PITTSBURGH’S PEACE & JUSTICE NEWSPAPER
VOL. 43 No. 7, July/August 2013
Site of a car bomb explosion in Aleppo, Syria October 2012 — Syrian/Arab News Agency
Destroying Syria Block by Block by Michael Drohan Syria is arguably the center of Arab culture in the Middle East eclipsing many of its neighbors such as Egypt and Iraq. Spoken Arabic in Syria is deemed the purest expression and form of the Arabic language. The state system developed in Syria over the last 40 to 50 years is a secular state, tainted little by the religious extremism that characterizes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other neighboring states. In Syria, there is universal health care underwritten by oil revenues. It differs dramatically from its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and Jordan, in the extent of social welfare, democracy and human rights. All that is now in peril because of a brutal regime. (continued on page 6)
Transit Rights Rally
In this Issue: Destroying Syria -Pages 1 & 6 Anti-Drone Warfare Coalition -Page 4 Humane Immigration? - Page 16 Lobby Success for Food - Pages 17 Full Table of Contents —Page 2
Saturday, August 24 MLK 50th Anniversary March on Washington D.C. by Andrew Marczak Few oratories in U.S. history resonate as strongly as Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. With fearless charisma, MLK delivered his message in front of 250,000 people, the largest rally ever to occur in D.C.. There he delivered a speech that would serve as a guide on how we might build a more peaceful and just world. None could deny the raw enthusiasm of the crowd after MLK belted: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" The nation collectively felt chills as the crowd roared their approval in the summer of 1963.
by Maddy Weiss This past June 4th, 70 people boarded three buses and made the four-hour trek to Harrisburg to rally for adequate funding for public transit. Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) under the leadership of Helen Gerhardt, Staff Community Organizer for PPT. The purpose of the expedition was to fight for a Transit Bill of Rights, which states that all individuals have certain rights when it comes to the quality of public transportation. We have a right to a public mass transit that includes: 1.Safe, reliable, environmentally sustainable, and affordable transit that is accessible to all. 2.Living wages, benefits, safe-working conditions, and union rights for public transit workers. 3.Dedicated and sustainable system for public transit.4.Equitable distribution of public transit costs with corporations paying their fair share. 5.Transit that meets the needs of each community with no communities left out.
(continued on page 10)
TMC Presents
Bill McKibben by Andrew Marczak In 2009, possibly the largest coordinated global rally in the history of our planet occurred. The purpose: to slow global warming through the reduction of fossil fuel use. The man behind the movement, which led to 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations around the world, was Bill McKibben. We invite you to learn more on Monday, November 4, at the Sheraton Station Square where Bill will be honored with the 2013 Thomas Merton Award. (continued on page 3)
(continued on page 9) 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.
PERMIT NO. 458
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.
July/August 2013
NEWPEOPLE - 1
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East End Community Thrift
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New People Editorial Collective Robin Clarke, Rob Conroy, Ginny Cunningham, Michael Drohan, Russ Fedorka, Martha Garvey, Carol Gonzalez, John Haer, Xinpei He, Shahid Khan, Bette McDevitt, Charles McCollester, Diane McMahon, Kenneth Miller, Jonathan Reyes, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush, Marcia Snowden, K. Briar Somerville, Jo Tavener
TMC Staff, Volunteers & Interns Managing Director: Diane McMahon Office Coordinator: Marcia Snowden Office Volunteers: Kathy Cunningham, Monique Dietz, Mary Clare Donnelly, RSM Jasmine Khan, James Lucius, Sarah Ney Finance Manager: Roslyn Maholland Assistant Bookkeeper: Mig Cole East End Community Thrift Store Managers: Shirley Gleditsch, Shawna Hammond, Dolly Mason Interns from local colleges and universities: Jingjie Chen, Kimberly Ciotti, Wes Davis, Xinpei He, Sarah Kuethe, Jennifer Lawer, Qing Li, Andrew Marczak, Emily Neff, Russell Noble, Evan Schindler, Yiqun Sun, Isabella Szabolcs, Maddy Weiss
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
For General Information about the Thomas Merton Center: www.thomasmertoncenter.org
TMC Projects:
TMC Affiliates:
Anti-War Committee info@pittsburghendthewar.org www.pittsburghendthewar.org
Allegheny Defense Project, Pgh Office 412-559-1364 www.alleghenydefense.org
Book‘Em: Books to Prisoners Project bookempgh@gmail.com www.thomasmertoncenter.org/bookem
Association of Pittsburgh Priests Sr. Barbara Finch 412-716-9750 B.a.finch@att.net Amnesty International info@amnestypgh.org www.amnestypgh.org
Capital’s End 724-388-6258, iamholtz@iup.edu
The Big Idea Bookstore 412-OUR-HEAD www.thebigideapgh.org
CodePink: Women for Peace codepinkpgh@aol.com, 412-389-3216 www.codepink4peace.org
Black Voices for Peace Gail Austin 412-606-1408
East End Community Thrift Shop 412-361-6010, shawnapgh@aol.com
CeaseFirePA
Economic Justice Committee drohanmichael@yahoo.com
www.ceasefirepa.org
Environmental Justice Committee
Global Solutions Pittsburgh 412-471-7852 dan@globalsolutionspgh.org www.globalsolutionspgh.org
environmentaljustice@thomasmertoncenter.org
Fight for Lifers West fightforliferswest@yahoo.com
http://fightforliferswest.mysite.com Formerly Convicted Citiznes Dean Williams (412) 295-8606 Harambee Ujima/Diversity Footprint Twitter @HomewoodNation 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
info@ceasefirepa.org
Citizens for Social Responsibility of Greater Johnstown Larry Blalock, evolve@atlanticbb.net 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 Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi 412-761-4319 Pittsburgh Committee to Free Mumia 412-361-3022 pghfreemumia@gmail.com
TMC Standing Committees
marcellusprotest.org
Board Development Committee Recruits board members, conducts board elections Building Committee Oversees maintenance of 5123-5129 Penn Avenue 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
New Economy Working Group MollyRush@verizon.net
Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition 412-303-1247 lisacubasi@aol.com
Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance 412-867-9213
Pittsburgh Independent Media Center info@indypgh.org www.indypgh.org
2 - NEWPEOPLE
Stopping Sexual Assault in Military Page 5 End Corporate Rule Election Protection Page 6 American Nonviolence? Page 7 International Campaigns Page 8
July/August 2013
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition jumphook@gmail.com; www.pittsburghdarfur.org
Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee info@pittsburgh-psc.org www.pittsburgh-psc.org Raging Grannies 412-963-7163 eva.havlicsek@gmail.com
Pittsburgh Haiti Solidarity Committee jrothermel@gpcfb.org 412-780-5118 www.thomasmertoncenter.org/hs
www.pittsburghraginggrannies.homestead.com
Progressive Pittsburgh Notebook Call 412-363-7472 tvnotebook@gmail.com
SW PA Bread for the World Donna Hansen 412-812-1553
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens Group/ Roots of Promise 724-327-2767 murrysvillemarcellus@gmail.com
She will be sorely missed by the volunteers and customers at East End Community Thrift.
Table of Contents
Pittsburgh North People for Peace 412-367-0383 pnpp@verizon.net
Religion and Labor Coalition 412-361-4793 ojomal@aol.com
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 412-471-8919 www.ueunion.org Urban Bikers urbanbikes@yahoo.com
School of the Americas Watch W. PA 267-980-4878 nobler@thomasmertonccenter.org
In Memory of SHIRLEY BROCK (1939-2013) A faithful volunteer for 15 years.
Page 1 March on Washington Transit Rally Destroying Syria Bill McKibben Page 3 Association of Pittsburgh Priests Page 4 Edward Snowden Anti-Drone Coalition
Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy NOW! 412-422-5377, sleator@cs.cmu.edu www.pcdn.org
Roots of Promise 724-327-2767, 412-596-0066 rootsofpromise@gmail.com spiritualprogressives.pgh@gmail.com
EAST END COMMUNITY THRIFT STORE
North Hills Anti-Racism Coalition 412-369-3961 www.northhillscoalition.com
Who’s Your Brother? 412-928-3947 www.whosyourbrother.com Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network 412-621-9230 office@piin.org
Media Relations 101 Urban Roots Page 9 Gun Violence Rally Page 10 Queer Justice Page 11 Prisoners’ Rights Prisons not Schools? Page 12 Birth Control & Poverty Raise the Wage!
Veterans for Peace kevinbharless@yahoo.com 252-646-4810 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Eva 412-963-7163 edith.bell4@verizon.net
TMC is a Member of: Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Martha Connelly 412-361-7872 osterdm@earthlink.net
Page 13 New Economy Mapping Next American Revolution Page 14 Anti-Racist Theatre Page 15 Diversity FOOTprint Community Arts Page 16 Chinese Students and Financial Crisis A New Path to Humane Immigration
Page 17 Farm Bill Defeated! Meet the TMC interns Page 18 Meet Joyce Rothermel of the Board Nominate Board Members Thanks, Anne Kuhn! Join and Remember TMC Page 19 & 20 July Activist Calendar August Activist Calendar
Speaking for Change Join Us in Honoring Environmentalist Bill McKibben (continued from page 1) Bill McKibben, born William Ernest McKibben, started 350.org with the help of seven college students in order to raise global warming awareness and fight the oil corporations’ seemingly unchecked power and political protection. The website gets its name from the level of carbon dioxide that climatologists say is the most we should have in our atmosphere (350 parts per million). We are currently at about 390 parts per million and it is steadily rising, but legislators and politicians seem to be delaying any immediate action to resolve this problem. When McKibben appeared on
The Late Show with David Letterman, he said, “I think 20 years ago, my thought was that if we showed politicians that the world was coming to an end, they might do something. We need to be able to show their careers are coming to an end, and that might motivate them a little more.” With so much money to be lost by oil companies, they surely will not cooperate easily and give up their successful careers. The only way to defeat them is by taking away their profit and political support. McKibben believes that “it is time to divest from fossil fuels.” Divestment is basically the opposite of investment, meaning that companies
Every Monday at 9:00 PM
and individuals need to get rid of their investments and ownership in oil companies in order to lessen the stranglehold of companies such as Exxon Mobil and BP. In addition McKibben believes we must invest heavily in solar and wind power. He has stated that China already has about 250 million people whose water is heated by photovoltaic solar panels, and we need to follow suit. With his popularity and prestige increasing exponentially with books such as Eaarth (2010), multiple talk show appearances, and global demonstrations against the use of fossil fuels, Bill McKibben is now a major player in the environmental Thomas Merton Center will be movement. On November 4th, the honoring Bill McKibben at the Sheraton Station Square, located at 300 West Station Square Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Please join us to celebrate a great leader and spokesperson in the struggle for our environment. To register for the award dinner, please visit
Progressive Pgh Notebook TV Series airs within city limits:
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July:
Black and White Reunion August: Medea See more at www.youtube.com/richfishpgh Benjamin of CODEPINK on Drones Rich Fishkin: Camera and Editor September: Sierra Club C.S. Rhoten: Community Producer Climate Change for PCTV21 Roundtable Watch live at
www.pctv21.org
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Andrew Marczak was born in Canada and grew up in Leverkusen, Germany. He is a Sociology major at Denison University, captain of the tennis team, and an avid ukulele player.
Pittsburgh Community Television Corporation
by Joyce Rothermel The Association of Pittsburgh Priests announces its 2013 FALL LECTURE SERIES. All three talks in the series begin at 7 PM and are held at the Kearns Spirituality Center next to LaRoche College in Allison Park. (behind the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Divine Providence). The first in the series will be Sister Janet Mock, CSJ. It will be held on Monday, Sept. 16. The talk is entitled: “Sense of the Faithful: A View from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.” In 2012 the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a national organization serving leaders of women’s religious communities in the U.S., received a mandate from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to reform its programs and publications, and was placed under the jurisdiction of three bishops. Janet Mock, CSJ, executive director of LCWR, will speak about the experience and what LCWR is
Association of Pittsburgh Priests Announces Fall Speaker Series learning in the process. Janet is a Sister of St. Joseph of Baden, Pennsylvania. On Thursday, Oct. 24, Brother Louis DeThomasis will give a lecture entitled “A Hope Filled Future for the Church.” Br. Louis, a Christian Brother, is an educator and was president of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota from 1984 to 2005. He will present a survey of religion around the world and its effect on the Catholic Church. He will explore the realm of the Christian imagination and its role in creating a church for the future of the People of God in the third millennium. Louis seeks to integrate a “covenant-centric” understanding of the church through the inspiration of the Medieval Jewish “Kabbalah” tradition. He will also present his assessment of the beginnings of Pope Francis’ leadership from his work and residence in Rome. Finally, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, Mary Burke
and Denise Holtz will speak on “Human Trafficking.” Many Americans are unaware that this evil and tragic practice continues to exist in the 21st century. Mary Burke, Professor of Psychology at Carlow University, has been a leader in this region in educating and building public awareness on the subject. FBI Special Agent Denise Holtz has five years experience working on Human Trafficking investigations and is Co-Facilitator of the Western Pennsylvania Human Trafficking Coalition. Donations requested are $15 per presentation and $40 for the series. For more information, contact Fr. John Oesterle at (412) 232-7512. Joyce Rothermel is Chair of the Church Renewal Committee of the Association of Pittsburgh Priests. July/August 2013
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National Insecurity Who's Afraid of Edward Snowden? by Maddy Weiss
Anti-Drone Warfare Coalition Forms at TMC in Pittsburgh by Francine Porter During President Obama's May 23 speech at The National Defense University addressing the closing of Guantanamo and the increased use of drone warfare by the United States, the President was repeatedly interrupted by Medea Benjamin, cofounder of Codepink and well known author and activist, pressing Obama for some straight answers about the legal and ethical use of drones by our country. It appears that Medea isn't the only one outraged by the illegal and immoral use of these pilotless killing machines. Recently, the Anti -War Committee, Codepink, The Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, Vets for Peace, and other concerned locals came together on May 19th to form a new Anti-drone War-
Former CIA technical assistant Edward Snowden has revealed himself to be the source behind the recent National Security Agency leaks on topsecret government spying operations. Snowden, being considered both a hero and a villain by different parties, claims to have released all of the information because of a distaste for the secrecy currently present in the U.S. government. After releasing the information, Snowden fled to Hong Kong on May 20th. He gave a video interview with journalist of The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald, on June 6th. The tension present in the situation regarding whether the 30-year-old should be held as a hero or a criminal depends largely on whether you are more afraid of “Big Brother” government or the threat of terrorist operations. Snowden says he is not afraid to come forward because he has not broken the law and has merely revealed the extent to which the Government monitors the phone calls and emails of the citizenry. The ethical debate has been raised: should we tolerate the violation of civil liberties in the way of Facebook monitoring to the collection of cell phone records or should we fight for our privacy against
fare Coalition in Pittsburgh. The aim is to grow a regional movement to end drone warfare by the United States, including surveillance, and to develop education, action, and legislation that will tie into other groups working towards the same goals in other parts of Pennsylvania and across the US. Some ideas that came up during the first meetings were to find students and/or faculty on college campuses, especially CMU and Pitt, to help expose the work that these two colleges are doing around drone warfare. Members thought that getting photos of casualties from drone attacks and getting them out to the public would put a human face on the killing that these unmanned warriors cause. A play called "The Predator" about drone warfare may be available for the new coalition to bring to Pittsburgh in the fall as well as a
all odds? While many say that Snowden should be arrested and harshly prosecuted, there are other roaring voices saying that he did the right thing, and that he should be praised for doing what was right. No less a person than the great Dan Ellsberg who revealed the Pentagon Papers in the 1960s has proclaimed Edward Snowden as a hero who has saved us from becoming the United Stasi of America. In other words, he has contributed like few others to maintain our right to privacy and freedom of speech. Snowden has promised to reveal more exclusive information at the same time that criminal charges are being prepared based on his admitting to leaking information about controversial and secret government wiretapping. While the government is seriously and actively pursuing an arrest for the leaker, social media websites like Twitter and Facebook have been exploding with support for Snowden and his disclosing of information. The topic, polarizing and two-sided as many American issues are, will be discussed incessantly throughout the coming months as we face one of the greatest ethical debates of the information age. Maddy Weiss is an intern for the Thomas Merton Center.
highly praised new film by Jeremy Scahill entitled Dirty Wars. While stressing the economic impact of how much we spend on war and how it results in cuts in social programs, we will reach out to church groups, local community groups and the Muslim and Pakistani communities in the Pittsburgh area. The Anti-drone Warfare Coalition will meet the third Sunday of each month at 1:30 at The Thomas Merton Center. The next meeting is on Sunday, July 21. For more information contact Francine Porter at francineporter@aol.com, or Pete Shell at pshell1@earthlink.net. Francine Porter is a board member of the Thomas Merton Center and the coordinator of Code Pink.
Committee Forms to Stop Sexual Assault in the Military (SSAM) by Maddy Weiss
Invisible War, directed by Kirby Dick. This awardOn June 3rd at the Friends winning documentary film Meeting House in Shadyside, highlights the epidemic of a new group was formed to sexual abuse in the military. combat sexual assault in the Ginny Hildebrand, organizer military. of the June 3 event, clarified The group, currently that this cause can be won in named Stop Sexual the favor of Assault in the Military justice since (SSAM), is planning there is no on working for one who is legislation to put an actively end to sexual violence supporting in the military. The abuse of group also hopes to women and educate students at men in the local high schools, military. Just universities, and about recruiting centers in everyone is regard to the endemic against it; it’s nature of sexual abuse just a matter in the military. of working SSAM will make use of hard and demanding screenings of the 2012 legislation that will encourage documentary film, The current military administrators 4 - NEWPEOPLE July/August 2013
to interrupt the ways of the classic boys’ club. Joyce Wagner, a veteran, talked about the complications of allegations of rape in the context of military service. She explained that if one is injured with a rifle while serving in the military, they cannot sue because it is classified as an occupational hazard of being in the military. Rape is often regarded similarly. Additionally, one cannot go to the unit commander because that commander is authorized to overturn a conviction of rape. The Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act (STOP Act), introduced at a press conference in D.C. on April 17, 2013, aims to take cases of sexual assault out of the hands of the chain of command.
Instead cases will be put in the hands of an autonomous committee of military judges, the Sexual Assault Oversight and Response Office. Additionally, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is planning to introduce a bill that works under similar guidelines as the STOP Act. The Military Justice Improvement Act is seeking to improve the operation of military justice by removing sexual assault cases from the hands of the chain of command. Army General Martin Dempsey, on the other hand, argues that the commanders have to maintain the disciplinary authority in order to ensure respect and faith in the officer corps. The SSAM committee in Pittsburgh is researching both of these acts of legislation in
order to find congruence between the two and eventually agree upon a central statement that reflects the policies and values of the committee. Screenings of The Invisible War will continue in the fall of 2013 to increase awareness of the urgency of this legislation. With such a passionate and dedicated group, the goals of the committee will surely be met. The next meeting of the SSAM will take place at the Friends Meeting House on Tuesday, July 9 at 5:30 pm. For more information email Ginny - hildebrew@aol.com. Maddy Weiss is a student of nonfiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Democratic Process End Corporate Rule, Legalize Democracy by Isabella Szabolcs
ending corporate personhood and most importantly, “We, the People of the United establishing a States of America, reject the U.S. democratic republic of and Supreme Court's ruling in for the people, Citizens United and other related not corporations. cases, and move to amend our This coalition is Constitution to firmly establish addressing the that money is not speech, and that need for an amendment to human beings, not corporations, the US Constitution to are persons entitled to assert that only constitutional rights.” human beings are guaranteed – Move To Amend constitutional rights and clarify that money is not Move To Amend speech and can be regulated. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend Move To Amend unlimited and anonymous amounts of money on Pittsburgh Affiliate elections in the form of The local affiliate, Move expenditures on January 21, To Amend Pittsburgh, shares 2010 in Citizens United v. equivalent values, mission, Federal Election Commission. objectives and strategies to Alarmingly, the US promote the petition of the 28th Constitution, by allowing Amendment as the national corporations to buy elections, coalition. One of its many has essentially sanctioned resolutions is helping to them to control our achieve 500,000 signatures. In government. The Move To this way, by educating the Amend movement is raising public, community members awareness that the people in a emphasize their ambition and democracy are the ones to put pressure on state and rule, “human beings are federal legislators to pass the people; corporations are legal amendment. This month’s fictions” – Move To Move To Amend Pittsburgh Amend. An association Affiliate’s meeting attended consisting of tens of thousands by Marcia Bandes, Edith Bell, of individuals and hundreds of Tim Cimino, Frank Kirkwood, groups, Move To Amend was Zoë Mizuho, Dan Schlegel, formed in September 2009 Alex Schramm and Isabella and is dedicated to promoting Szabolcs, addressed several economic and social justice,
important topics on their agenda. In summary, these discussions included: devising strategies to further educate the public and pursuing endorsements and affiliations. In terms of educating the public, several MTA-related events were highlighted to help raise awareness on the importance of the Move To Amend movement. One such event on July 27 at 2pm is Zoë Mizuho’s book discussion on Corporations are Not People by Jeffrey D. Clements (The Big Idea Bookstore, 4812 Liberty Avenue). Other events include the Power Shift Conference from October 1821 at the University of Pittsburgh and the Gasland II movie on June 20th at 7pm in Oakland (Soldiers at Sailors hall). Through promoting, attending, and creating brochures, business cards and stamps for these events, petitioning and informally teaching people about the issue, the Move To Amend Pittsburgh Affiliate plans on raising awareness in the public about the importance of passing the 28th amendment. In this manner, they will motivate the public to take action and sign the petition.
Lastly to further educate the public, this affiliate plans on promoting and creating a brief pitch and explanation of the pressing Move To Amend issue. Furthermore, some methods of seeking endorsement are to draft an endorsement solicitation letter to be used to reach out to many organizations such as the affiliates and projects in Pittsburgh’s NewPeople newspaper, organizations such as PennPIRG and organizations identified by the New Economy working group. The Pittsburgh Move To Amend affiliate also plans on affiliating themselves with the Thomas Merton Center, Pittsburgh’s Peace and Social Justice Center. (Many thanks to Tim Cimino in the Move to Amend Pittsburgh Affiliate for compiling the minutes of their June 12th meeting). As seen, this affiliate is working closely with the national MTA strategy in educating the people and seeking endorsements.
you feel like it is time to advocate for the future of democracy in the United State and address the Supreme Court’s misguided rulings, here are the ways you can help! From as simple as signing the Move To Amend petition at movetoamend.nationbuild er.com/petition and joining the Move To Amend Facebook page and following their Twitter, all your help actually makes a difference! For more information on how you can help, visit the Move To Amend’s Take Action Toolkit: movetoamend.org/toolkit
Isabella Szabolcs is a senior at Duke University studying psychology with a minor in cultural anthropology and French. At her past internship with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) in India, she designed an advocacy campaign that raised public awareness for safeguarding women’s leadership in a rural community. Now she is How You Can Help excited to contribute to the To learn more about Move To Thomas Merton Center. Amend and their activities, please visit their website at www.movetoamend.org. If
Volunteer for Non-Partisan Election Protection - Help People Vote! by Celeste Taylor, Lorraine Cook and Tim Stevens
Election Protection is a fixture of the Black Political Empowerment Project’s Volunteer with the Black commitment to civil and human rights! They help Political Empowerment ensure eligible voters are able Project (B-PEP)’s Non to participate in our Partisan Election democracy by monitoring Protection Program: polling sites while collecting data for meaningful reform so Register people to vote that our elections are free, now and help them vote in fair, and accessible. November. Coalition Partners include: Cause PA, ACLU, Election Protection, a Freedom Unlimited, Black project from the Lawyers’ and White Reunion, Committee for Civil Rights Disabilities Rights Network, Under Law, is the nation’s League of Women Voters, largest non-partisan voter Just Harvest and others. protection coalition. The B-PEP's Election Pennsylvania Voter Hotline at Protection Program is held at 1-866- OUR-VOTE (1-866Freedom Unlimited, 2201 687-8683) answers voters' Wylie Avenue. It is questions and documents graciously supported with obstacles to voting.
donations from Mrs. Alma Speed Fox, so there are refreshments for all volunteers who participate in this community action. See you November 5, 2013! Celeste Taylor, Lorraine Cook and Tim Stevens are members of the Black Political Empowerment Project.
July/August 2013
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Stop the Violence Community News Destroying Syria Block by Block, continued from front (continued from page 1) The argument for U.S. involvement in Syria is often couched in terms of humanitarian intervention, similar to Bosnia and Libya. This argument would have us believe that the U.S. is not prompted by any self-interest but merely by humanitarian impulses in the face of grave violations of human rights. This argument, however, has no credibility. The U.S. over the last sixty years has had no difficulty in supporting dictatorial tyrants who brutalized their own people. Examples abound: the Saudi Monarchies, the Shah of Iran, Pinochet in Chile, Mubarak in Egypt, Suharto in Indonesia, Marcos in the Philippines, Duvaliers in Haiti. All these authoritarian dictators and many more were close allies of the U.S. Thus, the contestation that the U.S is involved in Syria for humanitarian purposes has a credibility problem. But beyond that, there is a direct connection between the beginning of the uprisings and civil turmoil in Syria and the U.S. In January 2011, the U.S appointed John Stephen Ford as Ambassador to Syria and two months later the armed insurgency began. Ford is a protégé of John Negroponte, who organized death squads in Honduras in the 1970s and then later in Iraq when he was Ambassador between 2004-05. Ford was under Negroponte in Baghdad in those latter years. In the uprising
against the Assad regime, the U.S. through Ford took advantage of genuine internal demands for reform. If humanitarian rationalization for U.S. intervention in Syria has no legs to stand on, then what is the interest of the U.S. in Syria? In its simplest terms, the motivation behind it reduces to simple geopolitical imperial interest. Syria and Bashar al Assad are part of a triangle with Iran and Hezbollah in opposing U.S. and Israeli policies for dominating the region. At the moment the U.S. sees Syria and Al Assad as the weak link in their attempt to destroy the power of the triad. Reduced to its simplest terms, the U.S. negotiating position is that Al Assad must go, whether through military force or otherwise is immaterial. At the moment, the U.S. is openly supporting the rebels who are a motley crew of fundamentalists and jihadists with some elements that aspire to a more just society. Perhaps the greatest force among the rebels is the Al Nusra Brigade which is a branch of Al Qaida. The U.S. has been at war with Al Qaida for the last twelve years and here it is supporting a branch of the same organization in Syria. Put that down to idiocy or just the logic of empire; you have your pick. In any case, it is a question of trying to uproot a
government that has at least a modicum of legitimacy by an assortment of inter-warring malcontents. In the mainstream press in the U.S., there is rarely a mention of comparison between the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s and the support of rebels in Syria. But that is precisely what we have here. The rebels are armed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey principally with weapons which come originally from the U.S. So whether one likes it or not the U.S. is already militarily involved through surrogates. President Obama has been reluctant to arm the rebels but on June 14 the administration decided to provide arms to the rebels. The supposed reason was
that Syria had used chemical weapons. The real reason, however, is more likely to be that the rebels were suffering serious defeat and the U.S. had to up the ante. This move looks like the thin edge of the wedge leading to a Libya redux situation. If the anti-war and progressive forces cannot rein in the administration, it is very likely that we will have Syria reduced to the status of Libya and Iraq, that is, to a country torn apart by ethnic strife and chaos. And then on to Iran and Lebanon for more mayhem. Michael Drohan is a member of the editorial collective and a board member at the Thomas Merton Center.
Is Nonviolence Possible in America? from “THE STONE” by Todd May
abroad in order to address perceived injustices or a threat to our interests. We still have not rid ourselves of the death penalty, a fact The choice is not between that fills those in other countries violence and nonviolence but with disbelief. Many of us, in between nonviolence and response to the mindless gun violence around us, prescribe more nonexistence. guns as the solution, as the — Martin Luther King Jr. Republicans did during the recent gun debate. We are steeped in violence. Why is this? How has the The bombing at the Boston Marathon provides a time to reflect United States become so saturated in on our responses to the many recent slaughter? There are, of course, many horrors that seem to have engulfed reasons. us and to consider whether we can One reason is the decline of our hope to move from an ethos of ability to control events in the violence to one of nonviolence. world. We might date this decline Facing ourselves squarely at this from our military failure in Vietnam difficult moment might provide a or, if we prefer, more recently to the better lesson for the future than debacle in Iraq. In any event, it is would allowing ourselves to once clear that the United States cannot again give in to blind fury. impose its will as it did during much We might begin by asking the of the 20th century. We live in a question, Who are we now? different world now, and this makes Clearly, we are a violent country. Our murder rate is three to many of us insecure. Our insecurity, in turn, reinforces our five times that of most other desire to control, which reinforces industrialized countries. The massacres that regularly take place violence. Another reason is here are predictable in their economic. The welfare state has occurrence, if not in their time and place. Moreover, and more telling, been in decline for more than 30 our response to violence is typically years now. The embrace of classical liberalism or neoliberalism erodes more violence. We display our social solidarity. Each of us is an might — or what is left of it — 6 - NEWPEOPLE
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investor, seeking the best return on our money, our energies, our relationships, indeed our lives. We no longer count on the government, which is often perceived as the enemy. And we no longer have obligations to those with whom we share the country, or the planet. What would the alternative, nonviolence, look like? And what does it require of us? We must understand first that nonviolence is not passivity. It is instead creative activity. That activity takes place within particular limits. To put the point simply, those limits are the recognition of others as fellow human beings, even when they are our adversaries. That recognition does not require that we acquiesce to the demands of others when we disagree. Rather, it requires that our action, even when it coerces the other (as boycotts, strikes, sit-ins and human blockades often do), does not aim to destroy that other in his or her humanity. To recognize someone’s humanity is, in perhaps the most important way, to recognize him or her as an equal. Each of us, nonviolence teaches, carries our humanity within us. That humanity cannot always be appealed to. In some cases, as with the tragedy at Sandy Hook, it can even become
nearly irrelevant. However, in all but the most extreme cases, nonviolence summons us to recognize that humanity even when it cannot serve as the basis for negotiation or resolution. It demands the acknowledgment that we are all fragile beings, nexuses of hope and fear, children of some mother and perhaps parents to others: that is, no more and no less than fellow human beings in a world fraught with imponderables. Learning this lesson will not bring back the life of Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell or the other murdered victims in Boston. It will not return to health those who were injured on that day. It won’t bring back Trayvon Martin or the children of Sandy Hook. But it will, perhaps, point the way toward a future where, instead of recalling yet more victims of violence in anger and with vows of retribution, we find ourselves with fewer victims to recall. Todd May is a past Board President of the Thomas Merton Center and a Memorial Professor of the Humanities at Clemson University.
International Issues Moving Forward on Haiti by Allie Makosky Partners in Progress (PIP) is a national, nonprofit organization based in Pennsylvania and created in 1999 by members of the Pittsburgh Regional Haiti Solidarity Committee. They promote sustainable community development in rural Haiti by partnering with local visionary community-based organizations such as Centre d’Inspiration Jeunesse (CIJ) and the Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF). Such collaborations work towards systemic solutions to long-term problems of food insecurity and environmental degradation. PIP’s projects focus on the areas of infrastructure, agro-forestry, small business development, public health and education for children, youth, and adults. Through its “Educational Outreach,” Partners in Progress spreads the news in the U.S. of both the successes and the struggles of its Haitian partners. Fondwa suffered severe damage after the massive earthquake in 2010. The St. Antoine School, which enrolls more than 600 students, was left a pile of rubble. APF made the reconstruction of St. Antoine the focal point for rebuilding Fondwa out of their belief that “education is the means to overcome misery.” Remarkably, the school reopened within eight weeks of the earthquake in temporary structures jointly financed by Partners in Progress and Family Health Ministries (FHM). As PIP’s Spring Newsletter of 2013 (available at www.PIPHaiti.org) shows, the construction of the permanent school has progressed rapidly. Construction began in 2012, and the new classroom complex is expected to be available for classes in 2013-2014. In Deslandes, a second classroom was built for CIJ using stabilized “ Compressed Earth
Blocks” (CEBs) to replace the previous open pole and metal structure. These “Earth Blocks” are made of locally available materials and are more seismic resistant, more environmentally friendly, and stronger than cement blocks. The thermal properties of the “earth blocks” combine with an insulated, corrugated metal roof to maintain a cooler classroom temperature than conventional cement block buildings. There are currently plans for the construction of additional classrooms and the addition of a solar powered computer lab. Funding for the Deslandes construction has come largely through the dedicated efforts of “Anne Mullaney’s Friends for Haiti,” to honor the memory of former PIP board member Anne Mullaney who died in April 2011. Partners in Progress is also working towards the restoration of the ecosystems in Deslandes, especially after the painful drought they experienced last summer. In collaboration with CIJ, they launched the “Initiative to Improve Soil Health and Increase Food Security.” While resources are made available to farmers, agroecological techniques are used to improve the overall health of soil. They can now safely experiment with growing techniques of foods with economical value. Forty-five farmers from rural Deslandes have received training and now have the opportunity to gather and share resources, tested agro-ecological strategies, and conservation of crops, trees, and plants. This initiative has helped increase food production, decrease malnutrition and diversify income-generating opportunities for rural Haitians. Executive Director Dr. Richard Gosser says that it is “arguably the most important project we're engaged in because of its replicability and potential for long-term positive impact in the areas of food sovereignty and care for the environment.”
Partners in Progress publishes its “Windows on Our Worlds” newsletter four times a year and back issues are available on the PIP website (www.PIPHaiti.org). PIP is grateful to all its friends and benefactors. It is only through the loyal and generous support of many individual donors and congregations as well as some foundations and other organizational support that PIP is able to successfully carry out its mission “to promote and support sustainable community development in rural Haiti.” Dr. Gosser says, “To all those who make possible its work, PIP offers a ‘kout chapo’ (tip of the hat) and a ‘gwo mesi’ (big thank you).” Allie Makosky is an intern with the Pittsburgh Haiti Solidarity Committee.
Celebrate Partners in Progress What: Reception and Presentation by PIP Executive Director Dr. Richard Gosser and board members on the past successes and future hopes of PIP When: Saturday, August 17, 2013 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Where: Duquesne University’s Bayer Building Rotunda For more info or to RSVP by Wednesday, August 7, 2013, call: 412-651-3150. Hosted by: Duquesne University, Office of the President Partners in Progress Pittsburgh Regional Haiti Solidarity Committee
More on Friedensdorf, Haven for Children of War by Bette McDevitt In the last NewPeople, I recounted a trip to Friedensdorf, which translates to Peace Village, located in the Ruhr Valley of Germany in the town of Oberhausen. Pittsburgh musician Mike Stout had presented a concert there for
children who are victims of war and poverty from around the world, as well as a fundraising concert. Founded in 1967, Friedensdorf was the result of talks between a Lutheran minister, Fritz Berghaus, and the former mayor of Oberhausen, Luise Albertz. “They said they had to do more than pray," said Wolfgang Mertens, director of the Village. "We Germans have to be aware of and face our responsibility concerning our past for all that happened to the Jews and others during World War II." Since the Six Day War was then under way, the group first planned to bring children from the Middle East to
photo by Bette McDevitt
have picked up something shiny on the ground- a landmine that explodes in their hands. Mike commented on how many children, when he reached out to touch hands with them, had no hands. One child from Afghanistan slept with her eyes open, because her eyelids had been burned off. German doctors believe they can help her. Friedensdorf welcomes visitors and has space to accommodate people who want to organize seminars and retreats there focused on creating a peaceful world. For more information, please visit their website, www.friedensdorf.de, or contact me at bettemcd@verizon.net
Germany. But the plan was dropped when a truce was declared. Then came Vietnam. "This war stepped into our living rooms, through television, and changed the world," said Mertens. The first children then came from Vietnam. The 200 children during our visit, ranging in age from 6 months to 14 years, have been selected to come for medical care in hospitals and clinics in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, followed by a rehabilitation period at Friedensdorf before they return home. They come from 15 countries, including Angola, Afghanistan, Romania, Georgia and Bette McDevitt is a member of the Vietnam. editorial collective. Every year, about 1,000 children receive this care. Often the children
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Community Organizing Urban Roots:
Media Relations 101
Becoming an Awakening
by Anne E. Lynch As social justice organizations, most of us don’t have paid staff to do our media relations for us. In fact, most of the time, we consider ourselves lucky if we find a volunteer who says they’ll draft a press release. But, with a little know-how, all of us can be a media liaison for our social justice areas of expertise! Media have to know about an event in order Three Rivers to show up. Send a press release! Press releases COMMUNITY FOUNDATION should be no more than one page – most media personnel won’t have time to read past the first paragraph. In today’s world, you’ll get more of a response if you email the release in the body of your email (not as an attachment). Ensure the basic information is there. If you’re trying to get them to come to an event, include the five W’s – who, what, where, when, and why. The location should include the full address and zip code – reporters appreciate it if you don’t make them search for details. Include a contact name and phone number that will be answered on the day of your event. Call them the day after your email is sent to ensure they received them, and offer to answer any advance questions. Before any event, appoint a media liaison. This is the person who, when the press shows up, will be your spokesperson. They should have a good idea of what the issue is, and what the event plan is. They should be able to field questions ranging from basic background information to nit-picking details. It’s a good idea for this person to practice beforehand with someone throwing questions their way. On the day of the event, have a person assigned to greeting media personnel and giving them either the written statement which you’ll be making (see below), or press packets (a copy of the press release, written statements, and any necessary background information). The person doing the greeting does not have to be the media liaison! Any friendly person will do, but they should be able to direct reporters to the official media person in your group. On to your written statement - while it’s fine to go in front of the media and speak off-the-cuff, it looks more professional if you’re reading from something you’ve already prepared. This also keeps you on track, avoiding tangents, and, since you’ve provided it to reporters, keeps them from misquoting you. If a reporter asks you a question you are not prepared to answer, do not feel obligated to provide an answer! You are perfectly fine telling them that you are not able to answer at that time. It’s better to acknowledge that you don’t have all the information at your fingertips than to give out incorrect answers. Something I’ve learned over the years is that you really should dress up for interviews. If you present yourself as a professional, the media will take you more seriously and consider you a professional. The more the media see you as a professional and expert, the more likely they are to call you when they get a story and preemptively ask for a statement on issues they know you care about. What should you do when you’ve done everything perfectly, and no one from the media shows up because another huge thing happens? Use letters to the editor! The letters are the second-most read page in a newspaper (the front page being the most read). Take the unexpected event and put your own spin on it, if possible. My favorite example of this comes from TRCF grantee Consumer Health Coalition. They organized an event about disability rights, had all their media lined up, the morning came and – Myron Cope passed away. They wrote a letter about how much they mourned his passing, and how much he did for the disability community. They turned the conversation around, bringing it back to their issue. My final tip – if you do get media coverage, thank them! Even if the coverage is not entirely positive, thank reporters for coming. This goes a long way in developing a true relationship with a reporter, which will ultimately assist you in getting better coverage.
by Colleen Donovan On Thursday, May 30, The Center for Community Growth in Indiana, Pennsylvania, screened Urban Roots, the 4th film in its six-month series at the Indiana Theater on Philadelphia Street. The timing of this film about urban gardening and farming in Detroit, Michigan, coincided with many local gardening projects including Planting Day at the Indiana Community Garden (ICG). As gardeners in Western Pennsylvania know, the last weekend in May represents the last frost date, and thus, time for planting. The documentary film Urban Roots demonstrates that a collective, community gardening movement is taking root. It shows how in Detroit, sustainable agriculture serves as a balm to the devastation of a collapsing economy. There, where the automotive industry once ruled, the wrecked economy has left behind crumbling factories and foundries abandoned by the corporations that had once profited greatly. In Detroit, urban farmers and community activists have awakened to the opportunities presented by acres of underutilized land. Leila Conners, co-producer of Urban Roots, writes: “So when everything collapses, this urban farming story of Detroit demon-
Anne E. Lynch is the Manager of Operations at Three Rivers Community Foundation. The Thomas Merton Center is a proud consumer of TriEagle Energy.
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strates that one good option is that people come together to solve their problems, and discover that the fiber of community is powerful.” This community of activist farmers has renewed the spirit of a once proud city. Now, more people yearn for a New Economy, one that, as described by political economist Gar Alperovitz , is “increasingly green and socially responsible.” In response, members of “The Center” hope that their six-month film series will sow the seeds for future action plans that foster New Economy projects. Gardeners, farmers, and foodjustice activists know the value of seeds. Community agriculture, even in small, rural communities, has an important role in planting and sustaining this movement. Members of the Indiana Community Garden are proud of their accomplishments after having established the community garden only one year ago. According to the ICG Website, the mission statement presents the central purpose, that is, to promote a “healthy and enjoyable community movement through planting, harvesting, cultivating, educating, cooking and sharing of knowledge and ideas.” In this respect, ICG represents a cooperative, collaborative, “green and socially responsible” New Economy project. Representing cooperative gardening initiatives, members of ICG participated in a panel discussion following the film. Among them were Nicole-Dann-Payne, Marie Olson, Sandi Petkus, and Kay Snyder, members of the steering committee instrumental for establishing the garden’s successful first year. Renzy Shade from Gaia’s Garden in Pittsburgh described her experiences with permaculture. Cybil Moore, an Indiana resident, spoke of her involvement with the Chevy Chase Center and its community garden. Gardeners know the aches and pains of planting awaken hope for a successful harvest. That evening at the Indiana Theater, many expressed hope to plant more than their local gardens. They hope that their efforts tap into “the awakening,” a national and world-wide social justice movement that serves to address economic, nutritional, and spiritual problems of people. The Center for Community Growth supports sustainable projects that balance economics, the environment, and social justice. Working together, in a collective spirit, this endeavor has a promising harvest. Colleen Donovan is a member of The Center for Community Growth in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Harrisburg Rotunda Rallies E: UPDAT
IT TRANS G FUNDIN OM CUT FR BILL
Outcry For the Right to Public Transit (continued from page 1) The large group, most of them being from Pittsburgh, stood together with signs emblazoned with slogans such as “More Transit, Not Less,” “Transit Lines are Life Lines,” and “Public Transit Gets Us To Our Jobs.” They chanted loudly in the rotunda of the state capitol, yelling “’What do we want?’ ‘Transit!’ ‘When do we want it?’ ‘Now!’” as emcee Molly Nichols, a Pittsburgh bus rider and organizer, proclaimed that a bill for adequate, dedicated, long term, reliable public transit was necessary. Funding should not come at the expense of workers, stressed Nichols. Senator Jay Costa, speaking at the rally, explained that he would fight to make sure that “there will not be a fiscal cliff or a transit cliff in 8 years.” Costa, along with many of the other legislators that spoke at the rally, explained that it’s important to have a strong, bipartisan effort. We must support companies that support transit. “Dedicated and adequate!” roared the voices that were occupying the marble rotunda. Riders of public transit want a system that they can rely on for years
to come; that is enough for them to support their quality of life. Rep. Dan Frankel stressed that “We take care of everyone in this state,” adding, “we need to come together like we have time and time again.” There was a buzz in the room over corporations and their part in public funding. Giant corporations employ workers from a wide radius around Pittsburgh. If they aren’t paying their share, it makes it that much more difficult for their employees who rely on public transit to make it to their jobs. A representative from the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network spoke at the rally of her reliance on public transit. Availability of public transit affects everybody’s way of life. It affects how she raises her children and how everyone lives their daily life of going to work, to shop, to bring their kids to school. Rep. Ed Gainey, of the 24th district, commanded the audience with his booming voice, declaring “we have an obligation to create dedicated lines of funding for mass transit!”
by Helen Gerhardt
photo by Michael Drohan
“We don’t talk separation, we talk unification,” stressed Gainey. On the ride home, I was able to hear about the bus system first hand from a transit worker. One rider on the bus, a man of faith, was thankful that we had all come out to help those who depend on public transit. He talked about how hard he works in order to receive his pension. He talked about how when he visited other cities, the buses were clean and well maintained. They were quiet. No one was approaching the bus drivers to bother them as oftentimes happens in Pittsburgh. The drivers were treated with respect, which we must all remember as we ride buses or fight for more of them.
Finally, on a personal note, I am a regular bus rider. To get to the places where I need to go each day I wake up two hours before I’m expected to be anywhere. I take two buses 6 days of the week to be where I need to be. I could not function without an adequate means of public transit. When I heard from Molly Nichols that the Amalgamated Transit Union was confident that the bill would go through, a weight was lifted off of my shoulders as well as the collective shoulders of everyone in the rotunda of the state capitol building. Maddy Weiss attended the Harrisburg Rally and rides the bus in Allegheny County.
Following the June 4 rally, sigh of relief transformed to mighty shout of outrage. State Representative Dick Hess, majority chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has introduced last minute amendments which would gut the funding sources for public transit originally proposed in Senate Bill 1. And the amendments would require that 10% of public transit routes be privatized in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Multiple studies have shown that privatization results in less quality service, higher accident rates, terrible working conditions and far more expensive fares. Privatization has failed again and again, including here in Allegheny County. We will not be set up to fail yet again. We stand together for the labor rights of all workers. We call on Governor Corbett and our state legislators to require that corporations pay their fair share towards the infrastructure they profit from. We will not stand for privatization of a public resource crucial to our jobs, economies, safety, and communities. We invite you to join our mass meeting on Saturday, July 20th at 10:00 am at One Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh to plan our fall actions. Helen Gerhardt is Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s organizer. http:// www.pittsburghforpublictransit.org/
Pennsylvanians Call for an End to Gun Violence by Qing Li
our state capital. Its agenda is to promote universal background I went to Harrisburg with my checks, a statewide law for reporting friend Qian to join the rally to stop lost or stolen handgun, and limits on the gun violence on June 5. Thirty magazine sizes for ammunition. people left for Harrisburg at 7a.m. My interest in going was from Wilkinsburg High School. This because I heard that two Chinese trip was organized by CeaseFirePA international students were killed by in order to rally for common sense guns in the University of Southern gun laws. CeaseFirePA is a California in the last year. In China, community organization that citizens are not permitted to carry a partnered with local leaders and state gun on their person so I was never legislators to create a day of action in worried about becoming a victim of
photo by Qing Li
gun violence. Before I came to the United States, my friends warned me about walking through the streets in a dangerous neighborhood because of the high rates of violence. Once I began living here, I realized the frequency of gun violence is not as high as I had heard it was in the news, but I still get afraid when I remember that a person could be carrying a gun on the street. Our bus arrived at the East Rotunda entrance of the state capitol at noon. The officers that work there followed us through. We made appointments with state Representatives Paul Costa and Dan Deasy, one at 12:30pm and one at 12:45pm. We went to their offices and told them about our purpose, stopping gun violence. At 1:30pm, we all rallied in the rotunda, preparing to hear legislative leaders give their speeches about what they have planned in order to protect citizens from gun violence. We were trying to reach Representatives Rob Matzie and Adam Ravenstahl, but unfortunately, they didn’t make themselves available to see us. On that day, there were many groups rallying in the Capitol to take
a stand against gun violence. I was very impressed by a woman who gave a speech, crying, about her son who died from a shooting just after he graduated from university. From her speech, I can imagine how heartbreaking it must feel to be parents who have lost their children to guns. What is going to happen because of our efforts at the rally is uncertain, but at least we stood up to express our position and made our voices heard. Citizens’ action toward influencing the government is a significant difference that I’ve noticed between the United States and China. In China, civilians have a hard time getting in touch with their government and, even if they have a chance to state their ideas, government rarely takes them seriously. But in the United States, citizens are demanding a chance to participate in government action and their appeal will be taken seriously or so it seems. Qing Li is an intern at the Thomas Merton Center. She is a student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.
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Civil Rights Gays, Be Proud — Queers, Demand Justice!
50th Anniversary “I Have a Dream” Speech
March on Washington
by K. Briar Somerville
The streets of downtown Pittsburgh were hung gaily with banners in June: alternating rainbow flags and a pair of colorful wedding bands, art marking the weeks leading up to the Gay Pride music Parade. While the poetry Pittsburgh AIDS Task politics Force made an impression
(continued from page 1)
While we have come a long way since that day on August 1963, racism continues to be a major problem plaguing our world. Overt racism and violence are much less common than they used to be, but more hidden forms such as colorblind racism (the ignorance of race to the point of being racist) and job/university July There’s always a party! ust 4 with 7 admission inequality Aug condom are common. Also, the Civil party favors hilia, Righ LGBT movement is, ts: Homop reminding J obs arguably, the modern day a Helen "AIDS doesn't Free nd with hardt & equivalent of the civil rights dom Ger discriminate" movement. Like the civil , with Mertz B / R and a few P aul rights movement of the 60s LeBl anc slogans about where AfricanAmericans were fighting to gain job at Ava Lounge First Sundays Liberty equality, end police d Avenue, East an hl ig H S. 6 12 brutality, and fight 6:30-9:30 PM racism, the LGBT movement faces many similar workers' problems. Being openly gay is often considered a justice were thrown around, these distraction for employees, military officers, or and other pressing queer issues classmates. Thus, many tend to ignore the issue were overshadowed by the call for altogether. Also, members of the LGBT community are often confronted with hatred and marriage equality at the parade. Today's gay’s threats to their life by those around them. Those family-values who are supportive of LGBT rights are often too uncomfortable to let people know they support it, interest in leading to a feeling of alienation for members of monogamy makes for better the LGBT community. PR than the Racism is still at the forefront of discussion today as we near the 50th anniversary of MLK’s stigmatization of HIV. The “I Have a Dream” speech. Many of his eloquent campaign that has words are still relevant in today’s world, even made "gay pride" though the stereotypical forms of racism are on synonymous with the decline. "marriage While equality" attracts racism will straight allies like inevitably be Clint Benjamin, a neverwho attended the ending June 16 parade struggle, with his MLK proved preschool-aged daughter. to the world Benjamin used the marriage that we can discussion as an opportunity to unite under a explain to his daughter how "there mutual love are different kinds of families." of peace and This author, whose gay justice in the parents - together for 22 years face of were just married in New York, oppression knows firsthand how marriage and hate. inequality can impact a family: Come health and tax benefits and unite in visitation rights are denied gay memory of partners; it is harder to adopt and MLK’s iconic speech in Washington D.C. on get loans having only a "single" Saturday, August 24th to celebrate the progress person's income; gay immigrants we have made as a nation in the last 50 years. cannot claim relation to their This rally will also serve as a reminder for what spouses; and children shared by changes still need to be made and how we can gay couples might be separated make Martin Luther King Jr.’s utopian dream a from a living parent who has no beautiful reality. legal right to care for them if the Bus transportation to D.C. will be available other parent dies. from Pittsburgh. For more information contact But gay marriage only MLKtrip@thomasmertoncenter. benefits gay couples. Those left behind by the mainstream gay Andrew Marczak is a rising senior at Denison University majoring in sociology and a summer agenda include genderqueers, transfolk, non-monogamists, intern at the Thomas Merton Center. queers of color, queer prisoners, sex workers, and the queer poor
Capital’s End
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and youth-- because marriage equality does not solve the problems of those whose minority sexual orientation or gender identity intersects with other forms of oppression. According to the Center for Disease Control, “African Americans, more than any other racial/ethnic group, continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV in the United States.” In other words, AIDS does discriminate, but no one is immune. The Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force provides free, anonymous rapid HIV testing: just call them at 412345-7456 or visit www.patf.org. Healthcare reform will still be a pressing need for queers after marriage equality. Unmarried queers facing economic hardship will remain uninsured. Medical professionals are often unaware of the health needs, risks, and realities of sexual minorities, and queers may be afraid to come out to their healthcare providers. The PERSAD Center on Penn Avenue in Garfield specializes in counseling and risk prevention for the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities and can be
probable PTSD.” Lesbians and genderqueers are sometimes raped because their rapists think they need to be “turned straight.” Trans women who are legally classified as men are often raped in prison or put in long term solitary confinement to prevent them from being raped by their fellow inmates. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania prisoners who are moved to solitary confinement are frequently sexually abused by guards and other prison personnel, whose most severe repercussion will be getting fired if they get caught. Suicide rates are about three times higher for LGBT people than average. Bisexuals have the highest suicide rate among queer populations and “the lowest emotional well-being of any sexual orientation group,” according to Brown University Health. Having the option to choose either a different- or samesex legal marriage will not prevent bisexuals from feeling pressure to choose between gay and straight. Queer youth who aren't ready to settle down and get married face different challenges in their everyday HUFFINGTON POST lives from older monogamous same-sex couples. Speaq, a monthly spoken word open mic for queers under 21, takes place the last Monday of each month at Ava Lounge in East Liberty. At Speaq, the young poets discuss reached at 1-888-873-7723. Queers are disproportionately riding the bus, struggling for employment, complicating the affected by poverty. A National gender binary, combating bigotry Transgender Discrimination Survey found that the transgender and racism, and yes, chasing unemployment rate was twice the tail. Speaq is a project of www.dreamsofhope.org. national average. Similarly, the National Coalition for the At the Ava Lounge from 6:30 Homeless reports that “20% of -9:30 pm on Sunday, August 4, homeless youth are LGBT. In veteran activist Helen Gerhardt comparison, the general youth and poet R/B Mertz will present population is only 10% Capital’s End: Homophilia. LGBT.” Elderly lesbians are Come, queers and allies, for twice as likely to be poor as entertainment and discussion in elderly straights. friendly open space at 126 S. Sexual and gender minorities Highland Avenue in East Liberty. often endure school bullying, sexual abuse, and hate crimes. K. Briar Somerville is a proud A 2010 study from the queer member of the TMC Harvard School of Public Health editorial collective. Briar has found that sexual minorities are worked with the National twice as likely as heterosexuals to Organization for Women and the experience violence over their MIX-NYC Experimental Queer lifetimes. The same researchers Film Festival. “identify gender nonconformity as an indicator of children at increased risk of abuse and
Prisoners’ Rights Pennsylvania Turns a Blind Eye to Prisoner Abuse by Sarah Kuethe
There is a host of violations that occur within prisons In August of 2012, a across Pennsylvania - not prisoner from the State just in Pittsburgh. However, Correctional Facility in Attorney General Kathleen Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Kane so far has only contacted ally and concentrated on the crimes watchdog Kenneth Sible to that are occurring in share his story. As a victim Pittsburgh. of rape perpetrated by Attorney General Kane correctional officers in the has spoken on behalf of the prison, he reached out to department of corrections ask for help in seeking in order to uphold the firing further treatment and of several guards found protection. guilty of such crimes, but Unfortunately, his story it’s not enough to focus on is only one of many that only one area. This kind of Kenneth Sible receives attention needs to be from prisoners in Pittsburgh directed at correctional and other prisons in facilities across the Pennsylvania. This letter commonwealth. demonstrates a pressing Furthermore, Kenneth concern that Mr. Sible and Sible calls for a harsher others, such as State punishment than the loss of Senators Smith and a job in the face of such Kitchen, have been working crimes. Guards who have steadfastly to bring to light. committed these crimes need to be To receive a free copy of the prosecuted and given time for independent Crime Watch Newsletter exposing injustices their actions. Kenneth Sible has in the PA prison system, reached out to please write to: Senator Pat Toomey, who has Kenneth Sible proved unhelpful P.O. Box 275 when addressed Latrobe, PA 15650 with concerns
about guns, drugs and rape within the penal system. These issues have been continually pushed aside or not taken seriously enough by officials and legislators. In order to increase awareness, constituents need to reach out to their representatives and to activist groups in their communities to urge them to take action. Sible says, “If you’re willing to stop crime on the streets you have to be willing to stop crime in the prisons.” To make this happen, we have to question why these crimes are being allowed to happen and why no one is doing anything about them. The prisoner who contacted Mr. Sible back in August of 2012 asking for help has since not been visited or contacted to receive treatment. For every prisoner who reaches out, we have to speak up. Sarah Kuethe is a summer intern with the Thomas Merton Center and a student at the University of Pittsburgh.
PA Votes to Build Prisons Rather Than Fund Schools by Donna M. Hill Pennsylvania and the PA House of Representatives recently passed a tax break for corporations that will cost the state an estimated $600 million annually. They also are allocating another $400 million to expand two existing jails: Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh and the Fayette County Jail, scheduled to be completed in 2015. Construction on the penitentiary is said to be "the second-most expensive state project ever" and began just days after the Pennsylvania School Reform Commission voted down a plan to close “only” four of the 27 schools scheduled to be shut down in the city of Philadelphia. Facing a $304 million debt, the Commission instead approved a $2.4 billion budget that would shut down 23 public schools, wiping out roughly 10% of the city’s total. Although Western Penitentiary (State Correctional Institution, Pittsburgh) has struggled with lawsuits claiming widespread physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, the additional cell blocks and classrooms will be capable of housing almost 5,000 inmates. Officials say there will be buildings for female inmates, the mentally ill and a death row population. Youths of color already disproportionately fill the prison
industrial complex. Closing innercity schools is a perfect formula for creating conditions for increased crime rates. Surely how and where Pennsylvania spends its tax revenue at long last exposes a blatant and obvious racist policy. Slavery is still alive and thriving. It has only been changed by the insidious way it is conducted. All decent people of moral conviction should be outraged and take action to stop this monumental debasement and decay that will affect the entire societal structure of not only Pennsylvania, but of the whole of civilization as we know it. Today it is happening in Philadelphia, with inner-city schools. If you think you are immune to the injustices of our judicial system and it can’t happen to you, think again. We must act now! Donna Hill is President of Fight For Lifers West and a member of DeCarcerate PA. decarceratePA@gmail.com www.decarceratepa.info 267-217-3372 Fight For Lifers West is a project of the Thomas Merton Center.
Prisoner Pen Pals Needed! Please write to these individuals: Eugene McClane #HS6351 P.O. Box 9999 LaBelle, PA 15450
Donald Flynn #CT 6430 1 Kelly Drive Coal Township, PA 17866
Joe Dyson #CA 8143 1000 Follies Road Dallas, PA 18612
Robert Donaghy #JQ 2762 1211 Bainbridge Street Philadelphia, PA 19147
Chris A. Balmer #GX 5754 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370
Ken Gochring #AK 5350 P.O. Box 99991 Pittsburgh, PA 15233
Mark Taylor #HB 6356 P.O. Box 200 Camp Hill, PA 17001
Allan D. Buyna #AP 8203 P.O. Box 945 Marienville, PA 16239
Granger Simmons #GZ 2904 1 Kelly Drive Coal Township, PA 17866
William Coward #JS 6508 1120 Pike Street Huntington, PA 16654
Josua J. Brady #KB 5912 P.O. Box 244 Greaterford, PA 19426
Marty Dunbar #CM 9649 P.O. Box 945 Marienville, PA 16239
protections, and no paid sick days or personal days. In 2013, Pennsylvania state representative Jordan Harris supported House Bill 908: a bill that will give by Muwsa Green offenders who served time for less serious crimes a chance to go before a Racism keeps people judge after seven years to show why divided. Ultimately, we will find our they deserved to be pardoned. Harris position weakened by allowing isn’t doing this to benefit prisoners, but separation and unequal conditions to rather to receive the majority support. If exist and by adhering to backward he or other politicians did care about beliefs of prisoners, why inferiority aren’t there more based on race. offenders working Racism in U.S. next to them in society has office? How is an been deeply offender going to ingrained show why they because U.S. deserve to be capital was pardoned after amassed seven years when through some jobs fail to employ of the most offenders with extreme and talent? brutal forms of We must repression. come to an Corporate understanding that prison is unity brings us another strength in numbers, and the strength segment of racial separation because the that unity brings us will be transformed government and media segregate into power once we become organized. prisoners from society by calling them Unity and organization are like the criminals, savages, or worse. hands on a body that work together. If The media promotes propaganda we work together, we can accomplish about a citizen case before trial in order more. to target people’s emotions to cause bias Muwsa Green is an inmate at the State and controversy. The judicial system Correctional Institution – Fayette. has a permanent mark on prisoners Write to: Muwsa Green being released back into society. This #HV 5362 mark was created to stall prisoners from Box 9999 receiving high paid jobs with benefits. LaBelle, PA 15450 60% of jobs offer low wages to released prisoners with inadequate job
Rights for Offenders Facing Discrimination
July/August 2013
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Economic Justice Birth Control, Abortion, and Poverty by Daniel Hanson The past two years have seen an increase in anti-poor and antiwoman rhetoric which may be inseparable from the ongoing current of misogyny and subtle tyranny in American conservatism. Simultaneously, the Christian Right has, mostly in response to the Affordable Healthcare Act, dredged up some seriously medieval rhetoric on birth control from the depths of its fundamentalist backwardness. It’s regrettable that there has not been much discussion of birth control availability as a remedy for the demand for abortions as well as for the endemic poverty that is supposedly draining our welfare state. As the seemingly irreconcilable debate over abortion rages on for the fortieth year, a policy that lowers its necessity across the board should be the goal of both sides. Last year, a study by the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggested that the rate of abortion in a study group of low-income women suddenly declined with the passage of Obamacare. It expanded the availability of reproductive health care through employers and ended the need for a copay to receive resources from a pharmacy. Even if fundamentalists on one side of the political aisle decry birth
control and abortion as “equally sinful,” they will need to realize at some time or another that they cannot oppose both issues. The other side of the aisle will need to take up birth control availability as the most rational, humane, and perhaps most effective antidote to abortion demand. Employer-based coverage is a step in the right direction, but it still leaves massive gaps in coverage. Simple steps towards universal coverage can be made relatively easily. Grocery and convenience stores can carry free condoms at request by mandate of law or tax incentive, alongside free information about different methods of contraception. A well-publicized state hotline that directs men and women to the nearest source of affordable contraception and gives free advice on its use would definitely benefit any birth control availability plan. More radically, state benefits such as WIC (Women, Infants, and Children Program) or food stamps should include extensive birth control education and availability programs. Lower-income women have frequently been shown to have the highest rate of abortion and certainly have the most at stake from an unplanned pregnancy. Perhaps homeless shelters should be required
to distribute information and contraceptive devices to their clients, and welfare offices could give free prophylactics. This need-centered approach may seem problematic for enemies of the welfare state as well as for those sympathetic to the continued dignity of its patrons, but this perspective misses the role of parenthood in the mechanism of sustaining poverty. Myriad studies on the subject have shown a correlation between income level and unplanned pregnancy. The cost of a child to an impoverished family or single woman is certainly not easily absorbed. As lower-income people gain greater access to and usage of birth control, the rate of abortion, poverty, and reliance on welfare benefits is sure to decline. Obamacare’s mandate for employer-granted birth control is a possible beginning to widespread availability, but it ignores the needs of the unemployed, often the group that could be impacted the most from available contraception. It has also seen a major backlash from probusiness conservatives, citing the increased cost to the employer as well as violation of “personal freedom,” a term that at this point I can only qualify with quotation marks. An expansion of these policies would
also need a vast change in political rhetoric. Just as a single-payer health system would save small businesses from the cost of employee health plans, governmentprovided birth control removes the onus of coverage from the employer. On the Left, the driving oratory behind birth control has been solely the right of women to maintain their own reproductive health. This is absolutely true, but these social benefits need to be emphasized so that those who will never care about women’s rights may reconsider their stances. To us on the Left, the benefits of available birth control may seem obvious, but with some changes of rhetoric, it is possible that policies of this kind could be made more attractive to conservatives who despise abortion and the expanding base of the welfare system. Widespread birth control coverage could have great benefits to society, both to the left and the right. Daniel Hanson is a graduate student at Duquesne University and media chair for the Young Democratic Socialists.
It’s Time to Raise the Minimum Wage by Kyndall Mason
Year after year we are told the economy is struggling, it’s sluggish and that in order to get us out of this situation we need to give more tax breaks to super rich people and their extremely profitable corporations. Business is in fact very good. Productivity is up, and profits are soaring. We have watched CEOs like Don Thompson, from McDonald’s, receive generous raises at the turn of the calendar. His total compensation in 2012 was $13.8 million, up from the measly $4.1 million he earned in 2011. McDonald’s is not unlike many other corporations that have benefited from the increase in worker productivity while doing little to compensate its workers that make that productivity possible. They opt instead to line the pockets of shareholders, board members and CEOs. According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), 78% of big low-wage employers have turned a profit every year for the last three years, while wages have remained stagnant. We are even seeing this behavior from our non-profits, like UPMC, one of the most well respected and advanced healthcare systems in the country. Yet Pittsburgh faces some of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. The workers at UPMC are paid near poverty wages, and when they tried to organize and demand better pay and safer work environments, they were retaliated against and in some cases fired. UPMC cries that they can’t possibly pay workers more than they already do, yet the CEO, 12 - NEWPEOPLE
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Jeff Romoff, makes more than $6 million a year—roughly $3,000 per hour based on a 40hour work week—and UPMC paid more than 20 other top executives more than $1 million each as annual compensation. UPMC, McDonald’s and Walmart are not so different from one another really. Their CEOs work tirelessly to make sure they can line their pockets with the hard earned money of you and me, while we watch our neighbors and neighborhoods implode. They lobby for lower taxes, work to keep loopholes open and cry economic disaster any time someone mentions a living wage. What actually spells disaster for this economy are single parents trying to work three jobs, just to make enough money to pay the bills and take care of their kids, and retired elders working jobs to compensate for their stolen retirement funds. What is the true disaster is the current state of the economy where CEO pay and corporate profits have outpaced the average worker pay by obscene amounts. It is time to raise the minimum wage. The last time the minimum wage was raised was nearly four years ago, when it was brought up to $7.25. If the minimum wage had kept up with average CEO pay increases, it would be $23/hr by now. There is legislation right now that would push minimum wage to $10.10/hr by 2015, and then adjust minimum wage to keep pace with inflation every year starting in 2016. The best shot we have at getting our
economy on track is by erasing income inequality and making sure people who work full time are not living in poverty. Workers put their money back into the economy, not in some offshore bank account. Considering the more than 30 million workers who would see a raise if the federal minimum wage was increased, compared to the top 30 CEOs stashing their cash in other countries, our economy will see the stimulus it so desperately needs. One Pittsburgh has secured the support of Pittsburgh City Council with the passage of a city-wide resolution to raise the wage, and of Congressman Mike Doyle, through a visit to his office regarding federal legislation to raise the wage. Now, workers across the country are standing up for themselves. Walmart employees in Arkansas, fast food workers in New York City, Detroit, St. Louis, Seattle and other cities are walking off the job and striking, demanding a living wage and making sure their CEOs understand who rigged the system and who is winning right now. If we stand together, we can win this. We can win this for our country, for our children and for our very futures. Join us in this work as we move toward an economy that works for everyone. Keep your eye out for a July packed full of Pittsburgh actions to demand an increase to the minimum wage. Kyndall Mason is a member of One Pittsburgh.
Alternative Economics Volunteers Map and Survey Pittsburgh's New Economy
base by engaging the New Economy participants at a deeper by Mark Dixon realizing that it would be more place for each and every group, level through extensive surveys and appropriate to launch an extensive business, farm, faith community, pro-active interviews, leveraging Our nation has the most search for all eligible groups before restaurant, and non-profit on the list, the framework developed by powerful economy in the world, but delving deeply into analysis of any things will get much more Harvey Holtz. its strength relies heavily on single group. Setting “exploration” interesting . . . Finally, the Mapping Project will perpetual growth—an impossibility as our initial goal, Thomas Merton We have grand plans for the grow only in proportion to the time, on a finite planet. When the old Center volunteers, along with several expansion of the Mapping Project, energy, and insight contributed by economy crumbles under its own dedicated interns from the University and would like to add a variety of volunteers and collaborators. If you weight, what will replace it? With of Pittsburgh, gradually expanded new features over time, including: are interested in supporting our this question in mind, the New the list beyond 700 entries, which far Developing a publicly efforts with ideas, time, or money, Economy Working Group at the exceeded our wildest expectations. accessible Mapping website, please let us know via this online Thomas Merton Center has launched The Mapping Project team has now allowing users to find and sort form http://j.mp/NEMPSuggestions a Mapping Project to identify and shifted its focus from “exploration” organizations in the database by or e-mail me at mark@yert.com. support the organizations, to “information,” and is actively various methods (i.e. keywords/ businesses, and projects working to working to fill in details for each categories, locations, areas of Mark Dixon is a filmmaker and build an economy based on reality-- entity on the list--descriptions, influence, and even website traffic environmental activist in not fantasy. If you seek to transform categories, web sites, and mailing levels) Pittsburgh. He co-founded and our traditional economic system into address information. We are about Tracking all New Economy produced the award-winning one that is equitable, cooperative, halfway to this goal and expect to events on a single calendar and feature film, YERT - Your honest, and environmentally sound, finish within the next few months. map. Environmental Road Trip. the New Economy Mapping Project Once this basic information is in Building a deeper knowledgewants to help you achieve your goal. Have you ever struggled to find willing collaborators and sponsors for your new project? Or maybe you just by Cait Lamberton Among others, two terms seem want to plan an event on a particularly helpful: date that doesn’t compete Until a few months ago, I had no Evolutionary reconstruction: with countless similar events? idea who Gar Alperovitz was. These are challenges that But as a business school professor, Community-based institutional forms that broaden democracy many of us working in the what I did know was that traditional New Economy have faced business models were failing. In short, and change wealth ownership and political power. before, and our movement the pursuit of short-term profit to the The “checkerboard” loses time, money, strength, exclusion of everything else had and momentum each time we created a colossal mess. Recognizing approach: Different facets of a retrace the steps of those who this, business leaders from the Virgin community: energy, labor, walked before us. How can Group’s Richard Branson to Unilever politics, environment, arts, food we expect to successfully justice – are all squares on a CEO Paul Polman were having highcompete with the traditional, checkerboard. Some are currently level conversations about how to fossil-fueled economy if we open to revolution – these move past profit alone. Brainstorm do not make the most of squares are “hot spots” where the ideas. Draw press attention to their every advantage available to need for evolutionary innovations. us? reconstruction is recognized and While this was heartening, it The Mapping Project's seemed like a bad idea to leave issues change is happening. Others objective is to provide one aren’t changing yet, but could. like vast income inequality, food and such advantage of a So what do we do? First, keep environmental injustice to the heads of comprehensive repository that wealthy multinationals. The system expanding the size of the active will enable us to gather didn’t need a cute tinker – it needed a squares. Reach more people. information, find and revolution. And what should I tell my Build more community. collaborate with willing Transform more thoroughly. students, who were starting out in scale, while also using the healthier partners, crowdsource But we can’t stop there. deeply-entrenched dysfunction? What aspects of a market economy to the patterns, identify gaps and Alperovitz’ catalog of historical and could come next? Who could help? community’s benefit. For example, overlaps of services by current democratization has a purpose: To answer these questions, it’s worker-owned green laundry co-ops region, and ultimately share He helps us see how active “squares” good to know Gar Alperovitz. His can not only employ more people if the solutions that come from got sparked, where they faltered, and book, What Then Must We Do?: they supply a large healthcare system, this collective knowledge. Straight Talk about the Next American how they overcame. This knowledge because they will have a steady, quasiThis proactive collaboration is critical as we start building new Revolution, suggests that we don’t publically-funded income stream, they can become a potent tool geographic, economic and political have to wait for change to come from can change that system’s carbon uniquely available to the top of the pyramid. Rather, we can revolutions – without risking the footprint – and it’s a big footprint to participants in the New waste that can come from an insulated lead a meaningful revolution – one change. Economy, helping us to thrive that doesn’t just adjust systems, but mindset. Not only am I glad to know Gar, outside of the inherently Alperovitz’ combination of replaces them. One that doesn’t just I’m excited about the embodiment of competitive traditional practicality and inclusiveness present involve voting, but involves his message at TMC. The Mapping economy. another challenge: We need to be open engagement. One that doesn’t just Project (see article, this issue) The Mapping Project in to finding allies in unlikely places. For survive, but sustains. suggests that we have a lot of great its current form emerged from example, he points out that the seeds But to do so, we need to take pieces on the board in Western meetings beginning in for the New Economy movement were seriously the needs of the community Pennsylvania. Our upcoming fall December of 2012, building sown in the famously-conservative in a way that neither state socialism event will help us identify the active on the work of Harvey Holtz Chicago School. Even the “rocknor corporate capitalism did. In fact, and thriving squares on our and earlier Mapping teams. ribbed bastion of Adam SmithAlperovitz argues that unless we can checkerboard, and look for ways we Holtz and his collaborators reach a vision that reaches beyond our spouting conservatism,” Texas, has a can apply their creativity and insights developed a conceptual popular and successful “socialized” own individual needs, we have no to spark new squares. And hopefully, framework and detailed fund that provides money for public hope of reproducing the progressive when Dr. Alperovitz visits us in survey to identify, categorize, gains of the mid-20th century. education. Spring 2014, the revolution will be in and understand the diverse The point is that at least at And this is where the book is full-swing. entities (businesses, some points in history, these groups eminently practical: to share a vision, organizations, etc.) working too have recognized the potential of we need a common, well-defined Cait Lamberton, Ph.D., is an assistant to build the New Economy. democratization. And perhaps language. (Anyone who’s tracked the professor of Marketing at the University The Mapping Team use of the term “organic” over the last working with similar unlikely allies of Pittsburgh and a member of the New identified a large initial list of decade knows what happens when a can help drive revolution in ways that Economy Working Group at TMC. over 300 entities, quickly capitalize on their existing scope and vocabulary is shared but ill-defined.)
The Next American Revolution: A Book Review
July/August 2013
NEWPEOPLE - 13
Theater for Social Awareness Local ‘Adventurous Theater’ Tackles Today’s Issues by Paola Corso Tami Dixon is the production and artistic director of Bricolage Production Company, a provocative audience-interactive theater that lives up to its name of making artful use of what’s at hand from its Transit Tales multimedia storytelling project to its Fifth Wall performances on current events and open discussions that follow. Dixon, a Pittsburgh Post -Gazette 2012 Performer of the Year, is perhaps best known for her onewoman play, South Side Stories, with an extended run at the City Theater coming this January. The New People caught up with Dixon in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District for this interview: NP: How did you make the transition from theater as entertainment to theater as social force? DIXON: After I graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama, I lived in New York City for 10 years. I needed to figure out how to survive and learn what’s meaningful in life, what matters beyond my ego. I began to work on new play development. Part of that process was
finding a vision beyond traditional theater, one with a social context. NP: You lived in New York City before and after 9/11. How did this impact you as an artist? DIXON: I saw how everything shifted after the fallout of fires, smouldering and rubble, the candlelight vigils, people roaming the streets. Then suddenly, people were back in the cafes and told to start shopping. That’s when I got involved with THAW (Theater Against War) and helped get out the vote in the Bush-Kerry election. I came to understand that dictation wasn’t the answer but conversation was and the need to listen to each other. The perfect theatrical vehicle for social change was asking questions that there were no answers to. I eventually joined up with my husband, Jeffrey Carpenter, to form Bricolage Production Company. We’re entering our 10th season. NP: How is Bricolage different than traditional theater?
I Stand Against Racism —Tami Dixon Because racism will destroy us Because it’s a disease in need of a cure Because the cure begins with me Because I am white Because I have privilege Because my privilege keeps me ignorant Because my privilege wasn’t earned but stolen Because I have a responsibility Because I’d be a fool not to Because I’m not a fool Because it’s liberating Because I know better Because I believe in the Gospel of Inclusion Because ignorance breeds chaos Because hate spreads darkness Because my worth is no greater than another’s Because a person’s worth is not dependent on their appearance Because I want to move forward Because my love is colorblind Because racism suffocates the spirit and destroys dreams Because it still exists Because I have seen its devastating effects Because dignity is everyone’s birthright Because judging a book by its cover robs me of experience Because so many people before me fought and died to ensure its elimination Because it is the right thing to do Because my friends are worth it Because racism kills Because it is wrong Because that is what must be done Because my life is better without it Because I love my niece Because my grandmother would want it that way Because it’s time Because it’s time to heal Because if I don’t who will? Tami Dixon is the producing artistic director of Bricolage Production Company. She is the author and award-winning performer of the play South Side Stories.
to find a way that doesn’t offend the people we are trying to reach. We don’t want to point fingers but shine a light on festering problems. NP: Your play STRATA is one the most ambitious productions you’ve undertaken. I understand it’s featured on the cover of American Theater Magazine. How did you push the envelope with this production? DIXON: STRATA stands for “Strategic Training Research And Testing Agency.” Audience members were met in small groups on a Downtown street corner by actors from "Gate Corporation." They were guided into a secret location and, for two hours, subjected to "refitnessing" in order to reach a new level of "iConciousness." They passed through specially constructed rooms where the audience member and actor would play out an evocative scene. NP: What did you discover with this experiment in human nature? DIXON: It allowed us to compare how genuine is an audience of 200 where reactions are based on others. If people laugh, you laugh. How closely do we look at others for our opinions? With STRATA, we forced people to decide for themselves how they were feeling. NP: How, then, can you create social change? DIXON: Societal change doesn’t work when people are told what they should do. It will happen one on one with a real genuine connection because people need to be witnessed and have their problems acknowledged. Otherwise, they will disappear and don’t take the movement forward. Visit bricolagepgh.org for more information.
DIXON: Our idea is to alter audience members so that they are different when they leave from when they walked in. Art isn’t meant to be passive. It’s meant to move people, inspire them to take risks. So for us, we asked ourselves how could we endow art to get inside a problem and open it up to dialogue. When you demonize either side, you contaminate the solution. NP: Your theater is seen as a safe, inclusive space for conversations about racism, homophobia, women’s rights. Give an example. DIXON: There’s so much to love about this city: affordable housing, a thriving arts community, incredible foundation support, stellar universities and a couple of championship professional sports teams. Did I mention three rivers and more bridges than Venice? But, the divide between the white communities and the communities of color makes all that “livability” hard to stomach. We decided to confront this issue head on. This spring we produced one of the most provocative plays about race we’d ever read: Dutchman by LeRoi Jones. It’s a drama about a white woman antagonizing an AfricanAmerican man on a train. And 50 years later, we found the play is still relevant. We added community conversation. Every night, leaders and students led discussions. We engaged in role playing. The only Paola Corso is a member of the conclusion we have is this editorial collective. Her new poetry conversation needs to keep book, The Laundress Catches Her happening. There’s still so much Breath, won the Tillie Olsen Award pain, blame, and paralysis. We need for Creative Writing.
Pittsburgh Playwrights Completes August Wilson’s Diaspora Cycle by Kenneth Miller This June, the tenth and final play about the Black Diaspora in Pittsburgh, Radio Golf, was performed by Pittsburgh Playwrights. This production of Radio Golf marks the first time ever that a theater company has performed each of August Wilson’s ten plays over a period of ten consecutive years. This was August Wilson's theater company. Many of the actors read with August Wilson as he was writing the plays. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Playwrights! For more information about Pittsburgh Playwrites, check out their website at www.pittsburghplaywrights.com Kenneth Miller is a member of the editorial collective.
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Diversity Festivals Diversity FOOTprint Promotes Wellness with Community Art by George Hogan The goal of the Diversity FOOTprint Project of the Thomas Merton Center is to build a culturally based economic generator. Starting in southwestern Pennsylvania, the model’s design is expected to bring sustainable balance between public and private sectors. “The Project” proposes to make revisions to our social/economic systems so that life is valued above all else. Historically, ethnic groups who came to the U.S. had a cultural consciousness. Their children fell steadily out of poverty and were integrated into mainstream society. In contrast, African American segregation and poverty levels have steadily increased, and remain higher than the highest level ever reached by any other minority group. According to the University of Pittsburgh's Black-White Benchmarks Reports, based on the 2000 census, Pittsburgh’s segregation index between 1910 to 2000 rose from 9.7 to 75.9%. It is for this reason that the first initiative of the Diversity FOOTprint Project focused on the African American community. History: In 2007, I took up the Black and White Reunion’s Mural Bridge Project on race relations. We produced 10 diverse portable murals. This outcome was produced from different races and religions, by 75 students from 6 to 25 years of age and 23 adults who were
The Bayard Rustin Festival …continues in July at the August Wilson Center. Dr. Cornell West will be featured in the Lecture Series on Thursday, July 18 at 7 pm. Tickets range from $45 - $75. The Bayard Rustin Festival is being coordinated with the 50th Anniversary of the March For Jobs and Against Racism in Washington DC. Bayard Rustin helped organize the first march on Washington. For more information, call 412-983-8895.
mostly art teachers. We estimated that 5,000 people viewed the exhibition at 14 locations. The project received the YMCA Racial Justice Award and the Synod of the Trinity Presbyterian Church and the Andrew E. Murray Peacemaking awards. We were honored by the Thomas by Kenneth Miller of the editorial collective Merton Center and ACORN for our social justice efforts. The Diverstiy FOOTprint Project continues to apply art to remedy the disparities gap in basic human liberties by addressing the need to build a healthier sustainable social The Project has now joined the Harambee economic environment; a place where we want Ujima Art and Cultural Association to form a our children to grow up and a place attractive to consortium to renew our minds and hearts do business. through art; to work towards a society where Now we are promoting the Project’s art every person is important, and where the movement by using “Wellness” to set forth the exercise of individual gifts and personal rights is benefits the community will receive from affirmed by the dynamic solidarity of one human proposed social/economic sustainable family. development ideas. The Project moves the idea To find out more about the Diversity of art from being merely a decorative FOOTprint Project and to make a donation to embellishment to function as our common Harambee Ujima, email ground. The artist assists neighborhoods: to Diversityfootprint@verizon.net. address utter poverty and crime, develop, rebuild and mobilize communities, and promote social George Hogan is a designer and freelance artist for over 30 years. He is the author and director and economic sustainable wellness of our of the Diversity FOOTprint Project Consortium neighborhoods. We mix being good corporate with Harabee Ujima Art and Cultural citizens with building brand loyalties, and help Association. create an economic base for the artistic workforce culture.
July/August 2013
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Immigration Point—Counterpoint: Does Financial Crisis Prevent Talented Chinese Students from Entering America? by Hou Jianyu y l Fewer scholarships due to the economic crisis is ite favoring rich but average Chinese students while keeping out n fi de more talented ones. I formed this opinion from a visit to the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang in 2011. The Consul told me I would get a visa, no problem, as U.S. universities need the money and you supply it. In the last decades of the 20th Century, the only way for the majority of Chinese students to come to the U.S. was through full scholarships. At that time, the exchange rate of the Chinese currency (RMB) in dollars was very low making it impossible for the majority of Chinese families to pay the tuition fees. Those students on full scholarship were of a very high calibre. The nouveau riche in China are often reputed to say that if their children do not succeed in the competitive Chinese College Entrance Exam they can send them to America. They are also of the opinion that an average Chinese student will be a top student in the U.S. Since the SAT exam in the U.S. is very easy for Chinese students, they have come to the opinion that average in China translates to excellent in the U.S. The sad fact, in my opinion, is that the parents of many of these secondclass students are corrupt government officials who have not come to their wealth honestly, and to boot the students are not high quality. In the last century, America attracted the most intelligent minds in the world with money and a free atmosphere. In this century, however, American colleges focus too much on money by admitting rich but not talented students, and so the world reputation of American colleges will decline. Hou Jianyu is a former intern of the Thomas Merton Center, now a religious affairs researcher.
ot n s
response by Qing Li, Jingjie Chen, and Yiqun Sun
Currently, there is an increase in Chinese students ap studying in the United States. We believe that it is partly true h r pe that Chinese students become more attractive to American universities when the universities are in financial crisis. However, it is incorrect, in our opinion, to state that talented students are denied access due to the financial crisis. I do not know of any data that show that “talented” Chinese students coming to the U.S. has been reduced in number due to the global economic crisis. With the appreciation of the Chinese currency (the RMB), it is certainly true that many more Chinese families can afford to send their sons and daughters to the U.S. But are they less talented and only average? That is debatable. American colleges may lower their criteria for Chinese students because of their budget problems but it is unfair to say that these students are average. From my personal perspective, some top students in my high school like applying to American colleges since the American educational system is famous for its free academic atmosphere and advanced educational technology. Also, just because a student is from a rich family doesn’t mean that they are average. On the contrary, these students may have more opportunities to get educated, develop their hobbies, and become equipped with international views. Students who come from an average or poor family still have chances to get a scholarship for studying abroad. Most colleges offer scholarships for international students, some of them being specifically for Chinese students. Talented Chinese students with a limited budget can get scholarships from schools and other sources, though it’s competitive. It may be an exaggeration to say that government officers, as a class, are corrupt and help their families move overseas as Hou states. The income of Chinese families has benefitted from the growth of China’s economy in recent years. The working middle class also has the ability to send their children to study in the United States. Some of the businessmen are likely to send their children overseas to study, hoping they can have a better educational opportunity and broaden their international vision. In addition, as Hou says, some of the top students who studied in U.S. between 1980s and 1990s became U.S. citizens. Because of this, some of their relatives’ children could be offered chances to stay with the first-generation immigrants in America. Lastly, from what I have heard, some of the relatively poor families assist their children to study in the United States by selling an apartment or borrowing some money from the bank. They told us that they are investing their children’s future.
A New Path to Humane Immigration by Scilla Wahrhaftig There are so many tragic stories in our country of people being deported. Families are often destroyed, leaving children without a parent or relatives. One of my AFSC colleagues writes about her client, a young African man, who has been struggling to get asylum here. He has two children of his own and is supporting his girlfriend’s child. She writes: "I am ghostwriting my client's immigration story as he sits behind bars, awaiting deportation. He was detained without reason today perhaps solely the logic of reaching a ‘target number’ - as I sat next to him as his attorney and witnessed the destruction of hope, the unraveling of family, and the foretelling of three U.S. citizen children’s hearts breaking. “Today, he cried hardest knowing he would not be able to pick them up from school. Who would fix their breakfast? he asked, since his girlfriend works nights and is not yet home to see the children wake up. “I struggle to understand the decision to detain such a person. He understood his circumstances, and if given the opportunity, would have left the United States on his own and with dignity knowing that while separation would be hard, he left his family well cared for. He would have paid for his own departure and kissed his children and girlfriend good-bye. But he was not given that chance. Even though he had been reporting regularly for 3 years, … that he complied with every request ICE had made of him in the past, today they decided he needed to be robbed of his liberty.” The separation of families by our country is one of the huge travesties of justice we are inflicting on the immigration population. We have the opportunity to make a difference in the fight to change this. The immigration debate is heating up and in the next few months we will be hearing a great deal about it as our Congressional leaders debate the issue. The bipartisan group of eight Senators has finished drafting a bill that will now go to the full Senate for consideration. However there is a lot that could be done to improve the bill and to prevent the introduction of even more restrictions on the path to
citizenship. The American Friends Service Committee has developed a list of critical policy recommendations which are laid out in our booklet, A New Path Toward a Humane Immigration Policy. You can get a copy of this booklet at the AFSC PA office or on line at www.afsc.org/ story/how-fix-our-immigrationsystem These recommendations were developed in close consultation with communities directly impacted by immigration systems. If adopted, they will ensure that the rights and well-being of everyone are respected: •A clear path to citizenship that prioritizes unifying all family members, the historical cornerstone of U.S. immigration policies. •Budget choices that improve the quality-of-life for border communities and respect the human and civil rights of all people regardless of where they call “home” •Protection of labor, civil and human rights for all residents •Ceasing programs requiring local law enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration laws, such as "Secure Communities" and 287(g), which make our communities less safe by undermining trust between local populations and local officers •An end to mandatory detention policies which are ineffective as a deterrent to migration, extremely expensive, and tear families apart. Here in Pittsburgh a coalition of ACLU, labor and faith groups are working on this issue. There are a number of events being planned so please go to the Thomas Merton Center calendar for a list. Below are ones already in progress: ACLU is holding an informational Immigration 101 session July 10th 6:30pm in Monroeville Library. Congressional visits are taking place calling for support for comprehensive immigration reform. At the same time a rapid response network is being considered to aid those facing arrest and deportation. Finally ACLU is planning a series of Know Your Rights trainings for both those who are facing harassment and those advocating for our immigrant population. The next training will be on July 21st at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Scilla Wahrhaftig is the Program Director for the American Friends Service Committee PA.
Qing Li, Jingjie Chen, and Yiqun Sun are interns at the Thomas Merton Center. UPI.com 16 - NEWPEOPLE
July/August 2013
Social Justice Lobbying Success Avoids Deep Cuts to Food Benefits by Joyce Rothermel
When the House bill came to the floor, several amendments were considered. Rep. Jim McGovern with the support of Rep. Mike Doyle brought forward an amendment to restore the severe cuts to SNAP. Unfortunately, it was defeated. Other amendments that passed were very detrimental to those struggling to put food on the table. When the vote was finally taken, the Farm Bill was defeated. Three of our regional Representatives voted NO to help defeat the debilitating bill: Rep. Doyle, Rep. Rothfus, and Rep. Shuster. Thanks to all our readers who
In June, the House of Representatives took up the task of voting for the five-year renewal of what is known as the Farm Bill. Along with farm issues, the Farm Bill includes domestic and international food security policies. Many nonprofit organizations such as Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network, the Food and Research Action Coalition (FRAC), and Bread for the World, a Christian education and advocacy membership organization, work closely with legislative staff members and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help ensure good policy is adopted to prevent hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. The U.S. Senate passed their Farm Bill legislation earlier this year. It contained $4 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) over the next 10 years. However, the House Bill that passed out of the Agriculture Committee was much more devastating. The cuts to SNAP were $20.5 billion. With an atmosphere for debt reduction and cost cutting, advocates sought a circle of protection for all food and nutrition programs seeking a combination of cuts in other areas and an increase in tax revenues.
FILM SCREENING: AUGUST 21 AT 11:30 AM IN LAWRENCEVILLE
Joyce Rothermel is Co-Chair of the SW PA Bread for the World Team and Co-Chair of the SW PA Food Security Partnership.
Coming Together: New Interns at TMC by Emily Neff and Yiqun Sun
programming and food security programs, which sparked her interest in economic justice and environmental justice. These are new areas of social justice for Yiqun and she is excited to explore them at TMC.
Meet Intern Qing Li
Qing Li is studying social work at the To arrange your own internship or University of Pittsburgh volunteer opportunity at the with her graduation Thomas Merton Center, fill out an estimated for April 2014. application at our website She has a Bachelor of Arts www.thomasmertoncenter.org. in Mass Communication and a minor in Law from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in China. Qing Emily graduated from Allegheny College in enjoys traveling, watching movies, practicing May 2012 with a degree in English/Writing and yoga, and learning new things in her spare Values, Ethics and Social Action. She is now time. serving as a Corps Member for Teach For During her undergraduate studies, she America in Mississippi. volunteered as a legal counselor in a local After teaching first grader’s in Mississippi, high school and a doctor’s assistant to Emily has returned to Pittsburgh for the summer control H1N1. She worked with a fundraiser and plans to spend some of her days at TMC. for a sick classmate in which she helped to Her social ethics minor encouraged her to collect approximately $20,000 for him in explore different aspects of social justice, one month. Her last internship was with drawing her to EveryChild Inc. in the adoption department. education reform. With that experience, she understands more During her first year clearly what it takes to protect a child from teaching, she an unsafe and unstable family. She is very realized there are interested in other factors that human rights, play a role in a environment child's education. protection She is joining the and social team at TMC to gain justice so the more experience in Thomas economic justice and Merton environmental Center is the justice so she can right place to better understand the foster and experience of youth refine her in poverty. goals. We are both excited to be a part of TMC and work with others who share our passion! Qing Li Emily Neff July/August 2013 NEWPEOPLE - 17
On our first day of meeting in The Thomas Merton Center we are writing in collaboration to introduce ourselves as new interns and to share our excitement in joining TMC and affiliates in their fight for social justice and peace. We look forward to sharing our perspectives from different cultures and personal experiences. In this brief bio we will introduce each other. Yiqun came to America to pursue a Social Work degree at the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh after graduating from a Chinese university. She just finished her first year with a concentration in Community Organizing and Social Administration. Yiqun has worked with various groups including the Chinese Red Cross, Disabled Persons Federation and Bible Center Church (a faith-based organization located in Homewood). At the Bible Center Church, she served the community in the after-school
Yiqun Sun
contacted their elected officials on this matter. Thanks are also extended to these policy makers whose votes at least temporarily have staved off the negative measures in the bill. Unfortunately this is only a short-term victory, so your voice is still needed to protect vital food and nutrition assistance programs from proposed cuts in the Farm Bill and other pieces of legislation. The more support shown from the public, the more likely it is that SNAP and other programs will be protected. In the meantime, advocates and program recipients are breathing a deep sigh of relief! Two Suggested Actions: To sign a petition to President Obama asking him to set a goal and work with Congress on a plan to end hunger in the U.S. and abroad, go to www.bread.org/go/ OL If you would like to be more involved in working for improvements in U.S. domestic and international food security, please consider becoming a member of the SW PA Bread for the World Team. The next meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 10 AM at Christian Associates in Lawrenceville (corner of Butler and 37th Street, 2nd floor). Following the meeting at 11:30 AM, will be a showing of the documentary A Place at the Table. For more information, call 412-3613022.
Thomas Merton Center Community Thank You, Anne Kuhn!
Meet New TMC Board Member Joyce Rothermel Not a new face to the Thomas Merton Center, but serving her first term on the board of directors is Joyce Rothermel. An Ohio native, Joyce came to Pittsburgh in 1973 to teach junior high school math and religion at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in the South Hills. There she soon learned about the Thomas Merton Center through the Pittsburgh Sisters’ Council she had joined. With an ever increasing social consciousness, Joyce brought many of the issues she was learning about into the classroom to her students. By 1977 Joyce completed her masters program in education at the University of Dayton and joined the staff of the Merton Center. For the next ten years Joyce committed herself to the many faceted community life of the Center. Joyce contributed to the monthly publishing of The NewPeople, helped to start the Jubilee Kitchen, facilitated the Merton Study Group, organized the Chain of Life in commemoration of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and chaired the Pittsburgh Hunger Task Force. Most notably, Joyce is a cofounder of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which began in 1980 above the Jubilee Kitchen in the Hill District. She left the Center in 1987 to become the Food Bank’s third executive director and built this institution to over a hundred
employees. For her service in the Food Bank she received much acclaim and awards beyond number. She received two Honorary Doctorates for her service at the Food Bank at La Roche and Seton Hill Universities. Since retiring from the Food Bank in 2011, Joyce has become an omnipresent volunteer at the Center, where she chairs the Membership Committee, enters all the donations into the data base and oversees the capable contributions of several interns supporting the Center and several of its projects. Her commitment to peace and social justice is total and her energy in the effort breathtaking. Since joining the board, Joyce shares, “It is like coming full circle in my life to again become actively engaged with the Center, its mission and its members. Serving on the Board gives me the opportunity to return to the Center the wisdom and experience I have gained during my decades in the non-profit sector. The Center formed me as a leader and provided me with skills that served our region through the Food Bank. Now it is time to use them for the TMC mission once again.”
the city of Pittsburgh. We organized informational gatherings in the north, TMC Membership on the Rise south, east and west regions to have conversations related to our goals. by Evan Schindler By extending out to the For more than 40 years, the community, TMC hopes to create Thomas Merton Center (TMC) has links with similar organizations and helped citizens and organizations individuals alike. As we move collaborate on ideas and execute forward, the Center will organize campaigns they believed were more of these meetings within the important. By bringing together city limits. If you are interested in activists in the community, TMC what the Thomas Merton Center has provides a nurturing environment to to offer, we urge you to attend these those who want to make a positive meetings, contact us or stop by the change in their culture. The Center Center at 5129 Penn Avenue in has organized supporters for Garfield to learn more. countless projects and campaigns Now more than ever, it is that emphasize peace, economic and important for every person to openly environmental justice, and human express their concerns and ideals rights. related to current issues on a local, Recently, TMC has been national or global scale. That is why reaching out to gain new interest we offer a span of memberships that from the communities of the Greater range from low income/student Pittsburgh Area. Beginning its fifth prices to organization dues. Each decade, the Center hopes to gather individual has his or her own place with its members for greater in our organization. The power is in engagement and outreach to new the hands of those people willing to people committed to creating a more take action. Will you join us, and be peaceful and just world. We believe a force for a more peaceful and just that increasing a diverse appeal for world? the Center and our mission will greatly benefit the communities in Evan Schindler is a senior at which we live. Clarion University currently Over this past year, the TMC working an internship at The has been holding meetings Thomas Merton Center. throughout neighborhoods outside
Join The Cause
18 - NEWPEOPLE
by Diane McMahon
July/August 2013
For more than 20 years Anne Kuhn has been a strong advocate for peace and justice in the greater Pittsburgh region and a dedicated supporter of the Thomas Merton Center and the East End Community Thrift Store. Anne, a print, jewelry, and stained glass artist, has created our stained glass dove award, given to our famous Thomas Merton Award honorees, for the past decade. In a supporting role, Dan Kuhn (her
son), creates the wooden base for the award each year! Anne is past president of Peace Links and has a particular passion for peace and justice efforts after traveling world wide to promote social justice efforts for the group. We thank you Anne for giving your heart, passion, talents and strength of spirit to the Thomas Merton Center to promote peace and justice for all! Diane McMahon is Managing Director of the Thomas Merton Center.
REQUEST FOR NOMINATIONS FOR THE TMC BOARD OF DIRECTORS The election of new members to the board for 2014-2017 takes place in November. We are appealing to the membership to send in the names of people who they estimate would be good board material. We are trying to build a board that is very diverse in terms of age, gender, race, skills and areas of expertise. If there is someone whom you would like to nominate for the board, please contact the Center by calling 412-3613022 or emailing office@thomasmertoncenter.org with the name and contact information of the person you are recommending. You can also send in nominations by going to the TMC website www.thomasmertoncenter.org and following the links for nominating board members. — Michael Drohan, Thomas Merton Center Board Development Chairperson
Remember the TMC in Your Estate Plans For over 40 years, the Thomas Merton Center has been a voice for peace and social justice here in southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond. During these decades, we have found ourselves opposing the Vietnam War, fighting domestic hunger, supporting a just budget that funds human needs, working to end prejudice in all its forms, speaking up for human rights against injustices, and now beginning to look at a new economy! The constant through the years has not only been the publication of The NewPeople, but our courageous and tireless moral leader, Molly Rush. Even while Molly remains a model of conscience and activism in our midst, in April at the Thomas Merton Award Reception honoring Martin Sheen, the Merton Center launched The Molly Rush Legacy Fund. Molly’s legacy to all of us is one on nonviolent struggle toward a more peaceful and just world. In her name, we plan to continue the struggle! How can we do this? One way is through our faithful participation in the struggle – individually and with others through the Thomas Merton Center, through our unions, through our solidarity at home and abroad! Another way is by helping to ensure the continuation of the mission of the Merton Center going forward into the decades to come through contributions to The Molly Rush Legacy Fund. The Fund will consist of contributions from people like you who are committed to peace and social justice and who remember the Center in your wills. Do you have a will? Have you thought about who and what you value that you want to continue after your lifetime? Some of our Merton Center members who have passed on have made bequests to the Center: Eliza Critchlow and Marcella Raynak. Others, like my husband and I, have told the Merton Center it is included in our wills. With the establishment of The Molly Rush Legacy Fund, we present you with the opportunity to keep the mission of the Thomas Merton Center alive. For more information about leaving a bequest to the Center or to learn more about other ways to give, please contact Diane McMahon at the Center (412)361-3022 or email mcmahond@thomasmertoncenter.org. — Joyce Rothermel, chair of the TMC Membership Committee
July Activism Weekly Meetings: Tuesday
Sun
Mon 1
Tue 2
Wed 3
Thu 4 March with Vets for Peace in Brentwood, PA
New Economy Working Group Events Committee— 4:30-6 pm @TMC
10:00 AM
Fri
International Socialist Organization Meets weekly at the Thomas Merton Center 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Sat
“Being an American is about having the right to be who you are. Sometimes that doesn't happen.”
Wednesday Fed-Up! Write letters for prisoner’s rights at the Thomas Merton Center, 7 p.m.
6 Charles McCollester Birthday Bash at Carnegie Library in Homestead. 1:30 pm
― Herb Ritts
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Capital’s End: Jobs and Freedom, Ava Lounge, 126 S. Highland Ave., East Liberty 15206, 6:30 pm
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Humanity Day Interfaith Iftar Banquet, 6:00-7:00pm at 4100 Bigelow Blvd
TMC Board Meeting 7 pm
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11 Health
New Economy Working Group General Mtg 6:30 pm
Care4All PA 7:30-9 pm @ 2101 Murray Ave.
Immigration 101—6:30-8:30 pm @ Monroeville Public Library
Merton on Prayer, Mount Aloysius College, call
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“Peace among religions is a precondition for world peace.”
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1:30 pm— TMC AntiDrone Committee meeting at the Thomas Merton Center
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
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Black Voices for Peace Vigil to End War, 1 p.m., Penn Ave. and Highland Ave., East Liberty Citizens for Peace Vigil noon to 1 p.m., Forbes Ave. and Braddock Ave.
Monthly Meetings:
20 Mass Transit Meeting, 10:00am at 1 Smithfield Street, Downtown Pittsburgh
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27 Corporations Are Not People, 2:00pm @ The Big Idea Bookstore, 4812 Liberty Avenue, Bloomfield
31 “He who opens a school door closes a prison.” —Victor Hugo
—Chief Seattle
Saturday
Anti-War Committee Meets every other week. Environmental Justice Committee Meets at various times. Contact: wanda.guthrie@gmail.com Book’em Packing Meeting Three Sundays a month
The Crisis in the Congo— 7:30-8:30 pm @ Pump House, Waterfront Dr.
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TMC Potluck! Thursday evenings. Interested in having one on an issue that’s important to you or your organization? Contact: jrothermel@tgpcfb.org
Sunday
Latin American Solidarity Committee Meeting 7 PM Thomas Merton Center
—Swami Agnivesh
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Thursday
July Events Monday-Saturday, July 1-13: Global Development and Humanitarian Aid Training, La Roche College Saturday-Sunday, July 20-21: Harambee Ujima Arts and Culture Festival, Kelly Street between Homewood Avenue and Lang Saturday-Sunday, July 20-21: 28th Audubon Wildlife Art & Craft Fest—10am-5 pm, Wallenpaupack HS Friday-Sunday, July 26-28: Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, Drexel University Friday-Sunday, July 26-28: Radical Responsibility and Awakened Leadership, Winchester Thurston at Morewood and Bayard Internship and volunteer opportunities are available at the Thomas Merton Center. Help assist Pittsburgh’s leading peace and social justice efforts by supporting the work of the center and its dedicated projects (more info on page 2). Call (412) 361-3022 or email office@thomasmertoncenter.org.
First and Third Wednesdays Darfur Coalition Meeting 7 to 9 p.m., 2121 Murray Avenue, Second Floor, Squirrel Hill, Contact: 412-784-0256 Second Mondays Assn. of Pgh. Priests Meeting 7 to 9 p.m., Epiphany Administration Center Second Sundays Women In Black Monthly Peace Vigil, 10 to 11 a.m., Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist Church, Slippery Rock First Thursdays Green Party Meeting 7 to 9 p.m., 2121 Murray Ave, 2nd floor, Squirrel Hill Third Saturdays Fight for Lifers West 10 a.m. to noon, Crossroads Church, 325 N. Highland Ave., East Liberty Second Saturdays Project to End Human Trafficking (PEHT) Carlow University, Antonian Rm #502 Volunteer Sign-up—10am-12pm Training Seminar—12pm-1pm Second Tuesdays W.O.M.I.N., 7:30-8:30pm, St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, 18 Schubert St.
Bill McKibben THOMAS MERTON AWARD WINNER Environmental activist, author and founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org, is considered “one of the most important environmentalists of the century” and will receive the Thomas Merton Award:
DATE: Monday, November 4, 2013 @ 6:00 PM LOCATION: Sheraton Station Square Hotel, Southside REGISTER NOW: www.thomasmertoncenter.org (Read the full story on pages 1 and 3)
July/August 2013
NEWPEOPLE - 19
August Activism Weekly Meetings: Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu 1
“War does not determine who is right, only who is left.”
Fri 2
Sat 3
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8
68th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima event. Contact 412-596-8658 or email joschlesinger@ verizon.net.
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“The only queer people are those who don't love anybody.”
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“I agree with Dante, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
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― Martin Luther King Jr.
Become a Member of TMC Today! Low Income Membership Student Membership Individual Membership Family Membership Organization (below 25 members) Organization (above 25 members)
ONCE YOU BECOME A MEMBER, YOU WILL RECEIVE THE NEWPEOPLE !
Join at thomasmertoncenter.org/join-donate or fill out this box and mail it in.
29 Nothing But a Man!, 1964 Film, 7:308:30pm @ Pump House, Waterfront
Anti-War Committee Meets every other week. Environmental Justice Committee Meets at various times. Contact: wanda.guthrie@gmail.com
Monthly Meetings: Partners in Progress for Haiti, 7:009:00pm @ Duquesne’s Bayer Building 412-651-3150
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Bread for the World Meeting and Film Screening, 10:00am on Butler and 37th Streets, Lawrenceville
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TMC Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” Speech Rally in D.C.— to attend MLKtrip@th omasmertonc enter.org
“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.” —Ani DiFranco
Name(s):________________________________ Organization (if applicable):__________________________ Address:________________________________ City: __________________ State: __________ Zip Code:_______________________________ Home Phone:____________________________ Cell Phone: _____________________________
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. Become an active member of our community! 20 - NEWPEOPLE
July/August 2013
Black Voices for Peace Vigil to End War, 1 p.m., Penn Ave. and Highland Ave., East Liberty Citizens for Peace Vigil noon to 1 p.m., Forbes Ave. and Braddock Ave.
Sunday
17
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” —John F. Kennedy
1:30 pm— TMC AntiDrone Committee Meeting at the Thomas Merton Center
10
Around the World Pop Up Dinner—6:308:30 pm @ Pittsburgh Public Market, 17th and Smallman Street
—Rita Mae Brown
__$15 __$15 __$50 __$100 __$75 __$125
Fed-Up! Write letters for prisoner’s rights at the Thomas Merton Center, 7 p.m.
Saturday
5
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Wednesday
TMC Potlucks! Thursday evenings. Interested in having one on an issue that’s important to you or your organization? Contact: jrothermel@tgpcfb.org
End Capital’s m p 0 :3 at 6
Capital’s End: Homophilia, Ava Lounge, 126 S. Highland Ave., East Liberty 15206, 6:30 pm
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International Socialist Organization Meets weekly at the Thomas Merton Center 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Thursday
er 1 Septemb
—Bertrand Russell
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Tuesday
Email:_________________________________ Be sure to choose your membership level. Mail form and donation to: Thomas Merton Center 5129 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224.
First and Third Wednesdays Darfur Coalition Meeting 7 to 9 p.m., 2121 Murray Avenue, Second Floor, Squirrel Hill, Contact: 412-784-0256 Second Mondays Assn. of Pgh. Priests Meeting 7 to 9 p.m., Epiphany Administration Center Second Sundays Women In Black Monthly Peace Vigil, 10 to 11 a.m., Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist Church, Slippery Rock First Thursdays Green Party Meeting 7 to 9 p.m., 2121 Murray Ave, 2nd floor, Squirrel Hill Third Saturdays Fight for Lifers West 10 a.m. to noon, Crossroads Church, 325 N. Highland Ave., East Liberty Second Saturdays Project to End Human Trafficking (PEHT) Carlow University, Antonian Rm #502 Volunteer Sign-up—10am-12pm Training Seminar—12pm-1pm Second Tuesdays W.O.M.I.N., 7:30-8:30pm, St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, 18 Schubert St. Mark your calendar
Thomas Merton Center Annual Membership Potluck Picnic Saturday, September 7 Noon to 2 PM—in the courtyard of East Liberty Presbyterian Church. All TMC members, families and project members are invited. Please bring something to share. Beverages will be provided. The annual membership potluck meeting will follow in the ELPC social hall from 2 to 4 PM (also the back up space for the picnic if it rains). This is a time to get updated on the Center’s strategic plan, its organizational health, and activities and to hear from you, our members! We need to learn what you are most passionate about and have the opportunity to respond to any questions and feedback you may have. The more of our membership that gathers, the more fun and meaningful the day will be! If you would like to help with the planning of either or both events, please call Joyce Rothermel at the Thomas Merton Center: 412-361-3022.