04-01-15 CALENDAR

APRIL CALENDAR

April 1, 2015, Hudson Valley Activist Calendar, Issue #690

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SEND US NEW HUDSON VALLEY EVENTS — We update the calendar every few days. Updated items begin with this mark: √√.

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Wednesday, April 1, ALBANY: A lunchtime rally begins at City Hall, 24 Eagle St., at 11:45 a.m., demanding the end of "bomb" (oil carrying) trains, sponsored  by PAUSE (People of Albany for Safe Energy). PAUSE calls on the government "to protect the people from the dangers of bomb trains and to work to end our economic dependence on fossil fuels as we transition to a sustainable energy supply."   Information, ssteub@gmail.com. 

Oil tanker cruising up the Hudson River.

Thursday, April 2, POUGHKEEPSIE 

(Vassar campus): Crude Oil Transportation in the Hudson Valley is a 5:30-7 p.m. presentation by Riverkeeper's Jeremy Cherson, at Aula in Elly Hall. Up to 5 billion gallons of crude oil are transported through the Hudson Valley annually by train, barge and ship. Spills, explosions and fires — some resulting in the catastrophic loss of life — have occurred elsewhere on this virtual pipeline and it could happen here. The sponsors are the Casperkill Watershed Alliance and Vassar College Sustainability. Campus map, http://info.vassar.edu/visit/maps/ 

Roosevelt, Stalin, Tehran Conference, 1943

Thursday, April 2, HYDE PARK: The FDR Presidential Library, 4079 Albany Post Rd (Rt. 9) will host an author talk and signing at 7 p.m. with Susan Butler, author of  "Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a Partnership." Copies of the book will be available for sale. Published earlier this year, the book in one part discusses an extremely important fact about Roosevelt that is  known but to few Americans although it dramatically changed U.S. history from 1945 to now: Until his death that year, this great American president was utterly committed to maintaining close and friendly peacetime relations with the USSR. His successor, Harry Truman, the reactionaries in Congress, and big business essentially launched the Cold War, which at the time was only opposed at home by the progressives and the left. The liberals caved in. Free public event.  Information, (845) 486-7745.

Thursday, April 2, DELMAR: A free public showing of "The Black Power Mixtapes 1967-1975
"

starts at 6:45 p.m. at
 the Bethlehem Public Library, 
451 Delaware Ave. From 1967-1975, a Swedish film crew recorded interviews with major figures in the Black Power movement, creating hours of footage that remained unreleased for decades. In clips, Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton and Angela Davis discuss the movement's evolution. With contemporary audio interviews from leading African American artists, activists, musicians and scholars, this documentary examines the people, society, culture, and style of the era. Recent events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, are a direct result of the failure to address the issues brought forward by the Black Power Movement. Information, (512) 466-1192.

Hebron: International supporters of Palestinians have been harassed.

FRIDAY, APRIL 3, KINGSTON: The Films of Palestine Series presents "Ghost Town: The Hebron Story," 7 - 8:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills, 320 Sawkill Rd. This documentary by Ellie Bernstein tells the story of several families living in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film follows the rise of Israeli settlements that are destroying any hope of peace in the Middle East. Director Bernstein will also discuss the making of her movie. Sponsored by Middle East Crisis Response  (http://www.mideastcrisis.org) and Hudson Valley Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (http://www.hudsonvalleybds.org.) Information: Jane.toby7@gmail.com or (518) 291-6808.

Saturday, April 4, ROCK TAVERN: The well known anti-drone strike campaigner Nick Mottern will speak on "Resisting Militarism Through Boycott and Divestment" at 4 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Rock Tavern, 9 Vance Rd., just off Rt. 207. Public and free, though a voluntary donation of $5 or $10 is always appreciated.  Information, Verne Bell at  (845) 569-8965.

Monday, April 6, Old Chatham: A free public screening of “The House I Live In” will be screened at 7 p.m. at the Old Chatham Quaker Meetinghouse, 539 County Rt. 13, across from Pitt Hall Road and Powell House. The film concerns the war on drugs, which has been a failure practically, morally, and economically. There are more than 500,000 people incarcerated for drug offenses; billions of dollars are spent annually on narcotics enforcement; treatment is still out of reach for millions of people; and drugs are more available and cheaper than ever before.  There is, however, increasing momentum for drug policy reform from all levels of government and society. Refreshments will be served and a moderated discussion will follow. Information, (518) 766-2992. Directions, www.oldchathamquakers.org.

Tuesday, April 7, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): The Departments of Sociology and Black Studies present: "The Problem with Carceral Feminism: Race, Gender and Mass Criminalization," a public lecture by Dr. Beth Richie, Professor of African American Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, Criminology, Law and Justice, and Sociology at University of Illinois Chicago. This free public event begins at 3:30 p.m.  in LC 102. The emphasis of Richie's scholarly and activist work has been on the ways that race/ethnicity and social position affect women's experience of violence and incarceration, focusing on the experiences of African American battered women and sexual assault survivors.  The speaker is the author of "Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence and America’s Prison Nation" (NYU Press, 2012), and numerous articles. Co-sponsors include the Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, Native American Studies Program and the Humanistic and Multicultural Education Program. Information, (845) 257-3756.

Tuesday, April 7, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus):  Progressive Dr. Jill Stein, the 2012 Green Party candidate for president will speak at 7 p.m.
in Coykendall Science Building. Stein says she has "gone from practicing clinical medicine to practicing political medicine because politics is really the mother of all illnesses. If we want to fix the things that are literally killing us, then we've got to fix this very sick political system." Her talk will likely begin from that premise but being an environmental-health advocate she will no doubt touch on environmental as well as many other issues.  Sponsored by Environmental studies.

Wednesday, April 8, POUGHKEEPSIE: The End the New Jim Crow Action Network will meet 6-8 p.m. at the Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library, Family Partnership Center, 29 N. Hamilton St. (Also meets here April 22.) Information, (845) 475-8781, http://www.enjan.org.

Thursday, April 9, BEACON: Crude Oil Transport on the Hudson River is the subject of a 7-8:30 p.m. lecture by Join Riverkeeper’s Jeremy Cherson. The event will be held at Beacon Sloop Club, 2 Red Flynn Drive.

Nermeen Shaikh.

Thursday, April 9, NEW PALTZ (SUNY Campus): “The Mass Media and the Poverty We Cannot See” is the topic of a talk by Nermeen Shaikh, co-host of “Democracy Now, the award winning daily radio, TV and Internet news program. The free public 5 p.m. event will take place in the Old Main Building 1907 Room on campus. Shaikh's talk will focus on how the commercial mass media often trivializes general news, minimizes poverty, slants political news and has been known to function as a virtual propaganda arm of the government in its approach to complex international events. This important talk is sponsored by The Progressive Academic Network, Office of the Provost, Humanistic/Multicultural Education Program, and Departments of Digital Media and Journalism, Economics, Educational Studies, Political Science and International Relations. Information, Nancy Schniedewind, schniedn@newpaltz.edu.  

Thursday, April 9, WOODSTOCK: Middle East Crisis Response, a group of Hudson Valley residents joined together to promote peace and human rights in Palestine and the Middle East, will hold its regular meeting tonight, 7-8:30 p.m. at Woodstock Public Library, 5 Library Lane. (Next meeting April 23, same place.) Information, (845) 876-7906, http://www.mideastcrisis.org.

√√ Friday, April 10, POUGHKEEPSIE: A rally in support of public education will take place 2:30-6 p.m. at the intersection of Rt. 9and Vassar Rd. The sponsor, Wappingers Congress of Teachers, says: "Please join us as we defend the future education of our children." Rain or shine. Parking available at the South Hills Mall. Information, (845) 227-5065, http://www.wcteachers.org.

√√ Saturday, April 11, NEW PALTZ: A vigil to end the Israeli occupation and settlements in the West Bank and the ravaging of Gaza will be held 12:45-1:30 p.m. in front of the Elting Library, 93 Main St. the sponsor is New Paltz Women in Black, which has been conducting peace demonstrations at this corner every Saturday since 2001. Information, contact Barbara at AnahataSun@aol.com.

Monday, April 13, KINGSTON: The End the New Jim Crow Action Network! (ENJAN), a Hudson Valley group dedicated to fighting racist policies of racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration (the "new Jim Crow"), meets 6-8 p.m. at the New Progressive Baptist Church, 8 Hone St. (Also meets here April 27.) Information, (845) 475-8781, http://www.enjan.org.

Saturday, April 18, OSSINING: Green Ossining is organizing a public Earth Day Festival at Louis Engel Waterfront Park (adjacent to the train station), 11 a.m.-4 p.m. This year will be solar energy themed, and focused on promoting solar energy in Westchester County through the Solarize program.

Saturday, April 18, 2015, HYDE PARK: The third annual Hudson Valley History Reading Festival will be held 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library, 4079 Albany Post Rd (Rt. 9. In four sessions, beginning at 10 a.m., authors of books on Hudson Valley history will present author talks followed by book signings. Copies of all of the authors’ books will be available for sale in the New Deal Store located in the Wallace Center. Sponsors are The FDR Presidential Library and the Friends of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District. Information, http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/publicprograms/calendar.html.

√√ Saturday, April 18, WHITE PLAINS: A demonstration to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact, especially the "fast track" authority sought by the Obama Administration, will take place 12 noon-1:30 p.m. at Martine Ave. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It is sponsored by the Communications Workers of America, Westchester/Putnam Central Labor Body (AFL CIO), and WESPAC. Attending will be the Westchester Coalition of Community, Environment, Faith and Labor, a number of elected officials and the general public. This event is part of a national day of protest against the TPP.  The AFL-CIO and its member unions are organizing more than 50 events throughout the country that will coincide with a global day of action (https://www.globaltradeday.org/) with hundreds of events in over a dozen countries.  Labor says the proposed pact will cost American jobs just like NAFTA. Environmental groups say it will poison our food, water and air. Faith based groups say it will hurt developing countries. Healthcare advocates say it will drive up prescription costs. Community groups say foreign corporations will be able to sue federal, state and even local governments for passing laws that protect our jobs, family and environment.

Information, jennifer@wpclb.org.

 Up to no good. Count on it.

Tuesday April 21, ANNANDALE ON HUDSON (Bard campus): History Professor Mark Lytle, will speak on "President Nixon, Henry Kissinger and their influence on America in the world," 5–7 p.m. in the Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium. Lytle is the author of six books including "The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring and the Rise of the Environmental Movement" (2007) and "America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon" (2006)." Sponsored by Historical Studies Program; public and free. Campus map http://www.bard.edu/campus/maps/pdfs/campusmap.pdf

√√ Monday, April 20, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): A free public screening of the environmental documentary "Tapped" will begin at 7:15 p.m. in Lecture Center 102. The 76-minute film "examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil." A Q & A will follow with members of the Kingston Citizens Group who have successfully prevented Niagara Bottling from using a projected 30% of Kingston water from its Cooper Lake Reservoir to bottle and sell the water at a substantial profit.

√√ Tuesday, April 21, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): Steven Liebo, a history professor at Sage College, will speak on the climate crisis and how it affects the northeast of America at 7 p.m. in Lecture Center 102. Leibo was among those personally trained by former Vice President Al Gore to give updated versions of the famous Climate Crisis slide show from the Academy Award Winning Film "The Inconvenient Truth." Over the last years he has given several dozen presentations at a range of institutions from high schools and colleges to libraries. Information,boms@newpaltz.edu.

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√√ Wednesday, April 22, ALBANY: An all-day celevration of Earth Day, including a rally, music and family events will be held 11 a.m.-9 p.m. in West Capitol Park. We're informed: "This event will encompass many issues affecting the sustainability of a healthy earth community. We will have speakers to expose various related issues, including War and Peace, Environmental Racism, Native and Women’s rights, GMO’s, factory farming and pesticide use, aerosol spraying and Geo engineering. Further we will deplore the corporate take over of our government, money in politics, secret trade deals like TPP, TiPP, and TiSA that threaten to take away all our sovereignty and destroy ability for public dissent." From 12 noon to 1 p.m. Women Against War & Grannies for Peace will be demonstrating with signs and banners protesting the U.S. military — the world’s single biggest consumer of fossil fuels   Maureen Aumand will be among the speakers.  Information on the entire event, http://www.frackfreenation.org/earth-day-2015/.

Wednesday, April 22, ALBANY: Today is Earth Day. Beginning 11:45 a.m. at Tivoli Park (Judson and Livingston (where there is parking), is the 2015 Earth Day Bicycle Parade. This year — celebrating institutions with solar panels — participants will ride by the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, the Spectrum Theater and the Dormitory Authority (NYS). The ride will last about an hour, and will end at SASNY, 515 Broadway. Information, ssteub@gmail.com.

Friday-Saturday, April 24-25, NEW YORK CITY: A 2-day conference on a "Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World" will take place at Cooper Union in Manhattan, 7 East 7^th St. It is organized by Peace and Planet, the group sponsoring the large anti-nuclear protest in New York City on Sunday, April 26. (directly below). Information about this conference is at http://www.peaceandplanet.org/conference-program/.

Sunday, April, 26, NEW YORK CITY: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it comes at a time when Washington is currently engaged in a huge upgrading of its massive supply of nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Join this massive demonstration — an international anti-nuclear protest centered in New York City — againat these nightmare weapons the day before the 2015 nuclear NonProliferation Treaty review conference will take place at the United Nations. The anti-nuke organization Peace and Planet is sponsoring this  protest, which they say will include over 1,000 activists from Japan, including elderly Hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings) as well as other activists from around the world and America. Here's the April 26 schedule: 11-12:30: Interfaith Convocation for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (Tillman Chapel of the Church Center at the United Nations, 777 First Avenue). 1 p.m.: Rally (Union Square North, East 14th Street, Park Ave. South & Broadway, featuring some great speakers. The Global Wave action will begin in at this time in NYC, followed by the March and move westward to cities and capitals around the world. 2 p.m.: March (Beginning at Union Square North. The route will be posted soon). 3-6 p.m.: Peace Festival (Dag Hammarskjold Plaza East 47th St., 2nd Ave. Together with Genuikyo (Japan Council Against A-and H-Bombs), the demonstration will present millions of petition signatures calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons to UN and NPT Review officials. Much more information is at http://www.peaceandplanet.org. To learn about the dangerous decision by the U.S. to expand the power and reach of its nuclear weapons click on 10-22-14 Activist Newsletter. (This is going to be a very worthwhile event. I can't march any more but I wish someone, anonymously, would march for me. Jack.)

√√ Friday, April 24, MILLBROOK: Stanford University professor Rosamond Naylor, director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment, will lecture on the connections of food production, health, environmental resources, and international security. This free public event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Cary Institute auditorium, 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Rt. 44 ). Information, freemanp@caryinstitute.org.

√√ Sunday, April 26, NEW PALTZ: This town's 13^th annual Earth Day Fair will take place 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Reformed Church, 92 Huguenot St., cosponsored by the New Paltz Climate Action Coalition and the church. We're told this "fun-filled, family-friendly event is a celebration of sustainability and earth-wise practices." Music, healthy food, children's activities, demonstrations and displays are on the agenda. Information, 255-6340, janetodowd818@gmail.com.

√√ Monday, April 27, NEW PALTZ (SUNY campus): A screening of " The Hunting Ground," a new documentary about sexual assault on U.S. campuses, will take place 7-10 p.m. in Lecture Center 102. A panel discussion, featuring faculty, staff and students will follow. The matter of institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families, is certain to be discussed. This PG-13 rated film is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by faculty union United University Professions (UUP); co-sponsored by Department of Digital Media & Journalism; Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program and others. Information, brownp@newpaltz.edu, (845) 257-2783. About the film: http://www.thehuntinggroundfilm.com/

For The Latest ACTIVIST NEWSLETTER, Click:  03-28-15 NEWSLETTER