Rally: Stop the Cuts, Corporations Pay Up, Redirect Military Spending! April 27th, 2013


We’re paying our   taxes…
Why are vital services being cut, and
Why is the president proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare?

 

Budget cutters in Washington have already slashed Meals on Wheels, Head Start, Housing, Education, Fuel Assistance, Unemployment, Health Programs, AIDS Housing, and family violence prevention. Jobs are ending. Now the President wants to cut even more vital programs.

 

But there is an alternative.

 

1. End Corporate Tax Breaks!

Very high income people and giant corporations get hundreds of billions of dollars a year in tax breaks through loopholes and offshore tax shelters. The CEOs of Bank of America, Citibank, and Verizon are key members of Fix the Debt, a corporate group pushing for big cuts in critical public programs and even lower corporate taxes.

 

2. Redirect Pentagon Spending to Jobs and Vital programs for People!

The US war budget is greater than the military spending of the next 10 largest military powers combined. Much of it funds destructive wars like Iraq, wasteful weapons systems like the F-35, and keeping us in Afghanistan for years to come.

 

Rescheduled! –Join us to say:
Stop the Cuts!

Boston: Thursday, May 16, 12 Noon
Tip O’Neill Federal Building, 10 Causeway Street, Boston – North Station (Green Line),
Regional Headquarters for the Social Security Administration and Housing & Urban Development. Speakers: Steve Tolman, pres., Mass. AFL-CIO; Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry; Carolyn Federoff, AFGE; Roxanne Reddington-Wilde, community action advocate; people impacted by program cuts. We’ll also visit tax dodgers Bank of America, Citibank, and Verizon at 6 Bowdoin Square, Boston.

 

Fall River, Thursday, May 16, 4pm – Government Center, corner of N. Main St and Sullivan Dr, Fall River.

 

Northampton, Friday, May 17, 3:45 pm, City Hall, 210 Main St. Hear Council President Bill Dwight, former Mayor Clare Higgins, Councilor Pamela Schwartz, and speakers from UAW local 2322, WMass Jobs with Justice, Amherst NAACP, Arise, PHENOM, Traprock, WMass AFSC, Mass Senior Action, Student Labor Action, Just Communities & MORE… Proceed to Bank of America to protest its backing of “Fix the Debt” which forged this austerity plan that is making people pay more and more, while receiving less and less. Then march with us to the Verizon Office, the company that pays no taxes, to present them with a tax bill.

 

Sponsoring organizations (Boston): Budget for All Coalition; Mass. AFL-CIO; Mass. Jobs with Justice; Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants; American Friends Service Committee; Mass. Peace Action; Disability Policy Consortium; Sierra Club – Boston; Boston Workers Alliance; ACTUP/Boston; Veterans for Peace; Homes for Families; Dorchester People for Peace; United for Justice with Peace; Boston Coalition to Fund Our Communities-Cut Military Spending 25%; Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom; Human Rights City Boston & Beyond; Survivors Inc.; SEIU Local 509 Lavender Caucus; Brookline PAX; AFGE Locals 3258 and 1164/AFL-CIO;

 

Sponsoring organizations (Northampton): Western Mass Budget for All/Fund Our Communities Not War, Arise for Social Justice, Amherst NAACP, Coop Power, Climate Action NOW, Pioneer Valley Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Can’t Be Neutral, Western Mass American Friends Service Committee, Western Mass Chapter Progressive Democrats of America, Episcopal Peace Fellowship of Grace Church, National Priorities Project, Traprock Peace Center, Northampton Committee to Stop Wars, Northampton Democratic City Committee, UAW Local 2322, Western Mass Jobs with Justice, PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of MA) & Springfield Chapter Mass Senior Action Council.

Download the Flyer: (Boston) or Fall River or Northampton

 

Budget for All!
11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
www.budget4allmass.org – 617-354-2169

Music for Peace! (Rescheduled) April 27th, 2013

Music for Peace

Music of Rachmaninov and Schumann

May 11, 2013, 7:30 pm (Rescheduled Date)
Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church
1555 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
near Harvard Law School – wheelchair accessible
Order tickets online

 

Mana Tokuno, Piano
Emily Jane Taubl, Cello
David Charles Tay, Tenor

 

Schumann: Papillons, Op. 2 (Piano solo)
Schumann: Dichterliebe, Op. 48
Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata, Op. 19

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Statement on Boston Marathon Bombing April 19th, 2013

Statement on Boston Marathon Bombing

Faith Madzar
Faith Madzar at Natick prayer vigil April 17. Metrowest Daily News photo

 

Massachusetts Peace Action shares in the sadness, appreciation, restraint and solidarity shown by President Obama, Governor Patrick, faith and civic leaders, and neighbors in the face of the violence at Monday’s Boston Marathon and during the days following.

 
There is sadness for those killed and injured, for the families whose lives have been scarred, and for the culture of violence, here and abroad, that leads to such senseless acts.

 
There is appreciation for first responders, including Boston peace activist Carlos Arredondo, whose courageous actions saved lives and modeled how all of us should respond in times of crisis.

 
There must be restraint, as the facts of the violence emerge — especially toward individuals and communities who are too often blamed or scapegoated in acts of political violence. We call on our leaders and the media to be especially careful in the days to come.

 
Finally, there is solidarity; Boston has seen the face of the violence that is a daily reality for civilians in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and other places wracked by the impact of militarism.

 
In the days and months ahead, we commit to helping our community heal, connect and create a culture of peace.

April 19, 2013
The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace April 13th, 2013

TICKETS

$30 | $25 | $20
Adults | Students & Seniors | Groups of 10 or more

To purchase tickets go to
http://metropolitanchorale.givezooks.com/events/the-armed-man

Also available at Brookline Booksmith and, starting April 13, through the Jordan Hall Box Office, in person or by phone at 617-585-1260.

Please join

The Metropolitan Chorale

for

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace

by

Karl Jenkins

Saturday, May 4, at 8PM
at NEC’s Jordan Hall

 
Music Director Lisa Graham leads the 100-voice chorus, soloists, and orchestra in Metropolitan Chorale’s final concert of the season featuring The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins.

 
This powerful, anti-war composition based on the Catholic Mass evokes the descent into war, moments of reflection, the horrors that war brings, and the hope for peace. Jenkins connects to audiences with powerful texts and music, from jazz and a 15th-century French folk tune to an Islamic call to prayer, African-inspired rhythms, and poetry by a survivor of the 1945 atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.

 
The concert soloists are the Chorale’s Artists in Residence, Dana Schnitzer, soprano; Oriana Dunlop, mezzo-soprano; Jonas Budris, tenor; Matthew Wight, bass. The Chorale’s tenor, Moe Khan, is the reciter of the Call to Prayer.

 
Also on the program are Antonin Dvorák’s Te Deum for chorus, soloists and orchestra and Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. The Armed Man premiered at The Royal Albert Hall, London, in April 2000 and has been performed only once before in the Boston Area. Get your tickets today for this unique and memorable concert, presented in partnership with Massachusetts Peace Action.

www.metropolitanchorale.org
metropolitanchorale@gmail.com

Summer Internships March 25th, 2013

Peacemaker Internships – Summer 2013!

 
Massachusetts Peace Action is seeking students, recent graduates, or young activists who can commit 12-15 hours per week in Summer 2013 (May to August), or 10 hours a week in Fall 2013 (September to December). The internship is unpaid but a $300 stipend is awarded on completion. Start and end dates are flexible but the student should be able to work at least 10 weeks. Our office is located near Harvard Square, Cambridge.

 
Massachusetts Peace Action is a statewide membership organization working to develop the sustained political power to foster a more just and peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Through grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and community education, our priority issues for 2013 are: cut the military budget to fund jobs, the environment and human needs; prevent war with Iran and end the war in Afghanistan; and abolish nuclear weapons.
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