Our Art & Writing Challenge + Youth Activist Awards for students of Contra Costa County is now OPEN!
Topic/Prompt for 2023:
“Young People Making a Difference”
Contest Website: www.creatingpeacefulschools.weebly.com
Contest Deadline: April 21st
Our Art & Writing Challenge, named in honor of its founder Dennis T. Thomas, is organized to encourage local youth to address issues of peace and social justice through fine art (includes visual art, sculpture, photography, video, and music) or writing (creative writing or essay). We are open to nearly all mediums, and are now expanding our categories to include original MUSIC into the “Arts” category!
Submissions are open to all middle and high school students in Contra Costa County!
For more information on the contest + youth activist awards: visit our dedicated website.
Join us THIS Thursday, March 16th (7PM – 8:30PM) for a free film screening + discussion of “The Children’s March”. This is an inspiring film for all ages but it is perfect for introducing young people to the power of activism. We highly recommend bringing the whole family! Registration is free but please sign up so we can best accommodate participants. The film runtime is around 45 minutes and we will have time for discussion after. Refreshments will be provided and participants are encouraged to bring snacks!
Recommended Reading for Week of 3/13:
John Walsh: Protest at the White House, March 18, Against US Proxy War In Ukraine – We highly recommend this article written by friend of the Center and Peace Center Advocacy Committee member, John Walsh for antiwar.com
Chris Hedges: Ukraine’s Death by Proxy (Scheerpost)
Matt Taibbi: My Statement to Congress
John Pilger: The Betrayers of Julian Assange (Scheerpost)
Rick Sterling: How US Exceptionalism Has Spawned War in Ukraine and Syria (antiwar.com)
 Monday, March 13th @ 1:00PM Equity Speaker Series: From Self-Care to Healing Justice – Lessons from Women of Color Activists Organized by the Diablo Valley College Social Justice Department TICKETS: FREE (Register Online for Zoom Link) About the event: This talk will draw on research conducted with the movement for reproductive justice that advocates for the human right to bodily autonomy that includes bearing children or terminating pregnancies free from judgment, abuse, or obstacles; raising children in healthy environments; and expressing one’s gender identity. This talk explores the meaning of health and wellness, particularly for low-income communities of color. Zavella will illustrate how the movement for reproductive justice teaches us to go beyond self-care and work collaboratively for healing justice and the well-being of all. About the speaker: Patricia Zavella completed her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Professor Emerita of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She works in the intersection of Chicanx/Latinx studies, anthropology, and feminist studies on issues related to poverty, family, sexuality, health, work, transnational migration, and women’s social activism. Her most recent book is The Movement for Reproductive Justice: Empowering Women of Color through Social Activism. Zavella is the recipient of the American Anthropological Association’s Committee on Gender Equity in Anthropology Award, the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists’ Distinguished Career Award, and the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies’ NACCS Scholar of the Year award. |
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| SHUT DOWN DRONE WARFARE! (April 15 – 22, 2023) Holloman Drone Base, Southern New MexicoCo-sponsored by CODEPINK, Ban Killer Drones & Veterans for Peace REGISTER HERE! Background: The campaign to nonviolently stop the US killer drone program orchestrated out of Creech AFB, Nevada is EXPANDING!Our Spring Action is moving to the southern New Mexico desert, at Holloman Killer Drone Base, April 15 – 22! This is a national mobilization. Please join us & bring friends. Our organizing is calling for at least 300 people across the country to converge in peaceful resistance! If you can help, please contact us! Creech AFB in Nevada, is now understood to be the “grandfather” of all U.S. drone bases: The covert U.S. Drone Assassination Program started there, and it remains the central control center in a complex assassin drones network. Shut Down Creech, our 14 year campaign to resist drone warfare at Creech AFB, with week-long peaceful protests has been successful: Our persistence has contributed greatly to the rapid turnover of drone pilots and operators in the program. We will return to Creech for our fall action week later this year! Why Holloman and Why Now? The drone pilot/operator training program was moved from Creech to Holloman Air Force Base a few years ago. This explains the noticeably decreased commute traffic and decreased number of Reaper drones flying over the Nevada desert. Newer recruits are more likely to be impacted and called to their conscience. The secrecy of the drone program keeps it from the public eye. “Drone strikes” are rarely mentioned in the media or by the military, and the term “Air Strikes” provides convenient “shelter” from public scrutiny. Our presence will uncover the secrecy! What we do know: Holloman AFB is the #1 producer of drone pilots and operators in the U.S.! It “graduates more than 600 students annually.” (per Holloman’s website)Holloman currently hosts the Royal Air Force RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) Formal Training Unit (FTU) and the Italian Air Force RPA training courses.Modern warfare has become a technical warfare using remotely controlled killing machines and autonomous weaponry. Countries are racing to obtain the most advanced drones and robotic weapons to compete with a very frightening global reality. (Read attached articles about the role of drones in the Ukraine war.) A more violent world is being created in our name, with our tax dollars. The Shut Down Creech organizing team is collaborating with New Mexico Veterans For Peace activists to nonviolently resist drone warfare at Holloman. We are calling our expanded campaign: SHUT DOWN DRONE WARFARE! Diplomacy not War…Stop Militarism for the Planet! WILL YOU JOIN US THIS SPRING? April 15 – 22: TAX DAY to EARTH DAY! REGISTER HERE! |
| From our friends at 350BayArea: “Please join 350 Bay Area Action and allies across the country in mobilizing for a far stronger US EPA rule on Soot—Particulate Matter 2.5” Public comment is open through March 28, 2023. Pollution from soot is a leading factor in tens of thousands of deaths every year. It’s generated by combustion of fossil fuels in power plants, vehicles refineries, wood burning, and other activities. Soot is associated with many serious health problems, especially for young children, the elderly, and all people suffering from respiratory problems, diabetes, other chronic disease. Soot falls disproportionately on communities of color and low income people, who tend to live closer to polluting industries, highways, and other sources of soot. But soot affects everyone and is a huge problem here in California. According to the annual State of the Air Report (American Lung Association), 98% of Californians live in a county impacted by poor air quality. The Central Valley has the worst industrial pollution in the country, both from soot and other pollutants. While protecting public health fully justifies stronger soot standards, strengthening limits on soot pollution will also help us fight climate change. Burning fossil fuels not only produces soot: it’s also the main driver of climate change. One study found that a specific form of soot, called black carbon, is second only to carbon pollution in contributing to climate change. So, we have a big stake in asking EPA to adopting a stronger soot standard that reduces health hazards from fine particulate matter, and climate damage from black carbon. TAKE ACTION:Submit a comment as soon as possible to EPA urging them to set a stronger standard for soot for 8 μg/m3 instead of the proposal for 10 μg/m3. Use the Sierra Club Toolkit or go directly to the Sierra Club Comment Page Thanks to all of you who weighed in earlier on the methane rule. Now take one step more on soot, PM 2.5! With deep appreciation, Kathy, for the Federal Action Team/ 350 Bay Area Action”  |