Statement by Massachusetts Peace Action and the AFSC on Syria

On Thursday night, Donald Trump attacked Syria with over 50 Tomahawk missiles. We don’t know who caused the chemical attack in Idlib province, but U.S. bombs will not help the situation. The Syrian civil war must be solved by diplomacy, not more bombs.

A new U.S. war against Syria’s government is not the answer to the catastrophic Syrian civil war.

Whoever is responsible for the recent use of chemical weapons, a war against a sovereign country is certainly not the answer. As we learned in Iraq, once started there is no telling where such a war will go and what impact it might have. The Iraq war gave us ISIS. Who knows what this one will give us after all the triumphalism in Washington fades.

If the Assad regime used chemical weapons, it is a war crime and should be dealt with through the International Criminal Court. If the extremist militias that we and our allies support in Syria are responsible for the chemical attack, they should be brought before international tribunals.

The lives of Arab women and children are of no concern to this frightening administration in Washington. If we really want to protect the lives of tens of thousands of women and children in the Middle East, we should end our military and political support for rebels in Syria and for Saudi Arabia’s savage destruction of Yemen.

If Trump is so concerned about children being killed in gruesome ways, why is he killing so many of them in Yemen? Do we really trust Exxon’s CEO to decide who we go to war with (Syria) and whose wars we help in every way possible (Saudi Arabia)?

Trump’s war on Syria is a major breach of both international and U.S. law. Impeachment would be an appropriate response. Congress must come back into session immediately to stop this war and to debate our Syria policy.

Statement by Massachusetts Peace Action and the AFSC Peace & Economic Security Program.

Walpole Peace Group: Immigrant's Day at the State House - Wednesday, April 5 - join us to take the 8:11 am train from Walpole

A reminder that we will be going into Boston tomorrow, April 5 for Immigrant’s Day at the State House.  We will be taking the 8:11 am train out of Walpole and expect to return by the 1:35 pm train. Join us in going into Boston for Immigrant’s Day in support of immigrants and the Safe Communities Act. There will be speakers in the Hall of Flags at 10:00 am with a  rally outside the State House from 12:00  to 1:00 PM. We will join with RISE Sharon in meeting with State Senator Timilty’s office. We also have appointments to meet with Representatives Rogers and Kafka. You can register and get more information at http://miracoalition.org/.   Please let us know if you want to meet us at the Walpole Train Station and go in together.   We will have signs. 

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 10:00 AM, Walpole Common: Tax Day Rally – Redirect Military Spending to Fund Human Needs. The Walpole Peace and Justice Group  will hold a  rally  on April 15, joining with the Global Campaign on Military Spending and the Tax Day 2017 Mobilization in calling for our federal government to redirect military spending to fund human needs and to stop military interventions. We call for:

·   President Trump to release his tax returns

·   Stopping the new “big, big” tax cuts for corporations and the 1%

·   Opposing President Trump’s “Death Budget” released on March 16

·   Re-directing money from the Pentagon to families and climate protection

·   Supporting the Peoples Budget in Congress

The Pentagon’s budget equals the combined total of the next eight largest  military spenders, including China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Kingdom, and India!   We will have a 40 foot budget banner that shows where the Federal discretionary budget is spent today. We will also have a couple of brief speeches  and will pass out an informational  leaflet urging people to call our U.S. Senators and Representatives. We may also have some drummers!

Rally on Monday, March 27, 11:30 AM, in Boston to Support Farm-worker Rights Leaders Detained by ICE

Monday, March 27, 2017, 11:30 AM, Boston: Rally to Support Farm-worker Rights Leaders Detained by ICE.  “Please spread the word that Migrant Justice leaders Zully and Kike and farm-worker community member Alex are all going to immigration court in Boston on Monday, March 27th and we need a huge turnout to speak out for their freedom and immediate release!” Meet at 11:30 AM in front of the JFK Federal Building. For more information see www.migrantjustice.net.

From the Migrant Justice Network: “Jose Enrique ‘Kike’ Balcazar Sanchez, 24, and Zully Palacios Rodriguez, 23, were surrounded by four undercover ICE vehicles soon after leaving the Migrant Justice office in Burlington, VT on Friday March 17 after being followed from a Migrant Justice organizing meeting. Migrant Justice organizers arrived on the site of the arrest in time to see the two being loaded into separate vans and driven away. The detention came two days after agents arrested dairy worker Cesar Alexis Carrillo Sanchez, 23, outside the Chittenden County courthouse Wednesday morning. At the time, Mr. Carrillo, known as Alex, was accompanied by his wife, Lymarie Deida, a U.S. citizen. The two have a four-year-old daughter together.”

With regret, we are announcing the cancellation of the Walpole People's Climate Rally

With regret, we are announcing the cancellation of the Walpole People’s Climate Rally, previously scheduled for Saturday, April 29.  After assessing our own hands on deck, we realized that some of our key players will not be available to work on/ attend a Walpole Rally.  Some of us are planning on attending the Washington March.  The marches in Boston and Washington have great appeal and we urge you to attend one if possible.  Of great importance, too, is the ongoing work of making our voices heard. We call upon our Senators and Representatives and all government officials, national, state, and local, to oppose the proposed draconian budget cuts to the EPA and support aggressive measures addressing climate change and other critical environmental issues.

Talk on "Protecting Our Civil Liberties Under the Trump Administration" by Kade Crockford, ACLU, at Walpole Library on Wednesday, March 22 at 7:30 PM

Protecting Our Civil Liberties Under the Trump Administration

On Wednesday, March 22, Kade Crockford, Director of Technology for Liberty at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLUM), will be the featured speaker for a meeting of Walpole Democrats at the Walpole Public Library at 7:30 PM. The future of our civil liberties is a major concern under the Trump administration. Ms. Crockford is an expert on privacy issues.  She will be talking about bills pending in the Massachusetts legislature and the urgency of securing our rights at the state and local level, given the authoritarian views of the incoming national administration.
As Director of Technology for Liberty, Ms. Crockford works to protect and expand core First and Fourth Amendment rights and civil liberties in the digital 21st century, focusing on how systems of surveillance and control impact not just the society in general but their primary targets—people of color, Muslims, immigrants, and dissidents. She has written for The Nation, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, WBUR, and many other publications, and regularly appears in local, regional, and national media as an expert on issues related to technology, policing, and surveillance.

The meeting will be in the Community Room at the Walpole Public Library, 143 School Street. Coffee will be available. To learn more about the ACLU, visit aclum.org. To learn more about the ACLU’s privacy work, visit privacysos.org.

Immigration Talk on Wednesday, March 15 - Postponed

Due to the snowstorm, our speakers for ”Immigrants under President Trump’s Enforcement Regime”, scheduled for tomorrow night, March 15, have asked that we postpone the talk.  We will let you know when it is rescheduled.   

SAVE THE DATE: The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is sponsoring a Walpole People’s Climate march and rally on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 1:00 PM at the Walpole Common. Join us in Walpole if you cannot attend the major march in Washington, DC  or the march in Boston. We will be marching in Walpole, united in solidarity with marches in Washington, DC and communities across the country. Marking 100 days of the Trump Administration, we will rally for climate justice, calling on our elected leaders to protect our environment. Our country needs to take bold action to address climate change by supporting the Paris agreement, moving to renewable energy, and opposing any attacks on our air, water, atmosphere, economy, health, and families. We will be standing together to bring awareness to climate change as well as various justice and equality issues facing our nation today.

We will gather at the Walpole Common at the corner of Main and Common Streets at 1:00 pm, march around the center of Walpole, and end back at the Walpole Common for speeches. The plan is tentative. You can RSVP and get more information at the link below:  

https://actionnetwork.org/events/walpole-peoples-climate-march

Walpole Peace Group Talks: "Immigrants under President Trump’s Enforcement Regime" on Wednesday, March 15 at Walpole Library

Gabriel Camacho, of the American Friends Service Committee, and Liza Ryan, of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, will give a talk, “Immigrants under President Trump’s Enforcement Regime” on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 7:30 pm at the Walpole Public Library. President Trump’s immigration policies and executive orders are not new. His cabinet appointees and advisors have long influenced the debate on immigration policy.  Mr. Camacho and Ms. Ryan will describe the situation of immigrants in Massachusetts, where they came from and why they came to the United States. They will show the impact of the harsh policies of the Trump Administration, through the Executive Orders and the expansion of existing enforcement programs, on immigrants and their families.  Throughout the nation a grassroots movement has been growing and successfully pushing back on these policies. Many municipalities in the Commonwealth are on the forefront in protecting immigrant families and the civil rights of all residents.

Gabriel Camacho has served as the Immigration Programs Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in New England for over a decade. His work includes grassroots organizing within immigrant communities, leadership development, wage recovery campaigns for undocumented workers, policy analysis, and promoting humane immigration policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Liza Ryan is the Organizing Director at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). She has over ten years of experience working with refugees, immigrants, and foreign/public policy everywhere from sub-Saharan Africa to throughout the Middle East and Europe.

The talk is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group and is open to the public. The Walpole Public Library is located at 143 School Street in Walpole.

Walpole Peace Group Talks: "Fixing Our Broken Democracy" on Wednesday, February 22 at Walpole Library - "Climate Change" on March 8

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is sponsoring two timely talks at the Walpole Public Library on important issues:

“Fixing Our Broken Democracy”- February 22, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Walpole Public Library: A slide show chronicling  the ordinary citizen’s loss of political power, will be presented by Sharon resident Paul Lauenstein. The talk shows how corporations and wealthy citizens have thwarted the democratic process, and how “We, the People” can regain our rightful control of our government. 

“Climate Change Study Finds N.E. May Face Rapid Warming” – March 8, 2017 at 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library:  Professor  Ambarish Karmalkar will talk about the conclusions of a recent study by the Northeast Climate Science Center that New England is likely to experience significantly greater warming compared to the global average warming as well as warming in the lower 48 states. 

See below for more details on these talks. 

Fixing Our Broken Democracy

A slide show chronicling  the ordinary citizen’s loss of political power, will be presented by Sharon resident Paul Lauenstein in the Walpole Public Library’s Community Room on Wednesday evening, February 22, at  7:00 p.m. Sponsored by Walpole Peace and Justice Group, this talk shows how corporations and wealthy citizens have thwarted the democratic process, and how “We, the People” can regain our rightful control of our government.

  

In his immortal Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln wished that, "this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” However, according to a 2014 study by political scientists from Princeton and Northwestern, we now live in an oligarchy controlled by corporations and billionaires. A series of Supreme Court decisions culminating in Citizens United v. FEC (2010) have opened the floodgates to money in politics, allowing an economic elite to pressure our politicians to serve their interests rather than those of the general public. How can "We the People" assert our constitutional sovereignty over powerful special interests, and live up to Lincoln’s vision of government that serves all the people?

Paul Lauenstein is a retired business owner from Sharon who volunteers for We the People Massachusetts overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision with a constitutional amendment affirming that artificial entities are not people and money is not speech.

Climate Change Study Finds N.E. May Face Rapid Warming

On Wednesday, March 8,  at 7:30 PM in the Walpole Public Library’s Community Room, UMass Professor Ambarish Karmalkar will talk about the conclusions of a recent study by the Northeast Climate Science Center that New England is likely to experience significantly greater warming compared to the global average warming as well as warming in the lower 48 states. As the lead author of the study, Ambarish will speak about the science behind climate change and the methodology used to predict its impact at a regional level. Understanding the projected climatic changes specific to the northeast US holds great importance for our regional planners.

Ambarish is a research fellow at the Northeast Climate Science Center (NE CSC) and the Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Geosciences, UMass Amherst, and the lead author of the study on the regional  consequences of global warming in the United States. At the NE CSC, he is working on understanding observed and projected climatic changes in the northeastern US relevant to hydrological and ecological impacts. The main focus of his work is communication of information on climate change and associated uncertainties for impacts assessment.

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

Walpole Peace and Justice Group: Vigil on Immigration on Saturday February 11 at 9:30 AM

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is holding a vigil in Walpole on Saturday, February 11, 2017, from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM to protest the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders on immigration. It’s so important that people continue to speak out. The vigil will be held at the corner of Main and West Streets in the center of Walpole across from the Walpole Cooperative Bank. We will have a  six foot banner and several 3 foot banners. Please join us even if it is only for a short time.

Walpole Peace: Vigil on Thursday morning, February 2, 7:30 to 9:00 AM

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is holding a vigil in Walpole on Thursday, February 2, 2017, from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM to protest the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders on immigration. It’s so important that people continue to speak out. The vigil will be held at the corner of Main and West Streets in the center of Walpole across from the Walpole Cooperative Bank. We will have a  six foot banner and other signs.    

The Massachusetts Safe Communities Coalition is sponsoring a Boston Rally in Support of the Massachusetts Safe Communities Act at the State House on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, at 12:00 noon.  “The Safe Communities Act would protect the civil rights of all state residents by making sure our tax dollars are not used to help the Trump administration deport immigrant families or to create a Muslim registry.”  See below for a summary of the Act. 

Massachusetts Safe Communities Act Summary – Extracted from the Coalition Fact Sheet

• No state support for Muslim registry. Prohibits access to information in state databases for use in any federal registry program based on national origin, religion or other protected characteristics.
• Ensures Basic Due Process Rights for people detained in state and local facilities for civil immigration violations. Requires informing detainees that they have the right to decline an interview with ICE agents, and to have their own attorney present (at their own expense) if they so choose.
• Ensures that police resources are used to fight crime, not separate families. Ensures that state, local and campus police don’t participate in immigration enforcement activities, including inquiries, investigations, raids, arrests or detentions that are based solely on immigration.
• Prohibits agreements with DHS that deputize local officers as immigration agents, including county officers in Bristol and Plymouth sheriff's departments.

Peace Vigil on Monday a Success

Concerned people “Stood Together for Climate Action” at a vigil on Monday morning, January 23, 2016 in Walpole. It was sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group and joined with the People’s Climate Movement and other environmental and faith groups in holding a vigil in the first 100 hours of the presidential inauguration to draw attention to the issues of climate justice, show support for bold action, and to oppose any attacks on our air, water, atmosphere, economy, health, and families. Climate change is not a partisan issue, and the vigil was to recognize that all of our beliefs and faith traditions call us to be stewards of the earth. The vigil was calling people to join together to bear witness to the destruction of our climate and to call for responsible action at all levels, from individual through federal government.

Walpole Peace and Justice: Holding Vigil to Stand Together for Climate Action on Monday Morning, January 23, 2016 from 7:30 to 9:00 AM - Walpole

During the First 100 Hours of the New Administration

Stand Together for Climate Action on Monday Morning, January 23, 2016 from 7:30 to 9:00 AM

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is joining with the People’s Climate Movement and other environmental and faith groups in holding a vigil to “Stand Together for Climate Action” on Monday, January 23, 2016 from 7:30 to 9:00 AM in Walpole at the corner of West and Main Street. It is one of many vigils being held in the first 100 hours of the new administration to draw attention to the issues of climate justice, show support for bold action, and to oppose any attacks on our air, water, atmosphere, economy, health, and families. Climate change is not a partisan issue, and we stand together in recognition that all of our beliefs and faith traditions call us to be stewards of the earth. We are responsible for urgent action on behalf of the planet and our most vulnerable frontline communities. The vigil is an opportunity for all of us to join together to bear witness to the destruction of our climate and to call for responsible action at all levels, from individual through federal government.