The PAR Mission is to inform the greater New Haven community about the activities of many progressive groups, so that people may learn about them and become involved in discussions and actions on issues for the common good, such as peace, health, racial equity, justice, clean energy and the environment.
Please submit copy to PAR’s e-mail address: [email protected]
No e-mail? Call Paula at (203) 562-2798 to find out how to submit your article. There is a 350 word limit.
Next Planning Meeting date is Mon., March 2 at 7:30 p.m….all welcome…call (203) 562-2798 for location
Subscription: $13 for 10 issues, check payable to PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504
by Shelly Altman, Jewish Voice for Peace
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) will be holding its bi-annual National Membership Meeting (NMM) in Baltimore on March 13-15. Over 500 activists united for human rights in Israel and Palestine will share experiences, discuss and debate, learn new skills, and strengthen the activist community.
JVP has grown from one modest local organizing group in Berkeley in 1996 to a national organization with 72 chapters across the country in 2015. New Haven’s JVP chapter formed in 2014, and will be represented by 7 attendees. JVP nationally has over 9,000 members and nearly 200,000 on-line supporters–people who are demanding equal justice for all, building dynamic new alliances, and transforming Jewish community.
The National Membership Meeting is called “We’re Not Waiting” because the phenomenal work and successes of the last year show that JVP is breaking through into the mainstream, and that no one’s permission is needed to stand up and put it all on the line now in the the fight for justice.
Attendees at the 2013 NMM found it transformative. The 2015 schedule includes plenary sessions with keynote speakers Angela Davis, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Sa’ed Atshan, representatives from Badil and Zochrot, Eran Efrati, and JVP executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson. There are close to 50 breakout sessions on a wide variety of topics. Some examples: “From the Southwest Border to Palestine: Occupation, Militarization, and Resistance,” “Beautiful Trouble: Creative, Strategic Organizing Tactics, Tips, and Tools for Victory,” and “Theatre of the Oppressed: Building Solidarity by Recognizing our Privileges and Oppressions.”
Shabbat services will be held Friday and Saturday, with Havdallah marking the end of Shabbat on Saturday evening.
You can reach the New Haven JVP chapter at the following: www.jvpnh.org, email: [email protected] facebook: jvpnewhaven, twitter: @jvpnewhaven
We’ll be reporting back in a future PAR newsletter on the highlights of the NMM.
Stanley Heller, based on his interview with Talia Gallagher for Indian Country Today Media Network
Talia Gallagher, a North Haven High School alumnus, is seeking to have the Board of Education change its sports team mascot. Currently the mascot is the “Indians.” The logo is like a stereotypical Plains Indian with a headband and several feathers. There was nothing particularly vicious in the way it was done, just unthinking. Students at games chant “tribe pride” and put on so-called “war paint.” Last year the girl who was winner of the school spirit contest was photographed wearing a full feathered headdress.
There is a campaign to change the name of the Washington pro football team away from the disgusting word “Redskins.” The word “Indians” itself isn’t offensive, but more and more people of Indian nations are speaking out against the practice of demeaning Indian nations by using them as mascots. There’s even a hashtag: #NotYourMascot.
Gallagher’s petition says the simple truth: “Towns and cities all around the country are starting to switch over to appropriate team names and mascots and it is time for North Haven to join the movement. Our town must take a stand and change the old and disrespectful ways people think about race.” Find it on Facebook by looking for “Change North Haven Indian Mascot.”
The New Haven Register says it’s time to abandon Indian mascots and notes there are 23 Connecticut teams with some variation of Indian mascot names. Quinnipiac University in Hamden changed the name of its mascot from the Braves to the Bobcats in 2002.
Besides signing the petition you can help by attending the North Haven Board of Education meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, at 5 Linsley St., North Haven. Even if you don’t live in the town you can applaud the speakers who support changing the mascot name.
Kim Stoner, Board of Directors, Promoting Enduring Peace
Promoting Enduring Peace would like environmental groups to join us in mobilizing a broad coalition in support of nuclear disarmament this April in New York City.
Specifically, we invite you to participate in the Peace and Planet International Conference for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World on April 24 and 25, and the rally and march on April 26. When representatives of the nations of the world gather at the United Nations for the 5-year Review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we want to deliver the message to these representatives that the peoples of the world want good faith negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons, as required by the Treaty since it entered into force in 1970.
Despite the end of the Cold War and President Obama’s pledge in 2009 to seek a “nuclear-free world,” there are about 17,000 nuclear weapons in existence worldwide, including over 7,000 in the US and 8,000 in Russia. According to a recent federal report on modernization of the US nuclear arsenal, over $1 trillion will be spent to upgrade US nuclear weapons over the next 30 years.
Proliferation of nuclear weapons also increases the likelihood of their use in regional conflicts, such as between India and Pakistan. This would, of course, result in tremendous human mortality and suffering and regional environ-mental effects from the blasts, the pressure waves, direct radiation and radioactive fallout. In addition, even a relatively small regional nuclear war (using 50 weapons on each side) would have devastating global environmental effects by sending vast amounts of smoke and soot into the atmosphere resulting in a nuclear winter lasting for a decade or more.
The continuing threat of nuclear weapons has, for many of us, been present our entire lives. As a result, it requires a big psychological step for us to realize that the nuclear war culture, like the reliance on fossil fuels, is an aspect of our civilization that can and must change.
Please join us in organizing for the Peace and Planet events. For the specific demands of the organizers, please go to www.PeaceandPlanet.org.
by Bina Walker, Graduate Assistant, Women’s Studies Program SCSU
The 64 Days officially begins each year on Jan. 30, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, and ends on April 4, the day we commemorate Dr. King. In our twelfth annual observation of the 64 Days at SCSU, we continue to celebrate the peace and justice heritage in many of our cultures and heritages, including our observation of Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian/Pacific Heritage Month.
Please join the Women’s Studies Program at Southern Connecticut State University for the following events.
All events, except the 20th Annual African American Women’s Summit, are at SCSU, 501 Crescent St., New Haven.
by Stan Nishimura, Stop Mass Incarceration Network/New Haven
The Stop Mass Incarceration Network held a national conference on the weekend of Feb. 7-8 in Atlanta that was attended by over 100 people. There was initiated and approved at this conference a Call to continue to build and raise the level of resistance against the epidemic of murders of Black and Latino youth by the cops.
The heading of this Call says:
“Call from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network
APRIL 14—STOP BUSINESS AS USUAL! WE WILL NOT GO BACK! NO SCHOOL! NO WORK!
SAY NO MORE TO THE SYSTEM GIVING A GREEN LIGHT TO KILLER COPS!”
During the upsurges of protests in the fall and winter many in New Haven and surrounding areas came out to demand a STOP to these murders of our youth by the cops. Cornel West states that there is a murder of youth by authorities every 28 hours; this is unacceptable and this must stop.
Go to www.stopmassincarceration.net to see the Call and reports from the National Conference.
In New Haven, if you want to be part of organizing for April 14, contact Stan: [email protected].
by Bennett Lovett-Graff, Publisher, New Haven Review
The Young Men’s Institute Library is proud to host the Listen Here Short Story reading series. Join us for a night of classic short stories selected by the staff of the New Haven Review and read by cast members of the New Haven Theater Company. Reading starts at 7 p.m., with a talk back at 8 p.m. that explores the background, meaning, and dramatic interpretation of that night’s stories. Also, freshly baked cookies–a different batch at each reading–and tea are available. $5 suggested admission, but no obligaions! Next reading’s theme is “All in the Family?” Our stories are “North of” by Marie Bertino and “Scarecrow” by Betsy Boyd. Join us Wednesday, March 11, 7 p.m. at Young Men’s Institute Library, 847 Chapel St.
Save these other dates as well for future readings, same place, same time, different stories, different actors reading: April 9 and May 13. (Please note that the Institute Library is one flight up and, most unfortunately, not wheelchair accessible.) For more information, see www.institutelibrary.org.
by Al Riccio and Dom Grzybko, ANSWER CT
On the night of Jan. 29, over 200 people packed a Board of Alders committee meeting with the demand for a powerful All-Civilian Review Board. Community members, organizers and students came to declare that changes were needed in the current CRB. Chief demands included:
All of these characteristics are absent from the current Civilian Review Board, which can effectively only recommend Internal Affairs investigate the NHPD and which is currently inactive. Most testimony at the meeting included references to the MALIK/Dawson proposal, which is a powerful review board model approved by referendum in 2000, only to be struck down by then-Mayor DeStefano. Each person who testified addressed the need for profound change, having witnessed or experienced unpunished mistreatment or brutality by the New Haven and Yale police. Speakers brought attention to the growing dissent and distrust of the police. As Emma Jones, mother of Malik Jones (who was killed in 1997 by an East Haven police officer) and drafter of the MALIK/Dawson proposal calling for an All-Civilian Review Board, pointed out: “People discovered that the civilian review board did not have the authority to do anything. It could take a complaint and walk it over to internal affairs. If they didn’t like what internal affairs did, they could come back and ask that it be re-opened. It was a paper tiger that had no authority and no teeth.”
The current CRB is unacceptable; the community is well aware of its inadequacy. The New Haven people will not stand idly by in the coming weeks as the Board of Alders considers their demands. The people will accept nothing less than an All-Civilian Review Board with real power.
While only a fundamental change in society will end police brutality, ANSWER CT supports the community call for a powerful All-Civilian Review Board and will continue to struggle in City Hall and in the streets alongside all people who want change. For more information, contact ANSWER CT at (203) 903-4480 or [email protected].
by Abby Zimet, staff writer, CommonDreams.org
In the wake of last week’s attack on a Copenhagen synagogue – along with the Paris terrorist attacks, the murders of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill [NC], and growing anti-Semitism across Europe – a group of young Muslims in Norway have organized a Shabbat “Ring of Peace” around an Oslo synagogue to, in the words of its 17-year-old organizer, “extinguish the prejudices people have against Jews and against Muslims.” Concerned the event could prove “counter-productive” in an increasingly volatile climate, the leader of Oslo’s Jewish community agreed to it only if at least 30 people signed up.
To date, over 1,500 have, agreeing with organizers’ argument that, “Islam is about protecting our brothers and sisters, regard-less of which religion they belong to.” The event has also sparked a wave of online campaigns expressing similar soli-darity, including #IgoToSynagogue, #WeMustStickTogether, #MuslimsAndJewsRefuseToBeEnemies. Explained one attendee for the Ring of Peace, “We all have to live under the same sky.”
by Paula Panzarella, Fight the Hike
On Feb. 24 (as PAR goes to print), the Energy and Technology Committee of the CT State Legislature held public hearings on a number of bills. At least six bills were scheduled about capping or lowering the fixed customer charge. Since many different legislators submitted bills on the same topic, the concern of customers from around the state was heard and there is good chance the bills will be merged and go before the general assembly.
Why cap the base rate? If ratepayers conserve but still have ever-rising bills because of the base rate, all the advantages of efficiency, conservation or using solar won’t necessarily result in lower costs. Here are the different bills on this one issue: 5281 (441), 5402 (673), 6014 (1553), 6029 (1811), 570 (2226), 574 (2402). The CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs has worked on getting the rate capped for months. You can contact the organizer John Humphries for updates: [email protected] or (860) 216-7972.
Other bills scheduled were to ban variable electric rates, Bill 573 (2222); to improve transparency and increase opportunities for public comment on proposed changes in electric rates, Bill 575 (2235); have the tax on electric bills itemized on the monthly bills, Bill 625 (2293); require the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to develop policies to lower electric rates, Bill 728 (1668); prohibit companies from raising electric rates to cover costs of repairs from actual or anticipated storm damage, Bill 5019 (11); for every five days of power outage, customers to be credited with one day of service, Bill 6013 (510); public service companies prioritize restoration of services for customers with disabilities, Bill 6018 (2706); establish a cap for electric rates and have more public hearings on the rate-making process, Bill 6019 (2686); improve the microgrid development, Bill 6027 (1803).
Written testimony can be sent in up to a week AFTER the hearing. E-mail testimony to [email protected]. Or write to: Energy and Technology Committee
Legislative Office Building, Room 3900
Hartford, CT 06106
It’s not too early to let your legislators know what you think about these bills. Phone numbers for state senators and representatives are in the box on page 6. The website of the Energy and Technology Committee is www.cga.ct.gov/et/.
by Judi Friedman, PACE
A Pure House in Westport: www.ThePureHouse.com
PACE is excited about this concept : a high performance building envelope that has eliminated carcinogens!
Doug McDonald, owner and builder of a PASSIV house in Westport, has taken the next step! He has built a design/build team which will construct houses that are safe to live in and absolutely energy-efficient! Using pure and natural products he will have a house ready for market in three weeks in Westport, Conn.
More Research to be Done at Millstone Nuclear Power Plant
Each day, some two billion gallons of water are pumped from Long Island Sound into the Millstone Power Station in Waterford, CT – our state’s only nuclear power plant – and used to help cool systems and support the station’s two operating reactors. After it heats up, about 90 percent of that water is discharged back into the Sound at about 20 degrees warmer than when it was taken in, said Ken Holt, a spokesman for Millstone.
Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk) wants to better understand what, if any, impact that heated water is having on the ecology of the Sound and has reached out to researchers at Stony Brook University’s School of Atmospheric Science, hoping they can determine whether Millstone might be “overheating” the Sound’s waters.
“No one has really studied the broader impacts of this plant,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a recent interview, noting that biology experts have recorded an “undeniable” increase in Long Island Sound water temperatures over the last few decades, which has affected the health of local fisheries, including lobster and flounder populations.
Soon the Waterford plant, which is just under 10 miles north of Plum Island, will need to renew a permit mandated by the federal Clean Water Act. Known as a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, it helps the government regulate pollution – in this case thermal pollution – discharging into ground and surface waters.
by Allan Brison, CT Green Party
Over 20 people gathered to hear Rick Wolff in January at the Unitarian Universalist Society. He spoke about his evolution from his education attending three of the nation’s most prestigious schools (Harvard, Stamford and Yale), to being one of the rare Marxist economists in the Economic Department at Yale, and, in turn, to his present incarnation as being in great demand for radio and TV interviews across the nation, and having his advice sought by such luminaries as Bill Moyers, as well as being a driving force behind the Left Forum every year in Manhattan.
Contributions were made to Democracy At Work, Rick’s organization to bring real democracy to the workplace and everywhere else in American society (donations can also be made on his website http://www.democracyatwork.info/).
Then Rick spoke to the Yale Political Union for the debate on the question: Should US Banks be Nationalized? But his position is not for either Nationalization or Privatization, but rather what he calls Socialization – a more nuanced form of collective ownership of goods and services by those most affected by those goods or services. Though he believes that Socialization is the way to go, he did point out that there have been some very successful examples of public owner-ship. These include the Bank of North Dakota and the much larger publicly owned Bank of Germany.
Rick gave other examples where public ventures have outperformed their privately owned counterparts, including the Wallingford, CT Electric District, the publicly owned utilities in Los Angeles and Sacramento, and the Green Bay Packers football team in the NFL.
One of the largest and most striking examples of Socialization in the ownership of goods and services is the Mondragon Corporation in Spain. This company started in 1956 and today is the largest corporation in the Basque Region. It employs 74,000 people in 257 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: Finance, Industry, Retail, and Knowledge.
For more on the Mondragon Corporation, see Rick’s website or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation.
At the end of the YPU debate, the students voted in favor of nationalization of banks by a narrow margin. The debate was captured on videotape for public showings.
Please contact me for more information. Allan Brison, (203) 782-6808
If you haven’t sent us an article or calendar listing yet for the March newsletter, there is still time. Hope you are doing well with this over-the-top cold and snow.
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PAR Articles and Calendar Items Due Wednesday, Feb. 18
Dear PAR Contributors —
Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning? The deadline for the March Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Please send in to this e-mail address – [email protected] – articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events. We are asking everyone to limit her/his article to 350 words. Be sure to indicate your name and organization as they should appear in your byline.
If you haven’t written recent articles for PAR, please include information about your group’s purpose. Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article. List either a phone, e-mail address or website so that readers will have a way to get further information. About calendar items:If you mention an event in an article, please also send a SEPARATE calendar announcement.Please give street addresses for any events or meetings–even for “well-known” public buildings.
VERY IMPORTANT: Please indicate whether your event location is wheelchair accessible.
You can also send us SAVE THE DATE items about future events, even if you do not yet have all the details in place.The Newsletter will come out approximately Feb. 27; please consider this when submitting calendar items.Here are other suggestions about submitting copy to the PAR Newsletter:
1. If you ask or encourage new groups to submit articles or calendar items to PAR, please give them a copy of these tips.
2. Submit copy by e-mail, either as regular e-mail text or as an MS Word attachment (.doc).
3. If you are a first-time author in the PAR Newsletter, thank you! We hope you will also subscribe and encourage others in your organization to do so.
4. If someone else from your organization who doesn’t have e-mail is going to write an article, we can arrange to receive a disk or a paper copy. Send an e-mail to us and include the name and phone number of the person who needs help, or call Paula at (203) 562-2798.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT INSERTS:
We prefer to carry articles & calendar listings rather than inserts. But if you have an insert to include in the Newsletter, we ask you to send the information contained in the flyer to this e-mail address as well so that it can be easily added to the PAR Calendar.Your organization must make and pay for the copies of the insert, and you must call Mary Johnson (203) 387-7858 in advance to see if there is room for it. There is a fee of $7 for an insert, which we hope will offset the extra postage.
We will be able to handle only those inserts that are a full (8.5×11) or half (5.5×8.5) sheet of paper (not postcard).
It would be very helpful if groups that submit an insert could send someone to help with the mailing. Call Mary (203) 387-7858 to volunteer.
We always welcome more helpers and new ideas! If you would consider attending the monthly planning meeting or helping with the Newsletter mailing, please call Mary Johnson at (203) 387-7858. Many thanks! We’re looking forward to your articles!
Thank you for your help in creating this community newsletter. — PAR Planning Committee
To renew your own subscription or buy a subscription for a friend, the rate is $13 for 10 issues (check made out to PAR, & mailed to PAR, PO Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504 The subscription charge almost covers our production costs (printing, postage and post office box).
We encourage you all to re-subscribe and buy gift subscriptions before we have to raise the rate to $15.
