Events in November 2017
-
Requiem for the American Dream
–
Requiem for the American Dream

The second film in a climate justice series entitled "Reverence, Resistance, Resilience" will be shown on November 1 at 7 PM at the Athol Public Library.
Requiem for the American Dream features Noam Chomsky who spent time interviewing many people who bring insight to growing inequality in the United States. The film gives viewers a background on the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few. What does this have to do with climate justice? Come and watch the film and join the conversation afterwards, which will be led by Professor Tim Downs of Clark University. Please call the library at 978-249-9515 to reserve a spot.
Jointly sponsored by North Quabbin Energy and the Athol Public Library, more information about this film and other climate and energy activities may be found here: http://northquabbinenergy.org/
-
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
N/A
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5

Saturday and Sunday,
November 4 and 5, 2017
With Grandmother Jeorgina Laroque
Sagaligesw (Plant Woman)
A Mi’kmaq Grandmother from New
Brunswick
Saturday, 10:15 a.m.— 12:15 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield MA 01301
Sponsored by Racial Justice Rising and the Visioning BEAR Circle Intertribal Coalition
FREE ~ Donations Welcome
For childcare, RSVP with number & ages of children
For more information or to reserve childcare:
[email protected] or www.racialjusticerising.org
Saturday starting at 2 &
Sunday 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
Deerfield Business Center, 110 N. Hillside Rd., S. Deerfield MA 01373
Additional teachings with Jeorgina, sponsored by the Visioning BEAR Circle.
Potluck lunch on Sunday.
FREE
This program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst, Ashfield, Bernardston,
Buckland, Charlemont-Hawley, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hadley, Leverett,
Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Wendell
Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, a state agency.
-
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
N/A
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5

Saturday and Sunday,
November 4 and 5, 2017
With Grandmother Jeorgina Laroque
Sagaligesw (Plant Woman)
A Mi’kmaq Grandmother from New
Brunswick
Saturday, 10:15 a.m.— 12:15 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield MA 01301
Sponsored by Racial Justice Rising and the Visioning BEAR Circle Intertribal Coalition
FREE ~ Donations Welcome
For childcare, RSVP with number & ages of children
For more information or to reserve childcare:
[email protected] or www.racialjusticerising.org
Saturday starting at 2 &
Sunday 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
Deerfield Business Center, 110 N. Hillside Rd., S. Deerfield MA 01373
Additional teachings with Jeorgina, sponsored by the Visioning BEAR Circle.
Potluck lunch on Sunday.
FREE
This program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst, Ashfield, Bernardston,
Buckland, Charlemont-Hawley, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hadley, Leverett,
Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Wendell
Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, a state agency.
Non-Violent Direct Action for Social Change Stepping Up Our Game One Year Later
–
Non-Violent Direct Action for Social Change Stepping Up Our Game One Year Later

On this anniversary of the presidential election, the use of non-violent direct action (NVDA) to resist corporate greed, environmental destruction, racial injustice, and all violations of human rights appears more essential than ever. NVDA is more than risking arrest. Come explore all the myriad ways we can be engaged in working together for meaningful change.
Join us for this timely presentation about the historical context and core principles of NVDA as it has leveraged change in the US and around the world, highlighted by local, national, and international examples. We will engage in community conversation about how we can apply NVDA to our own work around the pressing issues of environmental justice, whitesupremacy, electoral politics, and more.
Presenter:
? Stellan Vinthagen , Professor of Sociology and Inaugural Chair in The Study of Nonviolent DirectAction and Civil Resistance at the University of Massachusetts
Panel:
- ? Micah Lott - a Northern Arapaho man from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming who spent seven months at Standing Rock and is now resisting fossil fuel expansion in Massachusetts.
- ? Vivienne Simon - a long time activist, Buddhist meditator and ex-lawyer who is now legal advisor for the Sugar Shack Alliance resisting the pipeline in Otis State Forest.
- ? Paki Wieland - an accomplished activist who follows the leading of the spirit to speak truth to power. She is currently with CODEPINK in D.C. coordinating life at the Pink House and encouraging young interns.
Sponsors : Rising Together affinity group, Resistance Studies Initiative - UMass.
Location : Jewish Community of Amherst,
742 Main Street, Amherst
ALL WELCOME
Non-Violent Direct Action for Social Change Stepping Up Our Game One Year Later
-
A CALL TO IMPEACH!
–
A CALL TO IMPEACH!
A CALL TO IMPEACH!
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Downtown Amherst
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! CALL TO IMPEACH PROTEST
SET FOR ANNIVERSARY OF 2016 ELECTION
On Wednesday, the one year anniversary of the November 8, 2016 presidential election, citizensconcerned with the state of the nation are invited to gather in their downtowns to call for theimpeachment of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. In Amherst, the gathering will be in front of Bank of America from noon to 1 pm.
“As we’ve witnessed the ongoing threats to our democracy by an administration undermining efforts to address a host of issues from climate change to health care to the office of the presidency, theurgency of replacing the president and vice-president could not be more apparent,” said Amherstresident Rob Okun, of Rising Together, an affinity group formed a year ago in the wake of theelection.
While the growing case alleging that Russia and the Trump campaign colluded to help elect theNew York real estate developer with no previous experience in government may end with Trump’sresignation or impeachment, grassroots activists are impatient.
Since the election, a resistance movement has emerged of a size and scope approximating the1960s civil rights and antiwar movements. In the aftermath of the six million people who marchedworldwide to protest the Trump-Pence inauguration last January, citizens across the U.S. havebeen organizing and campaigning on a range of issues including an endangered environment, adiscriminatory immigration system, increasing the minimum wage, and calling for a single payerhealth care system.
“Beginning with the most unqualified crop of cabinet officials, including billionaires who contributedto Trump’s campaign, we’ve seen a White House controlled by corporate interests, extolling racismand bigotry, unwilling to advance gun control, and demeaning women,” said Steven Botkin, anothermember of Rising Together, and organizer of the protest. “Enough is enough!”
Like many of the resistance campaigns that have sprung up in the last year, organizers are usingsocial media to spread the word.
“To our town and villages squares, our city streets, our state capitols, everywhere people gather, we are calling for citizens to gather and say one word, loud and clear,” Okun said, “Impeach.”
-
Rediscovering Jane Addams in a Time of Crisis
–
Rediscovering Jane Addams in a Time of Crisis

Jane Addams (1860-1935)––the co-founder of Chicago’s Hull House, social justice pioneer, leader in the American Progressive Movement, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate––may be the most important American woman that most people today have barely heard of. A disciple of Lincoln, Tolstoy, and Gandhi, Addams was an astute critic of Gilded Age capitalism and advocate for economic and social justice. She was a pioneering feminist, suffragist, internationalist, peace activist, ethicist, co-founder of the NAACP, the ACLU, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. A century ago, she was “internationally known as the best representative of American womanhood, and symbol of the American spirit of equality and justice for all people” according to biographer Allen F. Davis. Yet today she has all but vanished from the pantheon of popular American history.
The moral compass of Jane Addams and her allies has never been more needed than today. As New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote in “The Jane Addams Model” (April 25, 2017): “Many of the social problems we face today — the fraying social fabric, widening inequality, anxieties over immigration, concentrated poverty, . . are the same problems she faced 130 years ago. And in many ways her responses were more sophisticated than ours.”
The forum on November 11 (99th Anniversary of Armistice Day) will be the first public gathering ever to revisit the life and legacies of Jane Addams and reflect on how her work is carried on today in the Pioneer Valley. The program will open with a welcome from Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg. The keynote speaker will be Louise W. Knight, author of Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy (2006) and Jane Addams: Spirit in Action (2010) (http://www.louisewknight.com/). Panelists will include Addams scholars, practitioners in fields she influenced, and representatives of vulnerable populations. General audience discussion will be encouraged.
LUNCH - Please bring a bag lunch or patronize one of the nearby sources of take-out food. Gather for conversation with panelists and each other downstairs at the church or join the Veterans Day observance in Pulaski Park.
PARKING -
1. Early Birds: St. Mary’s parking lot across State Street from Edwards Church (Church back door should be unlocked or use front entrance)
2. Free parking available on Saturday at Smith College parking structure on West St. (Rt. 66) -- just past Forbes Library on the left -- short walk to Edwards Church.
3. The Northampton parking structure behind Thorne’s -- find your way to Main Street via second level bridge to Thornes. Cross Main Street and walk to your left along sidewalk past the Broadside Bookshop to Edwards Church at intersection of Main and State streets.
This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (http://masshumanities.org/).
Tax-deductible contributions to support the Addams Public Forum may be made to:
Traprock Center for Peace and Justice
PO Box 1201 Greenfield MA 01302
-
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WEDNESDAYS!
–
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WEDNESDAYS!

ENOUGH? ?IS? ?ENOUGH WEDNESDAYS!
Wednesday? ?Actions? ?to? ?Demand? ?Accountability
Beginning November 29, 2017
through January 17, 2018; 12 noon - 1:00 pm
The President and his administration must be held accountable.
Their behavior is immoral and illegal, and is destroying America.
They do not represent us. Silence allows this to continue.
Waiting for others to act is also silence. We? ?will? ?not? ?stay? ?silent!
JOIN? ?US:
Beginning on November 29, we will gather each Wednesday at noon in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts (corner of Main and E. Pleasant).
We invite everyone to join us - anywhere? ?you? ?are?. Go to the center of your town. Or just step outside your home and office. Bring signs, drums, pots and pans, noisemakers.
We will stand up each Wednesday before the national march planned for January 20th, saying clearly, “Enough is Enough!”
? Enough corporate control of government!
? Enough racism, sexual abuse of women and bigotry from the highest offices of the land!
? Enough allowing the fossil fuel industry to destroy the environment and indigenous rights!
? Enough warmongering and nuclear proliferation!
AND:
? We stand for respect, safety and opportunity for all people!
? We stand for moral leadership in all branches of government!
? We stand for a government that protects our environment!
? We stand for the rule of law and a politics of love!
REGISTER? ?AND? ?POST? ?YOUR? ?PICTURES.?
Anywhere you are, whether you are one...or many, share a picture of yourself:
#EnoughIsEnoughWednesdays
It’s time to stand up. Joining together we will send a powerful message.
We will not stay silent. Enough? ?is? ?Enough!
Events in November 2017
-
Requiem for the American Dream
–
Requiem for the American Dream
The second film in a climate justice series entitled "Reverence, Resistance, Resilience" will be shown on November 1 at 7 PM at the Athol Public Library.Requiem for the American Dream features Noam Chomsky who spent time interviewing many people who bring insight to growing inequality in the United States. The film gives viewers a background on the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few. What does this have to do with climate justice? Come and watch the film and join the conversation afterwards, which will be led by Professor Tim Downs of Clark University. Please call the library at 978-249-9515 to reserve a spot.
Jointly sponsored by North Quabbin Energy and the Athol Public Library, more information about this film and other climate and energy activities may be found here: http://northquabbinenergy.org/
-
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
N/A
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
Saturday and Sunday,
November 4 and 5, 2017With Grandmother Jeorgina Laroque
Sagaligesw (Plant Woman)
A Mi’kmaq Grandmother from New
Brunswick
Saturday, 10:15 a.m.— 12:15 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield MA 01301
Sponsored by Racial Justice Rising and the Visioning BEAR Circle Intertribal CoalitionFREE ~ Donations Welcome
For childcare, RSVP with number & ages of children
For more information or to reserve childcare:
[email protected] or www.racialjusticerising.org
Saturday starting at 2 &
Sunday 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
Deerfield Business Center, 110 N. Hillside Rd., S. Deerfield MA 01373
Additional teachings with Jeorgina, sponsored by the Visioning BEAR Circle.
Potluck lunch on Sunday.
FREE
This program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst, Ashfield, Bernardston,
Buckland, Charlemont-Hawley, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hadley, Leverett,
Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Wendell
Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, a state agency. -
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
N/A
Grandmother Teachings: Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
Saturday and Sunday,
November 4 and 5, 2017With Grandmother Jeorgina Laroque
Sagaligesw (Plant Woman)
A Mi’kmaq Grandmother from New
Brunswick
Saturday, 10:15 a.m.— 12:15 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield MA 01301
Sponsored by Racial Justice Rising and the Visioning BEAR Circle Intertribal CoalitionFREE ~ Donations Welcome
For childcare, RSVP with number & ages of children
For more information or to reserve childcare:
[email protected] or www.racialjusticerising.org
Saturday starting at 2 &
Sunday 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
Deerfield Business Center, 110 N. Hillside Rd., S. Deerfield MA 01373
Additional teachings with Jeorgina, sponsored by the Visioning BEAR Circle.
Potluck lunch on Sunday.
FREE
This program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst, Ashfield, Bernardston,
Buckland, Charlemont-Hawley, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hadley, Leverett,
Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Wendell
Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, a state agency.Non-Violent Direct Action for Social Change Stepping Up Our Game One Year Later–
Non-Violent Direct Action for Social Change Stepping Up Our Game One Year Later
On this anniversary of the presidential election, the use of non-violent direct action (NVDA) to resist corporate greed, environmental destruction, racial injustice, and all violations of human rights appears more essential than ever. NVDA is more than risking arrest. Come explore all the myriad ways we can be engaged in working together for meaningful change.
Join us for this timely presentation about the historical context and core principles of NVDA as it has leveraged change in the US and around the world, highlighted by local, national, and international examples. We will engage in community conversation about how we can apply NVDA to our own work around the pressing issues of environmental justice, whitesupremacy, electoral politics, and more.
Presenter:
? Stellan Vinthagen , Professor of Sociology and Inaugural Chair in The Study of Nonviolent DirectAction and Civil Resistance at the University of Massachusetts
Panel:
- ? Micah Lott - a Northern Arapaho man from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming who spent seven months at Standing Rock and is now resisting fossil fuel expansion in Massachusetts.
- ? Vivienne Simon - a long time activist, Buddhist meditator and ex-lawyer who is now legal advisor for the Sugar Shack Alliance resisting the pipeline in Otis State Forest.
- ? Paki Wieland - an accomplished activist who follows the leading of the spirit to speak truth to power. She is currently with CODEPINK in D.C. coordinating life at the Pink House and encouraging young interns.
Sponsors : Rising Together affinity group, Resistance Studies Initiative - UMass.Location : Jewish Community of Amherst,742 Main Street, AmherstALL WELCOMENon-Violent Direct Action for Social Change Stepping Up Our Game One Year Later
-
A CALL TO IMPEACH!
–
A CALL TO IMPEACH!
A CALL TO IMPEACH!
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Downtown AmherstENOUGH IS ENOUGH! CALL TO IMPEACH PROTESTSET FOR ANNIVERSARY OF 2016 ELECTION
On Wednesday, the one year anniversary of the November 8, 2016 presidential election, citizensconcerned with the state of the nation are invited to gather in their downtowns to call for theimpeachment of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. In Amherst, the gathering will be in front of Bank of America from noon to 1 pm.
“As we’ve witnessed the ongoing threats to our democracy by an administration undermining efforts to address a host of issues from climate change to health care to the office of the presidency, theurgency of replacing the president and vice-president could not be more apparent,” said Amherstresident Rob Okun, of Rising Together, an affinity group formed a year ago in the wake of theelection.
While the growing case alleging that Russia and the Trump campaign colluded to help elect theNew York real estate developer with no previous experience in government may end with Trump’sresignation or impeachment, grassroots activists are impatient.
Since the election, a resistance movement has emerged of a size and scope approximating the1960s civil rights and antiwar movements. In the aftermath of the six million people who marchedworldwide to protest the Trump-Pence inauguration last January, citizens across the U.S. havebeen organizing and campaigning on a range of issues including an endangered environment, adiscriminatory immigration system, increasing the minimum wage, and calling for a single payerhealth care system.
“Beginning with the most unqualified crop of cabinet officials, including billionaires who contributedto Trump’s campaign, we’ve seen a White House controlled by corporate interests, extolling racismand bigotry, unwilling to advance gun control, and demeaning women,” said Steven Botkin, anothermember of Rising Together, and organizer of the protest. “Enough is enough!”
Like many of the resistance campaigns that have sprung up in the last year, organizers are usingsocial media to spread the word.
“To our town and villages squares, our city streets, our state capitols, everywhere people gather, we are calling for citizens to gather and say one word, loud and clear,” Okun said, “Impeach.”
-
Rediscovering Jane Addams in a Time of Crisis
–
Rediscovering Jane Addams in a Time of Crisis
Jane Addams (1860-1935)––the co-founder of Chicago’s Hull House, social justice pioneer, leader in the American Progressive Movement, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate––may be the most important American woman that most people today have barely heard of. A disciple of Lincoln, Tolstoy, and Gandhi, Addams was an astute critic of Gilded Age capitalism and advocate for economic and social justice. She was a pioneering feminist, suffragist, internationalist, peace activist, ethicist, co-founder of the NAACP, the ACLU, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. A century ago, she was “internationally known as the best representative of American womanhood, and symbol of the American spirit of equality and justice for all people” according to biographer Allen F. Davis. Yet today she has all but vanished from the pantheon of popular American history.
The moral compass of Jane Addams and her allies has never been more needed than today. As New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote in “The Jane Addams Model” (April 25, 2017): “Many of the social problems we face today — the fraying social fabric, widening inequality, anxieties over immigration, concentrated poverty, . . are the same problems she faced 130 years ago. And in many ways her responses were more sophisticated than ours.”
The forum on November 11 (99th Anniversary of Armistice Day) will be the first public gathering ever to revisit the life and legacies of Jane Addams and reflect on how her work is carried on today in the Pioneer Valley. The program will open with a welcome from Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg. The keynote speaker will be Louise W. Knight, author of Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy (2006) and Jane Addams: Spirit in Action (2010) (http://www.louisewknight.com/). Panelists will include Addams scholars, practitioners in fields she influenced, and representatives of vulnerable populations. General audience discussion will be encouraged.
LUNCH - Please bring a bag lunch or patronize one of the nearby sources of take-out food. Gather for conversation with panelists and each other downstairs at the church or join the Veterans Day observance in Pulaski Park.
PARKING -
1. Early Birds: St. Mary’s parking lot across State Street from Edwards Church (Church back door should be unlocked or use front entrance)
2. Free parking available on Saturday at Smith College parking structure on West St. (Rt. 66) -- just past Forbes Library on the left -- short walk to Edwards Church.
3. The Northampton parking structure behind Thorne’s -- find your way to Main Street via second level bridge to Thornes. Cross Main Street and walk to your left along sidewalk past the Broadside Bookshop to Edwards Church at intersection of Main and State streets.
This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (http://masshumanities.org/).
Tax-deductible contributions to support the Addams Public Forum may be made to:
Traprock Center for Peace and Justice
PO Box 1201 Greenfield MA 01302 -
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WEDNESDAYS!
–
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WEDNESDAYS!
ENOUGH? ?IS? ?ENOUGH WEDNESDAYS!Wednesday? ?Actions? ?to? ?Demand? ?AccountabilityBeginning November 29, 2017through January 17, 2018; 12 noon - 1:00 pmThe President and his administration must be held accountable.Their behavior is immoral and illegal, and is destroying America.They do not represent us. Silence allows this to continue.Waiting for others to act is also silence. We? ?will? ?not? ?stay? ?silent!JOIN? ?US:Beginning on November 29, we will gather each Wednesday at noon in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts (corner of Main and E. Pleasant).We invite everyone to join us - anywhere? ?you? ?are?. Go to the center of your town. Or just step outside your home and office. Bring signs, drums, pots and pans, noisemakers.We will stand up each Wednesday before the national march planned for January 20th, saying clearly, “Enough is Enough!”? Enough corporate control of government!? Enough racism, sexual abuse of women and bigotry from the highest offices of the land!? Enough allowing the fossil fuel industry to destroy the environment and indigenous rights!? Enough warmongering and nuclear proliferation!AND:? We stand for respect, safety and opportunity for all people!? We stand for moral leadership in all branches of government!? We stand for a government that protects our environment!? We stand for the rule of law and a politics of love!REGISTER? ?AND? ?POST? ?YOUR? ?PICTURES.?Anywhere you are, whether you are one...or many, share a picture of yourself:#EnoughIsEnoughWednesdaysIt’s time to stand up. Joining together we will send a powerful message.We will not stay silent. Enough? ?is? ?Enough!