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Take Action to Support the Nuclear Ban Treaty! Honduras has become the 50th country to ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This means that the treaty has reached the number needed to go into effect. This will start on January 2022 according to the United Nations. 122 countries out of the 193-member UN General Assembly have expressed support and 84 have signed the treaty. Write your representatives and tell them to support this effort! According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres this development, “represents a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons.” But this is only the beginning. Countries with nuclear weapons, including the United States, Russia, and China, have shown opposition to the treaty which aims to destroy all nuclear weapons and ban new ones. The countries that possess nuclear weapons, the US, Russia, the UK, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel have not signed the treaty. Changing perspectives in nuclear countries is incredibly important in the movement for nuclear disarmament. Citizens and residents of nuclear powers need to use their voices to support the elimination of these dangerous weapons. Tell your representatives that you want them to push for the United States to join the treaty!
Events and Meetings:
Monday, June 5, 2023, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM. CoNGO Second Global Thematic Webinar: "Pursuing Global Justice and Solidarity: Realizing Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Action." This is the second of six global thematic webinars organized by CoNGO--the Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. The webinar's theme is "Pursuing Global Justice and Solidarity: Realizing Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Action." This webinar series is part of the CoNGO 75th-anniversary events scheduled in 2023. The anniversary overall theme, “Defining the present, shaping the future, making the change now,” guides the structure of presentations and deliberations of all anniversary-related events. A team of Rapporteurs will produce an Outcome Document, which will be shared widely. Register here.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023, 11:00 AM. KUMI Now Online: Environmental Effects of Occupation. As we commemorate World Environment Day, we look at the environmental effects of Israel's occupation. Our guest will be Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University. Register here.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023, 8:00 PM. Apartheid-Free Communities: Launching a New Initiative to End
Israeli Apartheid. Join the American Friends Service Committee for the official launch of the Apartheid Free Communities Initiative. In late 2022, a coalition of faith groups in North America came together to respond to the emerging consensus among the international human rights community that Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the Crime of Apartheid. Together, we drafted an Apartheid-Free pledge through which faith groups, organizations, and communities commit to dismantling Apartheid in Israel and Palestine. Over 50 congregations, faith groups, and organizations have already signed the pledge. On June 6th, the 56th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, we are making our pledge public and calling on others to join us in our work to oppose all forms of racism while working to cut ties to Israel Apartheid. During the launch you will hear from faith leaders and activists including Jonathan Kuttab, Rev. Wendel Griffen, and Dov Baum about the importance of the pledge and how you can help build a wide anti-Apartheid movement throughout North America. Register here.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023, 7:00 PM. Why We Need the Fossil Free Finance Act (FFFA). Wall Street banks are funding climate chaos and environmental racism, putting our planet and our economy at risk. We can't trust the big banks alone to end their profit-driven toxic practices. So, what can we do rein in Wall Street? There is one powerful regulator that can hold Wall Street to account — the Federal Reserve. But right now, the Fed is sleepwalking on the climate crisis. We need to make sure it jumps into action and starts doing its job. How? The Fossil Free Finance Act. Join Public Citizen to learn how the Fossil Free Finance Act can help protect our communities, our planet, and our economy from Wall Street's exploits, and take action with us to make your voice heard! Register here.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023, “All Its Citizens”: Meet the Leaders of Israel’s New Jewish-Arab Party. For some years, a vibrant debate has been taking place on the Israeli left regarding the possibility, and political advisability, of creating a party based not on one ethnic-national community or another, but on the shared citizenship of Jews and Arabs working in fully egalitarian partnership. Now, with Meretz out of the Knesset, the Joint List disintegrated, and democracy within Israel’s Green Line under severe threat, is the time right for just such a party? Join Partners for a Progressive Israel on for a discussion with the co-founders and co-chairs of Israel’s new Jewish-Arab party, “All Its Citizens”: Avrum Burg, peace activist and former Speaker of the Knesset and Chairman of the Jewish Agency and Professor Faisal Azaiza, President of Sakhnin Academic College for Teacher Education. Register here.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023, 7:00 PM. The Military-Industrial Complex and the Suppression of Dissent. Joan Roelofs has been an anti-war activist ever since she protested the Korean War. She is the author of The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-war Protest in the United States (Clarity Press, 2022), Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism (SUNY Press, 2003), and Greening Cities: Building Just and Sustainable Communities (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), the translator of Victor Considerant’s Principles of Socialism (Maisonneuve Press, 2006), and co-translator, with Shawn P. Wilbur, of Charles Fourier’s anti-war fantasy, The World War of Small Pastries (Autonomedia, 2015). She is Professor Emerita of Political Science, Keene State College. Website: www.joanroelofs.wordpress.com. Massachusetts Peace Action. Co-sponsored by the Racial Justice/Indigenous Solidarity Working Group and the Raytheon Anti-War Campaign. Register here.
Thursday – Saturday, June 8 – 25, 2023, 8:00 – 9:00 PM. The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. Vagina Monologues explores a wide range of issues that have a direct impact on women, their bodies, and their health. The play is a beautiful piece of theatre that celebrates women of various ages, races, sexualities, transgender and other differences. It is a provocative play, with profound resonance in a post Roe vs Wade era. Tickets: $30.00. All net proceeds from this production will be donated to Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. Location: Madlab Performing Arts Theater, 227 N. Third St., Columbus 43215. More information and tickets here.
Thursday, June 8, 2023, 7:30 PM. Barriers to Care in Mental Health – a virtual health equity workshop with Rachelle Martin. “Trying to access mental healthcare leaves many hopeless.” Let’s talk about changing that. The SPAN Ohio Equity Committee is hosting a health equity workshop and we would love to see you join us! Rachelle Martin, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Health in Franklin County will lead a discussion on: barriers in the current healthcare system that prevent adequate access to mental health needs, barriers outside of the healthcare system that prevent those with mental health needs from receiving care, and how a single-payer healthcare system could change the landscape for those with mental health needs and help to alleviate some of these barriers. Register here.
Friday, June 9, 2023, 12:00 PM. HIAS Book and Film Club — Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto. In honor of Pride Month and World Refugee Day, join HIAS for a discussion with author and activist Edafe Okporo about his book Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto. This powerful memoir traces the author’s experiences growing up gay in Nigeria, fleeing to the United States, navigating the immigration system, and making a life for himself as a Black, gay immigrant. This will be an interactive discussion, so you are encouraged to read the book before the meeting. Register here.
Saturday, June 10, 2023, 11:30 AM. John F. Kennedy's Peace Speech. Massachusetts Peace Action’s JFK Peace Speech Committee will host its monthly showing and discussion of President Kennedy’s critically important address on world peace, given at American University in June 1963. We will view the speech, followed by a discussion of how to break through cold war thinking. Register here.
Saturday, June 10, 2023, 1:00 PM. A Citizen Forum On Radioactive Contamination and Public Health and The Future Of The Portsmouth Nuclear Site. Speakers: Michael E. Ketterer, PhD, analytic chemist and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Arizona University “Contamination is forever: Radioisotopes near PORTS”. Joseph J. Mangano, MPH, MBA, epidemiologist and Executive Director, Radiation and Public Health Project “Soaring Death Rate Near Ohio Uranium Plant”**. Terry J. Lodge, Esq., Specializing in Environmental Law and Civil Rights “Is Piketon's disastrous past prelude to even worse?". Following the presentations: Questions and Answers. Invitation for the public to speak about health issues and environmental concerns. Livestream or watch later on the ONFN YouTube Channel: @OhioNuclearFreeNetwork. ** Search for this title to find the 2022 RPHP Report on Health Risk to Local Residents from the Portsmouth Plant (19 pages). Location: Comfort Inn, 7525 US-23, Piketon, OH 45661. The Ohio Nuclear Free Network is hosting a forum at 1 pm on Saturday, June 10 at the Comfort Inn in Piketon, Ohio.
Saturday, June 10, 2023, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM. American Friends Service Committee Healing Justice Workshop (Hybrid Event). Meet young leaders from AFSC's healing justice programs to learn about injustices in the U.S. immigration system and criminal legal system. We’ll hear how students have used photography, filmmaking, and other forms of art to drive social change and how past participants continue their advocacy today. Register here.
Saturday, June 10, 2023, 12:00 PM. Webinar: Want Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Try Confederation. As the last decade has seen the violent situation on the ground in Palestine and Israel spin out of control, some have been seeking a way to use this moment as an opportunity to make the historic shift required to move forward within a model of two states, Palestine and Israel, working in cooperation to build a joint future. Sam Bahour will be our guest speaker on June 10 to talk about the model of confederation that he and American Israeli writer Bernard Avishai have put forward in an opinion editorial in The New York Times. Co-sponsored by the Florida Chapter of World BEYOND War, the Veterans For Peace Chapter 136 in The Villages, FL, and Partners For Palestine, FL. More information and registration here.
Saturday, June
10, 2023, 7:00 PM. Free Press Second
Saturday Salon. Peace,
Love and Revolution:
Mark Stansbery and Yoshie Furuhasi will report back from their trip to Japan at
the G7 Summit
MJ Borden will discuss response to HJR1, Pride month, And more! Q & A
included. Join Zoom Meeting -
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83906590837. Facebook
Event.
Sunday, June 11, 2023, 4:00 PM. NEIS 2023 Annual Meeting. The Nuclear Energy Information service annual meeting will be virtual. We have much to talk about, lots to share, and some great plans for the coming year! For our Special Program, we're excited to show the documentary, Atomic Bamboozle, followed by a discussion with the film producer, Janice Haaken. The meeting open to NEIS members in good standing and their guests. If your membership has lapsed, please renew before the Meeting. If you’re not a member, consider joining (suggested $30 per year). Register for the meeting here.
Sunday, June 11, 2023, 8:00 PM. Indivisible Central Ohio Zoom Meeting -- Repro Planning. Weekly meeting for Indivisible Central Ohio (formerly OH12). Join us! Register here.
Sunday, June 11, 2023, 2:00 PM. Fund Healthcare Not Warfare Forum. The tragic death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic reveled the deep malfunctions of the nation's healthcare system. One of the sources, inadequately reported, has been the diversion of our tax dollars to military programs and foreign wars - over half of Congressional discretionary funding. Critical budgets needed to protect the health and safety of our people – for the NIH, CDC, NSF, Food Stamps, Housing, Veteran's Administration, and other core civilian programs - have been limited in order to feed Pentagon programs. This Forum will explore the reality that funding these critical programs at the needed levels will require political mobilization and cutting Pentagon accounts. Massachusetts Peace Action. Register here.
Sunday, June 11, 2023, 4:00 PM. Nuclear Information Service 2023 Annual Meeting. We invite you to our 2023 Annual Meeting, held once again on ZOOM. It’s open to NEIS members in good standing and their guests. For the special program, the documentary, Atomic Bamboozle, The False Promise of a Nuclear Renaissance, will be shown followed by a discussion with the film producer, Janice Haaken. If your membership has lapsed, please renew before the Meeting. If you’re not a member, consider joining (suggested $30 per year). Registration for the Annual Meeting is required.
Monday, June 12, 2023, 8:00 PM. IMF and World Bank: Tools of Empire. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank were created after World War II by the victors at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. Dominated by the US, both institutions were from the beginning meant to further imperialism. While the IMF became the world’s monetary police and financial gatekeeper from the get go, the World Bank’s early years mainly focused on reconstructing war-torn Western Europe and Japan. A few years later, the World Bank shifted its focus to “developing” the Global South. By the 1970s the Bank proclaimed its mission was to reduce poverty. Driven by Reagan-Thatcher neoliberalism, both institutions launched structural adjustment loans that required borrower countries to adopt austerity measures such as downsizing and privatizing public services, making them unaffordable to the poor. Both international financial institutions plunged countries, especially in the Global South, into debt crises and extracted wealth for the global capitalist class. They complement US/NATO military interventions in enacting modern-day colonialism. Massachusetts Peace Action. More information and registration here.
Tuesday, June 13, 2023, 7:00 – 8:00 PM. Webinar: How Wealth Rules. CELDF's, Ben G. Price, will lead a lively and engaging discussion on his award-winning book, How Wealth Rules the World: Saving Our Communities and Freedoms from the Dictatorship of Property. The Part Two webinar was very engaging and we did not cover all of the content — so this next webinar will continue with HOW WEALTH RULES – PART TWO – Property is Not an Unalienable Right AND cover PART THREE – The Ongoing Counter-Revolution. PLEASE READ PARTS 2 & 3 PRIOR TO THE WEBINAR DISCUSSION. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. Register here.
Tuesday, Jun 13, 2023, 7:00 PM. "Boycott" Screening with the Northern NJ Jewish Voices for Peace. Join the Northern New Jersey Jewish Voices for Peace for a screening of "Boycott." The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Just Vision's Public Engagement Manager, Kate Schwartz. Boycott follows the stories of a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas, who, when forced to choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech across the US. The film traces the impact of state legislation passed in 34 states designed to penalize individuals and companies that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. A legal thriller with “accidental plaintiffs” at the center of the story, Boycott is a bracing look at the far-reaching implications of anti-boycott legislation and an inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect our rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech. Register here.
Wednesday, June 14, 2023, 2:00 PM. Webinar: Forced Migration & Human Trafficking. An estimated 70% of people trafficked in the U.S. each year are immigrants. Tune into this virtual briefing to learn more about the connection between forced migration and human trafficking. Hear from Cristian Eduardo, an advocate and immigrant survivor of trafficking, as well as Catholic Sisters who accompany migrants. More information and registration here.
Thursday, June 15, 2023, 8:00 PM. Haiti & Cuba: The Politics of US Immigration Policy. Haiti and Cuba, two Caribbean countries with a history of revolution–one in 1804 and the other in 1959–that the United States went to extreme lengths to undermine and destroy. It is hard to remember the efforts made by the U.S. government to undermine Haiti’s efforts to establish sovereignty and independence, since it was so long ago, but it involved embargos, sanctions in partnership with Haiti’s former colonial owner France, and enforcement of France’s claims for millions in reparations. U.S. efforts to undermine and overturn the Cuban Revolution are more recent. But in both instances these efforts led to extreme economic hardship, and to successive waves of emigration and attempts at resettlement by Cubans and Haitains in the United States. Nearly 220 years after Haiti’s revolution, the country continues to struggle, dealing simultaneously with foreign meddling and natural disasters, as well as with its own economic, political, and social challenges. Sixty-four years after the Cuban Revolution, Cuba also struggles to cope with a combination of economic challenges and natural disasters that are exacerbated by the ongoing U.S. embargo, sanctions, and meddling. In both cases, extreme economic hardship has been made worse, in Haiti by political upheaval and street violence, and in Cuba by a round of newly extreme U.S. sanctions and restrictions. The situation in both countries has led to unprecedented waves of emigration to the United States. Yet the reception by the US government of these two Caribbean immigrant groups vastly differs. How, and in what ways? And how might we understand the politics and motives behind these differences? We have asked these questions of two leading experts on immigration, one the Boston University sociologist Susan Eckstein and the other, Haitian rights and immigration leader Guerline Jozef, Director of the Haiti Bridge Alliance. Massachusetts Peace Action. Register here.
Friday, June 16, 2023, 6:00 – 9:00 PM. A Night of Hope: Benefit Dinner to Feed & Protect Local Children. Hungry Children Are Easy Prey! MY Project USA & Noor Islamic Cultural Center are joining hands to make sure that all children have food. There are more than 10,000 children at risk of violence, drugs, gangs and human trafficking in the Hilltop area on the west side of Columbus. The annual median income of their families is $6,000. They are 200% below the poverty line. Their struggles with poverty, hunger and a bad neighborhood with no recreation/enrichment opportunities make them easy prey for criminals to recruit them in their gangs. Noor Islamic Cultural Center & MY Project USA are joining hands to make sure that all children have food and a safe place to play and learn to reach their full potential in Columbus. Please join us at this dinner to learn more and contribute. The event is FREE, but registration is required. Please register by Wednesday, June 14. Register here. Location: Noor Islamic Cultural Center, 5001 Wilcox Road, Dublin, Ohio.
Saturday, June 17, 2023, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Stonewall Columbus Pride March. The theme for the 2023 Stonewall Columbus Pride March is "Purpose. Passion. Power'." The 42nd Columbus Pride March steps-off is at 10:30 AM, starting form near near Broad St and High St, marching north toward Goodale Park. More information on the Facebook Event Page.
Saturday, June 17, 2023, 7:00 PM. "Boycott" Screening with the Northern NJ Jewish Voices for Peace. Join the Northern New Jersey Jewish Voices for Peace for a screening of "Boycott." The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Just Vision's Public Engagement Manager, Kate Schwartz. Boycott follows the stories of a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas, who, when forced to choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech across the US. The film traces the impact of state legislation passed in 34 states designed to penalize individuals and companies that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. A legal thriller with “accidental plaintiffs” at the center of the story, Boycott is a bracing look at the far-reaching implications of anti-boycott legislation and an inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect our rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech. Register here.
Sunday, June 18, 2023, 5:00 - 7:00 PM. Redbird Books to Prisoners. We collect, pack, and send books to Ohio prisoners every 1st and 3rd Sunday. Location: Thirdhand Bike Coop, 979 East 5th Ave, Columbus. Please wear a mask, and please don't park in front of the building.
June 23-25, 2023, ComFest. Community Festival. ComFest showcases the very best in live music in Columbus and Central Ohio. Each year ComFest features speakers and workshops on progressive issues, social change, and community activism. Website: www.comfest.com. Location: Goodale Park. Schedule of events.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023, 4:00 PM. Challenging Mining Corporations at the International Level. When activists have exhausted their options for challenging mining corporations at the national level, where can they turn? One option is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the club of the richest countries in the world. OECD states have agreed to a set of guidelines to which multinational enterprises headquartered or operating in member states should follow. If activists believe that a mining corporation has violated those guidelines, it can bring a case to an OECD National Contact Point, which OECD states must establish to handle complaints against multinational enterprises. But how successful have activists been with this process? And what other options exist at the international level? Join three experts and activists for an answer to these questions. More information and registration here.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023, 7:00 – 8:00 PM. Simply Living Book Club Discussion: Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth. Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth is a remarkable anthology of readings from leaders of a new movement to ground ecology in the sacred earth. Bringing together voices from Buddhism, Sufism, Christianity, and Native American traditions, as well as from physics, deep psychology, and other environmental disciplines, this book calls on us to reassess our underlying attitudes and beliefs about the Earth and wake up to our spiritual as well as physical responsibilities toward the planet. The chapters will be clustered into 6 or 7 discussion sessions. Questions? Email Chuck@simplylving.org or call/text 614-354-6172. You can watch a video introduction to the book and register for the discussion here.
Thursday, June 29, 2023, 7:30 PM. Special Program with Sayed Kashua: "Being Palestinian in a Jewish State: Israel's Paradoxical Relationship with its Arab Citizens." Sayed Kashua is the author of four novels—Dancing Arabs, Let It Be Morning, Second Person Singular and Track Changes—all written originally in Hebrew, for which he has received multiple literary awards. His satiric television series Avodah Aravit ("Arab Labor") was enormously popular and critically acclaimed; his new series Madrasa (“School”) continues the exploration of Jewish and Arab relations that characterizes most of his work. For many years Kashua was also a widely read weekly columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. In 2014, he and his family left Israel because they no longer believed in a future in which “Arabs and Jews could share the country equally.” Kashua is completing a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Washington University and will join the faculty of Emerson College in Boston this fall. Sponsored by Reconstructionist synagogues Darchei Noam, Dorshei Emet, Or Haneshamah, and Expanding our Conversation on Israel/Palestine. Register here.