Lou stands for peace at Progressive Field
On Tuesday, June 15th, I again took my post at East 9th Street and Carnegie Avenue to greet Indians fans and a few Baltimore Orioles fans heading to Progressive Field. I will try to make as many games as my schedule allows to compensate for lost time during the pandemic. One mom with her son, who I’m guessing was about 11 years old, asked why I was there. I offered my traditional mantra: “I’m promoting peace. We need much more peace, civility, tolerance, mutual respect and compassion in our society.” She smiled and asked if she could take my picture. Of course I said, ‘yes’ and asked if she would like to include her boy in the photo, which was fine with her and her son. When he went back to stand with his mom, the youngster said he wanted to join the army. (I suspect he liked my uniform and he wanted one too.) I said, “If you want to become a medic and help save lives, that’s good. But if you want to kill people, I wouldn’t like that.” His mom laughed and he smiled. As the two walked away, I encouraged Mom to circulate the photo via email and Facebook and she said she would, adding, “I’m on social media.”
Read MoreLou and the Peace Flag make a comeback for the first big crowd at Progressive Field
Editors note: It seems fitting that Lou unmasked the Peace Flag on the eve of June 12th. On this day 1982, well over a million people marched the United Nations HQ in New York, for the biggest anti-war demonstration in U.S. history.
The pandemic put a damper, to put it mildly, on promoting peace to folks going to Indians games, but I finally FINALLY, yesterday afternoon, was able to resume my “labor of love,” promoting peace to people on their way to the Indians-Mariners game at Progressive field in downtown Cleveland. As is my wont, I stood at the northwest corner of East 9th Street and Carnegie Avenue for about an hour-and-a-half before game time, which was 7:10. It is the perfect spot because my peace message is easily visible not only to pedestrians going to the game but also many fans driving north on East 9th Street, heading for a place to park. Reactions to my embarrassingly-tight U.S. Army dress uniform and peace flag were mixed, as was the case in the past. I wanted to project as positive an image as possible, which meant adopting the classic military “ramrod-straight” posture, often saying to myself, “shoulders back, tummy tucked in…shoulders back, tummy tucked in, shoulders back, tummy tucked in, etc.” More often than not, I forgot to observe that self-admonition.
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Russia Against the World: Understanding the Russian Worldview
[email protected] HOME
Tuesday, July 13th, 2021
Speaker: Todd Nelson, PhD
Russia Against the World: Understanding the Russian Worldview will look at the Putin government’s perception of Russia’s role in the world. This includes Russian military interventionism, cyber interference and why Putin is willing to engage in such practices when he knows that Russian participation will be obvious. His discussion will also focus more broadly on Russian aggression in Ukraine and the history which ties this together since World War II, which still plays such an important role in Russian society.
Todd Nelson is an assistant professor in the Political Science Department at Cleveland State University. He has done extensive research in the areas of Russian Politics, Memory Politics, Human Rights, Genocide and Mass Killings.
Free and open to the public.
We’ll do our virtual best to provide “interesting conversation and camaraderie,” as always. As for food and drink, it’s BYO. Grab a brew or whatever is your cup of tea. Curl up at home and join us via laptop or phone. You can actively participate with or without video.
Al-Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine
Join CAIR-Cleveland and Cleveland Peace Action for a panel discussion about the documentary Al-Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine, a Clarity Films production
Saturday, May 22 ⋅ 6:00 – 7:00 pm
On Zoom – REGISTER HERE
PANELISTS: Connie Field, Director of Al-Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine and Fadi Quran, Palestinian Activist
View the film: On Friday, May 21, registered attendees will receive a code to access the film on Vimeo. Please watch the film before attending the panel discussion on Saturday, May 22, 2021.
Synopsis
An African American gospel choir is the Greek chorus for a Palestinian play on Martin Luther King which tours the West Bank preaching nonviolence. The choir is apprehensive about working with Palestinians whose American media image is that of angry, violent terrorist. For the Palestinians actors, Americans are unconditional supporters of their occupiers. It is a personal and cultural exchange where, over the course of the journey, their ideas about each other are radically transformed. Happy to finally visit the Holy Land, the choir witnesses life in the occupied territories, perform in a unique theater inside a refugee camp run by Juliano Mer-Khamis using art as an alternative to violence, and meet Fadi Quran, a young leader of a nonviolent movement for justice. At the end of their tour reality will astonishingly mirror the play on MLK, a man who died for his beliefs. On the very day of the anniversary of MLK’s murder, Juliano Mer-Khamis is assassinated, sending shock-waves throughout the country and the world. The very next day is the final night of the play where the actors perform in the shadow of his death, articulating their lines with a new and heartrending immediacy. As the choir leaves, King’s legacy lives on, as Fadi Quran and other young Palestinians board ‘settler only’ buses in an act of civil disobedience.
See the film trailer/promo at: www.clarityfilms.org/mlk
For more information, contact Areege Hammad at [email protected].
Downsizing the Military-Industrial Complex
Annual Membership Meeting
Cleveland Peace Action and Cleveland Peace Action Education Fund
Friday, May 14, 2021
View video of the Annual Meeting and Sen. Nina Turner’s keynote – passcode [email protected]
7:00 – Annual Meeting: Board Member/Officer Elections and Volunteer Recognition
7:30 – Keynote speaker: Nina Turner“Downsizing the Military-Industrial Complex”
All Cleveland Peace Action members are entitled to vote in Board Elections. A member is anyone who has made a contribution of time and/or money to Peace Action (local or national) in the last two years.
2021 Board Member Election Two-year term beginning 5/7/21: Francis Chiappa, Meghan Donovan, Dena Magoulias, *Mary Ober, *Stephanie Riccobene
Officers: One-year term beginning 5/7/21: Mark Weber, President, Dena Magoulias, Treasurer, Meghan Donovan, Secretary
Two-year term beginning 7/24/20 (no vote necessary) Don Bryant Chantal Dothey Elizabeth Kravanya Faten Odeh Thomas Sodders Mark Weber *Indicates new board member
Volunteer Recognition: Don Bryant, Bill Fickinger, Walter Nicholes, Rosemary Palmer
Keynote speaker: Nina Turner“Downsizing the Military-Industrial Complex”
Nina Turner was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and an Ohio State Senator from 2008 to 2014. She supported Bernie Sanders in his 2016 presidential campaign and became president of the Sanders-affiliated group Our Revolution in 2017. She served as national co-chair of Sanders’ 2020 campaign. Turner is now a candidate in the 2021 Ohio 11th Congressional District special election.
Free and open to the public.