HUDSON VALLEY ACTIVIST CALENDAR
March 24, 2012, Issue #678
[If you're looking for the Activist Newsletter, it's just below this item]
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Send event announcements to jacdon@earthlink.net
This calendar covers events to April 13.
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ACTIVIST EVENTS

Saturday, March 24, SAUGERTIES: Poet Barry Fruchter will read from the soon to be published book  "Dark Fields of Palestine," beginning at 7 p.m. at the Inquiring Mind Bookstore and Café, 65 Partition St. Fruchter is an English professor and Jewish Studies Project Coordinator for Nassau Community College. Also featured will be Long Island poet Duane Esposito. The free event is sponsored by Middle East Crisis Response. Information, (845) 246-5775, mecr@mideastcrisis.org.

Saturday, March 24, ALBANY: The documentary "Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War" will be screened at 7:30 p.m. at Channing Hall of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, 405 Washington Ave. This free showing is sponsored by the Solidarity Committee of the Capital District, Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, and Upper Hudson Peace Action. The organizers say: "This powerful documentary looks at the environmental impact of war. It explores the immense ecological ramifications of everything from technological development and natural resource exhaustion to weapons testing and modern warfare itself. Although war is comprised of elements that pollute land, air, and water, destroy biodiversity and entire ecosystems, and drain our limited natural resources, the environmental damage caused by war, or even by preparations for war, is routinely underestimated, under-reported, and even ignored." Information, dbull34@verizon.net, http://www.jflan.net/solidarity.

Saturday, March 24, NEW YORK CITY: Occupy Wall St. will rally at 12 noon from Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park) calling for NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly’s resignation, then "march to the movement's newest location at Occupy Union Sq. in solidarity with the communities across New York City who have long felt the wrath of Mayor Bloomberg’s private army." Everyone's invited take part. Information, http://tech.nycga.net/2012/03/22/letfreedomspring-this-saturday/.

Sunday, March 25, CATSKILL: “Wall Street to Main Street”— Catskill Main Street comes alive with visual art and design exhibits, performances, workshops and panel discussions developed in collaboration with Occupy Wall Street artists, lasting until May 31. Today, Taha Awadallah, a young Palestinian film-maker from Al Walaja village near Bethlehem, will show his short documentary film, "The Thyme Seller," at 2 p.m. in Brik Gallery, 473 Main St. According to Jane Toby, who is hosting Awadallah, "this poignant film is about the daily life of his mother as she tries to make a living for her family by gathering and selling herbs. The Greene County Council on the Arts is organizing the Wall Street to Main Street exhibition. See http://www.greenearts.org/2011-calendar-of-events/2010-calendar-of-events.

Wednesday, March 28, HUDSON VALLEY: Contact Scenic Hudson any time, any day, if you are interested in the environment in the Hudson Valley and may want to pitch in as well as learn. They do good things in parks and along the Hudson River banks. Their website has lots to do and see. Information, http://www.scenichudson.org/.

Wednesday, March 28, POUGHKEEPSIE: "The Old Jim Crow," a talk by Quincy Mills, assistant professor of history at Vassar, begins at 6 p.m. at the Family Partnership Center, 29 North Hamilton St., room 218. This lecture is presented by the Sadie Paterson Delaney African Roots Library, and Occupy Poughkeepsie. It is a community outgrowth of Michelle Alexander's recent best-selling book "The New Jim Crow," about how the prison system has become a means of propagating racial injustice. Public and free.  Information, Odell Winfield, (845) 452-6088, ext. 3343.

Friday, March 30, MOHEGAN LAKE (Westchester): Today is Palestinian Land Day (Yom al-Ard in Arabic), commemorating the 1976 killing by Israeli security forces of six young Palestinians as they protested the Israeli government's seizure of Palestinian land. The day has since become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to land theft, colonization, occupation and apartheid. The Palestinian BDS National Committee is calling for worldwide actions on this day. In Westchester, WESPAC and Jewish Voice for Peace are showing the first full length documentary film by a Gazan filmmaker. It depicts accounts of life under siege by two women living in the Palestinian territory. The event takes place 7-9 p.m. at the Hudson Valley Islamic Community Center, east of Peekskill. Contributions will be requested to support this work. Information, (917) 912-2597.

Friday, March 30, SYRACUSE: Palestinian Land Day is the occasion of a 6 p.m. meeting at the Alibrandi Catholic Center on the Syracuse University campus, 110 Walnut Pl. Youth and Student ANSWER is organizing a discussion on "the fundamental sources of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and how university students can organize in solidarity with Palestine." Featured speakers will include Vincent Lloyd, university assistant professor of Religion and Erin Kinsey, organizer with Youth and Student ANSWER. Topics will include, the origins of political Zionism, how the U.S. props up the colonial settler state of Israel, and what's next for the Palestinian struggle. The sponsors are ANSWER and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Information, syracuse@answercoalition.org, (315) 491-6987, http://www.SyracuseAnswer.org.

Friday, March 30, NEW PALTZ: The film documentary "I AM" will be screened free at 8:15 p.m. at Elting Library, 93 Main St. Seeking to determine what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better, filmmaker Tom Shadyac interviews Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, David Suzuki, and other thinkers to provide 80 minutes of interesting dialogue. New Paltz Neighbors for Peace is the sponsor. Parking behind the library. Information, tellallwtc7@gmail.com.

Friday, March 30, ALBANY: Author and Iran expert Danny Postel talks about Iranian civil society and the threat of war, billed as a "challenge to both the right wing and the peace movement," followed by a Q&A. The free event begins at 7:30 p.m. at Albany Law School ("1928" Building, Room 200), New Scotland Ave. at Holland Ave. (Parking lot entrance on Holland Ave.). Postel is the author of "Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran: Iran and the Future of Liberalism" (2006) and co-editor, with Nader Hashemi, of "The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran's Future" (2011). He has been active with Chicago's No War on Iran Coalition, and in 2007 he traveled to Iran as a member of a peace and civilian diplomacy delegation, led by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Women Against War, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the law school chapter of Amnesty International sponsor the evening. Information, info@womenagainstwar.org, http://www.womenagainstwar.org.

Friday, March 30, TROY: "Egypt, One Year On: An Eyewitness Report" is the subject of a talk by Carl Finamore, a delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO), and retired president Air Transport Employees, Local Lodge 1781, IAMAW. He visited Egypt in early 2012 and during the uprising in 2011, where he met with workers and student activists. This is part of a series sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace called the James Connolly Forum (named after the great Irish socialist and union leader executed by the British in 1916). Donation of $5 requested, $2 unemployed and students. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. at Oakwood Community Center (former Presbyterian church), 313 10th St. Information, (518) 505-0948.

Friday, March 30, NEW YORK CITY: Every Friday at 2 p.m., we're told, Occupy Wall St. "will march from Liberty Square to Wall Street in preparation for May Day, a day of massive economic non-compliance and strike. Occupy is returning back to the basics as done in September: accessible direct actions to strengthen our community and voice our grievances to the 1%." Information, http://nycga.net/events/event/weekly-wall-street-marches.

Monday, April 2, POUGHKEEPSIE: Dutchess Peace meets 7-8:30 p.m. to plan activities on the first Monday of each month at the Unitarian Fellowship, 67 South Randolph Ave. All those interested in peace, social justice, and the revolution of the 99% are invited. Information, (845) 876-7906, http://www.dutchesspeace.org.

Wednesday, April 4, POUGHKEEPSIE (Marist campus): A free showing of the anti-fracking documentary "Gasland," followed by a Q&A by filmmaker Josh Fox, will start at 7 p.m. at the Nelly Goletti Theatre. The event is sponsored by a number of college departments and student groups. Campus map http://www.marist.edu/about/map.html.

Thursday, April 5, POUGHKEEPSIE: What are the motivations for war, imperialism, militarism, hyper-patriotism, and jingoism? The 2004 documentary "Why We Fight," screening at 7 p.m. at the Crafted Kup, 44 Raymond Ave., seeks to provide some answers, followed by an audience discussion. We're told,  "The film humorously takes its name from a series of propaganda films made by Frank Capra during World War II." This free event is sponsored by Dutchess Peace. Information, (845) 452-4013, patla@hvc.rr.com.

Thursday, April 5,  DELMAR: The Bethlehem Public Library, 451 Delaware Ave., is the venue for the discussion of a book about the integration of Delmar, a town just south of Albany, in the 1950s. The title is “Integrating Delmar 1957, the Story of a Friendship,” written by Margaret B. Cunningham of Schenectady and Arlen Westbrook of Delmar. We're informed: "This book is a unique personal account told by the wives of two couples (one Black and one White) of their experiences integrating Delmar and the lasting friendship that developed. It also records the reactions of neighbors and others in the community to a Black family living in their neighborhood for the first time, including incidents of people who made the situation difficult and those who were helpful." Author Westbrook and Miki Conn discuss the book. The meeting is sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace. Information, (518) 466-1192, jlombard@nycap.rr.com.

Monday, April 9, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): The college Center for Middle Eastern Dialogue has organized a program titled "Voices from Iran:  Contemporary Literature and Music" that will take place 7-9 p.m. in the Parker Theater on campus. It's free, the public is invited, and given the hastening tattoo of war drums directed at Iran it seems like a good idea to have a program like this. We're told: "The program will focus on the ways in which recent scholarship, works of fiction, and memoirs from or about Iran (written in English or  translated from Persian) are enhancing cultural dialogue between  Americans and Iranians. It aims to help students, faculty, and community members learn about Iranian people, their experiences, their culture, and their aspirations. Manijeh Nasrabadi, co-director of the Association of Iranian-American Writers, will read from her memoir, "A Far Corner of the  Revolution." Professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak  will follow with a lecture titled, "In Search of Responsive Understanding: Iranians Bring their  Story to the World." Celebrated pianist Ariana Barkeshli will perform  number of piano pieces from Iranian composers. Information, Suzanne Grady (845) 257-3245. Campus map: http://www.newpaltz.edu/map/.

Wednesday, April 11, POUGHKEEPSIE: "The War on Drugs: A Casualty Report," with speakers Quincy Mills, community advocate, and Joe Nevins, associate professor of geography and Latino studies at Vassar, begins at 6 p.m. at the Family Partnership Center, 29 North Hamilton St., room 218. This lecture is presented by the Sadie Paterson Delaney African Roots Library, and Occupy Poughkeepsie. It is a community outgrowth of Michelle Alexander's recent best-selling book "The New Jim Crow," about how the prison system has become a means of propagating racial injustice. Public and free. Information, Odell Winfield, (845) 452-6088, ext. 3343.

Thursday, April 12, WOODSTOCK: Middle East Crisis Response — a group of Hudson Valley residents joined together to promote peace and human rights in Palestine — meets 7-8:30 p.m. to discuss issues and plan activities at Woodstock Public Library, 5 Library Lane. Information, (845) 876-7906.