Chicagoland vigil and forum this week

If you're in the area, please try to go to the following events. I'll be there!
(but I won't go to the villainizing anti-Israeli protest this afternoon)

IL Chicago - Vigil at Peace Museum

Monday, August 7 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m
Peace Museum
(located within the Gold Dome Building on the 2nd Floor, near the Conservatory)
100 N. Central Park Ave.
Garfield Park
Chicago, IL

AIUSA Global Ceasefire Vigil in Chicago

In response to the blatant and gross violations of international humanitarian law that are being committed by Israeli forces and Hizbullah, including the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force and direct targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, Amnesty International is calling for worldwide cease fire vigils in solidarity with the victims and survivors of the conflict on Monday, August 7. The vigils call for a ceasefire in the Israel/Lebanon conflict.

The Chicago AI Ceasefire vigil will take place this evening, Monday, August 7, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Peace Museum, (located within the Gold Dome Building on the 2nd Floor, near the Conservatory), 100 N. Central Park Ave. in Garfield Park on Chicago's west side near Central Park and Lake Street.

The Peace Museum is accessible from the Conservatory stop on the CTA Green Line, and the event will be held indoors on the second floor where several exhibits including 'Soul of the City' will be available for viewing. The Peace Museum's facilities are on the second floor of the building, and unfortunately the site is not wheelchair accessible.

For more information about this event contact Robert Schultz, Field Organizer, Amnesty International Midwest Regional Office, 312-435-6396 or rschultz@aiusa.org.


For more information you can contact the AI regional office at (312) 427-2060

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Emergency Forum on U.S./Israeli War on Lebanon & Palestine

Join the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism for an emergency forum featuring:

• Dr. Ghada Talhami: Palestinian American activist and professor of political science
• Dr. Raja Halwani: Lebanese American activist and professor of liberal arts
• Saman Sepehri: Iranian American activist and contributor to the International Socialist Review
• Andy Thayer: Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism, Gay Liberation Network

Moderated by Iranian attorney and activist Farideh Harandi

Date: Wednesday, August 9th
Time: 7PM
Location: DePaul University Lewis Center Room 241, 25 E. Jackson, Chicago
Wheelchair Accessable: Yes
Non-Smoking: Yes

Since July 12, Israel's war machine has taken the lives of hundreds of civilians in Lebanon and Palestine, and thousands more have been injured. Fully a quarter of the Lebanese population has been displaced, and Israeli attacks have decimated the country's infrastructure -- while in occupied Palestine, Israel ratchets up its murderous policies of collective punishment as the world's attention is directed elsewhere.

The U.S. government bankrolls the bulk of Israel's military might -- to the tune of $5 billion per year. More significantly, the U.S. government has become a full partner in this war: the bomb that killed upwards of sixty people in Qana -- more than half of whom were children -- came from the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has cynically referred to the burgeoning Israeli bloodletting as the 'birth pangs of a new Middle East.' And John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has repeatedly blocked any U.N. efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire, no matter how ghastly the bloodletting becomes.

What are the roots of the Israeli assault on Lebanon, their stepped-up violence against the Palestinians, and the larger U.S. policy imperatives served by the Bush regime's proxies in the Middle East? How does this military aggression relate to the U.S. war in Iraq and the U.S. regime's larger goals across the region? And what questions does this pose for the U.S. antiwar movement? Join the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism for this emergency forum, featuring activists and experts from Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and the United States.

The forum will include public discussion and Q & A.

Sponsored by the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism. To endorse or for more info, please email admin@ccawr.org or call 773-209-1187.

Endorsers (list in formation): ANSWER Chicago, Campus Antiwar Network, Chicago Area Code Pink, Gay Liberation Network, HammerHard MediaWorks, International Action Center/Chicago, the International Socialist Organization, the International Solidarity Movement/Chicago chapter, Neighbors for Peace, Nicaragua Solidarity Committee, Palestine Solidarity Group. Support extended from American Friends Service Committee, Potluck Democracy, World Can’t Wait/Chicago.