Defend the Sacred! Truth and Love. Holiday Blessings!

Written by Victoria Ross on December 22, 2019. Posted in Recent Activities, Talking Peace News

[no Riverside Salem program this week! Please come out next week!]

716-332-3904      12/22/19                  wnypeace.org

Dear Friends,

We are grateful for you, all year round – and especially at this time of year, when there are so many reminders of our values, our issues, our wonderful and terrible existence.

Please enjoy this time to recharge with family and friends, and to remind ourselves what our lives are all about – Truth and Love; caring for each other (and ourselves), for the most oppressed, the most hurting, and for the whole of Creation.

As we pause at this time of year, you may find some of the vigils that are on auto pilot (that’s virtually all below) may not have anyone there – or may have as many or more than usual!

Special schedule changes include:
– no program at Riverside Salem today (resumes 12/29);
– no Great Law of Peace meeting for December (and last will be January 28);
– no Environmental Taskforce meeting for January;
– Interfaith Peace Network changed from 1^st & 3^rd to 2^nd and 4^th Thursdays of January;
– no office hours for the WNYPC on 12/24; nor on 12/26. Catch us the next week!

(And don’t forget our membership meeting on January 11, 1:30pm at the WNYPC, and the Women’s March Sunday January 19, 1:30pm as part of a Weekend of Action! More to follow.)

Which reminds us too, to thank all who came out (some ~400) and/or supported the Impeachment Rally! (seems so long ago now!) and the work of the WNYPC and our allies and partners all year long! We’re all in this together.

And we need our courage and strength more than ever. Might is not right; and another world IS possible! We will continue to stand up for our principles, our values, and the Spirit – for people and the planet. Remember, too, Crisis = Opportunity! And it’s darkest before the dawn.

As always, more below, including regularly scheduled events & vigils, and 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:

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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 Jim Anderson and Vicki Ross co-hosting. Also streaming on-line at wbny.buffalostate.edu. Special values program on 12/23.

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 will meet on the last Tuesday of January for its final session on the Kayanerenko:wa as put forth by Kayanesenh Paul Williams.

Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce – NO MORE Deaths! Vigil/protest Wednesdays 4-5:30pm at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). 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 – in January only, 2^nd & 4th Thursdays of the month, ie, January 9 and January 23, with special presentations on Congregation of Israel and Sufism respectively; 9:15am at 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 entrance and parking round back.) Breakfast potluck, and 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. No program this week (ie 12/22) – please join us next week!

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.

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Si, se puede! We shall overcome. #Unite

Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.

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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 3rd 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

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

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!! We’ll have a Pastors For Peace representative here on April 5! Save the date!

-Chenalhó, Chiapas—

If you would like to provide much-needed help, go to weaving-for-justice.org

* PRISONERS’ RIGHTS

Ending Torture: A Solitary Confinement Community Discussion

January 7, 2020 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

At the Crucial Community Center, 230 Moselle St, Buffalo NY 14211. Join us for a discussion about the pervasive use of solitary confinement across New York, with firsthand accounts from solitary survivors. Learn more about #HALTsolitary (http://nycaic.org) and ways to get involved to end the use of solitary confinement across the state. Organized by Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals and the WNYPC.

Trip to Albany to Pass #HALTsolitary Act

January 21, 2020 @ 5:30 am – 9:30 pm

WNY chapter of the Campaign for Alternatives to Isloated Confinement (CAIC) is going to be joining various chapters across the state in Albany on Tuesday, January 21 (https://www.facebook.com/events/564954490972330/) to advocate for legislators to pass the #HALTsolitary act. It is so important to passing the act. More than 2 weeks in solitary is torture per international standards. #haltsolitary

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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* 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).

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.

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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#Unite #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.