Air Force base in response to the “Warheads on foreheads” article in the Buffalo News this fall (focus on making action plans more concrete).

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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.

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.

Special potluck, presentation, and fundraiser for Future Generations Ride

to Wounded Knee by Water Protectors. (See more above.)

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. This week is a special Radical Love Holiday Candle Vigil with VOICE and SURJ.

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 and 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

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, Christmas in the Woods!

Of note: Little Africa Culture Club, 356 S. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY. African Drumming Sundays, 12-2pm.

We shall overcome #Unitethestruggles #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver

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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.

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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

To Suspend Or NOT To Suspend Event

December 17 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

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.

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Two courageous activists were arrested for their work to prevent the outrageously destructive DAPL pipeline. Check it out Here: https://theintercept.com/2019/10/04/dakota-access-pipeline-sabotage/
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Action Alert re Stone Dam Road Pipeline: go to wnypeace.org/environmental-justice/

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– 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 call our representatives and senators to urge them to stop NAPL! SeeNorthern Access Pipeline Information for more info.

*GENDER JUSTICE

The WM will be on January 19, 1:30-3pm, in Niagara Sq or City Hall Steps. That allows for people to attend the DC March on Saturday, 1/18, focused on Indigenous Women; and the MLK Celebration Program, Sunday 1/19, 6pm at Kleinhans Musical Hall, Symphony Circle, Buffalo. Our snow date is Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day.

The Gender Justice Taskforce continues organizing. Please see our taskforce page on the wnypeace.org website. The Chair is Denise Robinson.

* 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

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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

Celebrate fair trade & justice with LASC at El Buen Amigo

December 16 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

www.elbuenamigo.org WNY Peace Center: www.wnypeace.org
& its taskforce, the Latin American Solidarity Committee: www.lascwny.org

Sponsored by Peace Action-Canisius, www.lascwny.org/ and WNY Peace Center http://wnypeace.org/ Free and open to the public

January Coffeehouse – Jan. 27, Rev. Nancy Rosas, Sanctuary for refugees in Buffalo; 7pm at Canisius College Science Lounge.

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Latin American Solidarity Committee website: http://www.lascwny.org/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/

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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

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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 still suffering, 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/Pastors for Peace (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

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. This week is a special **Radical Love Holiday Candle Vigil** with VOICE and SURJ.

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.

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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!)

Also – save the date! January 21 will be a special trip to Albany to support the HALT bill.

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

Again, please Save the date: Jan 21, lobby trip to Albany to get HALT passed.

* RACIAL JUSTICE

Monthly meetings announced on our website calendar.

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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).

Next Meeting: 12/18. See above.

Special Resist Militarism! Taskforce Mtg

January 8, 2020 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

At Isaías González-Soto Branch Library (formerly Niagara Branch), 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo NY. Discuss ideas for what an interactive memorial in Buffalo that acknowledges all victims of war could look like. All are welcome!

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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

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Know about the King’s Bay Plowshares? 7 courageous and compassionate Catholic Workers who were just found guilty after their 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”. Now is the time to write letters to Judge Lisa Godbey Wood regarding her sentencing of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7. We are collecting letters, especially from those who know the defendants, testifying to their character and the good work that they are doing in their communities which will not be done if they are serving long terms in prison. These letters are not the forum to criticize the law, the legal process or government policies. Rather it is the place to point out positive things about the defendants that should mitigate a harsh sentence.

Letters should be sent to defense attorney Bill Quigley at the address below. He will compile them and distribute to various defendants’ attorneys for delivery to Judge Wood. The attorneys suggest it would be helpful to get these done by Thanksgiving or the week after in order to get processed and delivered. Sentencing may be in January or possibly February.

The best letters are simple, polite, and tell good things about the person you are writing in support of.

The suggested format is as follows:

Date

Sender’s Name

Sender’s Address

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood

c/o Bill Quigley

Loyola University New Orleans Law Clinic

Campus Box 902

7214 St. Charles Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70118

Regarding Sentencing of: Mark Colville [or] Clare Grady [or] Martha Hennessy [or] Fr. Steve Kelly SJ [or] Elizabeth McAlister [or] Patrick O’Neill [or] Carmen Trotta (or all seven of the Kings Bay Plowshares)

Dear Judge Wood,

Suggested outline for the letter:

– Explain who you are.

– Explain who you are writing about, how you know them, and what good they do for their community.

– Explain why the Judge should not send them to jail.

– Thank the Judge for reading your letter.

Valediction,

Signature

For more ideas and details for your letters, you are welcome to see the defendants’ biographies here.

Thank you for your attentiveness to the trial, your support for the defendants and their families, and your focus on the issue of the abolition of nuclear weapons.

As Fr. Steve Kelly says, “The nuclear weapons won’t go away by themselves.” We do this work together.

In solidarity,

The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Support Team

Please Donate

Thanks to your support, we have mobilized thousands of people around the world to speak out for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Please help with expenses, housing, and supporting defendants’ families following the verdict and the upcoming sentencing.

Send checks to: Plowshares, PO Box 3087, Washington, DC 20010
Donate online: GoFundMe

EMAIL: Media: kbp7media@gmail.com

General: kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com

WEBSITE: www.kingsbayplowshares7.org

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Kingsbayplowshares

TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/kingsbayplow7

INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/kingsbayplowshares7

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkSCM4dxIJxAolsl2oMP72Q/

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Please call our Senators and urge them not to vote in favor of the NDAA. Virtually all the excellent amendments we and other allies were striving for were not included. The Bill is a huge boondoggle to militarism and will cause more security problems. “This bill authorizes $738 billion in Pentagon dollars with almost nothing to constrain the Trump administration’s erratic and reckless foreign policy,” we and our allies said in a statement. “It is a blank check for endless wars, fuel for the further militarization of U.S. foreign policy, and a gift to Donald Trump.”

It should not be passed!! Call
-Senators Kirsten Gillibrand – (202) 224-4451, or locally (716) 854-9725; regional rep Austin Ponce; and
-Senator Chuck Schumer – (202) 224-6542, or locally (716) 846-4111; regional rep Jordan Nicholson.

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#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.

Impeachment Rally Tues 5pm (Bidwell & Elmwood); Celebrate Sunday & Monday (RS & LASC)

Events this week:

Christmas In the Woods

Rally to Demand Gov. Cuomo sign the SWEAT Bill

To Suspend Or NOT To Suspend Event

* ECONOMIC JUSTICE

* EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS To Suspend Or NOT To Suspend Event

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* RESIST MILITARISM!

* EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS

To Suspend Or NOT To Suspend Event