Jewish Voice for Peace National Gathering in March

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.

Tell North Haven Board – Indian Mascots Aren’t Cool

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.

An Invitation to Environmental Groups to Join in Peace and Planet Events

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.

March Events for the 64 Days of Nonviolence

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.

  • March 4th: Women’s Wit and Wisdom “Beauty Across Cultures” with artist and educator Hanan Hameen (2-4 p.m.; Adanti Student Center 301)
  • March 5th: Performance Poetry Duo “About That Elephant” (7-9 p.m.; Adanti Student Center Ballroom A)
  • March 6th & 7th: Kingian Nonviolence Workshop with Victoria Christgau (1-7 p.m. & 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Engleman Hall B 121 A&B)
  • March 12th: “Gender Justice and Cyber Technology” an evening with feminist legal scholars on intersections of gender and technology (5-7 p.m.; Engleman Hall A 113)
  • March 21st: The 20th Annual African American Women’s Summit, a Sisters’ Collective in New Haven (8 a.m.-3 p.m.; Wexler-Grant School, 55 Foote St., New Haven)
  • March 25th: The 6th annual “The Z Experience,” a spoken word event in memory of Zannette Lewis, in conjunction with Women’s Appreciation Day & Sisters’ Gathering (7-10 p.m.; Adanti Student Center Ballroom B)

All events, except the 20th Annual African American Women’s Summit, are at SCSU, 501 Crescent St., New Haven.

Stop Police Terror! Stop Mass Incarceration!

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].

Reading Series Starts in New Haven

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.

New Haven Community Fights for Civilian Review Board

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:

  •  Members must not be police officers and must be selected by the community and not by private nomination. The Board must be independent of Internal Affairs.
  • The CRB must be adequately funded, so as to ensure it can function effectively and independently.
  • Perhaps most importantly, the Board must have subpoena power — the ability to compel witnesses, including active officers, to testify before it.

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].

Norway Muslims to Jews: If Someone Wants To Attack You, They’ll Have To Step Over Us First

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.”

 

Energy and Technology Committee Tackles Electricity Issues

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/.

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