The purpose of the El Dorado Peace and Justice Community shall be to promote lasting world peace through nonviolent actions to create and sustain social, economic and environmental justice.

Some Upcoming & Ongoing Events in the Community

Hwy. 50 and Spring St. Peace Demonstrations Fridays 4-6pm –Join us. Bring signs of PEACE

“Too Flawed to Fix” film at Cozmic Café Sunday, May 30th at 4pm (see page 2)
Coalition for Change meets Monday, June 7th at 6:45pm at the Cozmic Café. www.coalitionforchange.net or call Patty 622 9385 for more info.

Environmental Council of Sacramento presentation at library Thursday, June 10th 7pm

“The Spirit of Peace” Sunday, June 27th 4pm Cozmic Café. Friends of Peace Pilgrim, present the program about the remarkable woman who walked the country spreading the message of peace. 71 min. video included in program.

PEACE COMMUNITY UPDATE

Jim Martin

We have continued to be active locally on several fronts and our Steering Committee has been working diligently on our strategic planning process. Here is a summary of our recent activities.

Our film committee has presented three films already this year. The first took an in depth look at the controversial results of 2000 presidential election results in Florida. The second was about the recent Bioneers conference, and the third, in honor of Women’s History Month, was about the relationship between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and their struggle for equality, not just for women, but for all human beings. All were held at the Cozmic Café and were very well attended. (By the way, please support the Cozmic Café. They have been incredibly good to us; besides, it’s just a great place.)

We were well represented at the March 20th peace marches. We had approximately 20 locals who attended the march in San Francisco and three who traveled all the way to San Diego.

On Saturday, March 27, we promoted the American River Folk Society’s concert with Seattle-based singer/songwriter, Jim Page. Jim has been a long-time activist, and his biting political pieces remind one a little of Woody Guthrie. It was a very fun event.

On March 30th, Richard Becker, author, lecturer, and political organizer with the San Francisco office of International Answer, presented a talk on the current
situation in Iraq and its relationship to the current situation here at home. See the article on page 3.

The Peace Community Steering Committee has also been working hard behind the scenes, with our focus being on strategic planning process. We have met six times since August, in addition to holding a daylong retreat in late January. Thanks to all Steering Committee members for their hard work. The strategic planning process is not yet complete, but we have made significant progress and have so far accomplished the following:

• Acquired our 501c3 (non-profit corporation, with tax exempt) status. Monetary and in-kind donations are now tax deductible;

• A committee has been chosen to formulate a values statement that can be incorporated into our mission statement. Our organizational values are honesty/integrity, courage, compassion, cooperation, inclusivity/open-mindedness, flexibility, and competence.

• Organized a campaign in our community to promote nonviolence and to explore ways to make our own lives and relationships, our community, our country, and our world less violent. (See the article below for more details.)

Thanks for all who have supported us through your hard work, donations, and participation. Carry it on.

WORK ON NONVIOLENCE PROJECT BEGINS
“If it is possible to train millions in the black art of violence, which is the law of the beast, it is more possible to train them in the white art of non-violence, which is the law of our highest nature.” M. K. Gandhi

“The philosophy and strategy of nonviolence must become immediately a subject for study and serious experimentation in every field of human conflict, by no means excluding relations between nations.” Martin Luther King Jr.

These two quotes summarize quite well the perspective that led to a recent decision by the Steering Committee of the El Dorado Peace & Justice Community to develop and present to the community a nonviolence education and promotion project. It is our clear perspective that, as our human capacity for destruction becomes ever greater and the cycles of violence and hatred in the world become ever wider, unless we can learn to walk a different path, we, but more importantly, our children, are faced with an ever more dangerous future that could ultimately lead to almost unthinkable results. From that perspective, came our decision to focus a major portion of our work in the coming year on this project.