HUDSON VALLEY ACTIVIST CALENDAR
April 23, 2010, Issue #158B
Send event announcements to jacdon@earthlink.net
Editor's Note:
The May Activist Calendar will be emailed May 3 or 4. This is a supplement to the April Calendar, available below, dated April 6, 2010, Issue #158 and supplement 158A on April 14.
Special Event:
Tomorrow, Saturday, April 24, is the 56th birthday of Mumia Abu-Jamal, America's best known political prisoner. He will observe the event from death row in a Pennsylvania prison, where he has been incarcerated for 28 years. He allegedly shot and killed a Philadelphia police officer — a verdict contested not only by Mumia and his many supporters in the U.S. but by many millions of people around the world. Mumia was a member of the Black Panther Party and an award-winning radio journalist when the shooting incident took place. The state of Pennsylvania is still trying to execute this talented and, in our opinion, innocent man.
An international campaign has been launched for the Justice Department to conduct a federal civil rights investigation into Mumia's arrest and imprisonment. You may sign a petition calling for such an investigation at http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition/. On April 26 there will be a march to the Justice Dept. to demand the civil rights probe. Buses will be leaving from NYC. Information about this event is at http://www.freemumia.com/april26.html. During his years in prison Mumia has published several books, and he tapes brief articles every few days for radio and print distribution. To listen to his broadcasts, select from many offerings at http://www.prisonradio.org/mumia.htm. To read a brief account of Mumia's case, go to http://www.freemumia.com/who.html.
Saturday, April 24, TARRYTOWN: A concert to benefit the Sloop Woody Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Foundation will feature Pete Seeger, Work O' the Weavers, the Klezmatics, Fred Hellerman and Rob Tepper. The event takes place at the Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main St. For tickets, http://www.tarrytownmusichall.org. Information, (914) 631-3390.
Sunday, April 25, NEW PALTZ: A memorial meeting for Nancy Rice will take place today. The well known local peace and justice activist died Feb. 24 in a nursing home near her Highland residence. Nancy was the long-time leader of the Caribbean and Latin America Support Project (CLASP). The memorial will be at the New Paltz Community Center, located north of Main St. behind Town Hall on Rt. 32 (Chestnut St.) and Veterans Dr. CLASP says: "Come with remembrances to share of Nancy’s life and work, or send them if unable to attend. Bring finger foods and cold drinks if you wish for the gathering, which starts at 2:30 p.m. and ends by 5:30 p.m. The ceremony begins at 3 p.m. Information, call (845) 255-0113. Statements from those unable to attend may be sent to burgek@newpaltz.edu. (A tribute to Nancy was published in the 3-18-10 issue of the Activist Newsletter.)
Sunday, April 25, SYRACUSE: Upstate New York peace activists are organizing an antiwar march to a rally at Hancock Air National Guard base today to protest against Washington's increasing use of "hunter-killer" pilotless drones in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The 174th Fighter Wing, stationed at Hancock, has recently been assigned the task of handling the MQ-9 Reaper, a much more powerful version of the earlier Predator B. The Obama Administration's requested war budget for fiscal 2011 increases spending for drones from $877.5 million this year to $1.4 billion in 2011, much of which will be spent to double production of MQ-9s. The Syracuse Peace Council and Peace Action of Central N.Y. are organizing the march and rally. Demonstrators will gather at 12:30 p.m. at the Northern Lights Plaza mall in suburban Mattydale just north of Syracuse. (Meet by the Christmas Tree Shop at the south end.) The three-mile march begins at 1 p.m. Participants are asked to "please wear dark colors to remember the victims of the drone attacks." (Civilian "collateral damage" is a frequent byproduct of these marauder missions.) There will be a one hour "solemn demonstration with speakers and music at the entrance to the Reaper base, at 6001 East Molloy Rd. (between Thompson Rd. and Town Line Rd.). If you drive directly to the base, park on Moore or Falso Sts. Information, glotzierz@twcny.rr.com, Carol at (315) 472-5478, http://www.peacecouncil.net/Events.htm.
Sunday, April 25, DELMAR: "Peace Action Through Music" is the theme of the 28th anniversary potluck dinner/benefit for Upper Hudson Peace Action, 5-8 p.m. at the Delmar Reformed Church, 386 Delaware Ave. The event features traditional folk performers Kim and Reggie Harris playing music, and Sonny Ochs and Wanda Fisher speaking about their work for peace and justice while promoting the folk music tradition. Ochs produces Phil Ochs song nights and hosts the Mostly Folk show on WRPI. Wanda Fisher has hosted the Hudson River Sampler on WAMC since 1982. Participants are asked to bring a potluck dish to share. The suggested donation is $25, with "more if you can afford it, less if you can't." Information, info@peaceact.net, 518 463-5907, http://peaceact.net.
Thursday, April 29, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): The documentary "Coal Country" — about the ecological devastation caused by mountain top removal coal mining — will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Coykendall Science Building Auditorium. Regional climate activist Dan Guenther will discuss theenvironmental danger of such mining. He will share his experiences during six months in West Virginia working with anti-mountain top removal activists. This free public event is sponsored by the SUNY New Paltz Environmental Task Force. Campus map: http://www.newpaltz.edu/map/map0708_1600x750.gif. Information, obachb@newpaltz.edu, (845) 257-3447.
UPDATE: Thursday, April 29, NEW YORK CITY: AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka will lead a 4-6 p.m. rally and "March on Wall Street." The march will leave from City Hall Park in Manhattan, Broadway and Barclay St., down Broadway and through the financial district. More than 10,000 union and nonunion participants are expected. At the event, Trumka told reporters: “People will be talking, yelling, chanting and letting America — and letting Wall Street, particularly — know that their brand of economics, where the financial economy overshadows the real economy, is no longer acceptable, that we want them to help pay for the jobs that they destroyed.... I think that's what's angered the American public the most: They destroy all these jobs, they bring us to the brink of financial disaster, they get bailed out, they don't lend money to people that could create jobs, and yet they go back to business as usual.” Information, New York City Central Labor Council, (212) 604-9552, http://www.nycclc.org, http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/z1qh1q11sBNa/.
Thursday, April 29, BRONXVILLE (Sarah Lawrence College campus): "The Origins of the Economic Crisis and the Way Out" is the title of a 5:15 p.m. talk by liberal economist Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). It will be held in the Titsworth Lecture Hall.
Friday -Sunday, April 30-May 2, NEW YORK CITY: Two important events calling for a "Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World" — a day-and-a-half conference Friday-Saturday, and a march and rally Sunday — will be held just before the May 3-28 meeting of the UN's 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The public events have been organized by U.S. and international peace groups which formed the NPT Review 2010 International Planning Committee for Nuclear Abolition, Peace and Justice. The purpose of the committee is to "ensure that the UN conference concludes with a commitment to begin negotiations for the abolition of all nuclear weapons, as provided by Article VI of the treaty and repeated called for by the world’s nations." Following are the two events. Full details are at info@peaceandjusticenow.org, (646) 723 1749, http://peaceandjusticenow.org/wordpress/.
• Friday-Saturday, April 30-May 1: Between 800 and 1,000 people are expected to attend the conference at Manhattan's Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address the conference. There will be about 20 other speakers in three plenary sessions over the two days, including the Mayor of Hiroshima, who will speak on “Beyond Nuclear Weapons: A Call to Conscience.” At least 30 workshops will be held during this period. Registration is online at the above web address. The cost is $30 ($20 for students with ID).
• Sunday, May 2, is an international day of action. Assemble at 1:30 p.m. at 7th Ave. just south of 41st St. for a 2-3:30 p.m. rally, followed by a march on 42nd St. to the United Nations, where there will be a 4-6 p.m. International Peace and Music Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 47th St. between First and Second Aves.
Saturday, May 1, NEW YORK: There will be two separate marches for immigrant rights and jobs and fair treatment for all workers taking place in lower Manhattan today. The main demands of the two coalitions — the May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, and the Alliance for Labor and Immigrant Rights and Jobs for All — are fairly similar. The May 1st Coalition is more open to the left, also calling for "legalization for immigrants now," and "no militarization of the border." The Alliance for Labor is backed by a number of unions, among some other organizations, and its perspective seems close to the AFL-CIO's immigrant rights demands and its five-point jobs program. Here is information about both events:
• The May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights will gather for a rally at 12 noon in Union Square Park, 14th St. and Broadway. In addition to speakers there will be a cultural performance by the hip-hop group Rebel Diaz. Participants will then march down Broadway to bring their demands to Wall Street. Information, http://May2.info, mayday2010@peoplesmail.net, (212) 633-6646.
• The Alliance for Labor and Immigrant Rights and Jobs for All will assemble at 11 a.m. in Foley Square (on Worth St. between Centre and Lafayette Sts.) The march will pass Wall St. and end in Battery Park with a rally and festival, with live entertainment. Information, Jason Green, at Jason@theadvancegroup.com, (212) 239-7323.
