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The Muste Building In 1978, with a dream of establishing a permanent home in New York for the nonviolence movement, the Muste Institute purchased a three-story loft building in downtown Manhattan from the War Resisters League and began managing it as part of our program work. By subsidizing the office rents for our movement tenants, and using income from several commercial storefronts to offset expenses, the Institute provides a way for activist groups to maintain low-cost offices in a convenient location, freeing up vital resources for their social justice work. As the real estate market in New York City tightens, 339 Lafayette Street — affectionately known as the "Peace Pentagon" — remains a sanctuary for the movement. The Future of the Muste Building . Our Movement Tenants Deep Dish TV (http://www.deepdishtv.org/), a Muste Building tenant since 1990, links independent videomakers and activists with local television access producers in a progressive national satellite network, educating and mobilizing the public through creative TV. Libertarian Book Club, founded in 1945 to promote anarchist ideas and discussion of social issues, has been a Muste Institute tenant since 1987. Metropolitan Council on Housing (http://www.metcouncil.net/), a Muste Building tenant since 2001, is a New York citywide membership organization fighting for the rights of tenants since 1952. New York Transfer (http://www.blythe.org/), founded in1985 and a Muste Building tenant since 1995, works to disseminate alternative news and information through the internet. Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, formed in 1987 by several groups already based at the Muste Building, seeks to educate the public about US intervention and grassroots resistance in Latin America through its Weekly News Update on the Americas and Immigration News Briefs publications. Paper Tiger TV (http://www.papertiger.org/), a volunteer video collective founded in 1981 to challenge and expose the corporate control of mainstream media, has been a Muste Institute tenant since 1986. Socialist Party USA (http://sp-usa.org/), founded in1901 and a Muste Institute tenant since 1998, carries out educational work and organizing geared toward building a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control. War Resisters League (http://www.warresisters.org/), founded in 1923, seeks to end war and injustice through nonviolent education and action. The League bought the Muste Building in 1969 from the original owner and sold it to the Muste Institute in 1978. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Metro NY Chapter (http://www.wilpfnymetro.org/), founded in April 1915, works for world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice and an end to all forms of violence. WILPF's NY Metro chapter has been a Muste Building tenant since 1990. |
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