Buffalo's Peace Jammers share their experiences, meet Rigoberta Menchu Tum
PeaceJam Buffalo started in October 2008, made possible by the support from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, as a partnership of the WNY Peace Center, Stop the Violence Coalition Inc. and Concerned Ecumenical Ministries. PeaceJam is an international group formed by a coalition of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates who developed a curriculum to teach peace, cultural diversity and leadership. We meet Tuesdays from 4-5:30pm at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, hosted by Erie County Counsel for the Prevention of Alcohol & Substance Abuse, now also a partner in the program. Last year, the youth-led, adult-supported group worked with younger students facilitating peaceful conflict resolution groups as their Global Call to Action Project. Below are a few Peace Jammers’ inspiring words after returning from meeting Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum at the Northern Region Peace Jam conference in Chicopee, Mass. Youth age 14 and up are welcome to join in next year's program, as are adult volunteers – call 884-0582 or 444-1991.
“Peace Jam opened my eyes to alternative ways to solve problems. By organizing our project to break the cycle of violence, it taught me to work together for a common cause. The conference was amazing and many of the people I met I will continue to keep in contact with.”
Bubbling Brittany Williams
“Hi, I’m Excellent Yves. I've been in the Peace Jam group for 4 months and I now understand more what Peace really is... Peace Jam means a lot to me because it helps me understand more and more every day what Peace means and what it’s like to work for Nonviolence. It has affected me and my hopes for the future. Now I know, for example, we can stop the violence in the future by starting to teach youth right now about being nonviolent… What really inspires [me] is that even though Rigoberta Menchu Tum had a violent childhood, she didn’t give up or go in revenge, she instead worked for peace.”
Excellent Yves Dushime Read more »
Celebrating the United Nations International Day of Peace
University at
Pinwheels for Peace, Keynote
2020 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament & Mayors for Peace (celebrating Mayor Brown’s signature of the Mayors for Peace Agreement)
Presents RALLY FOR PEACE
Vigil with speakers and performances – against genocide and promoting peace in
Latin American Solidarity Committee of the
September Coffeehouse:
Dine out for Peace at La Dolce Vita Restaurant
Join us at La Dolce Vita Restaurant
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Opens at 4:00pm
1472 Hertel Ave., Buffalo, NY
Reservations suggested: 446-5690
For more information visit www.iloveladolcevita.com
10% of customers’ checks donated to the Peace Center
Subversive Theatre Presents: Twilight
TWILIGHT:
Voices of the 1992 LA Riots
by Anna Deavere Smith
"Riots are the voices of the unheard" -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Directed by Virginia Brannon*
Starring Victoria Perez in over 20 different roles!!!
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays @ 8pm
September 3-26
at the Manny Fried Playhouse (255 Great Arrow Avenue)
Admission: Donation Only!
see below for more information or visit our website at www.subversivetheatre.org
"An American Masterpiece . . . the heart and soul of an American tragedy, as expressed by the hearts and souls of the people who were part of it."
-- Jack Kroll, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE
"TWILIGHT goes some way toward reclaiming for the stage its crucial role as a leader in defining and acting out that ongoing experiment called the United States."
-- John Lahr, THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE
TWILIGHT is a one-woman play that captures the sorrow, the drama, the intensity, the passion, and even the rare moments of comedy that made up the Riots that swept Los Angeles after the police who were videotaped brutally beating Black motorist Rodney King were acquited in 1992.
Using her self-styled approach to "Documentary Theatre", Obie Award-winning playwright Anna Deavere Smith interviewed dozens of people who directly experienced the Riots -- from famous names like Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Trucker Reginald Denny, and Black Panther Leader Elaine Brown to everyday shopkeepers, firefighters, gang members, and many others -- to capture the many, many, many different voices of this American upheaval.
TWILIGHT offers the extraordinary opportunity to see one actor convey the heart-wrenching events of the Riots with the words of the people who actually lived through it. The result is an explosive drama that boils with outrage and defiance, with pain and prejudice, with disgust and disbelief.
TWILIGHT features the acting talents of Victoria Perez under the direction of Virginia Brannon* with Set Design by Dyan O'Connell*, Lighting Design by Craig Freudenthal, and Videography by Brian Milbrand and Holly Johnson.
Performances run September 3-26, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm. All shows are at Subversive Theatre's regular performance venue, "The Manny Fried Playhouse" on the third floor of North Buffalo's Great Arrow Building at 255 Great Arrow Avenue (please visit our website for directions).
Like all Subversive Theatre productions, admission for this show is donation only. Reservations are not available, seating is on a first-come-first-served basis with doors opening one half hour prior to each performance.
For more information, give Subversive Theatre a call at 716-408-0499.
Impunity for Acteal
Tony Blair at UB
Since 1987-8, the University at Buffalo has invited the following speakers, most of them in its “Distinguished Speakers” series:
Al Gore
Ann Coulter
Bill Clinton
Colin Powell (twice)
Dick Cheney
George Bush
Janet Reno
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Karl Rove
Madeleine Albright
Norman Schwarzkopf
Rudy Giuliani
Wesley Clark
Zbigniew Brzezinski
We know that they have been generously compensated, with Colin Powell getting over $100K for his second visit, and Karl Rove and Wesley Clark receiving $50K and $30K, respectively.
What makes for a “distinguished speaker”? Evidently, one significant criterion is a willingness to murder thousands of civilians. Usually, these civilians have been Muslim Arabs and Afghans (Gore, Clinton, Powell, Cheney, Bush, Rove, Albright), with runner-up ethnic groups being Serbs (Clark); Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans (Kirkpatrick). Smaller but still significant body counts have been American (Reno’s tank assault on a fundamentalist group at Waco, Rudy Giuliani’s death squads directed at Africans and African Americans). No doubt, Barack Obama will be a Distinguished Speaker too, in the fullness of time: he murdered his first Muslim civilian children in his first week in office, so he’s already looking pretty distinguished to me.
I had high hopes that 2009-2010 might be a murderer-free year, and I saw some promising speakers that are actually appropriate for a university (Margaret Atwood, Neil de-Grasse Tyson, Cornel West) and some not so promising, but not worth much of a squawk (Bill Maher). But then I focused: their big score this year is Tony Blair (October 7th).
Universal Healthcare, Now.
By Cliff Cawthon
Sabotaging universal healthcare reform is enabling the tyranny of a broken system. Conservatives and their Libertarian pets have menaced the public square as fear mongers that would have made Goebbels blush. What’s scarier than their imagined totalitarianism is that 46 to 50 million Americans are uninsured and for many of us it is (or will soon be) truly life and death. For example on Sunday’s PBS’ show NOW, Debbie Froberg of Las Vegas, NV stated: “I should have been in Chemotherapy 2 weeks after my operation, it has been four months and I am just taking my chances….I’m doing exactly what our town is noted for: I’m gambling with my life”. It is self-evident that anything less than a direct government, thus public, role in healthcare is unacceptable.
Nevertheless, on August 17th National Public Radio released a story on the Obama administration’s flexibility on the Public Option in order to secure a “win”. President Obama reduced the Public Option’s importance last weekend at a town hall in
According to administration officials, the alternative that the administration hopes the centrists will agree with to give the Democrats a legislative victory is non-for-profit independent healthcare cooperatives. The proposal of non-for-profit healthcare cooperatives ignores the fact healthcare’s alienation from public standards and accountability has allowed the insurance industry to exploit its customers and also, self-regulate its services outside the public eye. I believe the term, “bait and switch”, should suffice.
Harlem-based pastor meets with Cuban leaders Raul and Fidel Castro on eve of 83rd Birthday
By IFCO/Pastors for Peace
FIRST PUBLIC PHOTOS OF FIDEL SINCE FEBRUARY 2009
Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., founder and executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, had the unusual opportunity to have extended meetings with Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz and with ex-President Fidel Castro Ruz. The meetings took place when Rev. Walker was in Cuba recently with the 20th Pastors for Peace Caravan.
Rev. Walker indicated that he came away from these meetings with a renewed sense of the potential that exists for improving US/Cuba relations. "Both leaders made it clear that Cuba is ready for talks covering any and all points of interest to both parties” said Rev. Walker.
The 20th US/Cuba Friendshipment Caravan organized by IFCO/Pastors for Peace returned from Cuba last week. Its 130 participants successfully delivered 132 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba.
Since 1992, Pastors for Peace caravans have delivered more than 3132 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. The aid includes hurricane reconstruction supplies, medical and educational equipment, computers, and school buses. Members of the 20th caravan visited Havana and several rural provinces, where they saw and participated in ongoing efforts to recover from the three hurricanes that hit Cuba in the summer of 2008.
Rev. Walker is available for interviews and appearances on talk shows. Read more »
Future in our Hands USA Presents: "Harambee"
A Great Evening for a Great Cause!
At the Sonoma Grille, 5010 Main St, Snyder
This Fundraiser Features:
Live music by Cold Blues
Theme basket raffle
Hors d'oeuvres & desserts, cash bar
$20 Donation
For Reservations call 716-759-6345
For more info: www.futureinourhandsusa.org Read more »
Groups urge senators Gillibrand and Schumer to strengthen federal climate change legislation
"Don't drop the ball on the environment," Groups Urge
August 10, 2009 - On the first day of the U.S. Senate's summer recess, representatives of environmental, civic, and senior organizations urged Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to support strong climate change legislation. The groups held news conferences at five of the Senators’ regional offices to jointly urge that the Senators support legislation that caps greenhouse gas emissions, protects consumers from rate hikes and bolster the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) oversight of climate change pollution.
“Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been champions of the environment and we are here today to thank them for their leadership and urge them to continue to push for comprehensive policy that has the potential to remake our economy and move us away from the dirty fuels of the past,” said Lauren Schuster, NYPIRG's Environmental Campaign Coordinator and New York State's 1Sky organizer. “On the first day of the Senator's summer break; we thought a beach party was an appropriate way to remind our New York Senators not to drop the ball on the environment.”
The groups reminded the Senators that a comprehensive climate bill will maximize clean energy jobs for America and begin to cut carbon pollution, a scientific imperative. A strong policy will 1) ensure that residential consumers are adequately protected against increases in their energy costs; 2) reinstate the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act; and 3) will ensure that the nation reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Read more »