INTERMOUNTAIN YEARLY MEETING

Hello Friends,

Hot off the presses is our IMYM Spring Newsletter 2024!!
Click HERE (or on the photo below) to open a PDF and follow along with the latest news and updates from our region and beyond. 

If you need any assistance please contact online@imym.org.

The Peace and Social Justice Committee of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, responding to calls heard for information and action suggestions, offers this resource list. Feel free to suggest other resources. Questions to skipschiel@gmail.com.

Resource list for thinking about the violence in Gaza (human beings at our worst) and what we can do about it (human beings at our potential best)

Selected and organized by Skip Schiel

Information

Light in Gaza, Writings Under Fire, by authors currently in or from Gaza—published by Haymarket Books, organized by the American Friends Service Committee, electronic version currently free (audio book avail in March 2024)

Democracy Now, news broadcast, daily TV/radio Monday thru Friday 

Mondoweiss, reliable US-based news source focused on Israel-Palestine, podcast

United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), trustable, daily on-the-ground reports

B’Tselem, Israeli Human Rights Organization in the Occupied Territories

Jewish Currents, “a magazine committed to the rich tradition of thought, activism, and culture on the Jewish left and the left more broadly“

Palestine Portal, news, much of it faith-based

Organizations 

Jewish Voice for Peace, anti-Zionist, nonviolent, non-antisemitic activist organization (not necessary to be Jewish)

If Not Now Movement (primarily for Jews and their allies)

Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine-Boston area rallies and information about water-related topics

Advocacy

Legislators-call for an immediate ceasefire (or permanent?)

• Jewish Voice for Peace tools and daily “Power Half-Hours” to foster advocacy

• AFSC Action Hour – Ceasefire Now Every Friday at 12 p.m. ET/ 9 a.m. PT

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Media-writeletters to the editors, comments, etc

Discuss with family, friends, and your communities (like Friends Meeting Cambridge)

Attend and organize rallies, marches, vigils, etc

Join campaigns by the AFSC-Gaza Unlocked and Apartheid Free Congregations and Communities 

Visit the region (West Bank and Israel, Gaza perhaps in the future)

Online (and later, onsite) tours with Eyewitness Palestine

Onsite tours with Americans for Peace Now/Mejdi Tours (March 4 - 13, 2024, registration deadline: January 10, 2024)

Tree of Life Educational Foundation (FOSNA)

Memorial Travel Fund from Quakers Advocating Justice for Palestine

FMC actions

TBD: Another session about Gaza on either December 31 or January 7, both Sundays-check FMC announcements for details

Write a minute or statement (examples from AFSC and other Quaker organizations, New England Yearly Meeting, Wellesley Meeting,Northeast Kingdom letter to the editor 

For further background

Quakers in Israel-Palestine Time Line

Promised Land: the Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience(online and a free traveling exhibit)

Born in Gaza(available on Netflix)

Connecting with the Enemy, a Century of Palestinian-Israeli Joint Nonviolence, by Sheila Katz

Tracing Homelands, Israel, Palestine, and the Claims of Belonging, growing up during the Nakba of 1948 as a Jewish Israeli, by Linda Dittmar
Skip Schiel’s blog and website

Other Quaker organizations focused on Palestine-Israel

Quakers Advocating Justice for Palestine (QAJP)

Israel-Palestine Resource Group in New England Yearly Meeting (IPRG)-

Quaker Palestine Israel Network (QPIN)

Occupied West Bank

Al Jazeera (latest analysis and information, also about Gaza)

Amnesty International (background information)

Of Land and Bread, produced by B’tselem, available on Kanopy

Donations

Many of the organizations listed above accept donations and are reputable and effective.

QUAKERS in BOLIVIA

CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACT and ADAPTATION

“The ecological and climate crisis is, at its heart, a spiritual and moral crisis.” - Dr. Jennie Ratcliff

Travel to beautiful Bolivia and learn about the impacts of climate change on the land. See how Bolivians are adapting to meet these rapid and significant changes. Visit impacted areas to meet and exchange ideas with local climate change activists and former BQEF students working in communities vulnerable to climate change.

Come learn about Bolivia’s history and culture, from the pre-Inca traditions to the emergence of its plurinational state. Visit those who have dramatically improved their lives and communities with the

educational support of the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund (BQEF). Make warm personal connections with fellow travelers and Bolivian Friends.

Our study focus will be grounded in the work of U.S. Quaker Dr. Jennie Ratcliffe, author of Nothing Lowly in the Universe: An Integral Approach to the Ecological Crisis and Integrity, Ecology, and Community.

Drawing on Quaker testimonies and wisdom from other traditions and visionaries, the texts explore the spiritual principles that underpin an integrated deep ecology. Weaving these principles into discussions throughout the trip, we will explore attainable paths to long-term sustainability and a more peaceful and just world.

During the tour, we will travel to cities including Tiwanaku, Sorata, Copacabana, and Amacari, with the trip ending back in La Paz.

Cost: 14 nights, breakfasts, all travel, site entry and guide fees, flight from Sucre to La paz, $2,200.

For more information, please fill out this expression of interest questionnaire and we will send you the application forms. If you have any questions please contact our registrar Jim Morgan +1(412) 535-2078

(EST), qst.bolivia@gmail.com.

Registration due March 15th, 2024

The Worship and Ministry Committee of Albuquerque Monthly Meeting invites you to attend our twice-a-month online Meetings for Worship, held on the first and third Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:20 pm. Be sure to use the correct Zoom link as they are different from one another.

ZOOM IN:
1st Wednesday link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89750287720?pwd=eE9tREVBM1ZJSXVXKzU5WTMrNXUrZz09

3rd Wednesday link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85195820625?pwd=WDQxYW90V20zTXREZnYzSlpuVWlyZz09

We are inviting members and attenders from meetings within IMYM to join us, for the dual purposes of spiritual deepening and to foster fellowship beyond just the annual gathering. Please feel free to forward this email to Friends who might be interested in attending.

The format of this meeting is as follows: unprogrammed worship for one hour (7:00-8:00 pm) and then introductions, sharing of joys and sorrows, brief announcements, and time for fellowship. We request that you enter the meeting in silence. The first person to open the link will begin expectant worship. Participants will automatically be muted as they join. Please unmute only to give vocal ministry and then re-mute during the first hour.

Should you need help during the meeting, use Chat to send a direct message to the Host, who can be found under the Participant tab. Please avoid use of the chat for any other purpose during the worship hour, as many find it distracting.

Contact Henry Selters (505-985-4981) or Lynn Huxtable (505-688-2583) with any questions. We hope to see you there!

https://quakerspeak.com/video/the-lasting-trauma-of-quaker-indigenous-boarding-schools/

“Most Quakers still don’t know our history as participants in this enterprise of forced assimilation of Native people,” Paula Palmer says. “So the first thing that we have to do is learn the truth.”

In this video, Paula discusses Friends’ role in the traumas inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America since the arrival of European colonists—particularly in the administration of boarding schools where Native children were forced to abandon their heritage and embrace the ways of White Christian culture, where they would never be truly accepted as equals.

Although it’s easy to “shake our fingers” at previous generations, Paula warns us that retroactive judgment isn’t enough—Quakers today need to hold themselves accountable as well. “As we think about work that we do today as Friends,” she says, “we need to examine our own attitudes and make sure that ways that we are trying to do good in the world are not also coming out of a sense of superiority.”

Hello Friends,

Hot off the presses is our IMYM Fall Newsletter 2023!!
Click HERE (or on the photo below) to open a PDF and follow along with the latest news and updates from our region and beyond. 

If you need any assistance please contact online@imym.org.

Check out this article published in the Durango Herald about the 2023 Annual Gathering https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/quakers-from-four-corners-states-gather-in-durango/.