Published by the Thomas Merton Center Published by Occupy Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH’S PEACE & JUSTICE NEWSPAPER OCCUPY PITTSBURGH INSERT
VOL. 43 No. 2, February 2013 VOL. 2 No. 2, February/March 2013
IN THIS ISSUE One Billion Rising Locally - Page 8 Unmarked Police Cars - Page 9
Activists with CeaseFirePa participate in a rally in the Pennsylvania Capitol building Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, in Harrisburg. Associated Press (more on page 5)
Martin Sheen, Activist and Celebrity Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Martin Sheen, one of America's most accomplished and celebrated actors, will be accepting the Thomas Merton Award on Saturday, April 13 from 58 pm at Soldiers and Sailors Museum. We hope Martin Sheen , from SOAW you will be there to celebrate with us! Sheen has taken part in protests against racism, nuclear arms, war and homelessness, often at considerable personal cost. Actor Martin Sheen is also a regular protester at the School of the America’s Watch (SOAW) gathering in Fort Benning, Georgia. When asked why he is committed to social justice, Sheen has replied, “I've protested to call attention to my country's dark spots, because I love America so much. I learned that, to keep your life from becoming self-contained and useless, you have to feel other people's pain and act to help them. That is what faith and love are about.” Register by calling (412) 361-3022 or at ww.thomasmertoncenter.org.
One Billion Rising in Pittsburgh
Will you join in an energetic, colorful, dancing demonstration to celebrate women’s right for peace, dignity and lives free from violence? February 14, 2013 12pm—2pm Market Square, Pittsburgh ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME. ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY. ONE BILLION WOMEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION. Read more about it on page 8.
Ending Gun Violence Now - Page 12 New Economy Group to Visit Boggs Center
Grace Boggs, Courtesy of Creative Commons
The Thomas Merton Center’s New Economy Working Group is making leaps and strides in learning how we can live together, free and healthy, without the deleterious impact of capitalism. This March 15-17 community leaders will be traveling to Detroit, led by Molly Rush, cofounder of the Thomas Merton Center and organizer of the New Economy Working Group. Their goal. To learn more about how Grace Boggs has organized inner city neighborhoods successfully. Learn more about what our local Pittsburgh group is planning to do by reading about their efforts on page 3.
TMC works to build a consciousness of values and to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, classism, economic justice, oppression and environmental justice. TMC engages people of diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. February 2013
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Office Phone: 412-361-3022 — Fax: 412-361-0540 Website: www.thomasmertoncenter.org
Tuesday—Friday: 10 am to 4 pm Saturday: Noon to 4 pm
TMC Editorial Collective Robin Clarke, Rob Conroy, Ginny Cunningham, Michael Drohan, Jona Dudley, Russ Fedorka, Martha Garvey, Carol Gonzalez, John Haer, Lilly Joynes, Xinpei He, Shahid Khan, Bette McDevitt, Charlie McCollester, Diane McMahon, Kenneth Miller, Jonathan Reyes, Mike Rosenberg, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush, Marcia Snowden, K. Briar Somerville, Jo Tavener
TMC Staff, Volunteers and Interns Diane McMahon, Managing Director Marcia Snowden, Office Coordinator Office Volunteers: Kathy Cunningham, Monique Dietz, and Mary Clare Donnelly, RSM, Roslyn Maholland, Finance Manager, Mig Cole, Assistant Bookkeeper Shirley Gleditsch, Manager, East End Community Thrift Store Shawna Hammond, Manager, East End Community Thrift Store Dolly Mason, Furniture Store Manager, East End Community Thrift Store Interns from Pitt Social Work Program: Michael Rosenberg, Shahid Khan, Minghua He, and Xinpei He Interns from other University of Pittsburgh Departments: Mike Deckenbach, Russell Noble, Stephanie Maben, and Briar Somerville
2013 TMC Board of Directors Ed Brett, Rob Conroy, Kitoko Chargois, Kathy Cunningham, Michael Drohan, Patrick Fenton, Carol Gonzalez, Mary Jo Guercio (President), Wanda Guthrie, Shawna Hammond, Ken Joseph, Edward Kinley, Chris Mason, Jonah McAllister-Erickson, Francine Porter, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush, Tyrone Scales, M. Shernell Smith
TMC Standing Committees Board Development Committee Recruits board members, conducts board elections Building Committee Oversees maintenance of 5123-5129 Penn Ave. sites Development Committee Guides the strategic growth and expansion of the Center. Membership Committee Coordinates membership goals, activities, appeals, and communications Editorial Collective Plans, produces and distributes The NewPeople newspaper Finance Committee Ensures financial stability and accountability of TMC Personnel Committee Oversees staff needs, evaluation, and policies Project Committee Oversees project applications, guidelines, and policies Special Event Committees Plans and oversees TMC fundraising events with members and friends Youth and Student Outreach Committee Coordinates outreach efforts with younger members of TMC
TMC COMMITTEES & PROJECTS Anti-War Committee info@pittsburghendthewar.org www.pittsburghendthewar.org
Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance 412-867-9213
Book‘Em (Books to Prisoners Project) bookempgh@gmail.com www.thomasmertoncenter.org/bookem
Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy NOW! 412-422-5377, sleator@cs.cmu.edu www.pcdn.org
CodePink (Women for Peace) codepinkpgh@aol.com, 412-389-3216 www.codepink4peace.org
Roots of Promise 724-327-2767, 412-596-0066 rootsofpromise@gmail.com spiritualprogressives.pgh@gmail.com
East End Community Thrift Shop 412-361-6010, shawnapgh@aol.com
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition jumphook@gmail.com; www.pittsburghdarfur.org
Economic Justice Committee ejc@thomasmertoncenter.org Environmental Justice Committee environmentaljustice@thomasmertoncenter.org Fight for Lifers West 412-361-3022 to leave a message fightforliferswest@yahoo.com http://fightforliferswest.mysite.com Human Rights Coalition / Fed Up (prisoner support and advocacy) 412-802-8575, hrcfedup@gmail.com www.thomasmertoncenter.org/fedup Marcellus Shale Protest Group melpacker@aol.com (412) 243-4545
marcellusprotest.org New Economy Initiative MollyRush@verizon.net
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Urban Arts Project mbbpgh@yahoo.com Progressive Pittsburgh Notebook Call 412-363-7472 tvnotebook@gmail.com www.progressivepghnotebook.blip.tv Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens Group/ Roots of Promise 724-327-2767 murrysvillemarcellus@gmail.com The Pittsburgh Totebag Project P.O. Box 99204, Pittsburgh, PA 15233 www.tote4pgh.org Whose Your Brother? 412-928-3947 www.whoseyourbrother.com
For information, or to submit an article or calendar items use links below
General information….........…………..www.thomasmertoncenter.org Article Submissions……..thomasmertoncenter.org/newpeople/submit-article Events & Calendar Submissions…thomasmertoncenter.org/calendar/submit-event
East End Community Thrift Celebrating Twenty Years! This year our Thrift Store is celebrating twenty years of service in the community! Led by Shirley Gleditsch, Shawna Hammond, and a troupe of dedicated volunteers— the store has served thousands of people over the last two decades! Stop by to say happy birthday and shop, volunteer, or donate from Tuesday to Friday 10-4, or Saturday from 12-4. Help us spread the love around at the East End Community Thrift Store! 412-361-3022. courtesy Kenneth Miller
TMC AFFILIATES Allegheny Defense Project, Pgh Office 412-559-1364 www.alleghenydefense.org
Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition 412-563-1519 lisacubasi@aol.com
Association of Pittsburgh Priests Sr. Barbara Finch 412-716-9750 B.a.finch@att.net
Pittsburgh Independent Media Center info@indypgh.org www.indypgh.org
Amnesty International info@amnestypgh.org www.amnestypgh.org The Big Idea Bookstore 412-OUR-HEAD www.thebigideapgh.org Black Voices for Peace Gail Austin 412-606-1408 CeaseFirePA
www.ceasefirepa.org info@ceasefirepa.org
Global Solutions Pittsburgh 412-471-7852 dan@globalsolutionspgh.org www.globalsolutionspgh.org Citizens for Social Responsibility of Greater Johnstown Larry Blalock, evolve@atlanticbb.net Haiti Solidarity Committee jrothermel@gpcfb.org 412-780-5118 www.thomasmertoncenter.org/hs
North Hills Anti-Racism Coalition 412-369-3961 www.northhillscoalition.com Pittsburgh North People for Peace 412-367-0383 pnpp@verizon.net Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee
info@pittsburgh-psc.org www.pittsburgh-psc.org
Raging Grannies 412-963-7163, eva.havlicsek@gmail.com
www.pittsburghraginggrannies.homestead.com
Religion and Labor Coalition 412-361-4793 ojomal@aol.com School of the Americas Watch W. PA 267-980-4878 russellwn@gmail.com
SW PA Bread for the World Donna Hansen 412-812-1553 United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 412-471-8919 www.ueunion.org
PA United for a Single-Payer Health Care www.healthcare4allPA.org www.PUSH-HC4allPa.blogspot.com 2102 Murray Avenue Pgh, Pa 15217 412-421-4242
Urban Bikers urbanbikes@yahoo.com
Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi 412-761-4319
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Eva 412-963-7163 edith.bell4@verizon.net
Pittsburgh Committee to Free Mumia 412-361-3022, pghfreemumia@gmail.com
Veterans for Peace Icwheaties@aol.com
TMC IS A MEMBER OF Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Martha Connelly (412) 361-7872 osterdm@earthlink.net
Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network 412-621-9230 office@piin.org
Pittsburgh Activism Save Public Transit JOIN THE FIGHT TO SAVE OUR PUBLIC TRANSIT LIFELINES! · RALLY IN HARRISBURG STATE CAPITOL ROTUNDA AGAINST TRANSIT CUTS · MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2:OO P.M. · FREE BUSES & LUNCHES FOR ROUND TRIP · JOIN PEOPLE FROM ACROSS THE STATE TO BACK THE TRANSIT BILL OF RIGHTS We will speak out strongly FOR a transportation bill which dedicates long-term, sufficient funding to sustain public mass transit and AGAINST corrupt corporate privateering of crucial transportation infrastructure that would reduce quality of service and working conditions. Port Authority buses will pick up rally participants at Freedom Corner at 7:30 am on February 11th at the intersection of Crawford and Centre. Box lunches will be provided at no charge, and we will be back that same evening. To sign up by email for free transportation: pittsburghersforpublictransit@gmail.com orKen to Boas: graffiti in Palestine Photo credit register by phone, call PPT Community Organizer Helen Gerhardt at 412-518-7387. And, a standing invitation to: Join one of our working groups devoted to media, community outreach, direct organizing, and the legislative campaign for dedicated funding. Attend a meeting! General membership meetings are held the third Saturday of every month at 10:00 am at the Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Avenue 15224.
Pittsburgh New Economy Neighborhood Activists to Tour Detroit March 15-17 by Molly Rush
www.boggscenter.org which is rooted in Detroit neighborhoods and committed to Neighborhood leaders from creating “a national network for Pittsburgh will join with the Merton visionary organizing in 2013. They Center New Economy Working Group members for a tour of Detroit, including support and work with artists and activists, urban gardeners and family/ the Packard Plant (built in 1905), community farmers, the Coalition Poletown, Community Gardens, Hope Against Brutality [committed to Peace District, Heidelberg Art Street and the Urban Network. There is room for a few Zones for Life], the Allied Media Conference and Allied Media Project, more interested people. Disability Activists and thinkers, The Hope District, a neighborhood educators, with a school set to open in effort, works to provide jobs and September, and place-based churches. affordable housing for everyone and “They promise a week-end that seeks to “provide a friendly provides the opportunity to engage with environment, a pleasant experience for and dialogue with individuals and volunteers; work readiness and skill projects that are committed to movement training using technology; business building.” Space is limited. Housing and opportunity in construction and technology; housing assistance and jobs food will be provided. For more details, contact Mike Stout at to recent immigrants and relevant mikestout619@comcast.com community resources and assistance,” or molly.rush@verizon.net. according to their literature. We will meet with members of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center Molly Rush is the chair of the New Economy Working Group at TMC. to Nurture Community Leadership,
Move to Amend on February 4 by Mary Sheehan
and can be regulated in political campaigns. David Cobb will speak on MonCome hear a rousing talk by David Cobb of Move to Amend who is coming day, February 4th at 4:00 p.m. in the Ryan Room of the Zappala to Pittsburgh on February Student Center at La Roche 4th as part of a speaking College, 9000 Babcock Blvd., tour. Move to Amend is a in the North Hills. The event is coalition of hundreds of being sponsored by the Pittsorganizations and tens of burgh North People for Peace. thousands of individuals For more information, call 412 calling for an amendment -367-0383 or email: to the U.S. Constitution to pnpp@verizon.net. unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and Mary Sheehan is the Coordinator of that money is not a form of protected Pittsburgh North People for Peace. free speech under the First Amendment
Make it Our UPMC Every person wants to provide for their family, but as a worker with the largest private employer in the state, providing for my family is next to impossible. I want to explain to you about what it is like to work full time at UPMC and still need public assistance. And I want to tell you about the movement we’re building to make UPMC pay living wages, respect workers’ rights, and invest in our community. I am James Staus, and I have worked at UPMC for seven years, making sure nurses have the supplies they need to care for you. I work hard every day at UPMC, but I am among many UPMC workers with an untold personal story about barely getting by. My family relies on food stamps and a food pantry so we can have food on the table every month. Do you know what it’s like to stand in line and see the stares people give us? Needing this helps leaves me feeling sad and inadequate, yet, I’m not sure what my family would do if those resources weren’t available. Many families shop at Walmart because they can’t afford to shop elsewhere. If only I could afford Walmart – we buy our clothes, shoes and household items at local thrift stores. Can you imagine how my 11-year-old daughter feels going to school every day and not having the things other children do? I wish she didn’t have to know what it’s like to struggle, if I could only give her the things other girls her age have. The holidays just passed. It is always a stressful time of year for me and my family. We rely on the Brashear Association to help with gifts for our daughter. But buying my wife a Christmas present is a luxury we can’t afford. I honestly can’t remember the last year that I was able to buy my wife a gift. It would be nice to be able to buy her a pair of earrings or a watch to show her how much I love and appreciate her. Sadly, I don’t see that anywhere in our near future. We are thankful to have a roof over our heads, even though it leaks. If it weren’t for energy assistance and CAPP we wouldn’t be able to keep the lights on or heat our home. We live in fear of losing our home too. Last year we applied for hardship assistance with the County because we couldn’t afford to pay our property taxes. This is why UPMC workers are coming together to form a union. As you can imagine, UPMC does not want us to have a Union. They have waged an expensive and illegal campaign of harassment and intimidation to try and stop us. The National Labor Relations Board charged UPMC with over 80 violations of federal labor law for intimidating, harassing, coercing, and even firing workers for exercising their rights at work. What kind of a charity spends our public health care dollars to violate workers’ rights? We believe that UPMC isn’t acting like a real charity. UPMC pays its CEO millions while its full-time employees are the third-most frequent users of public assistance in the state—right after Wal-Mart and McDonalds. UPMC tried to lock out two million Highmark subscribes from using its hospitals. UPMC closed a community hospital in Braddock while opening overseas hospitals in Italy and Qatar. We think that UPMC needs to do better. It’s time that UPMC pay workers a living wage, respect workers’ rights, help fund our buses and schools, and invest in community health. That’s why we have been out talking with our neighbors, faith leaders, elected officials, and organizations throughout the City about what a true charity’s responsibilities are. We want UPMC to do its part in building healthy communities, to deliver middle-class jobs, and to support vital services like education and transit. Our struggle is your struggle. We are bus riders, parents, tax payers, homeowners, and patients. And we’re making it our UPMC. Want to get more involved? Contact: MAKE IT OUR UPMC at (814) 470-7017 www.makeitourUPMC.org www.facebook.com/makeitourupmc. Submitted by the coalition of UPMC workers, faith leaders, and community organizations looking for just working conditions. February 2013
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Healthcare Activism Helping People With Complex Intellectual Disabilities by Daniel Marston
Mr. Kristof, like many in the educational and legal communities, In the December 23, 2012, edition of the Pittsburgh Post- seems to confuse complex with “less clear-cut” and “fuzzy.” Gazette there was an editorial by Borderline Intellectual New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof entitled “Too Small Functioning often involves significant difficulties in To Fail” in which he addresses the issue of Social Security Disability. In comprehension, decision-making, adaptive skills and/or communication the editorial he makes the statement skills. There is also a host of other “But now 55 percent of the disabilities it (Social Security) covers areas of cognitive functioning that are impacted significantly when a are fuzzier intellectual disabilities, short of mental retardation, where the person’s intellectual abilities are in the range of Borderline Intellectual diagnosis is less clear-cut.” This article is a clear illustration Functioning. And it serves as an example of the complexities that can of the difficulties faced by people be associated with understanding who have intellectual disabilities. Because he is clearly referring to the disabilities and the extraordinary demands placed on people with category of Borderline Intellectual disabilities. Functioning. This is the category of But policy makers often want intellectual disability that is above things to be easy. And they are often the formal diagnosis of Mental looking for excuses to not provide Retardation, a term still used in the people with the help they need. If areas of disabilities and health care they cannot understand the but likely to change within the next complexities of a person’s situation year or so, and below the lower end of Average Intellectual Functioning. they will just brush it off as being too “fuzzy” or not “clear cut” enough Technically, it involves IQ scores and therefore not worthy of between 70 and 85. consideration. If policy makers Despite Mr. Kristof’s rather continue to look at disabilities flippant brush-off, Borderline through the lens presented by people Intellectual Functioning is a clear diagnosis that covers a large range of like Mr. Kristof there will be many, many people with disabilities whose functioning. And determining the extent of disability associated with a needs will not be met. person’s functioning can be complex Daniel Marston is a psychologist with Borderline Intellectual who specializes in disabilities and Functioning given that large range. neurobehavioral disorders.
HEALTHY ARTISTS Congratulations to Julie Sokolow on the successful Healthy Artists Poster Exhibit that occurred in January 2013 at Modern Formations Gallery on Penn Ave. To see more photos visit tinyurl.com/ a426b555.
Courtesy of Julie Sokolow.
Single Payer Health Care—Benefitting All of Us! by Bob Mason
2. It eliminates the specter of medical bankruptcy. For the past six years Health 3. It eliminates the current Care 4 All PA, a statewide, waste in overhead. Thirty to forty grassroots, all volunteer cents of every health organization, has promoted the insurance dollar is spent on items “single payer solution” for Pennsylvania. Single payer simply other than health care. The Family means that the government gathers and Business Health Security Act, SB 400 and HB 2551 in 2011-2012 revenue from taxpayers that is legislative session, advocated by dedicated to health care and utilizes it to pay independent health Health Care 4 All PA caps administrative expenses at five care providers, much as Medicare has been doing very efficiently and cents of every dollar. 4. It reduces the medical economically for several decades. benefit costs for businesses and renders them more competitive So, what does “single payer” with businesses in other countries. healthcare solve? 5. It reduces the medical benefit costs for all levels of 1. It solves the death and misery that accompany the lack of government and, therefore, saves taxpayers or allows us to spend health insurance and undermore on education and insurance (exorbitant deductibles infrastructure (mass transit, roads, and co-pays). At least 45,000 bridges, etc.). deaths each year in the United 6. It may even stimulate more States can be attributed to the lack employment in the delivery of of health insurance. Despite the health care as 1.2 million more advances of the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA), health Pennsylvanians gain coverage. insurance will remain expensive 7. It is actually a centrist and for many, and at least 23 million non-partisan model. It appeals to will still be uninsured. In contrast, fiscal conservatives because of the a single payer plan provides savings and efficiency noted coverage for everyone and takes above. It appeals to people who advantage of the ACA’s believe in a competitive free encouragement of state innovation. market because we can choose any 4 - NEWPEOPLE
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licensed health care provider. It appeals to people who may view themselves as liberals, progressives, or leftists because everyone gets the same comprehensive, quality health care. Executive Director Chuck Pennacchio, Ph. D., of Health Care 4 All PA often refers to single payer as “civilized” health care. The President of Health Care 4 All PA, retired Republican State Representative and small businessman, Dave Steil, often notes that single payer just makes good economic sense. 8. The object of the plan is to provide health protection for all Pennsylvanians, without restriction, while ensuring that everyone is responsible for financial support. For many years Health Care 4 All PA has made the bold claim that a Pennsylvania single payer plan can cover everyone from conception to death and include dental, vision, and long term care, in addition to more traditional benefits, and still save significant money. These claims have been based on studies conducted in a number of other states, including California and Maryland. It is also
based on a preliminary study the organization conducted in 2009 that demonstrated a $2.3 billion saving for all levels of government in Pennsylvania. In 2012 Health Care 4 All PA invested in the first Economic Impact Study of single payer for the Commonwealth. The final report will be released in the next few weeks, but preliminary data indicates that all of the claims made for the benefits of single payer are overwhelmingly supported. So, stay tuned for press conferences and releases with the exciting news. And please help with the campaign for just, compassionate, sustainable, and “civilized” health care for all Pennsylvania. Go to www.healthcare4allpa.org to find out how you can become involved. And go to the local blog www.PUSH-hc4allpa.blogspot.com.
Bob Mason is Vice President of Health Care 4 All PA.
National Commentary The myths of JFK, RFK, MLK and crazed lone gunmen... There are patterns in documents behind the head. Why then am I to that have been declassified, in White believe that Sirhan Sirhan, standing House tapes that have been several feet in front of Kennedy, transcribed and released, and in the fired the gun that killed him. Who extensive research of writers far decided that? by Ginny Cunningham better than I. But what is gained by In 1999, the King family brought linking events of the 1960s to a civil “wrongful death” action. A This year, 2013, we will mark the generations who hadn’t even been jury returned a finding of conspiracy 50th anniversary of J. F. Kennedy’s born then and are now fighting in in Martin Luther King’s death that assassination. As I reflect on this Creative Commons involved military event and its anniversary, I’m intelligence, local law reminded of my heritage. When I enforcement, FBI, and a was a kid, I found, among my successful murderous cover mother’s old letters and photos, a up. Who had the influence yellowed immigration document to deter any U.S. journalist that listed her grandmother and from covering a trial whose grandfather’s birth names and published transcript birthplaces: Balnitza and Solinka, essentially absolves James Poland, respectively. Earl Ray and confirms a My mother raised us as broad conspiracy that Ukrainian. I never questioned the “reached into the higher discrepancy between the facts and levels of the government of the my mother’s version of family Iraq and Afghanistan? United States. . .” history. Truth hadn’t a prayer I don’t know. What is the half life Of what use is this information against the myth that she established of a lie? When does a person killed today? As William Pepper, attorney and perpetuated and that I passed on in a cover up rise again? for the plaintiffs said in his closing to my own children. But decades Consider: After JFK’s argument, “[MLK’s] opposition to later, I found the document again. I assassination, autopsy notes were war had little to do with ideology, saw what it said, got over my burned, the presidential limousine with capitalism, with democracy. It consternation and accepted. I’m was cleaned and refitted thus had to do with . . huge amounts of Polish. eliminating vital forensic evidence, money that [the Vietnam war] was Now I wonder if I can also see and photos and X-rays of the body generating to large multinational and accept a larger truth about the were counterfeited. What mafia don corporations . . . [King] was murders of JFK (November 1963) or lone nut had the authority and threatening the bottom lines of some Martin Luther King (April 1968) oversight to execute these tasks? of the largest defense contractors in and Robert F. Kennedy (June The coroner who conducted the the country . . . one of which had the 1968), each of which was attributed most thorough autopsy of his career major construction contracts at Cam to a crazed lone gunman. And how on Robert Kennedy concluded that Ran Bay in Vietnam.” those events in the 1960s are linked Kennedy had been shot dead from What is the profit factor today? to our post-9/11 national security behind by a gun held one inch from As Washington Post opinion state. the edge of his right ear, three inches
In 2013, will we connect the dots?
writer Fareed Zakaria says in a recent essay, the United States has been operating under emergency wartime powers for a “longer period than the country spent fighting the Civil War, World War I and World War II combined. . ..” The Post also informs us that the U.S. government “has built 33 new complexes for the intelligence bureaucracies alone. The Department of Homeland Security employs 230,000 people.” And counting. Two trillion dollars. For war. Plus whatever all that ‘security’ costs. In his “Letter to the American People,” James Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable, Why He Died and Why It Matters, says, “Our resurrection can’t begin until we acknowledge the truth of our own death.” The “unspeakable,” which embedded itself in my world with JFK’s assassination has attained a magnitude “beyond experience,” as Douglass notes, and “sits there silently in the darkness . . . .” At the conclusion of the Wizard of Oz, Toto the dog tips over a screen to reveal a little old man with a bald head and a wrinkled face. Toto exposes the wizard who may be evil, but, unmasked, he can be made vulnerable and powerless, even worthy of compassion. Ginny Cunningham is a member of the editorial collective.
The Fiscal Cliff and Other Economic Follies by Michael Drohan In 2012, Congress built a fiscal cliff for itself to fall over if it did not reach an agreement on deficit reductions that would ensure it would never achieve in subsequent faux negotiations. In such manner, the people supposedly elected to lay the legal structure for the economy to work efficiently endangered the entire social and economic fabric of society. This is the medievalesque nature of the U.S. Congress that presently rules the country. Just in the nick of time, so to speak, Congress passed a deal on New Year’s Day with a margin of 257 to 167 in the House and 89 to 8 in the Senate. The deal made and subsequently signed by the President is a bittersweet one which only postpones to a later date the continuation of the process of undermining the prospects of a healthy economy. The next extortion round will take place in only two months when once more the Republican zealots with some Democratic supporters will attempt to disembody the social programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The climate in which all this is taking place is that the U.S. economy is at best only spluttering along with
high unemployment (7.8% in matter. The truth is that the fiscal December 2012) and slow economic cliff and the deficit hysteria are growth. Under such conditions, a merely a Trojan horse through which policy of reduction of government the social programs of social security spending and entitlements is and medicare can be weakened, considered by all economists with undermined and eventually the exception of right wing zealots to privatized or abolished. be crazy. The usual In the negotiations on fiscal measures the fiscal cliff, President recommended under the Obama staked the present circumstances position that the Bush of the economy are tax cuts be continued for increased government all those earning up to spending on $250,000 a year. For infrastructure, subsidies those with incomes to key industries and above this level the social programs. marginal income tax Anything that will put Creative Commons would go up by 2 money in the pockets of consumers percent. It would seem that he had a and increase demand for goods and strong position from which to services is what is needed. Spending negotiate in that most of the on infrastructure and industry population believed this was a fair subsidies is also needed to increase proposal. In addition, it seemed job opportunities and put people obvious to most of the population back to work. that the Republican House was Under present economic holding the country hostage for the conditions concentration on debt and sake of the welfare of the top 1.5 deficit reduction makes little sense percent of the population (the and the Republican obsession with percentage whose income is above the deficit at this moment is absurd. $250,000). Republicans seemed to Their so-called concern with the be governing for the interests of only deficit is insincere to say the least. the truly wealthy, and they would During the Reagan and Bush years sink the economy on their behalf. when astronomical deficits and debts However, in the negotiations, were racked up, Republican Obama caved in to the Republican lawmakers were totally mute on the zealots and agreed to compromise on
a tax increase for only those individuals with income above $400,000 and families with income above $450,000. This has very serious forebodings for the next four years of Obama rule, as it seems he is ready to compromise and cave in even when he is in a strong negotiating position. Rather than winning over moderate Republicans who might be attracted to Obama’s openness to compromise, the likely effect will be that Republicans, sensing his weakness to cave in, will make more and more attacks on social programs. Once more Republicans have learned that obstruction works and that the President will always blink. For progressive social activists we should have also learned that there is little to be hoped for by just relying on Obama and the Democratic Party to defend social programs, end wars and preserve civil rights. If these objectives are to be achieved in the next four years, it can only be by our counter-efforts, organizing and pressure from below. It is clearer than ever that nothing is ceded by power without relentless pressure from the people below. Michael Drohan is a member of the TMC Economic Committee and the Board of the Directors.
February 2013
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Activism for China Speak Out, Never Sorry—PART II (Continued from PART I in January) by Nima
because it was not willing to comply with censorship requirements; Yahoo, siding with the evil, released private accounts to the authority, resulting in an outspoken Chinese journalist, Shi Tao, being sentenced to five years in prison.) Keywords that triggered the regime’s alarm are simply: USA+NGO+Civil Society. Unbelievable? Ok, enough is enough. Now I don’t even feel safe outside the Great Wall and firewall. Any solution? Apparently no single one can remove the threat once and for all. The emerging grassroots movement (e.g., rights defense cases, citizen investigation, etc.), however, bears profound meaning in testing and shaping essential elements of China’s civil society: citizen rights, rule of law, public intellectuals, judiciary/media independence, social justice, religious freedom, social organizations, and more. Ai Weiwei and altruistic pioneers and awakening citizens, are the heroic, iconic figures yet among the most dangerous in the authority eyes. Bottom line: China’s transformation from the top down can hardly gain momentum without correspondding force from the bottom up. Joining this force across the ocean, I turned more proactive in my actions (Project Revelation), including: (1) interacting with the audience on Ai Weiwei film: Never Sorry screenings, attended by leaders of rights groups and a city councilperson by my invitation; (2) supporting the launch of China issue discussion groups at Penn State and in Pittsburgh, aiming to awaken minds and counter brainwash; (3) contributing articles on civil society to Chinese media; and (4) speaking to youth/civic/church groups to raise awareness and build a coalition of supports. These advocacy efforts couldn’t be more common for a westerner. Yet for me they are fairly new, risky and challenging, not only because of the stubborn Chinese regime, but the fact that I am just a newly arrived alien who has inherent barriers to mobilize resources, that few of the silent majority choose to step out of their comfort zone, and that, not unlikely, my every word or action is being spied on by someone right behind me. This is why I am in a great dilemma as to whether to promote these initiatives in Chinese community. (I was often asked, Did you find other Chinese to work with you? Yes, but few. Here is the logic: Statistically, how many U.S.-based Chinese keep updated with political/social issues of China? Among those who do, how many pay special interest to human rights? Among those who do, how many are pro-democracy/liberal/ reformist? Among those who are, how many dare to step up and act? Among those who dare, how many are not spies? Possibility shrinks exponentially.) Must remember: The conscience of China.
Finally, I came to this Freeland and achieved my American dream since my high school. A new American adventure began. Adventure stop one: Two months after enrollment to the Master’s program of Carnegie Mellon University, I switched from information technology to public policy. To the outside world, that must be a difficult decision when you run away from money. To my world, it’s just that simple. Listen to my inner voice, and choose what I belong to. I can’t live someone else’s life, I said this to myself. Carnegie Mellon gave me a tough time; I was never able to go to sleep before 2:00 am in the first year, no exaggeration, but being able to talk face-to-face with some of the world’s influential people made me spirited: Henry Kissinger (Oh my gosh! I was shooting questions to a man who shook hands with Mao and helped define US-China relations.) Paul O’Neill (Like an ordinary man on the street, he walked out, paid the parking fee and drove away, without a guard or aide. I told this former U.S. Treasury Secretary that this kind of equality was unimaginable in my country.) Barbara Barrett (Trained as an astronaut and once the U.S. Ambassador to Finland, she was the first civilian woman to land an F/A-18 Hornet on an aircraft carrier. She and her husband, Craig Barrett, retired Intel CEO, had visited my hometown Chengdu several times.) After graduation I ended up working in an international college preparatory program where I had deep exposure to a group of 60 Chinese teens, many from wealthy and/or politically powerful families. My interaction with most of them and their parents with vested interests proved the heartbreaking truth: The lethal tumors nourished by atheism, communism, materialism, consumerism, and kidnapped nationalism remain malignant. This truth provokes an unavoidable question: If they represent the so-called elite class in China today, where is hope from this class to push for something bigger? So instead of drowning myself in this hopelessness, I decided to do something. Working with a US-based talent team, I drafted a Chinese version of Guidestar/CharityNavigator (two leading rating sites for nonprofits transparency and accountability), benefiting the 300,000 grassroots nonprofits in China, marginalized by government and foundations mostly for their registration difficulty. While recruiting student volunteers in Chinese universities, the notorious censorship system poked the nerve of public securities, who interrogated a scholar who helped me put up recruiting messages online. Later, they tried to bribe the scholar for stealing intelligence because they knew he would be a visiting professor at Nima now lives in the United Carnegie Mellon (he told me that he States and can be contacted at declined the bribery). For everyone’s usacnm@gmail.com. PART III to be security, I had to halt the project and published in the March New People. delete some communications on Gmail. (Google exited the China market 6 - NEWPEOPLE
February 2013
Looking Inward and Back to 1942 by Jianyu Hou
authorities. Instead they find a way to The film Back to 1942 directed inform the world outside to by Feng Xiaogang, starring communicate what's happening Adrien Brody, has been on the in China. In turn worldwide screen for two months and still concern pressures national claims second place box office authorities to change. This billing in China. This movie includes the violent abortions aroused discussion among many that result from the “one child” political commentators—the policy and extends to democratic message: it's time to change. reformation. The film is based on Liu China has the world's largest Zhenyun's novel Remembering government, with many brilliant 1942 focusing on the major people working for it, but its famine that occurred in Henan, democratic progress has not been China during WWII. 18 years improved over the last several ago this movie would have faced decades. the risk of censorship by The Why? State Administration of Radio Consider what happened to the Film and Television (SARFT) in blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng. China, due to government Guangcheng raised objections corruption. about violent abortions in During the famine in 1942, Shandong Province, and chose to mothers faced the grim horror of help the victims. cooking their own babies for As a result he was incarcerated food and husbands sold their for his righteous deeds for wives for just one meal. several years, and his family However, this was not the reality were physically tortured. that shocked the audience the The same is true for people in most. It was the fact that the local the government. government forced victims to One reason is that these acts turn in 13 of the 15 grains that can cause local officials to be they harvested that shocked them fired. So, “politically right” does the most. not always mean creating good Jiang Jieshi, the President of ideas for change or revealing China at that time, sat in his social problems to cope with office located in Chongqing with them. little knowledge about the To earn the accolades of their famine. superiors local leaders often At the same time, a Time suppress the black side, this magazine correspondent from preserves their position in the America, Theodore. H. White government. (played by Adrien Brody), come Sociologists call this “adverse to Henan, to find out that human selection” with the most was eating human. It took White righteous people filtered out first. a long time to put the photos on Those who are good at flattery Jiang's desk. Afraid of being will ensure their position and fired, local government officials gain promotion. suppressed the severity of the Imagine if White were famine, and claimed that not Chinese. many people died. Without the protection of his Officials around President U.S. nationality, what would Jiang deprived White of the have happened to him? opportunity to get in touch with This is why, for personal Jiang. But luckily enough, White safety, many Chinese political finally consulted someone who dissents and patriots abandon did apprise Jiang of the their original nationality, and catastrophe and he delivered aid choose to stay in the U.S., to the victims. advocating for democracy, and The story in 1942 aroused a human rights for their series of questions in my own compatriots in China. mind. My question is not why At the same time, these patriots White was so kind, or why God are labeled as betrayers, put such a disaster to Henan conspiring with Americans peasants. against the Chinese government. My question instead is, why It is not always feasible for didn’t the Henan peasants protest China to conduct its reformation against the local government, or through its international visitors. select several people to find a Instead China should work to way to inform Jiang of the ensure the “survival of the most starvation that was occurring? righteous,” where those who And why did the local really care about their country government conceal the truth? don’t need to become foreigners Perhaps my question can be to care for and love it’s citizens. synthesized into one question. Why did victims get aid from Jianyu Hou, a former TMC an American rather than their intern, is now a religious affairs own compatriots? policy analyst in a city If traced to the human rights administration department for history of China, both the past religious affairs. and the present, we can see that many Chinese don't trust national
International Activism Planting Olive Trees in Our Hearts by Ken Boas This is part two of Ken Boaz’s observations on the transformative experience of his 12-day educational tour of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Palestinian Israel (the Galilee), sponsored by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Part one was published in the January issue of The New People. In part two, I have written about what I saw as Israel’s intentions: what they want and what they are doing to achieve their goals. But I learned from the Palestinian people I met that Israel is not the enemy. That drawing by Amanda Dell'Aringa deeper forces are at work, and that peace will come only when all parties reframe the currently futile and counterproductive dynamic of struggle. There is much more to be said, and even more to be done. On the tour we spent a lot of time trying to place the Gaza war happening a few miles from us within an overall understanding of Israeli intentionality. The inciting cause of the latest confrontation between Israel and Hamas has little to do with the firing of rockets, whether by Hamas or the other Palestinian factions. The conflict predates the rockets – and even the creation of Hamas – by decades. It is the legacy of Israel’s dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948, forcing many of them from their homes in what is now Israel into the tiny Gaza Strip. That original injustice has been compounded by the occupation Israel has not only failed to end but has actually intensified in recent years with its relentless siege of the small strip of territory. Jeff Halper, chair of ICAHD, has written of the UN‘s recognition of the state of Palestine: “On one level, the General Assembly’s overwhelming vote to recognize the state of Palestine represented a significant achievement for the PLO/Palestinian Authority. It reaffirmed international support for Palestinian self-determination and demonstrated just how isolated Israel and the U.S. are on this issue. The significance of the vote went beyond the merely ‘symbolic.’ Unlike previous attempts, some even supported by Israel, to recognize a ‘Palestine’ but without borders, the UN resolution explicitly recognizes ‘the State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967’. “On paper, then, the UN’s recognition of a Palestinian state, the enhanced ability it gives the Palestinians to effectively pursue diplomatic and legal channels in their quest for self-determination and the legal and political inadmissibility of Israel’s actions on the ground, including house demolitions, all give new life to the two-state solution. Logistically it is also possible; after all, around 90% of the ‘settlers’ live in the occupied Palestine Territory for economic and not ideological reasons, and would be willing to move if their standard of living was not compromised. But this is all on paper. The complete lack of will on the part of the international community to pressure Israel into actually leaving the Occupied Territory, including enough of East Jerusalem that a coherent Palestinian city can once more be
established, is nil.” There is a minor Jewish holiday called Tu Bishvat, which dates back to the Torah and is now known to secular Jews as Israel’s Arbor Day. When I was growing up in the Pittsburgh Jewish community, each year our Temple would hold a fundraising campaign to plant trees in Israel, then just a newly founded state. Every little Jewish kid was proud to see his or her name on a list of people who planted a tree in Israel. And now there are great forests in Israel thanks to our efforts. And they are celebrated. The second day of our trip, we drove through Ma’aleh Adumin, a settlement in East Jerusalem of more than 40,000 Jewish settlers, with plans for at least 30,000 more, and in control of land that stretches for miles into the West Bank. At each major intersection there is a traffic circle with a water sculpture. Above each sculpture, there sits an ancient and breathtakingly beautiful olive tree. These singular olive trees seem to reach out to the passersby and welcome them to their homeland with their regal beauty. There is just one problem. This isn’t their homeland. These trees were part of an ancient Palestinian olive grove that grew on the land the 40-year old illegal settlement now occupies. The olive grove and the adjacent Palestinian villages were destroyed by Caterpillar bulldozers after the ’67 war, but a few of the most regal trees were saved and transplanted to these traffic circles after the settlement was built. And now here they sit, in a Jewish only settlement, overlooking scattered surviving Palestinian villages withering away without water. It is a humiliating slap in the face of the Palestinian people. And I can’t help but feel that is the intention: to humiliate and break the spirit. I am heartbroken that in the name of Judaism and the Jewish State, this beautiful land has become a Kafkaesque nightmare for half its people. The olive tree has become the tragic symbol of Israel’s attempt to disappear the Palestinian people and their culture. Yet these ancient olive trees in this Jewish only settlement also become an equally tragic symbol of what Israel is doing to itself, and that realization is slowly taking its toll on the “occupied minds,” as author Arthur Neslen calls them, of the Israeli people. Israel is not the enemy. If we continue to frame the struggle in this way, we will continue to go nowhere except further into darkness. Fear, racism, privilege and the wrong stories are the enemies. It is time to start telling the right stories. The right stories and the spirit of calm determination I found in the Palestinian people are all that we have to begin to breakdown the myths and fears and unproductive anger that have allowed this horrendous situation to continue. I am eternally grateful for the gift of this spirit I received as I listened to the people on the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The olive tree is the symbol of life on this land, for both peoples. Once they have been bulldozed out of the ground, they will not grow again. We must not stop loving the olive tree. We must plant new olive trees and olive groves, and cultivate and water them and harvest their fruit.
Report from Bangladesh Garment Workers Rally for Saftey by Amirul Haque Amin
forming a human chain and demanding health-safety and trade union rights. Speakers at the program said that from the Saraka Garment fire in 1990 to the Tazreen Fashion fire in November 2012, 566 garment workers had died in 55 major factory fires. In addition to these 566, another 64 workers died in the collapse of a building at the Spectrum Garment Factory. There were serious injuries to 3,610 workers in these incidents, yet the issue of health, safety and security of garment workers has not been addressed. Once again, speakers demanded that the garment industry be made a “Safe Workplace” and stressed the need for a joint initiative of owners, government, buyers and trade union organizations. At a December 31 action program organized by NGWF, garment workers cited Walmart for its anti-worker antiindustrialization policy and urged the company to participate in compensation of dead and injured workers of Tazreen Fashion and to sign a memorandum of understanding for ensuring a safe workplace. NGWF leaders claimed “Walmart is the biggest sourcing company of Bangladeshi garment products. Naturally they reap the highest profit from Bangladesh. But they are not taking any responsibility for the garment workers.” Walmart decided to stop business with Tazreen Fashion but not to participate in a compensation program. NGWF leaders said, “Businesses stopping or cutting and running is not the solution. Ensure fair trade, transparency and responsibility.” They also demanded that Walmart sign a health-safety memorandum immediately to ensure a safe workplace for garment workers.
Every year, on December 27, trade union organizations in Bangladesh observe Garment Workers Safety Day, in memory of the 27 garment workers killed in a fire at the Saraka Garment Factory at Mirpur in Dhaka City on December 27, 1990. In late 2012 members of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) extended activities over several days in order to address the need for action and reforms following the deaths of 112 workers in a fire at Tazreen Fashion on November 24. A Home Ministry enquiry report has recommended punishment under the Bangladesh Penal Code of those responsible for the fire. At a procession and rally on December 21 NGWF speakers alleged that none among the culprits had been arrested and brought to book. Speakers also demanded that a correct list of dead and injured workers be prepared and that compensation payments be made publicly for the sake of the image of the Bangladesh garment industry. In order to assure transparency, a committee should be formed comprising representatives of government, owners and workers and a joint initiative of government, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, buyers and trade unions be formed to establish a “Safe Workplace” at garment factories in Bangladesh, NGWF President Amirul Haque Amin presided over the rally, which was addressed by General Secretary Safia Parveen, Sultana Akter and Kabir Hossain. Coordinator of Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Council Delwar Hossain spoke at the rally expressing solidarity with the workers. “Garment Workers Safety Day- Amirul Haque Amin is the 2012,” under the auspices of the president of the National NGWF, saw garment workers Garment Workers Federation. Credit Amirul Haque Amin
Ken Boas is a member of the English faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and a former president of the board of the Thomas Merton Center. February 2013
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Ending the Violence murdered on January 2. Ka’Sandra had to leave behind a 10year-old son when the child’s father sadly Thursday, February 14 ended her life. The local February 14 Market Square from Noon to 2:00 pm event, Pittsburgh Rising, is dedicated to Protest violence against women Ka’Sandra’s memory. throughout the world! We must stand against corrupt, by Jona Dudley and Edith Bell conspiratorial rapists like the football “You may write me down in history players of Steubenville, Ohio, who with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod allegedly raped and urinated on an me in the very dirt but still, like dust I’ll underage female last August during a rise.” The legendary Maya Angelou party. These rapists then received help explains it best in her epic poem “Still I not only from their football coach but Rise” — that no matter what you endure, from other members of Steubenville you can still lift yourself up to overcome society to cover up this horrible act of obstacles and violence. We as a abuse. This is the PITTSBURGH RISES community need to idea that organizer stand up and let SUPPORTED BY Eve Ensler wants -New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color everyone know this is people to embrace unacceptable. for Reproductive Justice at the February 14 -Women Against Street Harassment We must stand up to -WWhat’s Up!? (Whites Working and global event One politicians who do not Hoping to Abolish Total Supremacy share our values. The Billion Rising, Undermining Privilege) which Pittsburgh Violence Against -Women’s International League for will celebrate at Women Protection Act Peace and Freedom Market Square as -ACTION United Women (VAWA) was typically -Neighborhood Print Shop at the “Pittsburgh reauthorized by Braddock Carnegie Library Rising.” Congress with broad -Athena’s Fire Statistics show support, but the -Fight Back Pittsburgh that one in three legislation expired last -POORLAW women will be -Summit Against Racism year for the first time raped or beaten in since its 1994 inception. their lifetime: 324,000 women total in a The Senate passed a bipartisan bill with year. We must ask ourselves as a new protections for the LGBT community what can we do to support community, Native Americans, and these many women, how we can help immigrants, but House Republican stand up for them. Together, we must say leaders refused to bring it up for a vote, No not only to domestic violence, but charging that it was politically also to other forms of dehumanization, driven. The Convention discrimination, abuse, and rape. on the Elimination of All We must stand for victims like Forms of Discrimination Ka’Sandra Wade of Larimer, who was Against Women
Pittsburgh Rising
Raith
—Danielle Maggio
bring yr self home to yr self, enter the garden the guy at the gate w/ the flaming sword is yrself —Diane di Prima, Revolutionary Letter #75 She is at the gate w/ the flaming sword slaying the beast of delay casting innumerable spells of power / danger / pleasure She escapes the enclosures on her outlaw body in solidarity w/ All who have reached the gate rising She comes in waves eventually turning to spirals She is you in the raw bring yourself reveal your carnal core She is awake and always listening She rides w/ Comanche technique if She falls the root She worked will replenish her & She will pour again always bringing a cooling effect to the burn (good luck drying off) Danielle Maggio works with the Book 'Em committee, teaches pre-school and makes sauce, not war. 8 - NEWPEOPLE
February 2013
(CEDAW) treaty signed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 was never ratified by the U.S. Senate. So we ask that on February 14, 2013, you join us in saying “Enough is enough.” It is time for us to say No to the violence, say No to the abuse, No to the rape and the dehumanization that is taking place in today’s world. On February 14 we ask that you join the revolution so that we can get ONE BILLION people to rise above and join us by dancing, walking out, letting your voice be heard. The members of Pittsburgh Rising would like to see signs, costumes, and colors. They want to see organizations, groups, and individuals raising awareness about what they are working on that will affect the women of Pittsburgh and help convey our anti-violence message. They want to hear music, poems, and drums, voices yelling in support of the women of the world, letting them know they do not have to accept such brutality. On February 14, 2013, Rise with Pittsburgh, make a statement, and RAISE YOUR VOICE. For a short film and more information about Pittsburgh Rising, go to onebillionrisingpgh.wordpress.com Jona Dudley is studying psychology, is an administrator for the Social Justice Group in Braddock, PA, and is part of the editorial collective. Edith Bell belongs to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
Dear Steubenville —R/B Mertz
Prosecute the culture of taking what doesn’t belong in toxic water gambling on children with downs syndromes of misogyny ask me again what gender I am in this war uniform pinned together with a crucifix inhabiting one savior or another Big Ben casting the shadow of the stadium over the mouth of the women incoherent or speaking in tongues with a girl my student says one Yes trumps seven No’s R/B Mertz teaches writing and also publishes poems on lifeandpoems.tumblr.com.
Citizens for Justice Concern Over Unmarked Police Cars Citizen Investigation into Unmarked Police “keeping a pulse of the community.” Otherwise, Donaldson said, the vast majority Cars - the kind of police unit that Jordan of police time and resources are spent Miles encountered. responding to calls and investigating crimes by Craig Stevens that have already occurred. Donaldson did Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review say that the 99 units, like all PBP officers, Board (CPRB) held a public hearing will be required to file reports on all ‘stop December 12, 2012, on the Pittsburgh and frisk’ encounters, as required by bills Bureau of Police (PBP) use of plainclothes passed by City Council in 2011. officers in unmarked cars, also known as “99 Assistant Chief Bryant, who previously cars.” The hearing was prompted by ongoing oversaw 99 units as Zone 5 commander, complaints and questions about the conduct said, “If all we did of these units, particularly in predominantly was respond to 911 calls, the level African American communities, including of criminal activity would be off the charts. the case of Homewood teen Jordan Miles, These officers aren’t loose cannons. We who was brutally beaten and arrested in hold them accountable. There are all sorts of January 2010 by three officers in a 99 unit. checks and balances.” Police spokespersons included Deputy When board member Thomas Waters Police Chief Paul Donaldson, Assistant asked how the PBP knows crime would Chief of Investigations Maurita Bryant, and increase without the 99 units, Donaldson Immediate Past President of the Fraternal replied that drug crimes would flourish if Order of Police Dan O’Hara. Speakers on dealers could operate with impunity. police accountability included Tim Stevens, Ralph Norman, CPRB Acting Chair, chair of the Black Political Empowerment asked about placing video cameras in the Project (BPEP), and Brandi Fisher, chair of cars, to which Donaldson replied that there the Alliance for Police Accountability is no funding for that and that cameras (APA). would make 99 cars more identifiable as CPRB Director Elizabeth Pittinger read police cars. into the record a memo from David Harris, In an overview, Donaldson and Bryant University of Pittsburgh law professor and stated that there is one 99 unit in each of the expert in racial profiling and law six police zones, with at least three officers enforcement, who was unable to attend. per unit to ensure that at least two are Stating that “much is not known about how deployed together per shift. Zone the PBP uses this tactic,” Harris listed Commanders select and supervise 99 unit questions concerning the extent of use of 99 officers, who must have at least four years of cars; their mission, staffing, training, and experience. There is no special training for oversight; data on frequency of “jump out” this duty. activity, seizures of weapons and narcotics, In their comments, both Stevens and civilian stops, frisks, and arrests; and Fisher emphasized the importance of measurement of success. intensive cultural sensitivity training for Deputy Chief Donaldson said they did officers placed in these controversial units. not come with a prepared statement nor Stevens spoke of the “awesome power” could he respond to all the points raised in given police, power which can be abused, Harris’s memo but that they would be and noted that African American males willing to do so. He said the PBP’s believe the police are out to get them. relationship with the public is a priority Ms. Fisher stated that the disrespect concern and that he is aware that a negative civilians experience from police has broken encounter with the public carries more the trust between communities and the weight than positive encounters. He said a police. She also spoke of the ‘Catch 22’ of low number of encounters with the public 99 unit officers jumping out of their cars, involve the use of force: out of 15,000 scaring the person they have targeted into arrests last year, 740, or 5.5% of all arrests running, and then escalating force in involve the use of force. response. Donaldson did not provide specific data Several police accountability and civil on the operations of the 99 cars nor on their rights advocates spoke during the public effectiveness. The primary value of the units comment period. One pointed out that the emphasized by all three police police left before Stevens, Fisher and the representatives was the units’ ability to carry public spoke. out proactive policing, suppressing or MORE ABOUT CPRB: intervening in crimes as they occur, and The Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) is an independent agency in the City of Pittsburgh setup to investigate citizen complaints about improper conduct by the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. For more information, including how to file a complaint concerning police misconduct, see the CPRB’s web site at: cprbpgh.org or call the CPRB at: (412) 765-8023 or the CPRB Confidential Tip Line: 412-255CPRB. For information on Jordan Miles’ ongoing case: justiceforjordanmiles.com. For more information on The Black and White Reunion, see: blackandwhitereunion.org or call 412322-9275.
Martin Delany, Pittsburgh Writer Wali Jamal’s Third Martin Delany production to end Black History Month February 27 – March 2, 2013 Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium at Kaufmann Center (Next to the Hill House Center, 1825 Centre Avenue, Pgh., PA 15219) Creative Commons
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: Wednesday, February 27: 7pm Thursday, February 28: 8pm Friday, March 1: 10am & 8pm Saturday, March 2: 2pm & 8pm by Kenneth Miller and Charles McCollester
for a place to settle a colony of African Americans and made several forays on foot into Liberia and up the Niger River to Abeokuta (Nigeria). He reported on this voyage to a prestigious international conference in London and when challenged for his credentials by the American delegation, he stated: “I am a man.” This assertion became the battle cry of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ strike a century later. With the Civil War engaged, Delany returned to the United States where he recruited and agitated for the acceptance of black troops including a demand for black officers. After a face-to-face meeting in early 1865 with Abraham Lincoln, he was commissioned by presidential order as a major in the U.S. Army, its highestranking black officer. For a time after the war he was the military governor for South Carolina’s coast south of Charleston. He represented black soldiers at the flag-raising at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865, the fourth anniversary of its surrender to the secessionist South. Call to order tickets or arrange for students to attend. 412-867-9213.
Martin Delany was empowered by publishing and journalism. Among the best journalists of the era, he published The Mystery, his antislavery newspaper, from Pittsburgh and later served as co -editor of The North Star with Frederick Douglass. He wrote numerous important works including a novel about a mass slave uprising, Blake or the Huts of America. He is best known for his manifesto, considered a founding document of Black Nationalism: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered. Martin Delany was a leader of Pittsburgh’s struggle against the Fugitive Slave Law, but left for Canada with his family after the Dred Scott decision. He conferred with John Brown in Canada during the planning Kenneth Miller and Charles phase of the Harper’s Ferry McCollester are members of Raid. Incredibly, in 1859, he the editorial collective. traveled to West Africa, looking
Craig Stevens is a member of the Black and White Reunion. February 2013
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Social Justice Activism The American Taxpayer Relief Act: Impact on the Hungry and Poor What lies ahead is the completion of the 2013 budget, sequestration, and The American Taxpayer Relief Act the question of raising the debt ceiling that passed before the end of the last -these were delayed for only a few Congress included the extension of months, leaving them for the new two tax credits that favorably impact Congress to address. Anti-hunger many poor families: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child advocates ask for hungry and poor Tax Credit (CTC). Both of them are a people to be a priority through these considerations. We seek adequate great help to families that struggle with basic human needs. Also of note funding (which will require additional funding) to ensure food security for is its protection of the Supplemental our people. Sequestration calls for Food Assistance Program (SNAP -across the board cuts which we formerly the Food Stamp Program), oppose. Across-the-board cuts would Medicaid and international food aid. mean that programs like the Women, While the past Congress did not enact a new Farm Bill, they did extend Infants and Children (WIC) Program the current one through September of would be cut to balance the budget. We call for a "Circle of Protection" this year. The Farm Bill includes around all the domestic and funding and policies for SNAP, The Emergency Food Assistance Program international food programs throughout the budget and (TEFAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), sequestration negotiations. To learn more about what you and the Farmers Market Nutrition can do, please see the information at Program (FMNP). All of these right on the upcoming Bread for the programs are important for people who are food insecure and often find it World Workshop. hard to get the food they need for their Joyce Rothermel is Co-Chair of the families. SW PA Food Security Partnership.
by Joyce Rothermel
Bread for the World Regional Workshop Join Us in Our Work to End Hunger by Jennifer Lawer
A regional workshop for Bread for the World will take place on Sunday, March 3, from 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm at The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 4503 Old William Penn Highway in Monroeville. The conference will include a presentation on the 2013 policy goals by Larry Hollar, regional coordinator for Bread for the World. A representative for Senator Bob Casey’s office has been invited to share policy perspectives on food security and budget issues. Breakout groups will hear presentations on topics such as letter writing, state food security issues, and possibly immigration. Please contact Donna Hansen at home at (712) 731-2460 or via cell at (412) 812-1553 for more information. All who are interested are welcome to attend.
you define it). Are you able to shovel snow from walks or mow grass? Are there members of your community who aren’t able to do so? Offer your services to them. Perhaps you can share that batch of muffins. Share the extras. Turn off your cell phone and actually listen to a friend who needs to talk. We all have unique talents – use yours to the best of your ability! Of course, most of this comes naturally to the people reading this article. These are just friendly, neighborly things that one should do. How is that creating social justice? The acts themselves are not social justice. However, as you get to know your neighbors and your
World Day of Social Justice—Feb. 20 by Anne E. Lynch
ideological UN resolution. So we should all just ignore it, In 2009, the United Nations chose February 20th, right? Wrong! While we may not be able to be the first World Day of to convince our governments Social Justice, to promote of the importance of justice, efforts to tackle issues such we can demonstrate equality as poverty, exclusion and unemployment. It advocates and equity in our own lives! Community gardens are creating a “society for all,” popping up all over the City calling on governments to of Pittsburgh. Join one, and make a commitment to help out – when the harvest creating a framework for comes in, share with your action at all levels (local, state, and national). The day neighbors. Or, if the community garden is calls for “greater access to resources through equity and growing flowers rather than equality and opportunity for edible produce, brighten all.” The society for all must people’s days by spreading the blooms around! be based on justice and If gardening is not your respect for all human rights forte, think about what you and fundamental freedoms. can offer to your community It’s a non-binding, purely (as broadly or as narrowly as
18th Annual Empty Bowls Benefits Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Just Harvest Please come and help spread the word about this year's Empty Bowls Dinner being held at Rodef Shalom Congregation at Fifth and Morewood Avenues in Oakland on Sunday, March 10, 2 - 6 pm. The event features fabulous soups from restaurants across the region, familyfriendly entertainment, a silent auction of ceramic art and celebrity-autographed bowls, and an incredible assortment of handmade ceramic bowls donated by dozens of artists, schools and art centers. Tickets are $20 which include a modest meal of soup and bread and your choice of a handmade bowl as a lasting reminder of those whose bowls are empty. For more information and to order tickets on line, go to www.pittsburghfoodbank.org. 10 - NEWPEOPLE
February 2013
Duquesne University Professor Aimee Light to Speak at February 17 Conference All are invited to attend a conference on Roman Catholic Feminist Theology featuring Aimee Light from the Theology Department at Duquesne University on Sunday, February 17 from 1:30 - 4:30 pm. The conference will be held at Epiphany Administrative Center, 164 Washington Place next to the Consol Energy Center. Suggested donation is $20. Students are admitted at no charge. Register by emailing: Assocpghpriests@yahoo.com and pay at door, or send payment to Association of Pittsburgh Priests (APP), P.O. Box 2106, Pittsburgh, PA 15230.
“Bread for the World” is a Christian-based group that is committed to ending hunger at home and abroad. The group is dedicated to providing food for those in need through group organization and governmental support. The group believes that everyone can make a difference; individual efforts and government leaders can all work together to overcome global hunger. All are also welcome to join the Regional Bread for the World Team. Their next meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 20, at 10:00 am on the second floor of Christian Associates, located at the corner of Butler Street and 37th Street in Lawrenceville. Learn more about “Bread for the World” at www.bread.org. Jennifer Lawer is an intern working on food security issues at the Thomas Merton Center.
community, you start to see needs that go beyond one or two people. Maybe there’s an industrial practice moving in that some of you aren’t sure of. Or perhaps some people who are perceived as different are being bullied or harassed. Or there’s been a breakdown in policecommunity relations. Whatever the problem is, you are now in a position to bring the community together to take action. You learn about the issue, listen to as many sides as you can, and then, together, ACT. Actions can have small, medium or large results. That you’ve just gotten two families on the same block to stop feuding may seem small in the grand scheme of things, but it helps build community. Ultimately,
when it comes to social justice, there is no such thing as a “small” act. It’s so easy to say that someone else will do it or that you just don’t have time. But if each of us just sat outside our residences for an hour a week, saying hello to everyone who passes and asking how they are, we could create true change over time. Stronger communities feel more empowered to take on larger tasks, even challenging governments and entire societies. A gentle smile and a helping hand could sow the seeds of social justice. Anne E. Lynch is Manager of Operations at Three Rivers Community Foundation.
CAPITAL’S END New Location, New Time 3:30 PM at the AVA Lounge 126 S. Highland Ave. 15206 A social space for those working for social change.
February Programs: Feb. 3 – “Anarchy” Feb. 10 – “Palestine:” BDS Feb. 17 – “Amend:” Corporate Personhood Feb. 24 – “Changemakers” Live local music, poetry, talk, collective karaoke, open mike, display/sale of art, a “call to arms” and an opportunity to build friendships, community & solidarity. Further information: iamholtz@iup.edu or 724-388-6258
Environmental Activism Fiction to Fact: Promised Land? fictitiously portrays,” states Ben Price, Projects Director, Community by Wanda Guthrie Environmental Legal Defense Fund. Ben goes on to say, “We all fight All who saw the movie Promised our individual and collective battles Land recognized our lovely Western against fracking, toxic waste Pennsylvania landscape. Sadly, the facilities, factory farms, compressor ability of the community to choose stations, pipelines, coal mines, their future was pure fiction. We industrial windmills, GMOs - all know that “12.5 million within the same concrete box (or Pennsylvanians are denied the right coffin). We win small battles at to make governing decisions in our home while not actually changing the communities of the sort that frames system that perpetuates the ability for Matt Damon's fictional film. State others to endanger us all over again "preemption" forbids Township Supervisors from adopting municipal later. This ‘box’ is our system of law, which creates regulatory funnels at laws that protect community health, safety and welfare, even though they the end of which we all have no real power to create sustainable take an oath obliging them to do so. communities. We may win a battle But to live up to their oaths, they'd here and there, but someday someone have to violate state law that places else can still endanger us, and we’ll corporate interests above the rights of the people -- including the right to have to jump through the same old local self-government on issues with hoops, stressing our bodies, minds, direct impact on their lives. And the hearts, and bank accounts all over again.” people are forbidden to vote At a recent Community Rights democratically on such questions, Workshop, community activist regardless of what the film learned how Community Bill of Rights in Pittsburgh communitycommunitybillofrightspittsburgh.wordpress.com based control Join our email/contact list by emailing was taken emailbuddem@att.net. from the Wednesday, February 6, 2013 6:30 to 8:30 pm at people of Freedom Unlimited (Alma Speed Fox Center) 2201 Pennsylvania Wylie Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (next to the with the NAACP office) Call 412-596-0066 for directions. rewriting of Getting the Conversation Started: How do we talk our original about community rights -- gearing up for the July push Articles of for 10,000 signatures. Confederation
No, we’re not there yet...
(the original US Constitution) by to amend our Home Rule Charter those with accumulated property who with a permanent Citizens Bill of wanted to “tame” democracy into Rights; an amendment that will what we have now – a limited include obligations and limitations to monarchy ruled by central offices of our right to pure water, clean air, government instead of a king. chemical trespass, peaceful Last month we told you that we enjoyment of our homes, natural would be beginning a campaign to communities, a sustainable energy include our Community Bill of future, self-government, and Rights in Pittsburgh’s Home Rule recognition of people as sovereign, Charter. As the direction and work of and recipients of all rights afforded the campaign unfolds we look to our to us in the Pennsylvania Declaration history and how direct democracy of Rights. through citizen initiatives has been How will we do it? and can again be an effective, non-Partnering with all Pittsburgh violent form of civil disobedience to communities to petition for a confront the 21st century partnership referendum question on the of state and corporate power. When November ballot to amend the City that power is used to violate the civil Charter to include a Community Bill rights of people of Rights and and of nature, -Asking citizens to and when envision, participate and consent of the spread the word about governed is no the importance of this longer campaign. considered - Working together not necessary by only collect signatures government, we on petitions but to create must take back strategies for a winning Recent Community Rights Workshop direct campaign in Pittsburgh democracy! in their neighborhoods. The Environmental Justice - Gathering to keep each other going, Committee and community partners growing, and learning! have resolved to continue to meet Wanda Guthrie is the Chair of the together and grow! We need you, we Environmental Justice, and need to hear your community vision. Education and Outreach Committee We can work to be We the People and TMC Board Member. once again as we launch and participate in a successful campaign
Climate Rally Feb. 17! Join Us! At Noon on Sunday, February 17, thousands of Americans will head to Washington, D.C. to make Forward on Climate the largest climate rally in history. Make your voice heard and help the president start his second term with strong climate action. When: February 17th, Noon Where: The National Mall, Washington D.C. Who: 350.org, Sierra Club & Hip-Hop Caucus Why: To tell Barack Obama it's time to lead in the fight against climate change, beginning with the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. You can find or offer a carpool to D.C. by joining the Forward on Climate group at Ridebuzz.org. The Nature and Spirit of our Work: Deep Democracy (DeepDemocracyPittsburgh.wordpress.com) practiced in circles of trust that open the political door wide and help people walk through it. This is sponsored by the Environmental Justice Committee of the Thomas Merton Center. We will be meeting on Sunday, February 10, from1 to 4 pm, at Pat Buddemeyer’s house, 5808 Black Street (between North Euclid and North Beatty), East Liberty. Call412-860-9524 for directions. Focusing on: beginning a study of Parker Palmer’s book Healing the Heart of Democracy, examples of mass movements, and a lesson from the Pennsylvania Community Rights Cook Book. Bring snacks to share. Global Warming: Changing C02urse -4 SESSION DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR WORKPLACE, COMMUNITY CENTER OR HOME. PARTICIPANTS WILL: Explore personal values and habits as they relate to climate change, Deepen an understanding of the history and science of global warming, and Consider both individual and community level actions to curb global warming.
The Thomas Merton Center is a proud consumer of TriEagle Energy.
2013 RESOLUTION: ADOPT A LOW-CARB DIET! Thomas Merton Center’s Environmental Justice Committee & The Stillworkers Network of Engaged Buddhists are partnering to offer this 4-session Discussion Course. JOIN US! Initial Planning Meeting: Feb.17, 2013 2:00-4:00 pm Where: East Liberty Presbyterian Church 116 South Highland Avenue, Pittsburgh 15206 CONTACT KATE AT: pghstillworkers@gmail. 107 SE Washington Suite 235 Portland, OR 97214 Phone: 503.227.2807 February 2013
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Activists on Guns How To End Gun Violence by Rob Conroy
the Thomas Merton Center to make Pennsylvania neighborhoods (and every other American neighborhood) safe. Many communities in Pittsburgh deal with the effects of gun violence every single day and this simply cannot stand. We fully support the President and Vice President’s gun violence reduction agenda, to which we were honored to have contributed at a meeting on January 9, and vow to continue our long-standing goals of ending gun violence, promoting responsible gun ownership and keeping guns out of the “wrong” hands, particularly by encouraging our state and national legislators to enact the following reforms:
Columbine. Virginia Tech. Western Psych. Aurora. Wisconsin. Portland. Sandy Hook. Hollidaysburg. Webster. Taft.
missing guns before they become crime guns, save time during criminal investigations when police need to track the ownership history of a gun, and help police identify straw purchasers who buy guns and then transfer them illegally to people who cannot legally buy guns themselves.
3. Ensure that Pennsylvania continues to forward all relevant data to the national criminal background check system. Until mid-January of this year, more than 600,000 mental health records that The list goes on... could bar someone from purchasing As record numbers of citizens a gun were available in the rush to their local sporting goods Pennsylvania database (PICS) but stores, gun shows or gun shops (as only one of those records had been this article is being written, I’m 1. Require comprehensive shared with the federal system listening to recaps from the first background checks on all sales of (NICS). Unfortunately, this means national Gun Appreciation Day) to guns (and, in an ideal world, someone who could not legally buy a purchase record numbers of firearms, ammunition) in Pennsylvania. gun here might have been able to what feels like record numbers of Currently, such checks are required cross state lines and purchase one in bodies are piling up. If there is one for all sales of handguns and any gun a state that only had access to the silver lining to be pulled from this sale by a federally licensed dealer. records in the federal system. horrifying trend, it seems that some But this exempts the sale of many Although the state police have state and national politicians—not long guns, including the very temporarily rectified this situation, least our President and Senator weapon used to kill the victims in they simply cannot be allowed to let Robert Casey—may finally be Connecticut, when said weapon is such records transfers lapse in the listening to points that many of us in not sold by a federally licensed future, particularly as there is the nonviolence movement have dealer. This means that any private currently a bill circulating in the been raising for years. sale between two individuals and Pennsylvania state House of We at CeaseFirePA continue to many sales by non-dealers at gun Representatives (HB 2127) that is stand by the families and friends of shows (or many transfers at proposing elimination of PICS. those who have lost loved ones to community “gun bashes”) do not tragic bullets from largely illegally require a background check. Current 4. Close the loophole that makes it acquired firearms. We will continue law also exempts ammunition sales. possible for a gun owner to use a concealed carry permit from to fight to end gun violence in 2. Require Pennsylvania gun another state when he might not be Pennsylvania, particularly that owners to file police reports if their eligible to get one in Pennsylvania. caused by illegal guns, and we will guns are lost or stolen. Pennsylvania recognizes continue to partner with other local, This would enable police to find concealed carry permits from several state and national organizations like
other states, even when some of those states grant such permits to people who would not meet Pennsylvania’s eligibility requirements. Pennsylvania should grant reciprocal recognition only to those states that employ permitting standards equivalent to ours. 5. Working in tandem with reforms at the federal level, remove all assault weapons from the stream of commerce in Pennsylvania. Semi-automatic assault weapons (firearms designed for military use that have no place or purpose for civilian use), along with highcapacity ammunition magazines, should be banned from distribution, manufacture, sale or ownership in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. None of these solutions will happen overnight, but every single one of them is worth fighting for. We believe that ordinary Pennsylvanians are demanding meaningful reforms. NOW IS THE TIME Together—and only together—we can take a stand against gun violence and make a difference. Together we can put an end to gun violence in Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania and in the United States. Rob Conroy is a TMC board member and the Western PA Coordinator for CeaseFirePA.
Gun attitudes cost innocent lives by Lilly Joynes About three years ago, I learned the truly horrifying consequences of Americans’ devout desire to own guns. On a normal Friday night in November 2009, I read the most recent text on my phone - sent in all capital letters - and stared in disbelief: “OMG ERIC F---ING SHOT HIMSELF!!!” Eric, the goofy, always-smiling boy clad in overalls and sweaters that I had come to know and love was dead and by his own choice. I tried to think of any moment in the last several years that could have hinted at this impending tragedy. All I saw in my head over and over again was Eric at 7:30 am outside of school, holding the door and offering fist bumps and words of encouragement to all the students dragging themselves inside - “Happy Monday! Welcome to school! Party on!” Guns can cause unexpected destruction at the hands of unexpected people. No one knows what caused the emotional pain inside Eric’s head that made him feel like he didn’t want to live anymore. What I do know is that Eric had dozens of friends who would have done 12 - NEWPEOPLE
anything for the opportunity to stop him. Instead, Eric went quietly into the basement of his home, got a shotgun from his dad’s hunting cabinet, and within the same instant he pulled the trigger he was dead. I wish it had been just a little bit harder for him to go through with this irreversible decision. I wish he had had just one more second to realize he was not alone. One thing is undeniable from stories like Eric’s and tragedies like the recent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut or Aurora, Colorado: guns are not safe in the hands of emotionally unstable people (sad, angry, or otherwise). Unfortunately, about 25% of the U.S. falls into this category, meaning one in four people has some sort of diagnosable mental disorder. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) presents this statistic comprehensively, including even mild mood disorders and eating disorders. However, I still think it is an important factor in the discussion of what America’s policies on gun control should be. When it comes to shooting tragedies, Americans surveyed in a January 2011 Gallup Poll believed the two most important things that
February 2013
could be done to prevent “mass shootings” are 1) stricter gun control laws (24%) and better mental health screening/support (15%). However, as our nation tends to divide down the middle on many issues, the results of another Gallup Poll from January 2012 show 50% of the nation as “satisfied” with the nation’s laws or policies on guns, while 42% are dissatisfied. Most people don’t think about suicide when they think about gun control, but stricter laws could help save many struggling souls. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there were nearly 40,000 suicides in 2009. However, NIMH emphasizes that for every successful suicide, there were eleven more attempted suicides. In the case of people like Eric who have access to a gun - it’s almost guaranteed which statistic they will be a part of. Research on the NIMH website shows that males choose a firearm most frequently as the means to end their own lives. Boys are exposed to guns in many ways while growing up: hunting with Dad, video games, paintball, and even pretend games like “cops and robbers” or “cowboys and Indians.” It’s no wonder boys
are more comfortable with firearms we told them it was okay to play with guns! Now factor in the other attitudes we have about guns in America, and disaster is certain. In a Gallup Poll conducted 12/18/12, Americans’ top responses for how to prevent future school shootings shifted away from changing laws. The responses were: “increased police presence at schools, more government spending on mental health screening and treatment, and a focus on reducing media and video game emphasis on gun violence.” Where is the responsibility placed? Not on the parents, and not on the individual. Pro-gun Americans are worried about losing their rights, but what we’re losing now with our current policy is lives. I urge Americans concerned about their self-defense to first consider pepper spray, martial arts classes, or other non-lethal alternatives. Regardless of your political dogma, I beg you to please reconsider the power of a gun and the consequences of having access to one so easily. Lilly Joynes is a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Communication Studies.
Faith and Activism Torture and America’s SOUL by Scilla Wahrhaftig January 11th was the 11th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp which has become a symbol of our country’s torture policy. It was also the day that the new movie about the capture of Osama Bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, opened in movie theatres around the country. While the use of torture was not a contributing part of the capture, many are seeing the movie as a vindication of our torture policy. The movie has sparked a huge amount of attention and has opened up a major debate about the use of torture. Did it work? Didn’t it work? Is it necessary for the capture of terrorists, as 47 percent of people in the U.S. believe? What has gotten lost in the debate is the impact of the use of torture on our credibility as a country. Chuck Fager, writer and former Director of Quaker House in Fayetteville NC, writes: “The loss of credibility may still be easy for many of us to ignore, but
consider: today, what tyrants will do White House masters to find and kill other than smirk and snicker at U.S. Osama Bin Laden succeeded, but along State Department reports tut-tutting the way America lost much, perhaps about their lousy human most, of its "soul." rights records? Not that With the attention on our hands were ever torture we have an entirely clean; but the opportunity to have years of Maya's (the some impact. A number heroine in Zero Dark of us handed out flyers Thirty) obsession were outside the movie also when the U.S. sank theatre when Zero Dark to unprecedented lows. Thirty opened and were At home, those years encouraged by the similarly yielded steadily number of people who increasing domestic took our flyers and went Scilla Wahrhaftig and Wanda repression, from into the movie to Guthrie outside of the theater wiretapping to the consider it critically. distributing information. coordinated crackdowns Last month the Senate on Occupy Wall Intelligence Committee Street and now the growing shadows of approved a 6,000- page report of the domestic drones circling above our CIA’s interrogation practices during the homes and streets.” Bush era. "The report uncovers startling Yet credibility is not a strong enough details about the CIA detention and term for this loss. Honor helps. But interrogation program and raises critical "soul" is better. Dr. Martin Luther King's questions about intelligence operations motto for his civil rights career was, and oversight," said Senator Dianne "Saving the Soul of America." The Feinstein, after the vote. crusade by Maya, the CIA and their The release of this report is vital and,
as Dixon Osborn of Human Rights First said, "Telling the American people the truth about torture isn't a task that should be left up to speculative reporting, Hollywood filmmakers, or publishing houses. It should be based on the facts. Thankfully, that report already exists. Now it should be made public." The release of this report is essential in light of the nomination of John Brennan as head of CIA. Brennan is known to have favored rendition and the use of torture. It is vital that we know his role in the use of torture and his participation in Obama's secretive, unaccountable drone war. We can all contact our senators calling on them to authorize the release of the Senate Intelligence Report on Interrogations. We have a right to see what our government did in our name. Not till we face up to our past can we as a country start to regain our standing in the world and start the process of “Saving Our Soul.” Scilla Wahrhaftig is the Program Director of the American Friends Service Committee PA.
A Voice in the Wilderness A Liberation Priest Calls for the U.S. to Stop the Repression by Daniel Kovalik On February 17, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador sent a letter to U.S. President Jimmy Carter in which he implored Carter not to support the repressive forces in El Salvador with lethal aid. Romero implored President Carter “to forbid that military aid be given to the Salvadoran government.” Sadly, Carter did not heed the good Archbishop’s pleas, and, on March 20, 1980, U.S.-backed assailants shot and killed Oscar Romero while he was saying mass. Since that time, scores of priests have been killed throughout Latin America by U.S.-backed forces. In Colombia alone, 79 Catholic priests have been killed since 1984. This type of violence and repression has virtually wiped out the liberation Church which Romero described to Carter in his letter. And indeed, as Noam Chomsky has pointed out, the U.S. School of the Americas has bragged about how it helped “destroy liberation theology.” Nonetheless, a small number of brave priests and religious have continued on with the liberation struggle. Most notable of these is Father Javier Giraldo, a Jesuit priest from Colombia. Reminiscent of Romero’s letter to Carter, Father Giraldo sent a letter in September of 2011 to the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, P. Michael McKinley, imploring him to prevail upon President Obama not to go ahead
with his decision to release $20 Father Giraldo explains that the Councils around the port are being million in military aid to Colombia Obama Administration’s invaded by paramilitaries supported which had been suspended on “certification and release of military or tolerated by the armed forces. human rights grounds. And, as was assistance funds takes place in a They cut people in pieces with the case with Jimmy Carter more moment in which the economic horrifying cruelty throwing the body than 30 years ago, President Obama policy of this government is showing parts into the sea, if any of them dare did not heed Father Giraldo’s pleas. alarming signs of failure to recognize to resist the megaproject for the new In his letter, Father Giraldo sets the most fundamental collective port.” forth profound truths about rights of the most vulnerable Just as Jimmy Carter turned a deaf Colombia which few ever hear populations.” Of course, the ear to Archbishop Romero’s pleas outside that country. Thus, he “economic policy” referred to here is for justice, President Obama has describes the fact that the very a joint U.S./Colombia policy which ignored the pleas of Father Javier paramilitary (a.k.a., “death squad”) is spurred on by the U.S.-Colombia Giraldo whose voice remains a strategy which continues to plague Free Trade Act (FTA) signed into “voice in the wilderness”—a term Colombia to this day was formulated law by Obama one month after this Father Giraldo himself uses in his pursuant to a recommendation “by letter. Father Giraldo explains that, letter to describe the victims of U.S. the government of the United States pursuant to the economic policy, foreign policy in Colombia. Still, in the [General William P.] Afro-Colombian, indigenous and Father Giraldo remains a prophetic Yarborough mission in February of peasant communities are being voice in Colombia and in the world, 1962.” destroyed by paramilitaries clearing defending the “preferential treatment According to Father Giraldo, the their land for use by multi-national of the poor” which the U.S. has tried paramilitary groups, as before, companies. to stamp out in Colombia and in continue to work “in close harmony Father Giraldo also decries the Latin America since the Kennedy with the Army and Police” to carry violence in Buenaventura which is Administration. out crimes against humanity. And, being spurred on by the struggle for he places the responsibility for these control of the expanding ports there Daniel Kovalik is a labor and human rights lawyer living in continued abuses firmly at the feet of – ports which are critical to the Pittsburgh. He teaches the U.S. Thus, Father Giraldo growing trade under the FTA. International Human Rights at the informs the U.S. Ambassador that Specifically, Father Giraldo University of Pittsburgh School of “[t]he current commanders take part refers to “the permanent genocide Law. in the same immunity and impunity that is being carried out in and the assistance from your Buenaventura, where the government only reinforces their neighborhoods and the Community criminal activity” -Hoped for Fruits of Vatican Council II criminal activity Principles WE ARE CHURCH, an international movement, which includes “the were founded on in November 1996: systematic crime of Community of Brothers and Sisters forced disappearance With the full participation of women in all aspects of persons, which of church life according to national Without obligatory clerical celibacy and international With a positive evaluation of sexuality and agencies now affects conscience, and a message of joy and inclusivity more than 50,000 More than 2.5 million people throughout Europe signed a document calling for a families.” Church that witnesses these principles. February 2013
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Regional Activist Community Indiana County Activists Reach Out to Pittsburgh by Colleen Donovan and G. Smith Progressive activists from all over the country are raising their voices ever more loudly in unison against the rise of political, economic, environmental and social justice issues that undermine our democracy. From fracking to incarceration rates to clean air and water, to social justice and gun control as well as access to health care, activists voice their increasing desire to form a united front against the onslaught. To achieve these ends, activists from Southwestern Pennsylvania find strength in numbers as we march in unison over the hills and valleys and the streets of our urban centers. The geography of our region ensures that all the creeks and rivers eventually flow towards the Golden Triangle in Pittsburgh, and for this region’s activists, that leads us to the Thomas Merton Center. Members of the Indiana County Center for Community Growth (CCG) are happy to establish vital connections with the Thomas Merton Center because our organizations share so many common goals. The Building Change Conference by the Three Rivers Community Foundation represented another important local influence in the development of this new progressive alliance. A group of Indiana County community leaders who attended the Building Change Conference were inspired by the discussion to reorganize. As a result, in the spring of 2012, the Center brought together social service and community organizations to identify ways to increase civic participation of lowincome county residents. This led to a summer voter education and registration campaign in collaboration with the county food banks. Finally, the Indiana County “Center” (CCG) currently has members who were part of the original Indiana County Progressive Alliance that was active in the ‘90s. So, the newly-formed “Center,” according to its Facebook page, aims to stimulate activism based on “democratic principles, non-violence, civic engagement and ... to work on those issues locally, regionally and globally,” goals similar to those of members and affiliates of the Thomas Merton Center and other social justice organizations. Hopefully, the echoes from this organization and all its affiliates will reverberate throughout our region. In order to achieve these ends, the CCG is launching a progressive film series starting this February. This sixmonth documentary series focuses on new ideas to build a vibrant and just regional economy. The series starts February 22 with The Economics of Happiness, at the historic downtown Indiana Theater. Other films being considered include The Corporation, a film based on the book The 14 - NEWPEOPLE
February 2013
Buying Local? Marcellus Outreach Butler Reports
Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan, and Antonino D’Ambrosio’s Let Fury Have the Hour. The Center also hopes to show the environmental film YERT by Pittsburgh filmmaker Mark Dixon. The series is designed to stimulate discussion and action in supporting a new local economy, as well as supporting local establishments such as the Indiana Theater and the Artists Hand Coffee House. Organizers look to establish ties with these businesses and other locales to create an environment where the culture of progressivism can work towards a New Economy based on both local values and global thinking. We hope that individuals from all over the region will join us in our local and regional united front for activism, and come out to the movies. For more information about The Center, you can check our website: theindianacenter.wordpress.com, or email theindianacenter@gmail.com, or “like” us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter @theindianacenter, or just call us at (724) 471-6298. By making these connections, we can strengthen bonds that will enable us to work together to influence the resolution of issues at the regional, state, national and global levels. Let the waters of our three-rivers -- the Monongahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio -- nourish us all and permit the flow towards larger streams of consciousness, awareness, and action. Let us all persuade our friends and neighbors to take a stand for those democratic principles that ensure conditions that enable all citizens to ultimate health, spirit, and rights. This includes the people and future generations of this region and its natural resources as well as all global counterparts. Colleen Donovan and G. Smith are activists from Indiana County with the Indiana County Center for Community Growth (CCG).
by Jason Bell
Control and Prevention of harboring "preconceived notions" about the possible health effects of gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But because of the hard work of many dedicated people we are starting to see a picture of the real public health perils presented by fracking, and the picture is alarming. In their report, Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health, Bamberger and Oswald write, “Because animals are exposed continually to air, soil and groundwater and have more frequent reproductive cycles, animals can be used as sentinels to monitor impacts on human health.” December saw the flaring of the Marburger Farm Dairy well along Mars-Evans City Road. Several nearby homeowners and witnesses reported noxious smells and noises loud enough to drown out the music from a Christmas display. Although flaring is temporary, it has renewed Marburger’s questions Milk Company in about the long Evans City. -term effects on the health of livestock and the safety of milk. Submitted by Studies are Wanda Guthrie still ongoing but fracking the foodshed has raised serious concerns. Lastly, Marcellus Outreach Butler (MOB) thanks everyone who supports our efforts to raise money for the 25 families that are now living without safe water in the Woodlands community. MOB presented $4,300 to White Oaks Springs Church on January 7th to help with the effort. Tax deductible donations can be made at https://sites.google.com/site/ waterforwoodlands.
Theodora Colborn, a professor emerita at the University of Florida and president of the Endocrine Disruption Exchange, has identified 632 chemicals used in natural gas production. She reported her findings in a 2011 article, “Natural Gas Operations from a Public Health Perspective,” which outlined the potential health risks of more than half of the proprietary fracking fluids. Colburn wrote, “Many chemicals used during the fracturing and drilling stages of gas operations may have longterm health effects that are not immediately expressed.” While 75 percent of the chemicals affect the skin, eyes, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems, an alarming 50 percent affect the brain, nervous system, immune and cardiovascular systems, and 25 percent could cause cancer and mutations. How much proof is enough to keep the frack off the farm? Full steam ahead!!!! This seems to be what Governor Corbett and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are saying about fracking in Pennsylvania communities. While New York and Maryland are waiting for long -term health studies before they allow toxic fracking to drill its claws in their neighborhoods, Pennsylvania (with the exception of the wealthy Montgomery and Bucks counties) has been designated as a sacrifice zone for a fracking free-for-all. Despite an outcry from medical professionals, at the eleventh hour lawmakers stripped all funding for medical studies from Act 13. There is also a shameful effort at the federal level to shutdown research to study the public health dangers of fracking. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, GOP leaders on the House Energy and Jason Bell is a member of Commerce Committee accused Marcellus Outreach Butler officials at the Centers for Disease and Tour de Frack.
Peace and Justice in the North Hills Alive and Well...and Growing! by Mary Sheehan The Pittsburgh North People for Peace has just celebrated 30 years of peace and justice work in the North Hills! Over those 30 years, issues have been brought to the public eye through peace forums, peace festivals, school essay contests, an 8-year vigil against the war in Iraq, the International Day of Peace, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events, and by starting an anti-racism coalition. We have often called ourselves, "small but mighty."
Now, as we begin the next 30 years, our goal is to grow and become "mightier." We want to provide an avenue for more people to thoughtfully discuss, learn, and act to make a difference in our community, our nation, and our world. Thanks to support from the Thomas Merton Center, this work is already underway. If you are looking to connect with a group of people where you can share and work on issues to bring about a vision of peace and justice, give me a call (412-367-0383) or send us an email at pnpp@verizon.net
You are welcome to come to one of our February events: Move to Amend Event: Monday, February 4th, 4:00 p.m. at La Roche College Peace Forum: Sunday, February 24th, 3:00 p.m. at Kearns Spirituality Center Mary Sheehan is the chair of Pittsburgh North People for Peace.
Local Activist Community TMC State of the Union by Diane McMahon In 2012 the Thomas Merton Center had many things to celebrate! For one, we were 40 years old! And forty years of peace and justice work was the central unifying theme that helped draw together old and new friends committed to the important goal of creating a more peaceful and just world! Through reconnecting to our friends and supporters we discovered that, now, at this point in history, the work of the Center is just as vital to raising the moral issues that speak to the unjust treatment of oppressed people , the 99% of us, as it was forty years ago. This past year TMC experienced a growth in membership, a doubling from the year before - with 450 active members by year’s end. This was made possible by a dedicated and committed group of members, led by Joyce Rothermel and Michael Drohan, who worked tirelessly to bring the community together at potluck dinners, awards ceremonies, a summer picnic, and in organizing efforts like the trip to protest the School of the Americas in Fort Benning in the fall of 2012. New energy was brought into the center with an increased number of interns and volunteers. We benefited from the expertise of committed advocates, many who came from Pitt, CMU, and Chatham. A group of younger leaders formed the Youth Outreach Committee, and we will be supporting their efforts with the help of board member Ed Brett (a retired La Roche College professor) in the year ahead. Additionally, more than 20 talented, creative and committed interns worked at the Center this last year. We also benefited from the help of current and returning members on a weekly basis. As you might imagine, at TMC there are many tasks that need to be completed. They
range from answering the phone, to engaging members in community organizing activities, completing mailings, to editing and distributing the New People, to name only a few! We are thankful for the dozens of committed volunteers who worked in this capacity and know that the center would not be so strong as it is without their efforts and passion. With renewed commitment to our mission and purpose, and much hard work and volunteer efforts by the board, volunteers, members and interns, the Center was able to end the year with a positive fund balance. This is in no small part due to the strategic plan that was formulated by our Board of Directors in 2012 which will guide the work of the center until 2017. Going forward we will be working towards moving the Center into a more stable position so that the work of our sustainers, members and projects will be supported for generations to come. We invite you to become a part of this effort by choosing to donate to the Molly Rush Legacy Fund, launching your own TMC centered initiative or project, or joining with us in the many community organizing activities that are being facilitated through the Center. One thing remains clear, the Center is only as strong as its members are committed to building a community of peace and justice advocates. The board, staff, volunteers, and interns thank you for your relentless commitment to making this so!
Meet New Board Member Shernell Smith by Joyce Rothermel Believing that each of us has a calling to become an everyday hero, Shernell Smith has joined the board of the Thomas Merton Center for her first two-year term. Shernell serves in the Division of Student Affairs at Carnegie Mellon University, coordinating multi-cultural and diversity initiatives. She is also involved in a variety of aspects of student life and oversees sustainability initiatives. Shernell was attracted to the Merton Center by individuals who are engaged in the mission of the Center. When she first came to Pittsburgh through service learning activities at CMU, Shernell came to know managing director Diane McMahon and Wanda Guthrie, TMC board member. Wanda was at that time involved in the Remembering Hiroshima, Imaging Peace Project. Shernell also worked with Diane and other members on the 2011 Merton Award Event honoring Vandana Shiva, arranging for her to speak on campus. She also engaged some students in the award ceremony. Shernell hopes to learn more about the Center’s history, listening to members’ diverse voices, then identifying ideas for
" I feel guilty because what it costs “ me to be in the hospital for one day could keep a Guatemalan village alive for one year. There's always that sense of why am I alive? … As a result, I feel I have to do something about that, otherwise I would be just sick and stay at home."–Indiana Gazette The gift of being around the Merton Center is getting to know some pretty extraordinary people. Chris Catalfamo, who died at 59 on January 15, 2013, was that and more. Nothing stopped her, not hearing loss, nor years on dialysis from renal failure, caused by scleroderma, an auto-immune disease. Despite having to retire early from teaching history at St. Vincent College, she lived an incredibly full life.
Joyce Rothermel chairs the Membership Committee of the Thomas Merton Center.
Awards Dinner 5%
Diane McMahon is a member of the editorial collective and the managing director of the Thomas Merton Center.
Projects Support 25%
she emailed me last month that she was to have surgery to restore some of her hearing. Then I learned she’d been life-flighted to Pittsburgh for a heart attack. When I called Presbyterian Hospital’s ICU unit she was unconscious. She may have left her family and friends but her spirit and her loving ways will remain with us.
Molly Rush is the co-chair of the editorial collective, co-founder of TMC, board member, and friend of Chris’s.
New Person Awards 5%
Pottlucks, Community Events 5%
Thrifty Store Support 5%
Administration and Accountability 25%
Special thanks to Xinpei He for producing the charts in this report.
History was her passion. An expert on abolitionist movements in Indiana County and the area's role in the Underground Railroad, she enthusiastically promoted that history, writing articles in the Indiana NAACP newsletter and the Indiana Gazette, getting historical markers at key sites and taking part in Civil War re-enactments. Her last article appeared in the Gazette in December. Her other major passion was for social justice. As a board member of the Indiana NAACP she worked for prisoners rights and for single payer health care. I don’t think there was a movement for justice in which she did not play a leading or supporting role. Her enthusiasm and spirit inspired others. She spoke matter-of-factly about her illness, but she was excited when
greater engagement with young people. Understanding the importance of sustainable financial support for the Center, she also agreed to chair the newly formed Development Committee and help with the Center's messaging to the broader community. Upgrading the Center’s technology and improving its uses is also on her radar screen. These tools help to bridge the wisdom of the lived experiences of the Center with newer members as we look to the future. Please join us in welcoming Shernell Smith to the Board!
Thomas Merton Center 2012 Expense Allocation
Chris Catalfamo, Extraordinary Woman, RIP by Molly Rush
M. Shernell Smith
Community Oganizing (ie.School of Americas) 15% New People Publication 15%
In Memoriam, Marcella Raynak This past fall Marcella Raynak, Thomas Merton Center (TMC) member and activist, died at the age of 93. She had been an active member of the TMC Mon Valley Cluster and faithful supporter. We are grateful to Marcella for remembering the TMC in her will. Even in her passing, Marcella is a witness for peace and justice. Submitted by Joyce Rothermel, Chair of the TMC Membership Committee.
February 2013
NEWPEOPLE - 15
February Activist Events Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday 1
Harris Interfaith Lecture: Gershon Baskin, Ph.D Rodef Shalom Synagogue, 4905 5th Ave 11am-2pm 3
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Capital’s End: Move to Anarchism Amend La Roche AVA Lounge 126 S. College, Ryan Highland., Room, 900 East Liberty Babcock Blvd. 3:30pm-7:00pm 4:00 pm6:00pm
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“If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.” —Martin Delany
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Community Bill Hearing on of Right Fracking at Pittsburgh Allegheny Freedom Airport Unlimited RMU, Sewall (Alma Speed Center, 119 Fox Center) 201 Campus Dr. Wylie Ave. 6:00pm-8:00pm 6:30pm-8:30pm
Saturday 2
Pittsburgh Area Strategic Peace Planning
Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 2:30-5pm 8
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"Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise." —Maya Angelou
Weekly Meetings Monday Looking for a place to do your internship? Contact McMahonD@thomasmertoncenter.org.
Tuesday International Socialist Organization Meetings -meeting weekly at the Thomas Merton Ctr. 730-9:30 PM Wednesday Fed-Up! Write on-Letters for Prisoner Rights 7:00 PM—Thomas Merton Center Thursday TMC schedules potlucks on this evening. Interested in having one on an issue that’s important to you? Email JRothermel@tgpcfb.org
Friday 10
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Capital’s End AVA Lounge, 126 S. Highland., East Liberty 3:30pm-7:00pm (ALSO the 17th –see pg. 10 ad)
“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was” —Abraham Lincoln
17 Climate Rally DC (See eblast) What’s With This Weather? ELPC 2:00-4:00 Roman Catholic Feminist (APP) Theology 1:30-4:30 pm Epiphany Center 164 Washington Pl. Pgh., PA 15219
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Health Care 4 All PA office, 2101 Murray Ave. 6:15-8pm
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Capital’s End AVA Lounge 126 S. Highland., East Liberty 3:30pm-7:00pm
20 SW PA Bread for the World Meeting Christian Associates, 37th & Butler St, Lawrenceville 10:00am12:00pm
Happy President’s Day!
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26 “Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice” —Ray Charles
Dear TMC Members, Thanks to all of you who attended the annual membership meeting on Dec. 8, 2012! Your feedback and input for this current year's strategic plan is greatly valued. Please take this opportunity to renew your 2013 membership if you have not already responded to your renewal notice. See the form below, complete it and mail it in or go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org. If you are interested in becoming a part of the TMC Membership Committee or helping to plan the TMC
Become a Member of TMC! __$15: Low Income/Student Membership __$50: Individual Membership __$100: Family Membership __$75: Organization (below 25 members) __$125: Organization (above 25 members) Join at thomasmertoncenter.org/join-donate or fill out the box and mail it in. ONCE YOU BECOME A MEMBER, YOU WILL RECEIVE THE NEW PEOPLE IN THE MAIL! TMC membership benefits include monthly mailings of The New People to your home or email account, weekly eblasts focusing on peace and justice events in Pittsburgh, and special invitations to membership activities. You will be an active member of our community! 16 - NEWPEOPLE
February 2013
14 One Billion Rising Market Square, Downtown, Pittsburgh 12:00pm-2:00pm
PUSH Meeting
TMC Board Meeting 7 pm
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15 Susan B. Anthony Day “Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.” —Susan B. Anthony
21 Human Rights Film Series: Poetry of Resilience Duquesne University, 105 College Hall 7:00-9:30pm
16 The 2nd Annual Food Pantry Brunch Challenge New Hazlett Theater, Allegheny Square East 11:00am-1:00pm
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Pitt Center on Race & Social Problems Speaker Series: Gerald Early "Is Black Music Criminal?" 2017 Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Oakland 12:00pm-1:30pm
Pittsburgh Haiti Solidarity Committee Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Ave. 11:00am-1:00pm
Saturday Black Voices for Peace—Vigil to End War 1:00 pm—Corner of Penn & Highland Ave. East Liberty Sunday Anti-War Committee Mtg. every other week. Economic Justice Committee - varies Environmental Justice Committee - see pg. 8.
Monthly Recurring Meetings First Wednesdays Darfur Coalition Meeting 7:00—9:00 pm—2121 Murray Avenue Second Floor—Squirrel Hill Contact: (412) 784-0256 Pennsylvanians Against the Death Penalty Visit PADP.org for more information.
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New Economy Potluck Dinner Thomas Merton Center, 6:30pm8:30pm
Looking for a place to volunteer on a regular basis. Email McMahonD@thomasmertoncenter.org.
“I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up” —Rosa Parks
Award events this year, please contact me at jrothermel@gpcfb.org or by phone at 412-780-5118. Remember, this is YOUR Thomas Merton Center! We need your active engagement and involvement to create a more peaceful and just world. Thanks for caring! Joyce Rothermel, Chair TMC Membership Committee (Please cut the form out and mail to the address listed.)
Name(s): ________________________________________ Organization (if applicable):__________________________ Address:________________________________ City: __________________ State: __________ Zip Code:_______________________________ Home Phone:____________________________ Cell Phone: _____________________________ Email:_________________________________ Be sure to choose your membership level. Mail to: Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15224. You can also join online at www.thomasmertoncenter.org.
Second Wednesdays PUSH Meeting 6:15—8:00 pm—2101 Murray Avenue First Floor—Squirrel Hill Contact: Molly.rush@verizon.net First Thursdays Green Party Meeting 5:00—7:30 pm—Room C Carnegie Library—Squirrel Hill Third Sundays Fight for Lifers West 10 am to Noon—Crossroads Church 325 N. Highland Ave—East Liberty
Coming Soon! Thomas Merton Award April 13, 2013—Saturday Soldiers & Sailors Museum Awardee: Martin Sheen
What to share your thoughts about The New People? Have a comment or a suggestion about the newspaper? Please take a moment and fill out a New People Readership Survey. Online go to: http://tiny.cc/newpeople Or to take the survey over the phone, call (412-361-3022)
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