Month: October 2014

“An Evening of Stories” Celebrates 30 Years of Nicaragua Sister City, 5 p.m. Oct. 18

by Megan Fountain, NHLSCP

In 1979 after 40 years of a brutal dictatorship and additional years of a bloody insurrection, the people of Nicaragua vanquished the Somoza family and established a new government headed by the Sandinistas. The response of the Reagan administration was to accuse the leaders of being Communists, to justify covertly supporting the counter-revolutionary forces against the duly elected leaders of the country.

People from around the world, including the U.S., under the established vehicle of Sister Cities, began a non-violent movement in solidarity with the people of Nicaragua. In 1984 New Haven citizens became a part of that movement with the establishment of the New Haven/León Sister City Project (NH/LSCP). Read more

Israeli Author to Speak in Connecticut

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

Ofra Yeshua-Lyth will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, in the Program Room of the New Haven Public Library, 133 Elm Street, New Haven.

Ofra is a former correspondent in Germany and the U.S. for the Israeli paper Ma’ariv. She has written a book called The Case for a Secular New Jerusalem: A Memoir. She is a member of New Profile, an Israeli feminist organization. Venues have not yet been arranged.

On Amazon a reviewer says this about her book: “What is actually at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Ofra Yeshua-Lyth, in a book that is as hard hitting as it is entertaining, makes the case that at the center lays the religious nature of the Zionist movement beneath its modern-secular veneer. She uses the stories of her grandmothers — women who immigrated to Palestine in the early days of Zionism from Yemen and Russia with high hopes, courage and grace — as well as other stories — to illustrate the implications of the Zionist failure to separate religion and State.

“While the Western world agonizes over Muslim fundamentalism in the Middle East, hardly any attention has been given to the Israeli adaptation of Judaism, which at its most extreme abhors any form of cohabitation with non-Jews.”

Watch for news about her appearances during the month at www.TheStruggle.org, or call (203) 934-2761.

Free *** Refreshments

Read an article about her on Mondoweiss http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/ofra-yeshua-israeli

Sponsor: Middle East Crisis Committee

New Haven Citizens Protest Drone Warfares

Amistad Catholic Worker, upstatedroneaction.org

Syracuse, NY — Carrying flowers and documents to Hancock drone base can result in severe consequences. Drone resister, Mark Colville, of the Amistad Catholic Worker in New Haven, Conn., was found guilty, after a two day trial and 50 minutes of deliberation by a De Witt Town Court jury.

On Dec. 9, 2013, Colville and two Yale Divinity students brought a People’s Order of Protection to the front gate of the base to prevent further victims of drone attacks perpetrated from inside Hancock Airbase. This action was in response to a request on Nov. 25, 2013, by Raz Mohammad, an Afghan, whose brother-in law was killed by a U.S. drone strike. Gate personnel rejected the petition.

Colville, who’s not an attorney, chose to represent himself. Read more

News from People’s Action for Clean Energy

by Judi Friedman, PACE

Fukushima is still pouring out radiation. Here is some wise advice from Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear: In case of a nuclear accident, keep IOSAT tablets in your medicine cabinet. (They have a long shelf life.) www.amazon.com/iOSAT-Potassium-Iodide-Tablets-130/dp/B00006NT3A/ref=sr_1_2/s=UTF8&qid=1409674014&sr=1-2. In case you want to know about nuclear safety in the United States, here are excerpts from a wonderful report!
Nuclear Shutdown News, July 2014, by Michael News, Black Rain Press
US nuclear plants were designed to last 40 years. As a growing number of these nukes are approaching or have surpassed 40 years of operation, they are becoming more prone to have things go wrong that cause them to experience unplanned shutdowns and put us increasingly at risk. Read more

People’s Climate March demonstrates a ‘more radical climate justice movement’

Dan Fischer, Capitalism vs Climate

In the weekend before the UN’s climate change summit in New York, some 400,000 people flooded the city for the Sept 21st People’s Climate March. It was the largest environmental march in history. Yes, the Big Green nonprofits made sure the official demands were toothless and the corporate media heaped unnecessary praise on the participating senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Bernie Sanders, champions of fracking and biomass respectively. On the ground, however, things were more exciting. The huge Palestine solidarity contingent led chants like “Apartheid, can’t greenwash that!” Wobblies, Earth Firsters and Rising Tiders injected their messages. Members of many communities brought banners from the frontlines against fracking, mega-dams, and incineration. Ours said, “Smash cap-and-trade,” referring to the 1%’s attempt to auction off the sky and maintain business as usual. Read more

Joyous Giant Climate March Shows How To Win

by Harvey Wasserman, The Rag Blog, September 22, 2014

NEW YORK — The massive People’s Climate March, the most hopeful, diverse, photogenic, energizing, and often hilarious march I’ve joined in 52 years of activism — and one of the biggest, at 400,000 strong — has delivered a simple message: we can and will rid the planet of fossil fuels and nuclear power, we will do it at the grassroots, it will be demanding and difficult to say the least, but it will also have its moments of great fun. With our lives and planet on the line, our species has responded.

Ostensibly, this march was in part meant to influence policy makers. That just goes with the territory. But in fact what it showed was an amazingly broad-based, diverse, savvy, imaginative, and very often off-beat movement with a deep devotion to persistence and cause and a great flair for fun.

The magic of today’s New York minute was its upbeat diversity, sheer brilliance and relentless charm. A cross between a political rally and a month at Mardi Gras. There were floats, synchronized dances, outrageous slogans, chants, songs, costumes, marching bands, hugs, parents with their kids and one very sweaty guy in a gorilla suit. Above all, there was joy…which means optimism…which means we believe we can win…which is the best indicator we will. Read more

MEETING/ORGANIZING for the October Month of Resistance Oct. 1

by Stan Nishimura, Stop Mass Incarceration Network

The October Month of Resistance to Stop Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation is a nationwide call for action initiated in the spring by Cornel West and Carl Dix (go to www.stopmassincarceration.net for the Call). This is to organize on a mass level to build a movement to say and work to STOP the crimes, abuses, and injustice of the system. In the wake of the outpouring of defiance in Ferguson we have met and are working on an overall plan for events and protests in New Haven as well as in Connecticut. Come join us and be part of the work to come out of the month of October with these issues in the minds and understanding of people throughout society.
Contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

* Mass incarceration: WE SAY NO MORE!
* Police murder: WE SAY NO MORE!
* Torture in the prisons: WE SAY NO MORE!
* Criminalization of generations: WE SAY NO MORE!
* Attacks on immigrants: WE SAY NO MORE!

Wednesday, OCTOBER 1, 4:30 p.m. GATHER AT THE FOUNTAIN ON THE NEW HAVEN GREEN.

SPEAKOUT! and Kick Off the “October Month of Resistance” Join the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and others in speaking out. We will be reading off statistics and names of those affected by police brutality and the police state at the fountain and urge you to join in with your voice. All who oppose the police state are welcome.
We will NOT be silent. We WILL resist!

For more information contact [email protected]

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