Friday, April 25, 2008, 5-9pm
Saturday, April 26, 2008, 12-4pm
Alley next to 211 4th Avenue East, Olympia, WA

Come and paint a tile that will be permanently displayed in the Olympia-Rafah Mural on the Olympia Labor Temple building. Add your voice for peace, in the form of a painted ceramic olive leaf, which will be one of many leaves of a giant painted olive tree. Visually express solidarity with our sister city of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, and your desire for peace in the middle east — no experience necessary!

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LET ME STAND ALONE:
The Journals of Rachel Corrie
Tour Schedule with Cindy and Craig Corrie
and featuring Special Guest Readers

The book tour will come to San Francisco, Seattle, Olympia, Portland Oregon, Washington DC, New York, Iowa City, and Minneapolis.

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From the Middle East to Africa: Dynamics of Destruction and Rebuilding

Sunday, March 16, 2008, 3-6pm, Olympia Ballroom, 116 Legion Way, Olympia

A forum,”How Do We Live Together? From the Middle East to Africa: Dynamics of Destruction and Rebuilding,” will commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, local resident and Evergreen student killed by an American-made Caterpillar bulldozer in Rafah, Palestine, as she stood to defend a home from demolition. The event on Sunday, March 16th, is from 3-6 p.m. at the Olympia Ballroom, 116 Legion Way SE, in Olympia and will feature three speakers with connections to Palestine and Central and East Africa. Adrien Niyongabo, of mixed Hutu and Tutsi parentage, was threatened with death by both tribes but now works on truth-telling, healing, and reconciliation. Jen Marlowe, author of Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival has recently returned from Gaza and is writing a book and play based on the experiences of her friends in Palestine and Israel. Dr. Steve Niva teaches International Politics and Middle East Studies at The Evergreen State College and has written on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for numerous publications, including Peace Review and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Niyongabo, Marlowe, and Niva will speak to the dynamics of destruction and rebuilding in the Middle East and Africa and to the continuing relevance of Rachel Corrie’s life and message.

The free event is sponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice and the Olympia Friends Meeting (Quakers). Donations to support the work of the Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities program of the African Great Lakes Initiative and the work of the Rachel Corrie Foundation will be accepted. For information, call +1-360-754-3998.

Memorial events to commemorate the life and work of Rachel Corrie will take place in several cities:

Pineville, NC

The Islamic Center of Charlotte-South will hold a memorial for Rachel Corrie on Saturday, March 15 at 8:00 p.m. Rachel’s work for peace and justice will be remembered by the reading of her last words and watching her last recorded interview and a documentary on the plight of the Palestinian people. As we remember her death, we will also remember another 5th anniversary (the invasion of Iraq) and all the victims of unjust war and violence. The event will take place at 559 N. Polk St. Pineville, NC. Contact: Jibril Hough at (704)258-0304.

Vancouver, WA

Vancouver for Peace is holding a Vigil for Rachel Corrie on Sunday, March 16, 7:00-8:00 p.m. at the Bell Tower in Esther Short Park, which is located at West Sixth and Columbia. If it is raining, the event will be in the band shell. Contact: Wilbur Wood at tablesforpeace@aol.com.

Park Falls, WI

There will be a vigil in honor of Rachel on Monday, March 17 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on the corner of Hwy. 13 and County Rd. E in Park Falls, WI. Those interested may call Don Timmerman and Roberta Thurstin at 715-762-8239 or e-mail us at don2roberta@yahoo.com.

Fitchburg, MA

There will be an antiwar vigil on March 19 in Fitchburg, which will also be an occasion to remember Rachel Corrie and her efforts on behalf of the Palestine people. Contact: Bob Flanagan at irishbob54@verizon.net.

For additional vigils and educational events, please see the web site of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, at http://www.endtheoccupation.org/calendar.php.

Jen Marlowe, a documentary filmmaker, human rights activist, and family friend of the Corries, recently visited Gaza . Here is a piece she wrote about her experiences, originally posted on TomDispatch.com and reposted with kind permission from Jen.

The Tightening Noose

Gaza under Hamas, Gaza under Siege
By Jen Marlowe

Images from Rafah flicker on my computer screen. Gazans blowing up chunks of the wall that stood between them and Egypt, punching holes in the largest open-air prison in the world and streaming across the border. An incredible refusal to submit.

I learn via email that my friend Khaled Nasrallah rented a truck in order to drive food and medicine from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. He was acting for no humanitarian organization. He’s just a resident of Rafah, a Palestinian town which borders Egypt, with a deep need to help and an opportunity to seize.
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