[pjw] RSVP/ PJW UPDATE: Our recent newsletter & Feb 23 annual meeting

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello PJW supporters

Many of you may have received our December 27 version of the PJW UPDATE in 
the mail. The text of it is pasted in below.

It's a ways off and we will send another invite later on, but if you know 
whether you want to be part of our annual meeting on Sunday Feb. 23 by 
conference call, I can start a list now but will get the details out much 
closer to the day-of.

This also serves as a first reminder that next Friday, Jan. 10 is our 
special Friday Rally about shutting down Guantanamo. There'll be one more 
but as a reminder the web page for that is here:

https://pjw.info/guantanamo23yl.html

(I've updated the web page, but not yet the flyer, to reflect that only 27 
people remain in Guantanamo Prison.)

Contact us if you have any questions, including making sure whether your 
membership is up-to-date, that will allow you to vote on the Board. You don't 
have to be a member to attend the annual meeting.

Thanks!

dan handelman
secretary
peace and justice works

-----------------

PJW UPDATE December 27, 2024

Dear Peace and Justice Works members/supporters:

PEACE AND JUSTICE WORKS' 33rd ANNUAL MEETING
Sunday, February 23, 2025
12 noon (conversation); 12:30 PM (meeting)
*Conference call-- contact us for info*

We are hoping you can be part of Peace and Justice Works' 33rd annual 
meeting, to be held Sunday, February 23 via teleconference. While there is 
a lot of business to take care of, we leave the first half hour open from 
12 noon to 12:30 PM for just chatting and catching up. The meeting begins 
at 12:30 and will run until 2:30 PM. Contact us to get the conference call 
information.

The main items on the proposed agenda are:

--updates on 2024/2025 activities from Affinity Groups (Iraq, Copwatch, 
Flying Focus Video);

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

--financial report, office updates, volunteer outreach.

If you're just joining PJW or are a long-time supporter, these meetings 
are good places to plug in!

Iraq Affinity Group Wary of Continued US Presence in Syria, Presses to 
Close Guantanamo

In some ways, the Iraq Affinity Group (IAG) is the busiest project group, 
hosting at least 52 events per year in the form of the weekly Friday Rally 
for Peace and Justice. That rally is ongoing since November, 2001 and 
sponsored by the IAG since March, 2020. Coming up, an extended Friday 
rally (starting at 4:30 rather than 5 PM) on January 10 will demand "23 
Years of Guantanamo: Close the 'Detention Center' Now!" We are happy to 
have Amnesty International Group 48 (Portland) co-sponsoring again. The 
meeting place is SW Yamhill and Broadway. In March, the IAG will remember 
22 years since the US invasion of Iraq.

A lot of the world is focused on the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. So 
far, the US seems to want to keep its 900 troops there, though they were 
never invited. On September 27, we dedicated the Friday Rally to asking 
why Oregon National Guard members had been deployed to Syria 10 years into 
the US' presence in that country. Troops were also sent to Iraq, despite 
our working with statewide allies again to urge Governor Kotek to keep the 
Guard in Oregon.

With yet another staff turnover at Oregon Physicians for Social 
Responsibility, the IAG helped keep the institutional memory alive for 
planning the 2024 Hiroshima Day of Remembrance in August.

The IAG continues to meet on second Mondays at 5 PM; please join us! Email 
iraq at pjw.info for details.

Portland Copwatch Documents More Deadly Force, Lawsuit Information

Portland Copwatch (PCW), our police accountability project group, has been 
updating a web-based infographic since 2019 which shows a single dot for 
every officer involved in a deadly force incident since 1992. This year 
now shows over 200 such dots just for "one-timers," with three officers 
now in the notorious three-time shooters category (the previous three all 
retired). PCW also tallies up the payouts for police misconduct, including 
a "top 25" list, with the most recent update in September showing a total 
of over $23 million since 1993. As we testify to City Council each time 
they consider a new payment, these tax dollars going out do not equal 
accountability-- it's rare anything happens to the officers who prompt the 
suits. Just for protests in 2020, Portland has paid out over $3 million.

If there will be accountability for officers, it may come from the new 
Community Board for Police Accountability, voted into place in 2020 but 
still not active. PCW testified in federal court, as the oversight system 
is part of the US Department of Justice Settlement Agreement, and at City 
Council about ways the city will fail to meet community expectations 
unless they stop doing things like allowing police officers on the Board's 
nominating committee.

PCW members also attend the Training Advisory Council, Portland Committee 
on Community Engaged Policing, and Citizen Review Committee meetings. 
Also, particularly important as the Trump administration seems to want to 
both dismantle the FBI and step up its repression of anyone they see as an 
enemy (immigrants, activists, journalists), Copwatch continues to help a 
campaign to keep Portland Police out of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task 
Force (JTTF). The JTTF annual report will be one of the first things that 
the new 12-member City Council will hear when they take office in January.

The incident report line (503-321-5120 call/text) still takes complaints 
about police / Sheriff's deputies. At the same time we are mailing out the 
PJW UPDATE, the 94th issue of the People's Police Report (PPR), published 
three times a year, is also going out. PCW requires an in-person one hour 
orientation before people join our monthly meetings. See 
https://portlandcopwatch.org for more info.

More Environmental, Middle East and Other Coverage at Flying Focus Video

The educational video production group Flying Focus Video Collective 
(FFVC) produced more new episodes since June, including one featuring 
environmental legend Bill McKibben, a shorter version of the IAG's 
livestream with Iraqi activist Noor Ghazi, and an upcoming show on the 
work of the UN in Gaza. In November, the producers at FFVC put together 
clips from 2023-2024 in the 33rd anniversary retrospective show. Dozens of 
Flying Focus shows and clips are posted on FFVC's three YouTube channels. 
To learn how to watch shows online or order physical copies, visit 
https://flyingfocus.org .

We Have Always Been Part of a Long-Term Struggle

While the new administration will pose unique challenges, PJW has always 
taken the long view, seeing military and police violence as tools of US 
policy and not just one political party or another. A core group of folks 
come to meetings, hand out flyers, record/edit videos, attend events and 
keep information out there to change the conditions causing strife and 
division.

We can always use more helping hands. If you want to volunteer, please 
contact us! The unfortunate reality is that we also have to pay bills-- 
and none of that includes salaries, as we're all volunteers! Our 
relatively tiny group is kept going through your contributions. To donate, 
send a check or money order (and/or items from 
https://portlandcopwatch.org/wishlist.html) to PO Box 42456, Portland 
97242 and indicate how to divvy it up among our programs. You can also 
obtain an annual membership ($20-45 sliding scale or 4 hours 
volunteering). If you prefer to donate online, Network for Good allows 
people to make one-time or recurring donations, and to choose which 
programs receive funds in the "designation" field (see 
https://pjw.info/donate.html). Thanks as always for spreading the word for 
peace and for justice.