From Alternatives to the Military:
Save the Date: The 2015 ATM Peacemaker of the Year is Tim Rinne of Nebraskans for Peace. Tim is the creator of Lincoln’s community garden project, Hawley Hamlet. The Annual potluck dinner will be Thursday, September 24, at 5:30 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church, 45th & A streets in Lincoln. Bring a dish to share and handouts if you want to distribute information about your current organizational involvements. And bring a friend! The food is always great.
From Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty:
It won’t be official until the Secretary of State’s office confirms the signatures over the next 40 days, but it seems death penalty repeal will be on the November 2016 ballot. We are confident the more people learn about the death penalty the less likely they are to support it. Please stick with us through 2016 as we continue to spread the word about the realities of the death penalty.
Read the full statement from NADP.
From BOLD Nebraska:
Join Nebraska Interfaith Power & Light, Bold Nebraska, Green Omaha Coalition, Citizens Climate Lobby, Nebraska Sierra Club, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Protectors of the Ogallala, Nebraskans for Solar, and Nebraska 350 at Aksarben Cinema in Omaha for a group viewing of Pope Francis’s address to members of Congress on Thursday, September, 24. The Pope will speak to Congress in the morning, but we will show the Pope’s full speech that evening in the theater, followed by a group discussion with local members of the faith, science and environmental communities. Pope Francis’s address to Congress comes after the release of his papal encyclical “Ladauto si,” which calls for bold action to address climate change and poverty in our world.
From UNL’s E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues:
In the weeks before the world gathers in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Bill McKibben will provide an update on how the movement to slow global warming is progressing, both in the United States and around the world. He will share inspiring examples of grassroots climate-focused actions that have been launched by 350.org members in more than 188 countries; then, he will turn his focus to his host state and highlight ways in which Nebraskans can become involved in advocating and campaigning on global environmental issues.
Read more and get FREE tickets to the event.
From the Omaha World-Herald:
A legislative committee undertaking a study that could determine the fate of the agency that regulates and promotes the oil and natural gas industry in Nebraska has scheduled a fact-finding hearing in Sidney next month. The Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee plans a hearing at Sidney High School at 9 a.m. Sept. 22.
Read the full story from the World-Herald.
Greens should note that both the Sierra Club Nebraska Chapter and BOLD Nebraska have raised concerns about the time and location of this hearing, located far from many of the people affected on a Tuesday morning. Consider showing your support for the cause by getting to this hearing.
Don’t miss this teach-in on the frame-up and 45th year of imprisonment of Ed and Mondo, and how to join the fight for their freedom.
Known around the world as the “Omaha Two,” Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice) were leaders of the Black Panther chapter in Omaha in the late 1960s and became targets of the Omaha Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation under Operation COINTELPRO, which targeted many political activists. In August 1970, both men were framed on false charges of killing an Omaha police officer, Larry Minard, who died after being lured into a home where a suitcase bomb exploded.
At the end of this month, Ed Poindexter, 70, and Mondo we Langa, 66, will have served forty five years at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. It is unparalleled to be imprisoned for such a length of time in this “justice system.” Under the Nebraska constitution all prisoners unless convicted for ‘sedition’ or ‘treason’ have a right to a parole. Being Poindexter and we Langa were not convicted on those charges, the state of Nebraska is holding them in prison illegally. Nebraskans for Justice, the official support group of the Omaha Two note both Ed and Mondo have serious medical conditions and the August 22 meeting will discuss how to gain compassionate release for the two men.
Read more about this event and others from Nebraskans for Peace.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
For the sixth and final time, Noboko Tsukui joined in the lighting of the Lincoln lantern float.
“This has become something to live for,” she said as a crowd of 70 people gathered on the northeast shore of Holmes Lake Saturday evening.
It was the 32nd annual lantern float Nebraskans for Peace has held since a group of American peace workers, including one from Nebraskans for Peace, traveled to Japan in 1981 to discuss with the Japanese the dangers of the nuclear arms race.
From that assembly, the idea of the lantern float ceremony was carried across the globe to remember those who died in the U.S. atomic bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. In traditional Japanese culture, lanterns are lit to guide the souls of the dead to rest.
Pipeline Fighter Jane Kleeb discusses Hillary Clinton’s climate proposals and the Keystone XL on MSNBC’s The Ed Show:
“On the one hand, we have Sec. Clinton saying she wants to be a climate champion and rolling out this renewable energy plan, and on the other hand, she says she’s ‘inclined to support Keystone XL’ — a pipeline that’s not only going to risk our land and water here in Nebraska, but is going to contribute to climate change 20 times worse than traditional oil. While I appreciate that she’s thinking about tomorrow, with solar panels, I need her thinking about today — about the risk on climate that tarsands brings to our country.”
From BOLD Nebraska:
Our hero and fellow Pipeline Fighter Neil Young is coming to Lincoln on Saturday, July 11, to perform a concert at Pinnacle Arena with the band Promise of the Real — which includes Lukas and Micah Nelson. For anyone who attended the “Harvest the Hope” concert last fall, Promise of the Real stood out as a force. Rock legend Neil Young teaming up with the Nelson boys is a show that cannot be missed!
Neil’s new album is called “The Monsanto Years” and his current tour is focused on the risks that corporation brings to farms and our food system. There is a unique “Eco-Village” taking place as part of the concert, where you can visit booths and nonprofits inside the concert venue who are all working on local food, clean energy and climate change issues. (Be sure to visit the Bold Nebraska booth!)
Neil has generously donated a batch of tickets to his July 11th concert to Bold Nebraska, which we will put on sale as a part of a fundraiser that also includes admission to our pre-concert “Politics + Pints” event with speakers, local musicians, and Special Guests.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, June 30, at 9 a.m. on the Bold Nebraska website.
From the ACLU of Nebraska:
This summer, the ACLU of Nebraska has a cool plan for robust public outreach and education to build our growing activist community and to capitalize on our incredible recent wins — like the freedom to marry, repealing the death penalty, driver’s licenses for Dreamers, and so much more!
The ACLU is excited to join these awesome community partners at upcoming summer fun festivals. Stop by our booth, tell us about your favorite civil liberties issues, and learn more about how you can make a positive difference with our amazing team of lawyers, policy advocates, community organizers, and thousands of ACLU supporters statewide.
Juneteenth, Omaha
Star City Pride, Lincoln
El Grito, Omaha