Peace Works 2011: Solidarity in Action

Rachel Corrie Foundation presents Peace Works 2011: Solidarity in Action, April 8-9, featuring Alice Walker
Olympia, WA – The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice will host its 2011 Peace Works event Friday and Saturday, April 8-9. Solidarity in Action is a weekend conference featuring acclaimed author and activist Alice Walker as keynote presenter. Walker will speak at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. on The Poet/Writer as Activist.

Best known for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Color Purple (1982), Walker is also the recipient of the National Book Award and author of more than thirty books. In March 2009, in the wake of Israel’s 22-day attack on Gaza, Walker travelled to Gaza with Cindy and Craig Corrie as part of a delegation led by Code Pink. Upon her return, Walker published a book of essays entitled Overcoming Speechlessness, which links the struggles for justice in Gaza, Eastern Congo, and Rwanda with the U.S. Civil Rights movement and the South Africa anti-Apartheid struggle.

The Peace Works 2011 conference, Solidarity in Action, includes two exciting days of networking, panels, and workshops at The Evergreen State College in Olympia. Panelists will address the current situation in Israel/Palestine and strategies for justice and peace, the growing international campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), and cross movement building. Local and national organizers will facilitate workshops to educate, motivate, and provide tools for community organizing. Workshop themes will include human rights and legal campaigns; consumer, campus, cultural, and interfaith BDS efforts; the civil trial in Israel in Rachel Corrie's case; and strategies for using media, art, and social networking to strengthen regional efforts for human rights and justice. The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project will present the next phase of its downtown Olympia mural, one of the city’s most beautiful and successful collaborative projects.

Peace Works is an annual project of The Rachel Corrie Foundation, which continues the work that Rachel Corrie began,
with her vision, spirit, and creative energy in mind.

LOCATION/DATE/TIME
PEACE WORKS CONFERENCE - Solidarity in Action: The Evergreen State College, Olympia,
Friday, April 8, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, April 9, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For information, updates, and registration, check www.rachelcorriefoundation.org/peaceworks/pw2011 or call the Rachel Corrie Foundation at 360-754-3998.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Alice Walker: The Poet/Writer as Activist, Washington Center for the Performing Arts,
512 Washington St. SE, Olympia, April 8, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $25 general public; $12.50 for students and low income, and will be available at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts; 360-753-8586; http://www.washingtoncenter.org/

Contact: Rebecca Pilcher, Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
Email: becca@rachelcorriefoundation.org
Phone: 360-754-3998

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