March 29 Darfur demo: update

Update: “Nine arrested in Darfur protest”

At least ten people will risk arrest by blocking the entrance to the Sudanese Embassy at a demonstration this week.

Women in Dereig campAt 11:15 AM, Wednesday, March 29, 2006, we will meet at the statue of Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, DC (map).

We will march to the nearby Sudanese Embassy (2210 Massachusetts Avenue, map), to hold a protest against genocide in the west Sudanese region of Darfur. This protest will continue until 1:30 PM.

Participants will carry enlarged photos of some of the more than 400,000 people killed in the genocide, as well as photos of some of the 2 million people who have been displaced there. Leaflets will be distributed.

Brenna Cussen and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, who visited Darfur in December 2004, will speak. Seth Shames, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, will also speak.

Group spokesperson Brenna Cussen said:

Getting arrested is a small sacrifice to make to stop the enormous evil I witnessed in Darfur.

The event also involves many demonstrators who will not risk arrest.

For more information, contact Scott Schaeffer-Duffy: 508.753.3588 or theresecw@gmail.com.

If you can’t make this demonstration, don’t miss the big April 30 rally.
Continue reading “March 29 Darfur demo: update”

OKC Catholic Worker statement on proposed immigration laws

Ed. note: Spanish version follows English version.

On the 26th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Romero, March 24, 2006

The Oscar Romero Catholic Worker Community Opposes the Wicked Immigration Laws!

In recent months, laws have been introduced into the United States Congress and the Oklahoma Legislature that would treat immigrants and refugees with great harshness and cruelty. These laws would make it a crime to offer help to the poor if they are not legal residents.

The Oscar Romero Catholic Worker community condemns these laws. We call upon all people of goodwill to stand together in solidarity against these wicked and evil laws that are based in racism and hatred of other cultures. We encourage everybody to contact their representatives in Congress and the Oklahoma Legislature to show their opposition.

We welcome the migrant and the refugee to our city and state. Our city and state will be better places to live if we offer hope and hospitality to immigrants.

If these laws are passed by Congress and the Legislature, we will meet this culture of death evil with civil disobedience. We will continue to offer hospitality and help to immigrants, even if this becomes a crime. There is no moral obligation to obey an evil and wicked law. There is nothing in the Bible that commands us to obey the government when the government does evil. We will not damn our souls to hell to satisfy corrupt politicians. We will continue to feed the hungry at every opportunity we find. We will never ask anyone to prove that they are a legal resident before offering them help and hope.
Continue reading “OKC Catholic Worker statement on proposed immigration laws”

Various Articles

ImmigrationDemonstration
The L.A. Times today is chock-full of articles relevant to P&C.

  • The lead story is on the massive demonstrations against proposed draconian laws against illegal immigration. They say it’s the biggest demonstration of any kind in L.A.’s history.
  • Steve Lopez continues to write compelling columns about life on Skid Row and the issues surrounding it. Today he writes of single mother Elizabeth Brown and her two children and their struggle to find affordable housing. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of opposition to putting homeless shelters anywhere besides Skid Row.
  • A obituary of the remarkable Desmond Doss, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII as a conscientious objector.
  • A look at the controversy around erecting fields of crosses as war memorials/protests.
  • The Hospital Association of Southern California is urging its members to revamp their policies for dealing with homeless patients in the wake of allegations of “dumping” the homeless on Skid Row.

Some of those links may require you to register for free at their site.

HOWTO: Protest the Darfur Genocide

Tom Lewis being arrested at the Sudan embassyIf you’re subscribing to our video rss, you’ve noticed that the movie “Darfur Genocide on Trial” is now available on-line.

(Movie page, with links to versions in .wmv (55 MB) and .avi/DivX (685.5 MB).)

When we made the movie, I wasn’t sure what purpose it served, but it has turned out to be a great tool for introducing people to avenues of action on the Darfur issue.

Watching the movie, you learn:

  • a little about the situation in Darfur (from Eric Reeves);
  • a little about how you could travel to Darfur and what might happen when you get there (from the Catholic Worker Peace Team);
  • a little about what it would be like to demonstrate at the Sudanese embassy;
  • a little about civil disobedience at the embassy, and what the arrest would be like;
  • and a little about taking your case to court, and how you could mount a necessity defense.

So maybe you’ll want to check the movie out. If you have any trouble with the downloads, please post a comment and we’ll do our best to get things working smoothly.

Quicktime: We’ve had no luck in converting this movie to a small, viewable .mov file. If you think you could help us with this, e-mail pieandcoffee@gmail.com and we’ll try to get you the huge master .avi file. Or maybe you can work some magic with the DivX linked above.

Democracy: Internet TV

Items

Democracy Now!: Worcester’s mighty WCCA TV13 will begin broadcasting the independent news show Democracy Now starting April 3, weekday mornings from 8am-9am.

Keet: Don’t miss Steven McGarity’s comment.

InCity Times: this week tries to bring the muck with Steven Maher’s cover story “Long-time Central Massachusetts political operative Louis C. DiNatale faces possible probes by the State Ethics Commission and the State Auditor’s office.” It’s a great look at the world of Central Massachusetts political operatives.

Mr. Maher, of course, was responsible for the infamous cover story about Paul Giorgio, another sometime political operative.

Worcester Magazine: Scott Zoback interviews other local coaches who agree with Patrick Williams that there is bias in local high school sports.

Also, this week the disclaimer “swear words are not reprinted” reappeared in the Blog Log.

Telegram & Gazette: Did I mention that I’m among the “196,000 participants in Hewlett-Packard Co.’s pension and 401(k) plans” whose personal info was on a stolen Fidelity laptop? Got an express letter Wednesday morning about it. The T&G has a business reporter covering the fiasco, instead of relying on wire reports.

Homelessness on Skid Row in L.A.

The L.A. Times has had several articles in the past week about homelessness on Skid Row in L.A.

An alleged “dumping,” the practice of hospitals or law enforcement agencies taking patients or inmates and dropping them off on Skid Row, was captured on videotape.

The city attorney has filed lawsuits against two Skid Row hotels accused of practicing the “28-day shuffle,” in which people living in residence hotels are evicted after 28 days so that they don’t get legal rights as residents by living somewhere for a month.

Columnist Steve Lopez states what should be the obvious and says that the homeless need homes, not police harassment.

Lopez also pens a hopeful story about a homeless man named Ernest Adams who’s recently been able to get off the streets and into his own apartment.

The Mayor, businesses, and the ACLU find themselves in agreement over a plan to crack down on crime on Skid Row but not sweep up homeless people.

An editorial on this approach.

Letter writers express their opinions.

“Have we really become so heartless, materialistic and inhumane that we consider the problem of skid row to be one of cleaning up trash rather than finding a solution to a human tragedy? “

It’s quite shocking to visit the Skid Row neighborhood and see how many people live such a desperate existence. None of the police approaches to the problem address the core issues of mental illness and addiction that lead to chronic homelessness. The poor will always be with us, but the problem on Skid Row won’t be minimized until we can treat these mental and spiritual problems to help restore these men’s and women’s dignity.

NY Times accepts ad from Sudan Government

Felix Salmon reports that there was an 8-page advertising supplement in Tuesday’s NY Times extolling the virtues of the genocidal Sudanese government.

Some commentary here:

The supplement lauds Sudan for facing a “peaceful, prosperous and democratic future”…

Instapundit notes, against their defense that they keep the advertising, news, and editorial content independent of each other,

Well, if you only take ads from organizations that share your opinions, then people will accuse you of being bought off. That’s a good argument for taking a wide range of ads, but there ought to be some limits. My blogads policy has been pretty much anything but Nazis. But Sudan looks pretty close to that line.

Anti-war rallies, arrests

Ninety people demonstrated against the Iraq War in Worcester Sunday. (Some of the IMC stories say 70, which is too low.)

Clark University held a big anti-war rally Monday. No web reports yet.

Catholic Workers have been an outspoken presence at anti-war rallies in Worcester, Tacoma, Waukesha, Des Moines, and Manhattan (where the activities included civil disobedience).

Keep the anti-war St. Patrick’s Four in your prayers as they serve their sentences.

Ken Hannaford-Ricardi demonstrates against the Iraq War in Worcester, 2006
Catholic Worker Ken Hannaford-Ricardi demonstrates against the Iraq War in Worcester. Indymedia photo.

The PIP and sex offenders

State reps Spillane and Fresolo don’t think the Worcester PIP shelter’s contract to provide “comprehensive re-entry services” to released sex offenders should be renewed. Bob Spillane:

“This is an outrageous situation,” he said, noting the PIP does nothing other than offer nighttime housing.
(Telegram & Gazette, susbscription required)

8 grand stolen from St. John’s Parish

Rev. Madden posted a notice in the parish bulletin at Masses Saturday and Sunday saying: “After a wonderful novena, it is heartbreaking to report that during the 7:15 p.m. Mass on last Sunday, thieves broke into the rectory and stole, $7,844.00.”
(Telegram & Gazette, subscription required)

Things seem to be going great at St. John’s in so many other ways. The article notes that they may be covered by insurance.

Last night Rev. Madden was talking about watching reruns of the cathedral’s Sunday mass on the mighty WCCA-TV. “It’s kind of like watching a game film.”