Sunday, July 5, 2009, former Carolina Peace Director Amanda Martin, now of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission (http://www.ghrc-usa.org) will be our Guest of Honor at a dinner/celebration and presentation focused on Migration from Guatemala to the US. Amanda will present a twenty-six minute DVD documenting the impact of the ICE raid on a Guatemalan community in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in March 2007.
The party and program will be at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Columbia social hall. UUFC is at the intersection of Woodrow and Heyward Streets between Devine Street and Rosewood Drive. There will be music, Guatemalan-style food and an evening of community with old and new friends.
Amanda was Director of Carolina Peace Resource Center in 2003 and 2004,after which she worked three years with Witness for Peace, conducting U.S. delegations to Colombia, South America. She now works with the GHRC in the District of Columbia, USA and Guatemala, promoting the rights of indigenous Guatemalans. In her talk, Amanda will focus on migration from Guatemala to the US: the push factors, the impact of free trade on Mayan villages.
Please plan to be with us for this special celebration of our oneness with the people of Guatemala. You may RSVP and make a donation below to support this and other works of Carolina Peace Resource Center. You may also volunteer to help prepare and/or serve the meal. We look forward to seeing you there!
En solidaridad y por la paz, Arnold
July 5th, 2009 6:00 PM through July 5th, 2009 10:00 PM
Blackbird Bicycle Coop is a cooperative, volunteer organization which provides a community space for bicycles and the people who ride them. Its mission is, "to create equitable access to cycling by providing affordable bicycle maintenance, services and education. To provide an open shop for sharing equipment, education, materials and hands-on support for cyclists of all ages and skill levels."
Blackbird Bicycle Coop began one year ago in the backyard of a few individuals. It gathered a small number of tools, solicited donations of bicycles and parts and began reaching out to the community to put more people on bicycles. It set shop hours and was open continuously on Saturday afternoons for the part year.
Carolina Peace Resource Center volunteers are starting their fourth year at the Rosewood Community Garden behind the Ben Arnold Center at 1100 S. Holly St. Participants meet to work at the garden the FIRST SUNDAY of every month after 3:00 pm. Call 803-I-GO-CPRC (803-446-2772) and leave a message for Paul.
On Friday, May 21st, volunteers met with the new Ben Arnold Center unit director, Troy Thames. Troy is very enthusiastic about the Summer Garden Workshops with the Boy's and Girl's Club at the center. His previous experiences with community gardening were in Charleston, SC, working with youth in a gardening project. In Charleston, Troy worked with Fred Phillips, the initiator of the garden projects in a number of centers in the Charleston community. Troy's concern for the young people extends to helping them have a greater appreciation of nature, healthy diets, and creating an environment where children can appreciate ecology and the natural world.
Troy Davis is on death row in Georgia for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail, a murder he almost certainly did not commit. There was no evidence linking him to the murder, and the gun that killed officer MacPhail was never found. Troy was convicted solely on the testimony of nine witnesses, one of whom was a suspect in the case. Most of the others were 15 or 16 years old when they testified against him. Seven of the nine have since withdrawn their testimony.
There was a deadline for informing the court of these changes in testimony, and Troy's attorney at the time missed that deadline. Due to this procedural error, the evidence of his innocence has never been heard in court, and an execution date could be set at any time. But there is hope. Recently, the international outcry against this injustice has been joined by legislators and many former judges and prosecutors. Help us keep up the pressure at this crucial time. Please check www.sc-abolish.org often for action requests and the latest news about Troy's case.
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation recently launched a consumer boycott and pressure campaign on Motorola USA. Did you know that the same company that sells you Motorola cell phones is a war profiteer in the occupation of Palestine? Motorola's wholly owned subsidiary Motorola-Israel sells the "Mountain Rose" communication system to the Israeli military, surveillance equipment to settlements, and even a special kind of cell phone for settlers! And, until its recent sale, Motorola-Israel even had a division that made cluster bomb fuses like those used in Lebanon in 2006
1100 S. Holly St., behind Ben Arnold Center. Meet to work at the garden the FIRST SUNDAY of every month after 3:00 pm. (Contact Paul). Call 803-I-GO-CPRC (803-446-2772).
http://action.fcnl.org/r/68653/93614/0Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) holds its annual conference and lobby day in Washington June 7-9. This year will be a critical time to lobby for Middle East peace, to support the Obama administration's unprecedented effort to forcefully work for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. CMEP needs a strong turnout to counter the thousands of citizen lobbyists that other groups bring to Washington every year to support the status quo and oppose any move toward an equitable peace. View full information about the conference and register here.
“[To] be militant merely means to be demanding and to be persistent, and in this sense I think the non-violent movement has demonstrated great militancy. It is possible to be militantly nonviolent.” -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, March 25, 1968, ten days before he was killed.
Women in Black meets in front of the state house at Gervais and Main at 5:00 pm every Wednesday until the US abandons warfare as a substitute for diplomacy. Please come stand against military aggression everywhere.
Fourth Wedneday, 11:45-1pm, The Coalition for New South Carolinians Brown Bag Lunch Meeting. Find out what's happening in SC's immigrant communities. For details, email
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, or call 803-429-8742.
PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Columbia meets at St. Martin's in the Fields Episcopal Church in the Community House, next to the parking lot behind the church, 5220 Clemson Ave. For details, call 803-781-0515.
The public is invited to a weekly discussion group on the environment, led by Ruth Thomas of Environmentalist, Inc., at the USC Green Quad (West Quad). Discussions include local environmental and energy issues. For details, call 803-782-3000.
Jerry, Michael, and Sara Rouse the Rabble and the Riff-raff
Join us every Wednesday evening after Women in Black from 6:15-8pm at Tio's Mexican Cafe , 921 Sumter Street (across from the Horseshoe). Tio's is a long time supporter of Carolina Peace. Tell them you appreciate all they do.
Sunday, July 5, 2009, former Carolina Peace Director Amanda Martin, now of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission (
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation recently launched a consumer boycott and pressure campaign on Motorola USA. Did you know that the same company that sells you Motorola cell phones is a war profiteer in the occupation of Palestine? Motorola's wholly owned subsidiary Motorola-Israel sells the "Mountain Rose" communication system to the Israeli military, surveillance equipment to settlements, and even a special kind of cell phone for settlers! And, until its recent sale, Motorola-Israel even had a division that made cluster bomb fuses like those used in Lebanon in 2006
Post Office Box 7933