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<font size=4><b>Greetings Friends!<br>
<br>
</b>April is a remarkable month in our region. I URGE you to visit the
WMA AFSC calendar for a full line up of what's available to us (url
below).<br>
<br>
This email calendar highlights a few of the upcoming events, but be sure
to note fundraisers for CAN (April 22), Arise (April 25), Jobs with
Justice (May 1) and the Men's Resource Center (May 7). Be sure also to
note the on-going film series of the Northampton Committee and Reel
World and Mother's Day organizing (thanks to the Women's Congress)
and much more!<br>
<br>
In the coming weeks, thanks to Kasia Paprocki, Darcy Sweeney, Gordon
Tripp and Susan Lantz more than 100 organizers across the region will hit
the streets with petitions for a non-binding ballot initiative to end the
war immediately and bring the troops home. This is the first initiative
of its kind in the nation. For more information, call AFSC, 413.584.8975.
<br>
<br>
Stay tuned -- also -- for news about a May 12 regional meeting to plan
for <br>
the WMA Social Forum <i>and</i> ways to resist the Bush Administration’s
endless war and threats to bomb Iran....<br>
<br>
</font><font size=4 color="#0000FF"><b><u>For up-to-date calendar
information:
<a href="http://www.westernmassafsc.org/" eudora="autourl">www.WesternMassAFSC.org</a>
<br>
<br>
</u></font><font size=4><i>Also in this email:<br>
</i></b>**April 17-21 - Tent State University UMass -- Cindy Sheehan, April 18<br>
**Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy and Torture, April 19<br>
**April is a Month of Books Building Bridges!, April 20, 23, 25<br>
**Is War Inevitable? Panel Discussion, April 20<br>
**Frida Berrigan: Witness Against Torture: A March to Visit the Prisoners at Guantanamo, April 27<br>
**MILITARY RECRUITMENT, the REALITY of WAR AND RETURN, three new films!, April 30<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>April 17-21 - Tent State University UMass -- Cindy Sheehan, April 18<br>
</b>TSU is a week-long outdoor alternative university shaped by the students, workers, and community members. <br>
CINDY SHEEHAN AT UMASS <br>
STUDENT UNION/LIBRARY LAWN, 8 PM<br>
TUESDAY, APRIL 18 <br>
<br>
Noted anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will be in the Pioneer Valley on Tuesday, April 18th to speak in conjunction with the first-ever Tent State University on the campus of the University of Massachusetts--Amherst. <br>
<br>
Cindy Sheehan is an internationally known mom and peace & social justice advocate whose son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in action in Sadr City, Baghdad, on April 4, 2004. Cindy Sheehan is founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization of Americans who have had loved ones killed in wars. <br>
<br>
Cindy's speech, which will in part address the ongoing war in Iraq and the connection between military spending and the lack of funding for public higher education, will be held at the main Tent State University tent on the Student Union Lawn at UMass and will begin at 8:00 pm. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this free event. <br>
<br>
Immediately preceding Cindy at 7:30 pm will be a speech by Preston Smith, the co-chair of the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute's Free Higher Education Campaign, who will talk about the current economic realities of public higher education and how we can work towards creating a system that is completely open and accessible to everyone. <br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy and Torture, April 19<br>
</b>PVCAST will host a Northampton Town Meeting, on Wednesday, April 19th, from 7 - 9 PM at the First Churches Northampton, 129 Main Street.<br>
<br>
This program features a power point presentation prepared by ACLU that examines "myths" about secrecy and torture. A panel will offer commentary, followed by a public discussion. <br>
<br>
Panelists include: Ervin Staub, UMass professor emeritus, who has written extensively on group violence and genocide; Attorney John Bonifaz, a Conway native and voting rights advocate investigating impeachable actions by Bush; Christopher Pyle, Professor of Politics, Mt. Holyoke College, who teaches and consults on civil liberties and constitutional law, formerly a military intelligence officer who exposed Pentagon spying on civilians in 1970. <br>
<br>
For more information about these events or the Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy & Torture, contact: </font><font size=4 color="#0000FF"><u>martygjf@comcast.net <br>
<br>
<br>
</u></font><font size=4><b>April is a Month of Books Building Bridges! <br>
</b>During the month of April, local librarians, educators and families in western Massachusetts will examine the impact of war on libraries, literacy and education in the US and in Iraq through their participation in Books Building Bridges.<br>
<br>
Books Building Bridges is a year-long, community-building project developed in order to acknowledge and foster a common human desire for learning, authentic connection and a healthy society while transcending political divisions in the United States and the geographic and social distance between the United States and Iraq. The group was inspired by Jeanette Winter's book The Librarian of Basra: a true story from Iraq, which chronicles the work of Basra librarian Alia Muhammed Baker who, with her community, saved 30,000 volumes from being destroyed during the current war.<br>
<br>
In addition to the following calendar of events, book stores and libraries throughout the western Massachusetts will feature Books Building Bridges displays. Book drives on many local college campuses will also begin to collect college text books for students and faculty of Baghdad University, as well as dictionaries and other learning tools for The Literacy Project's Adult Basic Education program. Finally, students of The Literacy Project will continue their use of the Books Building Bridges curriculum (available on line).<br>
<br>
The following is a Books Building Bridges calendar of events: [Note: all events are free and open to all. Donations are welcome.]<br>
<br>
<b>April 20, 2006, 10am to noon<br>
<br>
</b>Jackson Street Elementary School, 120 Jackson Street, Northampton<br>
A vacation-week, family-centered program, which includes:<br>
<br>
Author/illustrator Jeanette Winter will read and discuss The Librarian of Basra, with projected images from the book<br>
<br>
Synopsis: Alia Muhammad Baker is a librarian in Basra, Iraq. For fourteen years, her library has been a meeting place for those who love books. Until now. Now war has come, and Alia fears that the library along with the thirty thousand books within it will be destroyed forever. In a war-stricken country where civilians especially women have little power, this true story about a librarian's struggle to save her community's priceless collection of books reminds us all how, throughout the world, the love of literature and the respect for knowledge know no boundaries.<br>
<br>
Creative & Participatory Learning Stations:<br>
Arabic Calligraphy Instruction<br>
Discussion with BBB Curriculum Educators: use in the classroom<br>
Iraqi Children's Art Exchange<br>
Design Your Own Button<br>
A Taste of Dates and Appreciating the Cultural Significance<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>April 23, 2006, 1pm to 4:30pm<br>
<br>
</b>Holyoke Children's Museum, 444 Dwight Street, Holyoke<br>
A vacation-week, family-centered program, which includes:<br>
<br>
1pm & 3pm: bi-lingual (Spanish and English) readings of The Librarian of<br>
Basra, with projected images from the book<br>
See April 20 summary<br>
<br>
2pm & 4pm: Creative & Participatory Learning Stations<br>
See April 20 summary<br>
<br>
<b>April 25, 2006, 7pm<br>
<br>
</b>Jones Library, 43 Amity Street, Amherst<br>
"Untamed Nostalgia" an evening of poetry and song in Arabic and English<br>
with Wafaa' Al-Natheema<br>
<br>
Wafaa' Al-Natheema is the founder of The Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies (INEAS). For more information about INEAS, please visit: <a href="http://www.ineas.org/" eudora="autourl">www.ineas.org</a>. For specific details about this program, please call Claudia Lefko at 413.584.0068.<br>
<br>
<br>
For more information about the project and its participants, please visit: <a href="http://www.booksbuildingbridges.org/" eudora="autourl">www.BooksBuildingBridges.org</a>.<br>
<br>
For more information, or to get involved, please call Erika Arthur, 413.559.1373 or Jo Comerford, 413.695.6059. All volunteers and participants are welcome!! <br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Is War Inevitable? Panel Discussion, April 20<br>
</b>Thursday, April 20, 7:30pm, Amherst College, Amherst MA, Johnson Chapel<br>
<br>
Panel and discussion: The Ethics of War and the Ethics of Peace; Join us for a timely discussion with an extraordinary panel that will, in part, address that ages-old question, "Is war inevitable?" Panel members: Randy Kehler (jailed in federal prison for resisting the Vietnam era draft, war tax resister), Al Miller (Vietnam combat veteran, peace activist), writer, Jonathan Shay (author of Achilles in Vietnam, former Ethics Chair, U.S. Army), and Lt. Col. David H. Vacchi (Head of UMASS ROTC, Iraq veteran) Moderator: Kristin Henderson <br>
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<b>Frida Berrigan: Witness Against Torture: A March to Visit the Prisoners at Guantanamo<br>
</b>Frida Berrigan will give a slide show and talk on her recent trip to Guantanamo. <br>
<br>
April 27, 2006<br>
7:00 PM<br>
St. Mary's Church<br>
3 Elm Street, Northampton<br>
<br>
Frida Berrigan is a Senior Research Associate at the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute in New York. She is also a member of the National Committee of the War Resisters League and the daughter of Plowshares activists Elizabeth McAlister and Phil Berrigan, who co-founded the Jonah House Community in Baltimore and the niece of poet-priest-Plowshares activist Daniel Berrigan. <br>
<br>
Sponsored by:<br>
<br>
The Western Massachusetts Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice consists of people of many faiths, drawn together by our deep concern for the safety, justice and peace of people of the world. We believe that war increases the cycle of hatred, claims innocent lives, and distracts us from the work of ending poverty and injustice at home and abroad. We dedicate our actions to building a culture of peace, eradicating poverty, guarding human rights,and working under international law. We will seek courage and guidance from our religious traditions and solidarity with one another in pursuit of equitable and non-violent solutions to conflict. <br>
<br>
Cosponsored by SAGE, American Friends Service Committee and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of the Pioneer Valley.<br>
<br>
Contact: Rene Theberge, 413-575-8123 for further information. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>MILITARY RECRUITMENT, the REALITY of WAR AND RETURN, three new films! <br>
</b>Film Screening and Discussion with Filmmakers<br>
hosted by Raul Matta of AFSC Western Massachusetts<br>
<br>
Sunday, April 30, 2006, 1:30pm<br>
Academy of Music<br>
274 Main Street, Northampton MA<br>
<br>
Three incredible films, in a youth-centered event:<br>
<br>
All That I Can Be <br>
A first-hand look at the military recruiting process from the lens of New York high school students. All That I Can Be is the winner of the Economic Justice Award at the Fifth Annual Media that Matters Film Festival in June 2005. <br>
<br>
Occupation: Dreamland <br>
Occupation: Dreamland documents the lives of soldiers as they embark on the military assault of Fallujah in the winter of 2004. Occupation Dreamland won the Best Documentary at the Memphis Film Festival 2005. It also was an award winner at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2005 in recognition of the film's "potential to engage audiences to meaningful action that results in concrete impact and social change." <br>
<br>
Purple Hearts <br>
Tells the story of wounded soldiers upon returning home. <br>
<br>
$5 admission charge (free tickets are available by calling AFSC, 413.584.8975). Followed by discussion with the filmmakers. <br>
<br>
Information about ways to get involved in and help build the truth in recruiting work in our region will be available. <br>
<br>
For more information: 413.584.8975. <br>
</font><br>
<font face="Arial Narrow, Helvetica" size=2>"Peace is all around us. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh<br>
<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><b>Jo Comerford<br>
</b>American Friends Service Committee, Western Massachusetts<br>
140 Pine Street, Room 10<br>
Florence, Massachusetts 01062<br>
413.584.8975 (W)<br>
413.584.8987 (F)<br>
413.695.6059 (C)<br>
afsc@crocker.com<br>
<a href="http://www.westernmassafsc.org/" eudora="autourl">www.WesternMassAFSC.org</a><br>
<br>
</font><font size=1><i>New Resource: <br>
</i><b>Ten Reasons Why the US Must Leave Iraq: <br>
</b></font><font size=1 color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.pdf" eudora="autourl">http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.pdf</a></u></font><font size=1> <br>
</font><font size=1 color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.htm</a></u></font><font size=1> (Text)<br>
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