Sunday, December 17: This powerfully moving 88-minute film documents Christopher Swain’s historic 13-month swim for clean water and human rights down all 1,243 miles of the Columbia River, beginning with pollution from mining in Canada, continuing through Hanford’s radioactive waste, the petroglyphs, Celilo Falls, salmon issues, and many challenges along the way. The filmmaker will answer questions. This powerful story is a “must-see”! Olympia Film Society at Capitol Theater, 206 E. 5th Ave, Olympia. Regular prices. 7:30 pm www.olyfilm.org or 754-6670.

Sunday, December 17: All veterans and others are invited to connect and work for peace. 2:00 pm at a location to be determined. Info: www.vfp109.org Jim James at 570-0885.

Monday, December 18: Monthly meeting to organize support and collaboration with our sister community in Nicaragua. 7:00 pm. Call for location and info: 360-786-9505.

Wednesday, December 27: OMJP meets from 7 to 9 pm to plan a variety of activities to work for justice and peace everywhere. Olympia Community Free School, 610 Columbia SW. Everyone is welcome. Info: Larry Mosqueda 867-6513 or www.omjp.org.

Thursday, December 28: Early morning vigil to remember the children victims of war and injustice on the morning of the Feast of Holy Innocents from 7:00 to 8:00 am on the 4th Ave sidewalk near the fountain across from the Oyster House Restaurant. Info: Bob Zeigler 570-0848 or zeiglerbob@msn.com.

Thursday, December 28: John Ford’s program on KAOS 89.3 FM features this at 8:00 pm (note new date and time) on the last Friday of each month. Info: Duane King 357-9181.

Monday, January 1: Olympia FOR’s January TV program debuts today and runs every Monday from 1:30 to 2:30 pm and every Thursday from 9:00 to 10:00 pm through Jan 29 on TCTV cable channel 22 within Thurston County. See our OlyFOR on TV page for more details. Info: Glen 491-9093 or info@olyfor.org.

Wednesday, January 3: The South Puget Sound Chapter of the Alliance for Democracy holds business meetings typically on the first Wednesday of each month from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Church, 2200 East End St NW, Olympia. Info: their highly informative website, www.sounddemocracy.org or Jacqui Brown Miller 236-9684 or jacquiAFD@comcast.net.

Friday, January 5: Is American democracy safe in the age of computers? Hackers could alter vote counts in public elections. This film documents what researcher Bev Harris and her watchdog group uncovered: evidence of mishandled voting records and suspicious voting machine malfunctions. (81 minutes) Bev Harris will attend, discuss, and answer questions. 7:00 pm at the Olympia Unitarian-Universalist Congregation, 2200 East End St NW, Olympia. Sponsors: The South Puget Sound Chapter of the Alliance for Democracy and Olympia U-U Social Justice Committee. Info: Howard Rosenfeld, 360-790-4020 or hrstruggle@comcast.net.

Saturday, January 6: Learn ways to be refreshed and how to seek peace by embracing the biblical vision of shalom at a workshop on “Keeping the Sabbath Wholly.” Dr. Marva Dawn returns to Olympia to conduct a 9:30 am to 3:30 pm workshop at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 1601 North Street SE (east of Olympia High School). Registration is $15 before Dec. 20 or $20 after. Lunch will be served. Childcare is available upon request. Register at www.goodshepherdolympia.com or 352-1799.

Monday, January 8: How do people keep the peace in our local community? Nationwide, many conflicts with local police raise the issues of how policing should occur? When is violence necessary? The current emphasis on “community-based policing” attempts to protect public safety well, but problems persist. Enjoy very brief presentations and continue with rich discussions. Info: Terry Zander 786-1693 or tezzer1@msn.com.

Wednesday, January 10: Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP) meets from 7 to 9 pm to plan a variety of activities to work for justice and peace everywhere. Olympia Community Free School, 610 Columbia SW. Everyone is welcome. Info: Larry Mosqueda 867-6513 or www.omjp.org.

Wednesday, January 10: Genevieve Aguilar, Field Director for the Washington State Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, will provide us with an overview of civil liberties issues in the upcoming state legislative session. Q & A will follow. 7:00-9:00 pm at Room 206 of Olympia Center, 222 Columbia NW. Sponsor: Thurston County Chapter of ACLU. Info: Heather Francks 570-1873.

Friday, January 12: Playback Theatre is a spontaneous collaboration between performers and the audience. People tell moments from their lives, then watch them re-created with movement, music and dialogue. Heartsparkle Players is an outstanding local troupe with a loyal following. They often collaborate with local nonprofit organizations. This month’s performance collaborates with the Olympia Family Theatre, a new theatre group in town that will cast local young people and adults to produce theatre for young people and adults. 7:30 pm at Traditions Café, 5th & Water. A $5-$10 donation is suggested, but no one will be turned away. Info: Debe Edden 943-6772 debek@olywa.net or www.heartsparkle.org.

Monday, January 15: Multicultural educational event especially dedicated to high school folks, 1:00-2:30 p.m. at the new Minnaert Auditorium at South Puget Sound Community College. Info: 786-5135.

Monday, January 15: 4:00 p.m. at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 515 Washington SE, Olympia. Sponsor: Thurston Council on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights. Also look for additional meaningful activities this weekend. Info: 786-5135.

Monday, January 15: Monthly meeting to organize support and collaboration with our sister community in Nicaragua. 7:00 pm; call for location and info: 786-9505.

Would you like to fill your world with more respect, hope, and love, and reduce the criticism, misunderstanding, and violence? Nonviolent Communication offers specific, immediately usable tools for speaking honestly while being heard with compassion, listening compassionately to hear honesty. Liv Monroe offers this opportunity to learn the language of connecting with others, self and life. 6:45-9:00 pm in the lunchroom at Lincoln Elementary School, 21st & Washington SE, Olympia. No fee, but contributions are appreciated to support more workshops. Info: Liv 357-4503 liv@psncc.org. This will be repeated, same place and time, on four Tuesdays: January 16, March 6, April 17, and June 5, 2007.

Olympia Veterans for Peace: All veterans and others are invited to connect and work for peace. 2:00 pm at a location to be determined. Info: www.vfp109.org Jim James 360-570-0885.

Sun Jan 21: South Sound Buddhist Peace Fellowship hosts an open meeting. SSBPF includes members of the local Buddhist community engaging in the Buddhist path of right action in regard to working for peace, justice and social change. 3:30-5:00 pm. Location & more info: Robert Lovitt 357-2825, email: lovitthere@scattercreek.com or www.ssbpf.org.

Sun Jan 21: Deadline for Olympia FOR’s Feb-March Newsletter: Mail or e-mail articles, news, calendar items, etc., before this date if possible, or slightly past this date for late-breaking news. Contact Glen 491-9093 or info@olyfor.org.

Mon Jan 22: Death penalty abolition committee of Olympia FOR meets at 7 pm in Tumwater. Everyone who opposes the death penalty is invited to help strengthen the movement to abolish this atrocity. Info and location: Chuck or Rozanne, 360-705-8520.

Wed Jan 24: Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP) meets from 7 to 9 pm to plan a variety of activities to work for justice and peace everywhere. Olympia Community Free School, 610 Columbia SW. Everyone is welcome. Info: Larry Mosqueda 867-6513 or www.omjp.org.

Thurs Jan 25: Veterans for Peace’s “Wings of Peace” program on KAOS 89.3 FM: John Ford’s program features this at 8:00 pm (note new date and time) on the last Friday of each month. Info: Duane King 360-357-9181.

Sat Jan 27: “3,000 Too Many Peace Vigil”— Stand together in memory of all lives lost in the illegal war against Iraq. People of all ages are invited to assemble single-file, elbow-to-elbow in downtown Olympia along both sides of 4th Ave from the bridge to the fountain. Please assemble by 11:45. The vigil will occur from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Sponsors include Thurston County Progressive Network (TC Pro-Net) and the local Veterans for Peace chapter. More organizations are invited to co-sponsor. Bring signs about peace and the cost of war (no other issues, please). Bring friends, kids, and others. No dogs, please. Info: Jim James 480-5957 or 570-0885 or www.tcpronet.org.

Sun Feb 4: World Sacred Music Festival: Enjoy and be moved by this annual celebration of the sacred through uplifting music and dance from around the world. 5:00 to 9:30 pm at The Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts at a very convenient location at South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia. Info: 357-7224 www.sacredmusicoly.org or www.interfaith-works.org.

Through Tues Jan 16: “381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story” – This was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Travel Expedition Service in collaboration with the Troy University Rosa Parks Library and Museum. See it at the Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma. Their toll free number is 1-888-BE-THERE and their website is www.WashingtonHistory.org.

12 noon to 1 pm on the edge of Washington Park at Locust & Pearl in downtown Centralia. Sponsor: Fire Mountain FOR. Info: Stephen Barlow 360-736-8784 or June Butler 360-748-9658.

Tues Dec 12: Lt. Ehren Watada speaks about his court martial for refusing to go to Iraq: 7:00 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 918 Division (Corner of Division and J Street), Tacoma. Info: 253-383-3056 ext 128 or susandobkins@fumctacoma.org

Fri Dec 15: Annual ACLU Bill of Rights Celebration: 7:00 pm, Washington State Historical Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma. Sponsors: ACLU of Washington and Tacoma’s Bill of Rights Defense Committee. Info: www.aclu-wa.org.

Sun Jan 14: Fire Mountain (Lewis County) FOR monthly meeting in the Centralia-Chehalis area. Info: Stephen 360-736-8784 or Larry 360-291-3946.

Sun Jan 14: Tacoma FOR monthly meeting: 3:00 pm business meeting, 4:00 pm program, and 5:00 pm potluck – all at the Friends (Quaker) Meeting House (formerly Hillside Church), 2508 S. 39th St, Tacoma, near 38th, north of Tacoma Mall. Info: Vivi 253-572-4912 ViviBartron@hotmail.com.

Mon Jan 15: Support Martin Luther King’s commitment to peace and nonviolence with a vigil and action at Trident nuclear submarine base: NONVIOLENCE IS THE ANSWER! Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by standing against nuclear weapons and the Iraq war! Join the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in a traditional vigil and direct action at the gates of the Bangor Trident nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County on Monday January 15. The day begins with nonviolence training at 8:30 am at the Kitsap Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4418 Perry Ave., Bremerton. At 1:30 we gather at Ground Zero, 16159 Clear Creek Rd. NW, Poulsbo, to walk ½ miles to the gate (rides available) for the vigil and action. Bring sack lunch, warm, waterproof clothes, money to donate, and a peaceful spirit. To join an affinity group prior to the event, for directions, or for more information, go to www.gzcenter.org, or call Anne Hall 206-545-3562, or Brian Watson 360-479-6399. Info and carpooling from Olympia: Tim Russell 705-2407 or tim.rainyday@gmail.com.

Sat Jan 20: Tom Rawson’s Folk Music Concert Benefits Interfaith Camp: 7:30 pm at the Antique Sandwich Company in the north end of Tacoma for next year’s Interfaith Camp, which brings together local Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other young people. Info: Sallie Shawl, 360-884-2862, 253-383-3056, email shawl007@seanet.com or paint@associatedministries.org.

Sat-Sun Jan 20-21: A Citizen Hearing on the Legality of the Iraq War: Confirmed participants include David Kreiger and Daniel Ellsberg Look for details soon. Location: TESC’s Tacoma Branch in the 600 block of South M Street, Tacoma. Info: www.CourageToResist.org and www.ThankYouLt.org.

Sat Dec. 16: Outreach Speaker Training to promote publicly funded campaigns: Learn how to effectively spread the word about public funding for electoral campaigns. Washington Public Campaigns (WPC) is a non-profit organization advocating publicly funded elections in Washington State. WPC is organizing and training people to speak in support of this electoral reform. 3:00-5:00 pm at Olympia Timberland Library, 313 8th Ave SE. To pre-register contact Annie Phillips, 206-275-1393 annie@washclean.org.

Friday, December 15 through Thursday February 15: New Year Peace Art Show at TESC and other local galleries: The Silk Roads program at The Evergreen State College hosts an exhibit of peace-related art in the TESC Library and several other local galleries. An opening celebration from 6 to 7 p.m. on Fri. Dec. 15 will occur in the TESC Library. Info: www.NewYearPeace.org

Wednesday, December 13: The “ACLU Freedom Files” – Youth Speak: Young people in America are often treated as if the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply to them. Civil liberties aren’t just for those of age 18 and older. Join us for a viewing of “Youth Speak,” which discusses civil liberties at the nexus of popular music, the Internet, privacy, public education, military recruiting and the rights of our children. Free admission. 7 pm, Room 206, Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. N.W., Olympia. The entire “Freedom Files” series is available for viewing online at http://www.aclu.tv/ Info: www.aclu-wa.org.

Wednesday, December 13: Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace (OMJP) meets from 7 to 9 pm to plan a variety of activities to work for justice and peace everywhere. Olympia Community Free School, 610 Columbia SW. Everyone is welcome. Info: Larry Mosqueda 867-6513 or www.omjp.org.

Wednesday, December 13: Olympia FOR Steering Committee meeting meets to provide overall guidance and decision-making, 7:00 pm at Ramona Hinkle’s home in NE Olympia. Everyone is welcome to attend. Info: Dennis Mills 867-1487 mills.dennis@comcast.net or Ramona Hinkle 491-5483 monieram@earthlink.net.

Monday, December 11: Death penalty abolition committee of Olympia FOR meets at 7 pm in Tumwater. Everyone who opposes the death penalty is invited to help strengthen the movement to abolish this atrocity. Info and location: Chuck or Rozanne, 360-705-8520.

Monday, December 11: Collaborate with others in our county at the monthly meeting of the Thurston Council on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights, 6:30 pm at the Court House. Info: 360-786-5135.

Monday, December 4: Olympia FOR’s December TV program debuts today and runs every Monday from 1:30 to 2:30 pm and every Thursday from 9:00 to 10:00 pm through Dec. 28 on TCTV cable channel 22 within Thurston County. See our OlyFOR on TV page for more details. Info: Glen 491-9093 or glen@olyfor.org.

Works In Progress, a volunteer-run monthly periodical is important to our activist community. It needs more volunteers who can serve consistently every month. This is an exciting opportunity for people with a passion for local grassroots media. See www.olywip.org and write to wip@zhonka.net. Also attend a public meeting on Sunday December 10 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at the “Studio,” (the small building behind Fertile Ground Guesthouse, 311 9th Ave SE, directly south of the Olympia library.

After a gunman killed five members of an Amish school community in Pennsylvania, Jerome Chroman of Seattle wrote this: “My first thought when I read about the Amish people’s attitude of forgiveness and compassion towards the man who killed 5 of their members was what a different world this would be if our president had that same kind of response after 9-11. As a member of the Network of Spiritual Progressives committed to building a world based on compassion and lovingkindness towards all people, I bow my head before the simple but profound lesson the Amish community is offering the rest of us.”

The War Resisters League’s 2007 Peace Calendar is a catalogue of 52-plus films and videos that oppose war and promote peace and nonviolence. From Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911,” Hollywood’s “Syriana” and “Wag the Dog,” to the story of Argentina’s Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and biographies of pacifists like Bayard Rustin and Dorothy Day, this survey of the last 20 years of antiwar filmmaking includes works by major movie studios, independent producers, and grassroots activists across the globe. Each film description includes stills, distributors’ contact information, country of origin and language, format, and running time. The calendar is spiral-bound with 128 5½” x 8½” pages. Send $12.95 for one calendar or $48 for four calendars to War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 or call (212) 228-0450 for a brochure. Get details or order on-line: https://secure.serve.com/resist/cal2007.htm. Info: www.warresisters.org.

The Season for Nonviolence (SNV) runs annually from January 30 to April 4, the assassination dates of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. During this season many kinds of organizations (faith communities, schools, nonprofits, and others) organize and cooperatively publicize a wide variety of activities that support Gandhi and King’s principles of nonviolence. In Thurston County the 2006 SNV included concerts, peace meditations, workshops, speakers, news articles, and much more. Sue Oliver is leading this year’s SNV organizing effort on behalf of Interfaith Works. Please contact her to volunteer: 480-0221 or ssoliver21@comcast.net.

On November 7 Pierce County’s voters elected to use IRV in county elections. Rich Anderson-Connolly, a leader in the successful campaign (and guest on an Olympia FOR TCTV program about IRV) stated, “Instant runoff voting ends the ‘lesser of two evils’ dilemma inherent in our current plurality voting system. Seldom does either candidate from the two major parties offer a genuinely non-violent approach to resolving conflicts. IRV allows ‘third’ parties to run without the possibility of spoiling the more preferred candidate from the two parties. Thus we should see more candidates who better represent the peace, labor, and environmental communities running for office, and hopefully winning elections. But even if they don’t win, these voices will be part of the campaigns, because they can not be excluded as ’spoilers.’ Simply by participating in elections, these candidates and their ideas will help to transform our culture in much-needed ways. Furthermore the winning candidate will know how many of their votes came as second or third choices from these communities.” The city of Minneapolis also endorsed Instant Run-Off Voting on Nov. 7 by a 2-1 margin. You can inform yourself about instant runoff voting at www.fairvote.org and at www.irvwa.org. (Thanks to the People for Peace, Justice and Healing, whose website www.tacomapjh.org provided this information.)

The change in the international political climate over the past decade is nowhere more evident than in a comparison of the new National Space Policy with the 1996 policy it replaces. The old policy committed the U.S. to “greater levels of partnership and cooperation” with other nations to ensure the “continued use of outer space for peaceful purposes.” The new policy defines “peaceful purposes” as whatever U.S. military and intelligence-related activities are deemed to be in the national interest. “Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power.” The first goal of the 1996 policy was to: “Enhance knowledge of the Earth, the solar system and the universe.” Now the first goal is to: “further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives.” (The information above came from the Oct. 20, 2006, edition of Bob Park’s weekly “What’s New” e-mail of his brief personal commentaries about science-related matters. See www.BobPark.org. For more thorough and more chilling information about the U.S. government’s plans for military domination of space, see www.space4peace.org. The trend toward militarizing space is not merely a Bush phenomenon; plans escalated during the Clinton years too.)

The annual protest against the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) on November 20 drew 22,000 people – the largest turnout ever – from across the country. The SOA (recently renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) is widely known as the School of Assassinations because of its long history of training some of Latin America’s most notorious military thugs, human rights abusers and death squad leaders. Indeed, training manuals used at the school have advocated torture and execution. Opposition to the SOA/WHISC has been growing over the past 17 years at the annual mid-November protest at Fort Benning, Georgia, and also through congressional attempts to shut it down. This year Congress came within 15 votes of cutting off funding. In the November 7 election 34 of the House members who opposed cutting off funding lost their seats. Latin American support for this training is also eroding. In 2006 Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela announced they would no longer participate. Info: www.soawatch.org.

A scientific article in the highly respected British medical journal, Lancet, recently reported a staggering total number of deaths in Iraq. The authors state ”[w]e estimate that as a consequence of the coalition invasion of March 18, 2003, about 655,000 people – 2.5% of the population in the study area – have died in Iraq. Although such death rates might be common in times of war, the combination of a long duration and tens of millions of people affected has made this the deadliest international conflict of the 21st century, and should be of grave concern to everybody.” The U.S. government rushed to dismiss these grim numbers. Locally, we remember the “100,000 and Counting” death tableau on the Capitol grounds in January 2005.

Unity in the Community, the very inclusive local group that worked so hard to affirm diversity and equality in the face of neo-Nazi threats earlier this year, has been selected to receive the 2006 Human Rights Award from the Thurston County Council on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights. The award presentation will be broadcast on TCTV at a date and time to be scheduled soon. Info: Ruth Elder, TCCDHR, 360-786-5135 elderr@co.thurston.wa.us and www.olympiaunityinthecommunity.org.

This spring when a neo-Nazi group announced a July 3 rally at the State Capitol, the local Unity in the Community (UITC) group countered with a creative, nonviolent alternative. The Lemonade Project (“When you are offered lemons, make lemonade”) converted the neo-Nazi threat into an opportunity to support human rights. UITC organizers invited people to pledge some dollar amount for every hour the neo-Nazi rally would last, and 100% of the proceeds would be divided equally among five nonprofit organizations serving the kinds of people the Nazis abuse. In this way, the longer the Nazis rallied, the more money we’d raise to support human rights. The five recipient organizations are the NW Immigrant Rights Project, Stonewall Youth (which supports gay and lesbian youth), the NAACP, Temple Beth Hatfiloh (and its Tikkun Olam group, which supports social justice) and Community Youth Services (especially Rosie’s Place, which serves at-risk youth). The Lemonade Project generated $6,875, which equals $1,375 for each of the five groups. Primary organizers were Glen Anderson and Marijke Van Roojen, with significant help from many other people. See www.olympiaunityinthecommunity.org.

The Top Ten reasons for impeaching Bush & Cheney:

1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal war of aggression against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, and misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization.

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(Airs twice weekly in January, at 1:30 p.m. every Monday, and 9:00 p.m. every Thursday.)

Do we want the U.S. to be governed by the Constitution, or should the Executive Branch be able to overrule it, break laws, and do whatever it pleases? This is the primary issue our nation must face now.
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(Every Sunday evening in January at 10 p.m. on cable channel 22.)

For more than twenty years Dr. Mark Plotkin has searched the Amazon for plants that heal. He is an ethnobotanist, a scientist who studies the relationship between indigenous people and plants.
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(Airs every Monday in December at 1:30 p.m. and Thursdays at 9:00 p.m., on TCTV cable channel 22.)

A truly historic event has been unfolding worldwide, but largely unreported and unknown in the U.S. “The Earth Charter” is a short but magnificent document promoting human dignity, environmental sustainability, profound democracy, and the interconnectedness of everything.
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(Every Sunday at 10 p.m. on TCTV cable channel 22.)

From the 1950’s through the 1980’s the prevailing conflict was the cold war. It was a hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union which could have led to the launching of nuclear missiles, either purposefully or accidentally.
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