Sunday, January 24th, 2021
We trust you are reading this after tonight’s Bills game (hopefully celebrating a good outcome!). We hope you are feeling a bit revitalized this week with Trump now (finally) out of office and nuclear weapons becoming officially illegal under international law. However, we know there is still plenty of work ahead of us – including some very important initiatives this week.
Tomorrow is “World Says No to War on Yemen” Global Day of Action. People around the world are called upon to protest – just says after the U.S. presidential inauguration and one day before Saudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ Future Investment Initiative.
- Join the Stop the War Coalition, CODEPINK, Action Corps, Yemeni Alliance Committee, and other partner organizations/groups on Zoom and/or Facebook at 2pm EST for the livestreamed international rally. Hear from Dr. Cornel West, Danny Glover, Jeremy Corbyn, Aisha Jumaan, and other guest speakers to discuss the crisis in Yemen and actions that can be taken to stop the war. Use this action toolkit to participate and promote this important cause! #YemenCantWait
- If you missed last week’s Talking Peace live-taping, you can catch it airing on WBNY 91.3 FM tomorrow at 1pm. ED Vicki was joined by Aisha Jumaan, President of the Yemen Relief & Reconstruction Foundation, and Kawthar Abdulla, Leader Organizer, Yemeni Alliance Committee’s NYC Chapter. Tune in for a discussion on the current situation in Yemen and the involvement of external actors – including, especially, the US; personal stories and current needs; tomorrow’s International Day of Action, and what you can do to help!
On Tuesday at 6:30pm EST, join Winona LaDuke, Co-founder of Honor the Earth as she speaks about the fight to stop Line 3 and a just transition from the current fossil fuel economy. Line 3 is a proposed pipeline expansion to bring nearly a million barrels of tar sands per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. It was proposed in 2014 by Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the US. Enbridge seeks to build a new pipeline corridor through untouched wetlands and the treaty territory of Anishinaabe peoples, through the Mississippi River headwaters to the shore of Lake Superior. For more details and how to register, see below.
Lastly, we’d like to remind you that the WNY Peace Center’s first 2021 Quarterly Membership Meeting is just one week away! We will look back at 2020 – with an overview of some our successes, plus plans for this year. We have some important announcements, so please plan to join us on Zoom (full details below).
Please see details and much more – including special and regularly scheduled events this week (LASC planning meeting tomorrow!) – plus campaigns, fundraisers, and more at wnypeace.org, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (@wnypeace)!
Peace, thanks, solidarity, and yes – love!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Sunday, January 10th, 2021
We know we are all reeling and need to keep going in these troubled times – with our groundedness and balance. While we care for ourselves and one another, we know our work – in the right spirit – is more important than ever to make the changes that are so needed.
This afternoon at 4, please join this week’s Riverside Salem meeting as they’re hosting Christine Eber who’ll discuss her work along the US/Mexico border. This Buffalonian anthropologist has worked with the Weaving for Justice women’s collective in Chiapas for many years. Come for inspiration – all are welcome. Please see meeting details below.
Beginning tomorrow, please join Witness Against Torture for a full line-up of events including a fast, vigils, webinars, and solidarity actions. There will also be a vigil and press conference (with masks and physical distancing) at the Robert H. Jackson Courthouse (Niagara Square) on the need to close Guantánamo. Justice delayed is justice denied! Limited orange jumpsuits and black hoods will be used – see more below and on our website.
We are very sad to announce the passing of Jim Mang: beloved peacemaker, devoted activist, and the WNY Peace Center’s director from 1979-2000. His true commitment to peace and justice was deep and lifelong! Our deep condolences, gratitude, and love to the Mang family and the community. Calling hours (with masks, physical distancing, and capacity rules) are tomorrow, 1/11 from 3-7 PM at Ginnane Funeral Home – see below for details.
We’d like to remind you that the Women’s March WNY/MLK weekend is now less than one week away! Don’t miss this great opportunity to collaborate for our beloved community! #WomenLead – this time on Zoom, not in 65 MPH gale force winds (nor any COVID risks!). With music, poetry, and breakout sessions with local women leaders – see more (including featured speakers and co-sponsors) at bit.ly/wnypeace_WM2021.
Also get your pink WNYPC t-shirt as a membership gift in time for the Women’s March next week! Join at bit.ly/wnypeace_join (and also for our Membership Meeting in 3-weeks on 1/31)! Pick up your shirt during our office hours: M/T/R 2-4 PM or by appointment (email office@wnypeace.org).
Lastly, in these challenging times, please refer to our post-event offerings with Dr. Cornel West for continued inspiration. We are happy to share that we just recently added the full transcript of our 53rd annual event!
Please see details and much more – including special and regularly scheduled events this week – plus campaigns, fundraisers, and more at wnypeace.org, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (@wnypeace)!
Peace, thanks, solidarity, and yes – love!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Sunday, December 13th, 2020
We want to again feature our upcoming Zoom event: Speak-out on Erie County Holding Center. We thank you for your understanding in our postponing the event to allow for Thomas Diina to join us (due to a family health emergency). We hope that you will also join the WNYPC this Thursday, December 17th at 6:30 PM for an opportunity to share your lived experience and/or perspective on the Erie County Holding Center, and to hear from authorities. Details to join are below.
- Superintendent – Jail Division, Thomas Diina will be attending, as will Miles Gresham, Esq., and Heron Simmonds, members of the Corrections Specialist Advisory Board.
- Heron, Racial Justice Taskforce Co-Chair, and other WNY Peace Center members, including its Racial Justice Taskforce and Prisoners’ Rights Taskforces, will also be involved. Other officials have also been invited (attendance TBD).
- Please come to tell your story and hear what current plans are. We’ll start with a Community Agreement to ensure we have a productive conversation, in truth and love.
This Tuesday, join the Center for Community Alternatives and 140+ organizers – including the WNY Peace Center – for the launch of Justice Roadmap 2021. Together, we’ll demand that New York dismantle systems that criminalize, incarcerate, and deport our communities and build a world where all of us can survive. The launch will happen on Zoom and in five locations (Buffalo, Albany, NYC, Westchester, and Long Island). The in-person event in WNY will be masked and physically distant at the Erie County Holding Center – see full details below.
Please also join us on Tuesday evening for a LASC planning meeting on 2021 events – bring your ideas! See details below.
And on the 23rd, plan to join us for a special Prisoners’ Rights vigil at the ECHC with caroling – cohosted by Queen City Feminist and WNYPC. Details below.
We also had a small victory: notorious war-hawk Michele Flournoy was not Biden’s pick for Secretary of Defense! However, his pick of Gen. Lloyd Austin – a retired military man who’s also on war profiteer Raytheon’s board – is still somewhat problematic. (Though he did oversee the departure of many troops from Iraq.)
Please see details and much more below, including special and regularly scheduled events this week, plus campaigns, fundraisers, and more at wnypeace.org, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (@wnypeace)!
Peace, thanks, solidarity, and yes – love!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
