'Eye Witness Gaza' to be Presented at BCC
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — "Eye Witness Gaza," a presentation of stories and photographs from inside Gaza, will take place at 12:15 on Thursday, Dec. 2, at Berkshire Community College's main campus, in Room 111 of the Koussevitzky Arts Center. The program will be repeated at 7:30 in Room 207 of Hawthorne Hall. These presentations are free and open to the public.The conflict in Gaza (sometimes called the Gaza Strip, which is part of Palestine) is central to all conflict in the Middle East and beyond. Citizens of the United States have a key role to play in bringing peace to the region. But we will never fulfill that role as long as we, the citizens, do not know what is happening there.
It is rare for anyone to get into Gaza. The media is not allowed in; when U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney tried to deliver relief supplies her boat was seized in international waters, she was taken into custody and arrested by Israeli officials and an official delegation for the European Union had their permission to enter revoked just three hours before their scheduled border crossing. But Elliot Adams was fortunate to have been part of a Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility delegation that did successfully enter Gaza in October 2009. He was able to travel the length of Gaza and meet with government officials, NGOs, medical associations, cultural groups, university officials, and ordinary people.
No person can have the whole truth of a complex situation such as Gaza. Adams brings audiences one truth, which he presents with pictures and stories from inside Gaza.
Elliot Adams, past national President of Veterans For Peace, was a paratrooper in the infantry serving in Viet Nam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska. He has served his local community in upstate New York in a variety of capacities such as: President of the School Board, Mayor, Committee Chair of BSA Explorer Post 17, President of Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, and Master of the Masonic Lodge. He has done organizing work for United For Peace and Justice, War Resisters League, School of Americas Watch, Peace Has No Borders, Veterans For Peace and many other organizations.
Adams has transformed himself from soldier to nonviolent warrior. He has also done nonviolence and social movement trainings for Fellowship Of Reconciliation, School of Americas Watch, Peacemakers of Schoharie County, Student Environmental Action Coalition, War Resisters League and other groups. He is currently Nonviolent Training Coordinator of Veterans For Peace.
He is dedicating his life to stopping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and abolishing all war. The work has taken him from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Mexican border to Canada. He has testified before the U.S. Congress' Judiciary Committee, attended Parliament in Canada, and been arrested numerous times.
For more information on these events, contact Donald Lathrop at 413-236-4618 or dlathrop@berkshirecc.edu.
