April/May/June 2012
HIGHLIGHTS A PUBLICATION OF THE PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER
PAGE 2 From the Center The Distance Between Iran and Nathan Suter, PJC Board member, recognizes the Center staff, interns and volunteers for Vermont their success in organizing 65 town leaders to include language regarding the Corporations BY Tavish MacLeod, PJC Intern are not People Campaign on their ballots on Town meeting day. Now relegated to the media back to determine whether the fees paid for burner, the escalating conflict speaking on behalf of the M.E.K. violate PAGE 3 N between the United States and US law, given that the M.E.K. has been Rumors of War: IRAN Iran continues to boil. While President designated as a terrorist organization The 4th event in the Peace & Justice Center’s Obama spoke in Burlington on March 29, since the inception of the United States’ Cost of War Speaker & Film Series. his administration enacted tougher Foreign Terrorist Organization list in sanctions towards the Iranian central 1997.(6) The M.E.K., according to a 2009 PAGE 4 bank, which is the main conduit for RAND Corporation study, engaged in Fair Trade is Economic Justice purchasing Iranian oil.(1) Iran’s quest for several terrorist attacks during the 1970s We feature three groups working with nuclear power (the stated goal of their that resulted in the deaths of several women and children – organizations nuclear program) resonates deeply with Americans service members.(7) The providing opportunity and tools for women Vermonters as protests around VT’s own M.E.K. publicly renounced violence in and children to break the cycle of poverty, nuclear power plant, Vermont Yankee, 2001, yet in the years leading up to the oppression, abuse, and hopelessness. increases and globally the safety of announcement, they had claimed respon- nuclear power is called into question.(2) sibility for 350 attacks. In 2009, the M.E.K. PAGE 5-8 However, there is a more direct was removed from the United Kingdom Occupy Burlington Insert connection between the Green Mountain and the European Union’s terrorist watch May Day events. Occupy Updates. state and the current war of words with list on procedural grounds.(8) Iran. One of Vermont’s former governors Howard Dean has been a vocal PAGE 9 is included in a wider group of political supporter of the M.E.K. including writing Vermonters for a Just Peace in figures, some of which are receiving an op-ed in the Huffington Post that Palestine/Israel significant financial compensation for details the living conditions of the M.E.K. VTJP is the only activist organization in their efforts, who are vocally supporting a who reside in camps in Iraq.(9) The Iraqi Vermont dedicated exclusively to the US designated terrorist organization.(3) government took control of these camps question of Israel/Palestine and ending the Howard Dean, along with former New after the United States withdrew from the Israeli occupation. York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, and majority of its forces from the country former Pennsylvania governor, Ed and the Iraqi military has already killed PAGE 10 Rendell, are among those advocating for scores of residents of the camp.(10) Calendar Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (M.E.K.), an Iranian Additionally, former Governor Dean Cost of War Series events continue. Many dissident group who claim to represent stated the M.E.K. should be recognized May Day events. the democratic Iran.(4) Critics of the as a government in exile from Iran.(11) organization categorize it as a cult Despite Mr. Dean’s assurances that PAGE 11 organized around its leaders Maryam and the M.E.K. embraced peace, the organiza- Stand Against Racism Massoud Rajavi who confiscate members’ tion recently came under scrutiny in an Speech at Trayvon Martin Rally, Burlington VT, passports to prevent them from leaving NBC News report(12) by Richard Engel April 2, 2012 by Dante Seguino. the group.(5) and Robert Windrem which stated, Former Governor Rendell received a subpoena from the Treasury Department Iran continued on page 3
research z policy z action 2 April/May/June 2012
From the Center
Dear Friends,
EDITORS Applause and concern... Wendy Coe Robin Lloyd I want to first recognize the successful efforts of all town leaders, organizers and Peace and Justice staff, interns and volunteers for their terrific work in organizing 64 towns to include language regarding the PUBLISHED 10/year Corporations are Not People Campaign on their ballots for Town meeting day in March. This is grassroots (See form on page 12) democracy in action. ¡Si, se puede! The connections we have made through our program director Gaby
CIRCULATION Ochoa Brenneman with town leaders and organizers have built trust and communications that promise to 1,400 be great action tools in the future to continue our work. Most importantly I want to celebrate the fact that all of the work, time and resources our staff and interns invested in this campaign resulted in those 64 cities The opinions expressed in and towns declaring that corporations do not deserve the same rights as people, and corporate contribu- the articles, including those by staff, are those tions undermine our political process and weaken democracy. of the authors and not Vermont has spoken, and Vermont has historically been a great leader for social and political change in necessarily those of the this country. Thank you Gaby and the Center for your hard work in getting this done. The struggle isn’t peace & justice center. over yet. We are still working for greater transparency and accountability in political campaigns, and to ensure that all people have equal access to political speech. I urge us all to maintain our focus on this issue as we move toward the election in November. Concern: We cannot ignore the rumors of war with Iran. We have seen these patterns of rhetoric before, and we have seen where they lead. A group of 32 Senators have already resolved to support Obama if he chooses to strike at Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons program (February 29, 2012). These 60 Lake Street #1C actions are part of a strategy that brings us closer to war with Iran, despite reports that “The United States, Burlington, VT 05401 European allies and even Israel generally agree on three things about Iran's nuclear program: Tehran does 802.863.2345 not have a bomb, has not decided to build one, and is probably years away from having a deliverable fax: 802.863.2532 www.pjcvt.org nuclear warhead.” - Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball for Reuters (March 23, 2012). [email protected] Please join us on Friday, April 20th at 7:00 for the Rumors of War: Iran Panel discussion in Contois Auditorium to learn BOARD OF DIRECTORS more about Iran, the (alphabetical order) US and what options Linda Ayer Autumn Barnett we have. Spence Putnam Last, as we report Nathan Suter our earnings (if any) Ed Everts, emeritus to Uncle Sam, and calculate our federal
STAFF taxes, consider with Gabriella Ochoa Brenneman us how we might Wendy Coe prefer to spend our Colleen Deignan Jake Schumann federal budget. Let’s invest in peace.
PJC MISSION Yours, Our mission is to create a just and peaceful world. To this end, we work on Nathan Suter the interconnected issues Board of Directors of economic and racial justice, peace, and human April 10, 2012 rights through education, advocacy, training and non- violent activisim, and community organizing, since 1979.
Celebrating the towns (before we knew it was 65!) that voted for Corporations are NOT People on Town Meeting Day, March 6, 2012. Jake, Gaby, Colleen, and Robin.
research z policy z action April/May/June 2012 3
IRAN continued from page 1 Yankee Protest,” Boston.com, 23 Mar. 2012, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east- http://www.boston.com/news/local/ 13011469). according to anonymous US officials, the massachusetts/articles/2012/03/23/ 11) Ben Smith, “Dean for the MEK,” Israeli intelligence organization Mossad 130_arrested_in_vermont_yankee_protest/. Politico, 8 April 2011, (http:// partnered with the M.E.K. in assassinat- 3) Scott Shane, “For Obscure Iranian Exile www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0411/ Group, Broad Support in the U.S.,” New York Dean_for_the_MEK.html). ing several Iranian nuclear scientists.(13) Times, 25 Nov. 2011, (http:// 12) Richard Engel & Robert Windrem, Casting further doubt upon Mr. Dean’s www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/us/politics/ “Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s claim of a nonviolent M.E.K., Seymour lobbying-support-for-iranian-exile-group- nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News,” Hersh of the New Yorker recently uncov- crosses-party- NBC News, 9 Feb. 2012, (http:// lines.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all#). rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/08/ ered evidence that the United States Joint 4) Holly Fletcher, “Mujahadeen-e-Khalq 10354553-israel-teams-with-terror-group-to- Special Operations Command (JSOC) (MEK) (aka People’s Mujahedin of Iran or kill-irans-nuclear-scientists-us-officials-tell- conducted military training with the PMOI),” Council on Foreign Relations. nbc-news). M.E.K. as recently as 2005 (around the 5) Elizabeth Rubin, “An Iranian Cult and Its 13) Frank Gardner, “Iran and the Unde- American Friends,” New York Times, 13 Aug. clared Campaign,” BBC News, 11 Jan. 2012, same time when former Governor (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east- Dean claimed that the M.E.K. 16513186). renounced violence).(14) The 14) Seymour M. Hersh, “Our Men in Iran,” training consisted of communica- The New Yorker, 6 April 2012, (http:// www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/ tions, small unit tactics and 2012/04/mek.html). weaponry. The 2009 RAND study 15) Scott Peterson, “Iranian Group’s Big also describes how the M.E.K. Money Push to get off U.S. Terror List,” repeatedly requested the return of Christian Science Monitor, 8 Aug. 2011, (http:/ /www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/ their weapons that were confis- 0808/Iranian-group-s-big-money-push-to-get- cated during the American off-US-terrorist-list). invasion of Iraq.(15) 16) Elizabeth Rubin, “An Iranian Cult and Mr. Dean’s efforts on behalf of Its American Friends,” New York Times, 13 Aug. 2011, (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/ the M.E.K. are a piece of a larger 14/opinion/sunday/an-iranian-cult-and-its- strategy that the group hopes will american-friends.html?pagewanted=all). lead to a bolstering of their 17) Glenn Greenwald, “Washington’s High- political legitimacy. However, Powered terrorist supporters,” Salon.com, 12 Mar. 2012, (http://www.salon.com/2012/03/12/ questions remain about how washingtons_high_powered_terrorist_supporters/ influential the group is within Iran singleton/). (Iranian democracy activists claims they are hated in Iran due to the M.E.K. siding with Iraq in Rumors of War the 1980s Iran-Iraq War) and the Cartoon by Iranian graphic artist Mana Meyestani. human rights violations of the group itself including their 2011, (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/ treatment of women.(16) For now the opinion/sunday/an-iranian-cult-and-its- group remains on the Foreign Terrorist american-friends.html?pagewanted=all). IRANIRAN Organization list and the Treasury 6) Scott Shane, “U.S. Supporters of Iranian The 4th event in the Peace & Justice Center’s Department’s inquiry should reveal Group Face Scrutiny,” New York Times, 13 Cost of War Speaker & Film Series Mar. 2012, (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/ whether accepting monetary compensa- 13/us/us-supporters-of-iranian-group-mek-face- A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH: tion from the group violates American scrutiny.html). z Barrie Dunsmore, veteran foreign correspon- law. According to Salon blogger and 7) Jeremiah Goulka, Lydia Hansell, dent for ABC News and VPR commentator; constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald, Elizabeth Wilke & Judith Larson, “The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq A Policy Conun- z Sarwar Kashmeri, senior fellow with the the paid speeches supporting the M.E.K. drum,” RAND Corporation, 2009, (http:// Atlantic Council’s International Security could fall within the 2010 Supreme Court’s www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/mono- Program, Fellow with the Foeign Policy decision on Holder vs. Humanitarian Law graphs/2009/RAND_MG871.sum.pdf). Association and VPR commentator; that upheld the illegality of providing 8) Scott Peterson, “Iranian Group’s Big Money Push to get off U.S. Terror List,” z Misagh Parsa, Sociology professor, material support (including political Christian Science Monitor, 8 Aug. 2011, (http:/ Dartmouth College; and advocacy) to a designated terrorist /www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/ z Gregory Gause, UVM Political Science organization.(17) 0808/Iranian-group-s-big-money-push-to-get- off-US-terrorist-list). Professor & Dept. chair. Endnotes 9) Howard Dean, “America Must Keep Its FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 7:00PM Word,” Huffington Post, 22 Aug. 2011, (http:// 1) Steve Hargreaves, “US tightens oil www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-dean/america- Burlington City Hall. $5-15 donation. sanctions on Iran.” CNN Money, 31 Mar. 2012, must-keep-its-wor_b_933345.html). Co-sponsored by Veterans for Peace. http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/30/news/ 10) “Iraq forces attack Iranian PMOI rebels 863-2345 x8. international/Iran-sanctions/?source=cnn_bin. at Camp Ashraf,” BBC News, 8 April 2011, 2) Wilson Ring, “130 Arrested in Vermont
research z policy z action 4 April/May/June 2012 In Solidarity with Women
BY Gabriela Ochoa Brenneman
he Peace & Justice Store continues Organizations like Mallia Designs T to partner with organizations that recognize the need for secure, are working to improve the lives of sustainable, and safe sources of the most vulnerable in societies around income for women. The goal of the the world. We continue to work bridging organization is to foster economic the gap between producers in developing development for women as a way to countries and consumers in the North counteract human trafficking. Even American market through our educational with all of the international attention programs. and recognition – sex trafficking is Every time we write bout the impact of still a big problem in the region. the Fair Trade movement or the work that Malia Designs provides women our partner organizations are doing with an opportunity to generate a ished women, and an outreach program worldwide, we come to the same conclu- sustainable income and learn the skills to for families in need in Kathmandu, Nepal. sion: women and children are the most become self sufficient. When women are Kathmandu has countless children living vulnerable in our societies. able to provide for themselves and their on the streets in a society struggling with When we partner with fair trade families, they become less vulnerable to poverty and political instability. Many organizations we are not only looking at prostitution and human trafficking. women are abused and abandoned by the financial benefit the artisans and Besides providing a source of income and their husbands with no skills or tools to farmers will receive from having another training for the women, the organization support themselves and their children. In market. We look at what are the economic also wants to raise awareness about the a culture where gender inequalities are and social structures that keep people in sex trafficking industry and its impact on well established, women find themselves poverty and oppression. We partner with women and children. in desperate situations, living on the organizations addressing the structural “We aim to empower socially-conscious streets with their children or facing the problems and providing sustainable and customers with information they can use decision of abandoning them. viable opportunities for the most vulner- to help combat this crime against human- The main source of income for people able. ity around the world”. in Kathmandu is low-paying jobs in In this issue we are featuring three Malia Design’s products address carpet factories. Women are employed for groups working with women and children sustainability by reusing rice bags and long hours with very little time to take – organizations providing an opportunity making them into beautiful and practical care of their children. Older children are and tools for women and children to market bags, totes, wallets, computer often responsible for taking care of their break the cycle of poverty and address- cases, hampers, and bracelets. siblings or are forced into indentured ing situations where women and children servitude or working as laborers. get trapped in oppression, abuse, and Ghar Sita Mutu opened its doors in hopelessness. 2001 to provide housing and care for Come and take an active role in abandoned children and serve as a supporting their efforts by purchasing training center for women. They provide the products that support their programs. housing, food, education, and health care Help us share their stories. for children and women in a warm, loving place. The Educational Center is open for Malia Designs: fighting children that come from families that can human trafficking not afford to send their children to Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar, school. Women also attend literacy and illegal trade affecting millions of people math classes. The program trains women every year around the world, but espe- in making felted crafts and provides them cially in Asia. In Cambodia, sex trafficking with an income and an opportunity to continues to devastate the lives of become independent. hundreds of women and children in the The women are making hand and region. Poverty and lack of work in their finger puppets, wall hangings and purses Ghar Sita Mutu: House villages forces women to migrate to out of felt. Every item is unique and neighboring villages or countries in with a Heart search of work – making them easy Ghar Sita Mutu is a home for abandoned targets for traffickers. children, a training center for impover- Fair Trade continued on page 9
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International Workers’ Day May Day in Burlington Occupy Burlington is encouraging Tuesday, May 1 everyone to take the day off and Occupy groups across the country exercise their freedom to enjoy are calling for a day of labor solidar- springtime with their friends and ity and a public holiday on May 1st. neighbors, eat good food, take part May Day is an international in workshops culminating in a concert celebration of the labor movement. and dance party in the evening. It began in 1891 as a commemora- From 10 am onward, Burlington tion of the struggle for an eight hour City Hall Park. day which came to a head in 1886 May Day in Montpelier with the Haymarket Massacre, when Chicago police fired on demonstra- Meanwhile in Montpelier, the tors during a general strike. Now it is Vermont Worker’s Center and many observed in many nations around the others are planning a March and world. Rally: One Movement for People & May Day is also a traditional day the Planet. of the celebration of fertility. 12 noon, starting at Montpelier City Hall.
industrial hemp. Our Hemp Public Legal Notice has been crafted to dispel idiotic Occupy Across Vermont issues around the agriculture of industrial BY Stephen Marshall, point person for the Occupy Vermont Communica- hemp, and to encourage common sense tions Working Group. Please see
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Occupy continued from page 5 take their message to the Bank of America shareholders meeting. One tactic they are political arena, I will support them with considering is to write up a list of my experience, and the fact that I am demands and to solicit signatures around doing it once more since public banking the state to take with them to Atlanta, is gaining ground.” where the bank is based. From occupycentralvt, Marie Country- Chuck Gregory
research z policy z action April/May/June 2012 7 Obama’s M’AIDEZ! M’AIDEZ! Drive-By Occupy BY Marc Estrin BY Brad Hartley ay Day is many things to many pleasant pastimes, and in the morning M people. It is the same sounding they return, bringing with them birche roving that irony is never dead, word as the international call for boughes and branches of trees to deck P President Obama headlined a help which is a corruption of the French their assembles withal. But their chieftest 1%ers luncheon and high dollar imperative “M’aidez” meaning “Help jewel they bring from thence is the Maie- photo op followed by a 99%ers motiva- me!” And “help me” was what political pole, which they bring home with great tional chat complete with a rocker-rousing May Day has traditionally been about – a veneration, as thus – they have twentie Grace Potter set. Given the inside crowd’s day of international workers’ solidarity. or fourtie yoake of oxen, every oxe having reception, surely they are hoping that an This notion was eventually too much for a sweet nosegaie of flowers tied to the tip Obama win next fall will bring a new capitalist, fortress American, which don’t of his horns, and these oxen draw home ‘flexibility’ – as he recently expressed to need no help from nobody, and in 1961 the May-poale, their stinking idol rather, the Russian president – which will (yes, under JFK), Congress passed a bill which they cover all over with flowers translate into middle class relief at home. creating May 1st as “Law Day”. That’s and herbes, bound round with strings I looked around at the wonderful right, as you watch all those nice blue from the top to the bottome, and some- people gathered outside on a UVM lawn flowers come up, you can let your mind times it was painted with variable colours, in the chilly wind. I couldn’t help thinking drift to the men in blue who protect and having two or three hundred men, women, that the community organizer turned serve, if you are white and upper class. and children following it with great President was about to encounter some A quick web search of “Law Day” devotion. And thus equipped it was Vermonters for whom “a change we can sites shows an interesting evolution of reared with handkerchiefs and flagges believe in” has become “a cause we the custom. Many are now maintained by streaming on the top. They strawe the won’t back down from”. From the caged lawyers’ and law school organizations, ground round about it, they bind green look on his face as he passed, framed by and are dedicated to the notion that boughs about it, they set up summer his armored window, I know he won’t lawyers are essential to “freedom under halles, bowers and arbours hard by it and soon forget. the law”. This may be, if you are rich then fall they to banquetting and feast- Some 125 of us with our signs and enough to retain the right one. But ing, to leaping and dancing about it, as banners talked politics, waved at passers enough people remember the political the heathen people did at the dedication by, and created new bonds as we demon- origins of May Day – commemorating the of their idols. strated to the powers that be that cash struggle for an eight hour day – and are soaked corporate indoctrination hasn’t using the calendrical energy to combat O, well. There is always incorruptible made all of us docile and compliant. the oppression of corporate globalization nature: What I always find inspiring at mass and US imperialism. Im wunderschönen Monat Mai protests like this is the convergence of You know what? On a beautiful, sunny In the wondrously lovely month of everyone’s different paths delivering us afternoon in early spring, it often occurs May to a place where peace, justice, and to me that there was once – and still is – Als alle Knospen sprangen, equality reassert themselves; the truely more to May Day than just politics. Or when all the buds sprang forth highest forms of the human condition. maybe not. Our Puritan forefathers spent Da ist in meinem Herzen We all walk with our own mantras, but so much vituperation on May Day – and there, in my heart assembled, I always sense commonality Christmas – (see Hawthorne’s great story Die Liebe aufgagangen. of certainly spiritual significance. “The Maypole of Merrymount”) – which Love also broke out. Oh yeah, the free gourmet food was they felt to be superstitious and idola- Im wunderschönen Monat Mai delicious. Someone who looked frighten- trous. Here is Philip Stubbes in 1583 In the wondrously lovely month of ingly like the Prez (he was in a mask) did a railing against a “stinking idol” of a May great job providing for us all the while Maypole: Als alle Vögel sangen, trying to sell or rent what little democracy Against Maie Day, Whitsunday, or when all the birds were singing remains in DC. some other time of the year, every parish, Da hab’ ich ihr gestanden Our assembly of integrity did what so town, or village assemble themselves, then I confessed to her few dare to do: to meet the cult of greed both men, women and children; and either Mein Sehnen und Verlangen. and celebrity, the militarized police, and all together, or dividing themselves into my longing and desire. the complacency that surrounds. To just companies, they goe some to the woods (Heinrich Heine/Robert Schumann) say “no” to the status quo. and groves, some to the hills and As Howard Zinn said so well, “dissent mountaines, some to one place, some to These are also Laws. is the highest form of patriotism”. another, where they spend all the night in
research z policy z action 8 April/May/June 2012 Thousands Descend on Entergy Headquarters By Dylan Kelley
united voice demanded that Entergy beautiful sunny day (3/22/12) in “shut it down.” Vermont has become the blue- A Beginning with a massive single skied witness to over a thousand file march from downtown Vermonters rising up in indignation and Brattleboro and proceeding up route anger. 7, an estimated 1,300 people gathered together for street theater by groups such as the Bread and Puppet theater group and Raging Grannies, as well as the citizens’s arrest (in effigy) of Entergy CEO J. Wayne Leonard. The “False Solutions Circus” highlighted the deep corruption, mis-information, Four jailbirds: Robin Lloyd, Jeannine Bair of Hancock, and hypocrisy found at the heart of VT, Charlotte Brody of Burlington, and Lynn Crough of Wendell, MA. We were four of 133 individuals who many US environmental policy committed non-violent civil disobedience at the boondoggles. company headquarters: the largest number of protesters The gathering was not however arrested at a nuclear plant in the 21st century! just a gathering to critique main- stream environmental policy. There was and 27 affinity groups crossed the line business to attend to and it lay just up and walked into the black handcuffs that the road at the Entergy headquarters. were waiting for them. Clasping hands and linking arms, a Though their political origins were detachment of protesters marched varied, though their economic back- towards the office buildings to confront grounds were mixed, and though their Entergy. The police were waiting for them. ages ranged from 18 to 80, the Vermonters Effigy of Entergy, CEO J. Wayne Leonard, After a deep breath and the squeezing of walking into their black handcuffs were is handcuffed by protesters. a few hands, they crossed the police line united in indignation and outrage at and were arrested for unlawful trespass Judge Murtha’s ruling, at the superiority as a chorus of We Shall Not Be Moved of the NRC, and at the ongoing usurpa- One day after the 40 year contract for was sung by thousands who assembled tion of the will of people. the VT Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in support. expired, Vermonters from every corner of It went on and on throughout the state, of every political stripe, and of the day. One by one and hour after every income bracket descended upon hour an estimated 130 protesters the local headquarters of Entergy and in a
Contact Information [email protected] An address to write to. http://occupyburlington.org Links and basics of getting connected. http://occupyvermont.wordpress.com Occasional news and lots of links. http://occupyyouropinion.blogspot.com List of folks from around the state, plus some discussions. http://www.nycga.net Get linked in to national events. https://www.wepay.com/donations/330681 Where donations can be made electronically. After a non-violence training in late winter with Eric Bachman and Dorie Wilsnacki, members of the Burlington Friends Meeting formed an Affinity group, the Earthquakes.
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Vermonters for a Just Peace in Fair Trade continued from page 4 supports a program that recognizes that Palestine/Israel by opening opportunities for women you are opening opportunities for the whole 2012 Annual Contribution Drive community.
BY Mark Hage CHETI Widows Project: Empowering Women in or more than ten years, Vermonters z Coordinated outreach to our Tanzania for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel Congressional delegation; F The CHETI Widows Project in Tanzania (VTJP) has been working to end z Organizing Palestinian-themed art works to empower HIV+ and impover- Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian exhibitions & film showings; ished widows to improve their lives and territories and to promote a just peace z Organizing statewide speaking tours the lives of their children. The program based on international law. If you have on the occupation and the history of seeks ways to end the poverty cycle and visited our popular website Israel/Palestine gender discrimination for women. The (www.VTJP.org), which receives 70,000 z Sidewalk tabling and distribution of CHETI program provides women with the hits per month, you know how timely and pertinent materials; training, tools, and initial funds to start comprehensive it is. Many of you have z Protest vigils; their own business. Women working with attended our political and cultural events. z A major divestment initiative the CHETI widows project receive an You know the quality of our efforts and spearheaded by Students for Justice in education in business management with our dedication to nonviolence. Palestine at the University of Vermont. the goal of becoming self sufficient. Recently, VTJP kicked off a 2012 UVM is investing in American companies Women also have access to AIDS annual contribution drive, the first of its with deep ties to the Israeli military or seminars and general education courses. kind for us. We have an ambitious Jewish settlements; The beadwork of the women supports schedule of activities on our plate, and z Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions a sustainable program that provides with good reason – the occupation will be (BDS) advocacy in Vermont. We spon- women with the tools to improve their 45 years old this June, with no end in sored the first debate on the subject in future. $6 buys a child’s school books for sight, and more than 500,000 Jewish Vermont featuring Omar Barghouti, and one year; $10 feeds a large family nutri- settlers are now living illegally in the we will be launching a Vermont-specific tious meals for a week; $3 gets a woman West Bank and East Jerusalem. 1.5 million BDS campaign this spring. HIV checkups, testing, and care. Gazans are still under a crippling, inhuman The women of the CHETI widows siege. No viable peace process is possible How to contribute: program are making beautiful and colorful as long as Israeli colonization and military Your tax-deductible contribution can be jewelry including original Maasai neck- repression continue. Our work has never made by check or online with a credit laces and earrings and unique beaded been more important. card. Checks should be made out to: leather sandals. Come and get unique VTJP is the only activist organization Peace & Justice Center, and on the accessories for the summer or a beautiful in Vermont dedicated exclusively to the memo line please write, For VTJP. The gift that gives women in Tanzania a question of Israel/Palestine and ending P&J Center is at 60 Lake Street, chance to improve their future. the Israeli occupation. And we need to Burlington, Vermont 05401. raise $2,500 to fund grassroots organiz- To contribute by credit card, go to our ing and education in Vermont over the website at www.VTJP.org, click on the next twelve months. We need your help “Main Menu” tab on the left-hand side, and generosity to do this. near the top, then scroll down and click Your contributions, in addition to on “Donate.” helping us meet basic operating ex- Thank you for whatever contribution penses, will provide critical support for you can make now. If you have questions the following projects: about the organization or our fundraising, z Production and distribution of our or would like to sponsor our television public access TV program – “Salaam/ program on your local public access Shalom: Report on Palestine/Israel” – channel, please contact Mark Hage, at produced twice a month and distributed [email protected]. to stations across Vermont, and posted on VIMEO and our website; z Expanding access to our website, one of the finest in the world on Israel/ Palestine;
research z policy z action 10 April/May/June 2012
CALENDAR
April 2012
[20] Friday Invisible War) will be speaking as the 6th event in the PJC’s Cost of War z 7pm Rumors of War: IRAN. PJC’s panel. City Hall, Burlington. See page 3. Series. Place: TBA, Burlington. [25] Wednesday [14] Monday z 7:30pm PJC showing the film: The Invisible War: about rape in the military. z 6-8pm Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel meeting at PJC. 301 Williams Hall, UVM. Donations welcome. z The Occupy Global Teach-In, based in Britain and Sweden, and will be June 2012 simulcast across the globe, starting at 12 noon EST. The local screening will be at 108 Lafayette, UVM. The theme is Solutions to the Economic, Ecological and Energy Crises. The teach-in will continue at 6-9pm at Main [3] Sunday Street Landing, with a performance by Bread & Puppet Theater at 6pm. z 12-1 Vets for Peace live call-in show on Channel 15. Then we will break into 3 discussion groups. Jon Erikson of the Gund Institute will convene the teach-in and lead the final report-backs and [4] Monday discussion. z 6:15pm Burlington-Bethlehem-Arad Sister City Committee meeting at Burlington College. [29] Sunday 12-3pm Stand Against Racism. PJC participates in the national YWCA [9] Saturday campaign. z 6:30am-4:30pm Champ Ride 2012 by Vermont CARES. Oakledge Park, Burlington. $75 registration fee without fund raising. 1-800-649-2437, May 2012 [email protected]. [11] Monday [1] Tuesday z 6-8pm Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel meeting at PJC. z 10am -? Occupy Burlington May Day event in Burlington’s City Hall Park. [13] Wednesday z 12 noon VT Workers’ Center March & Rally in Montpelier. z 5-6:30pm Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) meeting at the Peace & Justice Center. 862-4929. [5] Saturday z 9pm-2am. Mildred Moody’s Full Moon Masquerade: a Peace & Justice Center fundraiser at Nectar’s, 188 Main St, Burlington. Bands: Lynguistic Civilians and Second Agenda. $5. [6] Sunday May Day! z 12-1 Vets for Peace live call-in show on Channel 15. International Workers’ Day (May Day) is an international celebration of the labor movement. It began in 1891 as a commemoration of the 1886 [7] Monday Haymarket Massacre, in which Chicago police fired on demonstrators z 6:15pm Burlington-Bethlehem-Arad Sister City Committee meeting at during a general strike calling for the eight hour work day. Burlington College. The Vermont Workers’ Center has been celebrating International Workers’ [9] Wednesday Day since 2009 with an annual rally and demonstration on the lawn of the z 5-6:30pm Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Vermont Statehouse. Each year, the rally has brought many people to meeting at the Peace & Justice Center. 862-4929. Montpelier to demonstrate in solidarity and unity with working people. In 2011, the Vermont Workers’ Center used the May Day rally to launch its [12] Saturday Put People First campaign, joining the ongoing Healthcare Is a Human Right z 10am-2pm Peace & Justice Center’s World Fair Trade Day Celebration. campaign with the People’s Budget campaign. In 2012, individuals and Burlington, City Hall Park. More info: www.pjcvt.org organizations focusing on the entire spectrum of social issues will unite with the VT Workers’ Center in their call for Vermont’s legislature to Put [13] Sunday People First by declaring One Movement for People and the Planet. z 7pm Helen Benedict, author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Meet at 12 noon at Montpelier City Hall. Women Serving in Iraq (which inspired the making of documentary: The For more info: www.workerscenter.org/may1
research z policy z action April/May/June 2012 11 Speech at Trayvon Martin Rally, Burlington VT, April 2, 2012
BY Dante Seguino
Geraldo Rivera seems to think that Trayvon Martin was murdered doesn’t just read “tough” it reads threat and all of that word’s for wearing a hoodie. And as outrageous as that claim is, what’s associated baggage. Threat means can’t date my daughter, can’t more outrageous is that he was murdered for what he wore under teach my kid, can’t work in my store, must be up to no good. But that hoodie, his racially charged identity as a young black man. threat is also associated with the coolness of blackness, the What Trayvon and all black youth wear out of the house renegade, the strength of the oppressed people. So wearing everyday is a set of judgments cast upon us by the world we live “threat” will get you different reactions from different people like in. A set of judgments which, warranted or not affect the way in fight or flight. I walk down the street and people won’t look me in which the world reacts to us and the way in which we react to the the eye. I have neighbors who still won’t wave or say “Hi” to me, world. let alone know my name. We had our electricity go out one night Actor and Musician Donald Glover says, “White kids get to during the winter and I had to weigh how “suspicious” I might wear whatever hat they want, when it comes to black kids one look walking around my own house with a flashlight against our size fits all.” When I walk down the street with headphones on I need to have heat, electricity, and warm water. know people aren’t going to assume I’m listening to folk music. That’s a freedom denied. I can’t be on my property without Race amplifies the significance of the smallest decisions. When I feeling like a criminal. I can’t walk down the street without feeling wear these boots because it’s cold outside, I do so knowing it like a predator. I can’t answer a question in class without feeling impacts the view people have of me. A hooded sweatshirt, the like a sellout. My music, my clothes, my hair, my voice only ever length and style of my hair, the manner in which I speak, and the exists in relation to blackness. Everything I do is categorized as way I walk are all punctuated by my blackness and bear added black or non-black in a performance where the end-game is to significance because of it. categorize me. I am black as I am Trayvon Martin. We wear the For white people these things carry no racial charge. They can same black skin, the skin I share with millions of black people wear whatever hat they want and no one will question their across the country and across the world. What we wear is a whiteness. Black kids by contrast must fit into the narrow beautiful kind of danger. The kind of danger worn by those framework that white America has constructed for us. Failure to willing to live outside the framework we’ve been incarcerated in comply is punishable by racial dissociation or criticism for through the ignorance of the masses. The kind of danger worn “acting white”. So the choice becomes whether to live in denial by those who live the hyper-examined life but defy the hypoth- of your race or to live defined by its public perception. I liken it esis and experiment in new realms of the science of blackness. to the DirecTV commercial where a man, angry at being on hold Under Trayvon’s hoodie he wore blackness. Blackness had as with his cable company goes to blow off steam playing racquet- much to do with Trayvon’s murder as George Zimmerman. I’ve ball but gets hit in the eye. The narrator says, “When you blow worn blackness my whole life, but under that I’m just as unique off steam accidents happen, when accidents happen you get an as a white person, I have my own style, voice, passions, and eye patch, when you get an eye patch people think you’re tough, opinions. So I’ll walk down your street after dark, and I’ll wave when people think you’re tough, people wanna see how tough, and say “hello” to you and your kids, and I’ll wear a hoodie if I and when people wanna see how tough you wake up in a choose to. Police and store clerks will still follow me, I’ll still miss roadside ditch.” This situation is fictional and dramatized for out on jobs I’m qualified for, I’ll still get denied a seat by the comedy, but the significance is that something that, in this case window in a restaurant. But as much as the world wants to corner he was made to wear, led people to presume certain things and me and put a gun to my head for the fact that I wear blackness, I act on their incorrect presumptions. refuse to end up in a roadside ditch. So as long as they keep But in reality blackness is that permanent eye patch that trying to put us into boxes, we’ll keep proving that we don’t fit.
Stand Against Racism at the PJC April 28 The Peace & Justice Center is planning an event for this year’s YWCA Stand We are also collecting testimonies in advance, and day-of, responding to Against Racism. We would love for you to be involved! Join us 12-3pm. the prompt: Describe a time when you experienced or witnessed racism in We are inviting several organizations to bring their literature, information, Vermont. These testimonies will be posted anonymously on a large board and expertise on racism in Vermont. We will be setting up tables outside of outside of the PJC for people to read and write their own. the Peace & Justice Center and giving organizations an opportunity to talk After the event, participants will be invited into the Center for a conversa- about what resources or services they offer to the community, and what tion about racism in Vermont, what our organizations can do to help, and they feel are Vermont’s biggest challenges. how we can collaborate to be more effective in our work.
research z policy z action 12 April/May/June 2012
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