WNY Peace Center Weekly Update – April 19, 2016

WNY Peace Center Weekly Update

April 19, 2016

Contact: 716-332-3904

Send announcements to weeklynews@wnypeace.org for possible inclusion in the Weekly Update.

Also, check out our website: wnypeace.org

***
1. Events

***
SPECIAL! Bissonette Evening Celebration with Two-Time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Kathy Kelly!
Thursday, April 21. Daemen College, 4380 Main Street, Wick Center
6:30 pm – Social and refreshments. 7:30 pm – Speaker.
The WNY Peace Center and particularly its Latin American Solidarity Committee are thrilled to invite you to the Bissonette Evening with Kathy Kelly, founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (vcnv.org). 
“Solidarity Across War Zones: Lessons Learned in Central America, the Middle East, and Central Asia”
During the cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States, the U.S. claimed to be fighting communism in Central America by training, arming and supporting various militaries and paramilitaries that committed hideous human rights abuses and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of civilians.  Now, as the U.S. provokes a new cold war with both China and Russia, the U.S. is exacerbating violence by insisting on military intervention. Kathy Kelly will discuss effects of U.S. military invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Kathy is a courageous, eloquent, and insightful activist you won’t want to miss. www.lascwny.org 716 332-3904
Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the door, students with ID are free. Patron: $25 or more per person.

***
Presentation: The Chilling of Activism in the Shadow of the Surveillance of the State
Burning Books, Wednesday April 20, 7 pm. 420 Connecticut Street, Buffalo.
This presentation will detail the growth of the surveillance state and how information-gathering strategies are intended to repress activism. Through a discussion of the government’s intentional framing of security versus liberty tradeoffs, and a debunking of the “Nothing to Hide” arguments, Reilly explains how our participation in the surveillance state empowers government to increasingly challenge the right of citizens to engage in dissident behavior. Modern movement policing is connected to COINTELPRO strategies of the past to reveal a systematic and strategic effort by the state to neutralize and vilify protest activity.
***
Legacies of Nonviolence: Arun Gandhi to Sister Karen
Sunday April 24, 2016, 3pm with reception following. Immaculata Academy, 5138 South Park Avenue, Hamburg.
World renowned activist, speaker and author, including “World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality?”. Founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.
$25.00 Fundraiser for the SSJ Sister Karen Klimczak Center for Nonviolence. Tickets: 716 362-9688 or info @ sisterkarencenter.org, or purchase on line at sisterkaren center.org

***
WNY Peace Center ANNUAL MEETING, Fundraiser (Peace 4 Ways), and Potluck
2 pm Saturday, April 30. St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, 2253 Main St (main building), Buffalo, NY 14214
2 pm-3:30 pm Annual Meeting (election of Board members, review of last year, and plans for this year)
3:30-4 pm Peace Market and Info-Tabling
4 pm Fundraiser to benefit 4 organizations: 1) Peace Education Fund; 2) Fun School #1 (cooperative childcare exchange); 3) Mission Improvable – Buffalo Contact Improvisation Community; and 4) WNY Peace Center.
5 pm Potluck
If you are interested in being on the Coordinating Board of the WNY Peace Center, please call the office at 716-332-3904 for information.
Note: At 10 am – 12 noon, the Interfaith Peace Network and Indigenous Women’s Initiative will present a film, “Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code” in the same space.

***
Resist Militarism! Taskforce
Vigil: Disrupt the death squadron operating at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (NFARS):
Join us at the main gate to the NFARS on the 2nd & 4th Thursday each month (April 28) at 3:30-4:30pm (or pick another day of the week and bring a group with signs).
For more information, contact Russell Brown, at 716-570-5200; hobadoxa@me.com.

***
Prisoners Rights Taskforce
#JusticeForIndia
Monday May 2, 4pm Rally sponsored by BLACK Rochester, BARC with WNYPC.
Erie County Holding Center, 40 Delaware Ave, Buffalo.

Continuing Vigil every Wednesday 4-5 pm,. Erie County Holding Center, 40 Delaware Ave, Buffalo.

***
Peaceful Conflict Resolution / Peace Education Project
For Teens:
PeaceJam is an international organization with 13 Nobel Laureates on its board that uses fun activities to provide youth with inspiration, education, and action.
PeaceJam also fulfills community service hours!
Wednesdays 5-6:30 pm – every Wednesday that school is in session.
(Dinner served at 5 pm. – Program starts at 5:30 pm.)
Delavan – Grider Community Center, 877 East Delavan Avenue, Buffalo, NY
Contact Vicki (716-931-3520) for more information.

***
Women In Black – weekly vigil for nonviolence. Every Saturday, noon to 1pm, Bidwell and Elmwood. Signs provided. (You don’t need to be a woman or wear black.)

***
PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO, INC.
Please join us on April 25, 7:00-9:00pm, at the Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt St., Buffalo

***
2. Campaigns/Info

***
Peace Center members: Can you provide shelter for the family of an Algerian immigrant who was entrapped on a terrorism charge?

Essentially, the man has mental health issues and attempted suicide while in Attica and his parents are here in WNY while their son is in a medically induced coma. The parents need a place to stay while their son is in ECMC. They don’t have a lot of money, and they’ve been staying in hotels, but they’re running out of money.
Contact Brian Brown-Cashdollar,

cashdollar@mac.com

716-348-6199

browncashdollar.com


***
Everyone Deserves the HEP C Cure, including 50,000 Philadelphia residents, Mumia Abu-Jamal and all Prisoners!
Read more: http://iacenter.org/1135/apr-22-24-philly-everyone-including-mumia-deserves-hep-c-cure-deliver-petitions-to-gov/
Please sign and share: http://iacenter.org/signmumiahepcgovwolfpetition.html

***
Grand Island Government Creates Legislation Banning Lethal Sport, For-profit Trapping On All Town Owned Lands By Including the Word “Nuisance” in the Current Legislation.
Please THANK the Grand Island Government for this critical addition which will ensure defined, controlled and limited uses of lethal trapping on all Town lands, and REQUEST they pass the Town of Grand Island Code 239-6 with inclusion of the word nuisance, as was read at the April 4, 2016 Public Hearing (especially if you are a Grand Island resident or member of Riverside Salem, 3449 W. River Road).
Ask as well that procedures and a permit process define nuisance and limit the circumstances under which a nuisance permit be issued when wildlife on Town land pose a direct threat to the safety of people, or property on Grand Island.
Request that the Town Clerk enter your communication into the public record regarding Town of Grand Island Code 239-6.
Call: Supervisor Nathan McMurray
Email: nmcmurray@grand-island.ny.us
Cell Phone: 716-328-7381
************************************
General Info :
PEACE CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION
For questions, comments, inquiries, suggestions, and concerns regarding the Peace Center, contact our Executive Director at:
Victoria (Vicki) Ross
Phone: (716) 931-3520
Email: victoryross9@gmail.com

Our Weekly Office Hours (for drop-in visits, calls, etc.) are:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 1-3 p.m., or by appointment.
1272 Delaware Avenue (use back entrance and ring buzzer to get inside), Buffalo, NY 14209
Phone: (716) 332-3904

PEACE CENTER TASKFORCE CONTACT INFORMATION

ECONOMIC JUSTICE:
Eric Gallion
Phone: (716) 310-4292
Email: egallion@verizon.net

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
Charley Bowman
Phone: (716) 688-2374
Email: CandABowman@verzion.net
Website: http://wnypeace.org/new/projects.html
and
Frank Gage
Phone: (716)893-5584
Email: snowbird1967@roadrunner.com

LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE (LASC):
Phone: (716) 876-3872
Main Website: http://www.lascwny.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/
WNY Peace Center Page: http://wnypeace.org/program/lasc.php/

PEACEFUL CONFLICT RESOLUTION/PEACE EDUCATION PROJECT:
Victoria Ross
Phone: (716) 884-0582, (716) 931-3520
Email: victoryross9@gmail.com

PRISONERS’ RIGHTS:
Chuck Culhane
Phone: (716) 228-2076
Email: culhane9@gmail.com
Website: http://wnypeace.org/program/Prison%20Action%20Committee.php/

RACIAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE
Heron Simmonds-Price
Email: heronimousphunk@gmail.com
Phone: (716) 768-2986

RESIST MILITARISM! TASKFORCE
Russell Brown
Phone: (716) 570-5200
Email: hobadoxa@me.com
Website: http://wnypeace.org/program/ResistMilitarism.php/

************************************
DONATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Student/Low Income: $10
Peacenik: $50
Sustainer’s Circle: $125
Director’s Circle: $250
Major Donor:  $1000
Lifetime Membership: $2500
Other Donations (you may indicate any reason):
Send Checks and/or Money Orders (made out to “WNY Peace Center”) to:
Western New York Peace Center, 1272 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209.
Please write “Membership” or your purpose for your donation on the memo line of your check.
You can also pay with your credit card via PayPal at www.wnypeace.org

PEACE CENTER WEBSITES
Main Website: http://wnypeace.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WesternNewYorkPeaceCenter/
Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/wny8peace8center/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-irmY8IAJdDGF8oFTB98nA/feed/

************************************