Some peace and justice events Dec 2010

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Dear Friends, Human Rights Day has inspired several actions

for justice on December 10th. See below for more information on some ways to

participate in the counter-cultural, radically human and revolutionary spirit of

this season.  Don’t just change your

bank account but also do a bit to change the world. We’d love  to share with you a toast “To Freedom!”

at the annual Detroit Amnesty group’s celebration of Human Rights Day, Friday,

Dec 10 at the UU Church Forest and Cass.  Consider joining the on line petition to

help tell a major fund to stop supporting the occupation in Palestine. We are

grateful for your friendship and look forward to seeing you around. In any event

you are often with us in thought and care.

Peace, Mike

and Carmen

“There is a

time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can

we achieve our goal.”

Aung San Suu

Kyi – Burmese prisoner of conscience, upon her recent release from custody.

There are at least 2,200 more prisoners of conscience in Burma. God only knows

how many more there are around the world, near and

far.

Axioms for

Nonviolent Liberating action:

Liberating

change will always begin with consciousness rather than

action.

Liberating

change will involve respect for the opponent, not his

repudiation.

Liberating

change will require the appropriation of suffering rather than the escape from

it.

Liberating

change will necessitate the initiation of tension, though without the usual

recourse to violence.

Liberating

change will be made possible by a spiritual discipline, not simply a political

ideology.

Beldon C. Lane, Spirituality and Political

Commitment, 1981.

MON NOV 29, 5pm: CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION HEARING on

Immigration, Arab American Museum

13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn.  ACCESS is asking AIR to help find

citizens or residents who have been harassed by ICE or Border Patrol. ICE

insists 4th amendment problems don’t happen but we keep hearing about it. MIRC

is looking for folks who will be speak as well, especially on folks who have

been present while ICE kicked in doors. If any of your members have faced any

such problems, let Ryan know at ryan@michiganimmigrationreform.org.  A public forum will be held beginning at

5:00 pm. In addition to taking public comment, the Commission will discuss

immigration issues.

The general public

is encouraged to attend the meeting. If you would like to attend and need an

accommodation to do so, please contact Harold Core at 517/241-3986 or coreh@michigan.gov. For

more information on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, please visit

http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr.

Dec  1,

Wed,  7pm “Discerning our

Contemporary Ecological Crisis: Reflections from a displaced Filipina”with Lily Mendoza.

Garden House (4689 Larkins). Detroit. Tea and snacks

will be provided. All are welcome.

Dec 2, Thus, 5pm-8pm: Utility Crisis Summit.  Wayne County Community College Downtown

Campus (atrium), 1001 W. Fort St., Detroit. Learn how to avoid shut offs. Learn

what to do about foreclosures. BRING OUTSTANDING BILLS WITH YOU!!! Please

register your intentions on attending by calling (313) 456 -5149.

December 3, Friday Noon: Leafleting Chase branches

in metro Detroit calling on customers to Take the Pledge and “Bail Out of Chase”

if the bank continues to exploit

homeowners and farm workers. The People Before Banks Coalition unites

faith-based activists, community groups, and unions on behalf of social justice.

Its constituent groups include the Interfaith Workers Justice Committee, the

UAW, Moratorium Now, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, and Jobs With

Justice.  For more information: Rev.

Charles Williams or Joan Smith @(peoplebeforebanks@gmail.com)

PS: We’d love to have you join us at the Chase Branch, east side of

Moross, just south of Mack (behind the        gas

station.

DEC 4, Sat, 1-5:00 PM:  First Annual RIFA-MI/AIRR Convention, Odd

Fellows Hall, 8701 W Vernor, Detroit. Featuring Keynote Speaker Congressman John

Conyers. Legislative Briefing by Ali Noorani, Director of National Immigration

Forum. After 18 hard months of organizing together for immigrants rights and

immigration reform, we have a lot to talk about. This will be an opportunity to

really reflect on our work together, and build a strategy and vision for the

future of the immigrants rights movement in Michigan. Please join us at the

first annual Reform Immigration for America – Michigan / Alliance for Immigrants

Rights and Reform Summit for an in-depth discussion of: What are our next

steps?  How can we advance an

immigrant civil rights agenda in Michigan?

Are there other campaigns we should launch? Evaluating our progress as a

coalition, and our capacity for field, civic engagement, online, and earned

media, and our ability to move our targets. What capacities do we need to

build?  What alliances do we need to

organize?  Who else needs to be at

the table? Break-out groups will have in-depth discussions.  Light refreshments to be served at the

end of the meeting. Please RSVP to: ryan@michiganimmigrationreform.org. Ryan Bates,

Director, Reform Immigration FOR America – Michigan, 248.787.6767,

ryan@michiganimmigrationreform.org

Dec 5, Sun 6 p.m.  CENTRAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH PEACE

& JUSTICE AWARDS BANQUET. This

event features Shirley Sherrod, civil rights activist wrongly targeted by the

right wing, as  keynote

speaker.  Awards to be given to:

General Holiiefield,  UAW V.P.,

Chrysler Department; Marianne Williamson, spiritual activist; and Father Norman

Thomas, Past Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.  UAW President Bob King to chair the

banquet.  Marriott Hotel Renaissance

Center, 400 Renaissance Drive, Detroit. Reception and dinner tickets: $125 –

$200/person.  Purchase tickets by

contacting the church at 313-965-5422 x 133 or on-line at:

http://www.centralumchurch.com/

Dec 6, Mon 6:00 PM (Food and socializing from

6-7:00 PM, presentation begins at 7:00) Stewart McMillin discusses: The History

of Immigration in Detroit. Cadieux

Café, 4300 Cadieux, Detroit (between Mack & Warren). Mr. McMillin, a retired

history teacher, Detroit’s premier tour guide, will remind us of the vital role

immigrants have played in the formation of the City of Detroit.  Come enjoy an evening with us at the

historic Cadieux Cafe, often described as a must see for visitors to our

community. Pointes for Peace http://www.pointesforpeace.org, more information call

Carol at (313) 882-7732 or Pointes for

Peace@yahoo.com

Dec 8, Wed 4:00 p.m-5:30 p.m. Rights, respect,

resistance, and righteousness: Understanding the new power equations throughout

the Middle East. Rami G. Khouri,

Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs

at the American University of Beirut, Editor-at-large, The Daily Star. Gerald R.

Ford School of Public Policy, 1120 Weill Hall, Annenberg Auditorium, U of M.

Info: Zana Kwaiser, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, 734-647-3429,

zkwaiser@umich.edu

Dec 9 Thus, 7:00pm, Is William Martinez not our Brother? 20

years of the Prison Creative Arts Project.  Leopold’s Books, The Park Shelton, 15 E

Kirby St. Detroit MI, 48202. You’re invited to a moving reading and book release

celebration at Leopold’s. Prisons are an invisible, but dominant, part of

American society; the United States incarcerates more people than any other

nation in the world, with 25 percent of the world’s prisoners currently held

within its borders. Join University of Michigan professor and Prison Creative

Arts Project (PCAP) founder Buzz Alexander and Detroit artists and activists for

an evening of story telling and community dialogue bearing witness to the human

costs of mass incarceration in Michigan. Responding panel: Ron Scott, Detroit

Coalition Against Police Brutality, Natalie Holbrook, American Friends Service

Committee, Mary Heinen, Prison Creative Arts Project, Ana Lyra Sis, Community

Artist and PCAP Participant. Info: Amit.Weitzer@gmail.com or visit http://www.leopoldsbook.com

December 10, 2010 Fri NOON Protest utility shut-offs, DTE

offices 2835

Bagley at Second Ave. (Near MGM Casino). 20,000 homes in Detroit without

electricity or heat. The goal is to get a moratorium  on shut offs and

return heat and light to  people who

came in second after profits. Info: Michigan Welfare Rights Organization.

(313)964-0618.

December

10, 2010 Fri, 7:30 p.m., Amnesty International Group 78, Detroit, invites you to

celebrate the 62ND ANNIVERSARY of the signing of the United Nations Declaration

of Human Rights.  First

Unitarian Universalist Church House, 4605 Cass (between Prentis & Forest),

Detroit. Free Parking in Church lot, south side of Prentis.

Solidarity

Greetings from Local Human Rights Activists

Candlelight

Vigil and Toast to Freedom

Music

, poetry, holiday cards for prisoners of conscience

Human

Rights Day Birthday Cake

Fair

Trade Chocolate for Sale For more

information, call (313) 531-7647

Dec 10, Tell TIAA-CREF to divest from the Israeli

Occupation. Individuals from Jewish voice for Peace and allies are presenting a

petition to TIAA-CREFF offices in Detroit and other cities. Through the links

below learn more about this campaign and consider signing the on-line petition.

TIAA-CREF, one of the largest financial services companies in the US, oversees

more than $400 billion in pensions for teachers, academic researchers, doctors,

nurses, and nonprofit workers. Yet, TIAA-CREF invests in companies that profit

from the oppression of Palestinian professionals and nonprofit workers:

companies that build Jewish-only settlements, demolish Palestinian homes, and

create the roadblocks that make it impossible for Palestinians to move freely

and with dignity.

Tell TIAA-CREF to divest from the Israeli

Occupation. [ Read More ]

Dec 11 SAT Noon WOMEN IN BLACK Silent Peace Walk,

Birmingham, Shain Park (1 blk. S of Maple, 2 blks. W of Old Woodward.   Please wear black, women, men and children

all are welcome. To subscribe to email notice of future WIB monthly walks: WIB-Detroit-subscribe@yahoogroups.com