January 11, 2013 Dear Friends,

We deeply appreciate your gifts News from the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute in response to the appeal letter from MUSTE Medea Benjamin. We are honored by your enthusiastic backing of our work for nonviolent action. If you haven’t yet given, it’s never too late. Your support is welcome at VOL. 20, NUMBER 2 NOTESWinter 2013 any time of year! The Muste Institute has rung in 2013 by joining the Two Row Building Community Power, Wampum Renewal Campaign, a Fighting Deportation partnership between the Onondaga Nation and allies to educate New York In June 2012 the Muste Institute made committees of about 10 people, and state residents about ecological stew- Social Justice Fund grants to two grassroots they train the committee members. groups working in different states to halt That’s the organizing mechanism. ardship and mutual commitment to “ICE Holds,” in which local law enforce- Members involved in committees peace between peoples. Learn more at ment officials detain people they suspect have a voice in the organization and honorthetworow.org. may be immigrants, then hand them over to cast their votes for priorities. Some What does this year hold for our the federal government for deportation. In members become regional team coor- December, we interviewed Victoria Ruiz (VR) dinators and support the formation of building? We are actively weighing of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association new committees. options and hope to choose a direction in Rhode Island and Esther Reyes (ER) of the VR: The model we use at ONA very soon. Meanwhile, read on page Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition in Texas is similar to the Zapatista model of about their work on this issue. organizing, which seeks to collectively 3 about the sheltering grants which How long has your organization identify people who are interested in benefit our wonderful tenant groups. been around, and how did it start? becoming leaders. Our model is like a Thanks again for your generous VR: Olneyville Neighborhood wheel: the organization is in the center, Association (ONA) has been around and the spokes of individuals are in the support of courageous grassroots for about six years. There was a lot of community, bringing the folks around efforts for social transformation. Best gentrification going on in an area of them into wider grassroots struggles for wishes for the New Year! Providence that’s home to a lot of immi- dignity, respect and justice. grants. People got together to fight for Each member-leader becomes part the neighborhood, and ended up form- of the rotating coordination team for six ing a grassroots organization where the months to a year. They receive training members decide what issues to work on. and support on how to manage the daily That membership base began to confront work of the organization, and how to Jeanne Strole Jane Guskin the rising criminalization of immigrants widen opportunities for the members. Co-Director Co-Director and people of color in our communities. What led to your campaign against ER: Austin Immigrant Rights local law enforcement collab- Coalition (AIRC) was also founded six oration with ICE, the federal years ago, when organizations in Austin immigration enforcement came together to push back against agency? national anti-immigrant bill HR4437. As VR: The passage of SB1070 PHOTO BY AIRC more immigrant community members in Arizona, and heavy lobby- got involved, AIRC became a member- ing by the prison-industrial ship organization and adopted a human complex to pass that racist anti- rights framework. immigrant law, sparked nation- Can you describe your organizing wide grassroots resistance. We and leadership development models? heard there was going to be ER: AIRC trains immigrant commu- an Arizona “copycat” law in nity members to become human Rhode Island, so we started rights promoters. They learn about a “We are all Arizona” coali- the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, tion, and our members went the Universal Declaration of Human out and got other organizations, Rights, and the history of immigra- churches, and labor groups to tion and immigrants in this country. join. ONA leads the coalition. AIRC members at the Austin Human Rights Convention, The promoters then form human rights continued on page 2 organized by AIRC. 2 • Muste Notes Winter 2013

Fighting Deportation (continued from page 1)

We have a “big picture” analysis of why

we confront collaboration between local PHOTO BY ONA law enforcement and ICE. We did lots of political education and identified how we were going to choose targets and tactics. PHOTO BY AIRC Simultaneously, we were seeing our members and their family members arrested for driving without a license, or harassed by police because of the Above: A wheel chart at ONA’s color of their skin, or because they office shows their organizing model. “look” undocumented. People were Left: “Texas Can Do Better” march being deported. So that individual pain and rally against anti-immigrant and loss lit the fire for the campaign. bills in Texas. ER: The federal government’s Texas law. Participation is mandatory Led by ONA, our coalition presented “Secure Communities” program across the country right now but local on cooperation between local law (S-Comm) was piloted in Texas in officials have discretion. We were also enforcement and immigration to every 2008, and Travis County, where we’re able to defeat Arizona copycat laws that police chief in Rhode Island. So now located, introduced it in the county jails. gave local enforcement officers author- when we know of someone in an immi- Soon we had one of the highest rates ity to investigate a person’s immigra- gration hold, we have direct communi- of deportation of community members tion status. cation with the head of Corrections, and who had not even committed a crime, On the local level, we were able people who are ready to run delegations. or only a minor infraction. So we saw to get a resolution through two city We could not have done this without increasing deportations and dimin- commissions condemning the way our community defense network, where ishing trust in local law enforcement. S-Comm is implemented. We also have people call to let us know that a family Members brought it up as an issue. We raised attention and media awareness member has been detained. work to improve the community’s rela- around this issue. What goals do you have for the next tionship with local law enforcement, by VR: At ONA we’ve been able to year? putting stories out there of how people bring in new member-leaders and VR: To stop the submission to ICE are impacted by the program. create a grassroots-led campaign and holds in Rhode Island, and fight for Mass incarceration and the crimi- a space for political education. We won access to driver’s licenses in our state. nalization of immigrants are a major public support through press confer- ER: Because Texas is such a large human rights crisis in this country. ences, and letters from law enforcement state, we’re focusing on a county ordi- This campaign is really important for officials and local politicians criticizing nance that limits the sheriff’s authority human dignity, and keeping our fami- S-Comm and ICE holds. Rhode Island to honor ICE holds. lies together, and because of how crimi- became the first state to revoke an nalization impacts our futures. agreement with ICE which had allowed [Note: The online edition of Muste Notes What have you accomplished so far? state police to enforce immigration law. includes a more complete version of this ER: At the state level, working with We also won the rescinding of an execu- interview.] community organizations statewide last tive order which would have forced the year we were able to defeat a proposed state’s employers to verify the immigra- bill to make S-Comm mandatory under tion status of their workers. A.J. Muste Memorial Institute 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 Justice for Bedouin Refugees phone (212) 533-4335 fax (212) 228-6193 email: [email protected] The Jahalin Association (Al Khan al website: www.ajmuste.org Ahmar) is an organization of Bedouin refugees resisting forced displacement by Board of Directors the Israeli military, using grassroots activ- Susan Kent Cakars, David McReynolds ism with Palestinian, Israeli and inter- Secretary Peter Muste national partners, legal petitions, and James A. Cole Jill Sternberg Brian Drolet Nina Streich advocacy in a campaign for justice led Carol Kalafatic Robert T. Taylor by the community. The Jahalin Tribe was Bernice Lanning Martha Thomases,

forced off their land in the Negev desert PHOTO BY RYAN RODRICK BEILER Vice Chair in 1951, following creation of the Israeli state. Their homes have been demolished Staff numerous times, and they live under A Palestinian Jahalin Bedouin girl studies an Jeanne Strole, Co-Director Jane Guskin, Co-Director complete Israeli military control in the Arabic textbook in Al Khan Al Ahmar, east of Sky Hall, Administrative Assistant West Bank. The Association became a Jerusalem. Her home, like all structures in the Salvador Suazo, Superintendent sponsored project of the Muste Institute community, is under threat of demolition by Eric Bachman, Program Associate, INTF in 2012. www.jahalin.org Israeli authorities. Winter 2013 Muste Notes • 3 Sheltering the Movement In January 2011 the Muste Institute Left: April 1, 2012: Granny began a new grant fund to support the Peace Brigade leads an Occupy educational and organizing work of our Wall Street march across the grassroots movement tenants. Grants Brooklyn Bridge. covering the 30-month period from January Below: Members of the New York 2011 through June 2013 total $77,100: State Youth Leadership Council Deep Dish TV: $11,025 for inter- PHOTO BY KATIE MOORE at their office, preparing banners active video programs including for the May Day 2012 march. “Uprooted: A Grassroots Examination of the Politics of Migration.” Granny Peace Brigade: $1,012.50 to educate the public about redirecting taxpayer money away from the military and toward social needs. Met Council on Housing: $9,450 to PHOTO BY JANE GUSKIN educate and inform tenants about their rights, and to orga- development, organizing, education nize and mobilize members around and a safe space for self-expression. affordable housing and related issues. Paper Tiger TV: $13,500 to expose National Committee to Reopen the and challenge corporate control of the Rosenberg Case: $337.50 to educate media and promote alternatives; recent the public about the injustice involved projects include a public spaces show, a in the execution of Ethel and Julius “Little Mermaid Singalong,” a credit card Rosenberg, and the ongoing need to debt opera, and an online video blog. protect civil liberties and constitutional Socialist Party USA: $5,400 for rights. educational work, organizing and mobi- New York State Youth Leadership lizing against militarism and racism Council: $3,375 for the “Education and in favor of labor rights, immigrant Not Deportation” campaign and other rights and access to health care. and against war, and for speaking efforts by this undocumented-youth- : $33,000 for events including those organized with led organization to challenge the broken distributing WIN Magazine and other Afghan activist and writer Malalai Joya immigration system through leadership educational materials on nonviolence and playwright Eve Ensler. Social Justice Fund Grants, September 2012

American Civil Liberties Union of to educate, organize and mobilize Idaho housing rights in Haiti. Idaho Foundation, Boise, Idaho: $2,000 residents to challenge the use of the Tri-Valley Communities Against a for Bridging Common Voices Against death penalty. Radioactive Environment the Death Penalty in Idaho, a campaign , Livermore, Fòs Refleksyon Ak Aksyon sou CA: $1,500 for education and organiz- Koze Kay (Force for Reflection and ing in local communities to build public Action for Housing, FRAKKA), Port-au- pressure against a National Nuclear Prince, Haiti: $2,000 (via International Security Administration plan to trans- Development Exchange/Other Worlds) port plutonium bomb cores between for stipends for community organiz- facilities in Los Alamos, New Mexico ers of the “Under Tents” campaign for and Livermore, California. PHOTO BY ALEXIS ERKERT Umi Hagitani of the No Nukes Action Committee speaks at an August 5, 2012 event organized by Tri-Valley CAREs across from the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab. “Foreclose on the Bomb, Not the People” marked the FRAKKA executive secretary Sanon Reyneld 67th Anniversary of the US speaks at a press conference about Hurricane atomic bombings of Hiroshima Sandy’s impact on displacement camps, and and Nagasaki. the need for a long-term government response to Haiti’s housing crisis. A.J. Muste Memorial Institute NON-PROFIT 339 Lafayette Street ORG. U.S. POSTAGE New York, NY 10012 PAID NEW YORK, NY PERMIT NO. 02030

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A. J. Muste Memorial Institute A. J. Muste Memorial Institute #2: Barbara Deming – #9: Aldous Huxley A. J. Muste Memorial Institute #15: David McReynolds ESSAY SERIES A. J. Muste Memorial Institute A. J. Muste MemorialESSAY Institute SERIESA. J. Muste Memorial Institute A. J. Muste Memorial Institute ESSAY SERIES theESSAY feminist SERIES connectionESSAY SERIES ESSAY SERIES – ESSAYTwentieth SERIES Century A. J. Muste Memorial Institute – longtime activist with to nonviolence – On visionary and prolific writer ESSAY SERIES the War Resisters League, TEMPORARILY – No. Socialist Party presidential Revolution and Equilibrium Science,OUT Liberty OF PRINT and Peace 14 candidate – A Philosophy of #3: Henry David #10: Paul Goodman – Nonviolence Thoreau – the original pacifist, anarchist, activist DAVID architect of resistance – McREYNOLDS The Morality of Scientific JEANNETTE – On the Duty of Civil Technology; The Psychology RANKIN A Peace Agitator: Disobedience of Being Powerless Philosophy “Two Votes of Against The Story of A.J. Nonviolence War” and #4: Jessie Wallace #11: Some Writings on Other Muste, by Nat Hughan – suffragist, War Writings Hentoff. A 250-page peace activist, founder of – thoughts, poems, tales on Peace biography with many the War Resisters League from resisters, including photos, profiling – and Invasion; On Juanita Nelson, Allen the ‘grandfather’ Duelling Ginsberg and Pete Seeger of the U.S. peace #1: Martin Luther King, #7: A. J. Muste – Your Enemies, Letter – movement – Jr. – America’s leading #5: foremost 20th Century #12: Sidney Lens from a Birmingham –A. fieryJ. Muste Memorial orator, Institute anarchist,A. J. Muste Memorial Institute A. J. Muste Memorial Institute peaceA. J. Muste and Memorial labor Institute activist, minister, labor apostle of human dignity – ESSAY SERIES ESSAY SERIESPacifist theoreticianESSAY SERIES and ESSAY SERIES Jail and Declaration of agitator for peace and socialist, occasional activist, pacifist and Loving Your Enemies; Letter activist, minister, socialist – Independence from the liberation – Preparedness: political candidate – six resister. Introduction from a Birmingham Jail; Who Has the Spiritual Atom War in Vietnam. by Larry Gara. Declaration of Independence The Road to Universal Bomb? articles spanning three from the War in Vietnam. Slaughter; The Individual, decades on the state of #14: Jeannette Also in Spanish – see #13. Society and the State #8: On Wars of the U.S. labor movement Rankin – first woman Liberation – three essays in Congress, suffragist, Wear Your

#6: Rosa Luxemburg on pacifist responses to #13: (Spanish) pacifist – “Two Votes Peace Shirt. – courageous leader of armed OUTfreedom OF PRINTstruggles, Martin Luther King, Against War” and Other Muste Institute t-shirts Germany’s democratic – Spanish language including analysis of Jr. Writings on Peace are black cotton with socialist movement – Gandhi’s position translation of Loving a four-color geometric Prison Letters design and the words: “There is no way to peace, The Essays of A.J. Muste peace is the way – A.J. Edited by Nat Hentoff, preface by Jo Ann O. Robinson. Originally issued in 1967, this 500-page Muste” Available in large edition includes Muste’s “Notes for an Autobiography,” plus essays on pacifism, civil rights, trade and extra large. Shirts unionism and foreign policy, written between 1905 and 1966. are made in the U.S.A.

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Essay Series Quantity Pamphlets (total qty:) _____ x $2.00 each ($1.40 each for 20 or more) $______1 Martin Luther King, Jr. ______Sampler Pack _____ x $20.00 (one each of all 13 available pamphlets) $______2 Barbara Deming ______The Essays of A.J. Muste: _____ x $20.00 * $______3 Henry David Thoreau ______4 Jessie Wallace Hughan ______Peace Agitator: _____ x $5.00 * $______5 Emma Goldman ______T-Shirts: (L)_____ (XL) _____ x $15.00 $______6 Rosa Luxemburg ______7 A. J. Muste ______I am enclosing a tax-deductible contribution for the Muste Institute’s 8 On Wars of Liberation ______work promoting active nonviolence and social justice: $______9 Aldous Huxley ______* for bulk rates, contact the Muste Institute office TOTAL ENCLOSED $______10 Paul Goodman ______SHIP TO 11 War Tax Resistance ______Please make check or money order 12 Sidney Lens ______payable to AJMMI and send to: 13 Martin Luther King, Jr. (Spanish) ______A.J. Muste Memorial Institute 14 Jeannette Rankin ______339 Lafayette St. 15 David McReynolds ______NY, NY 10012

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