I hope you can come to protest ICE on October 20 and join us at a teach-in on Oct 7 to prepare for it. See information in the Action Alert at the end of this e-news.
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PJC Educational Programs & Events
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Addressing racism should not be the responsibility of those who experience it. In this workshop, developed for predominantly white audiences, you'll learn about the concept of white fragility, how it perpetuates racism, and specific ways to disrupt that cycle. FREE.
Learn about the the US' role in Latin American migration, the history of ICE in the US, and how ICE became what it is today. We will also be giving information about the Anti-ICE Data Center protest happening on October 20 in Williston. Light snacks served. FREE.
POC in VT Affinity Group, Wednesday, October 16, 6-8pm at the PJC.
This program is led by people of color, for people of color. It is a monthly gathering for POC to come together to share their experiences and explore their identities. This month's meeting will focus on body image and self-esteem; specifically how POC manage living in a culture dominated by Eurocentric standards of beauty. We will also look at recent examples of double standards and the sexualization/fetishization of POC bodies. FREE.
Building Empathy & Addressing Racial Oppression, Wednesday, October 16, 23, 30, 6:30-8:30pm at Sterling College. This program strives to give participants the opportunity to build skills and knowledge to engage in conversations about oppression. Space is limited so advanced registration is required.
Register here. Fees vary, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Cocoa Campaign Presentation Saturday, October 19, 2-3:30pm, PJC. This presentation focuses on the issue of child slavery and human trafficking in the cocoa industry. It is designed to educate, brainstorm solutions and create tangible action steps that fit each participant. Stick around after the presentation for our New Volunteer Orientation to learn more about how to get involved with our work. FREE
Anti-ICE Data Center Protest,
Sunday, October 20, 12pm in Williston.
Let us act together against those who would give us a future of division and white supremacist hate. Let us unite together people of faith, unions, anti-racist fighters, climate activists, youth activists and other progressives to target Trump's anti-immigrant, deportation machinery.
Toxic Whiteness Discussion Group, Monday, October 21, 5:30-6:30pm, PJC.
This space is held specifically for white people to process how white supremacy culture is toxic to them. The hope is that by joining this space, they will be better able to allow for the emotional needs of people of color to take priority in multi-racial spaces. FREE.
PJC Community Meeting, Sunday, October 27, 4-5:30pm, Old North End Community Center, 20 Allen Street, Burlington.
At this Community Meeting, we will discuss what it means to be an anti-racist organization and put marginalized and oppressed communities at the center of our work.
Members will vote for the Board of Directors as part of the meeting but a majority of the time will be a presentation and discussion. All are welcome to attend and hear about our work.
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Voices for Palestine:
Netanyahu's Last Stand?
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After ten long years of intensifying a brutal military occupation and expanding an illegal , Jewish-only settlement regime, laying siege to and savagely attacking Gaza, punishing the working class and poor, stoking the flames of racism and xenophobia, cozying up to central European anti-Semites, and enriching himself and his family, Benjamin Netanyahu may finally be on his way out of Israeli politics.
As Israel's political elite wheels and deals, let's review how Netanyahu played the cards he dealt himself to improve his chances of coming out on top in the most recent election. The summary below comes to us courtesy of Jonathan Cook, a superb British journalist and author based in Israel. He characterized Netanyahu's last stand in the electoral arena as "by far the ugliest - and most reckless - campaign in Israeli history."
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VT Union members & Allies, p
lease stand in solidarity with striking Machinists in Williston.
Tomorrow (and every day until the strike is won) seek to organize a delegation of members to take to the picket line with them during the morning or afternoon rush hour. Their picket is in Williston on Avenue C, off Industrial Drive. Be on the picket line and spread the word. An injury to one is an injury to all!
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Want to see more of the Peace & Justice Center more often?
Follow us on social media to see pictures, read articles, and be in the know about what we are up to, community issues, events, and more.
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Center Hours
Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm
Store Hours
Closed Mondays
Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-6pm
Sunday: 10am-5pm
Hours are subject to change. Call (802) 863-2345 x2 to confirm.
Location
60 Lake Street, Suite 1C
Burlington's Waterfront.
(Next to Skinny Pancake)
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Does the Peace & Justice Center do Climate Justice Work?
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-Rachel Siegel, PJC Executive Director
Because there have been so many powerful, global climate justice actions recently, we have been asked at the Peace & Justice Center on more than a few occasions if environmental justice is part of our mission. My answer has usually been that we support the amazing work that other groups (350VT in particular) are already doing locally. Rather than reproduce what is already being done, it makes more sense for us to focus on the social justice and anti-militarism issues that feed and are fed by climate disruption.
I still hold this to be true. But more than ever I see that these things are not separate. They don't just intersect like threads in a web, but they are interwoven -- they are of one cloth. I recently had a wonderful conversation with Ruah Swennerfelt, former Board member and local activist, and came to see that we are not framing this connection clearly.
The areas we focus on (racial justice, fair trade, and nonviolence/anti-war) are not separate from ecological justice. The climate emergency is a reflection of
racial capitalism -- the human made economic power system that we live under. It's a system that depends on endless growth at the expense of not just individual human laborers and irreplaceable, unsustainable resource extraction, but of life on this planet for many species including our own.
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From the Blog: How do healthy relationships happen in movement and political spaces
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-Jennifer Decker, PJC Member
How do healthy relationships happen in movement and political spaces? The present time has immense potential because so many activists are engaging with this question.
Healthy relationships rely on curiosity, understanding, safety, delight, play, time, care, affection, space, love and mutual understanding. Cornel West says "Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public". Yet in politics, we often see injustice and hatred. How can we effectively dismantle a system that relies on discord and the exclusion of certain voices and perspectives? One way is to be able to immediately perceive the healthy and unhealthy qualities in any interaction and to name them out loud. In order to do this effectively, self-awareness and awareness of one's impact on others is a necessary precondition.
As a former mental health counselor who has worked primarily with poor and low income communities for twenty years, I am able to name that the social services system in this country upholds an oppressive system. Yet the tools of this system can also be put to good use for collective liberation. Audre Lorde's compelling statement that "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." Micah White, co-creator of Occupy Wall St., from the Activist Graduate School frames it this way "We cannot disrupt our oppression using the logic that justifies our oppression." My only point of tension here is that sometimes creative tools emerge even in toxic environments. And my suggestion is that many of these tools can and are being put to good use in social justice movements.
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BTV Clean Up Crew is an awesome new group that is trying to keep Burlington clean and welcoming for all for by picking up trash and taking down white supremacist stickers and posters around Burlington.
Here's a short run-down of what they do:
- Every Saturday, they spend a couple of hours cleaning up the roadside trash in some chosen area of Burlington. They separate what we find into trash, recycling, and redeemable aluminum cans.
- They take down any fascist or neo-Nazi stickers they see, and keep a running tally of the number that we see in any given month.
- At the end of the month, they redeem all aluminum cans for cash, and donate that money to an immigrants' rights organization. They also relay the total amount of neo-Nazi nonsense that we saw, and ask people to donate money to a local non-profit based on the amount of stickers removed.
In September, they removed 30 neo-Nazi stickers so they are asking people to donate to
Migrant Justice how ever much money works for you per sticker (ie, $1 per sticker = $30 donation). Once the donations come in, BTV Clean Up Crew will publicize the money made off the stickers! This might dissuade the neo-Nazis from continuing their hateful shenanigans.
Check out their Facebook page
as well as their
informational guide
to find out how you can join them in their efforts.
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This
is a partial listing. See more in our public
calendar
.
The PJC is not directly involved in all of these events.
October 1, Tuesday
- Votes...For Women?: Art Exhibit. Middlebury College Museum of Art. Through December 11.
- 5:30-8:30pm, Environmental Justice and Nuclear Waste: the Road from VT to West Texas NE Tour. Christ Episcopal, Montpelier
- 6-8pm, 350VT meeting. 350VT Office, 179 S Winooski Ave, # 201, Burlington
- 6-8pm, Shut it Down, Stories from a Fierce Loving Resistance with author Lisa Fithian. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington
October 2, Wednesday
- 5-9pm, Escalating Resistance: Mass Rebellion Training! Unitarian Church, Montpelier
- 6-8pm, RAD Organizing Team meeting, 423 Main St, Bennington
- 7-8pm, Rosie's Mom: Forgotten Women of the First World War. Platt Memorial Library, Shoreham
- 7pm, Approaching Islam, Approaching Difference. Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro
- 7pm, Finding Your Purpose: From Baltimore to Broadway's Hamilton. McCullough Student Center, Middlebury College
- 6pm The Big Hole: What Went Wrong with the Sinex Development Downtown. ONE Community Center, 3rd floor, Burlington
October 3, Thursday
October 4, Friday
October 5, Saturday
- 10am-12pm, Caroline Fund Pro Se Legal Clinic. Lawline of VT, Burlington. Every Saturday
- 6:30-8:30pm, Indian Dinner and Silent Auction. Fundraiser for Child Haven International. O.N.E. Community Center, Burlington
October 6, Sunday,
National Day of Action Against Domestic Violence
October 7, Monday
October 8, Tuesday
October 9, Wednesday
- 7-8:30pm, 350VT meeting. 115 Hillside St, Bennington
- 7-8:30, The Impact of Incarceration: Women, Families, Society, KH Library, Montpelier.
- 7:30-9pm, LatinX Exposition. More info, email. L&L Fireplace Lounge, UVM, Burlington
October 10, Thursday
October 11, Friday
October 12, Saturday
October 13, Sunday
October 14, Monday,
Indigenous People's Day
October 15, Tuesday
- Community Voices for Immigrant Rights Organizing Meeting, 241 No Winooski Ave
- 6-8:30pm, PJC board mtg. PJC, Burlington
- 7-8pm, 80 Years of Voting, Cassandra Peltier, Director, Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum. Bennington Free Library
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Action Alert: Teach-In and Protest to Close the Camps/End Deportations
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Let us unite together people of faith, unions, anti-racist fighters, climate activists, youth activists, and other progressives to target Trump's anti-immigrant, deportation machinery.
Many immigrants are being terrorized in their own communities, afraid to answer the door, take children to school, or go to work. These communities need to see and feel the solidarity of the majority that stands with them.
If you are part of a group or organization that wants to co-sponsor the protest, please fill out this co-sponsorship form.
If you are able to volunteer for the event, please fill out this volunteer form.
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Monday, October 7, 7-9:00pm
Lafayette 207, UVM
Join us to learn about:
- the US' role in Latin American migration
- the history of ICE in the US
- what you can do!
Light snacks served. We intend to record this event so if you cannot attend, you can watch it later.
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