Friday, December 2, 2011

Showing of "Inside Job" is big success


We had about 30 people at our latest film. A good discussion followed and we collected $110 for Occupy Wall Street. Afterwards, many in the crowd went over to support the occupation which was under a 11:00 pm evacuation order from the city. Over 200 supporters of Occupy Poughkeepsie stood around the perimeter until about 12:30 am.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

We take part on Occupy Wall Street: Poughkeepsie

Members of Dutchess Peace have been visiting Occupy Poughkeepsie during the last week. Several of us marched in a Saturday rally. Fred and Eli spent Saturday night, a interesting and rewarding experience. If you want to know what the next generation's democracy looks like, visit the encampment to talk, or to spend the night. Bring some food and a willingness to talk about grassroots political change.



Friday, October 21, 2011

Pumpkin Festival in Beacon

We had a windy but very busy day in Beacon. Many stopped and talked. We handed out many cards, flyers, etc. The dock is a great area, since most people taking the boat go right by our table. Thanks to those who came out to help us.

Fred

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Dutchess Peace and the Adriance Library

Dutchess Peace donates to the Adriance Public Library and
gets a plaque near the section on peace studies. Pat and
Jim (a World War II vet) stand under our plaque.



Wednesday, July 13, 2011

THE DUTCHESS PEACE COALITION

THE DUTCHESS PEACE COALITION

By Pat Lamanna

The Dutchess Peace Coalition was founded early in 2003 by a group of Dutchess County citizens concerned that the United States was preparing to invade Iraq.    When the invasion began shortly after, continued meeting and continued to protest the actions of the Bush Administration.    We joined in demonstrations in New York City and Washington, D.C., and locally began a campaign to inform the public about the hastily-passed U.S.A. Patriot Act.  At some point, however, we made the decision to return to our original mission: to promote peace.   

Over the years, we have tabled at many community events; showed a wide variety of antiwar films; and participated in various larger demonstrations in Kingston, New York City, and Washington.  We’ve also handed out anti-recruitment flyers at Poughkeepsie and Beacon High Schools.   We discovered a book of poetry by prisoners of Guantanamo, and put together a creative and moving presentation in which members of our group, clad in orange jump suits and black hoods, read their poems and told their stories at poetry coffeehouses in the area.   

We affiliated with PANYS in 2008.    Three of us attended the PANYS annual meeting this year, and two of us participated in Lobby Day on June 30 by visiting Senator Schumer’s Hudson Valley office and speaking with an aide about Afghanistan.

You’ll find video, photos and a great deal of information about the organization at our web site, http://www.dutchesspeace.org, which is ably mastered by Fred Nagel.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Meeting in Schumer's Office

Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 9:57 PM

To: Rabenstein, Andrew (Schumer)
Cc: Dutchesspeace@yahoogroups.com Subject: Thank you

Hello Andrew,
I'm writing to thank you for meeting with Brook Nam and myself last Thursday, June 30 in your office. We appreciate your taking the time to discuss the very important issues of war and peace with us.

We also appreciate that you gave us a copy of the letter to President Obama, which Senator Schumer and other senators signed, expressing support for a "sizable and sustained reduction of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan." I believe that you had mentioned that you would send me a list of the other signatories to that letter. I would appreciate it if you would do so at your earliest convenience.

Our group would also like to stress that we would like to see a more rapid timetable for withdrawal than the President has set forward, and that we want to see not only uniformed service members, but also private contractors, moved out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible, with no permanent military bases left behind.

We are also concerned about the seeming buildup to military action in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and other countries, and we want to emphasize that we do not want troops removed from Afghanistan and redeployed to any other nation, except the United States.

Please convey these sentiments to Senator Schumer as soon as possible, and again, thank you for inviting us to state our case.

Sincerely,
Pat Lamanna

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Lobbying Day to end Mideast wars.


Hello Andrew,

I'm writing to thank you for meeting with Brook Nam and myself last Thursday, June 30 in your office. We appreciate your taking the time to discuss the very important issues of war and peace with us.

We also appreciate that you gave us a copy of the letter to President Obama, which Senator Schumer and other senators signed, expressing support for a "sizable and sustained reduction of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan." I believe that you had mentioned that you would send me a list of the other signatories to that letter. I would appreciate it if you would do so at your earliest convenience.

Our group would also like to stress that we would like to see a more rapid timetable for withdrawal than the President has set forward, and that we want to see not only uniformed service members, but also private contractors, moved out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible, with no permanent military bases left behind.

We are also concerned about the seeming buildup to military action in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and other countries, and we want to emphasize that we do not want troops removed from Afghanistan and redeployed to any other nation, except the United States.

Please convey these sentiments to Senator Schumer as soon as possible, and again, thank you for inviting us to state our case.

Sincerely,
Pat Lamanna

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Ordinary People

Saturday I spent the day hanging out with some ordinary people. I went to the 9D and 9 corner where our usual group was there hanging out and chatting trying to get attention from cars going by to support peace and redirection of our funds toward our own needs instead of war. Everyone there came , even though there is no immediate tangible reward and the people could all be somewhere else at the same time. I then went to the Mid Hudson Walk Bridge where we were to hand out leaflets. With the Dutchess Peace Group. The leaflets were an invitation for people to join a peace group anywhere and request for people to try to understand that if we don't oppose the current tendency of our nation to be an empire, it will be disastrous for the American people ....comparing our nation with ancient Greece when it tried to become an empire. Trying to teach a concept like this on the walkaway with its diverse population of people enjoying the weather and scene was certainly an interesting challenge. And it felt good to give people that little piece of paper. Some politely refused, some accepted the paper with a smile and a few actually talked to us about the contents.

Then I went to the Pow Wow in Wappingers at the Bowdoin Park. It was late and I didn't really want to have to pay a lot to go to it. However, I parked my car at a spot just before the festival and some kids were at the gate. They said that if I was happy walking to the Pow Wow from that site , I wouldn't have to pay at all. And if I did want to pay ,it would only be $5. Since I am basically a cheapskate, I walked. And it was a real Pow Wow. There was a falconer there demonstrating what his trained owl, hawk,falcon and eagle can do. He was so kind to the birds and understanding. He explained that while training the birds , they have to learn to focus on what he wants them to do, and not be distracted by the crowd. I, too, and trying to learn how to focus in my own life, and could use his help sometimes. Those birds were magnificent as they swooped down, right over my head, to get their treats.

Then I walked around the vendor tents, and at one of them I spoke with an Indigenous man,who had a hat on that indicating he was a Viet Nam Vet.. I asked where he was from and he said Pennsylvania. I asked if there was fracking near his home . He said yes, forty miles away There was a woman at the tent with him, who may have been his daughter or a friend,. She chimed in saying that the fracking is terrible. ….and when you think you have rights to your own land , you really don’t. They can take it from you any time they want. Then he said the fracking isn't the worst. The worst is that there is anthracite near his home and also near him they removed mountains to get at the coal. He says it leaves just a huge crater. You can't believe the size of that crater. The company says it will rehabilitate the land, but he can't see how they could. I bought a book from him, which he offered for $5.95 instead of the regular price of $5.99, and as I left I asked him whether this situation is what he thought he as fighting for in Viet Nam. He shook his head and said they are still doing the same thing in Iraq. I thought to myself, and this may or may not be true, he accepts life as it is. He is a survivor. He is an Indigenous person. He isn't out demonstrating against the way things are ... I think that he has lost hope that we can change things, but is able to accept things as they are.....and know that it isn't right.

I then went back to the central area where they had Indigenous dancing.... and heard the Indian drum beat and chant ...there was a large group of drummers and chanters in the circle as has been done for ages , and the watched the spirited Native Americans, men and women, in their beautiful outfits doing the dances of their heritage.

Next week I hope to be back at 9 D, and maybe I'll be able to leaflet again one of these days on that bridge and maybe I'll be able to go to that Pow Wow again next year. ..and finally, maybe I can buy another book for $5.95 instead of $5.99.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Give Peace a Film series with Marist College

We showed five movies at Marist College, with the public invited to attend. Turnout varied by the film presented. We have decided to continue this film series with Marist College in the fall.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Civil Liberties and the FBI



Civil Liberties and the FBI:
How Local Activists and Groups Can Respond
Monday, March 21
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Time and Space Limited
434 Columbia St, Hudson, NY 12534
Last September, the FBI raided homes and antiwar offices in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and North Carolina.  Fourteen activists were handed subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury.  Among those targeted were members of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee, the Palestine Solidarity Group, and the Colombia Action Network. Who is the next target?
A panel of four attorneys (Steve Downs, Valeria Gheorghiu, Kathy Manley and Michael Sussman) will speak about our rights as individuals and discuss ways that local peace and justice groups engaged in non-violent activism can prepare for and respond to federal interference, raids and subpoenas.  A question and answer session will follow the panel discussion.
Sponsored by:
-Middle East Crisis Response
www.mideastcrisis.org
-Dutchess Peace Coalition
www.dutchesspeace.org
-Palestinian Rights Committee
www.palestinianrightscommittee.org

Monday, February 14, 2011

Jewish and Muslim Human Rights Activists at Vassar


Jewish and Muslim Human Rights Activists speak on the professional and personal dynamics of pro-Palestine advocacy

By Gail Goldsmith on February 2, 2011

“The occupation of Palestine follows me wherever I go,” said Noor Elashi, a writer and activist speaking at Vassar College.

Speaking on Jewish and Muslim activism for human rights in Palestine, Elashi and Rebecca Vilkomerson offered professional and personal perspectives on opposition to the Israeli occupation in a panel discussion, Jewish and Muslim Experiences in America: Working Together to Promote Human Rights, on January 26th at Vassar College.


Rebecca Vilkomerson and Noor Elashi (l-r) speak on their personal and professional activism for peace in Palestine to an audience at Vassar College
Vilkomerson, the National Director of Jewish Voices for Peace, described how Jewish Voices for Peace supports Boycott, Divestment, and Settlement campaigns including recent partnerships with University of California at Berkeley and a grassroots call for financial services company TIAA-CREF to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of the East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

The 27 nationwide chapters of Jewish Voices for Peace refute the idea that all Jewish persons support the state of Israel.

“The American Jewish Committee supports Israel right or wrong and AIPAC doesn’t have a monopoly on Jewish opinion,” Vilkomerson said. “We’re continuing to carve out a place for activism in public Jewish life by being active on these issues while staying within the Jewish community.”

The event was sponsored by Vassar Islamic  Society, DutchessPeace.org, and MidEastCrisis.org and  was co-sponsored by many local activist groups, including the Marist Praxis Project.

“The Public Praxis Project was more an endorsement than a partner.  I consulted a bit with the planners in an exchange of e-mails, but otherwise was not able to attend as I had a class at the time of the panel,” Dr. Mar Peter-Raoul, director of the Praxis Project, said. Although there were 9 co-sponsoring groups, attendance was approximately 45 persons-but the audience was engaged during the speech and inquisitive during the following question and answer session, particularly on the topic of civil liberties.

Both Vilkomerson and Elashi addressed the political challenges of religion.

“Hillel and its many campus groups excludes Jewish Voices for Peace  through its anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions stance. Jewish life shouldn’t be subjected to a political litmus test,’ Vilkomerson.

For Elashi, the intersection of politics with Islam has been an emotionally fraught one.

Elashi’s father, Ghassan Elashi, co-founded the Holy Land Foundation, a large Muslim charity that supported Palestinian charities, called zakat committees, through humanitarian aid.

Ghassan Elashi was arrested under the Material Support Law, a law expanded under the Patriot Act. The Material Support Law makes it illegal to donate to charities on the U.S. Treasury list of designated terrorist organizations. Neither he nor the holy Land Foundation was ever found guilty of donating to any group on the last, but rather for donating to zakat committees that were, according to an anonymous witness for the prosecution, fronts for Hamas.

In 2007, the trial deadlocked in defense of the Holy Land Foundation, citing evidence that many international NGOs including Red Cross, USAID, CARE , and the UN sent money to the same zakat committees. In a 2008 retrial, he was convicted, after similar arguments, and is now imprisoned in a Communications Management Unit in Marion, Illinois.  Referred to as “Little Guantanamo”, 60% of inmates in the Communications Management Unit are of Middle Eastern descent.

“The trial, the conviction, the proceedings were McCarthy-esque,” Elashi said, of her father’s trial.

All contact with the outside world is live-monitored and regulated. He  is allowed one  phone call a week. On visitation day, his family arrives for non-contact visits.

“It deprives me of that paternal scent-chamomile and cedar,” Elashi said.

An appeal is in process.

“I recognize that that global change and support for this will not start with the United States, it will end with the United States,” Elashi said, citing Islamophobia and lack of empathy as political barriers to U.S. support of Arab-Israeli peace. She is re-tooling Freedomtogive.com to serve as a resource for her father’s supporters and the interested public.

“I think this was a great event, because not enough people voice their opinions on this issue and how media influences public opinion about Israel and Palestine,” R., a Vassar student and member of the Vassar Islamic Society,said. “We think of this harsh, totalitarian treatment as the sort of thing that happens in the past. We don’t think of the American public as being this harsh and unfair to a citizen.”

http://www.maristmy575.com/?p=4749

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Jewish and Muslim Experiences in America: Working Together to Promote Human Rights


Wednesday, January 26
6:30 to 8:00 PM
Sanders Hall Auditorium (Room 212)
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY  12504
Panel discussion with Noor Elashi and Rebecca Vilkomerson. Noor Elashi is a nationally known writer and speaker on Muslim rights. Rebecca Vilkomerson is Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace. 
Both Jews and Muslims in the United States are affected by passions surrounding the wars in the Middle East. The panel will explore how each group is dealing with issues such as human rights and ethnic identity. 
Sponsored by:
-Vassar Islamic Society
-Dutchess Peace
http://www.dutchesspeace.org
-Middle East Crisis Response
http://www.mideastcrisis.org
Contact: (845) 876-7906

Cosponsors:
Alternatives to Violence Project
Fellowship of Reconciliation
I Will Not Kill - Veterans For Peace
Marist Praxis Project for Public Citizenship
New Paltz Neighbors for Peace
New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death    Penalty - Mid Hudson Branch
Peace Action New York State
Peace and Social Progress Now
Peace Justice & Environment Project
Real Majority Project
The Mid-Hudson 9/11 Truth Commission
UUFP Poughkeepsie, Social Justice Committee
Veterans Fellowship of Reconciliation
VFP Al Warren Tappan Zee Brigade
VFP Maury Colow Chapter 058, Catskill region
WESPAC Foundation