Button making at the Strawberry Festival

Who says that tabling isn't fun? The Strawberry Festival this weekend in Beacon produced a lot of peace buttons, and parents interested in the topics we cover: making the world a safer and cleaner place for little kids like these. End the wars, tax the rich and the corporations, change the American Empire back into a democracy.

 Poetry night was quite a change from our monthly movie schedule. A number of the poets who read were high school students and some of their work was very moving. They had written about race, social injustice, and the hope for national transformation. Some others from the audience read poems written by Guantanamo inmates, a potent reminder of the mistreatment and illegal incarceration of so many innocent people. About 25 people attended the poetry night.

Fred

We had a great evening of poetry at The Crafted Kup tonight. The high school students were simply fantastic, and there was other good poetry as well.


Pat




Thanks to Brook for organizing this event. We will do more events like this in the fall, and possibly include some vets from the wars in the Middle East.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! Today Nick, Karen, Jenn, Ari, Ashley, Gabe, and I handed out flowers and flyers at the Walkway along with some members of Arts for Peace: David, Deirdre (sp.?), their son Lucas, and Emily.

We started just outside the gate of the Walkway and were there for maybe 45 minutes (not sure how long) when we were told to leave. Long story short, we retreated to where the path splits and goes to the unpaved parking lot on Parker Avenue. Many people were delighted with the flowers and interested in the history of the Mother's Day proclamation. Having babies and dogs around made it more fun for everyone. We wound up leaving at about 4:30, having given away all but 3 of the flower pots and most of the flyers. It was a beautiful day weather-wise and except for a somewhat nasty encounter with the person in charge who told us to leave, it was peaceful as well.

I'm attaching three photos here and will attach three more in a separate email.  Hopefully Jenn can forward to her AFP list and Fred can post to the web site as
he sees fit.

This showing was one of our best. We had over 35 people and a very good discussion at the end. Moore's analysis of Capitalism is really where the Occupy Movement started. The "crime scene" tape that he wraps around Wall Street shows the way for a new generation of protesters. He asks at the end of the movie where everybody is. We still have a long way to go, but the resistance he calls for is now in the streets.

Dutchess Peace was a cosponsor of this film, along with Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie. Lillian Rosengarten, a member of the Jewish Boat to Gaza, read one of her poems at the end.

About 35 people attended, almost all new people. They loved the film and several mentioned buying the film for their churches.

Why We Fight: free film screening

Why We Fight: free film screening

Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 pm 

Crafted Kup 

44 Raymond Ave

Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Eugene Jarecki's documentary "Why We Fight" takes its name from a series of propaganda films made by Frank Capra during World War II. It begins with a conservative president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warning the nation about "the military-industrial complex," a self-perpetuating war machine that burrows into the capitalist fabric of the country, independent of political parties and unaccountable at the polls. Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. (98 minutes)

The screening will be followed by an audience discussion. This is part of the "Give Peace a Film" series and there is no admission charge, although a collection will be taken for Occupy Poughkeepsie.

Sponsored by: Dutchess Peace Coalition <www.dutchesspeace.org>

Contact: 845 452-4013

We had about 30 people for this eye-opening film about America's empire. Every high school student in the country should watch this documentary. It explains how militarism and unrestrained capitalism combines to produce endless wars abroad and corporate tyranny at home. One of the best films we have shown this spring for Occupy Poughkeepsie.

Counter recruiting at the HS.

Three of us handed out flyers at the Poughkeepsie HS as students left the building for the day.

School gets out at 2:45, and by 3:00 it is all over. But in that short time we passed out about 100 of our counter-recruiting flyers and about 100 of the folded poster explaining why the military is a bad deal. Almost everyone takes the flyer, especially when told that we are trying to convince them not to join the military. Students, as always, were very friendly.

We are now completely out of materials, and probably should order more. We have the money, if people think we should continue doing this. There is also the possibility of going into the schools when a recruiter is there. Maybe we should stress alternatives to the military for students without money for college.