2023 PASI Highlights
On August 6, 2023 – PASI and the Unitarian Church of SI hosted a Hiroshima/Nagasaki program where the Mighty String Demons, directed by Sandie Bobrow, performed and read from Sadako and the One Thousand Paper Cranes to a full house.
On June 24, 2023 – PASI held a “PASI says Hands Off Haiti” meeting with Jean Claude Cajou and Marline Charles.
On April 29, 2023 – PASI held a “Move the Money NYC” meeting with Tom Gogan and with movement music by Rob Landsmann and Elle LaForge.
On April 22, 2023 – PASI participated in an Earth Day Beach Clean Up at Fort Wadsworth.
On January 21, 2023 – PASI held a “Come Together to Go Forward” concert and conversation with musicians Kevin Norton and Julia Sane Simonello.
PASI members distributed flyers at the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, attended vigils against racist and gender-based violence, and lobbied our Congressional Representative Nicole Malliotakis on Peace Action issues.
The 2023 Indigenous People's Day Barbecue/Make Food Not War Picnic at Willowbrook Park took place on Monday, October 9th, from 1-6pm in the picnic area (2 Eton Place, Staten Island). Folks just brought a chair, a summer dish or dessert to share. QUEEN TIPSY, Staten Island’s fabulous blues band played!
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration Concert with the Mighty String Demons
Sanchie Bobrow, Director
will present
Sadako
A musical performance and literary event
in commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed by an origami crane workshop
Featuring Guest Artists
Nicole Azzarelli on Guitar
and Kazuo Nakamura on Double Bass
at
The Unitarian Church of Staten Island
312 Fillmore Street, Staten Island, NY 10301
Sunday, August 6 at 1:00 PM
Admission is FREE
Suitable for children ages 8+ and their families.
This event is being presented in collaboration with Peace Action Staten Island who shares a vision of world peace in which the menace of nuclear weapons has forever been erased from our planet and war has been abolished as a method of solving conflicts.
This event is made possible (in part) by an Encore Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Join us for "PASI says Hands Off Haiti!"
Come and hear two Haitian activists: Jean Claude Cajou & Marline Charles.
Followed by music with “Charlie” Charles who will perform Haitian & international songs. Discussion to follow.
SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2023
5 PM – 7 PM
Unitarian Church of Staten Island Parish Hall
312 Fillmore Street, Staten Island
Facebook EVENT Link (please share!)
Move the Money NYC!
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
5 PM – 7 PM
Unitarian Church of Staten Island Parish Hall
312 Fillmore Street, Staten Island
Peace Action of Staten Island will be holding an open, public meeting to bring Staten Islanders up to date on the Move the Money NYC Campaign. Nominations for the PASI board will be announced at this meeting.
When our cities can't find enough money for housing, healthcare, child care, quality education and infrastructure, while Congress finds plenty of money for weapons makers and endless wars, we say: IT'S TIME TO MOVE THE MONEY.
Move The Money–NYC (mtmnyc.org) is a coalition of over 60 labor, peace, community, faith, environmental, and social and racial justice organizations working for passage of NYC Resolution 423. This resolution calls for the federal government and its legislators to move significant funds away from the military budget in order to fund human needs and services and for in-depth public hearings by the New York City Council on the basic human needs of City residents that are unmet because of government appropriations for the Pentagon.
Currently, Peace Action of Staten Island and the Staten Island Democratic Association are members of the Move the Money NYC Coalition. We invite representatives from other groups to attend and learn about the campaign and join, too.
To send an email letter to your Council Member in support of the Move the Money NYC Resolution, CLICK HERE.
Our email letter tool makes it easy!
Guest speaker is Tom Gogan who has long organized in the NY/NJ metro area. His work on housing in Manhattan soon led to working in Williamsburg with the People’s Firehouse in the 1970s; he next helped lead the Union of City Tenants in city-owned “in rem” buildings in the 1980s across three boroughs. Later Tom worked as a union staff organizer, working in the private and public sectors here in New York & New Jersey, much of that with immigrant workers. He joined the staff at U.S. Labor Against the War in 2006 and worked with unions across the country in opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After retiring in 2017, Tom helped launch the Move the Money-NYC coalition, which now counts a broad range of organizations across every borough of the city. He is a proud member of Brooklyn for Peace, Veterans for Peace and PANYS – all of which have been key to Move the Money’s growing success.
Guest folk musicians Rob Landsmann and Elle LaForge have played on Staten Island at various festivals, coffee shops, farmers markets and art galleries. They founded and ran the Staten Island Acoustic Music Society (SIAMS) which held monthly shows from 2009 - 2019 at the Everything Goes Book Cafe (ETG) in the Tompkinsville neighborhood. Rob & Elle were the folk cantors for Congregation OM ShalOM, and they sing and perform with the choir at the Unitarian Church of Staten Island. Rob & Elle live in St. George, S.I. and in Hubbard, Ohio.
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023 10 AM – 12 PM
FREE PASI T-SHIRT FOR MEMBERS!
PASI will be joining Staten Islanders for a clean up in conjunction with National Park Service. We will help remove plastics from our environment and find out how our daily choices affect our ecology.
PASI members will receive FREE PASI T-SHIRTS at this event to wear proudly as we help in the clean up.
For more info, call Jim Scarcello (718) 873-4291.
DIRECTIONS: Take Bay Street to the end and go through the Fort Wadsworth entrance. Continue onto New York Ave for .4 miles. Turn left onto Hudson Rd for 500 feet. Turn right onto USS North Carolina Rd and park (if you are driving). If coming by bus, take the S51
"Come Together To Go Forward: Concert and Conversation"
Unitarian Church of Staten Island Parish Hall
312 Fillmore Street (at Clinton Ave.), Staten Island, NY 10301
January 21st from 5:00 - 7:00 PM
FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC
Peace Action of Staten Island invites you to attend its first gathering in 2023 in the Parish Hall of the historic Unitarian Church of Staten Island. This gathering will combine a concert featuring percussionist and composer Kevin Norton with a conversation about where Staten Island activism is going in the new year. Kevin will be joined by Staten Island musician Julia Sane Simoniello. We invite Staten Island activists working on peace, racial justice, climate change, criminal justice, immigration, education, labor organizing, and voting rights to come talk about their work.
Musician Kevin Norton was raised in Staten Island and often returns here to perform, most recently at the ETG Book/Cafe. He is an American percussionist and composer active in the New York City jazz and contemporary music scenes. He has performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians, including Anthony Braxton, Paul Dunmall, Milt Hinton, Fred Frith, David Krakauer, Joëlle Léandre, Frode Gjerstad, Wilber Morris, James Emery, Bern Nix, Julia Sane Simoniello, and many others.
This PASI event is free and open to the public. During the meeting portion of this event, PASI members in good standing will be selecting their Nomination Committee for the 2023 PASI Board Nominations. To renew your membership, use the link at the bottom of the email.
If you can volunteer to help with this event (for setting up, bringing refreshments, and clean up), please contact us at pasi.contact@gmail.com
Join Peace Action of Staten Island, Friends and Community Activists.
When: Monday, October 10, 2022 at 1 pm
Peace Action will present their 2022 Peace Maker Honorees at 3:30pm.
Entertainment by Queen Tipsy!
Where: Willowbrook Park, 1 Eton Place, Staten Island, NY
The Willowbrook Park picnic area is past the Carousel for All Children off Richmaond Ave., Staten Island. 2 Eton Place
What to bring: Chair and food to share.
Everyone welcome.
FREE.
Forum on the War in Ukraine.
Thursday, Sept. 15, 7-9pm
Speakers:
Paul Jay, host of theAnalysis.news, creator of counterSpin
Mark Di Ionno, volunteer in Ukraine for four months
Jaroslaw Salak, organizer against imperialist war & racism
Moderator: Emily Rubino, Executive Director Peace Action NY state
Followed by questions & open discussion
Stop the War in Ukraine!
Peace Action of Staten Island wants a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine. PASI understands that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has deep historical roots, PASI also acknowledges that the post-World War II Cold War between the U.S.S.R. and its former allies (the United States of America, England, and France) is a major factor in this current conflict. The collapse of the U.S.S.R. into Russia and several other independent nations, has certainly strengthened the power of NATO.
The leaders of the U.S., N.A.T.O, Russia and the Ukraine need to increase their efforts to seek a peaceful end to this conflict, by decreasing their own saber-rattling and by opening multiple channels of communication and diplomacy.
Ukraine’s huge stockpiles of grain are only now beginning to be exported to feed millions of people in poor countries. How many must starve to death before this conflict ends?
PASI believes that people need to pressure their leaders to end this conflict quickly and peacefully to avoid the possible use of nuclear weapons.
Speaker Bios:
Paul Jay is a journalist and filmmaker. He’s the founder and host of theAnalysis.news, a video and audio current affairs interview and commentary show and website. Jay was the co-creator and co-executive producer of Face Off and counterSpin, nightly prime time debate programs that ran for ten years on CBC Newsworld.
Mark Di Ionno, author and journalist, has spent about four months of the seven-month Russian invasion into Ukraine in either Poland, helping with the refugee crisis, or in Ukraine delivering humanitarian aid and military supplies. He is a U.S. Navy veteran, and a self-described strong believer in democratic freedoms. Mr. Di Ionno was a 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist in news commentary for the Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper.
Jaroslaw Salak has been an organizer against imperialist wars and racism since the 1960s. He taught U.S. history to high school students. He was in Ukraine in 2014 and speaks Ukrainian.
Moderator: Emily Rubino, Executive Director of Peace Action New York state, is an International Peace Bureau Council Member and a Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security board member. She attended the World Conference Against A&H Bombs in Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Emily is dedicated to activism that recognizes the connections between domestic social justice struggles and international human rights struggles, and continues to advocate for a less oppressive world.
You are invited to this year’s Hiroshima/Nagasaki Community Commemoration Outdoor Gathering which is an annual collaboration between Peace Action of Staten Island and the Unitarian Church of Staten Island and is part of the church's Summer Forum Series.
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Community Commemoration Outdoor Gathering
Sunday, August 7, 2022, from 11 am to 1 pm
Unitarian Church of Staten Island Backyard, 312 Fillmore Street
This is one block east of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center.
Enter via big gate on Fillmore Street.
This will be an informal gathering in the church’s backyard with a display on the church’s fence of photos educating the public about the devastation wrought by the atom bombs on Japan in 1945 and the need to abolish nuclear weapons. The informal gathering will include a pot luck of summer fair, a table for origami and crafts for children, and a short program of reflections and music. Attendees are invited to bring a short poem or personal reflection to read out loud on what this anniversary means to them. The young wonderful violinists, Eric and John Michaels, will perform, as well as other musicians.
The purpose of the gathering is to encourage our community to reconnect around values of peace and social justice.
Attendees will follow the COVID protocols of the church. The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. ENTER the backyard through the GATE on FILLMORE STREET. You are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and a summer refreshment that can be shared, although this is not required. If you can’t bring anything at all, no worries -- please come anyway!!
PASI Annual Meeting & Board Elections by ZOOM
Special Guest: Kawthar Abdullah of the Yemen Alliance Committee
Thursday, May 19, 2022
7 PM – 8:30 PM EDT by ZOOM
Join Zoom Meeting
Peace Action of Staten Island (PASI) invites you to attend our annual meeting where we vote on a new Board for 2022-2023. We will also have a special guest, Kawthar Abdullah of the Yemen Alliance Committee. She has been speaking out on the need to end the war in Yemen and working for Congress to act to end the U.S. involvement in this war. Please join us!
Kawthar Abdullah is a Yemeni American woman who juggled between Yemen and NYC throughout her life. She’s an organizer with the Yemeni Alliance Committee. Kawthar leads the YAC NY chapter. She’s also a manager of a non-profit organization in NYC dedicated to the empowerment of women. Kawthar holds a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies and international relations.
Peace Action NYS Photos: Protests in front of Congressional offices calling for an end to the war in Yemen. (Kawthar Abdullah is the speaker with the bullhorn.)
PASI Speak Out on Ukraine
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Peace Action of Staten Island (PASI) held a speak out on the war in Ukraine. It is heart-wrenching to watch what is happening to the Ukrainian people. Peace Action National, with which PASI is affiliated, is the largest peace organization in the United States, and we have always stood for diplomacy as the solution to conflict. We want to hear what you think.
Native American Voting Rights - January 13, 2022
Our guest was investigative reporter Stephanie Woodard, author of American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle for Self-Determination and Inclusion. She interviewed leaders of Four Directions voting-rights group from the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, in South Dakota. We will also heard from Mari Inoue of the Manhattan Project for a Nuclear Free World about the Roses to Mission Project honoring the 1st anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19
A Zoom Forum hosted by Peace Action of Staten Island Saturday, January 23, 2021, from 2 PM to 4 PM.
A panel of experts addressing a range of human rights issues that are exacerbated on Staten Island as a result of the pandemic, including the rights to housing, food, safety and health.
