Next Deadline for Newsletter Articles: Monday, Dec. 19, 2016

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 Fri., Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m….all welcome…call (203) 562-2798 for location.

Subscribe to the print edition for $13 for one year (10 issues), check payable to PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504.

Jewish Voice for Peace Gathering on Chanukah to Challenge Islamophobia and Fight Against Racism

by Shelly Altman, JVP New Haven

In this time of rising Islamophobia and racism, Jewish community members will gather at 5:30 p.m. on the Green at the corner of College and Chapel streets to publicly rekindle their commitment to justice during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, Dec 21. Activists of all faiths will gather holding nine signs listing commitments to fighting injustice in the shape of a Chanukah menorah.

This action is organized by the Network Against Islamophobia, a project of Jewish Voice for Peace, inspired by the Jewish tradition to work for the freedom, equality, and dignity of all the people. JVP chapters across the country will be participating on Dec. 21.

The election of Donald Trump has contributed to the already rising Islamophobia and racism in the United States, both on interpersonal and systemic levels. Hate crimes against Muslims were already on the rise and have been accelerating in the wake of the election. Existing policies of heightened surveillance and policing of Muslims and other communities of color as well as U.S. state violence against communities of color both domestically and internationally, will soon be augmented by the even more blatantly racist policies proposed by President-elect Donald Trump.These include banning Muslim immigrants and limiting immigration from largely Muslim and/or Arab countries.

The members of Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven believe that challenging Islamophobia and fighting against racism are part of our obligation within our communities and as partners in the broader struggle for justice and dignity for all peoples.

  • We refuse to be silent about anti-Muslim and racist hate speech and hate crimes
  • We condemn state surveillance of the Muslim community
  • We protest the use of Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism to justify Israel’s repressive policies against Palestinians
  • We fully stand with the Vision for Black Lives Platform
  • We welcome Syrian refugees and stand strong for immigrants’ rights and refugees’ rights
  • We honor indigenous rights and support the courageous resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect their land and water.

Email: [email protected] Online: http://www.jvpnh.org.

STAND AGAINST TRUMP – Get on the Bus! National Demonstration

by Deb Malatesta, ANSWER CT

Join the protest on Inauguration Day against war, racism and inequality. Defend immigrants and build workers’ unity!

Progressive people from all over the country will be descending on Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20, 2017 to stage a massive demonstration along Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day.

It is critically important that we keep building a larger grassroots movement against war, militarism, racism, anti-immigrant scapegoating and neo-liberal capitalism’s assault against workers’ living standards and the environment.

Real social change comes from the bottom, the mobilized grassroots, and not from the centers of institutional power, the professional politicians or the capitalist elites.

Hundreds of people in New Haven have joined tens of thousands across the country in protesting racism, sexism and bigotry. Join us to build a unified mass movement against Trump and the ultra-right attacks happening across the country! From coast to coast, including here in Connecticut, we are already seeing increases in attacks on Muslims, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants and many others. Only an organized and united movement can successfully fight back and repel these attacks.

How one voted on election day is one thing, but even more important is whether we succeed in building a mass movement that can truly change the country, and the world. Donald Trump is a racist, sexist bigot. We can not wait for the same politicians who led to the rise of Trump to now stop him. And we will. Tens of thousands of progressive people will be in the streets on Inauguration Day and in the weeks and months afterward to give voice to the millions of people in this country who are demanding systemic change.

Join us on Jan. 20, 2017 for a massive mobilization of the people to protest Trump in DC! ANSWER CT will be holding organizing meetings and work sessions leading up to Jan. 20. Get involved and get on the bus!

Call (203) 903-4480 or email [email protected] for details. For more information on the Jan. 20 protest, go to http://www.answercoalition.org.

Calling All PAR Readers: Help Fund the Theresa (Carr) Tree and Memorial Plaque in Jocelyn Sq. Park

by Joan Cavanagh, a friend of Theresa Carr

Theresa Carr, May 23, 1954 – March 27, 2014

“Keep doing our work.”

This is a request for PAR readers to contribute what they can to help raise $675 to plant a tree and erect a memorial plaque in Jocelyn Square Park for Theresa. Please make your contributions out to PAR, note in the memo line that it is for “The Theresa Tree,” and send to PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504, on or before Jan. 1, 2017.

Many PAR readers knew Theresa Carr, whose activism spanned several communities and countries. A self-identified “Marxist-Leninist Lesbian Feminist,” she gave her fierce intelligence to the interconnected struggles for peace and justice.

In her years in New Haven, Theresa worked with many groups including the New Haven Action Committee Against Repression, New Haven Coalition for Justice in El Salvador, Spinsters Opposed to Nuclear Genocide (SONG), the Women’s Pentagon Action(s) and the Coalition to Stop Trident. The actions often involved arrests for nonviolent civil disobedience. She also served on the board of the New Haven Women’s Liberation Center and worked in her trade as a union carpenter.

Creativity was her hallmark. With other members of SONG, she once painted a blank billboard in full daylight at the State Street exit off I-91 with the iconic image of a woman kicking a neutron bomb; and, during a trial of SONG members for actions against U.S. military intervention and funding of repressive regimes in Central America, the marble (male) justices on the steps of the courthouse on Elm Street one morning mysteriously wore purple headbands.

Theresa traveled extensively and worked in many other communities. In Florida, she completed a master naturalist program, cared for stranded whales, and became an active member of the Key West Tara Mandala Buddhist Sangha community.

In 1981, Theresa bought and rehabilitated a house on Walnut Street across from Jocelyn Square Park with her partner. Later she spearheaded the renovation of the deteriorated city park, now a beautiful oasis in our neighborhood. Friends of Jocelyn Square Park awarded her a Certificate of Appreciation on Sept. 3, 2005.

Following a double mastectomy and a rigorous alternative treatment protocol for metastatic breast cancer in 2011, Theresa cultivated land in northern Florida until her cancer returned. Her last words before she passed here in New Haven at her Walnut Street home were, “Keep doing our work.”

Please help mark this important life as we move into our next, crucial phase of resistance in these fearful times.

Green Fund Now Accepting Grant Applications For 2017 Awards

The Greater New Haven Green Fund promotes environmental quality and equity in the most environmentally distressed communities within the Greater New Haven area by providing local small grants to reduce pollution and create a more sustainable future. The Fund is seeking grant proposals for creative community-based initiatives that impact air and water pollution, as well as land conservation, sustainability, environmental education and youth leadership.

This year the Green Fund is particularly interested in encouraging small grant proposals of $3000 or less from grassroots organizations. It has earmarked $18,000 of the total $48,000 to be used for this purpose and allotted $10,000 for small grants and $8000 for micro-grants. The smaller grants can be used for mission support and organizational capacity building as well as other projects that fit the priority areas of the Fund.

The Green Fund will also award $10,000 from the Community Benefits Agreement with Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc. (PSEG), owner of the Harbor Power Plant in New Haven. For this award the Fund seeks innovative proposals for activities that advance air quality initiatives in the areas of public education and outreach, public health studies, environmental justice and environmental analyses.

The deadline for 2017 applications is Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017 at 4 p.m. Please check out the website for the Greater New Haven Green Fund, http://www.gnhgreenfund.org for more information and to download the application forms. Application forms are listed under the grants subpage titled small and large grants.

The New Haven Green Fund is a non profit 501(c)3 organization that was incorporated in 2006. It is administered by an independent board representing both local expertise and the communities that comprise the Greater New Haven Water Pollution service area.

For more information, email [email protected], or call (203) 936-8136. The mailing address is: Greater New Haven Green Fund, care of CFGNH, 70 Audubon St., New Haven, CT  06510.

Christian Parenti — Upbeat Possibilities Upset by Science Denier

by Stanley Heller, Administrator, PEP

Christian Parenti gave the Mark Shafer talk for Promoting Enduring Peace on Nov. 17 and talked a lot about events that upended his ideas for strategies to avoid climate catastrophe. He tried to be upbeat about humanity and environment, saying that human and other species routinely shape the natural world and that it can be a good (he gave as an example how Native Americans would burn forests to increase soil fertility and eliminate pests like ticks).

He said humanity as a whole has all we need to turn the corner on climate: first, the technical know-how to get off fossil fuels; second, the cash ($3 trillion sitting idly in bonds and other such paper owned by the super-rich); and third, a way to make fossil fuel use too expensive by using the executive branch power of regulation.

I had interviewed Parenti a week before the election for The Struggle Video News on point #3 and he made a convincing argument that the government could “euthanize” fossil fuel production without a carbon tax and without approval of Congress. It could be done by the Environmental Protection Agency fining companies producing global warming gases. He says many court decisions have backed this up.
This all was thrown off course by the presidential election. Parenti says he assumes the new president will attempt to gut the regulatory state and starve the EPA. So we have to resist. “Standing Rock is the model. People have to attack these infrastructure projects in every way, with their bodies, with sit-ins, peaceful protests, lawsuits and with deals.” He referred to Native Americans in Bellingham, WA, who at first wanted a coal export terminal on their land, but ended by working with environmentalists instead. They killed the project after finding a different one that would create jobs.

That makes the Dec. 3 climate march in Hartford quite critical (email [email protected] for more information). It’s a way to show that we’re not giving up and that we will reject the science denier’s march to climate suicide. It’s directed at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his foolish methane projects as well as Trump and his love of unbridled development.

Action also needs to be directed at Obama. He has almost two months left in office and he can do a lot just by Executive Orders. He can go to Standing Rock, show solidarity. He could even put in federal troops at Standing Rock just as LBJ did in Alabama. He can settle the lawsuit inspired by James Hansen and filed by young people who realize the government is liable for destroying their future. He can do more. He can act now.

Paul Robeson: Call Mr. Robeson: A Life with Songs

On Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, 7:30 p.m. at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts, Southern CT State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven, The Amistad Committee Inc. presents Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs. Writer and performer Tayo Aluko direct from England is featured with live piano accompaniment, directed by Olusola Oyeleye and designed by Phil Newman.

Paul Robeson was a world famous actor, singer, and civil rights activist. Over the years he grew too radical and out-spoken for the establishment’s liking, was branded a traitor to his country, harassed, and denied opportunities to perform or travel. This roller-coaster journey through Robeson’s remarkable and eventful life highlights pioneering and heroic, but largely forgotten, political activism. Many now describe him as the forerunner of the civil rights movement.

Tayo Aluko revives one of the 20th Century’s most impressive but overlooked figures in this powerful, compelling tour-de-force performance, which was seen at New York’s Carnegie Hall in February 2012 and in London’s West End in October 2013. Fiery oratory, and some of his famous songs, including a dramatic rendition of Ol’ Man River are featured. 
Tickets are $30 for the general public, $15 for senior citizens and SCSU students (Limit 1 with vaild ID required). FREE for high school students (at the door only — Limit 1 with valid school ID required).
 For $40 admission, a post show reception is available from the Amistad Committee. For more info call (203) 387-0370.

Family Holiday Show in New Haven to Support Refugees

The Bethesda Music Series presents a performance of the family-friendly holiday opera Amahl and the Night Visitors at Bethesda Lutheran Church, 450 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, on Sunday, December 11, at 7:00 p.m. The one-act opera by Gian Carlo Menotti was first performed on Christmas Eve, 1951, by the NBC Television Theater.

Amahl features a child in the lead role. Catchy music, colorful costumes, and captivating dance scenes make up the hour-long performance. Front rows are reserved for children. The event is free and open to the public.

A free-will offering will be collected with all proceeds going to IRIS, a refugee resettlement agency in New Haven featured in the media for their welcome extended to Syrian refugees. The Bethesda Music Series is proud to help people in need in our city and around the world. We appreciate any gifts to the important work of helping refugees, which is so appropriate during the Christmas season.

Amahl and the Night Visitors is a story of a poor shepherd boy’s encounter with three kings and the miraculous healing of his crippled leg when he offers his crutch as a gift to the holy child. Performed by opera students from Western Connecticut State University, directed by Margaret Astrup, Amahl has become an annual tradition for the Bethesda Music Series.

About the Bethesda Music Series

For over twenty years, the Bethesda Music Series has presented concerts to raise funds for social outreach in Greater New Haven, supporting agencies such as Life Haven, Immanuel Baptist Shelter, Christian Community Action, Habitat for Humanity, area summer camps, and after-school tutoring. Concerts are free. Handicap accessible, free parking. Go online to http://www.bethesdanewhaven.org for information or to join our electronic mailing list.

Contact Information: Dr. Lars Gjerde, Artistic Director, [email protected], (585) 200-8903.
Dr. Margaret Astrup, Music Series Chair, [email protected], (860) 796-3444

Important Upcoming Events to Know About

Rekindling Kwanzaa’s Principles
Saturday, December 17, 2 p.m.
Join us for the 50th year of the creation of KWANZAA in
the U.S., the biggest and best of The Community Kwanzaa
Association’s presentations to date. At Bregamos
Community Theater, 491 Blatchley Avenue, New Haven.

New Haven Library Events
A listing of events at the New Haven Library and the branches. All of the libraries are wheelchair accessible.
Ives Main Library, 133 Elm Street
Fair Haven Branch, 182 Grand Avenue
Mitchell Branch, 37 Harrison Street
Stetson Branch, 200 Dixwell Avenue
Wilson Branch, 303 Washington Avenue

Historic Homes Rehabilitation Tax Credit Workshop
Saturday, December 3, 10:30 am-12:30 pm | Ives
Sponsored by the New Haven Preservation Trust. Learn one of the nation’s most generous rehabilitation incentive programs for individual home owners with architectural historian Julie Carmelich, State Historic Preservation Office. Made possible through the generous support of the State Department of Economic and Community Development and Petra Construction Corp. Please register by Thursday, Dec. 1 at [email protected] or (203) 562-5919.

Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters, Saturday, December 3, 12 p.m. | Wilson
Join the Book Discussion Series at Wilson Library for their next read. Underground Airlines is an alternate history, set in a present-day United States where the Civil War never happened. In this reality, there are still “Slave” and “Free” states, and of course, there are still runaways – and fugitive slave catchers. Unsurprisingly, there are also still abolitionists, and secret networks devoted to helping escapees make it to freedom.

Friday Movie Matinees, 2-4 pm | Ives
December 2 | Iron Man 3
December 9 | When Harry Met Sally
December 16 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
December 23 | Love Actually
December 30 | Trading Places
Five fun movies that take place around Christmas!

Social Security Strategies Workshop
Wednesday, Dec. 7, 6-8 p.m. | Ives
Geoffrey I. Kanner of Kanner Financial Services will conduct this free workshop on topics which include collecting SS early vs. collecting late, individual benefits, spousal benefits and government pension offset. To register, please contact Maria Tonelli at (203) 946-8696 or [email protected].

One-on-One Computer Help
Tuesdays, 4-5 pm & 5:10-6:10 pm | Ives 50+ years of age and just starting or have a computer dilemma?  Sign up for one-on-one free computer help at your own pace. To register call (203) 946-7001.
Announcing New Haven Free Public Library Academy (For All Your Database Questions)!
A set of ready-to-use tutorials for common electronic services like OverDrive, Zinio, and Mango Languages. NHFPL Academy is available on all pages of the NHFPL website by clicking the green “Tutorials” tab on the right hand side of the screen. Watch the video instruction or view the printable text with images as you learn how to use Lynda.com, Twitter and more!

Create New Haven: Works by NH Public School Students
Dec. 1, 2016 – Jan. 6, 2017, Ives Gallery.
Reception: Monday, Dec. 5, 5-7 p.m.
Students display their current work at the NH Free Public Library Ives Gallery.
Untitled, work in mixed media. Paola Gutierrez, 10th grade, Riverside Educational Academy
Rachel Mathieu, Art teacher

Naturalization Legal Clinic with New Haven Legal Assistance Association
Thursdays, 4-5 pm | Ives
Receive assistance with the U.S. citizenship application and test and other related immigration questions regarding becoming a U.S. citizen.

Immigrant Job Club
Thursdays, 4-5 pm | Ives
For those who are new to the United States and would like to learn to search for jobs, build a resume, prepare for a job interview and understand the workplace.

Listen Here Short Stories Reading Series

The Institute Library is proud to host the Listen Here Short Story reading series is 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. the third Tuesday of the month at the Institute Library, 847 Chapel St, New Haven, CT, with 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.

Admission free! The next reading will be December 20. Our theme: “Short Shorts.” Our stories:  “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, and “The Afterlife” by Amy Hempel. Please note that the Institute Library is one flight up and, most unfortunately, not wheel-chair accessible. For more information, visit us at http://www.institutelibrary.org.

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