Weekly Activist Alert: "DC People Power: Time to Assemble!"
In This Week's Action Alert
Action: Stop DC's Secure Communities Program!
Resource: Training Resources
Featured Article:A Hint of Arizona in DC's Approach...
Cause: Volunteer for the Washington Peace Center
Join the Washington Peace Center for the first of three trainings this summer:
"What if I can't Paint?" and Graphics 101: How to Get the Message
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: THE GREATER DC PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY ON SATURDAY MAY 15TH
Events [scroll down for full details]:
We 5/5-DC/Mid Atlantic Fundraising Conference
We 5/5-Agent Orange Justice Tour Happy Hour
Th 5/6- Meeting with Gensuikyo Anti-Nuclear Delegation and Pax Christi
Fr 5/7-U.S. Trade Union Solidarity Reportback from Cuba
Sa 5/8- RSVP TODAY! Direct Action Training!
Sa 5/8- Protest for a Job Program
Sa 5/8-We Want Peace for Mothers Day
Tu 5/11-"What if I can't paint?" and Graphics 101: How to Get the Message Out
We 5/12-Making Your Media Matter Conference
Fr 5/14-Retreat 2010 Continuing the Struggle: Solidarity with Honduras
Sa 5/15- Greater DC People's Assembly
Hey D.C.,
This week, the workers of Washington, DC flexed their people power by putting sufficient political pressure on city officials to pass a bill to abolish the secure communities program initiated by the Department of Homeland Security and implemented by DC Metropolitan Police Department. Thanks to efforts by organizations like DC Jobs with Justice, there have been concerted efforts in the past months to overturn this dangerous trend to criminalize immigration.
On the morning of Tuesday May 4th, the DC city council made history by going against the grain and unanimously adopted this new bill (sponsored by Phil Mendelson and Bill Graham) that opposes the secure communities program. Yet, this is a small win in the greater struggle against these draconian anti-immigration laws happening all over the US. As outrageous as the secure communities program is, it is currently being implemented in 168 jurisdictions all across the country. It is time for DC people power to flex its national muscles by showing that our victory is an opening for others organizing in places like Arizona.
Also, even though this bill has been introduced, it is important to continue to put political pressure on DC's lawmakers so that when it becomes law, it reflects the voice and needs of the people. It is important to take action, and send letters to city council to keep central that DC's not Arizona, and that Arizona is unacceptable. Lastly, we hope that you continue to send emails to the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee of the DC city council to oppose the Safe Securities program and volunteer with us to engage in the change-making process.
Featured WPC Resource this week...
Training Resources
Are you looking to gain new skills to enhance your organizing abilities? Or are you looking for a refresher course in some aspect of organizing? Whether you are seasoned organizer or just getting started, it is important to learn new skills or build upon a knowledge base as leadership is as much of a revolutionary process as social change. So check out our Training Resources page and please let us know if you have anything to add! Also, we look forward to see you next Tuesday May 11, 2010 at St Stephen's Church for a training on graphics design.
Appreciate this service? Please DONATE to support the movement for a more just and peaceful world.
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DC/Mid Atlantic Fundraising Conference
Wednesday, May 5th
8am
Holiday Inn Gaithersburg
Nonprofit professionals from near and far will convene to receive invaluable and practical information for increasing their organizations ability to raise much needed funds and awareness.
Each conference includes easily applied and highly effective sessions that participants can use to hone their skills and learn new techniques. Additional sessions offer new perspectives on old traditions, discuss recent trends, and encourage sharing of success stories.
For more details on the event, click here
Agent Orange Justice Tour Happy Hour
Wednesday, May 5
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Chief Ike's Mambo Room
1725 Columbia Road Northwest
Washington, DC 20009
Help build awareness and exposure for the struggles of the victims of Agent Orange
Connect to the International Corporate Campaign on Agent Orange and the Vietnam Agent Orange Responsibility and Relief Campaign
For more information, click here
Meeting with Gensuikyo Anti-Nuclear Delegation and Pax Christi
The evening of May 6th
7pm-9pm
St Aloysius Church (lower level),
900 Block of North Capitol St. NW.,
Washington D.C.
A formal meeting with the Gensuikyo delegation, hosted by Pax Christi USA, coming from the NPT Nuclear Disarmament Conference of 'Peace and Justice Now'.
Why: To hear from those who experienced the destruction caused by, and live with the consequences of, the only use of an atomic bomb in war in the history of humanity; To take this opportunity to build solidarity with our Japanese brothers and sisters in our efforts for nuclear abolition and create lines of communication and an active network between us all.
For more information, click here
U.S. Trade Union Solidarity Reportback from Cuba
Friday, May 7
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Postal Workers Union hall
at 6139 Chillum Place NE
Washington, DC 20011.
Leaders of the U.S. trade union solidarity delegation will speak about our experiences in Cuba when we visited Havana this past January. We will discuss our work with the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), the country's national labor federation, during our visit to the sovereign, independent, and revolutionary nation of Cuba. We will also explain why the U.S. must end the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba and, more generally, must end the U.S. blockade against Cuba. We will be joined by a diplomatic representative of the Republic of Cuba at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, DC, who will provide an update on U.S.-Cuba bilateral relations.
For more information, click here
RSVP TODAY!
ONE DC'S Direct Action training: Part II
Saturday, May 8th
12 - 4pm
New Community Sanctuary
614 "S" Street NW WDC
Learn about your 1st Amendment Rights!
Learn how to launch a successful direct action in DC!
Training Provided BY Take Back the LAnd, ONE DC and TECHNICAL SUPPORT FROM RUCKUS SOCIETY
For more information, click here
PROTEST 4 A JOBS PROGRAM
Sat. May 8th 12 Noon
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Rally at the Dept of Labor
200 Constitution Ave. NW
(between 2nd and 3rd Sts.)
Seventy-five years ago, Pres. Roosevelt signed the executive order establishing the Works Projects Administration, the biggest public jobs program in U.S. history. Join unemployed people, trade unionists, community and youth activists and organizations from all over the country on Saturday, May 8 in Washington, D.C. to call for a real jobs program for the 30 million unemployed and underemployed people in the U.S. today.
For more information, click here
We Want Peace for Mothers Day
Saturday, May 8
1pm-5pm
National Mall
Join Roseanne Barr on Saturday, May 8 in a free We Want Peace for Mothers Day event on the DC Mall
This Mother's Day...
join the wonderful actress, comedienne, writer and director Roseanne Barr for a fun, rip-roaring celebration of mothers and peace. Roseanne will perform her "One Taxpaying Mother's Manifesto." We'll sing, dance and bring the message of disarmament to the annual military exhibition fair in the spirit of Julia Ward Howe's original 1870 Mothers Day Proclamation calling on the nation to "Disarm, Disarm! Mother's say disarm!"
For more information, click here
"What if I can't paint?" and Graphics 101: How to Get the Message Out
Tuesday May 11, 2010
6:30 - 8:30 PM
St. Stephen's Church Auditorium
1525 Newton Street, NW
Washington, DC 20010
Facilitator: Cesar Maxit, Graphic Artist
Mainstream media machines have mastered the technique of effective campaigning to get the message out there and make it stick. No matter the size of your budget, there are many tools that can be applied to enhance the visibility of social justice movements through the art of propaganda. This workshop will look at flier making and other ways to make your own media and get the message out there both on the ground and online."If you can't paint...Street Art bumps your campaign!
For more information, click here
Making Your Media Matter Conference
Wednesday, May 12
9:00am
American University's Katzen Arts Center
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016
Making Your Media Matter is a conference for established and aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders and students looking to learn and share cutting-edge practices for making their media matter.
For more information, click here
Retreat 2010 Continuing the Struggle: Solidarity with Honduras
Friday, May 14 -5:00pm
Sunday, May 16 - 12:00pm
Maryland
Witness for Peace Mid-Atlantic Annual Retreat
Join together with activists and organizers from around the Mid-Atlantic this May 14 - 16 for what promises to be an exciting and powerful weekend of change-making.
Stay through Monday, May 17th, for a day of lobbying and direct actions in support of the TRADE Act to reverse U.S. free trade policies and HR 2567 to cut funding to the School of the Americas/WHINSEC.
Our keynote speaker is Rodolfo Pastor, former assistant head of the Honduran embassy in Washington, DC, and member of the DC-based Hondurans for Democracy. His experience and perspective on solidarity efforts will help us as we strategize the year ahead for WFPMA, and respond to the deadly impacts of US policy in Latin America.
For more information, click here
Greater DC People's Assembly
Sat, May 15th
9:30am - 4pm
Plymouth UCC
5301 North Capitol Street, NE
(Fort Totten metro)
Meet and connect with people from across the DC Metro area who are
working for change, discuss our common problems, and come up with a
common political analysis and an action plan.
For more information, click here
Featured Article:
A Hint of Arizona in DC's Approach to Illegal Immigrants
Written by Ron Hampton
Mayl 2, 2010 on www.washingtonpost.com
The passage of Arizona's law targeting illegal immigrants should sound alarms all over the country. While many have denounced this law as overly harsh, it is a natural offshoot of a wave of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police partnerships that are rapidly changing the way law enforcement operates in communities -- with devastating consequences.
The blurring of the roles of local police, who are there to preserve public safety, and immigration enforcement, a federal responsibility, comes at the expense of one of the most significant advances in local law enforcement: community policing.
After 25 years as a D.C. police officer, I can say with confidence that building relationships with the community is fundamental to preventing and solving crimes. When trust is replaced by fear of deportation, everyone's public safety is compromised.
Washington is not Arizona, but that doesn't mean this trend hasn't arrived here. In November, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier signed an agreement with ICE to implement a little-known program deceivingly called "Secure Communities." The initiative comes on the heels of the failed 287(g) program, an effort to train local officers to enforce federal immigration law. Like many localities around the country, the District balked at 287(g). But Secure Communities is nothing more than 287(g) rebranded.
Read more
See you in the streets!
Chioma, Hazal, Jon & Sonia
Washington Peace Center
