Peace and Social
Concerns Committee annual report, July 2011
This year Peace
& Social Concerns continued to offer monthly letter-writing opportunities
to the Meeting. Topics were usually taken from FCNL suggestions for the month.
To facilitate more rapid delivery to Congress, we added a fax option on most
occasions.
We also cosponsored two events: “U.S. Detention Policies a
Decade After 9/11: Two Perspectives on National Security - A Conversation” on 3/30 and “A talk by Takaaki
Morikawa about
Along with Ministry
and Worship and Care and Counsel, PSC members and others brought to Meeting for
Business a concern for our Muslim neighbors who have suffered harassment that eventually
resulted in a statement sent to the Gazette (January 4) as well as formation
of an ad hoc group looking into ways to better understand and support Muslims.
We recommended that Peggy be named as the
Several of us sent cards and many more followed the story of the incarceration of
Nancy Smith, for her trespass on the grounds of
the school of the
We continued collection of food for local shelters, with
donations going to both the
Peace and Social Concerns sponsored a 2010-11 film series focusing on
films offering positive news or events. Discussions followed the
showings. Attendance probably averaged around 15. The showings were:
12/9/10: The Singing Revolution -
the nonviolent Revolution in Estonia
1/13/11: Icyizere - reconciliation in Rwanda
2/10/11: A Farm for the Future - agriculture's future, and permaculture
3/10/11: South of the Border - social and political movements there
4/14/11: Amazing Grace and Chuck - 12 year old boy changes the world
5/12/11: No Impact Man - New York family tries to minimize environmental impact
Most recently we sponsored an
Two things we are planning for the future:
To
host the NEYM-YAF Climate Working Group, that has proposed an
intervisitation. They suggested that they
might bring a one-hour worship/sharing event here, which we are exploring as a
possible
Involvement
in the proposed September 350.org event.