International Women’s Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year.In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements.(from wikipedia)

Celebrate March 8, 2013 with the women in your life. March is also Women’s “Herstory” Month, so this is also the time to reflect upon women’s accomplishments in our country, and to honor the strong women in your life.

And three other upcoming forums listed below in October:

A free forum for the Board candidates for the Tucson Unified School District will be presented from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on Monday, October 1, at the YWCA building, 525 Bonita Ave. Sponsors of the forum are the Tucson YWCA, the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, the Metropolitan Education Association, and Voices for Education. The moderator will be Greg Hart, formerly head of Pima County’s Adult Education (1982-2007) and currently Founder and President of The School, Inc. for struggling youth. All candidates for the three open positions in this non-partisan election have been invited.

12 candidates (including the 3 incumbent board members) are seeking these 3 positions. Click here for earlier post about the 12 official candidates, and another blog post about who’s run for TUSD governing board in the last 10 years (click here).

Other forums on October 4th and 10th:

Save TUSD’s Neighborhood Schools will host a forum at El Casino Ballroom, 437 East 26th St., Thursday, Oct. 4, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. More info on this group on their Facebook page.

A Candidate Forum for TUSD Governing Board will be held on October 10, 7 pm at the Multi-Purpose Hall of Tucson Estates, 5900 W. Western Way Circle, Tucson, AZ 85713. It is sponsored by the Education Watch Committee of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Vote wisely on or before Nov. 6.

Remember the victims of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 2011 victims of Fukushima!

Join us for a Memorial Program and Vigil

on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Quaker Meeting House

931 North 5th Avenue (south of Speedway Blvd.)

6:00 p.m.

Program features Russell Lowes, director for SafeEnergyAnalyst.com and lead author of “Energy Options for the Southwest, Nuclear and Coal Power”, speaking on Nuclear weapons and Nuclear power, Lea Goodwine, speaking of her personal memories of visiting Hiroshima, and music by the Tucson Raging Grannies.

Following the program, attendees are invited to walk to Speedway Boulevard
and 4th Avenue for a short candlelight vigil. Please bring signs, flashlights and candles.

Sponsored by:

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Pima Friends’ Meeting (Quaker)

Physicians for Social Responsibility

The Arizona Peace Council

Veterans for Peace

Code Pink Women in Black

The Green Party

The Nuclear Resister

For more information contact Margaret Pecoraro, 520-885-3908, margaretspiano@aol.com.

CODE PINK: Women for Peace, Tucson Chapter, Responds to Massacre (press release)

TIME & DATE: 12:00 Noon, Tuesday, January 11, 2011

LOCATION: University Medical Center, 1501 North Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ 85724

CONTACT: Mary DeCamp (520) 408-4974 mdecamp@q.com

ANNOUNCEMENT: A Press Conference will be held at 12:00 noon tomorrow, Tuesday, 1/11/11, at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, to allow our community’s many peace-minded groups to offer prepared statements in response to the Saturday Safeway Massacre targeting Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

Representatives from Code Pink: Women for Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, AZ4NORML, the Tikkun Community & Jewish Voice for Peace, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee-Tucson Chapter, Middle East Justice Now!, the independent producer of Access TV’s Lovolution Village, Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Tucson’s Raging Grannies, and a growing list of other Tucson peace activists will be on hand to offer statements and answer questions.

BACKGROUND: Code Pink was born out of the 9/11 terror attacks. When the twin towers fell, the Department of Homeland Security responded by adopting a color code to alert air travels of the degree of danger – air travelers hear it is a “Code Orange” or “Code Yellow” day while awaiting their pat-downs down.

But our administration forgot to include a color for peace. So Code Pink: Women for Peace was born in 2002 with the mission to use creative ways to call for peace to replace terror in our lives.

Code Pink invites all those who are interested in working locally to promote peaceful alternatives to join together to alleviate the grief and to supplant violence with more sustainable alternatives.

Group Statement from some of these organizations about the mass shooting on January 8, 2011:

“Tucson peace activists, represented by the undersigned organizations, express their deepest sympathy for the anguish experienced by the victims and their families of the shooting on January 8, 2011, and their fervent hopes for the full recovery of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the others who were injured.

Tucson peace activists also wish to state their abhorrence of the rhetorical-political context for the shooting. That context includes Arizona’s near-bottom position in expenditures on education and mental health services and near-top position in laws favorable to gun ownership and use.

We believe the political climate and ordinary political discourse in Arizona, as reflected in statements by particular elected officials and by actions taken by the Arizona legislature as well as in violence expressed on talk shows and in threatening activities in various political campaigns, is a toxic brew. It expresses violence, encourages it, and then, with its lax gun laws, makes it easy to turn suggestions of violence into actual physical violence. Tucson peace activists reaffirm their commitment to non-violent actions in promoting peace locally, nationally and globally for all human beings.”

signed by WILPF, Tucson Raging Grannies, Tucson Tikkun Community, Jewish Voice for Peace

Hiroshima after the A-bomb

Monday, March 1, at 7 pm

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AME) Auditorium on UA campus, 1130 N. Mountain,
Northeast corner of E. Speedway Blvd. and N. Mountain Ave.

Free, and open to the public
Free, easy parking east of building
sponsored by Voices of Opposition, http://www.voicesofopposition.com/, call 520-622-6419

“With shocking archival footage, stunning photography, and heartrending interviews, this extraordinary documentary gives a deeply moving look at the painful legacy of the first use of nuclear weapons in war. Featuring interviews with fourteen atomic bomb survivors – many who have never spoken publicly before – and four Americans intimately involved in the bombings, this film provides a detailed exploration of the bombings. It is an important documentary for all to see in this nuclear age.” (from email sent from the Tucson branch of WILPF the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom)

Released on August 6, 2007 (on the 62nd anniversary of the bombing on Hiroshima), this HBO documentary is by Japanese American Sansei (3rd generation) filmmaker Steven Okazaki who met with 500 survivors. Read more here.

I wrote about a Hiroshima/Nagasaki Never Again event back in August, 2009 (click here), since my paternal grandfathers left Hiroshima in 1892 for the Kingdom of Hawaii, but we must have had relatives still living there in 1945.

peace sign

It’s been 28 years now that the Annual Tucson Peace Fair & Music Festival has been sponsored by the Tucson Peace Center, and still no world peace in sight. We have more troops than before in Afghanistan.

Coming up Saturday Feb. 27, 11 to 5 p.m. the usual large gathering of social justice, labor, peace, and environmental groups will be congregating at Reid Park DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, east of Country Club, north of E. 22nd Street.

Previously scheduled to be in attendance this year –well known peace activist Cindy Sheehan (mother of deceased Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, a 25 year old soldier who was killed near Baghdad on April 4, 2004.) She was supposed to be at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) booth.

Cindy Sheehan

Feb. 22 update: Sheehan cancelled as she was invited by Hugo Chavez to fly to Venezuela, then to join him to Uruguay for the inauguration of the new leftist leader of that country (which happens to be Feb 27).

This is a community wide event with lots of political and informational booths, great music on the stage, food, and an array of raffles prizes, plus the Grand Prize of a Trip to Disneyland (hotel & admission). Raffle tickets are 3 for $20, by contacting Nancyastro@yahoo.com, phone 520-293-3331.

Peace groups please call 520-235-0694, or email stelnik@webtv.net if you wish to participate.

The Tucson Peace Center publishes a monthly print edition of the Tucson Peace Calendar containing numerous events that promote peace and justice in southern Arizona.

movie poster

2 pm Saturday, January 16 at

The Friends Meeting House, 931 N. 5th Ave in Tucson.

“The film takes a critical look at what our children learn about race, gender and class from Disney films. It questions the values promoted under the guise of innocence and fun.” Following the film, WILPF member Jenise Porter will lead a discussion. She is an educational researcher and doctoral candidate at the U of A in the Department of Language, Reading and Culture.

The program is sponsored by the Tucson chapter of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). If you have any questions, call 520-791-9535.

“For more than 90 years, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has been in the vanguard of national and international protests against war, supporters of struggles for justice and freedom, and advocates of women’s rights.

This organization was founded in 1915, during World War I. Jane Addams of the United States was a founder and its first president. Ms. Addams and Emily Greene Balche, a co-founder, are the only United States women ever to be honored as Nobel Laureates of Peace.”

The Friends Meeting House is on 5th Avenue, just west of Catalina Park, between E. 1st and E. 2nd Streets.

Having grown up (with 2 brothers) viewing lots of Walt Disney films in America (even way out there in Hawaii), I am curious about what this documentary will reveal about race, gender, and class. Wasn’t Minnie Mouse supposed to be my heroine?

Here is a copy of an email alert sent from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF):

Hiroshima-Nagasaki
NEVER AGAIN !

Commemoration and Call to Action
For Nuclear Disarmament and Conversion

Saturday, August 8 at 7 pm (music starts earlier)

At Reid Park’s Cancer Survivors’ Plaza
22nd Street east of Country Club before Randolph

Sponsored by the Tucson Raging Grannies

“The program features Ellen Thomas, Co-chair of WILPF’s National DisArm Committee, and leader of Washington, DC’s Proposition One Campaign, who is touring the U.S. promoting HR 1653 calling for Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion, for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and for ratification of the UN’s Nonproliferation Treaty. Barbara Warren, Tucson Physicians for Social Responsibility, will also participate. Program will include a description of Hiroshima’s annual huge rally against A & H Bombs by Granny Lea Goodwine who was there recently, and songs by the Tucson Raging Grannies.”

Please join us to mourn victims of all wars, re-dedicate our lives to Peace and convey our sentiments to Congress.

This is a family-friendly event. Parking lot is adjacent. Bring folding chairs or blanket to spread. Some benches available.

For more information, contact Margaret Pecoraro at 885-3908 or margaretspiano@aol.com.

Carolyn’s note:
I confess I have never been to Hiroshima (“The City of Peace and Creativity”) to see where my paternal grandparents came from, but I intend someday to see the peace memorial. Practice nonviolence. Pray for peace.