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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 providing affordable office and meeting space to our movement tenants, and using income from several commercial storefronts to offset expenses, the Institute provides a way for activist groups to stay in a convenient location while 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. What's new with the Muste building (5/14/12) Our Movement Tenants Deep Dish TV (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. Global Revolution TV (globalrevolution.tv) provides live streaming video coverage and content from the Global Revolution. Through GRTV, independent journalists on the ground broadcast news from the protest movement that began in Tunisia and Egypt, took shape as "Occupy Wall Street" in New York City, and is quickly spreading around the world. Global Revolution TV became a tenant at the Muste Building in October 2011. Granny Peace Brigade (www.grannypeacebrigade.org) uses creative tactics to educate the public about the threat and cost of war. The Grannies share an office with WILPF-NY Metro. Met Council on Housing (www.metcouncil.net/) is a citywide organization fighting for the rights of tenants since 1952. Met Council moved into the Muste Building in 2001. National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case (www.ncrrc.org) carries out research into the 1951 Rosenberg trial and disseminates information about judicial misconduct and constitutional rights in the courtroom. NCRRC shares an office with WILPF-NY Metro and Granny Peace Brigade. New York City Organizing Project (NYCORG) of New York State United Teachers (www.nysut.org) organizes new union locals, mostly in the private sector and primarily in higher education and other educational non-profits. As of December 2011, NYCORG is the Muste Building's newest tenant. New York State Youth Leadership Council (www.nysylc.org) is a statewide undocumented-youth-led organization that works on improving access to higher education and creating equal opportunity for immigrant youth and children of immigrants, regardless of immigration status, through leadership development, organizing and advocacy. NYSYLC moved into the Muste Building in November 2011. Paper Tiger TV (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 (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 (www.warresisters.org), founded in 1923, seeks to end war and injustice through nonviolent education and action. The League bought 339 Lafayette Street 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 (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. A Muste Building tenant since 1990, WILPF-NY Metro shares its small office with Granny Peace Brigade and the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case. Note: Libertarian Book Club and co-tenant Workers Solidarity Alliance vacated their office at the Muste Building in November 2011; Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York vacated its office at the end of October 2011. These groups don't need offices anymore but they're still around: Libertarian Book Club continues to organize its Anarchist Forum series, and the Nicaragua Solidarity Network still publishes Weekly News Update on the Americas. Both groups had been in the Muste building since 1987. |
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