See You at the RNC

When: Sept. 1, 10:30 AM

Where: corner of Rice St. & Sherburne (1 blocks north & 2 blocks east of the capitol)

Bring Palestinian flags, wear kaffiyehs, some signs will be provided. We will march behind a Free Palestine banner.

With the eyes of the world on St. Paul, now is the time to send a STRONG message for Justice in Palestine.

Get the word out! for info call 612-379-4716.

March on the 2008 RNC in Solidarity with the People of Palestine

Call to Action:
March on the 2008 RNC in Solidarity with the People of Palestine

On September 1, the Republican Party will be in St. Paul, Minnesota for an
international media spectacle of the highest magnitude. More than 45,000
people, including 15,000 media employees, are expected to be on hand for
the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC). Additionally, in protest,
tens of thousands of people will be outside of the convention. On that
day, Labor Day, the first in a series of marches to demonstrate against
the policies of the Republican Party will be held (for more information on
the large permitted march on 9/1, see: http://www.marchonrnc.org/).

The Coalition for Palestinian Rights, a Minnesota-based group of
organizations and activists in solidarity with the people of Palestine,
call on all allies everywhere to participate in the Palestine solidarity
contingency of the march on the 2008 RNC planned for September 1st.

We invite all those who are tired of Republican and US complicity in the
ongoing killing of Palestinians and the forced expulsion of Palestinians
from their homeland; we invite all those who are fed up with the
construction of an apartheid wall built on Palestinian land for the
purpose of dividing and subjugating Palestinians; we beckon all those who
decry the inhumanity of the sanctions against and siege of the people in
Gaza; we summon all those who are disgusted with US-made military
equipment and munitions, including cluster bombs, being unconditionally
awarded as aid to Zionist-controlled Israel; we call on all those who are
sick of government and media lies and misrepresentations regarding the
Palestinian people and US policies in Palestine/Israel.

Media, including such foreign press as al-Jezeera, will be gleaning
messages and stories from both inside and outside the convention center.
We feel that we can send a strong message to begin creating a better role
for the United States regarding the Palestinian people.

We are calling for:

1.Communication - Forward this e-mail to a listserv or any person who may
be of like mind: they may wish to participate in the Palestine solidarity
contingency of the march. Speak with people or send them an email now!

2.Plans to be in the Twin Cities on Sept. 1, Labor Day - If you would like
to reserve a free place to stay, you may use this housing board:
http://NoRNC.org/stay. On the 1st, the march will congregate at the state
capital. Look for the Palestinian flags and meet us there!

3.Palestinian support materials - Bring your Palestinian flag, a sign or
clothing with your message of solidarity; wear any or all of the
Palestinian colors (Green, Black, Red, White). Also, we will have some
signs available here.

On September 1st, 2008, we can deliver a new message for Palestine to the
Republicans and to the world.

The Coalition for Palestinian Rights
http://coalitionforpalestinianrights.wordpress.com/
Coalition_for_Palestinian_Rights@yahoo.com

Al-Nakba Demonstration

Saturday, May 17

1:00 p.m.
Loring Park, Hennepin Avenue and Oak Grove Strreet, Minneapolis

Al-Nakba, “the catastrophe” in Arabic, commemorates the founding of the modern state of Israel created on the theft of large tracts of Palestinian lands and violent expulsion of the Palestinian people.

Since Israel was founded 60 years ago, millions of Palestinians have been forced to become refugees and thousands of Palestinians have been killed. This year has been especially brutal on the people of Gaza. Yet the Palestinians continue to struggle for their rights, their land and their resources.

This demonstration is to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against U.S. military aid to Israel which is used for death, destruction and economic isolation of Palestinians.

Info: 612-827-5364.

Jennifer Loewenstein: Gaza Today

Saturday, May 17

9:30 a.m. - Refreshments
10:00 a.m. to Noon - Program and Discussion
Southdale Library, 7001 York Avenue, Edina

Jennifer Lowenstein is Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and writes and speaks extensively on the Middle East, including “Watching the Gaza Fiasco” about Israel’s “withdrawal” from Gaza and the evacuation of 8,000 settlers in 2005. She was a visiting Fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University and has spent considerable time in refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

Jennifer will speak on Gaza, provide an analysis of the situation, and engage us in discussion regarding current events in the region.

Sponsored by: Middle East Peace Now (MEPN).

Info: 651-696-1642 or email.

WHAT PRICE STATEHOOD? Not Everybody is Celebrating!

Demonstrate for justice for Palestinians at Israel’s 60th birthday party Wednesday May 7 4:30
at the Metrodome (meet on the southeast corner at chicago and 5th St)
Signs provided

The founding of Israel in 1948 was a Catastrophe for Palestinians

*750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages
*531 villages were destroyed

In 2008
*Palestinians live under a brutal Israeli occupation in the West Bank
*Gaza is enduring a devastating Israeli siege
sponsored by the Coalition for Palestinian Rights
for info call;612-827-5364
www.coalitionforpalestinianrights.wordpress.com

Friday March 7th

 U.S. Weapons Used on Unarmed, Innocent Women,Children, Civilians:  GAZA, SOMALIA , ECUADOR, and  Locally Human Needs Suffer as Welfare Rights are Threatened.

EMERGENCY DEMO AND/OR CALL CONGRESS

MORE THAN 100 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN 6 DAYS, INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN!

The U.S. is again attacking SOMALI villages, killing women and children and claiming they are attacking Al Qaeda with “precision, strategic, targeted” bombs.  Also, U.S.-backed Colombian forces have made illegal incursions into the sovereign nation of ECUADOR! This while the most vulnerable in society suffer as WELFARE RIGHTS are threatened locally.

 STOP THE BOMBING!
 
Come to the emergency demo:
STAND UP AGAINST U.S. WEAPONS AND DIRECT OR CLIENT-STATE WAR CRIMES!

 4:15-5:30 P.M.  FRIDAY, MARCH 7

SUMMIT & SNELLING AVENUES, ST PAUL

Call the Capitol Switchboard to reach your Senators or Congressional Representatives: (202) 224-3121

And on a local level, women and children, immigrants in Minnesota suffer needlessly due to cuts in their funding and being required to perform workfare (which is comparable to “slave labor.’)

Welfare Rights sends this request to you today.

CALL these Minnesota-state legislators TODAY to demand a hearing!

This year, the Welfare Rights Committee and others have bills to undo some of the terrible cuts to programs for poor families and immigrants. Our bills also outlaw workfare and call for the first welfare grant increase in 22 years. Most important, our bills use federal welfare money for welfare families, NOT to fill in a budget hole!

But we cannot get hearings on our bills in the House (and, maybe even not in the Senate) policy committee.

Please call these Representatives.
–Paul Thissen (DFL) 63A - Richfield. (651) 296-5375.
Thissen is the chair of the Health and Human Services Policy Committee. THISSEN IS REFUSING TO GIVE THE BILLS A HEARING.
–Thomas Huntley (DFL) 07A - Duluth. (651) 296-2228.
Huntley is the chair of the HHS Finance division.
–Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL) 60A - Mpls. (651) 296-0171. Speaker of the House.

Leave them messages saying:
–I insist that you work to grant hearings to House File 3616 and House File 3618 before the committee deadline (March 14). These are the bills that use TANF money for TANF families. (FOR THISSEN SAY: I insist you give a hearing for HF…… )
–It’s not right that the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee is only hearing Pawlenty’s DHS bills and not the bills to actually help poor families.
–Work to schedule more hearings so all the bills can be heard!

Please call Senator Marty:
Senator John Marty (DFL) District 54 - Roseville. (651)296-5645. Chair of Senate Health, Housing and Family Security policy committee.
Leave a message saying:
–I insist that you grant hearings to Senate Files 3290 and 3242 before the committee deadline (March 14). These are the bills that use TANF money for TANF families.
–We appreciate your scheduling lots of hearings, so be sure you include these bills. They are critical to forestall the Republicans’ plans to steal welfare money.

************************************
More info.and more calls you can make!
–The Governor and the Republicans have been spewing welfare-mother-bashing rhetoric as they talk about “using” (we call it stealing) welfare monies to solve the state budget deficit.
–Everything in these bills passed the full House and full Senate last year. Almost everything in these bills made into the final HHS bill, only to be vetoed by Governor Pawlenty.
–House chair Thissen is now claiming that we were supposed to request hearings on bills BEFORE the legislature started - BEFORE it was possible to get bills written up and BEFORE we could get sponsors. This is unheard of during our 16 years at the legislature - it is even worse than the stunts the Republicans pulled on us.why?
–In a time of recession, the state of Minnesota should be doing MORE to help the poor, not less.

The bills:

House Files 3616 & 3618, along with there Senate companions SF3290 and 3242.
1) Undo the Family Cap. Families who have additional children while on MFIP, see no grant increase. This punishes babies for being born.
2) Undo $50 Housing Cut to Welfare. Families who receive MFIP and live in subsidized housing have the monthly cash grant cut by $50. When you live 60% below the poverty line, $50 is serious money.
3) Completely Stop MA Co-pays. Many are going without healthcare or medicine because of inability to come up with the $1 - $10 for the Medical Assistance co-pay.
4) Stop Attacks on Immigrants. Concretely this can be done by allowing non-citizens to get basic healthcare, this year.
5) Provide extensions to the 5-year limit.
6) Provide more income support to working MFIP families by raising the “exit level.”
7) Raise the Grants. The welfare (MFIP and General Assistance) grants have not been increased since 1986 - 22 years! Meanwhile, the cost of living has risen by 89%.
Outlaw Workfare. Workfare forces MFIP parents to work for no pay in order to get the grant. Workfare is slave labor forced on parents just because they are poor. We say, if there is a job to be done, make it a real job with real wages and benefits!
TO TRACK THE BILLS ON THE WEB, GO TO
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legis.asp
and type in hf3616 or hf3618 or sf3290 or sf3242

–If you like making calls, call all the DFL members of the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee. Ask them to pressure chair Thissen to hear the bills!
Patti Fritz  651-296-8237
Julie Bunn   651-296-4244
Tina Liebling   651-296-0573
Diane Loeffler   651-296-4219
Erin Murphy   651-296-8799
Kim Norton   651-296-9249
Mary Ellen Otremba   651-296-3201
Maria Ruud   651-296-3964
Cy Thao   651-296-5158
Ken Tschumper   651-296-9278
Neva Walker   651-296-7152

To give a donation to WAMM, click this link:

<http://www.worldwidewamm.org/wamm/supportwamm/supportwammigive.html>

Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)
310 East 38th Street, Suite 222
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55409
612-827-5364 (phone)
612-827-6433 (fax)
wamm@mtn.org (email)
www.worldwidewamm.org (web)

Friday March 7th–Vigil–Stop Killing Palestinians

OVER 100 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN 6 DAYS, INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN!

STOP THE BOMBING! 

SPEAK OUT AGAINST ISRAELI WAR CRIMES!

4:15-5:30

SUMMIT & SNELLING AVENUES, ST PAUL

Feb 17th: When Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic: Always, Never, Sometimes

“When Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic: Always, Never, Sometimes?”  Karen Redleaf speaks at forum sponsored by ELCA   Mpls and St. Paul Area Synods. A St. Paul peace activist, Karen “was raised a Zionist and now is relearning everything absorbed   over a Zionist lifetime.”

Lunch (optional, $7) at 12:15, program 12:45. Info: Dick Hilden, 612-825-1581.

Movie: Occupation 101

Showing of “Occupation 101″, a documentary about Israel-Palestine, followed by Q and A with Rev. David Smith, professor at University of St. Thomas and recent visitor to the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday February 19
7pm-9pm
Carnegie Hall 206
Macalester College
1600 Grand Ave. St Paul

minnesota campuses for justice in palestine [ mcpj@umn.edu ]
__._,_.___

Feb 27th–Award Winning Documentary

AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
USA vs Al-Arian

New Brighton Community Center (Eagle Nest)
400 10th St. NW, New Brighton
Feb. 27, 6:30pm

“USA vs Al-Arian” is a disturbing film on freedom of speech in post 9/11 America and
political persecution. The film follows the arrest and trial of Sami Al-Arian, an Arab-
American university professor accused of supporting a terrorist organization abroad. For
two and a half years Dr. Al-Arian was held in solitary confinement, denied basic privileges
and given limited access to his attorneys. The film is an intimate family portrait
documenting how a tight-knit family unravels before our very eyes as trial preparations,
strategy and media spin consume their lives. Norwegian director Line Halvorsen has made
a damning portrait of the case focusing on the trial’s emotional toll. This is a nightmare
come to life, as a man is prosecuted for his beliefs rather than his actions.

AWARDED BEST FILM

“USA vs Al-Arian” was awarded Best Film at the New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival
and Best Nordic Documentary at the Nordic Panorama in Finland. Director Line Halvorsen
and producer Jan Dalchow recently visited California for screenings of “USA vs Al-Arian” at
the Arab Film Festival at San Francisco and Los Angeles and at the United Nations
Association Film Festival at Stanford. While in California they also received the American
Muslim Alliance’s “Excellence in Journalism & Creative Arts Award” - The award was
presented by chairman of AMA, Dr. Agha Saeed: “For arguably making the best movie of
the year about the civil rights crisis in the United States; For exposing the draconian
character of the USA PATRIOT ACT; For showing courage of conviction in highlighting the
plight of one of America´s most prominent political prisoners, Dr. Sami Al-Arian and his
family; For raising consciousness all over the globe about the centrality of the issue of
Palestine to world peace.”

Defense Attorney Peter Erlinder, also a Professor at William Mitchell College of Law, will
give an update on the case

More info: 612-554-2460 or 612-986-9982
http://www.usavsalarian.com/