HUDSON
VALLEY ACTIVIST CALENDAR
August 23, 2013, Issue #670
Send event announcements to jacdon@earthlink.net
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Editor’s
Note:
1. Now that the summer holidays are ending we
anticipate a big increase in local activism. We will be sending out an updated Calendar
in about two weeks around when the season really begins to pick up. We hope to
see you at the Sept. 7 “defend women’ rights” event listed below. The Activist
Newsletter is a sponsor.
2. The new Activist Newsletter will be posted around
the time of the next calendar. We will continue the coverage of Egypt we began
with a three-part series in the Aug. 8 Newsletter. Regarding the latest
allegation that the Damascus government used chemical weapons this week, we
restate our comment of a couple of months ago on a similar occasion:
“Nerve gas may have been used but we remain unconvinced that the Syrian
government ordered its use. Assad fully understood that if gas was deployed it
would cross Obama’s “red line,” leading anywhere from a marked increase in U.S.
support for the rebels or massive retaliation. Assad clings tenaciously to his
life, his office, and his constituency. Why would he, in effect, toss it all
away by approving the use of a militarily unnecessary small amount of gas knowing
it could trigger his doom? War hawks in Washington
are demanding a drastic response from the White House. President Obama is
correct to be very cautious because this may well be an opposition maneuver to provoke
U.S. intervention.”
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Activist
Events:
Friday, Aug. 23 to Monday, Aug. 26, NATIONWIDE: During
this period, WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend) is organizing “nationwide demonstrations in honor of Women's Equality Day to stop the
right-wing attacks targeting women’s rights and the rights of all oppressed
people.” (Mid-Hudson WORD will conduct a rally and march in defense of
women’s rights in New Paltz, Saturday, Sept. 7, after
colleges resume.) Taking part are WORD chapters in Albuquerque, Asheville (NC),
Boston, Chicago, Columbia (MO
), Dallas, Flint (MI), Houston, Los Angeles, New
Haven, New Paltz, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Seattle. Information,
Saturday, Aug. 24, HUDSON VALLEY: Buses are
leaving from several locations in the
region in the very early hours of morning to join tens of thousands of people
throughout the country who are congregating at the Mall in the national capital
to observe the 50th anniversary of the famous March on Washington.
This event was an important milestone on the road to legislation legally outlawing
100 years of post-slavery white oppression colloquially known as the racist Jim
Crow system.
The day is mainly remembered for Martin Luther King’s
“I have a Dream” speech but there were many other militant speeches that
touched upon various aspects of segregation, inequality and exploitation. This
festive anniversary is also an appropriate moment to contemplate the considerable
progress that remains before the complete attainment of King’s “Dream.” It is
further fitting to recollect how reviled King was in the years prior to his
assassination for his strong opposition to the Vietnam War and his struggle to
improve the circumstances of millions of poor and low wage working families.
(The actual anniversary day is Wednesday, Aug. 28, and we understand that demonstrations
demanding justice for Trayvon Martin and jail for his killer George Zimmerman
will take place in a number of cities that are not yet listed.)
Sunday, Aug. 25, NEW PALTZ: An
important teach-in to inform the public about the economic, political and
environmental dangers inherent in Washington’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
trade deal is the topic of a 4:30-6 p.m. meeting in the Elting Memorial
Library, 93 Main St. TPP is NAFTA on steroids. We’re told by the event
organizers that the TPP “would give corporations unprecedented power to sue
nations, states and local municipalities for environmental, labor, food safety
and human rights laws they do not like. A tribunal of corporate lawyers would
be the judges in any cases that go before it…. The Obama Administration is gung
ho for this corporate power grab that puts profits over the people and the
planet. They are trying to put it on a ‘fast track’ for passage in early
October — which means it could pass without Congressional review or any public
debate.”
The TPP is also the principal commercial aspect of the
Obama Administration’s so-called “pivot” to Asia, the purpose being to create a
powerful U.S.-dominated economic bloc largely in East Asia as part of a policy
to “contain” China’s influence in the region and world. The other aspect of the
“pivot” is military. This free public teach-in is sponsored by New Paltz Women
in Black and Ulster County Move-On. Information, anahatasun@aol.com,
Friday, Sept. 6, KINGSTON:
There will be a 7 p.m. screening of “Ghost
Town: The Hebron Story,” a documentary work-in-progress that shows
Palestinian families in Hebron, a town notorious as one of the most volatile in
the West Bank due to the proliferation of illegal Israeli settlements. Director
Ellie Bernstein, who will be present to answer questions, expects to formally
release the film later this year. The narrator is actor Martin Sheen. Also to
be shown is a shortened version of the award-winning documentary “Steadfast Hope: The Palestinian Quest for
Just Peace.” The event is free but donations to help complete “Ghost Town”
would be appreciated. It will take place at the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation of the Catskills, .320 Sawkill Rd. The sponsors are Middle East Crisis Response, Hudson Valley BDS,
and Woodstock Veterans for Peace.
Information, (518) 678-2076 and
Saturday,
Sept. 7, NEW PALTZ: The New York Civil Liberties
Union, Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation and Mid-Hudson Planned Parenthood
are among a score of local and state organizations that have endorsed a rally
and march in defense of women’s rights that will take place in New Paltz’s
Peace Park (next to Village Hall) at 1 p.m., followed by a spirited march
through the business district. The heavy rain date is the next day.
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| 300 people took part at last year's New Paltz rally for women's rights. |
Women and men throughout the region are expected to
attend the event, which is part of a nationwide series of demonstrations
initiated by WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend) in recognition of Women’s Equality Day. The
Mid-Hudson WORD chapter is organizing the New Paltz rally. Information, contact
Donna Goodman at donna0726@earthlink.net, np@defendwomensrights.org, and also
link to http://www.defendwomensrights.org.
Monday, Sept. 9, OLD CHATHAM: A showing of the new, second film by Josh Fox—“Gasland II” — will be screened at 7
p.m., followed by a moderated discussion. The venue is the Old Chatham Quaker
Meetinghouse, 539 County Route 13 (at Pitt Hall Road). This documentary revisits
families whose lives have been changed from living near fracking wells. He
interviews politicians who have been trying to stop fracking and aid those
affected by it. He also interviews Tony Ingraffea, Cornell Professor of Engineering,
who says fracking can never be done safely. In another segment, Stanford
professor Mark Jacobson argues that the U.S. could stop drilling for coal, oil
and natural gas and derive adequate energy from renewable resources such as
wind, high-concentrated solar power, geothermal power, hydroelectric power and
tidal power. The evening, sponsored by the Quaker Meetinghouse, is free and
refreshments will be served. Information, (518) 766-2992.
