Feb 28, 2024

PASS

Feb 29, 2024 — 4 min read

Friday Vigil

This Friday, March 1st, PASS will be commemorating Aaron Bushnell at the Friday Vigil for Palestine. Please bring flowers and candles. The Friday Vigil is from 4:30-6pm at the corner of Water St and 4th Ave.

COORDINATNG COMMITTEE UPDATE

From the coordinating committee,

1. Our next PASS meeting is Monday, March 4^th at 6:30 PM at the regular place, Friendship Hall, 220 SE Union, Olympia adjacent to the main building of the YWCA.

One of our members will be preparing a meal that is vegan and gluten free. There will be enough Kosharia, a Palestinian dish to feed all of us. A few Palestinian families are likely to join us. There is no charge although donations will go to the Gaza Children’s Relief Fund. Bring a dish or drinks or dessert if you want. If you cannot make it at 6:30 there should be food left over. The idea is to build community among us and the cook and organizer wants to thank all of us for our Palestine work. We will also have our regular meeting of PASS, starting no later than 7:15

2. At the suggestion of the legislative committee, we have decided to endorse the vote uncommitted in the March 12^th Presidential Primary. The ballots are already out. Please vote uncommitted in the Democratic Party primary. You don’t have to be a Democrat. The strong vote for uncommitted in today’s February 27^th primary in Michigan is getting a lot of attention, 14% as of 11 PM. For more information, see For more info visit the campaign website https://www.uncommittedwa.org

Please share our endorsement of voting “uncommitted” with friends and family and urge them to vote, uncommitted.

3. As you may have heard a courageous human being, Aaron Bushnell, burned himself to death on February 25^th, as a protest against the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza and US complicity. One of Aaron’s last words were, “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.”

This Friday, March 1, PASS will be commemorating Aaron Bushnell at the 4:30 to 6:00 vigil at Percival Landing. We hope to set up a table. Please bring flowers and candles.

5. PASS is endorsing the Tuesday, March 12^th action at The Washington Convention Center against the Boeing Defense Supplier Summit. More details including organizing carpools at the Monday meeting.

6. We are also endorsing the Poor People’s Campaign, March and Rally this Saturday, March 2^nd. People will begin to gather at 10 AM and then march to the Capitol for a rally beginning at Noon. This is part of a national campaign to end poverty and the extreme inequality of income and wealth.

7. Here is a link to the videorecording of the forum/debate that Peter took part in, last Wednesday, Feb 21st which included the main Olympia rabbi, Seth Goldstein. https://evergreen.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=629dcb9d-785c-4212-8627-b120001bd99a

PASS LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE UPDATE

PASS should back the Vote "Uncommitted" campaign and take immediate steps to communicate this message broadly.

Vote "Uncommitted" is the more effective campaign than writing in "Ceasefire" because it leverages the democratic party process more effectively. If we reached 15% of the vote the democratic party would need to assign uncommitted delegates to attend the national convention. Even if we don't reach 15%, the votes would at least be countable.

It is very important for voters to know that you cannot vote uncommitted and write in "Ceasefire" - if you do both, then your vote will be disqualified.

The American Muslim Action Council (AMAC) and other groups are working on this campaign and it is legitimate and well supported. There is also national level news on the "Vote Uncommitted" Campaign in Michigan, and so this presents an opportunity to participate in a national action/narrative building. The NH "Ceasefire" campaign never had such attention.
For more info visit the campaign website, https://www.uncommittedwa.org

Words of support from Nausheen: "If we want to be the most effective with our vote, I can't imagine a stronger option than voting "uncommitted". Uncommitted allows delegates to have bargaining power later on. Writing in "Ceasefire" doesn't have the same effect so I strongly urge you to rethink this campaign. The Muslims voters here in WA state are mobilizing for the "Uncommitted" option. We have power in numbers and we need to be together on this one for maximum impact. This has kept me up at night and I just want to make sure Biden doesn't get office again. We can't let him get away with the murder of almost 40,000 humans in Palestine. As a Muslim voter in WA, I can't say it strongly enough. Please let's get on the same page and begin the biggest campaign for "Uncommitted". I think we would be making a grave mistake in WA and losing a huge opportunity if we don't vote "Uncommitted"

This information needs to be shared out as soon as possible since people are beginning to turn in ballots.

Washington Coalition for Peace and Justice Advocacy Day Update

The placing of flags and images made it on Aljazeera.
The event made the Seattle Times with favorable coverage--very powerful speeches at lunch rally.
The meetings with representatives (Cindy, Nisreen, Nausheen and many others) met with Bateman and an aid to Doglio. There were other meetings that I don't have details for. Overall, there's a need for continued education and stressing the local and state connections to the crisis in Palestine.
Any follow up going forward?

Upcoming Legislative events:

Muslim Day at the Capitol is Thursday February 29th. (Organized by CAIR: Council on American Islamic Relations) Registration is still open. This half-day event will be a time for Muslims in Washington state to come together for community-building, advocacy, and education around civic engagement.