CANCELED DUE TO LIGHTNING - Dance for World Community Festival
2025-06-07 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | 400 Harvard St Cambridge MA, MA, United States
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO LIGHTNING!
Spread your organization’s mission with Greater Boston’s largest and most popular indoor/outdoor dance event!

Feature your organization in front of 20,000 festival attendees in the heart of Harvard Square! As a DWC Advocacy Partner, your organization will have the opportunity to showcase the great work it does and gain greater visibility at our annual festival through the many partnership benefits below!

Share your message on stage
DWC Advocacy Partners will directly address festival attendees at one of our performance stages during the day. This is a great opportunity to tell attendees all about the important work your organization does and offer ways they can become involved.

Man your table along Advocacy Way
Join other advocacy partners by securing a table along “Advocacy Way” – the main strip of the festival along Mass Ave – where you can share information with attendees all day that pass by. Have face-to-face interactions, recruit volunteers, collect donations, and even sell retail.

Increase visibility
As a DWC Advocacy Partner, your organization will appear on all printed and digital promotional materials to be seen by thousands of festival attendees, including being featured on our website, social media, festival program, and large banners to be posted at each stage and studio!
A stop on DWC’s Passport to Change
The Passport to Change booklet handed out to all festival attendees along with the festival program encourages attendees to visit tables along Advocacy Way, where they collect stamps of partners to win a prize. Advocacy Partners will have their name and mission included in the Passport to Change.
Feature in the community
In addition to making your organization’s informational materials available at your table on the day of the festival, Advocacy Partners are free to post their materials on our DWC bulletin board located in JMBT Studios in Harvard Square to be seen by hundreds of community members every week.

Dance for World Community Conference
2025-06-05 - 2025-06-08
Conference Registration is now open!
June 5-8, 2025
Harvard Square, Cambridge MA

Concern about climate change and its disproportionate impact on under-resourced or otherwise disadvantaged communities continues to grow. After decades of persistent advocacy and activism to advance social and environmental justice, recent destabilizing orders from top US government officials are brazenly countermanding advances in climate science, public health, education, diversity, inclusion, equity and other areas. It is no wonder why, in today’s environment, independent artists and arts organizations are looking to expand their role as advocates and activists, to support creative and rational solutions to the critical global issues that ultimately affect us all.
From the muralist who mobilizes an entire community to paint uplifting images in a depressed urban space, to the composer who writes a symphony to evince the destruction that humanity is inflicting on the planet’s ecological systems, artists of all media and forms continue to respond to the urgencies of our age.

Dance for World Community, initiated in 2009 by a ballet organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts, proposes that dance is particularly well suited to effective advocacy and activism. Inherently social, dance is universally understandable, has great potential to bring diverse people together across cultural divides and can quickly build trust and community cohesion.
Powerful as it is, dance is one of the most under-resourced sectors in America and is underrepresented in many institutional settings. In spite of the steady increases in the number of training and performance centers, established schools and companies are notoriously insular and inward-looking. The sector lacks the inclusive, unified voice it needs to respond to the challenges that now all the arts and other industries are facing in 2025.

How will we as dancers — performers, instructors, choreographers, administrators, scholars, independent dance artists and aficionados — respond to the critical social and environmental crises that can no longer be ignored by any of us?
In this conference, we will examine different initiatives and models, exchange ideas and begin to build the necessary networks to strengthen our efforts to make a difference. Through this shared process, we will rouse the advocate and activist in each of us.

Ukrainian Professor: Will Ukraine's Far-Right Accept or Derail a Negotiated Peace with Russia?
2025-06-03 19:00 - 20:30 | Online Event
Professor Marta Havryshko, a Ukrainian History Professor specializing in Holocaust Studies and gender and sexual violence toward women during and after WWII in Ukraine, now teaches at Clark University in Massachusetts. She will speak about the origins of the Ukraine War prior to the Russian invasion of 2022, including the influence of ultra-nationalist factions; the current military and political situation in Ukraine; and the prospects for a negotiated settlement of the war.
Register to attend.

Of special interest may be her views on:
1. The long history of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists: their founding by Stepan Bandera and support for the Nazis during WWII, including the murder of an estimated 100,000 Jews, Poles, and others; fighting the Soviets after the war and receiving major support from the U.S. CIA to undermine Soviet control of Ukraine; and their being welcomed as exiles in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. In 2024 in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, neo-Nazi Ukrainians openly hosted an international conference of far-right proponents of racism and anti-semitism.
2. The longstanding division in Ukraine between those who want to align with the West and those who want to remain close with Russia for linguistic, cultural, religious, economic, and political reasons. This division came to a head during the Maidan protests of 2014, the unconstitutional ouster of the elected government, and the war in Eastern Ukraine for the last 11 years that led in part to the Russian invasion of 2022.
Register to attend.

Stop Starving Gaza! Rally and Silent Procession
2025-06-03 17:30 - 19:00 | Park Street Station, Tremont St and Park Street, Boston, MA, 02108, United States
Join us for a rally and silent procession on Tuesday, June 3. We will meet outside Park Street Station at 5:30pm.
RSVP to attend

Israel is starving 2.1 million people in Gaza.The small volume of aid that started to trickle in after an 11-week full blockade is a drop in the ocean. Israel is blocking thousands of trucks carrying food, medicine, and clean water from entering Gaza and continues to bomb bakeries, farmland, water facilities, aid distribution centers, and aid guards. Children and the elderly are dying. Israel’s goal is to prevent Palestinians from being able to return to their land. This is all being facilitated by our tax dollars.
We will gather at the Park Street Station to hear speakers testify on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and demand an end to our complicity. We will then continue with a silent procession to mourn those already lost to bombings and starvation, and to protest the continued funding and enablement of this genocide by our government. Please wear black, bring empty pots and pans, and carry signs with consistent imagery and messaging focused on the effects of bombing and starvation on children.
RSVP welcome but not required.

The Militarization of Europe and The Workers' Fightback: Lessons and Connections for the US
2025-06-02 12:00 - 14:00 | Online Event
As Europe is increasingly drawn into the expansion of NATO and into the Ukraine war, workers are increasingly rebelling, seeing evaporate not just the peace they’ve experienced since the end of WWII begin but also the Cold War creep back, while their economies increasingly falter. Organized and unorganized they are beginning to fight back, while at the same time right wing forces are gaining some foothold in Europe as in the US.
Workers in the US have not known peace now for many decades, with the US involved in endless wars all over the globe, endless billions of tax dollars flowing into production and export of weapons, and real wealth continuing to flowing into fewer and fewer hands. US workers rage against the government, the true nature of their wealth decline obscured by rightwing rhetoric and misinformation.
Are there lessons we can learn from the workers’ fightback in Europe? Are there experience to he shared from our own increasing fight back? Can workers’ rage be channeled more constructively? How? Working together, can the workers in Europe and in the US create an effective front against the militarization of their economies and the ongoing march forward of NATO and the Right?”

Register to Attend
Peter Mertens is a Belgian statesman and activist who led the Workers’ Party of Belgium from 2008 to 2021 and continues to lead the party as General Secretary. He has served as a member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2019, and as a municipal councilor in Antwerp since 2013. He is the author of a number of articles and books, the most recent of which, available in English, are: They Have Forgotten Us (2021) and Mutiny: How Our World is Tilting (2024) as well as numerous articles.
Carlos Aramayo is the President of UNITE HERE Local 26, the Union for hospitality workers in the greater Boston area and Rhode Island. He is also a Vice President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, an International Vice President of UNITE HERE and a trustee of UNITE HERE Health and the Greater Boston Hospitality Employers Trust. In addition to his work in the Union, he is a member of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Board of Directors and a member of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy’s Advisory Council on Latino Empowerment. During his eighteen years with UNITE HERE, he has organized casino gaming, hotel, and industrial food service workers in Connecticut, Nevada, Florida, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Harris Gruman (moderator) is Executive Director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) State Council. He is co-founder and co-chair of Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of 150 organizations which successfully campaigned to raise the minimum wage to $15, enact paid family and medical leave, and pass the Fair Share Amendment, aka millionaire’s tax. A veteran of decades of successful issue and electoral work in community and labor organizing, he is an astute political strategist. A former executive director of the Neighbor to Neighbor Education Fund, he studied at Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Massachusetts Peace Action, the Ukraine Committee, and of the Peace and the Working Class Working Group sponsoring this webinar.

First Encounter Flashback
2025-06-01 13:00 - 15:30 | Friends Meeting at Cambridge, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
Join the Friends Meeting at Cambridge at 1:00pm on Sunday, June 1 for a performance of “First Encounter Flashback” (Meetinghouse).“Come travel through time with actor, activist, dancer, and Tribal mentor Annawon Weeden to understand some of the Native history of Southern New England. Drawing on his Mashpee Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Pequot lineage, Weeden will explore the Tribal history of The People of the Dawn from before European contact until today.” Experience Massachuset history come alive! Free. RSVP appreciated but not necessary.
2:00-3:30pm – Indigenous Games/Crafts. This intergenerational event will take place on FMC’s front lawn (if weather permits). We plan to have lemonade, provide supplies and instructions about how to make corn husk action figures, and play a game dubbed “Hub-bub” for ages 5 and up. (All children must have a parent/guardian present.)
This event is a collaboration between Friends for Racial Justice (FORJ) & First Day School (FDS).
Cosponsored by MAPA’s Indigenous Solidarity Working Group.

Center for Arabic Culture Festival & Bookfair
2025-05-31 15:00 - 20:30 | Somerville Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA, United States
Visit the MAPA information table at the CAC 11th Annual Festival and Bookfair on Saturday, May 31st at Arts At the Armory in Somerville!
Festival Schedule
Armory Big Hall:
3:00 pm: Festival Starts- Opening Remarks
3:45 pm: Dabke Performance by Boston Dabke Troupe
4:00 – 4:10 pm: Where do you Live- Poetry by Jennifer Jean
4:10 pm Remarks by Maria Teresa Nagel, Director of Immigrant Affairs- City of Somerville
4:20 pm: CAC Children Choir and CAC Youth Orchestra Performance
5:00 pm: Reading by Authors Safa Sulaiman & Hannah Moushabeck
5:20 Poetry & Music by Susana Hajjar Azkul
5:50 pm: Arab American Museum Presentation
6 pm: Poetry by Salwa Gardaf & Paco Tahiri Dance Performance by Soumaya MaRose
6:30 pm: Fashion show by Salwa Gardaf
7:00 pm: Music Performance by the Boston Arabic Music Ensemble (BAME)
Armory Café:
5:30 pm: The Story Behind the Lost Paintings Project & Artistic Talk Organized by Joelle Tomb
6:20 pm: Halal Investing and Children Financial
Planning Presentation by Fateh Sukkar
Raffle:
Exciting Raffle Gifts Presented by Our Generous Donors! To participate in the raffle, you can pay by Cash, Venmo, Check or Card.
Parking:
Parking is free but limited in the lot behind the Armory Building. Ulternative Parking lot are available near Davis Square. Please make sure to plan for parking ahead of time. You can use Spot Hero here SpotHero | Get Everywhere Easier | Reserve Parking and Save

Book Tour: You Only Get What You're Organized to Take
2025-05-29 17:00 - 18:30 | Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont St., Boston, MA, 02111, United States
You’re invited to a book talk on May 29th! You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take: Lessons From the Movement to End Poverty, by Liz Theoharis and Noam Sandweiss-Back, weaves together the struggles and victories of our movement’s history, offering a roadmap for navigating today’s urgent crises.
Sponsored by Kairos Center, coordinated in partnership with MA Poor People’s Campaign.
Co-sponsored by Massachusetts Peace Action.

Solemn Vigil at the Harvard Commencement
2025-05-29 07:00 - 09:00 | Harvard Square T Entrance, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, 02138
Sponsored by the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, Massachusetts Peace Action, and Jewish Voice for Peace Boston. Info: 617-354-2169 or info@masspeaceaction.org.

Jewish Faculty Speak Out
2025-05-28 19:00 - 20:30 | First Parish of Watertown, 35 Church St, Watertown, MA, 02472, United States
Please join us as members of Concerned Jewish Faculty discuss Jewish resistance to Israel’s policies, Jewish support for Palestinian rights, and Jewish support for protest over Palestine in the US.
PROFESSOR MARJORIE N. FELD
Professor of History, Babson College
Author of The Threshold of Dissent (2024) which chronicles the long history of American Jewish dissent over Israel and Zionism & argues for the value of open and safe conversations and criticism to a healthy American Jewish communal life.
PROFESSOR JONATHAN FEINGOLD
Associate Professor of Law, Boston University
Expert in antidiscrimination law, affirmative action, and education law. He has analyzed the spread of discriminatory censorship laws designed to demean inclusionary values. Host of #RaceClass Podcast.
PROFESSOR MNEESHA GELLMAN
Associate Professor of Political Science, Emerson College
Author of Misrepresentation and Silence in United States History Textbook: The Politics of Historical Oblivion.
Founder & Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative and expert witness in US immigration courts.
Sponsored by Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment (watertowncitizens.org) and Concerned Jewish Faculty (concernedjewishfaculty.org).
Wednesday, May 28 at 7 PM at First Parish of Watertown, 35 Church St.
Parking is available in Church lot accessed off of Summer Street, and in CVS lot off of Church Street. Use front entrance facing Church Street.

Gaza Memorial Service: Honor our Gazan Babies
2025-05-26 13:00 - 15:00 | Slave Traders’ (aka Faneuil) Hall – Sam Adams Statue, Congress St at South Market St, Boston, MA, 02109, United States
On Memorial Day, Monday May 26, 2025, with flags furling and banners signaling Gazan Children’s voices on the world stage, Veterans For Peace Boston will launch a Guerilla Theatre event at 1:00 pm, Samuel Adams Statue, Faneuil Hall, Boston.
The Guerilla Theatre event will feature Arabic music leading into the display of three Palestinian children in shrouds, killed by Israeli airstrikes. It should be noted that the shrouds do not contain real bodies, but the names and faces on the shrouds are from live victims in Gaza.
The main feature of the program is a video recording of public responses to the shrouded babies and their responses to the question, “What do you think of children of Gaza having a voice on the World Stage?”* the recorded interviews will be as they happen. They will not be broadcast to the public. Final versions will be available on Youtube and social media worldwide.
Following the interviews, taps will be played publicly by VFP members.
A public announcement will be broadcast over loudspeakers at the conclusion of taps.

Protecting Federal Investment in Public Education - Books Not Bombs
2025-05-24 14:00 - 17:00 | Online Event
Register to attend.

Protecting Federal Investment in Public Education – Books Not Bombs
The threats to federal education programs have become acute. Funds for PELL grants, title I and disability programs are at risk in the Trump/Musk Administration. The proposed termination of the Dept of Education will weaken other school programs. Though organizations representing teachers and educators, including NEA, AFT and AAUP, have come together to resist the proposed cuts, it remains difficult to reach parents, who generally lack statewide organizations. Their local school district organizations rarely address the federal budget. Following up on our earlier Oct 26, 2024 Conference we will be gathering on Saturday May 24th, 2:00 – 5:00 pm to explore paths to protect the federal budget supporting public schools, and continuing to try to reach out to parents and grandparents among our Peace Action affiliates and their local allies.

2:05: Panel 1 – The Emerging Federal Public Education Budget
Chair – Prof. Jonathan King (MIT & Mass Peace Action Education Fund);
Civilian versus Pentagon Budget Allocations – Deborah Weinstein (Coalition for Human Needs);
Impacts on the Young – Denisha Jones (Defending the Early Years);
Impacts on Graduate Students – Evan MacKay (Harvard UAW Local).
2:45: Panel 2 – Choices in Federal and State Budgets:
Chair- Deb McCarthy (V-P of Mass Teachers Association)
Tax Cuts and Related Fallacies – Karen Dolan (Institute for Policy Studies);
Roles for State Legislatures – Rep. Mike Connolly (Mass State Legislature);
Minds Not Missiles – Defunding the Sentinel ICBM Program – David Borris (Chicago Area Peace Action);
Cutting Funds for Foreign Wars – Merrie Najimy (Past MTA President, MTA Rank & File for Palestine).
3:45 Break
4:00 – Closing Panel – Fighting Back
Chair: Vatsady Sivongxay (Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance);
Pressing State Legislatures – Max Page – (Mass Teachers Association);
Organizing Low Wealth Constituencies – Shailly Barnes (Kairos Institute & Poor People’s Campaign);
Leading Role of Union Educators – Jessica Tang (Pres. of AFT Mass)
Actions Today – Cole Harrison (Mass Peace Action).

Co-Sponsors: Mass Peace Action Education Fund; American Federation of Teachers Mass; Defending the Early Years; Massachusetts Teachers Association; UAW Region 9A.
Registration: options are – Registration free, small donation/ $12, or large donation/$75)

Register to attend.

The Russo-Ukrainian War, Diplomacy, and the Peace Movement
2025-05-20 13:00 - 14:30 | Online Event
Register to attend.

So much for President Trump’s boast that he would end the Ukraine War in a day! Despite what passes for diplomacy in Riyadh, Moscow, and Kyiv to end the war and create a new European security order in Europe, the war, its killing, and destruction go on. Join Professor Richard Sakwa, among the leading authorities on Ukraine and Russia to delve deeper into understanding the war, diplomacy, and peace movement priorities in this continuing dangerous time.
Professor Richard Sakwa of Kent University in Britain was an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House (2002-20), a Senior Research Fellow at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow (2014-2024), and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences (2002-2022). His books include Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands.
Cosponsored by MAPA Education Fund.

Day of Action for Weapons and Fossil Fuel Divestment
2025-05-20 12:00 - 15:30 | Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston
Join us on Tuesday, May 20th, from 12pm to 3:30pm for a day of action at the Massachusetts State House!
Register to attend.

The Massachusetts Public Fund is invested in entities involved with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and climate risks. The focus of the day will be on two bills, one divesting pension funds from entities involved with the manufacturing, producing, or selling of WMD, and the other assessing the public fund investments for any climate risks and divesting the fund from those risks. We want the state to move our money away from unethical systems and reinvest in sustainable, socially-responsible alternatives.
No experience is necessary! Trainings and briefings on the priority legislation, an Act Promoting Responsible Investment (S.767/H.1264), and an act to Eliminate Climate Risk Investments (H.2811), will be provided.
Training sessions will be offered on Thursday, May 15th at 7pm ET and Monday May 19th at 7pm ET. Please join us for ONE of the two sessions if you plan to attend lobby day.
Schedule:
12PM – Gather in room 167 at the State House
12:30PM – Briefing
1PM – 3:30PM – Lobby meetings
3PM – Those not lobbying gather for rally outside State House (those lobbying stay in State House until final meeting is over)
3:30PM – Rally begins
Register to attend.

For more information on the Responsible Investment Bill visit MAPA’s page.
For more information on the Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill visit the Warheads to Windmills page.
Organized by the Coalition for Responsible Investment, Warheads to Windmills, MAPA, and Jewish Voice for Peace Boston

Starvation is a War Crime: Standout
2025-05-18 12:30 - 13:30 | Davis Square, Davis Square, Somerville, MA, 02144, United States
Silent vigil on Sunday, May 18, at 12pm across from the theatre in Davis Square.
Bring an empty pot or a bottle of dirty water to hold. Dress in black.
Sponsored by Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, cosponsored by MAPA.

The Destruction of Healthcare Systems in Gaza: Realities, Ramifications, Actions: Part 2
2025-05-17 13:00 - 16:00 | Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, 220 Main St, Northampton, MA, 01060
Register to attend.

Join us for a panelist event to discuss on-the-ground realities in Gaza and the West Bank and the short & long-term ramifications of the destruction of the healthcare systems. Get immediate & impactful action steps to help the people of Palestine!
This event will be at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, 220 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060, and will also be available online.
Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle is a pediatric neurologist & epileptologist in Boston. Her clinical work focuses on epilepsy, brain injury and neurodevelopmental care for children in complex settings. She is the co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide and a leader in Health for Palestine, where she works to advance health equity, community-based care and justice-driven medicine in refugee camps and conflict-affected areas. Dr. Kuemmerle is a committed advocate for the rights of marginalized patients and healthcare workers and her work bridges medicine, human rights and global solidarity.
Dr. Deborah Weidner is a general and child/adolescent psychiatrist who transitioned from a hospital executive role to humanitarian work with her first mission to Gaza in August 2024. With over 25 years of clinical and leadership experience, she has lead initiatives to reduce suicide deaths, eliminate physical restraints and integrate behavioral health and primary care treatment. Dr. Weidner completed her residency at the University of Pennsylvania, her fellowship at Harvard Children’s Hospital and her MBA at MIT.
Heba Eljafarawi, PA is a physician assistant and a founding member of the non-profit We Will Return (WWR). She graduated from the University of Saint Joseph with a Masters degree in Physician Assistant studies and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Hartford with a BS in Health Sciences. She has 3 years experience in Urgent care and 1.5 years experience in pulmonary and critical care in Connecticut. Medical mission experience: 2023 Turkey through International Medical Relief, providing medical assistance to those affected by the earthquake. Recently returned from Egypt with WWR to assist Gazans who were injured and affected by the ongoing genocide. With family members in Gaza, she aims to help those affected by recent events and work towards providing humanitarian aid and medical assistance.
Register to attend.

Sponsored by MAPA, SEMA 4 P, and Doctors Against Genocide
Cosponsored by Community Alliance for Peace and Justice, Southeastern Mass for Palestine, River Valley for Gaza Healthcare, Codepink W MA, Pax Christi Western MA, Healthcare Workers for Palestine Connecticut, Connecticut Palestine Alliance, and Demilitarize Western MA

Concert for Gaza: Carsie Blanton
2025-05-16 20:30 - 23:59 | The Sinclair, The Atrium, 52 Church St, Cambridge, MA, 02138
Carsie Blanton is dedicating all ticket proceeds after costs from her Boston-area show to Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA). Carsie Blanton is an anti-Zionist Jew who sings songs of revolutionary optimism. This event is co-sponsored by local branches of Artists Against Apartheid, Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Palestinian Youth Movement, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Massachusetts Peace Action.
Blanton says, “this is an opportunity to bring together organizers from throughout the local community, celebrate their dedication to the Palestinian cause, sing and laugh and cry together, and raise desperately needed funds for the people of Gaza.”
A fundraiser for the Middle East Children’s Alliance

Mayor (2020)
2025-05-15 18:00 - 20:00 | Greaer SE Mass Labor Council, 560 Pleasant St, New Bedford, United States
How do you run a city when you don’t have a country?
On Thursday, May 15, the Southeastern MA Coalition for a Free Palestine will present the documentary MAYOR, a look at a day in the life of Musa Hadid, the charismatic mayor of Palestinian city Ramallah who aspires to lead the city into the future despite occupation by the Israeli military.
Directed by David Osit with Musa Hadid, Mahmoud Abbas, and Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh.

Food and beverages will be available.

No New Women's Prison! Moratorium Committee Hearing
2025-05-13 13:00 - 17:00 | Massachusetts State House – Room A-2, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA, 02133
Join Families for Justice as Healing and The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls at the MA State House on Tuesday May 13 at 1pm in A2 as the Prison Moratorium bill will be heard before committee. FJAH and The National Council are encouraging as many people as possible to come whether or not you choose to testify. If you’d like to testify, you can do so in person or virtually. This is the ONLY hearing the bill will receive this legislative session, so we need to pack the hearing room!
Sign up to testify!
Everyone is also welcome to submit written testimony. Here is the toolkit for all information regarding submitting testimony, including templates: tinyurl.com/moratoriumtoolkit
Want support preparing your testimony for the hearing? Join a prep party Monday 5/12 at 6pm on Zoom!
This bill would pause the process of designing and building a $50 million women’s prison among other massive construction projects so our state will have to shift its focus on further reducing the number of people in jail and prison and implement alternatives before building anything new. Our communities need and deserve public dollars for housing, healthcare, and treatment – not jail and prison construction! Visit the Free Her Campaign for more information on the bill.
IN-PERSON/VIRTUAL TESTIMONY REGISTRATION: Legislators, public officials, and the public must register to provide oral testimony. To register to testify virtually or in-person, please provide the contact information requested in this form by 4:00 PM on Friday, May 9. Once registered, you will receive further instruction on how to participate virtually.
WRITTEN TESTIMONY: Written testimony can be submitted via email to Svetlana Yefimenko at svetlana.yefimenko@mahouse.gov or Riley Nichols at riley.nichols@masenate.gov.

Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda May 12 Action Day
2025-05-12 11:30 - 14:30 | Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston
Sign up to attend.

It is time again to stand up and support the Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda. We need more legislative senators and representatives to co-sponsor the bills. We need more community organizations and individuals to endorse the bills. We need everyone to join our action day at the State House.
Goals
– Center Indigenous Voices
– Gather Co-Sponsors for our 5 Bills
Schedule
– 11:30 Rally and Get Organized
– 12:30 Head Into the Statehouse to Visit legislators with fact sheets and invite to briefing
– 1:30 Briefing in Room 428
– 2:30 Close
Sign up to attend.

MAPA Annual Meeting 2025
2025-05-10 14:00 - 16:45 | St. James Episcopal Church, 1991 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02140
MAPA‘s Annual Meeting on Saturday May 10th is open to all dues paying members. New members are also welcome! This is a key gathering for MAPA, where we’ll affirm our values and set our path forward.
The annual meeting will be held in person at our new office location at the St. James Episcopal Church in Porter Square.
We’ll hear from Harris Gruman, a member of MAPA‘s Board of Directors as well as the Executive Director of the Service Employees International Union’s Massachusetts State Council.
Members will also hear about MAPA‘s priorities for the year, review the organization’s finances, and elect members to the Board of Directors.
Members who wish to run for the board or nominate someone should contact the office at info@masspeaceaction.org or by phone, 617-354-2169. Five signatures of members are required for a nomination.
Once the person is nominated the Board Recruitment Committee will meet with them to discuss the roles and responsibilities of a board member. All new board members will sign a board agreement outlining these responsibilities.
Directions to the venue.

Palestine Resistance: An Update from the Ground
2025-05-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Friends Meeting at Cambridge, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge
Join a discussion featuring FADI QURAN, a Palestinian activist living in the West Bank, in conversation with LEILA FARSAKH, editor of Rethinking Statehood in Palestine.
Sponsored by: Peace & Justice Committee of Friends Meeting
Co-sponsored by: 1for3.org, Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston, Massachusetts Peace Action

Rematriating Stolen Land and Bringing History and Culture Forward: Indigenous Reparations 2025
2025-05-08 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Event
What can indigenous solidarity allies and activists do to help redress centuries of injury and loss to tribal peoples? Giving voice to Indigenous speakers and groups from here in Massachusetts, this webinar will explore the current forms of reparative justice and specific actions people can take in support. Resources and places to donate will be provided.
Register to attend.

Melissa Ferretti is proudly on her second term as the elected Chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe located in Plymouth MA. She is also a licensed realtor and notary public, currently associated with Jack Conway & Company. As chairwoman, Melissa has worked tirelessly on the many initiatives and challenges that indigenous communities face on an everyday basis. She is passionate about educating the non-native public about the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and its rich, well documented history.
Tia M. Pocknett grew up in the Mashpee Wampanoag Community and works at the Weetumuw School. Tia teaches students Wôpanâôt8âôk (Wampanoag Language) and cultural practices. Tia focuses on both culture-based education and Montessori pedagogy. Tia has been one of the founding teachers of Weetumuw School since its opening in 2016. She will discuss the importance of using language, teaching cultural practices, and why being on the land is an integral part of learning at Weetumuw School. Learning about cultural practices and having students learn about the land ensures that the next generation will understand the importance of land, language, and culture.
Katherine Harrelson is an Environmental Analyst with Community Land and Water Coalition. In her role with the organization, she reviews technical documents and is most proud of her work providing the public with the resources and information to make an impact on the local level. She holds a masters degree in Applied GeoSciences and a professional certification in wetlands delineations, with her areas of expertise including environmental monitoring, groundwater chemistry, and wetlands assessments.
Register to attend.

War Intellectuals, Democracy, and Hans Speier (a WIRN webinar)
2025-05-05 20:00 - 21:30 | Online Event
Monday, May 5, 2025 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM ET

An interview of Professor Daniel Bessner, author of the book Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual. Who was Hans Speier anyway, and why is he important? Who determines U.S. foreign policy? Is there much democratic input? We cover the role of expertise in crafting U.S. foreign policy, and what today’s warfare state looks like. We will explore what a humane foreign policy might consist of (and more!) in this timely webinar.

Volunteer at MAPA’s Table - Wake Up the Earth Festival
2025-05-03 12:00 - 18:00 | near Stony Brook MBTA Station, New Minton St and Lamartine St, Jamaica Plain, MA, United States
The 48th annual Wake Up the Earth Festival will take place on Saturday, May 2rd, 2026, from 12 PM to 4 PM.
MAPA will set up our peace and justice outreach table on the field across from Stony Brook Station on the Orange line in Jamaica Plain. Join us for an hour or two to distribute pamphlets, buttons, and Stop the War on Iran signs, and ask people to sign the latest peace petitions.
Additionally, we will set up the Eyes Wide Open exhibit at the festival, reminding everyone of the civilians killed in the war, including 165 elementary school girls killed in Minab, Iran, on the first day of the war.
We will be working in shifts, so sign up below if you are available!
Sign up for a shift!

Volunteer at MAPA’s Table - Wake Up the Earth Festival
2025-05-03 12:00 - 18:00 | near Stony Brook MBTA Station, New Minton St and Lamartine St, Jamaica Plain, MA, United States
The 47th annual Wake Up the Earth Festival will take place on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025, from 12 PM to 6 PM.
MAPA will set up our peace and justice outreach table on the field across from Stony Brook Station on the Orange line. Join us for an hour or two to distribute pamphlets, buttons, and Not Another Bomb signs, and ask people to sign the latest peace petitions. We will be working in four shifts, so sign up below if you are available!
Register for a shift.

"The Encampments" Screening and Discussion
2025-05-02 19:00 - 21:00 | St. James Episcopal Church, 1991 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02140
Purchase tickets to attend.

MAPA invites you to a screening of The Encampments, a new film by Michael T. Workman, followed by discussion. The first months of the second Trump administration have signaled a shift from derision and misrepresentation of the movement for justice in Palestine to active state suppression. The very Universities that at best barely tolerated and at worst violently dismantled student protest movements are now themselves being threatened with loss of grants, funding, tax-exempt status, and other privileges, for not being brutal enough in their response to peace activists. In addition to pursuing all possible legal avenues to dissuade vocal opposition to America’s active involvement in an ongoing genocide, the administration is creating an atmosphere of fear by abducting individuals active in the movement off the streets of so-called “sanctuary cities” in broad daylight and renditioning them to other states in an effort to expel them from the country. These actions must not break our will, but strengthen our resolve. It is in this spirit that we present this timely and vital film.
About the Film: When a group of students at Columbia University in New York launch a movement protesting the war in Gaza, they spark a nationwide uprising in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Encampments spring up at hundreds of campuses as students object to their own university’s investment in the US and Israeli arms industry. Featuring detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil, The Encampments takes viewers inside America’s student uprising with incredible intimacy and urgency. Professors, whistleblowers, and student activists shed light on a moment that captivated the nation’s attention and continues to make headlines today.
Discussion after screening with student/s who participated in encampments.
Feel free to bring snacks to share.
Directions to the venue.
Purchase tickets to attend.

Sponsored by MAPA, cosponsored by the MA Justice for All Party, Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, CD8 for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, Northshore for Palestine, Palestine House of New England, and Party for Socialism and Liberation.

May 1: Workers Should Have Power, Not The Billionaires!
2025-05-01 17:30 - 19:30 | Boston Common – Parkman Bandstand, Tremont St, Boston
This is a war on working people—and we will not stand down. The billionaires are defunding our schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence. Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that propel opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.
On May Day 2025, working people across the country will stand up to the billionaire agenda! In Boston, we will rally on Thursday, May 1st at 5:30pm at the Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common.

End the billionaire looting! Fully fund public services – like public education, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid!
Fund people’s needs not the war machine in Gaza!
Full protections and legalization for immigrants now! No deportations! No raids!
Free Rumeysa, Mahmoud, Kilmar, and others abducted by ICE!
Protect free speech and academic independence!
Stop police brutality! End the abuse of power!
Protect labor’s rights to unionize, organize and strike!

Associated with Mayday Strong, endorsed by MAPA and others.
Walk with us in the Palestine/ Peace contingent! Meet at 5:30 at the Embrace statue, on the side facing the Parkman Bandstand.
Organizations that wish to endorse, go to http://bit.ly/endorse-bosmayday2025

Bye Bye L3Harris
2025-05-01 16:30 - 18:00 | L3 Harris, 50 Prince St, Northampton, MA, 01060, United States
The rallyers will march from L3 to the Northampton City Hall to speak at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, calling for L3 to be evicted from the city. As you know, there have been continuing protests at L3 over the last four years, calling on the company to convert to peace work; there has been no response to these requests.

Sorting Through the Confusion Around Ukraine
2025-04-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Online Event
Register to attend.

What on earth is going on in Ukraine and in Trump’s negotiations with Russia and Ukraine? What is the current military and political situation in Ukraine? What should we know about the origins of the Ukraine War prior to the Russian invasion in 2022? What are the prospects for a negotiated settlement of the war? And what does all this mean for the U.S. peace movement?
Ted Snider, long-time independent journalist and commentator on Antiwar.com, Libertarian Institute, Responsible Statecraft, and American Conservative, will speak about the military and political situation in Ukraine in the Spring of 2025, and the prospects for a negotiated settlement.
Ted Snider is a regular columnist on U.S. foreign policy and history at Antiwar.com and The Libertarian Institute. He is also a frequent contributor to Responsible Statecraft and The American Conservative as well as other outlets. His most recent articles can be found here on Antiwar.com including his article from March 12th, “Will the U.S. Push Zelensky Out?”
Register to attend.
