[act-ma] Three events to be added by AFSC

[Sofia Wolman]

Hi-
I'm working here in Cambridge with Joseph Gerson at the American Friends Service Committee, Peace and Economic Security Program.  We have a few additions for the next mailing.
Thanks!
 -Sofia Wolman

Events:
1. March 13 'Challenging the Pivot: The U.S., China, & Alternatives to Asia-Pacific Militarization' featuring Jason Tower & Joseph Gerson - Hosted by AFSC, MA Peace Action, and UFPJ
2. March 18 'Afghanistan and NATO: Bridging the US and European Peace Movements' featuring Reiner Braun - Hosted by AFSC
3. April 4 'The 1% - What’s NATO Got to Do with It? Afghanistan, Libya, Russia, Iran, China & Economic Injustice' A teach-in with Vijay Prashad, Ellen Frank & Joseph Gerson - Hosted by AFSC
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1.  March 13 'Challenging the Pivot: The U.S., China, & Alternatives to Asia-Pacific Militarization' featuring Jason Tower and Joseph Gerson
Hosted by American Friends Service Committee, Massachusetts Peace Action, and United for Peace and Justice

Tuesday, March 13, 2012, from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Washburn Hall, Episcopal Divinity School
99 Brattle St. in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Ma.

Please join us for this free public forum on Asia-Pacific militarization and alternatives, co-sponsored by the American Friends Service committee, Massachusetts Peace Action and United for Justice and Peace.

With the rise of East Asia as the economic motor force of the 21st century, the U.S. military is pivoting from Iraq and Afghanistan to Asia and the Pacific. Washington is expanding and deepening its alliances across the region, engaging in provocative military exercises, and building weapons systems to contain china – all at great cost to the U.S. and Asia-Pacific peoples. China, too, is expanding its influence and military operations in ways that have provoked anxieties among some neighboring nations. 

Jason Tower, AFSC’s Beijing based representative for Northeast Asia, and Joseph Gerson, who has worked closely with Asian and Pacific peace movement for many years, will help to build our movements’ capacities to challenge the new arms race and growing military threats in Asia and the Pacific. Their analyses will also serve Move the Money campaigns.

Interested in spending time with our speakers? Meet Jason and Joseph and other area peace activists at a special reception before the forum. Tickets are $50 and benefit the American Friends Service Committee

For more information contact: Sofia Wolman or phone 617-661-6130 ext. 119.

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2.  March 18 'Afghanistan and NATO: Bridging the US and European Peace Movements' featuring Reiner Braun
Hosted by American Friends Service Committee

Sunday, March 18, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
American Friends Service Committee
2161 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, Ma. (near Porter Square)

Join us for a talk by, and conversation with, Reiner Braun about European opposition to the Afghan and Libyan Wars and to NATO, whose post-Cold War priority is “out of area” operations to secure resources from the Global South.

Reiner Braun is the principal organizer of the No to War - No to NATO Network, which has played a leading role in opposing the NATO Alliance, its involvement in the War in Afghanistan, and its attacks on Libya as part of NATO’s “new strategic concept.” In December, the Network brought together 4,500 activists from across Europe to protest the Afghan summit in Bonn, which endorsed the continued presence of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan through 2024. Reiner and the Network are taking the lead in bringing European activists to Chicago in May for counter-summit activities.

Reiner has been active in the peace movement since 1982, serving with Scientists for Peace and Sustainability (Germany,) the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility, the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (Germany,) and Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler (Pugwash, Germany.)  He is a steering member of the International Peace Bureau and the founder of the No to War - No to NATO network.

This program is organized and sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee.  For more information on the event, please email swolman at afsc.org.  To learn more about the Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice taking place May 18 & 19 in Chicago, please visit www.natofreefuture.org.

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3.  April 4 'The 1% - What’s NATO Got to Do with It? Afghanistan, Libya, Russia, Iran, China & Economic Injustice' A teach-in with Vijay Prashad, Ellen Frank & Joseph Gerson
Hosted by American Friends Service Committee

Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Cambridge Friends Meeting
5 Longfellow Park (off Brattle Street, near Harvard Square)

Peace and justice organizations, community based groups and Occupy are preparing to challenge militarism and austerity when the leaders of the NATO meet in Chicago and the G-8 nations meet at Camp David this May.  Join us to learn what NATO and the G-8 have to do with the world’s wars, economic crises, and making the world safe for the 1%.

Vijay Prashad is Professor and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT. He is the author of Arab Spring, Libyan Winter. He will be speaking at the Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice in Chicago, May 18.

Ellen Frank teaches Economics at the University of Massachusetts - Boston. She is the author of The Raw Deal: How Myths and Misinformation About the Deficit, Inflation, and Wealth Impoverish America.  She has worked as senior economic consultant at the Poverty Institute in Rhode Island.

Joseph Gerson is Director of AFSC’s Peace and Economic Security Program. He is a lead organizer of the May 18 Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice in Chicago. His most recent book is Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World.

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death… …Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism." –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Beyond Vietnam,” April 4, 1967.

Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (swolman at afsc.org – 617-661-6130) and Massachusetts Peace Action (info at masspeaceaction.org – 617-354-2169).  Endorsed by United for Justice and Peace.
For more information about the Counter-Summit please visit www.natofreefuture.org.