El Salvador: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
In addressing gang violence, El Salvador has become the world leader in imprisonment. Vast numbers of the innocent are jailed in the process. Join us for a panel discussion on what’s happening and what can be done to stop it.
Wednesday, September 20th
At the UnBar Cafe, 12635 Larchmere Blvd, Cleveland, 44120
Come at 6:30 PM for sandwiches, soups, salads and baked goods, along with non-alcoholic beverages (available for purchase)
Panel Discussion at 7:00 PM with:
- Adela Zaya Hernandez, Director of International Partnership and Programs in Central America and the Caribbean for International Partners in Mission
- Susan Barnish, Program Director, COAR Peace Mission
- Erica Ewing, longtime IRTF volunteer, in El Salvador recently
- Mary Ober, owner of Revy Fair Trade, working with El Salvadoran artisans since 2009
- Chrissy Stonebraker-Martinez, IRTF, moderator
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by Cleveland Peace Action Education Fund and IRTF-InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia
On the 78th Anniversary of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The August 6th Hiroshima Commemoration with the Golden Rule crew began with some rousing rap and poetry by three artists brought by Al Porter, of Black on Black Crime: December Rose, Joe Motley, and Mr. Powers. We were then washed out by a drenching rain. Wet but undeterred, we re-created the remainder of the program on Zoom, on August 9th, the Nagasaki 78th Anniversary. Some of it is live, some taped.
- Speakers Terry Lodge, Doug Horner, Pat Marida, and the Golden Rule’s Helen Jaccard
- Music by Doug McWilliams/Jani Wanner McWilliams and Collective Vision
- Poetry by Clarissa Jakobsons and the late Daniel Thompson (read by Hailey Moran)
- Virtual luminaries and singing
Decolonize
Golden Rule’s Arrival in North Coast Harbor delayed. Saturday events cancelled. Sunday and Monday events are unaffected.
The Golden Rule crew will join us in commemorating Hiroshima Day with words, music and inspiration for a nuclear-free world
Sunday, August 6th at the Free Stamp, Willard Park, Cleveland
Gathering at 7:00 pm – Program begins at 7:30 pm
- Featuring the Golden Rule’s Helen Jaccard
- Speakers Terry Lodge, Pat Marida, and Doug Horner
- Music by Doug McWilliams/Jani Wanner and Al Porter
- Poetry by Clarissa Jakobsons and the late Daniel Thompson (read by Hailey Moran)
Limited seating available, bring chairs if you can
August 6th and 7th – Sunday and Monday – the Golden Rule is open for tours and possibly a short sail, weather permitting. The crew and support team are also available to meet with community groups, congregations, clubs, and schools. To find out more, contact Don Bryant/Francis Chiappa, [email protected], 216-509-7211.
More on the Golden Rule – Track her progress towards CLE in real time
The 39-foot sailboat Golden Rule is sailing to Cleveland to alert us to the need to eliminate nuclear weapons and prevent nuclear war. This historic vessel, restored by Veterans For Peace, will anchor at North Coast Harbor August 5th to 8th, on the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Golden Rule is currently sailing “The Great Loop” – the Mississippi, Gulf Coast, East Coast, and Great Lakes, with her message of peace, disarmament and sustainability. We will gather to welcome the Golden Rule Saturday at Noon, at North Coast Harbor Marina.
In 1958 four Quaker peace activists sailed the Golden Rule from Los Angeles toward the Marshall Islands in an attempt to halt U.S. nuclear weapons testing. The U.S. Coast Guard seized the boat in Honolulu and jailed the crew. The international outcry that followed built support for the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that was signed in August 1963 by President John F. Kennedy and the leaders of the UK and the USSR.
“We are sailing for a nuclear-free world and a peaceful, sustainable future,” says Helen Jaccard, Golden Rule Project Manager. “The billions of dollars that are being wasted on nuclear weapons and war could be used to address poverty, the pandemic, and climate change, while providing quality education and healthcare for all.”
Settler violence and the Israeli government’s complicity must end
Cleveland Peace Action calls on the Biden Administration to strongly condemn the settler violence and the Israeli government’s complicity. We further call on President Biden and Congress to declare zero tolerance for Israel’s continued construction of new illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank; to condemn the Gaza blockade, to release political prisoners and detained children; and for the US to immediately end military aid to Israel.
Read MoreReport on the Poor People’s Campaign, a national call for moral revival!
Moral Poverty Action Congress June 18-22, 2023
By Don Bryant
I now have full appreciation for the value of in-person conferencing after three years of pandemic-related isolation. The three-day Poor People’s Campaign Moral Poverty Action Congress was everything I expected and more.
Presentations in general sessions were educational, entertaining, and inspirational. Sharing space with hundreds of other campaign activists energized us and affirmed our place in the movement, lifting our broken society with 140 million poor people, from the bottom up.
The Poor People’s Campaign insisted on strict guidelines for health and safety, requiring all participants to be fully vaccinated and with negative COVID-19 test results. This was carried out by local organizers in every PPC district. Most of us wore face masks throughout the conference, as well, except during dining and when speaking at the microphone.
General sessions were well-organized tutorials covering the contents, impact, and sources of the Poor People’s Campaign national and state reports on how poverty destroys lives through policy decisions on all levels of government. These well-documented reports were our library of talking points that we raised with our congressional representatives and senators. Our preparation for the congressional visits continues to help us to amplify the facts in our educational, faith, political, and social circles, and in the media! National Fact Sheet on Poverty https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-National-Fact-Sheet-8.5-%C3%97-11-in.pdf Ohio Fact Sheet on Poverty https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Ohio-State-Fact-Sheet.pdf One error was found by our delegation regarding the minimum wage which is currently 10.10/hour
Music or theomusicology is an important component in the Poor People’s Campaign. Theomusicology is a combination of abolition movement spirituals, civil rights movement songs and modern-day spirited songs. Music delivers our message and is an inspiration for the movement, especially when it’s live and in
person. Reverend Bishop William Barber invites one thousand congregations around the nation to sing our songs in their services. I plan to bring Poor People’s Campaign songs to the Unitarian Universalist congregation where I am a member.
Thanks to multiple generous campaign donors, including Cleveland Peace Action, the national PPC was able to accommodate the hundreds of Poverty Action Congress delegates in a 4-star hotel in Washington D.C. with exceptional conference services, clean and comfortable rooms, and satisfying delicious meals served buffet style in large fine dining rooms with friendly and efficient servers.
On the second day of our Moral Poverty Action Congress (MPAC), we attended a morning general session to review the previous day’s presentations and sang more songs. Then, fortified with facts, resources, and inspiration, we boarded buses to Capitol Hill for what Rev. Barber defined, “not an insurrection but a resurrection.” Our MPAC spread out on Capitol Hill to meet with our representatives and senators to deliver our important information, often with personal stories. Many of the meetings were prearranged by delegates but some representatives and senators neglected to respond or schedule a meeting. We went to their offices anyway and met with their staff.
The Poor People’s Campaign calls on us to vitalize a “Third Reconstruction” built on the transformational history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggles of the 20th century. The Third Reconstruction is a revival of our constitutional commitment to establish justice, provide for the general welfare, end decades of austerity, and recognize that policies we recommend for the 140 million poor and low-income people in the country are also good for the nation. To do this we must deal with the systemic detriments of a capitalist state: racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the denial of health care, militarism, and nationalism. Our movement is building across the country in the Poor People’s Campaign’s 45 state coordinating committees and network of more than 250 labor and organizational partners and hundreds of faith partners, and dozens of national faith bodies.
Cleveland Peace Action (CPA) fully supports the Poor People’s Campaigns objectives. CPA is in solidarity and amplifies the PPC objections to the 2023 $1.1 trillion, more than 62 percent of our government’s discretionary budget, that is
being allocated to war and weapons, excessive law enforcement, mass incarceration, deportations, and immigrant detentions. Forward together!