April 15: Four peace and justice events!

Hello members of the PEC and peace community! We have four exciting events coming up on Thursday, April 15th. The events include a tax day rally questioning where our tax dollars go, a dinner held by MSU Amnesty International discussing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a lecture by Norman G. Finklestein on his new book about the Gaza invasion, and a film screening and rap session for the “New Muslim Cool” tour.

Tax Day Picket for Jobs & Human Needs

April 15, 2010
Collins Road Post Office in Lansing
6:00 -7:30 p.m.

2008 tax day protest

Parking available in lot north of post office on Collins Rd. — look for peace signs.

Lansing, Michigan: On Thursday evening, April 15, 2010, Tax Day, there will be an informational picket at the Collins Road post office in Lansing. Where do you want your tax dollars to go? Holding colorful signs and offering information on how federal income tax dollars are spent, we remind Lansing area residents WHERE our tax dollars are used and WHY there are not sufficient tax dollars to fund human needs locally or in our state or nation. This must change.

The Lansing area, Michigan, and our whole nation suffer economic crisis brought on by deregulation, exploitation, wars, and misplaced priorities. We ask for new priorities. Invest in education, health, civil rights, environmental protection, green jobs, and diplomacy, not war.

On the evening of Tax Day (Thursday, April 15, 2010, between 6 and 7:30 pm), people from the Lansing area will picket outside the Collins Road Post Office, with information on how our federal income tax dollars are spent. We ask each tax-payer to consider: How would you spend our tax dollars? How would you allocate the funds in our nation’s checkbook?

Sponsored by: Greater Lansing Network Against War & Injustice, www.glnawi.org, Peace Education Center and others. See the flier we will hand out at the event by Clicking here.

“Will America Pass the Torture Test?”

April 15, 2010 Seating begins at 7 pm.
Hannah community Center: Executive Conference Room
819 Abbott Rd, East Lansing MI

Amnesty International MSU is holding a dinner at the Hannah Community Center in East Lansing to discuss the repercussions of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The dinner will host Mr. Josh Denbeaux JD, partner at Debeaux & Denbeaux in New Jersey, to speak about illegal detention and the situation in Guantanamo Bay. There will also be a showing of “Torture on Trial,” a short documentary on interrogation techniques used throughout the “War on Terror.” Dinner will be provided by Sultan’s. Tickets can be purchased for $10 at the International Center on Thursdays from 11-12:30 and at our weekly meetings in the Union at 8:00 pm.

PEC and MSU SAFE Present Norman G. Finkelstein

Thursday, April 15th, 6:30pm
Kiva Room in Erickson Hall
MSU Campus
East Lansing, MI 48823

The world-renowned academic and author Norman G. Finkelstein will make a stop in Lansing on Thursday, April 15th as part of a national book tour for the release of his new book, “This Time We Went Too Far: Truth & Consequences of the Gaza Invasion.” The book is of the first to critically analyze the Israeli invasion into the Gaza strip last winter that left over 1300 Palestinians dead. Finkelstein is an American political scientist and author, whose primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust and he has authored six books on these topics.

“New Muslim Cool” – Film Screening and Rap Session

Thursday April 15, 2010 at 8:00 pm
147 Communication Arts and Science Building
MSU Campus
East Lansing, Michigan

The New Muslim Cool Tour examines the emerging worldview of a new generation of Americans. This townhall style gathering invites audiences to explore the ways youth are thinking through the intersections of national identity with religion, gender, race and the future of the country. An interactive spoken word performance, film screening, and panel discussion, this event introduces audiences to filmmaker Jennifer Taylor and independent hip-hop artist MC Hamza-the subject of Taylor’s important new film. An exciting panel discussion follows the screening, moderated by journalist-activist Bakari Kitwana (author of “The Hip-Hop Generation”). This event has been organized by the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University, with the generous support of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives and is co-sponsored by the Chicano Latino Studies Program, the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, and the Department of English.