HUDSON VALLEY ACTIVIST NEWSLETTER/CALENDAR
Nov. 5, 2010, Issue #651, http://activistnewsletter.blogspot.com/
Send event announcements to jacdon@earthlink.net
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Dedicated to Helping Activist Movements in the Hudson Valley
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Editor's Note: This supplements our full November Calendar, dated Oct. 29, below. Check it out for many other events during the next couple of weeks.
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UPDATING OUR SPECIAL EVENT
Wednesday, Nov. 10, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): A public meeting titled "Crisis in Israel/Palestine" will take place in the auditorium of the Coykendall Science Building on campus. The subtitle asks two questions: What do Americans Need to Know? What is the Palestinian Side of the Story? This 7 p.m. event is co-sponsored by the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter, Middle East Crisis Response, and Peace and Social Progress Now. The campus sponsor is the Muslim Students Association. A main purpose of the educational event, according to the organizers, will be to discuss "the Palestinian side of the story because the great majority of Americans have only been exposed to the views of Israel and the United States and not to those of the Palestinians." Speakers include Mariam Haris, a Muslim student at SUNY New Paltz; Faris Giacaman, a Palestinian student at Bard College; Joel Kovel, a retired professor and author of a dozen books, the latest being "Overcoming Zionism"; Nada Khader, executive director of the WESPAC Foundation, and a Palestinian American who has served as a consultant for the UN Development Program in Gaza; Jack A. Smith, editor of the Activist Newsletter; Jane Toby, who teaches at SUNY/NP and founded the first Hudson Valley branch of Women in Black; Hannah Schwarzchild, representing the organization American Jews for a Just Peace; and Paul Rehm, a Christian pacifist who took part in a recent peace mission to Hebron in the West Bank. The MC is Donna Goodman. Information, (845) 255-5779, donna0726@earthlink.net. Campus map, http://www.newpaltz.edu/map/. Directions, http://www.newpaltz.edu/about/directions_text.html.
Another update, adding room:
Wednesday, Nov. 17, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): A free and public 7 p.m. screening of the documentary "Gasland" will be held Lecture Center 100. This new film by Josh Fox exposes the extreme dangers of the fracking (horizontal hydraulic fracturing) process of extracting natural gas. The State Senate has issued a temporary moratorium in New York State and the Assembly has yet to vote. The event is sponsored by NYPIRG and the Environmental Task Force.
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ACTIVIST CALENDAR
Sunday, Nov. 7, ALBANY: The B'nai Sholom Reform Congregation, 420 Whitehall Rd., is the venue for a 7:30 p.m. talk by Israeli activist Yael Dayan on the topic "Israel's Future and the Urgency of Two States." Dayan is an author, former member of the Knesset (parliament), and member of Tel Aviv City Council. The sponsor is J Street (Capital District). About Dayan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yael_Dayan. Information, jalexa56@gmail.com, (518) 674-8582, http://action.jstreet.org/c/8205/t/5534/signUp.jsp?key=2899.
Monday, Nov. 8, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): An extraordinary full length documentary titled "Lost Boys of Sudan" will be screened at 6 p.m. at the Honors Center in College Hall, sponsored by the Amnesty International Campus Club. It's public and free. We're told this film "follows two Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America. Orphaned as young boys in one of Africa's cruelest civil wars, Peter Dut and Santino Chuor survived lion attacks and militia gunfire to reach a refugee camp in Kenya along with thousands of other children. From there, remarkably, they were chosen to come to America. Safe at last from physical danger and hunger, a world away from home, they find themselves confronted with the abundance and alienation of contemporary American suburbia." About the film, http://www.LostBoysFIlm.com/reviews.html. Information, ozleri@newpaltz.edu. Campus map, http://www.newpaltz.edu/map/.
Saturday, Nov. 13, TROY: Dr. Helen Caldicott, the internationally known anti-nuclear campaigner, will speak at 8 p.m. at The Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 6th Ave. in North
Troy (at 101st St). She will discuss the history and future of anti-nuclear activism. According to Caldicott, a pediatrician, "Ninety-five percent of the approximately 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world are owned by the United States and Russia. The stark truth is that one single failure of nuclear deterrence could end human history." Admission is by donation ($10 suggested, $5 student/low income). Information, (518) 272-2390, info@MediaSanctuary.org, http://MediaSanctuary.org for directions, etc.
Saturday, Nov. 20, NEW ROCHELLE: The Women in Black (Westchester) Palestine Solidarity Vigil takes place 2-3 p.m. at Main St. and Memorial Highway, sponsored by CodePink and WESPAC. Information (914) 654-8990, ceilie@aol.com.
Saturday, Nov. 20, ALBANY: The 2009 documentary "The 800 Mile Wall" will show at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, 405 Washington Ave. We're informed this public and free 90-minute film "looks on the effect of the wall on migrants trying to cross into the U.S. Many believe the wall has caused the death of thousands of migrants, and violates fundamental human rights." The co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), says The 800 Mile Wall "sounds the alarm on the neglected human rights crisis on our nation's Southwestern border and puts on the table the life-and-death questions we must address in comprehensive immigration reform." A discussion will be held after the film, led by Guillermo Perez of the Albany chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). The evening is sponsored by the Solidarity Committee of the Capital District, LCLAA, Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, and Upper Hudson Peace Action. Information, dbull4@verizon.net, (518) 426-0883.
Thursday, Nov. 25, AMERICA: Today is Thanksgiving, a traditional day for family and friends to get together. But Farm Sanctuary, an organization for the protection of farm animals, says it is important to rethink one aspect of this tradition: "Dark, dirty warehouses. Crowds of animals in distress. Mutilated beaks and toes. Sick, injured birds left to suffer and die without anyone to help them. These are not the kinds of images we tend to conjure when we think about Thanksgiving, yet they are indicative of the reality faced by more than 46 million turkeys slaughtered every year in the U.S. for this holiday alone.... The more our fellow citizens learn about the cruelty that goes on behind the closed doors of factory farms, the less sense it makes that we feast on these maligned birds as symbols of gratitude, and the more natural it becomes to spare a life in the spirit of thankfulness that shines this time of year." Find a complete vegetarian Thanksgiving menu at http://www.kitchendaily.com/2010/10/11/vegetarian-thanksgiving-recipes/, and from the New York Times online yesterday, some delicious vegan Thanksgiving dishes, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/a-vegan-chef-dishes-up-thanksgiving/?scp=1&sq=vegan%20Thanksgiving%20dishes%20&st=cse. Information, http://farmsanctuary.typepad.com/making_hay/2010/10/rethinking-our-thanksgiving-traditions.html/.
