To subscribe to weekly events newsletter or to have progressive events for peace and justice added to this list, please contact cmhammond11@att.net.



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, February 3, 2024, 5:00 PM.  Grassroots Election Protection Coalition/ALLIANCE 4 GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY.  Weekly zoom meeting.  Register here

 

Monday, February 3  – Thursday, February 6, 2025, 3:00 PM.  Power Half-Hour for Gaza: Channel grief & outrage into action to stop a genocideNow into the second year of genocide in Gaza, we are overwhelmed with sorrow and outrage.  There are no words to describe the devastating pain of the past year in which the Israeli military has killed over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 20,000 children. The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court have both declared that Israel must stop the genocidal acts being committed on the Palestinian people. And the U.S. government is actively supporting the Israeli military as it wreaks devastation on the over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B'Tselem have declared that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.  We continue to come together as a political community in our daily half-hour to take action, Monday through Friday, for the past year. Join us as we take collective action to demand an arms embargo to Israel, immediate end to the genocide, a lasting ceasefire and an end to Israeli siege, apartheid, occupation, and oppression of Palestinians and Lebanon. All are welcome. All are needed. Register here

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 11:00 AM.  Kumi Now.  Kumi Now is an online gathering every with a guest activist on the ground exploring issues of critical relevance to the Palestinian people and how you can get involved. Register here

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 1:00 – 2:00 PM. Episcopal Church Immigration Updates.  Due to the number of executive orders, immigration raids, and other policy changes, Episcopal Migration Ministries is scheduling weekly immigration calls. EMM will share updates and resources and will be joined by the Office of Government Relations and the Chief Legal Officer. Spanish interpretation will be available.  Register here.

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 7:00 PM meeting (6:30 social).  Clintonville Area Progressive Meeting.   Guest speaker is Stevie Pasamonte with Transit Columbus.  Location:  Columbus Metropolitan Library, Whetstone Branch, 3909 N. High St., Columbus 43214.   

 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 8:00 PM.  Peter Beinart: Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza.  Join Reconstructionists Expanding Our Conversation on Israel/Palestine for a special presentation with Peter Beinart, who will discuss his new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. In Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?  Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life.  Register here

 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 2:00 PM.  Peace Activist SpeakersRobin Lloyd, seasoned American peace (and abolition of all nuclear weapons) Quaker activist; Chair of Burlington, Vermont (U.S.) branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).  Nuri Ronaghy, an economics-educated Iranian-American female co-founder of the U.S. Department of Peace; Seasoned member of WILPF; A former political prisoner in Iran--who was very active, nationally, in the American Soviet Friendship Society; and now she is interested in seeing a branch of WILPF being founded inside Iran.  REGULAR HOST:  Moji Agha, Founder of the Peace-seeking Iranian Veterans (PIV).  Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81723093698?pwd=0algFTMUvhICPZEkcDNHPwCt8gckTk.1.  Meeting ID: 817 2309 3698  Passcode: 256356. 

 

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 1:00 PM.  A New Policy Webinar: Why Unconditional Support for Israel is Bad for America and AmericansJoin A New Policy Director and Co-Founder Josh Paul and Yousef Munayyer for an event launching A New Policy's new report, Not in America’s Interest: Why Unconditional Support for Israel is Bad for America, and Bad for Americans. The paper critically assesses how unqualified support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government jeopardizes American national security interests, undermines America's international standing, and violates America's values.  Register here

 

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 10:00 – 10:30 AM.  Churches for Middle East Peace Weekly Briefing. Please join us on Zoom for a weekly briefing on current news regarding the Hamas and Israel War. 
You will hear from CMEP Staff and other experts.  
Register here

 

Friday, February 7, 2025, 12:00 PM.  Action Hours Cease Fire Now.  Join AFSC staff every Friday to hear updates from Gaza. Then, take action with us as we contact our elected officials and call for an us.  For over a year, AFSC’s team in Gaza has provided food, water, and other life-saving aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.  Register here

 

Friday, February 7, 2025, 7:00 – 9:30 PM. Lyd Film Screening.  Join Librarians and Archivists with Palestine for a screening of Lyd, the launch of a new educational packet for the film, and a Q&A session.  Register here


Saturday, February 8, 2025, 12:00 PM.  Rally to Defend Immigrant Families and the War on Black America
.  The fight back continues! As we enter Black history month we honor the legacy of struggle. We are mobilizing to defend immigrant families, and we must defend the gains of the civil rights revolution which united struggles across our class!  Join PSL as we continue building an independent movement against Trump and the billionaire agenda! We have the power to fight for a better world, but we have to be organized to take it!  Party for Socialism and Liberation.   Location: Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square, Columbus. 

 

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 7:00 – 9:00 PM. Reckoning with Jewish Supremacy and White Supremacy: A Conversation with Peter Beinart and Ta-Nehisi Coates.  What do we do when the stories we’ve told ourselves turn out to be lies?  When we realize that they’ve contributed to domination and blinded us to suffering? In the face of communal hypocrisy, how can we imagine new stories of who we are and who we might become? Hosted by Jewish Currents.  More information.  Tickets: $9.00.  Register here.

 

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 PM.  Weekly Rally for Peace.  Location:  East North Broadway and High St., Columbus.

 

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 1:00 – 2:30 PM.  Indivisible Central Ohio 2025 Kickoff Meeting.  Are you ready to take action? Join Indivisible Central Ohio for our 2025 kickoff meeting. We're ready to orient and engage new members, as well as refresh and re-energize those who have been with us from the beginning. All are welcome!  Location: First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Road, Columbus, Ohio 43214.  RSVP here.

 

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 2:00 PM.  Reporting from the Frontlines of the Massacre.  Haggai Matar will talk with us about the latest events in the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, the chances for a ceasefire, Israel's campaigns in Lebanon and Syria and the push for attacking Iran. We will also discuss the overall climate among Jewish Israelis for relations with the Palestinians, the future of the country, and the role of the media in all of this.  Haggai Matar is an award-winning Israeli journalist and political activist, and the executive director of +972 Magazine, which is an independent, online, nonprofit media outlet run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists, founded in 2010.  He is a conscientious objector who refused to serve in the Israeli army back in 2002 and spent two years in prison (with Noam Bahat + 3 others).  Massachusetts Peace Action.  Register here.

 

Sunday, February 9, 2025, 1:00 PM.  Public Health Crisis in Gaza - The Impact of Infectious Diseases.

A conversation with Dr. Amir Mohareb, Director, Research Program on Humanitarian Action, Global Migration, and Infectious Diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital.  A Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council webinar.  More information and link to the registration here

 

Sunday, February 9, 2025, 11:00 AM.  “We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance” with Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson.  Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.” In We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to White oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women.   Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise Kellen ‘68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies and the Chair of the Africana Studies Department Wellesley College. She is the author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance and the award-winning book, Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence. Her essays have been published in The New York TimesThe Washington PostThe Atlantic, CNN, The Nation, and a host of other outlets. She has been featured in numerous documentaries for Netflix, PBS, MSNBC, and Apple TV. She co-hosts the podcast, “This Day in Political Esoteric History.”  Community Church of Boston.  Join on YouTube or on Zoom.  Meeting ID: 813 5181 3462. 

 

Monday, February 10, 2025, 7:00 PM. Peace & Justice Conversations: Dynamic Community Resistance in West AfricaIn West African cities, urban poor families and communities must struggle every day to survive -- not just to live on meager day-to-day incomes, but to tenaciously resist and mitigate the dynamics that threaten their very shelter and livelihoods. This conversation looks broadly at over a decade of work supporting multi-pronged community resistance to mass forced evictions, and dives deep into the struggle of the Otodo Gbame community in Lagos, whose true story of resistance from 2016-2017 inspired the co-production of The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Massachusetts Peace Acton.  More information and registration here

 

Tuesday, February 11, 2024, 7:00 PM.  The Palestine Exception - Film Screening & Panel.  Virtual screening and talkback with Social Work for Palestine, the Network to Advance Abolition in Social Work, the USA Palestine Mental Health Network, and the upEND Movement.   Register here.

 

Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 6:00 PM.  Fair Districts All Volunteer Huddle.  Join Fair Districts leaders and volunteers for a monthly meeting. Second Wednesday of the month.  Register here

 

Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 8:00 PM.  Medicare for All National Strategy CallJoin the Nurses' Campaign to Win Medicare for All and activists from across the country to discuss our organizing plans for the first half of 2025. We'll outline our plans to prepare for the reintroduction of Medicare for All legislation in Congress, as well as how we plan to fight back against the threat of health care cuts under the current administration. We'll hear from National Nurses United President Cathy Kennedy and several other special guests. This call will last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Register here

 

Thursday, February 13, 2025, 7:00 PM.  The Other Side of the Wall: West Bank Stories of Colonization and SumudWhile the world has rightly been riveted to the 470-day genocide in Gaza, settler attacks, ethnic cleansing, and looming annexation in the West Bank have been “under the radar.” Beth Brockman and Ron Shive will share eye opening stories and insights to move us, focus our attention, and ignite our activism.  Register here

 

Wednesday, February 14, 2025, 5:30 – 7:30 PM.  Veterans for Peace Central Ohio Chapter meeting.  Location:  Columbus Metropolitan Library, Northside Branch, 1423 N. High St., meeting room 2. Columbus 43201.

 

Sunday, February 16, 2025, 11:00 AM.  “W. E. B. Du Bois and the Question of Palestine” with Michael B. Burawoy.  One of the remarkable features of the life and work of W. E. B. Du Bois was its global reach, but he approached international relations as a critic of US imperialism. This left him with several blind spots not least in relation to the question of Palestine. What can we learn from his limitations? How can we use Du Bois' pioneering scholarship on the US to give a fuller picture of globalization, the history of Israel/Palestine, and today's war in the Middle East?  Michael Burawoy is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley where he is a sociologist who has conducted studies of class and race in Africa, Soviet and post-Soviet countries as well as in the United States.  Community Church of Boston.  Join on YouTube or on Zoom.  Meeting ID: 813 5181 3462. 

 

Sunday, February 16, 2025, 11:00 AM. African Liberation, The Struggle Against Colonialism and Palestine with Chairman Omali YeshitelaOmali Yeshitela is Chairman of the African Socialist International and the African People’s Socialist Party and Leader of the Uhuru Movement.  Community Church of Boston.  Join us on YouTube or on Zoom.  Meeting ID: 813 5181 3462.

 

Sunday, February 16, 2025, 3:00 PM.  Voices from the Holy Land Online Film Salon: "Made Homeless in the West Bank: Lawfare, Demolition, and Land Theft." In an ongoing policy of ethnic cleansing, Israeli authorities uproot fruit trees, raze farmland, destroy rainwater reservoirs and irrigation systems, and demolish homes. Meanwhile increasingly emboldened Israeli settlers — protected by soldiers — taunt families and vandalize property. The ultimate goal is to force Palestinians off the land. With the world’s attention diverted by the war on Gaza, displacement of West Bank Palestinians has increased dramatically in the past year. Our Salon will focus on Israel’s aggressive use of lawfare in its campaign of ethnic cleansing, the longstanding efforts of Palestinians to nonviolently resist, and the role of allies. Register for a discussion of the activities and the effects of Israel's actions with: - Bruno Sorrentino: London-based filmmaker specializing in longitudinal documentaries; co-director, Rooted in the West Bank - Eid Suleiman Hathaleen: Artist and human rights activist living in Umm al Khair, occupied South Hebron Hills - Jeff Halper: Israeli-American anthropologist, author, lecturer, and political activist; founder of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Our moderator will be Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor of Jadaliyya and researcher, analyst, and commentator. NOTE: After you register, you will immediately get an Approved response - BUT then look in your email for an email From: Zoom with the word "Confirmation" at the end of the subject line...there you'll find the link and password to watch the film in advance of the Salon event.  Register here

 

Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 8:00 PM.  Third Tuesdays: Protect, Resist, and Build with AFSC.   Are you looking for ways to support your community while advocating for lasting social change? Join the American Friends Service Committee monthly webinar series every third Tuesday of the month. You'll hear directly from AFSC staff and partners and learn concrete ways we can all take action for migrant rights, economic justice, and peace. Register here. 

 

Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 1:00 PM. Trump’s second term: NATO, War, and the EconomyDonald Trump has returned to the presidency demanding that NATO nations increase their military spending to 3%, possibly 5% of GDP, and threating massive tariffs. His commitments to NATO remain uncertain, as does his administration’s approach to the Ukraine War and possible ceasefire-related diplomacy. His “America First” agenda includes a $100 billion increase in the Pentagon’s already gargantuan budget. What are the implications for Euro-American relations with Russia, for NATO or pressures for an independent European military, for the U.S., European, and world economies? How should U.S. and European peace movements respond?  Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security.  Speakers: Niamh Ni Bhriain, Reiner Braun, and Michael Klare.  More information and registration here.

 

Saturday, February 22, 2025, 12:00 – 2:00 PM.  Ramp Up for Repro In person meeting.  Our monthly Ramp Up for Repro trainings will further acquaint you with political advocacy tactics, repro lingo, and help you find the best way to get involved. Every month, we'll dive into movement ecology, abortion messaging, the current landscape of abortion access, and provide next steps for you to take action!

The majority of the content of this training does not change between sessions, with the exception of current events and policy updates.  Location: Columbus TBA.  Register here

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025, 5:00 PM (check in from 4:00 PM).  Rooted in Hope.  Fundraiser Event. Palestine Children’s Relief Fund Columbus Chapter.  Event includes relief update, Columbus Youth Dabke, Fundraising dinner, guest speakers, and silent auction.  Ticket price is $100.  Location: Hilton at Easton, 3900 Chagrin Dr., Columbus, Ohio.  Tickets and more information here

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025, 11:00 AM.  “W. E. B. Du Bois and the Question of Palestine”
with Michael B. Burawoy
. One of the remarkable features of the life and work of W. E. B. Du Bois was its global reach, but he approached international relations as a critic of US imperialism. This left him with several blind spots not least in relation to the question of Palestine. What can we learn from his limitations? How can we use Du Bois' pioneering scholarship on the US to give a fuller picture of globalization, the history of Israel/Palestine, and today's war in the Middle East?  Michael Burawoy is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley where he is a sociologist who has conducted studies of class and race in Africa, Soviet and post-Soviet countries as well as in the United States.  Community Church of Boston.  Join us on YouTube or on Zoom.  Meeting ID: 813 5181 3462. 

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025, 12:00 PM. Simply Living Presents: Join or Die.  Join or Die is a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America depends on it. Follow the story of America's civic unraveling through the journey of Robert Putnam, whose legendary "Bowling Alone" research into American community decline may hold the answers to our democracy's present crisis. As always, we appreciate your support, which allows us to bring you educational events like our film series, Sustainable U. classes, garden tours, and more.  Our host once again is. Doors are at 11:30 if you want to have lunch before the show, and the screening will start between 12:15 and 12:30 when the lobby/bar area clears out. Location: Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse, 3055 Indianola Ave., Columbus 43202.  Tickets.  Facebook.

 

Monday, February 24, 2025, 6;00 PM.  Eradication Gaza: How to Remember and Forget Genocide.  A discussion with Prof. Omer Bartov. As we've been witnessing a genocide in Gaza for the past 15 months, it's timely to reflect on the politics of the use of the word "genocide", and the use and misuse of the memory of the Holocaust in WW2.  Prof. Bartov will also expand our thinking about the development of Zionism over time: as a settler colonization effort, as a mechanism for helping Jewish refugees and as an ideological national movement.  Massachusetts Peace Action.  Register here

 

Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 12:00 – 1:15 PM. Africa 140 Years After the Berlin Conference: A Faith-Based Perspective on the Colonization of People, Resources, and Land.  Did you know that on February 26, 1885, European powers reached an agreement to divide Africa in an event known as the “Scramble for Africa”? By 1900, these powers had claimed nearly 90 percent of the continent’s territory. This webinar will explore the conference itself, the impacts of colonialism and its mindset, and the ongoing consequences that persist today. Specifically, it will address: The theft of land and resources, and the “new scramble for Africa,” resulting in the displacement of people, disruption of traditional land use, and ecological degradation. Predatory capitalism, the disparate impact of World Bank interest rates on the unresolvable debt of African countries, and how these continue to shape global inequalities. Global Ministries’ responses to ensuring human rights, dignity, economic prosperity, and justice for all. Our call to action in response to 140 years of systemic pillaging and destruction of African people, societies, and their wealth. Register Now!

 

Thursday, February 27, March 27, April 24, 2025, 7:30 PM.  Veterans For Peace's Democracy & Peace Working Group for this important 4-part webinar series cosponsored by Move to Amend.  Each session will start with Why we need the "We the People" Amendment, a 4-minute video narrated by Peter Coyote. February 27: Discuss U.S. Constitution: Pull the Curtain.   March 27: Discuss A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing; Help! I'm Colonized and I Can't Get Up!  April 24: Discuss Our Corporate Elite and the ConstitutionAIPAC's War on DemocracyBring Back the Corporate Death Penalty, and where to go from here?  Join us to see how different, joyful and more successful our work would be in a democracy...and how a little fire prevention will reduce the number of fires we have to fight! For more information, contact Mike Ferner at mike@veteransforpeace.orgRegister here

 

Sunday, March 2, 2025, 11:00 AM.  Examining the Movement Beyond Native Land Acknowledgement. Make a Reparation Pledge when selling your home which is on stolen land with Lewis RandaJoin Lewis Randa of The Peace Abbey Foundation to hear about a way to address historical injustices to Native Peoples. By integrating reparations into home sales, we foster needed support for indigenous, marginalized communities as we prosper and financially benefit from the sale of stolen land.  If you've found Land Acknowledgement Statements empty and hollow, consider making your actions speak louder than words. https://nativelandreparation.org/.  Lewis Randa is a Quaker, pacifist, vegan, educator, and social change activist. He is the founder and director of The Life Experience School for children with disabilities; The Peace Abbey, an Interfaith Center for the study and practice of Nonviolence and Pacifism; The Pacifist Memorial, a national monument honoring pacifists throughout history; The Veganpeace Animal Sanctuary, a safe haven for animals that have escaped from slaughterhouses following the rescue of Emily the Cow; Stonewalk, a global peace walk that involves physically pulling a two-ton memorial stone for Unknown Civilians Killed in War (Documentary shown on PBS), and many others.  Community Church of Boston.  Join on YouTube or on Zoom.  Meeting ID: 813 5181 3462. 

 

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 7:00 PM meeting (6:30 PM social).  Clintonville Are Progressives Meeting.  Location:  Columbus Metropolitan Library, Whetstone Branch, 3909 N. High St., Columbus 43214.  

 

 Tuesday, March 4, 11, 18, 2025, 8:00 – 9:30 PM.  Zionism, Anti-Zionism, And Antisemitism with Professor Joel Beinin.  In this series, we will explore a range of Jewish and non-Jewish understandings of Zionism, Anti-Zionism, and antisemitism. Long before Oct. 7, 2023, their definitions have been debated, politicized and weaponized for divergent purposes. Jews have never had a unified understanding of these terms or agreement about the political projects connected to them. This series will explore these differences and their implications for our current circumstances. Please register below. The course is $36.00, with an option to donate an additional $36.00 to help support our Israel/Palestine programs.  Register here

 

Monday, March 24, 2025, 7:00 – 8:00 PM.  A New Generation of Nuclear Lies:  Small Nuclear Reactors and Nuclear Plant ReopeningsJoin Professor M.V. Ramana, author of Nuclear is not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change (2024) and Paul Gunter, spokesman on nuclear reactor hazards and security concerns for Beyond Nuclear, as they explain why the arguments that are representing nuclear power as renewable “green” energy are tired old lies in shiny new clothing. They will explain why the Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) being aggressively touted as a safe alternative for the future are unsustainably expensive, untested, and a long way from development. They will expose how and why both political parties are heavily subsidizing both SMRs and the industry's proposed reopening of decommissioned nuclear facilities domestically and internationally, all at the taxpayers' expense. And they will reveal that, far from being any kind of solution to the climate crisis, nuclear power's comeback would be an unmitigated environmental disaster that would come at the expense of truly renewable sources of energy that are available to us today. Linda Pentz Gunter of Beyond Nuclear will moderate. Bring your questions! Massachusetts Peace Action.  Register here