[pjw] PJW UPDATE: Our December 30 newsletter and upcoming events

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello PJW folks!

Below is the text of the December 30 PJW UPDATE, our twice yearly 
newsletter which you may have received via snail mail in the last few 
days. It includes information on the Iraq Affinity Group's January 10 
Guantanamo event coming up Friday and the PJW annual meeting on February 
22, among other things.

I saw a lot of folks I recognized last night at the DSA's emergency rally 
around the threat of war with Iran-- my guess is 600-700 people were 
there, quite amazing for such short notice and by my count the largest 
Portland antiwar mobilization since the Obama administration came in back 
in 2009. About a dozen of us marched over from PPRC's Friday rally. We'll 
keep you posted if we plan, help plan, or hear about other actions.

Thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works

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PEACE AND JUSTICE WORKS UPDATE
December 30, 2019

Dear Peace and Justice Works members, volunteers, and supporters:

PEACE AND JUSTICE WORKS' 28th ANNUAL MEETING
Saturday, February 22, 2020
12 noon (potluck); 12:30 PM (meeting)
Augustana Lutheran Church (upstairs)
2710 NE 14th, Portland

Join Peace and Justice Works for our 28th annual meeting at the Augustana 
Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th (corner of 15th and Knott) on Saturday, Feb. 
22. Our meeting begins with a 12 noon vegetarian potluck (bring vegetarian 
food and non-alcoholic drink to share), followed by the business meeting 
from 12:30-2:15 PM. We will be upstairs in the "big classroom."

The proposed agenda includes:

--updates on 2019/2020 activities from Affinity Groups (Iraq, Copwatch, 
other);

--election of board of directors and officers*(Nominees: Shelley Bedell, 
President/Authorized Check Signer [ACS]; Dan Handelman, Secretary/ACS; 
Desiree Hellegers, ACS; Linda Tomassi, ACS; and Jocelyn McAuley, ACS);

--financial report, office updates, volunteer outreach.

Our quarterly meetings are generally good places to get information and 
find a way to plug in if you haven't participated in PJW in the past.

*- if you are unsure if your membership is current please contact PJW or 
check the label if you received this newsletter in the mail.

Iraq Affinity Group to Protest 18 Years of Guantanamo

PJW's Iraq Affinity Group (IAG) continues to educate the public on the 
effects of US policy in the "Middle East" and elsewhere. On September 11, 
we held a visibility action noting that new military recruits can now 
fight in wars that began before they were born 18 years ago. We carried 
that message forward to an October 4 Portland Peaceful Response Coalition 
(PPRC) Friday Rally marking 18 years since the Afghan war began, asking 
why the US is still there. The "Afghanistan Papers" from the Washington 
Post recently proved we have been right to keep asking that question. In 
August, we co-sponsored the annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial event. 
In early November, we organized a forum connecting climate change and war, 
particularly focusing on Iran, Venezuela and Yemen. The following week, 
City Council passed a resolution opposing US war and sanctions in Iran.

Coming up soon on January 10, we are again co-sponsoring the PPRC Friday 
rally to mark 18 years since the opening of the US detention (and torture) 
camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The local Amnesty International chapter is 
co-sponsoring this year's event, "18 years and 8 Convictions: Time to Shut 
Guantanamo." The event starts at 4:30 PM at Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW 
Yamhill and Broadway.


We're also co-sponsoring the PPRC rally on Friday  March 15 to mark 17 
years since the invasion of Iraq. **

Get involved-- come to our monthly IAG meetings, usually held the 2nd 
Monday each month!

Portland Copwatch Graphic Shows 208 Officers Who've Used Deadly Force

Portland Copwatch (PCW), our police accountability affinity group, has 
been busy. In December, a few days after the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) 
shot and killed their fifth victim of 2019, we published an informational 
graphic showing 208 Portland officers who have been involved in deadly 
force incidents since 1992. We also continued to track deadly force in 
Oregon, where there have been at least 34 such incidents this year (close 
to 2018's high number of 37). In August and September we coordinated 
events with community partners, kicking off a campaign to improve the 
city's labor contract with the police "union."

We also continued our work with the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition 
for Justice and Police Reform around the lawsuit by the US Department of 
Justice (DOJ) demanding the Bureau reduce the amount of force used in 
Portland. We expect to testify on February 25 when the case goes back to 
federal court. The DOJ is expected to argue (despite ongoing issues) that 
Portland has met all requirements under the Settlement Agreement. PCW 
continues to attend meetings of the Portland Committee for Community 
Engaged Policing, which in 2018 replaced the previous group to oversee the 
changes made through the Agreement.

We offered comments on the Bureau's policy on their "case by case" 
participation with the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) after we 
succeeded in getting them to pull out of a permanent agreement in 
February. In January 2020 we expect to see the first annual report letting 
the public know whether the PPB worked with the JTTF.

In September and November, copwatchers walked around the Old Town area to 
hear from houseless folks and look out for police activity. In December, 
we added the ability for people to text about encounters with police to 
our incident report line, 503-321-5120.

PCW continued summarizing the twice yearly Police Review Board reports, 
attending Citizen Review Committee appeals on misconduct complaints, and 
publishing three issues of our newsletter, the People's Police Report. We 
sped up the process of posting the PPR online. To support PCW, subscribe 
to the PPR for $20/year. More info at http://www.portlandcopwatch.org .

Stop War, Help the Environment: Support Peace and Justice Works

The military is the world's #1 polluting entity. Supporting our work to 
end war is a good way to end violence while helping the environment. Our 
local work includes ongoing statewide requests to Governor Brown not to 
deploy Oregon's national guard to war zones, as well as calling for an end 
to the death penalty.

Several people have donated for special projects this year, including 
Copwatch's text-to-voicemail, some needed office equipment, and repairs to 
our office due to vandalism. All of the work listed in this newsletter 
(and more) happens through volunteer time and a budget of about $12,000 a 
year. Your support is so important! We hope you can donate and/or pay for 
an annual membership ($20-45 sliding scale). If you want to become a 
voting member but can't donate, you can get a membership with four hours 
of volunteer time. Send checks/ money orders and/or items from our wish 
list ( http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/wishlist.html ) to PO Box 42456, 
Portland, OR 97242. If you received this newsletter in the mail, the date 
of your last donation should be on your mailing label as "LD." You can 
also make a one-time or recurring (which helps us a lot!) donation at 
Network for Good (see the Donate tab at http://www.pjw.info ).

Volunteer tasks include mailings, distributing flyers, setting up at 
events, tabling and more. Thank you so much for your ongoing support as we 
strive to end local, national and international conflicts!

**- a typo in the print version put this at 16 years since the Iraq 
invasion.