Women and Work

'atce, Nair-6Central New York's Voice for Peace and Social Justice March 1995 PNL 629

dancing school principal : Cuba

Published Monthly by the Syracuse Peace Council - Founded in 1936 - ISSN 0735-4134

HE SYRACUSE PEACE C~DUNCILCollectives, Committees & Projects

New people are always welcome to join any of these activites . Contact theSPC office at 472-5478 or the person listed to find out what you can do.

The HouseSPC Staff

Bookkeeper

SPC PressBill Mazza

Duane Hardy

Paul PearceThe Front Room Bookstore

Joe Carpenter

The Peace NewsletterThe PNL editorial committee needs peoplel . . .Join us Tuesdayevenings at 5:30 PM at SPC, 924 Burnet Ave.Editorial Committee : Ryan Goldberg, Ed Kinane, Bill Mazza,Lauren Moffard

Graphics: Anita WelychProduction Committee : Joy Meeker, Marge Rusk, Andy Molloy,Joan Goldberg PNL Interns : Ryan Goldberg, Jason Sullivan

VolunteersMarge Rusk, Duane Hardy, Susan Ashley, Chuck Durand, PatHoffman, Carl Mellor, Upasatti, Kathy Barry, Brian Caufield,Andy Molloy, Fredric Noyes, Lauren Wing, Art Lum, Carolyn,Karen Veverka, Lynne Woehrlp, Ray Kramer, Liz King, Ron

Schuffier, Christine Detwiler

Statement of Purpose

Alliances, Coalitions & ContactsAlliance-PsyohiatricSystemSurvivors

Peace Action of CNYDiane Swords 478-7442.

George Ebert

475-4120 Peace Brigades InternationalAlternative Media Network Ed Kinane 478-4571Jim Dessauer

425-8806AltemativeOrange

P.E .A.C.E., Inc.Louis Clark 470-3300

Brian Ganter

423-4466 People for Animal RightsAlternatives to Violence Project 488-PURR (7877) or 488-9338Jay Liestee

449-0845 Persons With AIDS SupportAmericans ForDemocratic HotlineAction Jack McTieman 488-6822 Sandra 471-5911American Friends ServiceCommittee

475-4822Physicians for SocialResponsibility 488-2140

Amnesty International 422-3890 Planned Parenthood 475-5525Animal Defense LeagueKris Qua

471-0460ReconsiderNick or Alex Elye 422-6231

ARISE

472-3171 Religion : OtherAtlantic States Legal Foundation Phoenix or Kat 474-8801

475-1170 Rose CenterBeyond Boundaries Teri Cameron 422-3426Aggie Lane

478-4571 Sarah House 475-1747Central America/Caribbean Save the County 637-6066Coalition Shirley Novak 446-6099 SEEDS

607/749-2818Citizens Against Radioactive Seneca Peace Council 568-2344Dumping

607/753-6271 Service Employees IntlCNY ACLU

471-2821 Chris Binaxis 424-1750CNY Center for OccupationalHealth and Safety

471-6187Sierra ClubSue Carlson 445-1663

CNY Environment Smal[Claims CoiifrLActionJanine DeBaise

437-6481 Center

443-1401CNY N .O.W .

487-3188 Social Workers for PeaceCortland Citzens' for Peace

Dick Mundy

445-0797Andy Mager(607) 842-6858 Socialist PartyECOS

492-3478 Ron Ehrenreich

478-0793Educators Social Responsibility Spanish Action LeagueLisa Mundy

445-0797 Sam Velasquez

471-3762EON, Inc./Transgender

Student African-Amer . SocietyCommunity

443-4633Charliss Dolge

475-5611

Student Environmental ActionECOH Dave Smith 478-8634 CoalitionFood Bank of CNY

437-1899 Kelly Ault

4 '23-7896Friends of the Fillipino People

Syracuse Community ChoirJohn & Sally Brute

445-0698 Karen Mihalyi

428-8724Gay/Lesbian Alliance 422-5732 Syracuse Communiity RadioGay/Lesbian/Bisexual Student

Frederic Noyes

437-9579Assoc. (SU)

443-3599 Syracuse Cooperative FederalHotel Employees 150 437-0373 Credit Union

471-1116Jail Ministry

424-1877 Syracuse Cultural WorkersLesbian/Gay Youth

443-3599 Dik Cool

474-1132NAACP

Syracuse Gay & Lesbian ChorusVan Robinson

422-6933

476-4329Natural Organic Farmers Assoc. Syracuse Greens

471-1611Ammie Chickering

365-2299 SyracuseHOURS

471-6423New Environ . Assoc. 446-8009 Syracuse N .O.W.

472-3294North American Indian Club

Syr. Real Food Coop 472-1385476-7425 Syracuse Solidarity 423-9736

NYPIRG

476-8381 Syracuse United NeighborsOnon. Audobon

457-7731 Rich Puchalski

476-7475Onondaga Women's Political

S.U. for Animal Rights 443-4199Caucus

University DemocratsLora Lee Buchta

457-4739 Syracuse University

443-0958Open Hand Theatre

Urban LeagueGeoff Navias

476-0466 Yvonne Goodwin

472-6955Oswego Valley Peace & Justice

Veterans For PeaceCouncil

Ray Stewart

422-5023BarbaraSteinkraus

342-1675 Women's Center (SU) 443-4268Pax Christi

Women's Health OutreachFrank Woolever

446.1693

425-3653Women's INFO Center 478-4636

SPC Projects 472-5478Syracuse Network for Israeli-

spc-TVPalestinian Peace

Paul Pearce,Brent Bleier

479-5393

Frederic Noyes 472-5478Plowshares Craftsfair

SPC Brunch DiscussionsMargaret Williams

422-4201

472-5478SPC Council: Marge Rusk, Fatma Husein, Rafael Sorkin,Daniella Levy-Salzman, Andrianna Natsoulas, Duane Hardy

The Syracuse Peace Council (SPC), founded In 1936 . faunantiwarlsoclal Justice organization. It Is community-based, autonomous and funded by the contributions of Its supporters.

SPC educates, agitates and organizes for a world wherewar, violence and exploitation In any form will no longer exist . Itchallengep the existing unjust power relationships among nations,among people and between ourselves and the environment . Asmembers, we work to replace Inequality, hierarchy, domination andpowerlessness with mutual respect, personal empowerment, coop-eration and a sense of community.

Present socIal InJustices cannot be understood In Isola-tion from each other nor can they be overcome without recognizingtheir economic and militaristic mots . SPC stresses a strategy thatmakes these connections clear. We Initiate and support activitiesthat help build this sense of community and help tear down the wallsof oppression. A fundamental basis for peace and Justice Is aneconomic system that places human need above monetary profit.We establish relationships among people based on cooperationrather than competition or the threat of destruction.

Our political values and personal lives shape and reflecteach other. In both we are committed to nonviolent means of conflictresolution and to a process of decision-making that responds to theneeds of us all .

l`(If you do not see your group fisted, please call & we will add it to the list .)

Syracuse Peace Council 24Burnet Ave . Syracuse,N .Y.13203 (315) 472-5478

Goodbye Peter Sandwall!Someone who knew how to laugh

through the struggle . We'll miss you.

Coalition Forms to Prepare for50th Commemoration of theBombing of Hiroshima

A coalition of local organizations hasbegun planning to commemorate the 50thanniversaries of the atomic bombs dropped onHiroshima and Nagasaki.

Attending the planning meetings wererepresentatives of the following organizations:Open Hand Theater, Peace Action, the UNAssociation, the Community Choir, AFSC,and the Syracuse Peace Council.

The main topics were implementing out-reach to individuals who may wish to involvethemselves in the organizing or the activitiessurrounding the commemoration, and devel-oping a loose agenda for those activities.

Potential activities include:1) General literature development.2) Outreach to faith-based communities—asHiroshima Day falls on a Sunday this year, theidea is to organize and distribute materials tobe used in services on that day. Outreachmight also include secular materials to use inschool curricula.3) A parade committee—to help organize thenow-traditional Open Hand Theater paradethrough . downtown Syracuse . This year theparade is 'being planned for Nagasaki Day,August 9; as Hiroshima Day falls on a Sunday,August 6.4) Art workshops/projects—outreach gearedto involve schools and youth in creatingrelevantcultural projects.5) A celebratory event (?at the closing of theparade?)—to bring closure to the various out-reach projects and may include a show of theartwork created, performance with the Com-munity Choir, and a celebration of all thoseparticipating in resistance movements overthe past 50 years.

Everyone is invited to participate . Pleasecall Diane Swords at Peace Action, 478-7442,or Bill Mazza at the Syracuse Peace Council,472-5478 to get involved.

April Issue Deadlines

Articles .

March 15Ads

March 22Calendar Items

March 22

PEACE NEWSLETTER: MARL ! l f/ ‘/STable of Contents

SPC Page 3cuba: more snapshots by elana levy 4Getting to Know You by Marilee Wltherell 8Loving Gayness by Rosarla Champagne 11Alternatives and Institutions : Part II' by ela Mate 10Community Update 12Central American/Caribbean Coalition by Paul Welchselbaum 13How You Can Help Close the S.O.A 13The Guys in the Garage by Karen Hall 14Rarhsey Clark Defends US Army Captain by Ed Klnne 15Policing the Homeless by Nancy Rhodes 16Peaces compiled by Ryan Goldberg 18Unciassifieds " 18In Review: Bridge of Courage by Joan Goldberg 19Community Calendar 23

About the Cover : Dancing School Principal by elana levyelana explains : "the directora of the primary school next to the agricultural cooperative

"Ios matires de barbados" just outside cienfuegos, started to dance along with the singingand clapping of the children and faculty of the primary school . they were welcoming theirguests from the united states." See elana's article on page 4, this PNL.

This photograph is part of "69 cents to a dollar : An Exhibition on Women and Work," atthe Altered Space Community Art Gallery, 922 Burnet Ave, Syr, NY 13202 (next to SPC) . It'sone of eight of elana's photos depicting women in Cuba displayed at Altered Space . Galleryhours are Thursday through Sunday, 12 - 4 PM . The exhibition runs through Friday, March 10.There will be a "Women's Reading" that evening at 7 PM to close the exhibition . All are invitedand encouraged to bring work to read . Call Altered Space at 479-8675 for more information.

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3/95 Peace Newsletter 3

cuba : more snapshots of women in the revolutionPart II of elana's snapshots from her recent trip to Cuba.elana levy

SNAP11 am, cienfuegosour delegation of sixteen women from all overthe u .s ., ages 22 to 85, sitting in a room with thedean of the medical faculty of the university ofcienfuegos, the director of enterprises of cere-als for cienfuegos, assistant director of theonly factory in cuba making hydraulic equip-ment for sugar refineries, about a dozen cubanwomen holding important positions in thisprovince . we raise our concerns about theyoung women dressed in very tightly fittingclothing we see hanging around the hotels,call edjinoteras (meaning hustler, cubans don'tcall them prostitutes).

the cuban women respond : "what would youhave us do? arrest them? what we are doing ishaving a dialogue with them. we do not rejectthem. we do not treat them as social pariahs.we do not work with them at the hotels, wework with them in their neighborhoods . weknow each one of them . the situation will notbe resolved by condemnation of these women,nor can we ignore the women ."

as we spoke with the women it became so clearto us their concern, and the work which thewomen have already undertaken to give

jinoteras other opportunities . i wondered herein Syracuse, ny which group of women knewevery prostitute (only the police) and wasworking to offer them different opportunitiesand another way of life.we asked : how many women were choosingthis way of life? they knew precisely . "thereare 120 to 125 jinoteras in cienfuegos prov-ince," they replied. "we know each one ofthem and we are working with each one ."Twenty-nine women who have stopped andare now integrated in a new workplace are stillmeeting with the women of the fmc (federa-tion of cuban women).

here cuban women, women who had achievedlevels of accomplishment rare for women any-place in the world, had clearly had spent muchtime meeting and thinking together about the125 women in their province who had goneastray, and already had many successes withtheir work.

snapmeeting with women writers, tv scriptwritersand artists at uneac, union of writers and artistsin cuba . the delegation brings up the distaste-ful video we had seen on a monitor as we werewaiting to go through customs upon arrivingat jose marti airport . the video, much like mtv,objectified and demeaned women . they toowere concerned with the image of woman thatwas being used to promote tourism. they hadmet with the cuban musician whose band was

on the video, and he had apologized to them.he thanked the women for raising his level ofawareness . that video was no longer beingshown on cuban television, but it was stillplayed on the airport monitors.

how women are portrayed by the tourist indus-try concerned the writers and artists . morethan half the doctors now in cuba are women."we would like to see cuban women repre-sented with the white coat of a doctor." but in

fact, the tourist industry of cuba, is allowingthe image of sexy, beautiful women to be usedas a major promotion tool . and in the famousnightclubs in cuba, and in the hotels, scantilyclad women are very much part of the enter-tainment used to amuse the tourists,

snapafter midnight dark streets of havana (city of2 .5 million) daniella, 24, jogging back toguesthouse having just placed a phone call tou .s . from a hotel . an older woman, at leastseventy, walking slowly home calls out todaniella : "what are you doing out alone, it'sdangerous ." she takes daniella's arm andaccompanies her. daniella asks the womanwhy she was worried about her, when she,herself, much older, was walking quite lei-surely in the dark streets . the grandmotherresponds : "but i am a cuban, it is safe for me towalk on the street . this is my home . you are atourist, it's not safe for you . "

the contradictions which tourism brings, inparticular, the dollars . the u .s . blockade againstcuba, tightened to a stranglehold by the toricellibill passed in oct '92, plus the loss of theprimary trading partners by the changes ineastern europe and the soviet union around1989, has meant a severe shortage in foreignexchange for cuba resulting in deeply feltscarcities for the cuban people . dollars are inhigh demand at a national and individual level.more tourism means more immediate dollars.it also brings with it the phenomena discussedabove of jinoteras and jinoteros (male hus-tlers) who are looking for what dollars canbuy . cubans won't use the word prosititutebecause these young men and women arewell-educated, as are all cubans, have jobs(little unemployment) or are students . but, inthis "special period" of hardship it is difficultwithout dollars to get levis or perfumes or

Women leaders listening to delegation's questions . Cienfego . Photo by elana levy.

4 Peace Newsletter 3/95

Day Care Center . Photo by elana levy.

shampoos or sunglasses, etc . they are avail-able in the dollar stores, but not in the pesostores, and not as part of your rations.tourist industry jobs, in which you have muchcontact with tourists and their dollars, arehighly valued . a few people trained as engi-neers or medical specialists have chosen ca-reers in hotel management because of theaccess to dollars . the cuban government isfording creative ways of rewarding other work-ers with dollars. in cienfuegos province work-ers in basic industries, sugar refineries andelectrical projects receive a portion of theirpay in dollars if they have met certain stan-dards for the month, such as perfect atten-dance, no lateness, met certain productionquotas, etc . it's a program which keeps peoplein much needed positions, and promotes disci-pline in the workplace, one of the campaignsat present in cuba.

snapa small apartment in residential area of havanawith food and drinks laid out for us, as always.six well-known cuban women writers andtheorists discussing the hard times of the lastfew years and the effects on women's lives.privileged conversation, shared out of respectfor the leader of our delegation, much pub-lished margaret randall, cuban resident for 11years." . . .at this moment, we are in a life and deathstruggle . we have to ask for our place, no, notask, demand our place in our society . we aremoving towards a gender consciousness ."these women are forming an association ofwomen communicators in havana which theyhope will spread throughout the island."for me, this [the new association] has beenlike a door opening," says the youngest mem-ber of the group, a staff writer for a cubanmonthly magazine. "i've been sitting in frontof a door. i didn' t know what was on the otherside of the door . it's been like a whole newworld for me ."the first goal of the association is to givewomen self-esteem, to empower women. theyhave sponsored a series of workshops onwomen's sexuality, on how to respond whenthere's no food, or gas, or electricity, pluscourses in gender analysis . "we're trying togive some practical and spiritual advice forseemingly insolvable problems faced in thelast two years . we want our daughters to seeand understand the space within the social andeconomic sphere we fought so hard for . we'republicly stating that gender is a political issue,

something many of the leaders of the revolu-tion don ' t understand. we're demanding adialogue with them . "

snapwe ' re at la guinera, havana cuba . a once ex-tremely marginalized (word cubans use, wemight say ghettoized) area, now shown as anexample of how people have raised them-selves since the revolution. where women arein the lead in microbrigade construction oftheir own apartments . josefina, head of themicrobrigades, has just spoken to us . we (thepeople from the neighborhood and the u .s.delegation of women) begin chanting . amongthe chants is : the cubans united can never bedefeated . (cubanos unidos, jamas seravencido .) how appropriate. here ' s one versionof this oft heard chant ("the people united cannever be defeated") that rings true . and is onereason why the u .s . has not yet invaded cuba.

snapping to a close:working in support of the cuban revolutionand its gains is given the name "solidarity"work in the u .s.i don't see it that way.i work for cuba selfishly . i need cuba to neverbe defeated.not only "a luta continua" ("the struggle con-tinues "chant often heard during independencestruggles against colonialism) but also "cubacontinua . "we need the example of cuba.we need to keep noticing that there is a placewhere people get free health care, free educa-tion at all levels, inexpensive excellent daycare for any family who needs it, the elderlyfeel privileged as well as the children, etcet-era and so forthand it's only ninety miles away .

as you've read in the two articles, not allis beautiful nor easy nor as you or i want it tobe . but so much of that fault, dear friends, liesnot with the stars but with ourselves and ourgovernment's actions . not all . lots of mistakesby cuba's government too . what's differentand important to me is the recognition andrethinking the mistakes—be it about self-suf-ficiency in food or about homosexuality.

elana levy has visited cuba four times inthe last two years. this last visit she and herdaughter, daniella, travelled with a sixteenmember woman's delegation, led by authormargaret randall, co-led by elana . elanaand daniella stayed on to welcome the newyear with close friends on the isle of youth.(part 1 of this series was printed in the febpnl)

~,

so what are some of the things you, you,you, can do so that the jesse helms and billclintons and jorge mas canosas can't im-pose their greed and sickness across thesmall sea.• speak out against the blockade . every

nation in the world does except u .s . andisrael (and even israel now has joint citrusventures within cuba) . step out on thestreets too.

• daniella and i are happy to join a group inyour venue to speak and answer questionsabout our experience and understanding.

• support cuba materially through the localspunc (sisters project : underwear to cuba/1030 westmoreland av/syr ny 13210) withnew underwearorthrough pastors for peaceor medical aid, for starters.

• visit, our gov't doesn't want you to, butmany groups still do, through canada,mexico, or with much difficulty, miami.

• join with Abolish Blockade against Cubahere in Syracuse . next meeting, monday,27 march, 7 :30pm, boulevard diner, erieblvd & thompson.

leave your name at the syr. peace council ifyou want more info.

3/95 Peace Newsletter 5

Getting To Know YouExamining the tactics of the Religious (Not So) RightMerilee Witherell

OCCASIONALLY I HAVE been knownto argue that my essay or speech may

effectively be reduced to one well-organizedparagraph. When I was asked by the Stone-wall Committee to speak at a recent meeting,it was the first time I had imagined that mypresentation would be reduced to one word. Iwas asked to speak about the Religious Rightand their goals with regard to public educa-tion . A short and simple speech, this : Annihi-lation.

This does appear to be the ultimate goalof religious right groups and activists . Themeans by which they hope to achieve it aretwofold: by usurpation of public educationthrough school boards and pressure groups,and by undermining the schools throughvoucher programs which redirect tax dollarsfrom public schools to private . Their ability toorganize toward these ends should not beunderestimated. The relious right has emergedin American life as an extremely powerful andinfluential force, with activists in every com-munity and leaders in the highest governmentpositions . Perhaps the latter point was bestsummarized in Harper's Index, January 1995:"Distance between the Speaker of the Houseand the US Presidency, in heartbeats : 2 ."

So who is this Religious Radical Right orChristian Right, as they are interchangeablyknown, and anyway, what exactly do theyhave planned for our schools? First the badnews. The activist members of thereligious right are men and women inevery community who seem in manyways to be reasonable, moderateand ordinary. There are many reli-gious right groups established acrossthe country, most well-organized andheavily funded A sample includes:• The Christian Coalition headedby Pat Robertson, and its legal arm,the American Center for Law andJustice;• Focus on the Family, with Rev.James Dobson and the closely affili-ated Family Research Council;• Citizens for Excellence in Educa- .

tion led by Robert Simonds which backs fun-damentalist school board candidates;• the Rutherford Institute which engages inlitigation and whose members are a stronglobbying force;• Phyllis Schafly's Eagle Forum whosestrongly anti-choice membership is now tar-geting the public schools .:• Education Research Analysts, a censor-ship-oriented clearinghouse which "rates" text-books;• Concerned Women for America led by"Beverly LeHaye;• Donald Wildmon's American Family As-sociation which has pressured the entertain-ment industry in attempts to censor televisionand movies, including The Last Temptation ofChrist and NYPD Blue;• the Traditional Values Coalition led byRec . Lou heldon; and perhaps most impor-tantly,• the Council for National Policy, a groupwith invitation-only membership, includingsuch notables power-mongers as the Rev . TimLaHaye; Joseph Coors ; Kuver North ; RichardSchoff, Former Indiana KKK leader, Rev . D.James Kennedy, a media-minister from Floridawhose shows have aired here; Rev. JerryFalwell; Phyllis Schlafly; and the Rev. DonaldWildmon.

In November, I attended a debate be-tween Rabbi David Saperstein and the Reli-gious Action Center of Reform Judaism andJay Sekulow of the Christian Coalition'sAmerican Center for Law and Justice (ACLU).I was struck by the conciliatory tone of JaySekulow, ACLJ's Chief Counsel, and wasamazed to discover how often I agreed with

his words . His words, however, contrastedsomewhat sharply with the actions and theexpressed mission of the ACLJ and the Chris-tian Coalition. The innocuous words some-times used by members of the religious rightoften disguise meaning . For example, TheAmerican Heritage Education Bill, which hasbeen introduced in many states, is a bill whichwould prohibit school administrators frompunishing teachers for teaching from "histori-cally significant or venerated documents ."This seems fair enough—let teachers use theConstitution, the Declaration of Independenceand Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter to teachabout history . Of course, teachers . who usedsuch materials are notpunished, leaving us towonder why this bill would be needed—what"venerated documents" would we have edu-cators teaching from if this bill were to pass?This bill is a back-door attempt to allow teach-ing from the bible and other religious docu-ments (notice, I did not say about the bible,which is already allowed in appropriatecourses). The subtleties of language are ever-important when dealing with the religiousright, as they are never eager to expose theiragenda until they are assured of its implemen-tation . Moderation is the hallmark of theircampaigns ; extremism the mark of their domi-nation.

Many religious right activists who run forschool boards do so as "stealth candidates ."That is, the candidates do not expose theiraffiliation with their religio-political organi-zation or church, but rather run on such issuesas tax reform. Candidates are often givendetailed instructions from their organizationsabout tactics and techniques for avoiding iden-

tificationi•

with the religious rightagenda until after the election.Citizens for Excellence in Edu-cation recommends, "While you

,

, are defending Christian values,''/ ,.

you must learn to do so with" secular language. Ask who is

`'x paying for this and how much itwill cost ." If the term "UnfundedMandate" occurs to you at thistime, give yourself a gold star forseeing the big picture. Both thereligious right and the right-at-large seek to gut programs andlegislation with which they dis-agree, not by dismantling them

6 Peace Newsletter 3/95

openly, but by de-funding them . This includescivil rights legislation affecting education,employment and housing, healthcare pro-grams, especially school-based clinics andservices related to reproductive health care,school breakfast and lunch programs, andprograms designed to allow greater indepen-dence for people with disabilities, includingmany school-based accommodations for dis-abled students.

The issuesunder attack bythe religious rightvary consider-ably, rangingfrom broad con-cerns with certainphilosophical approaches in education to ob-jections about particular books within a cur-riculum or classroom. School prayer is themost readily understood of the goals of thereligious right. They want organized, author-ity-led, proselytizing, Christian prayer in thepublic schools every day. Until they canachieve this end, they are willing to settle forvarious encroachments on the Constitutionalseparation of church and state, such as gradu-ation prayer, moments of silence, student-ledprayer, or "voluntary" prayers abound theflagpole before the start of the school day . Thebottom line on school prayer is that studentswho want to pray in school may do so now,individually, as long as theydo not disrupt theeducational process. Students may say gracebefore lunch, pray before a test, and read thebible in study hall . The proposed constitu-tional amendment on school prayer wouldopen the door to group prayers, and thereby tocoercive group pressures, including the easyidentification of non-Christian or non-wor-shipping students. It is a tool to ostracize asmuch as it is a tool to proselytize, and it has noplace in an American public institution.

Voucher programs are another favorite ofthe religious right, and have gained wide-spread popularity among the right-at-large.School voucher programs would basicallyusepublic funds to reimburse parents for a portionof the cost of sending their children to privateschools . Since vouchers would only subsidizepart of the cost in most cases of a privateschool education, the rhetoric of "schoolchoice" is misleading. Voucher programswould not likely enable more families to chooseprivate schools, they would simply rewardthose families who have already chosen andcan already afford such schools . Regardless of

that point, voucher programs channel limitedresources allocated for education to subsidizeprivate religious choices . This is perhaps oneof the most serious threats to the integrity ofpublic education, already scandalously under-funded in some regions, threatened further bythe diversion of dollars to the sectarian world.Late in 1994, the Puerto Rican Supreme Courtstruck down a voucher program which has

been in opera-tion there, forviolating theP .R. Constitu-tion. Most USstates have simi-lar provisions,and it is probable

that state courts would rule such programsunconstitutional. This case did not turn spe -cifically on the Establishment Clause of theUS Constitution, however, and it is uncertainthe US Supreme Court would rule.

Teaching "scientific" creationism is an-other way religious right groups are takingcontrol of public education . Groups dedicatedto promoting religious belief systems throughpublic schools have developed instructionalmaterials which present Judeo-Christian cre-ationism couched in scientific-sounding terms.The materials supplement curricula in scienceclasses which teach the theory of evolution.Proponents of the creationist materials are for"equal time" and emphasize the scientificnature of their materials. School board mem-bers at a district in Cayuga County were con-sidering the use of such materials in 1993 unitla school board member brought this. creation-ist video he had received in church.

Sex education is another target of thereligious right, now equipped with its owncurricula on the subject. Having realized thatthey cannot prevent sex education in the pub-lic schools, various religious right groups havedeveloped abstinence-only curricula whichthey actively promote with school boards.Essentially, "If you can't beat `em, join `em(no offense Ms . Elders) . Some of the programsdeveloped areFacing Reality; Me, My world,My Future ; sexuality, Commitment and Fam-ily; Family Accountability CommunicatingTenn Sexuality ; andResponsible Sexual Val-ues Program . . One of the more widely usedprograms, Sex Respect, offers such educa-tional and helpful hints as "Pet your dog, notyour date!" and "Control your urgin', be avirgin!" These curricula rely heavily on reli-gious publications as references and use such

terms as "nature" inplaceof the word God. One re-source states, "Nature ismaking some kind of acomment on sexual behav-ior through the AIDS andherpes epidemics." An-other urges pregnant teensnot to "get an abortion tokill the baby.''

Outcomes-Based-Education (OBE) is anapproach gaining popularity in the US, muchto the dismay of the religious right. OBE is aschool reform plan which requires that stu-dents demonstrate certain skills and abilitiesas a prerequisite to graduation . These skillsare decided upon by the school with inputfrom teachers, students, and parents, and theplan is implemented within state educationalguidelines . Educators have been accused bythe religious right of using OBE to underminereligious values by expecting students to cul-tivate respect for other cultures and tolerancefor diversity.

The real issue with OBE perhaps has verylittle to do with the approach itself (get yourgold stars out again, there is a big picture to behad here) . Activists on the Christian Right donot trust and do not like public education inAmerica. They fault our schools with creatingsocial disorder, crime, teen pregnancy, wel-fare dependency, poor performance in theglobal economy, and so forth, and constantlypoint to the institution 's failings . However,religious right groups are the first to raise criesof an anti-religious, communist, homosexual,subversive, feminist, ACLU, vegetarian, orother deviant-inspired plot when attempts atgenuine educational reform are made. I reiter-ate, the goal of the religious right with regardto public education isclear : annihilation. Theydo not want public education to continue as itis, and they do not want it reformed. They wantit to be subsumed by the religio-politicalagenda, a future theocratic state of their ownmaking, a state in which all education is reli-gious education, and Truth with its capital T isderived from the one and only Source with acapital S, and taught to the good little boys andgirls who are fitto receive education andwhose parents can pay for it, partly with vouch-ers, of course.

Merilee is the former director of theCentral New York Chapter of the New YorkCivil Liberties Union. She first addressed thistopic at a panel discussion by the StonewallCommittee, as part of the "Who's Right?"series.

Moderation is the hallmark oftheir campaigns ; extremismthe mark of their domination .

Loving Gayness'

I : the problem

A FTER PAT ROBERTSON failed in se-curing the Republican Party's 1988 bid,

after Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority becamebetter known for jokes in its honor than effec-tivity in its path, and after TV evangelicalscinched their fame in popular culture, notheaven, I felt vindicated . Cocky, actually . Iwas a twenty-something PhD student, part ofa community of leftist intellectuals, and wehad certainly read more than these religiousfanatics . Everyone I. knew was engaged withintellectual and political rigor in fighting theRight . We were out, were smart, and we sureas hell weren't shopping . With education onour side, how could they hurt us?

Unbeknownst tows in our arrogance andego, the Christian Right was "born again ."While we felt secure in what we knew, theReligious Right was not so complacent. RalphReed, executive director of the Religions Rightsays : "The Christian Community got it back-wards in the 1980s . We tried to charge Wash-ington when we should have been focusing on

the states . The real battles ofconcern to Christians are inneighborhoods, school boards,city councils, and state legis-latures ."2

In 1991, the Christian Coa-

lition held a national political training confer-ence in Virginia Beach, Virginia, called "Roadto Victory I," for 800 Christian activists repre-senting 225 Coalition chapters. In 1992, "Roadto Victory II" was attended by 1,500 Christianactivists . The Christian Coalition's goal wasto have 1,500 chapters and 800,000 membersby 1993 . Indeed, the National Field Directorof the Christian Coalition, Mr . Guy Rogers,claims one new chapter is born each day, withplans for a full-time staff in 20 states, headedby 50,000 precinct leaders connected to 25,000church liaison leaders.'

As Skipp Porteous has reported, "[Pat]Robertson's goal is to make the ChristianCoalition bigger and more superior than anypolitical group on the right or left ." Robertsonsays : "I believe that the Christian Communitywill be the most powerful political force inAmerica by the end of the decade ."' In addi-tion to grass-roots organizing, the Coalitionrecommends secrecy . Members are told tonever identify themselves even to Republi-cans as Coalition members . They mask theirpolitical power behind the falsely-described"neutrality" of salvation through family val-ues . United through the elevation of oppres-sion to Darwinian entitlement, the Christianright has successfully launched an attackagainst its main targets lesbian women, gaymen, Jews, people of color, and feminists andthisattack has negatively affected all people inthis country. The Christian right is successfully dismantling the spirit of the Civil Rightsmovement and the philosophy of democracy'.Under the guise of neutral good-for-everyone-policies, the Religious Right vehemently re-jects democratic inclusive social politics andoffers instead a narrowly-defined theocraticvision of "family values." [Family values regu-lates society by policing strictly sanctionedand heterosexist spheres for men and women,by ensuring class hierarchies, and by conflatingthe work ethic with society's invisibly be-stowed privileges and entitlements.]

Today, the Christian Coalition is joinedby other Religious Right institutions united inpolicing morality and calling this politics ofenforcement "natural" : The American FamilyAssociation,' Citizens for Excellence in Edu-cation,' Concerned Women for America,' theEagle Forum, the Family Research Council,Focus on the family, Free Congress Founda -tion, Operation Rescue, The Rutherford Insti-tute, and the Traditional Values Coalition .

The effect of the Christian Right on gayand lesbian people is no bugaboo . It is insidi-ous.

ii : the solution offered by thePolitical Left .

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Forcehas organized efforts to educate the gay andlesbian community about the Christian Rightand its political agenda and effect. In 1993, theNGLTF came out with bothThe HandbookforChal{enging the Christian Right and theFightthe Right! Action Kit . Both texts make clearindeed, from their very titles what our re-sponse should be. We are supposed to "fightthe right" and to challenge through counter-discourse and counter-politics the "new worldorder" envisioned by Robertson and his cro-nies. I of course support and practice theNGLTFs mission. I provide counter-discourseto the religious right because I do not want tobecome part of the myth of perversion that theReligious Right has in store for me. I do notw ant tobe invented to be bound and gagged inthe name of someone else's narrowvision ofethics . I protest with my body and mind be-cause I refuse to live under the thumb ofsomeone else's fear, because any politics ofsurvivorship depends on our exchanging atheory of cowardice for one that understandsour personal and individual lives as not moreimportant or valuable than the political ideasthat make meaningful and significant theselives .

Having said this, I want to suggest, how-ever, that "fight the right" is not the only oreven the best place to start. If we only projectour. enemies outside ourselves we miss animportant point. To me, the most importantpoint. The "open secret" of gay and lesbianlives : internalized homophobia, the subtle andlethal internalization of patriarchy'sdemonization of gay and lesbian people . Byprojecting the enemy outside of ourselves andoutside of our gay and lesbian communities,we assume that if only we changed theirbehavior, and their ideas,we would get whatwe want : equal rights . But equal rights, thosemade possible through legal, social, and eco-nomic opportunities, represent only part ofwhat we need. Indeed, they do not come partand parcel with liberation the ability to livefreely, to embrace the bigness of ourselves,our potentials, our worlds, to live with zest andjoy and courage, to celebrate our bravery, tothrive, and most importantly, to everyday asgay and lesbian peoples and our allies, cel-

Rosario Champagne

u 11i

8 Peace Newsletter 3/95

ebrate gayness in ourselves and others . In-deed, the history of social movements in ourcountry suggests the ironic opposite : that equalrights arrive without bringing with them thepsychological freedom to act on those rights.

iii, the solution offered by Leftistliberationists

-Tonight I call for a different call to arms.Let's not only "fight the right." In addition,let's ,learnand share the process of liberation.Threats to our liberation, my friends, is themost insidious impact of the Christian Coali-tion. Frederick Douglass, emancipated-slave-tamed abolitionist, once wrote, "the mind isthe, last plantation." And indeed, it is theinternalized homophobia that the ChristianCoalition breeds in ourselves and in our com-munities that represents their most egregiouseffect.

When I talk like this, friends and col-leagues suspect that I have lost my politicalmind. They think that we can't have liberationwithoutequality . They think that first we mustout-shout, out-vote, out-smart; out-compete,and out-attack them. But out-shouting theChristian Coalition will not secure an anti-homophobic world, my friends, because self-esteemr.not self-aggrandizement, undergirdsliberation. The most potent way to out-smartthe Christian Coalition requires opening thecloset door on our internalized homophobiaand thenloving each other and ourselves witha vengeance.

All .people are homophobic under capi-talist patriarchy . Homophobia is an ideologythatis, a set of ideas with a material force. Thismaterial force manifests itself in the institu-tion of :heterosexism: the managed and po-iiced invisibility, erasure, or misrepresenta-tionof gay and lesbian people, as evidenced insites as innocuous as the Lands End catalogueto-the Common Council's inane town meetingregarding Gay Pride day in June, 1993 . Beinggay does-not inoculate us against homophobia.Being gay-doesmean that the price we pay forinternalized homophobia is unconscious, cu-mulative, burdensome and dangerous—toourselves, our relationships, and our commu-nities.

Oneexample of internalized homophobiathat I've. been affected by lately, is the publiccustom canonized by Clinton's "don't ask,don't tell" policy, that we may be tolerated asindividuals ; but not as queers.

How many of us are "but" in words, butnot actions? How many of our straight col-

leagues or parents or neighbors know that weare gay, but have no idea what that actuallymeans? My lover repeated a conversation afriend shared with her recently . In response toour "performance" of slow dancing intimatelyat Teri's brother's wedding, this friend de-clared that she would rather come out to aroom full of 2000 people than to slow dance ata straight wedding . And of course, she is right.This sense that we don't deserve to performour love for one another pervades our lives.And it pervades our community . My formerpartner, Karen Hall, brilliantly pointed out tome that more gay and lesbian people attendedKate Clinton than Gay Pride Day . Why is iteasier to "admit" ourhomosexuality to thedominant straightworld as long as wearen't "performing"our pride in our-selves, our relation-ships, and our com-munity? Because performance is celebratory,while "admission" Is confe sna 1 . Confes-sions are gestures the guilty,' tot the proud,make.

What would happen if we converted all ofthe energy we expend maligning our xes topeople who probably don't buy it anyway,closeting the meaning of our gay relationshipseven as we "confess" to the fact of them, orthrowing stones from either side of the closet,gender or class door, to really practicing whatit means to love gayness in ourselves andothers? Loving gayness means non-compen-satory coming out. It means not withholdingour gay experiences, our lesbian wisdom, andour queer insight from our straight friends andneighbors who have something important tolearn from these experiences, just as we learnfrom theirs. It means knowing that gay com-munities impact straight communities and pro-vide gifts straight cultures, work places, fami-lies-of-origin and neighborhoods wouldn'thave without us in the world.

What does loving gayness look like? Tome, it begins with coming out fully, in wordsand in actions. To me, the closet is an impedi-'meet to loving gayness, for it is, I believe, fullyimpossible to love gayness in ourselves andothers and only express that love in shame andsecrecy . Love means looking forward, not,like Lot's wife, back and over our shoulders.For straight allies, loving gayness means re-linquishing heterosexist entitlements andprivi-

leges . It meanscoming outproudly

toother straight 4AC

4,~

•people as a gay

al)l)

,

ally .By asking that all people gay and straight

learn to love gayness in themselves, I am notsuggesting that gay and lesbian people arebetter, but simply that we are valuable as gayand lesbian people . Although, the attacksagainst gay and lesbian people for "sexualperversions" are as far as I can tell intellectu -ally unsupportable . According to the discoursesof psychology, law, ethics, art, literature and

poetry, what makeshuman sexuality hu-man is desire locatedoutside of the con-fines of reproductivedrives . As far as Ican tell, that would,logically, make gay

and lesbian sexuality more human, or mosthuman of the range of sexual practices, butcertainly not sub-human. This of course wasjust an aside, but it raises an important addi-tional point: along with loving gayness in --ourselves and others, we need to educate our-selves about the badthinking that passes asboundary maintenance for the new right'svision of social law and sexual order.

I conclude with the plea that we supple-ment a politically rigorous lesbian and gaypolitical agenda with a psychologically em-powering one. Ask yourself: what skills, in-sights, knowledge-bases, perspectives, or ex-periences are yours because you are gay orlesbian or because you are an ally to someonewho is gay or lesbian. Now don't confuse thiswith the social cliche about making the best ofoppression. No one should be made to feel"appreciative" for oppression. I'm not talkingabout oppression here . I'm talking about gayliberation . Liberation means the social andpolitical emancipation of people and groups ofpeople from the distress patterns that becomepracticed, passed down, redefined as "tradi-tion" or "patriotism", and eventually natural-ized within institutions and called "self-evi-dent" . "Loving gayness" does not mean thatour insight and wisdom is located in the les-sons we learn from living under homophobicvalues and heterosexist practices, because

Loving cont'd on page 11

what makes human sexualityhuman is desire locatedoutside of the confines ofreproductive drives

3/95 Peace Newsletter 9

Alternatives and Institutions : Part IIBill Mazza

In Part I of "Alternatives and Institu-tidns" (Feb . 95 PNL, page 8) I identifiedAlternative Institutions (Als) as opposi-tional bodies with politically-defined mem-berships . I then expressed the need todevelop new standards of success andfailure, and offer examples of how othergroups have explored these options . InPart II, I will explain why it is necessary toembrace social change on personal aswell as structural levels to sustain an Al.

"Third, the workers or membership of alter-native institutions must operate on prin-c4oles of collective organization. Decisionsmust be made collectively, work assign-ments rotated, and knowledge and skillscontinually shared. Manifestations of elitistlegacies — of sexism, of racism, of egocen-trism, of authoritarianism — must all becontinually suppressed. As a work group, analternative institution must be a model."

—Howard J. Ehrlich

W HILE CAPITALISM operates prima-rily as an economic system, it also

defines a social system . Although AI's can'tremove us from the system of commoditiesand alienated labor, they can expose our rela-tionships to these systems as a step towardsconscious change . Al 's can help us regainsome control by focusing attention on theconsequences of our lifestyles . Al's can modeloptions for pro-active living, actively affectingchange in individuals.

AI's also create forums which challengepopular social mythologies . There is a song bythe group Sweet Honey in the Rock called"Are My Hands Clean" which follows an itemof clothing through its stages of production.The opening line "I wear garments touchedbyhands all over the world," traces the web oflives spun by corporations around the globe toproduce a single garment for sale in the US.Through thesong we travel from El Salvador,". . .a province soaked inblood,"back and forthbetween the US, Central America, and theCaribbean piece-work factories, before reach-ing a market in the States.

This song challenges the myth of capital-ist "efficiency" by exposing the stages ofexploitation necessary to supply affordablecommodities to North Americans—in this case

a "blouse. . .On sale for 20% discount." SweetHoney is, in effect, asking us to witness ourcomplicity in an economy which relies onusing lives as a disposable resource to main-tain profit.

In this case the "efficiency" of the sys-tem relies on creating profit at the cost ofapparently expendable human lives . By fo-cusing on our role as consumer, Sweet Honeyreminds us that we have the power to findalternatives to willingly participate in thiscycle. The song is effective because it altershow we view a daily ritual, the wearing orbuying of clothing.

Thus the active disruption of our con-sciousness is a basic aim for creating Al's withcooperative or collective ownership. We needto challenge the ways we relate to one anotherwithin social organizations . It is not enoughmerely to challenge how we buy our com-modities. We must challenge our total livingsystems as well, by creating social and workenvironments hich attempt to eliminate thepower ineques that currently dominatesociety.

In common business practice the mana-gerial divisions between decision-makers aredrawn along lines of power . Inevitably, deci-sions are made which alienate "subordinates"and either force compliance, or cause thedisaffected parties to "shut up" or move on.Because this model is so common it is invis-ible and virtually closed to criticism, althoughit clearly gives one person power over others'actions. Instead, management styles are oftendefended for their ability to utilize expertiseand make rapid decisions . Under scrutiny,however, neither of these arguments hold upas "efficient."

Reason dictates that the most effectiveforms of organization are those that utilize thegreatest diversity of creativity and expertise.Tasks can be divided by deciding whose skillsare currently best suited to make specific de-cisions. Only functioning consensus modelsperform this effectively by minimizing con-flicts between personalities and focusing ongoals. In a management structure it is morelikely that information will be gathered alonginformal lines of communication based ondifference rather than common need; peoplemost often turn to those with similar views forsupport.

Management structures also tend to ren-der emotion invisible in the work environ-

ment. Decisions are made without regard forthe emotional effect on workers, or how one'semotional state affects performance and loy-alty. The consensus model, however,, not onlyattempts to incorporate emotions by hearingall voices, but places emotional work-2-suport,sensitivity and communication skills—as apriority for the health of the organization. Thelong term effect is a reduction of stress andemployee turnover, two end-products ignoredby management unless they affect profit.

Even attempts by so-called "new stylecapitalism" to increase democracy and workerownership generally do so only for certainstrata of top and middle management . Mean-while legitimized power is still held by veryfew hands and most often requires the invis-ible exploitation of other workers. This isclearly exemplified by NIKE Corporation'scountry club-like facilities for management inthe US, and their deplorable factories inMexico.

Through active development of alterna-tive decision-making and conflict resolution itis possible to develop a fluid course of actionwhere changing needs are addressed and/ormet . Only by instituting formal structures that ,recognize decision-making as a shifting pat-tern of compromises, and how decisions re-flect the emotional states of those involved,can decisions be reached that reflect consen-sus opinion. This is the opposite of ,manage-ment-style businesses . Just as capitalism hidesthe costs of industrial production to achieve"efficiency," so does it hide the costs of top-down decision-making on individuals.

"Fourth, alternative institutions mustmaintain formal programs of internal educa-tion. Experienced members must share theirknowledge with the inexperienced. , Skillsmust be taught to the unskilled. And all muststudy together around the issues ofpoliticalstruggle that unite them."-HJE

VEN AS Al's challenge popular' institu-tions, they also challenge social mytholo-gies on a personal level . For example,

each of us is brought up in a system whichaffects our emotional development . We aretaught from•an early age that there are in-equalities that we all must accept; some willbe winners, some losers, and that's just theway it is. We are shown examples to reinforcethis at the multi-national level even as we actout this ideology within our families and peer

10 Peace Newsletter 3/95

groups . Participation in Al's can offer a spacein which to try new methods of social interac-tion . Only by prioritizing alternative personalpolitics will we be able to sustain oppositionalorganizations.

It is therefore impera-tive that AI's are foundedand operated out of a politicof respect. We are all raisedin an environment whichrewards "elitism" over com-munity . The term elitism refers here to theways in which individuals play out unjustpower relations . We need only to look at thevarious ways that patriarchy defines itself inour lives . We are impacted both on a societallevel, as with the tendency of underpaid orunpaid women's labor; and on the individuallevel, as with the common silencing ofwomen's voices within small groups . Whenwe reduce even our organizing to a model ofpersonal relationships we can clearly witnessthe costly ways in which a social tendency likepatriarchy plays itself out.

Of course the effects of other unjust powerrelations may be more difficult,to trace thansexism or even racism. These can includedistinctions between authority and leadership,violence and competition, or egoism and re-spect of the individual. In each case theseterms are not used as opposites or strict di-chotomies, but as examples of the complexrelationships of power in society.

Such complexity is evident in discus-sions like that about the role of competitionin society, and whether it is an inherent .

.human characteristic or a sign of cultural

, Team Playersviolence . A politic of respect may question '

it-

slotw;-

',a dualistic "right" and "wrong," recognizing '

. -

~that competition does not necessitate thedouble-edged blade of victorand vanquishedif goals are set according to group needinstead of individual achievement. It is pos-sible that competition can be ahealthy meansto a collective end.

However, individuals in an AI willlearn or unlearn cultural practices at differ-ent speeds. Overcoming personal patternslike unhealthy competitiveness, may nocome easy, and may therefore cause addedstrife. Conflicts over different skill levelsshould be anticipated and prepared for.Defining new ways of dealing with conflictbased on respect for the views of all parties,while remaining focused on a common out-come, can help Al's sustain their efforts.

If we are truly interested in cooperative

embrace the struggle ofopposition and invite allthe difficulties of swim-ming against the tide.The constant process ofre-evaluating compro-mises between alterna-tive and dominant structures is an importantfirst step to developing healthy opposition. Byrecognizing that individuals and groups arepart of a shifting continuum of oppressionsand power relations, we can begin to findpaths through the complex social arrange-ments we live in. To succeed in this project ofsocial change means a commitment by each ofus to share skills and knowledge in ways thatchallenge internal and external manifestationsof power. And perhaps by finding these pathsamong the day to day practices of AI's, wemay very well trip across the keys to survival.

"Finally, a part of the resources andpeople power of alternative organizationsmust always be allocated to direct assaultson the institutional structures they are tryingto change. Being a mode/ of an alternativestructure is important, and it may be person-ally and collectively gratifying -- but it is notenough. An alternative institution must al-ways be a counter-institution .''HJE

Bill is the current staffperson for theSyracuse Peace Council .

I►

economics, then we must never forget that thefunction of capitalism requires unjust powerrelations, no matter how many people aremaking the decisions.Accepting "a little" capi-talism as necessary for the operation of an AI

is comparable to

capitalism Is only "efficient" being satisfied ifones friends are

because It is common,

only "a little"rac-and therefore easier.

ist . It is importantto consciously al-

ter your relationship to negative social con-structions so as not to remain complicit . Whilewe can't avoid capitalism or racism as wenavigate through our communities, we needalso to engage our ideals to focus the indi-vidual struggles.

Cooperative economics are both efficientand productive because it recognizes capital'saccumulation of surplus (profit) at the cost oflabor and natural resources, and erases it.However, because organizations do not oper-ate in a cultural vacuum, the practice of coop-eration is more difficult to embrace than thetheory . Cooperative economics is difficult be-cause we are trying to develop new methods ofoperation while 'recognizing that we can't stepoutside of our social constructions, and be-cause it is in the interest of those in power thatsuccessful alternative models of social orga-nization not exist . From this position, capital-ism is only "efficient" because it is common,and therefore easier.

To develop alternative methods is toCurrently the Peace Council is involved

in an attempt to re-create agenda and deci-sion-making bodies that SPC, as an

; organization, has been too many yearswithout . It has been, and will continue to

=« s be a difficult process of changing astaff-driven organization to an actively

- - =

democratic one . Hopefully this articlewill be part of that process by adding a

"`i framework to problems we encounter1, during everyday operation . I find it im-

portant to remind myself that no matterhow good the intentions, a consolidationof information and decision-makingmeans power without accountability . Itdoesn't mean that positive work can't bedone, but only that it could be done

^ better. In this case "better" means con-sistent with the democratic goals of theorganization.I invite all of you to help.If you would like to join one of the

committees currently-forming (orre form-ing) here at SPC, please call 475-5478or come to our orientation/committeemeeting at SPC on March 23, at 7 PM.

Hope to see you there.

3/98 Peace Newsletter II

OANflT' 1P497E

SyracuseCommunity

ChouDrumsong:The Art and Spirit of Drumming

JoinUbakaHill, a nationallyknowndrum-mer, teacher and artist, for two hand drum-ming workshops on March 31 & April 1 atEuclid Community Open House, on the cornerof Westcott Street and Euclid Avenue . A per-formance by the Drumsong Orchestra, com-prised of Hill and workshop participants, willfollow.

Learn complete drum songs. Focus ondeveloping and improving playing techniques,breathing, tonal clarity, concentration, dexter-ity, tone and time dynamics, creative improvi-sation, vocalizing and orchestration . Exploredrumming as a healing and connecting tool.Also learn about drum maintenance, acquir-ing a drum and rum culture etiquette . Work-shops are geared for beginner and intermedi-ate players.

Drums such as Ashikos, Congas,D'jembes, Dunduns, frame drums, Dumbeksand hand instruments including bells,shakers,rattles etc. are welcome. Some drumsand instruments will be available.

Hill has woven the percussive rhythms ofdrums with poetry and songs into themes ofhealing, leadership, social change and cre-ative inventiveness for 20 years. Hill has taughtdrumming for seven years and recently beganworkshops for the deaf and hard of hearing.Her focus is to make drumming more acces-sible to women.

The workshops will be held from 6 to 9PM Friday, March 31, and from 1 to 4 PMSaturday, April 1 . Each workshop costs $15 inadvance, $20 at the door. For both workshops,the cost is $25 in advance, $30 at the door.

Hill's performance at 7 PM, April 1, costs$8 in advance, $9 to $11 at the door.

Due to limited space, early registration isrecommended. To register, send a check ormoney order to K .A. Kotlar, PO Box 6641,Syracuse, NY 13217 . Please indicate whichevents you will attend, whether you have yourown drum or need to borrow one, and if youhave drums to lend . Tickets purchased inadvance will be held at the door.

"Drumsong : The Art and Spirit of Drum-ming" is presented by Drum Productions andthe Syracuse Community Choir . For moreinformation, call 446-6930 .

PAR Celebrates Annual "Meatout"Once again, People For Animal Rights

joins thousands • of concerned individualsacross the country in celebrating The GreatAmerican Meatout! This annual event, whichis sponsored by the Farm Animal ReformMovement, occurs every March 20 . As withthe nationally publicized "Smoke Out," pro-moters not only hope that people will "kick thehabit" (in this case meat) for the day—theyalso encourage individuals to think about ab-staining from meat.

When one abstains from all flesh prod-ucts, that person is considered to be a vegetar-ian. However, abstaining from meat even sev-eral times per week is a good start for many.There are many benefits to a diet which is notmeat-centered: better health, more energy anda feeling that you are helping to ease thesuffering not only of animals, but of the envi-ronment and other people too.

PAR will be sponsoring a number ofinitiatives during the Meatout Week, March20-26. One is an effort to get cafeterias inmajor corporations and institutions to offer ahot vegetarian entree each day during theweek . We will also be sending thank youletters to the many local restaurants now offer-ing vegetarian alternatives on their menus. OnSunday, March 26, PAR will sponsor our owndelicious Vegetarian Spaghetti Dinner, fea-turing salad and Columbus Bakery bread. Thedinner will be held from 4-7 PM at the SeventhDay Adventist Church, 2511 West GeneseeStreet (between Westvale Plaza and FairmontFair) . There will be educational materials forfree and sale, the video "Diet For a NewAmerica" will be shown during dinner. Ad-vance tickets are available for $1 .00 per per-son ($2.00 at the door ; kids 10 & under arefree) .

To obtain tickets or more information,please contact either Heather Kirkpatrick at458-5292 or Vikki Lammers at 488-6269.

Syracuse CooperativeFederal Credit UnionGeneral Membership Meeting!

The Credit Union will hold its generalmembership meeting from 2 - 4 PM on Sun-day, March 26 at the Euclid Community OpenHouse (on the corners of Euclid and West-

Survival is PoliticoWomen Claim

Their PowerSurvivors of childhood sexual abuse and

their allies will present perspectives on theconnections between personal healing andpolitical action . How do we travel both paths?The healing process includes speaking outagainst sexual abuse and letting people knowhow prevalent it is in our society. We alsowork to create a society which is safe and justfor all.

The present backlash against those survi-vors who speak openly about what happenedto them as children must be confronted by all.We are all part of the continuing process ofhealing self and society.

The Syracuse chapter of the Coalition forAccuracy About Abuse was formed in fall1994 for survivors of childhood sexual abuseand their allies. We support survivors who arebeing harrassed by the backlash organizationcalled the False Memory Syndrome . We havealso become more aware than ever of thepolitical and societal environment that allowssexual abuse to continue and that continues toblame the abuse survivor. We need to supportindividuals and educate the public, but we alsoneed to create structural changes that willassure no child, woman or man need everagain endure such violence. We know thatincludes creating the structural changes sothat neither the violence of sexism nor ofracism continue.

Speakers include :elana levy, poet & com-munity activist ; Cathy Brochu, spiritual opti-mist, incest survivor ; Michele Thomas, writerand church/community activist;RosariaCham-pagne, author of forthcoming book, The Poli-tics of Survivorship ; and Cheryl Cumesnil,political activist, poet, survivor.

Wednesday, 8 March, 7 PM, Le MoyneCollege Reilly Room, Reilly Hall (adjacent toGrewen Hall) panel by the Syracuse Coalitionfor Accuracy About Abuse, PO Box 6037,Syracuse, NY 13217 co-sponsor : Le MoyneWomen's History Month Committee

cott) . ECOH has wheelchair accessible bath-rooms and childcare will be provided.

Nominations are invited for positions onthe board of directors and credit committee(elections will be held at the meeting).

For more information call 471-1116, orstop by 723 Wescott St.

Yes, there will be doorprizes galore!

Wmk

12 Peace Newsletter. 3/95

eotf um' 1/4976

e AHar /w/e,v v eaqumv

Central American/Caribbean Coalition Meeting Notes : Feb 8 Monthly Meeting

Paul Weichselbaum

Witness for Peace : There will continue to bea local chapter of Witness for Peace, organiz-ing for a variety of efforts, such as delegationsto Haiti or nations in Central America. Thenew CNY/WFP coordinators are Paul Frazierand Ruby Randall.

La Estancia - Syracuse Sister CommunityProject: The delegation to La Estancia flewout of New York City on February 16. Thefundraising goal of $3500 was substantiallyexceeded, and that money will go directly tothe communities of La Estancia in cooperationwith the Christian-base-communities organiz-ing group CEBES . We look forward to DorisSage's and Shirley Novak's reports in March.

School of the Americas : From March 24 to 30there will be a fast and an organized effort tocut the School of the Americas out of thefederal budget. Plans are underway to supportthe fast here in-Syracuse, while Ann Tiffany,Ed Kinane and others join in the nationalactivities in Washington, DC. See below.

How You Can Help Closethe School of the Americas

US ARMY School of the Americas atTHEBenning, Georgia is notorious for

training Latin American military officers torepress their own people. By doing so theymake sure peasants can't organize for landreform and workers can't organize for decentwages. This serves the US Imperium.

A very partial list of SOA graduatesincludes:• in Colombia over 100 of the 246 officers

cited for war crimes by an internationalhuman rights tribunal in 1993.

• in El Salvador 47 officers cited for warcrimes in 1993's United Nations Truth Com-mission Report.

• in Guatemala the top three officers whosupported former president Serrano's auto-coup attempt in 1993.

• in Honduras at least 19 of the raking officerslinked to death squad Battalion 3-16.

• in Panama former strong-man ManuelNoriega .

Guatemala : There will be arally in Washing-ton, DC on March 12 to support JenniferHarbury as she begins another fast to press theU.S . and Guatemalan government's to releaseher husband Efrain Bamaca, or accurate infor -mation about his whereabouts . JenniferHarbury's efforts highlight the continuing re-pression and , institutionalized economic op-pression in Guatemala. For more information,call Joan Goldberg at 673-1083 . See page 19for a review of Jennifer's book.

Haiti Solidarity Committee : There will havebeen a lot of activities for Haiti SolidarityWeek by the time you are reading this. Effortswill be underway to support Capt. Rockvtoodat Fort Drum, as he faces court-martial forpursuing his assigned duty to investigate hu-man rights abuses in Haiti . See page 15 for areport on the trial .

Against the Blockade of Cuba : It is hopedthat speakers and a music group will be broughtto Syracuse in March or April.

Coalitions : Central New York NOW has or-ganized a meeting on the Contract WithAmerica, for ,March 9 at 7 PM . The more wework in coalition, the more we may raiseawareness of the right wing's agenda.

Next CACC Meeting:Wednesday, March 8

6 to 7:30 PMat Plymouth Church

(potluck supper while meeting), followedby meetings of member groups . Thediscussion topic for our coalition is

process, and we promise to keep it light.

What You Can DoS.O.A. Watch, an organization headed by Fr . Roy Bourgois, a Maryknoll priest

and former Viet Nam vet, is sponsoring a weeklong liquid-only fast on the stepsof the Capitol in Washington, DC from March 24 to March 30 . Fasters and

supporters will also be lobbying members of Congress.To get on the S.O.A. Watch mailing list, send a contribution to S .O.A. Watch, PO

Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903, phone/fax (706) 682-5369 . Kathleen Rumpf and otherCentral New Yorkers will be going to DC for the fast . You can call Kathleen at 472-9109

for info.On March 24(Archbishop Romero Day) there may be a bus or van going from CNY

before dawn to DC and returning around midnight . Roundtrip fare would be about $30.For more info, call 433-5023, by March 10.

While many can't make the trip to DC, they can fast or otherwise provide apublic display and support here at home . Call Ray Stewart, of Veterans for Peace,433-5023, and let him know you're interested . Planning will develop as those staying inCentral New York during that week call Ray and let him know they are available to speakout and "stand fast ."

eO/Wt/NflY t/PIDATE

3/95 Peace Newsletter 13

The Guys in the Garage,or Why Some People Don't Learn the Same

IDWAY THROUGH my presentationH on post-structural theory to a class atColgate University, a young white man saidthat all this information was well and good,but the "guys in the garage" would never beable to understand it . I was caught a bit offguard . I have given this presentation numer-ous times to freshmen composition classes atan open enrollment state university. Studentsin my classes always participated in the dis-cussion in interesting ways, and I felt they leftunderstanding at least one thing in a new way.Thus, I was thinking about myself and my ownexperiences when I said to the student, "Agood teacher can make anything accessible toany student."

A week later, my role was reversed and Iwas sitting in an accounting course at Onon-daga Community College . The professor wasgiving his opening pep talk, attempting toallay any student fears that failure was immanent . He told us that all the resources weneeded to pass the course were available to us.All we needed was desire . If we wanted to dowell and were willing to put forth the effort, wecould succeed in his accounting class.

I drove home thinking about the Colgatestudent . Because I'd been locked into thinkingfrom my own perspective, I had missed myopportunity to discuss with the class the invis-ible weight of privilege and oppression behindhis seemingly logical statement . This is even

more ironic because I was in the class topresent post-structural theory as an asset tostudents, due to its power to make visible whatis often invisible.

It is almost impossible for us to under-stand in our day to day lives how we makedecisions about whatknowledge we will dis-perse where . For those ofus who are teachers, thismay look like decidingwhich topics to includeon a syllabus . For thoseof tit who are parents,this may look like decid-ing what television pro-grams and movies ourchildren may watch,which activities they canparticipate in; which friends they can playwith. For those of us who are in one or moreprimary relationships with another person,

` this may look like deciding which events fromour 'day we will share and discuss with ourpartner(s), which book we will invite them toread and discuss with us, which emotion wewill try to untangle and reach the source of.We make these decisions on a moment tomoment basis, evaluating how much time andenergy we have for making the informationavailable to the other person, how safe we feelsharing it, how important we feel the informa-tion will be in the other person's life.

I have not chosen these three examplesinnocently ; each demonstrates the power in-herent in the position of being the one whoknows . You may be thinking, "But I alwaysinclude other people in my decision making

process when theimportance is of thatmagnitude." Buteven in this situa-tion, the person whoalready possessesthe information is incontrol of whetherthe information willbe shared and whatthe ground rules forthe discussion willbe .

These power dy-namics work to holdindividuals in cat-

;'1

egories: the guys in the garage who aren'tsmart enough, the students and children whodon't know enough and who aren't yet able torely on their own judgement, the partners whoare too jealous or too irritable or too weak.Forces beyond us created the categories, but

our actions help holdthem in place.

In her essay,"The Wilderness ofin-timacy," Kay LeighHagan writes, `Patri-archy, a worldviewthat advocates adomi-nant-subordinate castesystem, depends' onseparation and es-trangement for its sur-vival. Obviously, in

order to oppress properly, subordinate groupsand individuals must be clearly identified sothey can be separated from the dominators."Although I would argue that a host ofisms setsup this dynamic, not just patriarchy, I agreewith Hagan that this is where and how work -ing class men become "the guys in the ga -rage," a group which I am expected to havedefined limitations of, a group which I canwrite out of intellectual pursuits because we'retaught to see working class people as a lot likechildren—they aren't equipped to think forthemselves and must rely on those of us whoare more intelligent to make the really big,important decisions of the world. This is bneway ideology works in our lives : it sets bppower dynamics which influence our opinionsand separate us from others in our community.

Many would argue with the young man inthe class at Colgate that working class peoplearen't able to study and learn all the weightytopics he will study and learn at university.Many would believe, along with my account-ing professor, that once resources are avail-able, the only thing which holds an individualback is the lack of desire . And this is where theinvisibility of privilege comes into play. .

The forces which hold oppressed groupsin their place are invisible for the most part.We can't see the glass ceiling though manywomen and people of color can attest to itspresence . We can't see the weight of thecultural messages broadcast to oppressed

cont'd on next page

Karen Hb/l

Nationalism:Bordering on IdentityA discussion in nine parts co-

facilitated by Karen Hall and BillMazza . beginning March 20, onMonday nights from 7-9 PM atthe Peace Council, 924 BurnetAve. These discussions are opento the public . Call (315) 472-5478for more information .

Ramsey Clark Defends US .Army CaptainFacing Court Martial at Fort Drum For Championing Human Rights of Haitian PrisonersEd Kluane

"If the US Army can't stand this kind of hero,it will be fighting the wrong wars."

—Ramsey Clark

Karen lives and writes in Syracuse, NV!'

to the media there that in the aftermath of

RING THE LAST week of September0,u'94, US military forces came upon a jail

in Las Cayes, Haiti where prisoners werebeing severely mistreated by the de facto re-gime. Captain Lawrence Rockwood, of USArmy Intelligence in Port-au-Prince, then triedto get his commanding officers to respond topresumably similar conditions in the notori-ous National Penitentiary in the capital . Al-thoughhis Commander-in-Chief, Bill Clinton,had declared that our primary mission in Haitiwas to defend human rights, Rockwood's con-cern fell on deaf ears.

On the evening of Sept . 30 Rockwood,armed with an M-16 and in full combat gear,went, alone to personally inspect the peniten-tiaryiFor this unilateral action which involvedleaving his post, and for allegedly shouting athis commanding officer that "I am an Ameri-can military officer, not a Nazi officer," Rock-wood was given two psychiatric exams and isbeing slated for court-martial . On October 2,Rockwood was sent back to the 10th Moun-tainDivision HQ at Fort Drum.

Garage Guys cont'dfrom last page

grottps that they are not good enough, notsmart enough, not able enough, not desirousenough to succeed, but the weight is real andwe till carry our own pieces of it.

So what's an activist to do? There aremany situations when I have information Iwould like to share with others . Will I alwaysbe set up to oppress them? The set up willalways be there, but I believe there are ways tointerrupt it. When I am then in a position ofknowing, I can call on my experiences ofbeing a student in a community college class-robin and remind myself how I like to betreated when I am playing the role of thepotentially oppressed . I want tobe apart of theclassroom process, I want there to be room formy constructive criticism, and I want to knowthat there is respect and thus safety for every

On February 22 about a dozen CentralNew Yorkers concerned with Haiti, jail issuesand human rights went to Fort Drum, about 90minutes drive north of Syracuse, to observe ahearing preliminary to the court-martial ., Thepresiding Article 32 investigating officer,Major John J. Elshaw, a non-lawyer, is torecommend whether the court-martial is to procede . His rec-ommendation however can beoverruled by Major GeneralDavid Meade, the Commanderof the Multinational Force inHaiti.

Army prosecutor CaptainChuck Pede presented numer-ous witnesses attesting toRockwood's alleged infrac-tions and his angry demeanorduring his Sept . 30/Oct. 1 in-teractions with higher rankingofficers.

Rockwood, a 36 year-oldBuddhist, didn't testify. Butduring a break he pointed out

individual in the room . I like to be in situationswhere these rules are valued and enacted byeveryone in the group ; it's not the job of theperson in power to see that these guidelinesare adhered to . This dynamic sets the leader ina role of enforcer and I don't want to bepoliced.

I'll be putting my own values to the test inMarch. Bill Mazza and I are coordinating areading and discussion group focused on theissue of nationalism. We will meet, beginningMarch 20, on Monday nights from 7-9 PM atthe Peace Council . We'll attempt to define ourtenns in the first meeting and then move on totalk about nationalism as it applies to nationstates, issues of identity politics, and conflictin future meetings.

I hope we'll have a group that sharesownership of and responsibility for challeng-ing discussions of interesting topics . And mostof all I hope you'll come join us.

0%

World War II certain enemy officers wereexecuted—not for having committed humanrights abuse—but for not stopping humanrights abuse within their jurisdiction.

Human rights activist and former Attor-ney General Ramsey Clark represented Rock-wood at the hearing . In his cogent closingstatement, delivered in a calm deliberate style,Clark noted that he himself had often been toHaiti and well knew prison conditions there.He pointed' out that the Army never askedRockwood what conditions he found in the

penitentiary (and didn't investi-gate conditions until the end ofNovember.)

Clark summed up the hear-ing saying it "degenerates downto a single incident of ten min -utes" when Rockwood had hisheated exchange with his offic-ers .

Expressions ofsupport canbe sent to Captain LawrenceRockwood, 1126 Holcomb St,Watertown, NY 13601 . 0%

Ed, an occasional jail0b

inmate, spent two months inHaiti as a human rightsobserver with Peace BrigadesInternational

(315) 478-6214

Meg Sullivan - ChinMA, CSW

Certified Social WorkerCertified Reiki Practitioner

Promoting Mind, Body,Spirit Connection

3/95 Peace Newsletter 15

Policing the Homeless:Who Gets to be a Citizen?Nancy Rhodes

F IVE DAYS AFTER Christmas of 1991,The Post Standard carried a story en-

titled, "Street People Find Refuge at the PoliceStation." It was about a handful of homelessSyracusans who made it their nightly practiceto bed down in the south foyer of the PublicSafety Building near the heater. This had ap-parently been a long-standing albeit little-known practice-one officer noted he'd beenthere ten years and so had the homeless eachnight—despite temporary disruption in 1986when then-Police Chief Leigh Hunt clearedthem out as 65 additional beds opened up atthe Rescue Mission. Hunt said he had wantedto take action to get all homeless off the streetsat night to prevent accidental freezing in theharsh Syracuse winters . But before long, thestreet people trickled back to the PSB foyer,where they said they felt safer, and DeputyChief Steve Thompson verified they weren'tbothered because "we aren't cruel people."

Five days before Christmas this season,homeless man Marcelino Corniel was shottwice in front of the White House by a US ParkPolice officer standing ten feet away fromhim. Corniel was surrounded by a semi-circleof police officers in the sunny 9 a .m . rush hour.He had just chased an officer across the-streetfrom Lafayette Park with a knife taped to hishand; but the Conus Television news videowhich caught this event showed ,Comiel standing motionless with hisknife pointed downward when shot.He died the next day after twolengthy surgeries, after the USAttorney's Office charged him with

assault, after the FBI affidavit that accompa-nied the formal charge defended the shootingby pointing out that Corniel had "refused todrop the knife and refused to lie down," afterUS Park Police spokesperson Major RobertHines said, "The officer feared for his safetyso he shot the man ." Newspapers immediatelypublished stories of Corniel's past, "a life ofgang violence, armed robbery and imprison-ment" whose "defining moment" had been anaccidental explosion of gasoline which hadburned and disfigured him, leading to theamputation df both fingers and toes and apermanent shuffling gait . The New York Times,in tracing Connel's life from youth among 12siblings in a Los Angeles suburb, noted rtheapparently startling fact that his parents "re-main married ." Perhaps not surprisingly, theydeclined an interview.

Those in Lafayette Park who knew himsaid Marcelino Corniel had lived there sincethe past summer, that he was upset over thepolice habit of rousting the homeless from thehistoric park with greater vigor lately. Wash-ington law enforcement denied they were ner-vous or over-reactive after incidents of recentshots fired at, and even a small plane dive-bombing, the White House. But tension be-tween police and the homeless in LafayettePark had come and gone for a decade, since theSupreme Court had ruled that the governmentcould ban overnight sleeping there withoutinfringing on constitutional rights . Shortly af-ter Corniel died, homeless advocates filed alawsuit charging that Washington law en -forcement systematically harassed the

Lafayette Park' street people, who hadproven quite resistant to efforts to getthem out of sight of the President's home.

If, during the holiday season of 1991,there is something nostalgic almost

Spencer Tracy-ish—about reading of Syca-cuse street people contentedly snuggling doiuvnin the PSB foyer, remember that by the TaskForce on Community & Police Relations hadheld a speak-out series earlier that fall . TheTask Force heard less rosy accounts frofttsome street people and their advocates aboutpolice sweeps conducted to get the homelessoff downtown streets during business hours atthe behest of merchants.

A framework : During Ross Perot's cam-paign for president, it came to light—by wayof trying to explain his appeal—thathomeowners associations had become the fast-est growing political unit in the US . During themost recent Congressional elections it toe-came apparent that the most powerful USvoting blocs are the suburbs . And now, notesChristian Parenti of Z Magazine, the fastestgrowing business group in US cities is the BID(Business Improvement District), "an emerg-ing archipelago of private micro-governments""whose stated aim is to "improve businessconditions," usually with beautificationprojects and the removal of homeless peop,le.Almost all BIDs have their own private secu-rity forces . (Indeed, the nearly two millionprivate security personel in the US now out-number regular police by a margin of three-to-one .)

Himself given to turning up without nq-Lice to spend the night in federally financedshelters, Henry Cisneros noted last May onthe MacNeil/Lehrer Hour that between 1985and 1990, seven million Americans experi-enced homelessness, yet as a culture we stillblame the individual . The habit of both segrp-gating and demonizing the homeless is long-standing.

For example, in January of 1992 journal-ist Michael Kaufman noted that in the previ-ous year there had been 21 known attempts inNew York City to set sleeping homeless peopleon fire. This had resulted in two men's deaths

House That . Welcomes All

16 Peace Newsletter 3/95

and only eight apprehensions, all of youngpeople. While trying to make sense of whyyoung people in groups would fmd this activ-itysporting, Kaufman does not hold this up as

a new aberration of city life, but instead notesthat it's consistent with lore of the homelessthrough skid rows andDepressionhobo junglesall -across the US.

Wanting poverty out of sight is entrenchedas well. Fifty-five miles northwest of Manhat-tan in Chester, New York, sits CampLaGuardia, which houses some 700 homelessmen in mass barracks on the site of a formerwomen's prison.Homeless advo-cates have arguedthat the policy oftransferringCamp LaGuardiaresidents back toother city-runshelters if law enforcement even accuses themof committing minor crimes (like drinking inpublic) denies them due process and encour-ages harassment. But in December, OrangeCounty sued the City of New York for usingCamp LaGuardia to dump criminals and theMentally ill . Not a sudden defense of the CampLaGuardia residents—Camp LaGuardia wasopened in 1935 during the Depression-thisaction came as a result of the change in policyWhich allowed Camp residents more freedomin leaving the grounds, on top of a 1992 courtcase which granted 270 of them the right to;vote in Chester. No longer so welcome tocome into town to do odd jobs, the homeless in

ester now have their own bus stop outsidethe mall, provided by the Chester Mall Mer-chants Association.

There is ample historical evidence thatpolicing in the US evolved largely to protectthat haves from the have-nots: that police havemore often than not identified with businessand property interests. Increasing hostility onthe part of much of the public, justified by

guments about what's good for business,gainst the most radically property-less (andeir advocates) only grants more license tolice . With competition for budget resources,1992 during contract negotiations inNewk City, the Police Benevolent Associationquoted as railing at city government for

licies that encouraged "lazy and shiftless"elfare recipients to "flock" to New Yorkhen the money might better be spent onlice salaries . In response, to public outcry,

PBA claimed this had been only "a jocular

aside" taken out of context. "Just kidding"wears thin!

The Santa Cruz, California-based .groupFood Not Bombs continues to feed the home-less free food four days a week, for the thirdyear . Last May police in full riot gear turnedout to arrest those eating free FNB soup be-cause they were sitting on the sidewalk . LastHalloween San Francisco police wrecked FNBfood tables and stomped on the strewn food aspart of a campaign against FNB's expansionto San Francisco . This incident occurred threedays after Amnesty International had issued a

press release express-ing concern over SanFrancisco police ha-rassment of Food NotBombs,

In New YorkCity, las tJuly a home-less woman was mur-

dered in a tent in Central Park the same daythat two homeless women in the park wereraped, followed within days by a third rape,the sixth in six months, of homeless women inCentral Park . NYPD Capt. Bayer noted inNewsday that his officers had been ordered toroust the homeless from Central Park becausetheir presence "ruined" the park for "normal"users, adding that homeless women in CentralPark "put themselves at risk," and, for goodmeasure, that he considered them "predators"anyway .. Again advocates expressed outrageand the police officer publicly apologized,having "meant no harm ." However, openlygay NYC Councilor Tom Duane noted thatsuch remarks simply showed a pattern of po-lice failing to protect those they "don't careabout ."

Perhaps the most notorious abuse ofhomeless by police in recent years hails fromGastonia, North Carolina, a mill town of 68,000thirty miles east of Charlotte. In August 1992seven officers were indicted for civil rightsviolations and assault after carrying on plannedabuse of homeless people from January 1987until October of 1990 . As many as 29 officerswere implicated in the "Eagle Team" activi -ties, which included dousing the homelesswith oil, urine, and coffee, beating them, andinstalling CB radios in their patrol cars so thatthey would not have to use police radio chan-nels to communicate about raids on the home-less . In October of 1990, Norman Ben Hannahcomplained with the help of bail bondsmanRonnie Biddix, the ACLU launched a civilsuit that ultimately paid $98,250 to six plain-

tiffs, and the JusticeDept. investigationresulted in indict-ments . Some offic-ers testified againsttheir fellows thatthey had done this to "amuse" themselves, andthat they had selectively picked victims "un-likely to complain, or not likely to be be-lieved." Three officers were found guilty.Norman Ben Hannah was found dead of ashotgun wound, which police said was self-inflicted because they claimed they had founda note . Ronnie Biddix doubts it, becauseNorman Ben Hannah couldn't write.

Gastonia had experienced increased com-plaints about the homeless . A park had beenclosed because of their unwashed presence,and the city government was initially reluctantto investigate Hannah's allegations, suggest-ing paying off victims in amounts of $250 -500 . Initially, a lone Councilwoman refused togo along with this plan, implying it was "hushmoney ."

Increasingly, US cities are moving toformally criminalize homelessness, as reportedin a recentUtneReaderarticle. Michael Stoopsof the National Coalition for the Homelessnotes that at least 50 US cities have adopted orare considering ordinances that target thehomeless . California leads the way in bothhomelessness and reaction. San Francisco hasan entire set of ordinances known as the Ma-trix laws, and last July passed Proposition J,making it a crime to linger longer than 60seconds within 30 feet of an ATM in use . InBerkeley, police state they consider the side-walks in front of stores to be the property ofmerchants, and enforce trespassing laws ac-cordingly. Santa Cruz, home of Food NotBombs and a progressive mayor who is a wartax resister, makes it a crime to sit on thesidewalks. Most often, such ordinances areproposed by merchants, who have made theirfinancial -Contributions to homeless sheltersconditional upon the shelters speaking outagainst those who criticize such ordinances.

Where ordinances move into place tooslowly for merchants' liking, there are theBusiness Improvement District's mentionedabove . The Grand Central Partnership in Man-hattan employs 60 homeless orformerlyhome-less people for its "Outreach Team" for a

"stipend" of a dollar per hour to keep partici-pating businesses and luxury apartment prop-

Policing the Homeless cont'd onpage 21

in [1991] there had been 21known attempts In NewYork City to set sleepinghomeless people on fire

3/95 Peace Newsletter 7 7

Peacework, the publication of the NewEngland Regional Office of the AmericanFriends Service Committee, focused their Feb -ruary issue on ""Still Seeking Reconciliation:20 Years After the War in Vietnam," a collec-tion of articles which attempt to "learn whatNever Again means as we approach the Mil-lennium." The issue includes an introductionby Noam Chomsky . Subscriptions are $15/year 1st class, $10 3rd class, $7 student andlow income, $1 prisoners sent to Peacework,AFSC, 2161 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA02140.

A coordinated day of actions across thecountry will take place on "Armed ForcesDay," Saturday May 20, 1995 . These actionswill use the theme of "Violence : Stop theCycle, Break the Rifle ." They have been initi-ated by Youthpeace, a War Resisters Leaguecampaign promoting nonviolence, justice, andan end to the militarization of youth . Commu-nities will determine which forms of violencethey will focus against and the means theywish to protest them by . Many actions arepossible, and communities are urged to chooseone which best suits they own community . Formore information on how to get involved call(203) 889-5337.

In November 1994, Peace Brigades In-ternational established an international hu-man rights observation team in Colombia atthe request of Colombian human rights groups.The PBI team in Colombia accompanies non-violent groups and communities threatened by

PEACES ,political violence, including displaced peas-ants, families of disappeared persons, andhuman rights activists . For information onhow to get involved with PBI-Colombia callJohn Lindsay-Poland at (415) 864-7549, orNatalia Lopez at (415) 282-6941.

Average number of violent acts perhour on Saturday morning children's televi-sion: 22.8.

The Ticket America Campaign, aproject of the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation,rolls into its third consecutive year ticketinggas-guzzling cars nationwide . The TicketAmerica Campaign operates in conjunctionwith the National Gas Guzzler Campaignwhich seeks to change our nation's perenialaffection for the polluting automobile. Thegoals of Ticket America are to educate thepublic about the environmental impact of au-tomobiles, to demonstrate how choosing ve-hicles plays a significant role in reducing theenvironmental damage caused by the automo-bile, and to change the way people perceivethe gas-guzzling automobile from a statussymbol to an inconsiderate health and envi-ronmental threat . The symbolic "tickets"placed on targeted vehicles are actually litera-ture packets about air pollution and requestsurging citizens to begin pressuring the govern-ment to better national fuel standards. To getinvolved call Jeff Kellogg or Ted Waugh at theGreenhouse Crisis Foundation, (202) 466-2823 .

Reebok has joined such companies° asLevi-Strauss & Co. and Liz Claiborne in spe-cifically shunning business in Burma for .hu-man rights reasons . CEO of Reebok, PaulFireman, wrote, "Reebok is not currently pur-chasing footwear or apparel made in Burma,and will not consider doing so until significantimprovements in human rights conditions arein place ." One company, which has yet to dolikewise by leaving Burma is Texaco . Formore information on Burma action call (617)426-3040.

Senator John Glenn and the U .S. Gen-eral Accounting Office (GAO) are recom-mending that the EPA and NRC get togetherand determine what represents an "acceptableradiation risk," and then set joint standards.This recommendation comes from a ground-breaking report from the GAO which statesthat existing radiation protection standardsvary widely from agency to agency and thatthere seems to be no government consensus asto what represents an "acceptable" radiationrisk to the public.

The Nuclear Monitor"Peaces" was compiled by Ryan Goldberg,

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18 Peace Newsletter 3/95

ridge of Courage:Stories of the Guatemalan Companeros and CompanerasGoldberg

A book by Jennifer HarburyCommon Courage Press

1994, $14 .95 Paper

'If you assume that there's no hope, youintee that there will be no hope . If youae that there is an instinct for humanom, there are opportunities to changes, there's a chance you may contribute tomg a better world . That's your choice ."

- Noam Chomsky

ES CLEAR after reading Bridge of Cour-t: Life Stories of the Guatemalanpaneros and Compafieras that Jennifer►ury, a US lawyer and Central America'ist, has made her choice. "Throughout'ears, there have been many difficult times,also quiet times, opportunities to talk,p stories, ask about each other's lives andms. I have written down these stories, justley were told to me. . .These are the storieseople I have come, through the years, to

and respect. So many gave their livest only the hope that their sacrifices wouldl to a new and better Guatemala. Some ofe whose stories are in this book are nowi. They, and those who still survive, de-'e to be known and remembered."The stories shared with Jennifer are often

icult to tell, to hear, to read. Over and overreader is presented with the horror, theality, the inhuman acts of torture and mur-and yet incredible wisdom, gentleness, ase of comradery and community. There isp commitment and faith, resilience andrage as people reveal their struggle againstression and willingness to sacrifice theirs for their beliefs . "So our stories haveie you sad, you tell inc. Yes, this I canerstand my friend, but tears are not thea response. For every painful story there isof beauty, one to learn from. . .but first,

use, let me serve you some of this goodp . You must never forget the art of enjoy-it. Otherwise the pain of survival willdh you," Gaspar tells her.Among their stories Jennifer Harbury

rues her own history—from documentingies of Guatemalan refugees in the Unitedtes, to continuing her work in Mexico andttemala and eventually meeting Everardo,

she updates the lives andcomp afieros andcompaneras whom sheinterviewed. The bookends with a section—un-fortunately too oftenlacking—How You CanMake A Difference—detailing current relatedactivities, suggestions tothe reader for individualactions and involvementas well as a list of solidar-ity groups.

But Jennifer's ownstory still continues . Inher latest letter (datedJanuary 1, 1995) to herfriends and supporters,she writes, "I send a bighug to all of you, as al-ways with thanks for theincredible work everyonehas done for Everardoand the Guatemalans. Ihave muchhope for 1995.It will be a turning point in Guatemalan his-tory. We must help to make it a positive one."

According to an update on Jennifer'scase from the Guatemala Human Rights Com-mission/USA, the second concentrated effortto assist Jennifer in her search is now begin-ning. Her success will mark the beginning ofan end to impunity in Guatemala and an open-ing for human rights cases to be prosecuted.

Preparations are being made for a marchand rally in Washington DC on March 12 (the3rd anniversary of Everardo's capture and the13 anniversary of the Rio Negro massacre) toprotest military impunity in Guatemala, thefirst major demonstration in Washington onbehalf of Guatemala . On this day JenniferHarbury is planning to begin her second hun-ger strike.

"I will work hard all of January and Feb-ruary on all of this, mostly in DC. But ifnothing has happened by March 12, the thirdanniversary of his capture, then I will againtake action. I will resume the hunger strike

only this time in front of the White House . I amstill giving this very careful thought, since thephysical consequences would be severe thesecond time around. . . .but lesser actions carrylesser weight and have less impact ."

She continues, "I need your help . Pleasekeep up the calls and let-ters for January and Feb-ruary. This has been tre-mendously effective sofar, eventhough it seemslike so little. Politiciansdo, however, respond tothose who vote. . . .the keystep for these two monthsis to INSIST that the casebe resolved at the WhiteHouse level, and not toallow it to fizzle out, whichis what State [ the US StateDepartment] wants . . .alsokeep up the local activi-ties you have used sofar. . .talk with local offi-cials, work with the press,do public education, etc.etc. . .My love and appre-ciation to everyone.Abrazos. . . . Jennifer. "

Joan is an adult --education consultant

and a local activist with the CentralAmerica/Caribbean Coalition ..

How you can support Jennifer:• Attend the Rally/March in Washing-

ton on March 12 (Call Joan 315-673-1083)

• Call the White House Comments Lineon Tuesday, March 7, 202-456-1111/fax202-456-2461 . Identify yourself, statethat you are a US citizen and use anyprofessional, etc . "title ." Stress concernover case of Efrain Bamaca (Everardo)and ask that the administration takeconcrete action to save his life . Ask thatgovernment apply sanctions if he is notreturned (alive or dead) and human rightsviolations have not significantly de-creased.

We need 20-30 people to commit tomaking a call'on that day . (See PNL Jan.1995 for additional information/telephonenumbers) . A call also to CongressmanWalsh might also help

the guerilla leader whom she marries and whosubsequently "disappears." (See Looking forEverardo, PNL January 1995).

The stories in this book were related toJennifer between 1985-1990 ; in a postscript

deaths of the

3/95 Peace Newsletter 19

Now serving members of:Syracuse Real Food CoopSyracuse Peace CouncilWomen's Info CenterJowonioWellspringENIPPeace Action of CNYSyracuse Cultural Workers

'82 '83 '84 '85 '85 '87 '88 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94

Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union723 Westcott Street - 471-1116

ARE YOU WATCHINGYOUR FINANCES WISELY?

For information and consultingon financial issues such as:

Mutual Funds(including Socially Conscious)

Insurance(Annuities, Disability, Life,

& Long Term Care) andTax Sheltered Accounts

call : 637-5153SUSAN S . tiA.11SXIi

Registered RepresentativeSecurities offered through:

Legend Equities Corporation, 907 Butternut St.Syracuse, NY 13208 422-5868 /J~

Eileen Steinbugler Altieri CSWClinical Social Worker

Telephone(315) 637-8351

PsychotherapyCounselingConsultation

0 Peace Newsletter 3/95

Policing the Homelesscont'd from pg 17

erties homeless-free by ostensibly offeringthem social services. The outreach teams havea reputation for burning homeless structures,beating the homeless, and destroying their fewpossessions as methods of moving them.

"Ultimately," says Lisa Daugaard, Liti-gation Director for the Coalition for the Home-less, by circumventing government and com-munity reform efforts regarding the homeless,such private security forces "avoid the ques-

tion of political accountability, which lies atthe heart of democracy."

There are many occasions these days toask who gets to be a citizen anymore, and whatexactly it is that confers citizenship as a status.And before we get to the implications of Prop187, nuisance abatement, curfews, gated neigh-borhoods, "red squads" and gang lists, howthe police—public and private—protect thosemost radically without property is as good aplace to start as any .

,Nancy works with the Syracuse TaskForce on Community & Police Relations, andthe Coalition for Justice in the Jail . She editsPolicing by Consent for National Coalitionon Police Accountability.

1.

2

3

a

5

6

Laving cont'd from pg 9homophobia is not a self-evident fact of les-bian ;or gay life . We need to, right now, sepa-rate homosexuality from homophobia. Theybecome yoked in heterosexist culture for per-'tickles reasons, but not because they shareany authentic symbiosis.

What would it be like if we spent next gaypride day sharing what it means to "lovegayness" in ourselves and others?

'Why not begin every Stonewall meeting,every faculty meeting, every block party byaskitg how we have loved gayness in our-selves and others that week?

What if "loving gayness" became part ofthe Pledge of Allegiance or school prayer?

How is our laughter and incredulity proofthat we have unconsciously capitulated tohomophobia?

Who among us is so wracked by self-hatted that she demeans and belittles me rightnow?

Indeed, how might our politics of socialcompassion be made liberatory as well asrevolutionary if we forged political change inthe context of loving gayness?

Rosario is a professor in the Departmentof English at Syracuse University .

End NotesTo Teri Vigars, for inspiration and cour-

age.Porteous, Skipp . "The Christian Coali-

tion: An Introduction." Fight the Right.Washington : NGLTF, 1993 : 17.

•Porteous, 18.Porteous, 18.Donald Wildmon, director . P.O. Box

2440, Tupelo, Miss. 38803 . This is a seven-million dollar a year organization that at-tacks the art and entertainment industry forits "anti-christian" bias, battling the Na-tional Endowment for the Arts and secularpublic school curricula.

•Directed by Robert Simonds and located

at P .O. Box 3200, Costa Mesa, CA, 92628,The "Citizens" grooms Christian activiststo take up "stealth positions" in schoolboards. It disseminates its political positionvia a radio program called Issues in Educa-tion" and broadcasted in 26 states.

' . The largest women's Christian Right or-ganization advances anti-gay, pro-family-values ideologies via "prayer chains," theChristian Women's Right example of con-sciousness raising groups . O1

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Call the Bakery to arrange avolunteer shift - hours flexible

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3/95 Peace Newsletter 21

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bretments fo,Neck & Shoulder Pain

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Many organically grown andproduced foods:

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22 Peace Newsletter 3/95

Syracuse -Peace. Council Community Event CalendarSUN MON

,TUES

WED

THURS

FRI

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More March Events:cTaste of the Arts, free lunchtime

Plymouth Church,entertainment.

1 2 4Syracuse Hours barter potluckat EGON, corner of Westcott &Euclid Ave. Come find out aboutthis unique barter system using

lty "money." pm.community

6

Kidswelcome. 471-6423.

Latin American Film Series:"Alias I-aGrin9(a" Peru : 1991)"powerful political drama'. Al

SPC council mooting ,924 Bumet Ave . 7pm.I;?

:>,o;tic"? :<#

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' : :232E • Onondaga St . 121 5 f pm:912 Author/artist Sadie

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Penzaqno3123 Pal Loft (poetry/songs)3/6: Central AmericaCarrbsan common Pot luck &mtg at Plymouth Church, 232E. Onondaga St. 8pm .

Uris Hall Auditorium, CometuniversitY.

Free. 607-255 7293 .

Am- member-Ever/ Wed : aship meeting. All welcome. AiEGON, 2nd

cmrs of WestcottE Euclid . 2 pm. 475-4120.

Eve

Thum : Lesbian & GEvery

ayYouth Support group for ages14-21 meets at Women's InfoCt . 601 Alien St. Call for time422.9741 .

Gay MenSuppo Groupmeeting . Call 422-5732 for into.

5 meets at Trig' i~pal 7 8 9 10 11Church Parish House . 7pm.

Every Sunday: support group 1st & 3rd Mon :

Peace Action program : "FromAuschwitz to Bosnia"; slides &

International Women's DayRally at Federal Bldg, "Take Back America" public Closing of Altered Space Equality Circle at Hartle'

for former and current mentalEvery discussion w/peace walkers Jun downtown Syracuse . Speakers, forum . Discussion featuring show 'Women & Work'w/ Tubman Library, Auburn, NY.Syracuse Real Food Coop son Yasuda. 7 :30pntMay poetry & music: Vivian Moore, Lois Shapiro-Canor, NYS women's poetry reading . 7pm . 9am-1 prn. $5410 donation . Apatients . Sports . by Alliance. Council meets. 5:30pm. Memorial, 3800 E Genesee. Call Vanessa Palmer, Ladies lobbyist for NOW, on Impact of 922 Burnet Ave. 479-8675. circle is a 4hr gathering ofPlymouth Church. 3-5pm . Peggy

Anne 475-4120. for program topic : 478-7442. Against Women, Friendly 'Contract w/America' .

- Syracuse Community Choir people of diverse backgrounds.

Every Sunday : This Way Out,Gay 8 Lesbian radio program on

Every Mon : 'Radiovision' onAdelphia Cable Ch . 3 at 9pm.Presented by Syracuse

Every Tuesday: Gay, Lesbian,Bisexual Student Assoc. social .

Persuasion . & more. 5-6pm.NOW CNY Chapter mtg atMarine Midland Bank, 360 S

Discussion on local strategies.7pm. May Memorial . 3800 E.Genesee St'

Auction to benefit the choir . AtECOH, corner of Euclid andWestcott St . Doors open at

Discover what racism Is and howit works. Helps people talk at alevel that defeats prejudice . 252-4983

for details.WRVO FM 90.6:30-7pm .Community Radio. 830 m-mid . 750 Ostrum Ave.P Warren, Syracuse. call 487-3188.

Tom.EwryThursday:'EveningArabesque' Arabic television w/

7pm. To donate item call Robin449-4215.

to register or

12

_ 13 14 "Surviving is Political: WomenClaim Their Parer ." Speakers

news & entertainment.5:3opm.Adelphia Cable Channel 7. 7 18

from newly formed Syr. CoalitionBrunch at the SyracusePeace Council, 11 am,discussion at noon . $3-$5

Every Mon : "At Home with aPoet' storytelling, poetry, myths.Adelphi cable ch. 7. 10pm .

Every Tues: Student Environ-mental Action Coalition meetings.a SUNY ESF, Nlfkin Lounge .

for Accuracy About Abuses peaking on backlash onsurvivors of sexual abuse . W/

1 L Syracuee ComnwniryV Radio mtg . 7pm. Call

437-9579 for place .

Every Friday : Lesbian ComingOut Group. 7pm. Women's InfoCenter, 601 Allen St.492 8035, St. Patrick's Day Parade,

for food ; talk is free . Con- basement of Marshall Hall . 6pm. Elana

ChampagneLevy, Rosana Syracuse Haiti Solidarity downtown Syracuse. Noon. Call

tinuation of last month 'sd others . Reilly Room, Le MoyneCollege . 7pm .

mtg . 6 :30pm . PlymouthChurch, 232 E. Onondaga St. GayEvery Fri :

& LesbianHarryfor details how to

Every Mon: ACT-UP mtg . 601 Amnesty International Group ape in Gaya Lesbianparticipatetopic: How We Treat N373 mtg ., Mu

BranchMundy downtown Syracuse. Young Adult meeting for ages Alliance float . 478-5225.Each Other. All invited. Allen St. (Women's INFO

Library, 1204 S. Geddes St. 15 NAACPCenter) . 730pm . 425-0673.7 9 m Letter writing updateson cases. 668-7441 .

7pm. NAACP Office, 1125S. Salina 422-6933.

SPC Council meeting,924 Burnet Ave. 7pm.

alien a . 422-9741 br lime.

19 20 21 22 23 24 25• • •

•• • • •

•t

& 3rd Thursdays : Gaya : Falsettos, a Tony "

Land is This Land?"-Every Sunday. People's Discussion/reading group at •

•PNL Lesbian Alliance meets at Award winning musical to an inquiry into the sources of60 Mlnutes.Adelphia the Peace CounciL Topic is • Every Tues : • Trinity Parish House, 523 W benefit AIDS Community Re- our present troubles & anCable Ch . 3, 8pm . nationalism/multinatlonalism . • Committee meets at • Onondaga. 7:30pm. sources & Metrop. School of the affirmation of hope. Dinner &

Cofaciliatated by Karen Hall & 924 Bumet Ave . New ms. ~• 320 Montgomery St . muitimedia presentation w/Produced by Syracuse Bill Mazza 7pm . 472-5478. • members always

• Committee meetings at 3/24.3/30 : Fast to close tine narration, drama, slides, musicPeace Council . Peace Council. If

have School of the Americas (trains by 011ie Club!), & friends . Dinner• welcome. 472-5478 .

• Every Wed : Syracuse youyto Latin American militaries) on presentation at a'National Meat-out Day. Call • 6pm .

• Community Choir rehearsal. Al agreed

serve tSPC'sone

new committeesone of steps of US

Wash. DC.May MeMay Memorial. 3800E Genesee

ne26

Falsettos . 2pm. SeeV

description on 3/24 .People for Animal Rights for~~

488-on vegetarian event.t

• • • • •• • • • • ECOH, comers of Wescott a

. please dome by . 7pm. 472- Call SOA Watch for details 706Watch for St . $6-$20 advance/$8420

Annual meeting of Syr. Coop- purr:Euclid. New members welcome.7:15pm . Karen 428-8724. 5478. 682-5369.

hone478-7442.door. Reservations

erative Federal Credh Union atECOH,

Westcott 8 Euclidcrnrof Every Wed : Military 8Ave . 24pm . 471-1116. 27 28 29 Draft Counseling at 30 31 More March Events:

Discussion/reading group at "Drumwrg : Art & Spirit ofAISSU International Week the Peace Council, Topic Is Support ASent-Education th e Peace Council. Peace Newsletter Mailing Drumming" workshops w/ *3/15 : Latin American FNmEvent: Film 'The Women Next rtatbnalism/muhirmtiondism. Group for Parents & Friends Noon-3pm, Call Marge Party at SPC, 924 Bumet Ubaka Hill (performance to Series: 'Mayan Voices:Door' Israeli Documentary about Cofaciiiaated by Karen Halta of GayPlepi. meets at 472-5478 . Ave. 5-7pm . Free Food! All follow). a ECOH, corner of American Lives' (USA: 1994)women in Palestinian-Israeli Ball Mazza. 7pm .472-647& Plymouth Church 232E Euclid & Westcott St.6 .9pm About Mayan Indians In oneConflict . Film 'Who Was Latin Amerlean Film Seri's : WeIOOme•Cleopatra?' documentary based Abolish the Bktdad~ Against ' chondaga .St. 730pm. 474- "Scavengers' (Brazil : 1992) Friday ;

Saturday.1 wpm

$151 village in Guatemala's

on archeology to determine Cuba mtg. Boulevard Diner, 4836 ' Realty of poor family working Hearing with Dept. of Energy $20.446-6930 . highlands. Followed by talk w/

influence of Egypt & black Erie Blvd & Thompson, 7 :30pm. the Ithaca garbage dump . At reps

out plutonium storage To have your group 's went filmmaker Olivia Carresca . Ai'Africans on Greece . Kitteridge 1979 - AnniVersary of nuclear Uris Hall Auditorium, Cornell at Seneca Depot . Seneca Falls or meeting time listed, call or Uris Hell Auditorium. Cornell

Auditorium Syracuse Univ. Cad power plant accident at Three Uni

y fthaca. Free. 607 Holiday-{nit Call Peace Action for send the into to SPC 472- University . Ithaca. Free. 607-

443-1438 for time. Mle mend; PA. -- . : 255 7293 . more details. 478-7442. X478 . April daadline: 3/25, 255-7293 .

1,How We Treat Each Other?. ..another SPC Brunch/Conversation With Food and Talk and Stuff

SPC Brunch updateWell, about 20 people attended the Feb-

ruary 12 brunch at the Syracuse Peace Coun-cil, and 16 hung out to join in the discussion of"How We Treat Each Other" which followed.

Foremost, the food was excellent (ThanxHelen and Nick!) . And for the curious, yes, itwasvegan. And yes, there was half & half foranyone who wanted it . "Example" good, "judg-mental" bad.

The discussion was lively . We beganwith individuals sharing what about the topicinterested them. These stories, which absorbed'about half the discussion, made for a wonder-ful exchange. We agreed activists need toexplore this topic. The people who attendedshared a common commitment to developingbetter means of confronting and resolvingconflict within small groups and organiza-tions.

From this opening dialogue we discov-ered a remarkable diversity of topics for dis-

cussion including : how and why we devalueeach other, affirmation & support, how per-sonality conflicts affect "burn-out," how towork through pre-existing conflicts in yourcommunities, how to avoid assuming per-sonal responsibility for conflicts, living in asociety of the self-centered, how to developforms and forums to raise criticisms & notdefine individuals by those criticisms, how todeal with splinter organizations and create aunited front around common issues, how torecognize and work with boundaries, the wayspersonalities play themselves out, and, how todefine an organization's "identity."

The best part was the positive feelingfrom the discussion and the respect demon-strated by those involved. It was wonderfullysmooth considering the number of people at-tending.

We really, really, really hope you canmake it to the next one. It was agreed at the lastbrunch that brunches should exist as indi-vidual units of discussion so that no one wouldhave a difficult time coming to one if theymissed another. See you there.

IHow We TreatEach Other?

An SPC Brunch/Discussion

Join Us!Sunday, March 12

11 - noon, munchtime.noon - 2 PM, talktimeat the Syracuse Peace Council

924 Burnet Ave$3 - $5 Sliding Scale for food

Talk is free.

Bulk permit for official use only.Individual mailingsrequire postage.

CO341t4st440.4y. 0,001PL44L 54u44! $1244

P (z l OWICnsL924 Burnet Ave.Syracuse, NY 13203(315) 472-5478

BULK RATEU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDSyracuse, NY

Permit No. 2380

Faucets, Agitate, organize