Upcoming events in the Asheville area this week

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Jolly Yule, Happy New Years, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Boxing Day (for Canadians and Brits).

UPCOMING EVENTS

12/17/12 ABCRC 2012 HOLIDAY CELEBRATION LUNCH
Come and join us in celebration, as we honor the past, and usher in an exciting future!
Asheville Buncombe Community Relations Council will soon be hosting its 2012 Holiday Celebration Lunch, and you are invited. Join us for fellowship, fun and our forward movement! Time is Noon to 2 PM and location is the ABCRC offices at 50 S. French Broad Avenue, Suite 204. Please RSVP at 828-252-4713.

12/17/12 OCCUPY ASHEVILLE WEEKLY MEETING

This meeting will be at 6:30 PM at First Congregational Church of Christ. Please enter by the back door. This is the last meeting for Occupy Asheville for this year. All are welcome.

12/20/12 BINDING FORCE OF RACIAL IDEALS ON WHITE BEHAVIOR AND BELIEFS
Join Professor Matthew Hughey, author of White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race, to discuss how dominant racial stereotypes structure the actions and beliefs of white people across the political spectrum, from progressives to racists. Firestorm Café and Books at 6 PM.

12/22/12 WESTERN CAROLINIANS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE VIGIL
Western Carolinians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East is launching its boycott campaign against products produced in illegal Israeli settlements with a vigil on December 22nd from 12 – 2 p.m. at the entrance to Best Buy near Asheville Mall. We are targeting SodaStream, a home seltzer maker; made in the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim (West Bank occupied Palestine). All are welcome. Contact Suchi at 669-2073 or Elizabeth at 669-3616 for more information.

12/28/12 ASHEVILLE HOMELESS PARADE
This event is in defense of the rights of our homeless brothers and sisters here in Asheville and a rejection of the criminalization of homelessness the City has overseen throughout the past three-four years. The Parade will begin at Pritchard Park at 2 PM and march to Vance Memorial where speakers from the homeless community will speak.

12/30/12 to 01/01/13 ALTERNATIVE NEW YEARS

This is a gathering and vigil at the gates of Trident Nuclear Submarine base, with cabins at Crooked River State Park in Georgia. For more information, to reserve a space from Asheville and for carpool info, contact Clare with New South Network of War Resisters at newsouthnetwork@gmail.com or call  828-242-5610.  

01/02/13 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
Wayne Coldwell and Steve Woody will discuss Cataloochee and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Program starts at 7:15 PM and location is Unitarian Church at Edwin Place and Charlotte Street.

01/03/13 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic Studios: 109 Roberts Street in Asheville. VFP Chapter 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/

01/05/13 OCCUPY ASHEVILLE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
This meeting will be held at 3 PM at Pritchard Park.  General Assemblies are held on the first Saturday of the month.  Please note the change in time.  All are welcome.

01/05/13 GREEN PARTY MEETING
The Buncombe County GREEN Party's business meeting is open to the public. It will be held from 10 AM to noon, upstairs in the Fortune Building, 729 Haywood Rd., West Asheville. Contact Ronald @ 828-LUCK-180 or Larry @ 828-225-4347 for more information.

01/08/13 JUSTICE FRIENDS’ NIGHT
Kicking off a regular social event to be held at Firestorm Cafe. This is an informal gathering of Greens together with other folks in the Asheville community, people with an activist mindset who are interested in topics related to justice. This is a discussion group and a social event. Time is 7 PM.

01/11/13 MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC AGAINST GUANTANAMO
Orange jumpsuits optional.

01/12/13 PROTEST DRONE BOMBINGS
This will be held at CIA headquarters in Virginia.  

01/05/13 PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF NORTH CAROLINA ANNUAL MEETING
This will be in Winston-Salem from 9:30 to 5 PM.  http://www.progressivedemocratsnc.org/blog/node/1705

01/17/12 YOUTH CELEBRATION, PEACE MARCH AND RALLY
This will also include a candlelight service.  The Youth Celebration begins at 4 PM at Lipinsky Auditorium. This is hosted by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.

01/19/13 MARTIN LUTHER KING PRAYER BREAKFAST
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County will hold its 32nd annual Prayer Breakfast at the Grove Park Inn on Saturday, January 19, 2013. The guest speaker is Dr. Tyrone Bledsoe. Dr. Bledsoe is founder and Executive Director of the Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB), a national organization that works on behalf of African American and Latino males in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. The former Vice President for Student Life and Special Assistant to the President at the University of Toledo, he has served at a guest lecturer at the Oxford University Roundtable Institute in Oxford, England. Tickets to the breakfast cost $25 for adults ($30 as of Jan. 1, 2013); $15 for children 12 and under; and $35 for patrons. The breakfast begins at 8:30 AM.  Tickets can be ordered by telephone at 828-335-6896 or 828-301-8968, or by email at editor@myowneditor.com.

01/20/13 OCCUPY ASHEVILLE PARTY AND FUNDRAISER
This will be a potluck at Rosetta’s Kitchen and will start at 5 PM. It is also a fundraiser for Ben Scales, Attorney, who has helped many of the Occupy people who were arrested. More details to come.

01/21/13 PEACE MARCH AND RALLY FOR JUSTICE IN HONOR OF MLK
The Peace March and Rally begin at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 21 – the official King holiday – with a brief service at St. James AME Church on Hildebrand Street at Martin Luther King Boulevard downtown. Participants march to City-County Plaza at noon, where speakers and musicians join in a Rally for Justice. Occupy Asheville will participate.

01/23/13 MLK WEEK KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT UNCA
“Looking to the Future” by Gwendolyn Boyd. Time is 7 PM and location is Lipinsky Auditorium. Free. Gwendolyn Boyd illustrates the relevance of Dr. King’s work today by combining science, education and service to create concrete change in her community and the world. She became the first African-American woman to earn an M.S. in mechanical engineering at Yale University. In the spirit of Dr. King, Boyd inspires change appropriate to our times. She is a prominent advocate for women’s equality and the recruitment of African Americans into science and engineering. Boyd has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Important Blacks in Technology by the Black Engineer of the Year Awards.

01/21/13 to 01/25/13 MLK WEEK AT UNCA
Check http://msp.unca.edu/mlk2013 in January for a full list of activities.

02/17/13 CLIMATE ACTION DAY IN DC
Click here to RSVP to tell the President to join us: act.350.org/signup/presidentsday

02/22/13 THE PARCHMAN HOUR AT UNCA
“Remembering the Past:  Freedom Rider Vignettes” at 8 PM at Lipinsky Auditorium. Free. In the fiery first months of America's Civil Rights movement, waves of college students rode buses into the heart of the Deep South. Many were brutally attacked, arrested and imprisoned in Mississippi's notorious Parchman Farm Penitentiary. To help them endure, they invented "The Parchman Hour," a live variety show inspired by radio and TV programs. The Parchman Hour, a Mike Wiley production, brings to the stage powerful oral histories and conversations from the Freedom Riders including Stokely Carmichael, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

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ONGOING EVENTS
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TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument

WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood Country Courthouse in Waynesville.

THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe.
Anti-racism Group Discussion at 5:30 PM on the third Thursday of the month at Firestorm Cafe.

FRIDAY
Women in Black have a vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square (Asheville) on the first Friday of the month.
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the City Hall in Hendersonville

SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in Brevard.
Occupy Asheville General Assembly on the first Saturday of the month. 4 PM at Pritchard Park.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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Leah Bolger, President of Veterans for Peace talked about her trip to Pakistan to investigate drone bombings.

This was a phone/internet meeting on 12-12-12.

Pakistani Opinion & Politics
*75% say US is the enemy
*Pakistanis do see the difference between Americans and their government, and Leah’s group was always treated warmly

Information on drones from Stanford and Investigative Bureau of Journalists.

She showed short film from Brave New Films (no sound though).

Pashtun Culture – covers Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they do not recognize the border.  They follow communal living and believe in hospitality (will defend guests with own lives) and revenge. Women are very private and did not talk to this delegation. Problems solved by jergas (sp?)– a group meeting.

Obama targets based on “signature strikes” meaning that the act or dress or live in the area of what they consider a “proper target” which means a military aged male for the most part.  GPS chips are used to target specific people.  US will name a terrorist killed, sometimes multiple times, with no verification.

She talked about how the drone strikes impacted the people on the ground.  They are under threat of drone attacks 24/7.  It is making people suicidal.  Children are afraid to go to school. Changed cultural norms – weddings used to be large, but now they are afraid of large gatherings. Same for funerals, since they are targeted by drones. People are afraid to meet in groups. People are relocating, or sending their children to live elsewhere.

There is no compensation for injuries, loss of income, or property damage.  Often times, there is no medical care available.

They had 3 meetings with tribal leaders and victims of the drone bombings. There are in rural areas and communication is difficult.  Pakistani army is complicit in keeping things secret. They do not even release the names of the women who were injured or killed, because of cultural norms and privacy issues.  There is no record keeping of births, deaths, etc. No pictures of women either.  One man showed a scrap of dress to show his wife was killed.

Leah had a video on their journey in Pakistan, but did not sho it.  She will post to V4P website. The Pakistani politician they traveled with was very popular and people greeted them everywhere. Then she talked about legal issues, like UN Charter, Geneva Conventions and US Constitution. The drone strikes violate sovereignty.  There is no transparency or accountability since it is CIA and classified. No evidence or charges are presented; there is no positive identification and no chance to surrender.  “Double tap” means they go after first responders – a flagrant violation of international law.

These are extrajudicial assassinations.

They had 2 meetings with Ambassador Hoagland for Pakistan. In first meeting, he guaranteed the convoy would not be a target of a drone strike. Leah suggested that they would position Americans around Pakistan to stop the drone strikes, to protect the Pakistanis.  He claimed that civilian casualties are in “two digits”. Leah said they are over 3,000.  They discussed “double tap” and compensation for injuries or damage.  Ambassador thought compensation would be good, but is not possible.  Also told him about Stanford Report, but he did not read it before second meeting (after the convoy into Warzirastan).  He has not met with any victims and denies applicability of international laws on drones at this time. He denied that visibility or audibility of drones and denied the veracity of photos and stories. He seemed to be indifferent to their reports. Leah found the indifference to be very upsetting. He took no notes and asked few questions. Hoagland claimed that there are no strikes when women and children are present. He was offended to their talk about Obama’s “kill list”.

What we can do:  educate yourself and others
Join anti-drone organization
Get a drone replica – wheel into farmer’s market and have a die-in (a participant said they took their drone replica to a UN meeting and in front of capital building in Madison WI)
Protest outside of drone bases or drone manufacturers
Host a speaker in your town – the whole team of folks
Lobby and pressure Congress

Some websites:
www.dronewatch.org
www.livingunderdrones.org
www.thebureauinvestigates.com
www.rightsadvocacy.org
www.reprieve.org.uk

Code Pink is hiring a full time person to keep on top of drones.

April 6 – National No Drones Day
San Diego Chapter of VFP is hosting DroneDiego and they hope to make this a series of international days of actions from April 4 to 7.  Dave Patterson is heading this action. There is also a VFP drone working group.

Same presentation on Wednesday, December 19, 2012!

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Dear Friend of Veterans For Peace,

Please become a part of this movement to Rebuild our Country - Move our Tax Dollars from the Pentagon to Job Creation and Human Needs. We need a new set of priorities that place the needs of the people ahead of the profits of the privileged.

Peace and Justice Groups, Military Families, Veterans, Unions, Retirees, and the Unemployed are all supporting our Jobs Not Wars Petition demanding that Congress and our President Give Us Work Not War. If you have yet signed, simply click here to Sign the Petition.

If you have already signed, we Thank You!

Please continue to help Spread the Word by forwarding this Petition to all your friends and associates.  If you belong to an organization, no matter how big or small, who agrees with our Petition, ask them to Endorse the Campaign Here

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/302/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11931

A Quick Summary of our Petition’s Demands:

End the War in Afghanistan Now

Make Substantial Cuts to the Over-bloated, Out-of- Control Pentagon budget

Create Good Paying Jobs

Let the Bush tax cuts expire for the top 2%

The wealthiest and corporations must do their fair share and pay a little more

Protect our social safety net including Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid

Rely on negotiation and determined diplomacy rather than military power  

Click here for a downloadable copy of the Petition and bring it to your church, union, parent teacher meeting, and ask them to Sign the Petition. Hungry American children, the children of the poor and unemployed, are becoming the new face of America. All Our Voices are needed to fight against the influence of the very powerful, money ladened Wall Street and Corporate CEOs and the Military Industrial Complex.

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