BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY - P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA, 19081--(610)544-1818BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY - P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA, 19081--(610)544-1818
2011 Events
Sun., Jan. 9, 4:30p.m. – Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program. Special Showing of A Force More Powerful (2000, episode 1, 87 min.)
A Force More Powerful…Through civil disobedience and boycotts, Mahatma Gandhi leads a movement that sets India on the path to freedom…In the 1960’s, using Gandhian methods, black college students desegregated Nashville’s lunch counters, becoming a model for the entire civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.…1985, South Africa, a campaign of mass nonviolent action, including a consumer boycott, weakened business support for the oppression racial apartheid…
Monday, January 17, 2011, Noon, Make War No More Martin Luther King Day of Nonviolent Resistance (& Nonviolent Civil Disobedience) Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA more
Sun., Feb. 13, 4:30p.m. – Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program. Program:TOP SECRET AMERICA...Post 9/11 Surveillance Industry: Billion Dollar Boom and Impact on Civil Liberties withlarge screen showing of ‘Are We Safer?’, PBS FRONTLINE story on the U.S. domestic surveillance industry; and Sara Mullen, Assoc. Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Pennsylvania. Attend the area's longest running on-going program for peace and justice (bold), the Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Supper/Program, now in its 3rd decade.....2nd Sunday of the month (except August), 4:30PM, at the University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Phila., PA (bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share). Programs begin at 5:30 p.m. Easily accessible by public transportation, SEPTA bus #21, www.septa.org
Sun., March 13, 4:30p.m. – Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program. Program: “Haiti After The Earthquake: Hope and Despair”, Johanna Berrigan, House of Grace Catholic Worker and its Catholic Worker Free Health Care Clinic.
Johanna is a Physician Assistant and mother of two sons. In addition to her work of Catholic Worker hospitality for homeless people in Philadelphia and refugee families from various places around the world, Johanna has been a peace and justice activist for many years. Johanna traveled to Iraq many times both before and during the invasion of Iraq. She traveled to Jordan and Syria to meet with refugee families from Iraq to listen to their stories and to learn more about the refugee crisis. Since 2004, The House of Grace Community together with Bishop Tom Gumbleton has accompanied the St. Claire Parish in Port au Prince, Haiti to establish a health care project in their community. Johanna has traveled to Haiti repeatedly, particularly since the devastating earthquake of January 12th, 2010 and has done numerous media interviews from Haiti including DEMOCRACY NOW. (http://www.democracynow.org/2005/8/26/20_massacred_in_port_au_prince). Johanna’s most recent trip to Haiti was in Febuary 2011 to provide relief services.
Mon., April 4, 4:30p.m., Independence Mall Visitors Center, 6th & Market Sts., Phila, PA, Brandywine Peace Community ‘Speak-Out’ Demonstration, honors the memory and enduring message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the anniversary of his assassination.
Sun., April 10, 4:30p.m. – Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program. Program: “War in Afghanistan and Voices for Creative Nonviolence”, Farah Marie Mokhtareizadeh. Farah Mokhtareizadeh first joined Voices for Creative Nonviolence (http://vcnv.org/) in 2002 as a delegate of the Iraq Peace Walk, and then as a member of the Iraq Peace Team. She participated in several campaigns including the Jubilee Iraq Fast in Geneva, Switzerland, the Occupation Project’s sit-in of congressional offices during the 2007 Iowa caucuses, and as a student with the language study project in Damascus, Syria. Farah traveled to Lebanon with other Voices for Creative Nonviolence members to join an international solidarity campaign in protest of the bombing of civilians during the 2006 summer war between Israel and Lebanon. Farah holds a BA in Modern Middle East Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA in International Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin. She is a PhD candidate at Trinity studying Islam and gender, and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. Farah in January 2011 returned to Afghanistan, along with Kathy Kelly and others members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence in a trip that included work with the Afghan Youth Volunteers. Visit http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog/2010/12/afghanistan-the-people%E2%80%99s-december-review/
Fri., April 22 Noon - Good Friday Stations of Justice & Peace – Earth Day Celebration for Peace and the Environment…Nonviolent Action @Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA, Mall & Goddard Boulevards (behind King of Prussia Mall). “…Nuclear weapons have poisoned our earth, our spirits, our imagination, and our judgment with the threat of unimaginable death and destruction…The crosses before us today announce the fact of Lockheed Martin - weapons and war. These crosses express our mourning for the toll of war, of human neglect and environmental indifference, of the greed and violence summarized daily and made corporate in Lockheed Martin…” – From Good Friday 2010 Stations of Justice & Peace at Lockheed Martin. PHOTOS
Sun., May 8, 4:30p.m. – Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program."…From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession…” – From the Mother’s Day Proclamation for Peace, Julia Ward Howe, 1870.
Special Annual Brandywine Mother’s Day Program featuring a large-screen showing of Occupation Has No Future: Militarism and Resistance in Israel/Palestine (USA, 2010, 84 mins., English, Hebrew and Arabic w/English subtitles.) In the Fall of 2009, a group of U.S. veterans and war resisters traveled to Israel/Palestine. This little seen documentary uses the trip as a lens to study Israeli militarism, examine the occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, and explore the work of both Palestinians and Israelis organizing against militarism and occupation. Mother’s Day program will also include music, and invited speakers.
Sun, June 12, 4:30pm – 7:30pm Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program. “Promoting Real Dignity & Peace in Palestine, Michael Merryman-Lotze, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) program director for advocacy, education and policy on Israel and Palestine. From 2007 through 2010, Mike worked with Save the Children UK as their Child Rights Program Manager in their Palestine office. He also lived in Palestine from January 2000 through mid 2003 when he worked as a legal researcher with the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, Law in the Service in Man. In addition to his work in Israel and Palestine, Mike has also worked on conflict resolution and cooperative development programs throughout the Middle East including in Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq. “…the current reality of people’s lives in Israel and Palestine and their desires for freedom and dignity…are not met by simplistic pushes for democracy and economic growth and a peace process that focuses on physical violence to the exclusion of structural violence and justice.” - Michael Merryman-Lotze, AFSC Israel – Palestine program director.
Sat, July 2, 2011 DECLARE PEACE FAIR , 1:00pm – 3:30pm Independence Visitors Center (lawn area), 6th & Market Sts., Phila., PA Declare your independence from war and militarism, corporate greed, environmental devastation…In the shadow of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Declare Peace for people, our communities and the world, for the earth! Music by Tom Mullian (with special guest, Wayne G. Harvey) mixing topical lyrics with an eclectic blend of country, blues, rock and folk; and ThaTruth, Hip Hop for justice and peace; and more…Dramatic Readings, Poetry, Story-Telling, Featured Speakers: Celeste Zappala, Gold Star Mother for Peace; Iris Marie Bloom, Protecting Our Waters. Display/literature tables by area justice, peace, environmental, anti-violence, human rights, women's, LGBT, and community groups. photos
Sun, July 10, 2011 Monthly Potluck - “PAX AMERICANA and The Weaponization of Space" , 4:30pm – 7:30pm University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Phila., PA Philadelphia Premiere screening of Denis Delestrac’s feature documentary “PAX AMERICANA and The Weaponization of Space" (2010, France-Canada, NR, 85 mins., filmed on location throughout the U.S. and Europe) featuring Noam Chomsky; Martin Sheen; Tim Weiner, New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winning author; Bruce Gagnon, Global Alliance Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and Robert J. Stevens, CEO, Lockheed Martin. The film will be preceded by the premiere of a NEW video short “IN THE SIGHTS OF THE FBI: From COINTELPRO to Today's Assaults on Civil Liberties”.
Sat, July 16, 2011 "Trinity" Vigil for Peace and the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons , 12pm – 1pm Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge, PA (behind the King of Prussia Mall), Vigil for Peace and the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, observing the anniversary of the “Trinity” test and the start of the nuclear age – nuclear weapons and power – from Hiroshima Bomb to Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant. Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer, is also the U.S.’s chief nuclear weapons contractor. “...Now, I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.” – J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bomb, quotes Hindu Gita after witnessing the first atomic test blast – code-named: “Trinity”, July 16, 1945. Three weeks after “Trinity”, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6 – 9, 1945. See Brandywine Peace Community’s account of the building of the first atomic bomb, JOURNEY OF DEATH, Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer, is also the U.S.’s chief nuclear weapons contractor.
Sat, August 6, 2011 Hiroshima Day Demonstration & Nonviolent Resistance , 12pm – 2pm Hiroshima Day Demonstration & Nonviolent Resistance at Lockheed Martin Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge, PA (behind the King of Prussia Mall). On August 6, 1945, at 8:16a.m., the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 150,000 people in the immediate blast and fire. “I climbed Hikiyama Hill and looked down. I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared…What I felt then and still fell now I just can’t explain with words. Of course I saw many dreadful scenes after, but that experience – looking down and finding nothing left of Hiroshima – was so shocking that I simply can’t express what I felt…Hiroshima didn’t exist, Hiroshima just didn’t exist.” – An atomic bomb survivor (“Hibakusha”) of Hiroshima. Three days after Hiroshima, the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki. In the sixty one years following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thousands upon thousands have died – and continue to die – from the effects of radiation poisoning. See Brandywine Peace Community’s account of the building of the first atomic bomb, JOURNEY OF DEATH Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer, is also the U.S.’s chief nuclear weapons contractor. Hiroshima Day 2011 event photos and essay
Tue, August 9, 2011 Nagasaki Day - Lights Over Troubling Waters , 7:30pm – 8:30pm Market Street Bridge, Phila, Pa 19103 Lights Over Troubling Waters - Nagasaki Day Candlelight Vigil for Nuclear Free Future & Peace, at Market Street Bridge in front of 30th St. Train Station, 2955 Market Street, in West Philadelphia. Three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, on August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb (a plutonium bomb) on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary’s was ground zero for the world’s second atomic bombing, killing more than 75,000 in the immediate blast and fire and destroying at the time the largest Catholic city in all of Asia.
Sun, September 11, 2011 Monthly Potluck: PEACE - the Road (Still) Not Taken - , 4:30pm – 7:00pm University Lutheran Church Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program “Voices of Peace in a Decade of War” (music, poetry, and prose) including video short: In the Sights of the FBI: Assaults on Civil Liberties from COINTELPRO to TODAY. After program, Peace walk from the church to Market Street Bridge, 2955 Market St. Bridge (east side of 30th St. Train Station), for Ceremony of Sorrow & Peace: Incense, Water, and Ash.
Sat, October 8, 2011 End the Drone Wars: Stop Lockheed Martin, 12pm – 5pm. Protest demonstration will observe the 10 year anniversary of the continuing U.S. war in Afghanistan (October 6, 2001) and is part of the October 1 - 8 International Space for Peace Week (http://www.space4peace.org/) demonstrations at corporate and U.S. military facilities. Lockheed Martin manufactures unmanned remote-controlled drones, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), and is the chief producer of military satellites which, through space, direct drone strikes from the continental U.S. to their “kill targets”. The use of drones has become a central policy in the U.S war in Afghanistan, and ongoing CIA directed drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Sun, October 9, 2011 Monthly Potluck Supper & Program: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1965, 121 mins., re-mastered, written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, music by Ennio Morricone, black and white, Arabic and French with English subtitles, Not Rated: contains scenes of violence and torture.) Based on historic events with a groundbreaking documentary-like look...the gritty classic set during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) against French colonial rule dramatically warns of the tragic consequences of foreign domination and military occupation, as well as the dangers of terrorism as a response to an occupying force. Called “The Most Powerful Film of the 1960s” the film’s release in 1965 coincided with the tragedy of the Vietnam war period. In 2004, The Battle of Algiers was re-mastered and re-released in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The Battle of Algiers is as relevant today as ever! A must-see, or worth seeing again, as we mark a decade of U.S. war and occupation in Afghanistan.
Sun, November 13, 2011 4:30p.m. Brandywine Potluck – Oskar Castro, Military Families and the Movement to End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Oskar Castro, Executive Director of Military Families Speak Out, www.mfso.org Oskar Castro is a 1992 graduate of Rowan University where he majored in law & human rights. Oskar was the Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee’s National Youth & Militarism Program for 8 years and then served as a Senior Program Analyst for 1 year before joining with MFSO. He also served with INROADS/Philadelphia, Inc., an international non-profit career development organization working with youth of color. Prior to working with INROADS Oskar served in the realm of higher education as a community college recruiter and student advisor. He currently serves on the board of the War Resisters League.
Sat, November 26, 2011 LOCKHEED-VILLE - Occupy Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA , 12pm – 5pm LOCKHEED-VILLE (where the profits of war matters, and people don't) Shanty Town and Thanksgiving Stand-Up for justice and peace. Noon – 5p.m., Mall & Goddard Boulevards., behind King of Prussia Mall. Homeless people during the Great Depression of the 1930’s built Hoovervilles, named for President Herbert Hoover, who presided over the worst economic collapse in U.S. history. Now, the Occupy Wall Street movement is challenging the greed of Corporate America’s 1% and its devastating impact on us all – the 99%. Join us at Lockheed Martin, the world's #1 war profiteer. Occupy Lockheed Martin article & video photos by Melissa Elliott
Sun, December 11, 2011 Brandywine Potluck/Program 4:30pm – 7:30pm What's So Super About the Budget Deficit ‘Super Committee’ - What's on the Cutting Table, What’s Not, and Why - Pedro Rodriguez, PA Field Director for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Pedro Rodriguez is a long time urban and community organizer, nationally sought-after speaker and workshop leader in the area of policy development and implementation. He is currently serving as PA Field Director for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. He also serves as Commissioner for Civil Service Commission of Philadelphia. Rodriquez was formerly Executive Director of the Action Alliance of Senior Citizens of Greater Philadelphia from April 1999 to June 2007. Under Mayor Ed Rendell, Mr. Rodriguez served as Assistant Director of the Philadelphia Empowerment Zones from 1994-96 and before that was Legislative Director for former Philadelphia City Councilman Daniel McElhatton and an AIDS educator for Congreso de Latinos Unidos. He was also the associate editor of the weekly Community Focus/Enfoque Comunal, the largest bilingual newspaper in Pennsylvania. Rodriguez has taught Spanish, lived in the Dominican Republic and the United States, and has traveled in Latin America, Asia, Europe and North American.
Wed, December 21, 2011/Winter Solstice, 7p.m. Lights-On Candlelight Christmas Vigil for Peace in front of Lockheed Martin main driveway entrance on Goddard Boulevard (just off the intersection of Mall & Goddard Boulevards, King of Prussia/Valley Forge, PA (behind King of Prussia Mall). Raise your Christmas voice for peace at the large peace in front of Lockheed Martin which, with an annual income of $42 billion, is the world's #1 war profiteer. Readings, music, carols, signs and banners.