This week: Palestine cooking, culture & resistance with Laila El Haddad

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Sun Oct 27 09:57:24 PDT 2013


*Palestine events this week and Action Alert:*

* Laila El-Haddad will be speaking in Sacramento & Grass Valley*

*Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013, 7pm*, The Gaza Kitchen: Cuisine & Resistance in
Palestine. Journalist and author Laila El-Haddad will offer a cooking
demonstration as she shares about Palestinian culture and struggle on tour
with her new book, The Gaza Kitchen. El-Haddad blogs under the title of her
first book, Gaza Mom. Centennial United Methodist Church, 5401 Freeport
Blvd, Sacramento. FMI: sacpeace at dcn.org; 916-448-7157

*Wednesday, Oct 30, 2103*, 7:30pm, The Gaza Kitchen: Cuisine & Resistance
in Palestine featuring journalist and author Laila El-Haddad. Sierra Pines
United Methodist Church, 22559 W. Hacienda Dr, Grass Valley. FMI:
paulaorloff at yahoo.com

*Thursday, Oct 31, 2013,* 12 - 1pm, The Gaza Kitchen: Cuisine & Resistance
in Palestine featuring journalist and author Laila El-Haddad. Rhodda Hall
North Room 258, Sacramento City College, 3835 Freeport Blvd, Sac. FMI:
bahhurr at scc.losrios.edu

--------------

*Action Alert from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression: *

Call U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Barbara McQuade,
313-226-9501 or 313-226-9100 and tell her to drop the charges again Rasmea
Yousef Odeh

October 23, 2013

The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) condemns the politically-motivated
arrest and indictment of Rasmea Yousef Odeh, our beloved Associate
Director. The sixty-five year old was arrested at her home yesterday by
agents from the Department of Homeland Security, alleging an immigration
violation on a 20-year-old application. Rasmea, who has made it her life's
work to serve and help empower Palestinian and Arab families, is the victim
of another witch-hunt by our federal law enforcement agencies, which
continue to violate the civil rights of Arabs and Muslims with impunity,
particularly those who are critical of U.S. support for Israel's crimes
against the Palestinian people.

 Rasmea is a leading member of Chicago's Arab and Muslim communities, and
her decade of service here has changed the lives of thousands of people,
particularly disenfranchised Arab women and their families. She has been
with the AAAN since 2004, and as Associate Director, is
responsible for the management of day-to-day operations and the
coordination of our Arab Women's Committee, which has a membership of close
to 600 and leads our work in the areas of defending civil liberties and
immigrant rights. She is a mentor to hundreds of immigrant
women, as well as many members of our staff and board, and is a well-known
and respected organizer throughout Chicagoland, the U.S., and the world.

 Earlier this year, Rasmea received the "Outstanding Community Leader" from
the Chicago Cultural Alliance, which described her as a woman who has
"dedicated over 40 years of her life to the empowerment of Arab women,
first in her homes of Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon, where
she was an activist and practicing attorney, and then the past 10 years in
Chicago."

 Rasmea is a community icon who recently completed a Master's degree in
Criminal Justice from Governors State University. She overcame vicious
torture by Israeli authorities while imprisoned in Palestine in the 70s,
and is a proud reminder of the millions of Palestinians who have not given
up organizing for their rights of liberation, equality, and return.

 It is appalling that our government is now attempting to imprison her once
again. We condemn this attack on our friend and colleague Rasmea, as well
as the broader pattern of persecuting Arabs and Muslims who are outstanding
and outspoken leaders in their communities in the U.S.

 We ask all of our supporters to call Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, at 313.226.9501 or
313.226.9100 [11], on Friday, October 25th, from 8 AM to 4 PM CST, to
demand that she Drop the Charges Now!

 We will also be mobilizing to support Rasmea at her next hearing in
Detroit on November 1st. Details coming soon.

 And for more information, email the Coalition to Protect People's Rights
at cppr at aaan.org

 "Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by
appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them."    -
Assata Shakur
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