NEW YORK PEACE NETWORK Alert #253

Featured Event

Sunday, May 2, 2:00 - 5:30 p.m.
NEW YORK CITY.
Times Square area to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
(47th St. between First and Second Aves.)
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION:
RALLY - MARCH - PEACE FESTIVAL
Join people from around the world for an afternoon of action!

SCHEDULE:

1:30 p.m. - Assembly - Seventh Avenue south of 41st St.
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Rally in Times Square
3:30 p.m. - March across 42nd St. to the U.N.
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. - International Peace & Music Festival
in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
More information: Rally and March • Peace and Music Festival

In the coming week, we will be confirming a line-up of rally speakers and performers to both inform and inspire us in addition to greetings from delegations from our international partners who are helping to organize this International Day of Action. At the Peace Festival, there will be tents and tables that will provide information and organizing resources so that we can continue our work for a safe, nuclear-free, peaceful and just world for all! There will be a tent with the Japanese delegation including Hibakusha (survivors of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) as well as many other issue-based tents and tables.

Help us spread the word! Sign up to volunteer. To find housing in Manhattan,
go to Reaching Critical Will's website for a list of low cost hotels and hostels.
More info at www.peaceandjusticenow.org.

Tuesday, April 27, 11:00 a.m.
STATEN ISLAND. Spiro Hall 2, Wagner College, Howard Avenue & Campus Road.
THE DAY THE SUN FELL: A TALK WITH HIBAKUSHA
Mr. Takashi Morita (85) and Mrs. Junko Wanatabe (67), are two of the rapidly aging and disappearing Hibakusha - survivors of the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both are also officers of the Brazilian Hibkusha organization that successfully sued the Japanese government for cutting of health support for A-bomb survivors. They will speak of their experiences of the bombing and their lives since. For more information contact Sally Jones, 917-362-0897 or sjones1@si.rr.com.

Tuesday, April 27, Overnight.
STATEN ISLAND.
NPT PEACE WALK ARRIVES IN STATEN ISLAND.
The NPT Peace Walk, which originated in Philadelphia on Earth Day, will arrive in Staten Island on Tuesday, April 27. Overnight stays for about ten marchers being sought. The next morning marches will take the Ferry into the city to join the weekend NPT events. If you can provide a place to sleep, contact Ethan Genauer at nptwalk2010@gmail.com or 856-535-8547. Sponsored by DC => NYC Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition and supported by Peace Action of Staten Island.

Wednesday, April 28, 8:45 a.m.
CITY HALL AREA. Metropolitan Correctional Center, 150 Park Row at Pearl Street
VIGILS FOR START OF FAHAD HASHMI TERRORISM TRIAL
Fahad Hashmi, a 30 year old Muslim American citizen and Brooklyn College alumnus, has been held in solitary confinement since May 2007 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. He is charged with two counts of providing material support and two counts of making a contribution of goods or services to Al Qaeda. His case raises concerns about the conditions of his detention and his ability to receive a fair trial. He is subject to a regime of severe deprivation, including 24-hour electronic monitoring, 23-hour lockdown, no access to fresh air, and one hour of daily recreation (when it is given) inside a cage. Physical and mental consequences of prolonged solitary confinement may impair his mental state and ability to testify on his own behalf. Also of concern are threats to First Amendment rights. Learn more about the case from Educators for Civil Liberties For info, and to confirm trial dates, contact Muslim Justice Initiative. Vigils at selected times will be ongoing outside Metropolitan Correctional Center, Lower Manhattan. Weekly presentation with special guests from Broadway and Off-Broadway. For information and dates, contact Theaters Against War.

Thursday, April 29, 3:00 p.m.
EAST VILLAGE. Village East Cinemas, Second Ave. and 13th Street
SCREENING OF PRO-PEACE FILM "THE WESTERN FRONT"
Directed by Marine Officer and Iraq Vet Zachary Iscol. The only public screening at the Tribeca Film Festival

Thursday, April 29, 7:00 p.m.
BROOKLYN. The Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue (between Bond and Hoyt)
BROOKLYN FOR PEACE PRESENTS: WHY BOYCOTT AND DIVESTMENT?
Reflections on resisting US militarism and Israel's Occupation of Palestine. An open conversation with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb , cofounder of Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence and a proponent of human rights, international law and open dialogue. Light refreshments will be available. For info: brooklynpeace.org or 718-624-5921.

Thursday, April 29, 7:30 p.m.
BAY RIDGE. The Soul Café, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church,
7420 4th (74th St. / 77th St. stop on R)
RICK STEVES' IRAN: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Rick Steves' travels have taught him the power of people-to-people diplomacy. Now as tensions rise between the United States and Iran, he has taken action. "Rick Steves' Iran: Yesterday and Today" is a one-hour documentary on Iran's people and culture. Presented by Peace Action Bay Ridge (646) 824-5506 or bklynpeaceaction@yahoo.com and Interfaith Peace Coalition (718) 680-2981 or infaithpeace@yahoo.com.

Friday, April 30, 2:30 p.m.
LINCOLN CENTER. Bruno Walter Auditorium
SCREENING: "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS"
Oscar-nominated documentary film by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, partially funded by The Yip Harburg Foundation. Robert Ellsberg, son of Daniel Ellsberg and a key figure in Pentagon Papers affair, will appear at the event for a talk-back and questions.

Tuesday, May 4
CITY HALL AREA. Pace University's Schimmel Theater, 3 Spruce Street.
THE WISDOM OF THE SURVIVOR

A day-long conference of testimony and conversation centering on the unprecedented interaction between the Hibakusha and the 9/11 community, and the unique political, psychological, and spiritual contributions that survivors of atrocity and their families can make towards a peaceful future. With Robert Jay Lifton, author of the ground-breaking study Death In Life: Survivors of Hiroshima, and more than 25 other influential books exploring the “survivor experience,” and Jonathan Schell, author of the passionate antinuclear books The Fate of the Earth and The Gift of Time: The Case for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons Now. Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, the co-chair of Mayors for Peace and has also been invited to play a prominent role. The conference will also feature a panel of writers who have addressed nuclear weapons-related and 9/11 issues in their work including Ian Baruma, Edward Hirsch, and Mohsin Hamid, as well as scholars Charles B. Strozier, author of the forthcoming Until the Fires Stopped Burning: New York City and the World Trade Center Disaster; Peter Kuznick, director of American University's Nuclear Studies Institute; and Michael Flynn, professor of psychology at York College. Others include Boston Globe columnist James Carroll, Pulitzer-Prize winner Martin Sherwin, and Yuki Tanaka, Research Professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute. The conference is expected to be shown on C-SPAN and to have wide coverage in New York City and the nation. It will be video-streaming and clips will be posted YouTube after its completion. Free and Open to the Public. Co-sponsored by Peaceful Tomorrows . RSVP is requested but not required. For more details, please visit http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/wisdomconf/. RSVP to wisdomofthesurvivor@jjay.cuny.edu.

Saturday, May 8, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
GREENWICH VILLAGE. Assembly Hall, Judson Memorial Church, 239 Thompson Street (ring bell at door)
ANNUAL MEETING, ABOLITION 2000
Abolition 2000 will hold its Annual General Meeting in New York City in historic Greenwich Village, during the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. A continental breakfast will be served.

Wednesday May 12, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
GREENWICH VILLAGE. Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets)
NORTH KOREA'S BOMB AND THE ROAD TO PEACE

Why did North Korea walk away from the Non-Proliferation Treaty? What has been the history of U.S. policies towards North Korea and what led up to the current impasse in U.S.-North Korea relations? Is there a path towards full denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula? A panel discussion with Joseph Gerson, American Friends Service Committee, author of Empire and the Bomb: How the United Sates Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World; Ko Young-dae, Solidarity for Peace and Reunification in Korea (SPARK), a national organization in South Korea that works towards peace, disarmament, and reunification of the Korean peninsula; Representative from the National Campaign to End the Korean War, a national coalition of scholars, veterans, and grassroots organizations that have come together to call on the U.S. government to sign a Peace Treaty and establish diplomatic relations with North Korea. For directions, see http://brechtforum.org/directions. For more info, go to www.nodutdol.org/, email nodutdol@nodutdol.org, or call 718-335-0419.

Friday, May 14, 8:00 p.m.
HEWLETT. Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library, 1125 Broadway
OBAMA'S LATIN AMERICAN POLICY AND THE HONDURAN COUP:
"THAT'S NOT CHANGE, THAT'S MORE OF THE SAME."
Speaker: Dan Beeton, policy analyst and International Communications Coordinator for the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Mr. Beeton has over ten years of experience working on international policy issues with organizations including the Center for Economic Justice, Haiti Reborn, and the U.S. Campaign for Burma. Sponsoree by Five Towns Forum. Contact Rochelle Dorfman, (516) 623-5689

Saturday, May 15, 12:00 - 5:00 p.m.
BROOKLYN. Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Avenue.(Train: 2/5 to Flatbush Ave/Brooklyn College; Q to Ave H; Bus: B6, B103, B44, Q35, B44, B11, BM2)
BROOKLYN PEACE FAIR
Keynote Speaker: Father Roy Bourgeois, Founder of School of the Americas Watch, Nominee for Nobel Peace Prize. Workshops and discussions, information on peace and justice, kids' activities. Performances by Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Spiritchild, Ill-Literacy, Metro Sonics, Stephanie Rooker, and more. Sponsor: Brooklyn For Peace. Co-Sponsors: Brooklyn College Community Partnership & Brooklyn College Student Center. Plan now for your organization to participate! Endorse, register for a table, place an ad in the program. If you would like to present a proposal for a workshop, activity, or performance, e-mail peacefair@brooklynpeace.org.

Now through Sunday, May 2
FROM STEAMBURG NY THROUGH SIX NATIONS TO NYC
PEACE WALK FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE

Led by June-San Yasoda, Japanese Buddhist nun and leader of the Grafton Peace Pagoda, the 700-mile, two-month Walk will start in Steamburg on March 6, and progress through New York State's Six Nations Native American territories to arrive in New York City (converging with at least three other feeder marches from Oak Ridge TN, Maine, and DC) on May 2, the eve of the UN’s review of the U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference.
For full information, including a schedule, map, and resources on how to join or help out, see the PDF at www.dharmawalk.org or contact Jules Orkin, organizer/walker at julesorkin@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, April 28, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
BINGHAMTON. LECTURE HALL 9, Binghamton University.
CELEBRATE AFRO-LATIN WEEK WITH GUEST SPEAKER ROSA ALICIA CLEMENTE

Rosa Alicia Clemente: 2008 Green Party Vice-Presidential Candidate; community organizer and activist for over 15 years; featured keynote speaker, panelist, and political commentator all over the United States; founder, Know Thy Self Productions, a speaker's bureau for young people of color; presenter of workshops and lectures at over 400 colleges, town halls, rallies and national and international conferences; academic researcher on national liberation struggles inside the United States, with a specific focus on The Young Lords Party, The Black Panther Party and the Black and Brown Liberation Movement's of the 60's and 70's as well as the effects of COINTELPRO on such movements; extensive author on Afro-Latino identity and politics, Sexism within Hip-Hop Culture and Hip-Hop Activism, Media Justice, and African-American and Latino unity; recipient of numerous awards, grants and fellowships and frequent contributor on On the Real with Chuck D on Air America, Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, The Bev Smith Show, Hard Knock Radio with Davey D, Make It Plain on SIRRUS and CNN with Roland Martin, and numerous other radio shows. Rosa lives in the South Bronx, where she resides with her husband and daughter. She is currently writing her first book: When a Puerto Rican Woman Ran for Vice-President and Nobody Knew Her Name. Her show Hip Hop State of Mind, a weekly tv and radio show, will debut on Free Speech TV in June 2010. This is definitely a talk that you don't want to miss! Sponsored by the Latin American Student Union & the Black Student Union.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 6:30 p.m.
BUFFALO. Network of Religious Communities, 1272 Delaware Avenue
(parking & entrance in back)
COUNTER-RECRUITMENT PLANNING MEETING

Thursday, April 29, 6:00 p.m.
WHITE PLAINS. Location TBA.
WESPAC’S ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER

Keynote Speaker: Honorable Cynthia McKinney speaking on
"Reflections on How We Move Forward"
This year WESPAC is recognizing:

* Ted DeSoyza, lifelong work advocating for children, people with disabilities and a more peaceful world

* Felice Gelman, for the WESPAC Middle East Committee and her Palestine Solidarity work

* Mirene Ghossein, for tirelessly bringing people together through culture

* Jackie Mann, The Elias Foundation, and their funding of local, progressive community organizing

* Mary Williams, one of the founders of WestCOP, lifelong anti-poverty work