On April 16, Pete Seeger will perform at a fundraiser for Dos Pueblos, an NYC nonprofit that partners with the Nicaraguan city of Tipitapa to work on community development projects.  Joining Seeger will be his grandson, another accomplished musician, who was born in Nicaragua. 

The intimate affair will take place in the Upper West Side home of the president of Columbia University Teachers College, and will be hosted by the college’s dean. Seating is very limited, and the minimum donation is $250 per person. You may register online or call 646-610-2215 for tickets.

Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez Seeger: For Us, For Nicaragua
Sunday, April 16, 2006
5 to 8pm
Read flyer for more details

Of New York’s 31 representatives in the 109th Congress, 22 cosponsor HR 1217 (The Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2005), a bill to close and investigate the SOA/WHINSEC. All of New York State’s Democratic representatives are now onboard. So far, the bill has a total of 125 cosponsors in Congress. Many thanks from SOA Watch NYC and Long Island to the following congresspeople:

• Rep Ackerman, Gary L. (D-5)
• Rep Bishop, Timothy H. (D-1)
• Rep Boehlert, Sherwood L. (R-24)
• Rep Crowley, Joseph (D-7)
• Rep Engel, Eliot L. (D-17)
• Rep Higgins, Brian (D-27)
• Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. (D-22)
• Rep Israel, Steve (D-2)
• Rep Lowey, Nita M. (D-18)
• Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. (D-14)
• Rep McCarthy, Carolyn (D-4)
• Rep McNulty, Michael R. (D-21)
• Rep Meeks, Gregory W. (D-6)
• Rep. Nadler, Jerrold (D-8)
• Rep Owens, Major R. (D-11)
• Rep. Rangel, Charles B. (D-15)
• Rep Serrano, Jose E. (D-16)
• Rep Slaughter, Louise McIntosh (D-28)
• Rep Towns, Edolphus (D-10)
• Rep. Velazquez, Nydia M. (D-12)
• Rep Walsh, James T. (R-25)
• Rep Weiner, Anthony D. (D-9)

On March 24, the NYC chapter of CISPES is throwing a party to celebrate the life of El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero, and all are invited. The event marks the 26th anniversary of the day the archbishop was killed by graduates of the School of the Americas in the middle of saying Mass–just one day after his plea to the country’s repressive army: “I beg you, I beseech you, I order you, in the name of God, stop the repression!” CISPES members will report back on their delegation to monitor the recent Salvadoran elections, which gave FMLN candidate Violeta Menjivar the mayorship of San Salvador. There will also be a screening of the 1989 movie Romero. Beer, wine, soda, and snacks will be sold to benefit NYCISPES.

Romero Day Celebration:
El Salvador Elections Report-Back and Romero Screening
Friday, March 24, 8pm
130 W. 29th St, #9F
Subway: 1, 2 to 28th St; B, D, F, V to 34th St-Herald Square

If you missed it in the theaters, head out to Freeport to catch a screening of the 2004 film Innocent Voices, which Oscar Torres wrote based on his own experiences as an 11-year-old child facing army conscription during El Salvador’s 1980s civil war. The film, which was directed and co-written by Luis Mandoki, is in the point of view of the boy as he tries to salvage some of the joys of childhood amidst the massacres conducted by the Salvadoran army. (Some of the most notorious offenders were trained at the School of the Americas here in the United States.)

After the screening, Juan Carlos Molina, Salvadoran activist and New York coordinator for the FMLN, will comment on the movie and give an update on the situation of human rights in El Salvador.

Innocent Voices Screening and Discussion With Juan Carlos Molina
Thursday, March 30, 7pm
Freeport Memorial Library
132 West Merrick Rd, Freeport
Presented by Long Island SOA Watch and the Freeport Community Worklink Center

To mark the third anniversary of the Iraq war, United for Peace and Justice has designated March 14 to 22 as Peace Week, and Long Island peace groups are responding with many local actions:

• Long Island Troops Out Now Protest
  Saturday, March 18, 10 to 11am
  Armed Forces Recruiting Office
  280-286 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead. This will be followed by a trip on the LIRR to the
  1pm Times Square Troops Out Now protest.
• Bring the Troops Home Now Protest
  Saturday, March 18, 11am
  NE corner of Old Country and Glen Cove Roads, Garden City (across from Roosevelt Field Mall). Contact:
  LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, 516-741-4360
• Jackson Heights Recruitment Office Picket
  Saturday, March 18, 11am
  Picket new Army recruiting office in Jackson Heights, then travel to the 1pm Troops Out Now rally in Times Square.
• North Country Peace Group Procession and Vigil
  Saturday, March 18, 11am
  Procession
  will commence from the King Kullen shopping center at 1375 Route 25A in
  East Setauket at 11am and end at the site of the NCPG’s weekly
  demonstration against the war at the corner of 25A and Bennett’s Road
  (about .4 mile) with a vigil featuring guest speakers and music from
  11:30am until noon. Contact: 631-473-0136 or 516-398-9386, or e-mail ncpeaceg@optonline.net
• Film Benefit for Peace Action of New York State
  Saturday, March 18, 2:30pm
  CUNY Graduate Center
  365 Fifth Ave at 34th St, Manhattan
  One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern
  Special Guest: Senator George McGovern. Tickets: $35 in advance, $37.50 at the door
• Honor the Fallen exhibit, plus films and speakers
  Sunday, March 19, 1pm
  Vail-Leavitt Music Hall
  18 Peconic Ave, Riverhead, 631-727-5782
  Honor the Fallen, photographic panels showing the faces of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, on display starting at 1pm. Films: Occupation: Dreamland and Recruit Me, a short directed by a North Fork high school student. Speakers: Carmen Trotta, Catholic Worker activist; John Phillips, a retired NYPD officer who was arrested for protesting in Senator Hillary Clinton’s office; Joe Giannini, founder, East End Vets Against the War. Tickets: $10 for adults; $6 for senior citizens and students. Contact: Pat Hovey 631-765-4612 or nfpofc@optonline.net
• Women and the Iraq War
  Monday, March 20, 9am
  Queens College Student Union, 4th floor
  65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing
  A panel discussion, from 9am to noon, featuring Janis Karpinsky, former commanding general at Abu Ghraib; Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now!; Aseel Sawalha, Professor of Anthropology, Pace College; Houzan Mahmoud, London representative of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq; and Yifat Susskind, Associate Director of MADRE. Followed by a play, 12:15 to 1:30pm, based on "Baghdad Burning," the blog written by an Iraqi woman known as Riverbend. Sponsored by Queens College Women’s Studies Program
  

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Rodrigo Malmierca, the Cuban ambassador to the U.N., speak at the Hewlett-Woodmere Library this Friday, March 10. He will discuss the leftward direction in which Latin America and the Caribbean are headed. The event is cosponsored by Long Island SOA Watch, the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful
Alternatives, and PeaceSmiths.

Cuba and the Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean
Friday, March 10, 8pm
Hewlett-Woodmere Library
1125 Broadway, Hewlett, Long Island

New York City School of the Americas Watch has been invited to hold its next meeting at NYC’s St. Ignatius Loyola Church with the parish’s Pax Christi group on Friday, March 10. This is a great chance to gather with some great people working for peace and justice. Items on the agenda include: legislative actions to close the SOA, including House bill HR 1217 and D.C. lobbying days in April and events to raise awareness about human rights abuses resulting from U.S. military training programs.

NYC SOA Watch Meeting
Friday, March 10, 7 to 8:45pm
St. Ignatius Loyola Church Parish House
980 Park Ave. at E. 84th St.
Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th St.
For more information: Call Andy at 201-207-1493