[pjw] PJW UPDATE: 25th Anniversary, Afghanistan event and more

[Peace and Justice Works]

PJW supporters
Many of you should have received a hard copy of our newsletter, the PJW 
UPDATE, dated June 29 in the mail over the last few days. Below is the 
text of the newsletter, which includes info on:
--our upcoming 25th anniversary celebration (Sat July 22 6 PM)
--our summer quarterly meeting (Sat July 22 4 PM)
--the "Report from Kabul 2017" (Wed July 26 7 PM)
--this year's Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial event (Wed Aug 9 6 PM)
...and information about the ongoing work of Portland Copwatch and PJW.

If you are planning to attend the anniversary event please let us know so 
we can determine the right amount of food to supply; if you want to 
volunteer or donate toward PJW or the event see the last paragraph of the 
newsletter for details.
Thanks!
dan handelman
peace and justice works


---------- Forwarded message ----------
PEACE AND JUSTICE WORKS UPDATE June 29, 2017

Dear Peace and Justice Works members, volunteers, and supporters, please join 
us for:

PJW/PORTLAND COPWATCH
25th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
    Saturday, July 22, 2017 6:00 PM
Unite Oregon Office 700 N Killingsworth (at Borthwick across from PCC Cascade)
A "Stuff-Raising" Event

Peace and Justice Works (PJW) and Portland Copwatch (PCW) are inviting the 
community to celebrate 25 years of working for a better world. Join us on 
Saturday, July 22 at 6 PM at the Unite Oregon office (700 N Killingsworth) for 
a fun and educational "stuff-raising" event. We will we watching videos of 
various PJW events through the years. Admission is anything from our wish list 
(portlandcopwatch.org/wishlist.html)-- from a paper clip to a used computer, 
though cash and checks are also welcome. We'll have refreshments, memorabilia, 
information about PJW and PCW's first 25 years, and items for sale.

The Celebration will be preceded by the:

PJW SUMMER QUARTERLY MEETING Saturday, July 22, 2017 4:00-5:30 PM
Unite Oregon Office 700 N Killingsworth

Please join us for the 26th PJW summer quarterly meeting on Saturday, July 22 
at 4:00 PM at the Unite Oregon office. We will be done by 5:30 PM to set up for 
the Anniversary Celebration event.

Proposed agenda:
--updates on Affinity Group work (Iraq, Copwatch, other); --financial update, 
fund-raising, volunteer outreach;
--set Fall Quarterly meeting.

Iraq Affinity Group Co-Hosting Afghan Eyewitness, Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial

PJW's Iraq Affinity Group (IAG) continues its work to educate the public and 
end ongoing warfare in the "Middle East" and elsewhere. In May, we organized a 
Mother's Day protest to reclaim it as a holiday for peace (as declared by Julia 
Ward Howe in 1870) and reject the use of the weapon and the term "Mother Of All 
Bombs." We've co-sponsored numerous iterations of the still-ongoing Friday 
Rallies for Peace with Portland Peaceful Response Coalition.

On Wednesday, July 26, at 6 PM, we are co-sponsoring "Report from Kabul 2017" 
at the Friends Meeting House, 4312 SE Stark. Hosted by the Occupy Portland 
Elder Caucus, the speaker will be Zaher Wahab, a former Lewis and Clark 
Professor and Afghan American who has spent much of the last five years living 
and working in Kabul amidst chaos unleashed by the US war. (As some of you may 
recall, we also co-hosted a talk with Zaher in 2014.)

The IAG is once again co-sponsoring the annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial 
event on Wednesday, August 9 at 6 PM at the Japanese-American Historical Plaza, 
NW Naito Parkway/Davis. Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility is taking 
the lead, as usual. This time the event is called "Remembering Hiroshima & 
Nagasaki: From Despair to Hope." For more information go to <oregonpsr.org>.

We're currently planning to have a table at the Vancouver Peace and Justice 
Fair on Saturday, September 9. We'll also be looking at ways to commemorate the 
start dates and call for an end to the wars in Iraq (August 8, 2014), Syria 
(September 23, 2014) and Afghanistan (October 7, 2001). We welcome people to 
attend our meetings-- usually on the 2nd Monday each month!

Portland Copwatch Continues Work Against Racism, Corruption & Brutality

Portland Copwatch, our police accountability project, has been very active in 
the last several months. In addition to observing (and having one of our 
members manhandled) during the police chaos at May Day, we were invited to give 
presentations at events remembering Quanice Hayes, a teen shot by the police in 
February, and Keaton Otis, who was killed by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) 
in 2010. PCW has a member on the steering committee of the Albina Ministerial 
Alliance Coalition (AMAC) for Justice and Police Reform, which organized two 
recent forums regarding the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Settlement Agreement 
urging the PPB to use less force. PCW also co-sponsored a mass march for 
justice with the AMAC in January.

Copwatch continues to make recommendations about PPB policies-- we have now 
commented on nearly 100 "Directives" since 2014, sometimes more than once. 
After copwatching at the inauguration day protests on January 20 (which was 
also met with police violence), we provided a combined Your Rights/How to 
Copwatch training to ILWU Local 5 on January 27.

PCW attends all the meetings of Portland's Citizen Review Committee (CRC), 
which hears appeals on misconduct complaints, and was instrumental in stopping 
City Council from eliminating the public's right to speak before CRC votes at 
such hearings. We continue to operate an incident report line (503-321-5120) 
and generate three issues of the People's Police Report each year 
(subscriptions are $15/year).

Help Peace and Justice Works Move Forward After a Quarter Century

Against all odds, Peace and Justice Works keeps pushing to see the end of war, 
police violence and other inappropriate ways the state uses force to enforce 
its policies. People are often surprised to hear we are all volunteers and do 
all this work on just $12,000 per year. We need your support to continue 
putting on demonstrations, forums, trainings and other actions.

Your donations go directly to fund our program work by providing office space, 
our websites, and creating informational literature and events. If you are able 
to volunteer in the office, distribute flyers, help us with day-of tasks at 
events and/or "stuff envelopes," contact us about setting up some time. 
Donations of any size are welcome, but voting memberships can be obtained by 
volunteering four (4) hours or sending a sliding scale donation of $15-$40. 
Mail us at PO Box 42456/Portland OR 97242, call us at 503-236-3065 or use 
Network for Good <http://pjw.info/donate.html> to donate online. Especially in 
this new age of alt-right rage, we need to put forward the message of 
nonviolence and the concept of a just peace. Thank you for your support!