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Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm

 

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Monday-Thursday: 10am-6pm
Friday-Saturday: 10am-7pm

Sunday: 10am-5pm

 

Hours are subject to change. Call 802-863-2345 x2 to confirm.

 

Location
60 Lake Street, 1C
Burlington Waterfront.

(Next to The Skinny Pancake)

 

If you would like an event listed, please email calendar@pjcvt.org  

 

 

   

 

     

September 30, 2014

Horizontalism and Direct Democracy: Workshop with Author Marina Sitrin

By Armando Carmona, PJC Staff

 

As mobilizations around the country gain momentum around issues of climate change and racial justice it is necessary to think about their intersection with questions and proposals about direct democracy. Marina Sitrin, Occupy Activist and internationally renowned scholar of social movements will join Toward Freedom and The Peace & Justice Center to understand current movements for social change in a local context. This discussion will take place on Sunday, October 5th 2014, 1:00pm at the Peace & Justice Center, 60 Lake Street, Burlington, VT. No registration is required.   

 

The event will focus on topics of direct democracy and "horizontalism;" a term that has been widely used by occupy and other grassroots movements hoping to move away from hierarchical or "vertical" types of leadership models and create a more collective process. She is a facilitator and the co-author, with Dario Azzellini, of the recently published "They Can't Represent Us: Reinventing Democracy from Greece to Occupy."   

 

Drawing from examples and her own personal experiences, Sitrin will facilitate a workshop on horizontal facilitation in the context of actual current events and movements currently struggling. Our conversation will range from the environmental defense assemblies and towns in Argentina, Zapatista autonomy in Chiapas, the Occupy Plataforma (housing defense) movement in Spain, and assembly movements in Greece.   

 

About Marina Sitrin: Marina Sitrin is the author of the previous books Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina and Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina. She has a JD in International Womens' Human Rights from CUNY Law School and a PhD in Global Sociology from Stony Brook University. She has been a participant in a number of movements from the Direct Action Network in the late 1990s to Occupy and the movements in Argentina.

  

About THE PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER: The Peace & Justice Center is a Vermont-based non-profit, membership organization. Our mission is to create a just and peaceful world. To this end, we work on the interconnected issues of economic and racial justice, peace, and human rights through education, advocacy, training, non-violent activism and community organizing.

  

About TOWARDFREEDOM.COM: A progressive perspective on world events since 1952. Toward Freedom envisions a world ethic that honors the human spirit and the right of individuals to freedom of thought and creativity; advances movements for human rights, peace, justice, enlightenment, and freedom from oppression; and celebrates the contributions of the world's diverse cultures.

 

For more information contact Armando Carmona from the Peace & Justice Center or Ben Dangl editor of towardfreedom.com. This free event is co-sponsored by the Peace & Justice Center and Towardfreedom.com.

 

American Promise October 7

In the U.S. today, African-American students across all income levels score an average of twenty-five points lower than their white counterparts on standardized tests. This is known as the racial achievement gap. The group that suffers most from this debilitating phenomenon is African-American males. Unfortunately, the racial achievement gap is just the beginning of lifelong inequality.  


The Peace & Justice Center and Partnership for Change are hosting an educational screening of the film American Promise at Merrill's Roxy Cinema, 222 College Street in Burlington on October 7th at 6:30pm. This screening is free and open to the public. We encourage people to pick up FREE tickets to this film
in advance at the Peace & Justice Store, 60 Lake Street, Burlington or at Merrill's Roxy Cinema because seating is limited and we expect to sell out. 

The film will be introduced by Hal Colston, director of Partnership for Change. It is being presented with support from Peace & Justice Center members, a grant through Haymarket People's Fund and a co-sponsorship with Partnership for Change. For more information contact Kyle at 802-863-2345 x6 or kyle@pjcvt.org.
 

Sudan: Rebuilding Hope

Join us for a film screening and discussion with Peter Keny and others from SUDEF (Sudan Development Fund).

 

Two short documentaries will be shown:
Grace Under Pressure - The Story of Kalthok
and Rebuilding Hope (abridged version)

 

FREE, light snacks provided, rachel@pjcvt.org for more info.

 

 

  

 

"Rebuilding Hope," the work of award-winning documentary film maker Jen Marlowe, has brought Gabriel's story and the Ariang School project to the attention of film audiences worldwide. The film chronicles the struggle for survival and the ultimate triumph of Gabriel and his two Sudanese friends, Koor Garang Chol and Samuel Garang Mayuol. Their journeys from "Lost Boys" to college graduates, American citizens, and directors of relief efforts provide the foundation for Marlowe's moving film. "This film isn't just a movie about Sudan. It's not just a movie about refugees returning home. It's about identity and family, and a central question all of us confront: What is my responsibility in the world? What can I do from where I am and what I have?" Jen Marlowe, Director of Rebuilding Hope.     
 
This event is being hosted in conjunction with the Canvas Peace Project auction on October 18 at the Skinny Pancake.

Locked Up & Shipped Away
Now is the time. We need your help to launch the campaign Locked Up & Shipped Away.
 

Here are three things you can do:

  1. Most urgent: Do you run a business or non-profit?  Do you belong to a professional association, faith community, volunteer network, other? Can you get your group/non-profit/business to support the campaign statement? It asks the Administration and Legislature to make a priority of reducing the prison population in order to bring out-of-state Vermonters back from KY and AZ, and end the use of private, for-profit prisons. When we have 20-25 groups we can release this to the press.
  2. Sign the individuals' petition asking for the same thing. 
  3. Forward this to ten friends, asking them to join our campaign.
  4. Call into candidate forums and ask: Do you support making greater use of alternatives to prison in a way that will increase public safety? What will you do to end the over-incarceration of Vermonters?

Vigorous discussions about how exactly we can do this are taking place. For example: we can make greater use of alternatives to incarceration, eliminate prison for non-violent offenses, parole those who are sick or old and pose little risk to public safety, ensure that a victim who has been harmed has a right to a restorative justice alternative if she/he wants, and more. We invite you to join the public conversation by posting a blog on the campaign's website

Thank you for your support.

Suzi and Meg, Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform  

Holly, Grassroots Leadership 

 

More Upcoming Events

 

October 2, Thursday

  • 6-9pm The 1st Unitarian Universalist Society and Burlington Friends Meeting are jointly sponsoring the powerful antinuclear film Quietly into Disaster.  Produced by Germany's best-known anti-nuclear activist, this film documents the production of dangerous nuclear isotopes by reactors, tailings, and enrichment plants. These isotopes endanger all life on the planet. This is an extremely powerful film that should be seen by everyone. Vermont Yankee may be closing but much of the danger remains. At the 1st Unitarian Universalist Society, 152 Pearl St, Burlington.

October 5, Sunday
  • 1pm Workshop on Direct Democracy and Horizontalism at PJC with Marina Sitrin, author of They Can't Represent Us: Reinventing Democracy from Greece to Occupy.
    Join us as we explore questions about democratic participation, strategies on how to construct new social and political relations through horizontal spaces and apply these experiences in a local context. [See article above.]
     
  • 4-6pm Emerging Voices - A Mother's Journey Through War. Davorka Gosto is a Vermonter who experienced first-hand the heartbreak of the brutal conflict in Bosnia. She will share stories from her new book and open the floor for a dialog about the impact of war on families. "What would you do if a bomb exploded outside your house and you realized that your husband was targeted in a brutal ethnic cleansing?" "This story documents one mother's fight, then flight, for freedom from war. It follows her struggles to keep her family together and to provide her children with a hopeful future."  This event is sponsored by VRRP/USCRI and the Fletcher Free Library. FREE. The book A Mother's Journey Through War and light refreshments will be for sale. At FFL.
     

October 7, Tuesday

  • 6:30pm Screening of American Promise. This inspiring and intimate film provides a personal look at the racial achievement gap found in our education system. This issue sets our youth up for lifelong inequity. The film is being presented to provide awareness, offer support and inspire participation in a movement for racial justice to improve our kids' future. Please support this event and come learn more about the local movement that is working to end racism in our schools. For more information contact Kyle at 802-863-2345 x6 or kyle@pjcvt.org. 

 

October 8, Wednesday

  • 4:00pm Diane Nash: Gandhi's Nonviolence: A Legacy for Now. Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri have brought the issue of racism to the fore once again in our country. Fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the rights of people of color are still being violated. For St. Michael's Annual Peace Pledge Ceremony the Peace and Justice Club has invited Diane Nash, one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, to discuss its legacy for the current situation. Ms. Nash was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and led the sit-ins at Nashville lunch counters in 1960. In 1961, she coordinated the Freedom Rides from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi. She also helped conceptualize and form the Right to Vote Movement in Selma, Alabama which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Ms. Nash has been a lifelong proponent and teacher of Gandhian nonviolence and has won many awards for her service to our country, including the John F. Kennedy Library's Distinguished American award in 2003. At St. Michael's College, McCarthy Recital Hall.

 

October 18, Saturday

  • 6-9pm Canvas Peace Project is an initiative inspiring artists across the US to raise awareness of genocide and the ongoing conflicts in the region of Sudan.  The Canvas Peace Project will host an auction and event October 18 at the Skinny Pancake in Burlington. For more infomation click here or contact Rachel Cosponsored by PJC, Skinny Pancake, SUDEF, and Hope for Ariang.

 

October 21, Tuesday

  • 7-8pm Listening for What Matters Most. A workshop lead by Robin Guillian held as part of Vermont's Conflict Resolution Month activities. $5 fee for participation, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information contact Kyle at 802-863-2345 x6 or email.   At PJC, 60 Lake St, Burlington.
     

October 23, Thursday

  • 5:30pm PJC Annual Meeting at PJC. Dinner, Program Updates and Board elections.

 

October 29, Wednesday

  • 6:30-8:30pm Recycled Aluminum Jewelry Art Class with Kenyan Artist Leah Mitula. In honor of Fair Trade Month, the PJC will be hosting Leah Mitula, the founder of Denur Crafts -- an all women's jewelry cooperative in Kenya. All of their jewelry is made from raw, locally sourced materials: carved bone pendants from the butcher, earrings made from aluminum cans, and glass beads made from sand. Leah is traveling all the way from Nairobi to Vermont to share with us the craft of making jewelry from recycled aluminum! Davis Studio,4 Howard St, Studio 2, Burlington. $30 register here.

November 5, Wednesday

  • 7-8:30pm Engaging Conflict For Peace. By seeing oneself in all beings we automatically create a frame of mind for a peaceful coexistence. And only by embracing peaceful resolution to conflicts can we can truly experience justice and joyous living. Come learn powerful skills for engaging conflict peacefully from Ben Bosley a professional in the field of conflict resolution. $5 Adults. Free for Kids. Register here.

  November 15, Saturday

  • Peace & Justice Center presents the Ed Everts Social Justice Activist Award to Migrant Justice.  With special presenter Julia Alvarez. Food, music, and more. Co-sponsored by Main Street Landing. 1 Main St, Train Station Lobby.
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Peace & Justice Center | 8028632345 | info@pjcvt.org | http://www.pjcvt.org
60 Lake St Ste 1C
Burlington, VT 05401