We had a great turnout for this program. Jewish Voice for Peace – Hudson Valley
presented: A Panel Hearing the Voices of Muslim Women Saturday, May 4
1:30-4:00 PM Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills 320 Sawkill Rd, Kingston.
Vassar SJP and New Paltz Socialists look at apartheid
- Thu, Apr 4 at 6 pm. Panel Discussion on the One Year Anniversary of the Great March of Return and the Changing Face of Palestinian Solidarity in the US. Taylor Hall, Room 203, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. Palestinian American activists and academics Sumaya Awad and Zachariah Barghouti will be joined by Vassar Professor Joshua Schreier. Presented by Students for Justice in Palestine to commemorate Israel Apartheid Week.
Great programs by SJP Vassar College. The panel got a standing ovation from over 100 students who attended. The New Paltz Socialists also had an event that focused on Palestine. It was a large study group that reviewed the history of Palestinian oppression by the state of Israel. About 35 students were in attendance, along with about 5 community members.
Combatants for Peace in Woodstock and Rhinebeck
-Saturday, March 9, 7:00-9:00 PM at The Episcopal Church of the Messiah, 6436 Montgomery St, Rhinebeck. An evening with Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Combatants for Peace, featuring two former soldiers, one Israeli and one Palestinian, who will speak about their personal transformation from fighters to nonviolent activists. A segment from the award winning documentary "Disturbing the Peace” (streaming now on Netflix!) will be shown. Donations welcome. Refreshments provided. Hosted by The Church of the Messiah and by the American Friends of Combatants for Peace www.afcfp.org. Contact: segallmarx@gmail.com
This was one of our best weekends. Both venues were filled, with many new faces in both locations. We had written into local papers and the Woodstock Times had printed some of our articles. We also had the help of Maddy, who worked hard to establish relationships with some ministers and rabbis in the area. Combatants for Peace doesn't take a stand on BDS or on a one state solution. Perhaps some rabbis see the need to acknowledge the evils of the occupation, and this was a safer place to start. Or perhaps the need to change Israel's apartheid treatment of Palestinians is finally percolating down to mainstream Christian and Jewish congregations.
Dead in the Water, and a labor of love
We thank Marine Corp veteran, Bryce Lockwood, for talking to us after the film about how he survived the attack on the USS Liberty, and what he had learned afterwards. Why did Israel and the United States conspire to cover up an attack that had killed so many Americans? What part did the 1967 war in the Middle East have to do with this secret mission?
Perhaps we will never know. As Bryce said, U.S. veterans know best how little to trust what our government tells us about war.
We had a small group, about 25 people. But the question and answer session at the end was detailed and interesting. Bryce had driven all the way from Missouri to speak at the event. Waging peace is a labor of love, and especially so for war veterans.
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Friday, February 8, 7:30-9:30 PM at the Mountain View Studio, 20 Mountainview Ave., Woodstock. Film Showing: “Dead in the Water” plus special guest, Navy veteran Bryce Lockwood, a survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed thirty-four American servicemen and wounded over 170 during the Six-Day War. Suggested donation $10 at the door (nobody turned away). Sponsored by: Middle East Crisis Response mideastcrisis.org, Hudson Valley BDS hudsonvalleybds.org, Jewish Voice for Peace-HV hudsonvalley@JVP.org, Veterans For Peace, and Women in Black - New Paltz. Contact: mecr@mideastcrisis.org or 845 876-7906
Love Me, I'm a Liberal on a cold Friday night
On January 11, we had a Film Showing and Musical Performance: 7:30-9:30 PM at the Mountain View Studio, 20 Mountainview Ave., Woodstock. "The War of 33: Letters from Beirut” is an intimate, personal and powerful portrayal of the 2006 war in Lebanon. Ben Grosscup, a traveling folk singer/songwriter with biting lyrics and a powerful delivery, played before and after the 35-minute film.
It was a cold night, and only pulled in 25 people, but the movie was very well done, and Ben, backed up by Ellen, had us all singing along to his version of "Love Me, I'm a Liberal."
Rally for Peace held in Kingston
Candles for peace KINGSTON –
Members of Hudson Valley Jewish Voice for Peace held their third annual Hanukkah Vigil outside Kingston City Hall, Tuesday evening, to make a statement against religious and racial intolerance, promoting the message, “Rise above racism. We all belong here.”Hudson Valley Jewish Voice for Peace members were joined with other civil rights organizations – Nobody Leaves Mid Hudson, Citizen Action of New York, Rise Up Kingston and Middle East Crisis Response, to promote the message of tolerance and unification within the community.
Robert Gelbach of Hudson Valley Jewish Voice for Peace said the recent mid-term election stirred up noticeable division among various communities and they were intent on letting the Kingston community know that all are welcome.
“We felt after the election campaign that there had been so much focus on race and racist innuendo in the elections, that it really was time for us to broaden the concern beyond what we had started with, to say it’s time for all of us to start getting together and speaking out against the resurgence of racial attitudes, and racial expressions, in our politics,” said Gelbach.
Fredrick Nagel, a representative for Veterans for Peace and Middle East Crisis Response, said he sees the U.S. operating globally as an autonomous empire and it trickles down to a narrative negating tolerance among different individuals.
“As a veteran, and as a Palestinian rights organizer, I see human rights being the most important thing that we Americans could end up supporting,” said Nagel. “The empire has to start to take a look at what it does abroad – the occupations that we support and send our troops for.”
Overall, the vigil’s message was aimed at creating cohesiveness among the diverse community of individuals that make up the county, state and country.
Although this vigil was held directly before a city common council meeting regarding the issuance of community IDs to all, but focusing on the undocumented residential community, Gelbach maintains that it was just a “happy accident” rather than a politically motivated endeavor.
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