Presentation on Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age on December 7 - Candlleight Vigil for Peace on Decmber 10 - Rally for Climate on December 12

There are three peace and justice related events in the next week that you may want to attend. These are:

1. ‘Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age: Libraries as Bulwarks of Freedom and Democracy’ – Kade Crockford, ACLU and the Library Freedom Project.  Monday, December 7, 2015, 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library, 143 School Street, Walpole. The meeting is open to the public. Sponsored by the Friends of the Walpole Public Library, at their annual meeting.
2. Candlelight Vigil: War is Not the Answer, Thursday, Dec. 10, 5:30 pm, at the Boston Common on  Human Rights Day. Sponsored by United for Justice withPeace
3. Jobs, Justice, Climate: Rally to Defend New England's Future!  Peace Rally to “call for bold climate solutions that create secure union jobs, strengthen community power and help build a more resilient future.”  Saturday,  December 12, 2015 at 1pm - 3pm, Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common. Sponsored by many peace, justice, environmental, and faith  groups and unions. 

These events are an opportunity to learn about and make a personal statement about issues of peace, justice, and  climate change. See below for more details on each.

Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age: Libraries as Bulwarks of Freedom and Democracy

Kade Crockford will give a presentation on “Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age: Libraries as Bulwarks of Freedom and Democracy” on Monday, December 7, 2015, 7:30 PM at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Walpole Public Library. The meeting will be in the Community Room at the Walpole Public Library. 

Government agencies and corporations collect more information about all of us than ever before. Technologies we use to communicate and move through the world leave digital trails behind us, and those trails are valuable to secretive entities in ways we are only beginning to understand. Pushing back against the encroaching surveillance state can seem overwhelming, but librarians are leading the charge with courage and conviction. 

Kade will talk about the current threats facing your privacy and the work The Library Freedom Project and ACLU are doing to protect privacy in the digital age. The Library Freedom Project is a partnership among librarians, technologists, attorneys, and privacy advocates which aims to make real the promise of intellectual freedom in libraries. By teaching librarians about surveillance threats, privacy rights and responsibilities, and digital tools to stop surveillance, they hope to create a privacy-centric paradigm shift in libraries and the local communities they serve.

Kade Crockford is the Director of the Technology for the Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts and on the staff of the Library Freedom Project. In addition to writing and public speaking on surveillance, Kade conducts research and serves as an in-house policy expert on issues at the intersection of policing and technology. Her talk will begin immediately after a brief business meeting of the Friends of the Walpole Public Library. This event will be a good opportunity to learn about the work done by the Friends to support the Walpole Library. Refreshments will be served.

Candlelight Vigil: War is Not the Answer

Thursday, Dec. 10, 5:30 pm
Boston Common - Human Rights Day

War is not the answer. We should:

• Welcome and fund refugees forced to flee their countries to avoid war and death inflicted by others.

• Isolate ISIS by beginning to demilitarize the region. Immediately end all arms shipments to the Middle East. Weapons shipped to U.S. allies and “opposition forces” have fueled the Syrian War and often fall into ISIS’ hands. Suspend US bombing and military actions and withdraw US/NATO troops now.

• End material and financial support to ISIS and Al Qaeda and their clones. End the U.S. -Saudi Alliance, that has been so critical to the emergence and funding of these forces.

• Support self-determination for Syria. Only Syrians can decide the fate of their country. 

• Negotiate an agreement in which Russia, the U.S., Iran and European countries stop fighting to achieve their own strategic goals under the guise of “fighting ISIS” and instead together put their full weight behind diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria and Iraq.   

Download a Printable Flyer

United for Justice with Peace • justicewithpeace.org • 617-383-4857

Jobs, Justice, Climate: Rally to Defend New England's Future!

From November 29 to December 11, world leaders will meet in Paris to negotiate a new global climate treaty. This is their 21st attempt, and we already know that even if they reach an agreement, it won’t be nearly as strong as we need it to be. 2015 is on track to be the hottest year on record, and unprecedented storms, floods and droughts are happening around the world. We are running out of time, and we must create an unstoppable grassroots movement for real climate action. 

On December 12, people will come together from every corner of New England to call for bold climate solutions that create secure union jobs, strengthen community power and help build a more resilient future. We envision a movement that unites us all, and we will lift up the voices of New England's organized labor, immigrant rights, racial justice, and climate justice groups as we call for jobs, justice and climate action together. 

Check out more details about the action here! 

It's time to show the world that true climate leadership means a brighter future for all. Can you join us?

WHEN: December 12, 2015 at 1pm - 3pm

WHERE: Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common

Budget for All Resolution Hearing on Wednesday in Boston at the State House

Please join us in Boston for this important Budget for All Resolution hearing on Wednesday  at the State House.  Walpole and Norwood voters in the 12th Norfolk State Representative District  voted overwhelmingly YES for the Budget for All referendum question in 2012 by 72%  to 28%. The Norfolk State Representative District consists of half the Walpole precincts and all of Norwood.  The referendum question called on our state senators and representatives to vote for a resolution from the Massachusetts state legislature asking Congress and the President to support the Budget For All.  A convenient way to get to Boston is via the Franklin line train out of Walpole at 11:06 AM, which will get you to Boston in plenty of time for the rally at 12:30.   

Hearing on the Budget for All Resolution!

Wednesday, October 28

Massachusetts State House 

Rally 12:30 pm · State House Steps

Hearing 1:30 pm  Gardner Auditorium

Speakers: Mel King, community organizer • Carolyn Federoff, Mass. AFL-CIO • Heidi Garrett-Peltier, Political Economy Research Institute • Craig Altemose, Better Future Project • Cassandra Bensahih, Jobs not jails • Michael Kane, Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants • Joel Wool, Clean Water Action • Grace Ross, Mass. Alliance Against Predatory Lending • Wayne Smith, Vietnam Veteran • Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies • Phil Mamber, Mass. Senior Action • Chris Horton, Worcester Unemployed Action Group • Concetta Paul, Save Our Section 8 • Mary Popeo, Global Zero • Cleve Rea, Boston Homeless Solidarity • Prof. Jonathan King, MIT • and more

Peace Vigil, Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Friday, August 7, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM, the Walpole Common

Please join the Walpole Peace and Justice Group  for a peace vigil, ‘ Hiroshima & Nagasaki: 70 Years - Never Again’ on Wednesday,  Friday  August 7, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM,  on the Walpole Common at the corner of Main and West Streets. Seventy years after the United States atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and 45 years after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the 9 nuclear weapons states have yet to take the next step of negotiating  a total abolishment of nuclear weapons. We join with peace groups, people of faith, community groups, and all people who care about the future of humanity to call for all countries to disarm nuclear weapons. Join us for some readings and  a time of observance and reflection. 

See the Massachusetts Peace Action website for a list of other events remembering  Hiroshima & Nagasaki, http://masspeaceaction.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FAITH_HIRO_NAGA_FLYER_FINALISH_5.pdf

Why the War on Drugs is a Failure

Retired State Police undercover officer Jack Cole will give a talk, Why the War on Drugs is a Failure, at the Walpole Public Library on Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 7:00 PM. Jack Cole knows about the “war on drugs” from several perspectives. He retired as a Detective Lieutenant after a 26-year career with the New Jersey State Police—fourteen in narcotics, mostly as an undercover officer. His investigations spanned cases from street drug users to international drug trafficking organizations.

Jack is passionate in his belief that the “war on drugs” has been an abject failure, that it is steeped in racism, is needlessly destroying the lives of young people, has expanded the militarization of our law enforcers, and has escalated the rate of police shootings. For four decades the US has fueled its policy of a “war on drugs” with over 1.5 trillion tax dollars and increasingly punitive policies. Over 50 million nonviolent drug arrests have been made. Jack asserts that despite all the money spent and all the lives destroyed, illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and much easier to access today than they were at the beginning of the “war on drugs” 45 years ago. Jack’s talk will give the audience an alternative prospective of the US “war on drugs” from the view of a veteran drug-warrior turned against the war.

Jack is a founding member and for eight years was executive director of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. LEAP is an international organization representing cops, judges, prosecutors, and prison wardens which believes that to save lives and lower the rates of disease, crime and addiction, as well as to conserve tax dollars, we must end drug prohibition. It believes that a system of regulation and control is far more effective than one of prohibition. Jack is now their Board Chair and an international speaker.

The Library is at 143 School Street, Walpole, MA. The talk is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group.

Walpole Peace and Justice Group is sponsoring a screening of the Documentary Film, 'Broken On All Sides: Race' on May 13, 2015 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library

Please join us for a screening of the documentary film, Broken On All Sides: Race, Mass incarceration & New Visions for Criminal Justice in the U.S. on May 13, 2015 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library in the Community Room. This compelling documentary by Matthew Pillischer shows how the war on drugs and racial inequities within our criminal justice system have lead to mass incarceration of people of color.

The documentary gives a visual presentation of statistics and personal stories showing the racial disparities in the war on drugs. It shows how people of color are targeted for arrest, get harsher sentences, and experience the terrible impact of mass incarceration. While the majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, 75% of those imprisoned for drug offenses have been Black or Latino. Today the U.S has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners. “The documentary centers around the theory put for­ward by many, and most recently by Michelle Alexander (who appears in the movie), that mass incarceration has become ‘The New Jim Crow.’

Through inter­views with people on many sides of the criminal justice system, this documentary aims to answer questions and provoke questions on an issue walled-off from the public's scrutiny.” There will be a discussion following the screening. The Library is at 143 School Street, Walpole, MA. The screening is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group.

Walpole Peace and Justice Group Events

·         April 8, 2015 , 7:00 PM: Discussion on Racism, the War on Drugs, and Mass Incarceration on Wednesday, at the Walpole Public Library, the Pinnacle Room

The discussion will reference the book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.  This NY Times Best Seller is eye opening in its careful presentation of history and statistics, showing how the “war on drugs” has resulted in the mass incarceration of people of color and has been used to institute a racial caste system.  The incarceration of people of color has been devastating to their families, resulting in mass unemployment and poverty. Arrest records follow people the rest of their lives, affecting their opportunities for employment and even their right to vote. Sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group.

·         May 13, 2015  7:30 PM, Screening of the Documentary Film, Broken On All Sides: Race, Mass incarceration & New Visions for Criminal Justice in the U.S., at the Walpole Public Library, Community Room

This compelling documentary by Matthew Pillischer contains a visual presentation of facts and statistics and many personal stories that reinforce the issues raised by Michelle Alexander in her book. We will have a discussion following the viewing. See the website for more information on the documentary:  http://brokenonallsides.com/ . Sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group.