November
Olympia, WA, Saturday, November 16, 7:00 p.m. Orca Books, 509 E. 4th Ave, Olympia. http://www.orcabooks.com/event/saturday-november-16th-7pm-maxine-kaufman-lacusta-author-refusing-be-enemies-palestinian-and-i
Whidbey Island, WA, Wednesday, November 20, 7 – 9:00 p.m. Whidbey Island Community Education Center @ the historic Bayview School, 5611 Bayview Road, Langley. Sponsored by the Whidbey Island Community Education Center and the Whidbey Island Friends Meeting (Quaker).
Seattle, WA, Thursday, November 21, 7:00 p.m. The Common Good Cafe, downstairs at the University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 43rd St. NE (free parking at U Bookstore)
July
Greeley, CO, Monday, July 1 – Friday, July 5, mornings. Workshop at Friends General Conference (FGC) gathering on “Palestine/Israel, Nonviolence, and F/friends” http://www.fgcquaker.org/connect/gathering/workshops/palestine/israel-nonviolence-and-f/friends
Greeley, CO, Tuesday, July 2, 4:14 p.m., Introduction to and signing of Refusing to be Enemies at the “Gathering Store,” UC Spruce―adjacent to the bookstore.
Denver, CO, Sunday, July 7, 12:30 p.m., at Mountain View Friends Meetinghouse, 2280 S Columbine St., sponsored by the Mountain View Friends Peace and Justice Committee and Friends of Sabeel – Colorado. For information, contact Barbara at 720-989-4185 or barbaradonachy@gmail.com
Boulder, CO, Sunday, July 7, potluck 6 p.m. ; presentation at 7 p.m. at Arborwood Condominiums Clubhouse, 3250 O’Neal Circle, Boulder (just off 30th St between Iris and Valmont), sponsored by Boulder chapter of Veterans for Peace
Colorado Springs, CO, Tuesday, July 9, 7 p.m (end by 9), at the Colorado Springs Quaker Meetinghouse, 950 E. Cimarron. Sponsored by the Colorado Springs Quaker Meeting, Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission, and the Middle East Peace Project of Colorado Springs.
San Jose, CA, Friday, July 12, 7 – 9 p.m, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street. Sponsored by San Jose Peace and Justice Center, South Bay Jewish Voice for Peace, and Justice for Palestinians. Additional details at http://www.sanjosepeace.org/ calendar page for July.
Santa Rosa, CA, Tuesday, July 16, 7:15 p.m. Friends House, 684 Benicia Drive
Santa Rosa, CA. Map with directions at http://www.friendshouse.org .
Walnut Creek, CA, Wednesday, July 17, 4:00 p.m., Creekside Meetingroom 3, 1010 Stanley Dollar Dr., Rossmoor, Walnut Creek. Sponsored by Voices for Justice in Palestine of Rossmoor. Tell security you’re there for a Voices program at Creekside. For information about the program and about Voices, email donna.barker3@att.net or 2013Voicesforjustice@gmail.com .
San Francisco, CA Wednesday, July 17, 7:15 p.m., Friends Meeting House, 65 9th St., San Francisco. Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC-San Francisco) and the Canadian Friends Service Committee. For more information, contact Dalit Baum dbaum@afsc.org .
NEW Saratoga, CA Friday, July 19, 7:00 p.m., 13004 Paseo Presada (corner Paseo Lado), Saratoga (Look for the lavender door behind shrubs to left of driveway). Potluck and presentation sponsored by Our Developing World (directions at http://www.ourdevelopingworld.org). For more information, contact Barby Ulmer, 408-379-4431, odw@majiclink.net
Grass Valley/ Nevada City, CA – Saturday, July 20, 7 – 9 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, 245 S. Church Street, Grass Valley. Sponsored by the Peace and Social Justice Committee of the Grass Valley Friends Meeting, the Palestine-Israel Working Group of Nevada County, and the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains. Proceeds of the collection–after minimal expenses–will go to the Maia Project: bringing clean water to the children of Palestine (http://www.mecaforpeace.org/projects/maia-project). For more information, contact Wendy Hartley, 530-478-1943, wensteve@c-zone.net .
Davis, CA, Sunday, July 21, 7 – 9 pm, Davis Friends Meetinghouse, 345 L Street, Davis. Sponsored by the Davis Friends Meeting. For more information, contact Vashek Cervinka, vac@dcn.ort, 530-756-0228; Marilee Eusebio, marileee@comcast.net, 530-756-6881
Chico, CA, Monday, July 22, 7 pm, Chico Friends Meetinghouse, 1601 Hemlock St., Chico. Sponsored by the Chico Friends Meeting. For more information, call Jim Anderson, 530-345-3429
Ashland, OR, Tuesday, July 23, 7 p.m. at the Rogue River Room of Southern Oregon University (SOU), sponsored by the UN Club at SOU, Peace House, the History and Political Science Department of SOU, South Mountain Friends Meeting, Amnesty International, and a host committee of area Jewish residents.
Portland, OR, Friday, July 26, 7 – 9 p.m. (Potluck beginning at 6:30) in the Social Hall of Multnomah Friends Meeting – Stark Street Meetinghouse, 4312 SE Stark St, Co-sponsored by Program Committee and Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Multnomah Friends Meeting. For further information contact Glee Lumb dillyonrye13@yahoo.com or 503-281-7058.
April
Langley, BC – Monday, April 8, 2:35 p.m. in room 126 of the Robert B. Thompson Building of Trinity Western University (TWU), 7600 Glover Rd. Sponsored by the TWU Religion, Culture and Conflict Research Group and the TWU Department of History, Political Studies and Geography.
Rochester, NY – Monday, April 29, 7:00 p.m. at the Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship, 111 Hillside Ave.
Buffalo, NY – Tuesday, April 30, 7:00 p.m. in the basement of the NRC Building at 1272 Delaware Ave. Sponsored by the Western New York Peace Center.
Niagara Falls, ON – Wednesday, May 1, 7:30 p.m. at the Niagara Mosque, 6768 Lyons Creek Rd. Sponsored by The Islamic Society of the Niagara Peninsula.
January
Kamloops, BC – Monday, January 28, 7:30 p.m. at the TRU Clocktower Theatre; Tues, January 29, 10:30 a.m. in Arts and Education 164 at Thompson Rivers University (TRU). Sponsored by the TRU Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Law, the TRU Faculty Association Equity and Human Rights Committees, and The Council of Canadians.
Please see below for details about my presentations and how to invite me to your area.
Invitation to host / co-sponsor a book-related presentation on Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation
Dear Friends,
Those of you who know me are probably aware that I’m a Quaker Jew and a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, though born in the US (long story). I’m also a “semi-retired” activist and occasional journalist who lived in Jerusalem for seven years (December ’88 – mid-October ’95), during which time I was very involved in activism of the sort described in my book; i.e., nonviolent actions by Israelis and Palestinians, separately and together, challenging the Israeli occupation. I’ve subsequently made ten trips back to the region, many in connection with research for the book or updating the information for my presentations—most recently from March 27 – April 24 of 2012.
Since the hardcover edition of Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation (my interview-based book with an introduction by Ursula Franklin and contributed chapters by Ghassan Andoni, Jeff Halper, Jonathan Kuttab, and Starhawk) first came out in early 2010, I have done quite a bit of touring in both Canada and the US. I also gave two presentations in the occupied territories (Ramallah and East Jerusalem) in 2011, and in the spring of 2012 (the second year of the paperback edition) was hosted by some twenty groups in the UK and Ireland, including Britain Yearly Meeting (Quakers). In the fall of 2012, I visited the BC Okanagan, Calgary and Edmonton, AB, and Bellingham, WA, and in 2013 spoke in Kamloops and Langley, BC, Rochester and Buffalo, NY, Niagara Falls, ON, and several towns in Oregon and Washington states.
If hosting or co-sponsoring a visit to your area is of interest to your faith group or peace/justice organization–here are the details:
Visiting Friends’ Meetings is a big part of what I do, but I also very much want to do presentations for the wider nonviolence and Palestine-solidarity communities (and beyond, where feasible). I’m sometimes hosted by individual organizations or Quaker meetings, but what has seemed to work best is having a committee, preferably made up of folks from two or more groups working together.
Some of the organizations that have hosted or co-sponsored my public presentations up to now include: several book stores and a variety of Quaker meetings, local branches of the American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International (including in Galway, Ireland), Project Ploughshares, the Council of Canadians, and Kairos—Canada; Building Bridges-Vancouver, churches in the US and Canada (United Church of Canada, Mennonite, Unitarian, Presbyterian, and United Methodist), Ahavat Olam progressive synagugue (Vancouver), the Islamic Centre of Niagara (Niagara Falls ON), Independent Jewish Voices-Canada, Canadian Friends of Sabeel and Canadians, Arabs, and Jews for a Just Peace (in Halifax), the Peace Studies Program at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB, Fredericton Jews for a Just Peace, Canadian Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam (Calgary), Scottish Jews for a Just Peace, the Scottish Palestinian Forum, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jews for Justice for Palestinians (UK), Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (BIAC), Gaza’s Ark, International Solidarity Movement – Vancouver (ISM – Vancouver), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC (SPHR – UBC), the Southern Interior Peace Coalition (BC), the Human Rights Committee of the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Faculty Association, TRU Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Law, the Friends International Center in Ramallah,the Rachel Corrie Foundation and various local peace and justice groups. I have also been invited to speak to university classes in Canada (Waterloo, ON and Edmonton, AB, and Kamloops and Langley, BC), Ireland (Dublin and Limerick), and the US (Bellingham, WA). The Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC, on which I served for 12 years and am currently an associate member for Middle East projects, and which gave me much support during my researching of this book) has given permission to be named as a cosponsor or endorser of any of my book-related events.
Format of my presentations:
What I do most often is a public meeting with a PowerPoint presentation (this requires an appropriate projector or large-screen monitor with VGA cord) of approximately an hour (or shorter, if necessary, with prior notice) followed by QA, with books available for sale by one or more of my hosting organizations or by a local bookstore. In addition, I’d be glad to meet informally with meeting or church groups, or groups of activists or students in relevant fields in or near the same towns (projector or large-screen monitor is not absolutely necessary for small groups around a table, although visibility is always improved by having one or the other).
Re books and reviews:
The main objective of my presentations is to share information about nonviolent activism by Palestinians and Israelis, separately and together, in challenging the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land–as this is a much under-publicized aspect of the Palestinian struggle. My other objective is to promote the book in a more personal way than just sending out emails and finding reviewers.
So it’s important to me that, as far as possible, at least one event in each location is one where copies of Refusing to be Enemies are available for sale.
Reviews have appeared in a number of print and on-line publications and include review essays by Simona Sharoni in the Journal of Palestine Studies and by US Quaker scholars Steve Chase and Stephen Zunes in the online journal Nonviolent Change Journal and in Middle East Policy, respectively. There is also a write-up by Andrew Stimson in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and reviews in Canadian and US Quaker publications and in Outlook–Canada’s Progressive Jewish Magazine. A review by Quaker academic and Middle East activist Anthony (Tony) Bing appeared in the January 2013 issue of Peace and Change: A Journal of Peace Research.
Outside of North America, Refusing to be Enemies has so far been reviewed in Palestine Chronicle (online), De Brug, a progressive Dutch-Jewish magazine, and in a Norwegian publication. Most recently, an a review by Rene Wadlow of Fellowship of Reconciliation appeared on the organization’s website (19 July 2013). You can also access an interview done by Mark Helpsmeet of Northern Spirit Radio in November of 2013 by going to the top of the home page of https://refusingtobeenemiesthebook.wordpress.com or to http://www.northernspiritradio.org/index.asp?command=showinfo&showid=660335846945. You can find out more about the book and access most of the reviews at https://refusingtobeenemiesthebook.wordpress.com as they become available.
Event Flyers – Many hosting committees design their own flyers; others prefer that I send them a template to work from (just add your time and place and sponsoring organizations). I currently have three versions and would be happy to send them to you.
Ordering info for US (CANADIAN HOSTS/ SPONSORS, PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE CALLING ISBS – I can help you avoid considerable additional charges from UPS for “customs brokerage”):
Bulk orders for events: A retail trade discount is available from ISBS, the North American distributor of Refusing to be Enemies, when 5 or more copies are ordered for resale. Purchaser gets a 40% discount on the US purchase price of $24.95 (Academics please note: books that appear on course reading lists only receive a 20% discount). Purchaser pays shipping from Portland, Oregon, but only needs to pay 50% of the order cost up front and has a month to get them the rest, and the distributor does accept returns. (This arrangement means, in effect, that one usually has recovered their original outlay before needing to pay the credit card statement).
Contact info to discuss ordering and discount terms with ISBS is:
Lenny Gerson, ISBS Marketing & Sales
direct line (503) 546-4935.
(or via 1-800-944-6190)
or by email at lenny@isbs.com .
Other costs:
Minimal. I’m not looking to make a profit, but I also have no funding to cover expenses. So what I generally do is request billeting with local activists plus some help with local food and travel costs, averaged among the cities I visit. Up to now this has come to between $25 and $50 per city, usually towards the lower end of that range. Certainly an amount that is easily recoverable by requesting a small donation at the door (with excess retained by the hosting group or donated to a worthy cause in Palestine or Israel).
With thanks,
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
refusingtobeenemiesthebook 