Come and join us Tuesday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. for a night of reading and conversation with the Corrie family. Let Me Stand Alone, the recent publication of their daughter Rachel's journals and writings, is a strong and beautiful book, full of deep and resonating questions about life, love and the meanings of freedom.

Born in Olympia, WA on April 10, 1979, Rachel Corrie spent her young life as an active volunteer addressing problems of homelessness, hunger and the environment in the Pacific Northwest. Her love and care for humankind is evident throughout this book, and led her on fearless personal and physical journeys. After completing her studies at the Evergreen State College in liberal arts, Rachel traveled to Israel and Palestine in January 2003, where she served as a nonviolent peace activist until her death on March 16th. She was twenty-three years old.

Every person that takes the time to read this book will benefit tremendously, as it is more than just an inspiring and cleverly written collection of vignettes and reflections. Rachel possessed the kind of passion for humanity and light that is rare to be seen throughout the world, and should be shared by all. It is sure to be an event that resonates for years to come. Please do join Craig and Cindy Corrie in celebrating their daughter's life and love.

We'll see you there!

FROM THE CORRIES

Friends,

I am thrilled to announce the release of my daughter Rachel’s writings in the new book Let Me Stand Alone – The Journals of Rachel Corrie, published by W.W. Norton & Co. and available in bookstores and online! I am also excited to invite you to attend a series of book launch events across the country that Craig and I will be participating in during the month of April. We hope that you and your friends will join us to celebrate Rachel’s book at one of these events and that you will use the attached flyer to help us spread the word about each one.

A gathering is planned at the Lecture Hall Rotunda at the Evergreen campus beginning at noon to share in a reading from the new collection of Rachel Corrie's journals "Let Me Stand Alone." Everyone is welcome to reflect on her prose, poems and courage.

For additional information about the noon event contact Anna Murano ammurano@gmail.com

RACHEL CORRIE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL EVENT:

"How Do We Live Together?"

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

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 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.

Second meeting for planning/coordinating the weekend of March 14 to March 16 last night and the feedback from the progressive and activist community brings change.

We appear to be ditching the them of How Shall We Live Together.

I think the simmering resentments, the lack of accountability, the failure of justice in Gaza, in Washington DC, in Olympia make it difficult for significant parts of the community here to embrace the idea of living together with the more militaristic elements of mainstream cultures.  We aren't there yet. 

I can understand that. I get that.

We have lots of examples of unbridled use of military force against largely civilian populations around the world.

I look at South Africa's use of truth and reconciliation as a means to put a society back together, a way to figure out how the various populations of South Africa would live together, but that was done after apartheid was ended. And I think it was not as successful as it might have been as the change in political rule in South Africa has not created as great a change for the poor working class as might have happened. South Africa did not become Denmark with a happy population with a great safety net and a small military footprint in the world.

Here is what I understand to be the most current schedule of events planned:

Friday at or around noon, there will be an event at TESC to remember Rachel and her work. I am told that the following words capture some of Rachel's world view: Community, Education, Action. (Maybe that is our theme? Rachel: Community, Education, Action. We are continuing to work on that.)

Therese S is expected to be the point on that at this time.

Marylea and I were blessed yesterday to be invited to a meeting to discuss organizing, coordinating, planning events for the weekend of March 16th.

March 16th will be five years since Rachel Corrie's passing and the group would like to keep an underlying theme of remembering Rachel for all the events that weekend.  The Choral Society already has their War and Hope concert planned  for Sunday, March 16th at 7 pm. We will approach that group and invite them to openly connect their event with the other events that will be happening and remembering Rachel. 

The Olympia Friends Monthly Meeting - Friends/Quakers - will be welcoming our friend Adrien Niyongabo back to Olympia on that weekend.  We have an event planned for Adrien at the Longhouse at TESC for Sunday.  

Adrien is a survivor of the unimaginable violence in Rwanda and Burundi in the 1990s and he currently works with the African Great Lakes Initiative on surviving trauma, alternatives to violence, reintegrating communities where tribal/ethnic violence has riven the communities. 

I recommend the film Hotel Rwanda if you want to know more about what happened in Rwanda and Burundi in the early 1990s and if you can stand the subject matter. I also recommend the Frontline film Ghosts of Rwanda if you want to see a less glamorized version of the story.   

Marylea and I were blessed yesterday to be invited to a meeting to discuss organizing, coordinating, planning events for the weekend of March 16th.

March 16th will be five years since Rachel Corrie's passing and the group would like to keep an underlying theme of remembering Rachel for all the events that weekend. The Choral Society already has their War and Hope concert planned for Sunday, March 16th at 7 pm. We will approach that group and invite them to openly connect their event with the other events that will be happening and remembering Rachel.

The Olympia Friends Monthly Meeting - Friends/Quakers - will be welcoming our friend Adrien Niyongabo back to Olympia on that weekend. We have an event planned for Adrien at the Longhouse at TESC for Sunday.

Adrien is a survivor of the unimaginable violence in Rwanda and Burundi in the 1990s and he currently works with the African Great Lakes Initiative on surviving trauma, alternatives to violence, reintegrating communities where tribal/ethnic violence has riven the communities.

I recommend the film Hotel Rwanda if you want to know more about what happened in Rwanda and Burundi in the early 1990s and if you can stand the subject matter. I also recommend the Frontline film Ghosts of Rwanda if you want to see a less glamorized version of the story.

As mentioned in a previous post, I'll be occasionally posting writings from Will's chapbook, "This is the Life", along with the letters that Rachel Corrie sent home from Rafah.  There has been a fair bit of discussion on Olyblog about Rachel, the ISM, and the Israel/Palestine conflict in the last couple years, and I've decided it is unproductive to discuss the ISM without directly posting the writings of ISM activists.

The wells that Will mentions in the second piece here are the same (at least I'm pretty sure) as those written about by Rachel. 

Will's writings carry a "copyleft", which gives explicit permission to reproduce providing that doing so is not to make a profit.  Much of this writing can be found on this blog, where I've been slowly posting it for Will.       -Phil

BRAZIL 

After refugees were displaced to Rafah in 1948, several foreign governments aided with the construction of housing for refugees. One neighborhood of Rafah is called Brazil because the Brazilian government helped to build it.

Monsoor carries the metal brazier upstairs, walking backwards, cigarette burning down to filter in his mouth. He takes two legs, I take one. Logs burn between us, spilling the occasional coal on the tile stairs.

“Monsoor, I’m impressed!” I say.

As a result of recent speculations on Olyblog about the work of Rachel and other ISMer's in Palestine, I've decided to post writings both from Rachel as well as from Will Hewitt, who was in Rafah at the same time. 

This first letter from Rachel mentions Israeli "towers", as well as bulldozed wells.  There were, at the time (I am uncertain as to whether the towers were removed during the "withdrawal" -which really only referred to the settlements- from Gaza), actual guard/sniper towers on the ends of most of the major streets in Rafah.  These towers were very dangerous as soldiers often shot randomly into the busy streets of Rafah, frequently killing or injuring pedestrians and school children. Tom Hurndall, a UK national and ISM activist, was killed by a bullet from one of these towers not long after Rachel's death.

As well, destruction of basic Palestinian infrastructure is a common tactic for the Israeli military, a tactic often used for collective punishment of Palestinians.  Wells are a common target, and Rachel and other ISMer's have spent a good deal of time camping at Palestinian wells to protect them from the IDF.

Rachel's letters from Palestine are available on the internet and are not copyrighted.  You may download them in booklet form here.

Hi friends and family, and others,