The American Friends Service Committee (afsc@crocker.com, 413-584-8975) is a major organization in the region which has been heavily involved in peace and justice work for many years. Along with Traprock and Jobs with Justice it coordinates an online calendar of regional peace and social justice events.


Traprock Center for Peace and Justice (info@traprock.info, 413- 773-7427), formerly named the Traprock Peace Center, has a long history of working for peace, nonviolence, and economic and social justice in the Hampshire/Franklin County area. Its vision is to provide a welcoming place; be a resource center; cooperate in the area's events calendar; hold programs that spark thoughtful discussion from different perspectives and include speakers and poets, book discussions, films and music, workshops and reports; initiate and support actions of resistance to policies of militarism and injustice; support ecological sustainability; address and support local struggles for sustainable ecology, energy issues, labor issues and the right to a living wage, and more.


The Mideast Peace Coalition of Western Massachusetts is a locally based educational and political organization that supports the struggle for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine which began in 1987, inspired by the liberating potential of the Palestinian uprising (intifada). Sponsored many speakers and has organized many community programs bringing news and analysis of current developments. MEPC has a list serve where you can post articles or notices of interest or join the discussion about events in the Middle East. To join send a blank email message to mepc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. To post: email to mepc@yahoogroups.com. If you wish to be on the mepc email list to receive notices of MEPC or related events, send an email request to feltondansky@verizon.net.


The Pioneer Valley Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice consists of people of many faiths, drawn together by our deep concern for the safety, justice and peace of people of the world. We believe that war increases the cycle of hatred, claims innocent lives, and distracts us from the work of ending poverty and injustice at home and abroad. We dedicate our actions to building a culture of peace, eradicating poverty, guarding human rights, and working under international law.


The Peace and Social Justice Studies Liberal Arts degree option at Greenfield Community College offers students an opportunity to understand the relationship between social justice, peace and culture. The program provides a focus for students interested in peace and social justice studies within the framework of the traditional skills and content of a liberal arts eduction. Professor Abbie Jenks, Advisor,413-775-1127.


Western Mass Jobs With Justice publishes four solidarity emails: Workers' Rights, Health Care Action, People's History, and the Solidarity Calendar. For more information about these and how to subscribe, click here. Often WMJwJ emails listing events are posted here as a section of the AFSC calendar.


Arise for Social Justice at 94 Rifle Street in Springfield is a low-income rights, anti-oppression membership organization in western Massachusetts. Arise was started in 1985 by four women on Welfare who met around a kitchen table and decided to organize and advocate for their Rights. Arise has grown over the years. Currently we have an Economic Justice Committee, an Electorial Committee, a Peace Committee, "The VOICE", a Community Newspaper, and the W.I.S.E. Committee (Women In Support of Each Other). Arise can be contacted via Michaelann Bewsee, 734-4948. A related listserv for discussion can be subscribed by sending email to AriseAction-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Here's directions to Arise.


The Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq has run a weekly vigil in Northampton center for several years as well as organizing other activities - speakers, film series, etc.


The Western Massachusetts office of A.N.S.W.E.R. /I.A.C. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism / International Action Center) is in Springfield: 413-538-8537, wmassiac@hotmail.com and sends email frequently. The national ANSWER has a website: www.internationalanswer.org/


The Zen Peacemaker Circle of Western Mass is open to people of all spiritual traditions. It integrates contemplation, loving social actions and tools of circle practice such as Council, non-violent communication and the Sociocratic method. Contact Margi Gregory for more information.


Montague Farm Zen House. Zen Houses, a new model for Buddhist practice, are residential centers devoted to serving the needs of people and communities in underserved areas of the world. People can also be involved as local volunteers.Zen Houses serve three goals: to train residential and community based Buddhist practitioners and interns in the practice of socially engaged Buddhism; to provide new and varied models for this practice; and to help alleviate suffering in the world. Zen Houses are community based, do not proselytize or convert, and serve anyone regardless of race, religion, orientation or gender.The Montague Farm Zen House, based at the Zen Peacemakers campus in Montague, serves Franklin County, with a focus on free community meals and food access, wellness, interfaith offerings, job support and training, and job creation. Contact Karen Werner for more information.


Western Mass Chapter of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom: Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace is a local chapter of the national grassroots Jewish organization Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, dedicated to promoting a negotiated two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in both the Jewish and wider communities. It advocates for a U.S. foreign policy which supports both Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab states in making the difficult compromises that are needed for a negotiated solution. Locally we have spent most of our energy in bringing peace and human rights advocates from Israel and Palestine to speak publically (to both Jewish and mixed audiences) and hold discussions about their peace work and what they need from American Jews and from all Americans to support their work for peace in the region. A list of our meetings is on our local chapter website. If you wish to be on the Brit Tzedek email list, go to the chapter website and enter your email and you will receive noties of Brit Tzedek events. Send email requests for local information to ctollopp@gmail.com


Amnesty International-Amherst : Our AI-Group 128 is part of more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, with complete independence from government, corporate or national interests, and who work to protect human rights worldwide. Amnesty International vision is of a world in which every person - regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We meet monthly in the Community Room at Jones Library. Coordinator: Mohamed Elgadi


Western Massachusetts Darfur Coalition (WMDC) A grassroots coalition of Sudanese and US activists to educate the public on the tragedy in Darfur and lobby legislators to end it. WMDC works and calls for a sustainable peace based on justice and against the over-militarization of the region. WMDC meets monthly on the third Tuesay 7-9pm at 135 East Hadley Rd. in Amherst. Coordinator Info: Fanny Rothschild


The Alliance to Develop Power / ADP (formerly the Anti-Displacement Project) is a membership-based community organization that works on such issues as worker and immigrant rights, health care, and affordable housing. ADP is nationally known for its model of cooperative economic development, having transformed 1,450 units of deteriorated housing to tenant owned permanently affordable coops, created worker-controlled businesses and food cooperatives which distribute 200,000 pounds of food annually. Immigrant and low wage members of the ADP Worker Center / Casa Obrera have secured over $500,000 in restitution from employers. ADP has developed hundreds of area leaders and created business and capital holdings collectively worth $45 million. These community-owned assets contribute $20 million a year in cash flow to the local economy. Caroline Murray, Director

The Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy and Torture (PVCAST) is a western Massachusetts grassroots organization composed of human rights activists, civil libertarians, and concerned members of the community. We gathered together in 2004 to protest our government's use of torture, indefinite detention without charge or trial, and illegal spying in the "War on Terror". Through public meetings, interviews with the press and public protests, we continue to bring the issue of torture and the denial of human rights into public awareness and discourse. PVCAST has petitioned Congress to prevent and then to repeal the 2006 Military Commissions Act and has demanded the closure of the Guantanamo Prison. We most recently celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Human Rights Day in December 2008. A video of that day is available. For more information or to join us contact Marty Nathan, phone 413-531-9915.

Physicians for Social Responsibility/Pioneer Valley is a chapter of the national PSR organization which is the U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. We meet at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and work on issues including nuclear disarmament, veterans' health including post-traumatic stress disorder, preventing war on Iran, bringing peace and reconciliation to Iraq, organizing to shut down Vermont Yankee, and forestalling global warming. For more information, contact Henry Rosenberg, phone 586-9781.

Organizations concerned chiefly with independent media and/or media reform:



Democracy Now! is available on many local cable channels and radio - here is a current schedule.



Western Massachusetts Independent Media Center is an outlet for media production by the people and for the people. We are part of a global network of autonomous, non-commercial media collectives united in solidarity and allied with a broad array of progressive groups and activists around the globe. The Wmass IMC promotes social, economic, and environmental justice by providing a local forum for people to publish writing, photos, audio, video, and art traditionally marginalized by corporate media. We are guided by the Principles of Unity set forth by the Global IMC and by a sense of social responsibility. Email: info@wmass.indymedia.org, listserv: wmass.indymedia.org/info/display/lists/index.php, a recent self-description




Valley Free Radio Local community activists and artists establishing a new 100-watt, low-cost, non-commercial, community based and volunteer-run FM radio station for the Greater Northampton area. They seek to educate, inspire and entertain through programming that reflects the diversity of the local community and provide a space for media access and education, placing equipment, skills and critical tools in the hands of the community. They aim to serve with particular regard for those overlooked or under-represented by other media and to provide a forum for the exchange of cultural and intellectual ideas and music. Listserv: to subscribe to the email list, send a blank message to: list-subscribe@valleyfreeradio.org



WMUA, 91.1 FM 105 Campus Center University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 Non-commercial broadcast facility serving the CT River Valley of MA, CT, and VT primarily run by full-time undergrads of UMass Amherst, but station members consist of under and grad students, faculty, staff and members of the surrounding communities, who donate their time and efforts to run the station. Become a station member by attending three consecutive general body meetings. Free training available to become a DJ, and once 'air-cleared' you can apply to produce your own program. General Body meeting schedule: Monday nights in the UMass Campus Center at 7pm. As of January 28, 2003, WMUA will carry Democracy Now! Email: wmua@wmua.org, phone: (413) 545-2876




Media Education Foundation (MEF) MEF produces and distributes video documentaries to encourage critical thinking and debate about the relationship between media ownership, commercial media content, and the democratic demand for free flows of information, diverse representations of ideas and people, and informed citizen participation. Sign up for their monthly email newsletter and updates about film screenings, etc. Intern opportunities. Address: 60 Masonic Street Northampton, MA 01060, email: info@mediaed.org, phone: (413) 584-8500



Turning Tide Productions Turning Tide Productions of Wendell, MA has been producing video documentaries chronicling grassroots social change movements for over 25 years. They're currently seeking volunteers to help in audio transcribing, graphic design, and website design for several anti-war video projects. For more information, contact: Robbie Leppzer, 800-557-6414, email: robbie@turningtide.com




Free Press Founded by author and professor Robert McChesney, Free Press is a national non-profit media reform organization. The birth of Free Press reflects a growing awareness that media reform is essential to fostering a functional democracy and advancing issues that most people actually care about. Address: 100 Main Street, PO Box 28, Northampton, MA 01061, email: www.freepress.net/about_us/contact, phone: (413) 585-1533

If you know of another organization located in western/central Massachusetts which is working for justice and peace or media reform, please tell us about it, with a description of the organization and some contact information. Please send this information to Conant(at)ecs.umass.edu for addition on this page. Thanks.