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Happy 100th Birthday, Al Marder

by Lucy Gellman, The Arts Paper, January 19, 2022

Al Marder listened from the corner of the screen, his head bobbing as Millie Grenough lifted her hands and began to conduct the impromptu New Haven Peace Commission choir. A cacophonous chorus of “happy birthday” rang out over the screen, voices lifted to give a centenarian his due.

Al Marder poses with New Haven peace activist and Peace Council member Mary Compton at the Peace Day celebration at the Amistad Memorial statue outside New Haven City Hall Sept. 21, 2015. The statue was built thanks to his guidance and supervision. Marder is chairman of the Amistad Committee. (photo: cjzurcher)

Al Marder poses with New Haven peace activist and Peace Council member Mary Compton at the Peace Day celebration at the Amistad Memorial statue outside New Haven City Hall Sept. 21, 2015. The statue was built thanks to his guidance and supervision. Marder is chairman of the Amistad Committee.
(photo: cjzurcher)

Marder—a lifelong champion of worker rights, disarmament, anti-racism and literally keeping the peace in New Haven—turned 100 Tuesday evening with a clear call to do good in the face of climate disaster, economic depravity, global precarity and violence that has gripped both New Haven and the country. Speaking at a meeting of the New Haven Peace Commission, of which he is a founding and current member, he showed no sign of stopping as he entered his second century of life.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend the evening with you,” he said as commissioners kicked off the night with birthday wishes and a musical interlude. “The struggle for peace is not easy. We’re living in a society that’s built on guns and killing and we’re trying, you and I, to educate young people that there’s another way of living. A peaceful way, a just way, to treat each other as individuals without hatred, without killing.”

Marder has made peace—particularly labor rights, demilitarization, and a fervid commitment to anti-racism—his life’s work. Born in 1922 to Ukrainian immigrants in the city’s Hill neighborhood, Marder started growing his roots as an organizer before his 10th birthday. Some of his earliest memories are of an economically hard-hit New Haven as the city headed into the Great Depression. In an interview with Mary Donahue of Connecticut Explored in 2016, he recalled watching unemployed men come from the rail yard to his parents’ Oak Street grocery store, looking for something to eat.

Even at a very young age, Marder became committed to fighting for the wellbeing of his fellow New Haveners, and saw it as a struggle tied to the rights of workers and to the end of the military-industrial complex. At 16, he became the chairman of the Connecticut Young Communist League, publicly declaring a lifetime commitment to the cause that later made him a victim of invasive FBI surveillance. His years as a student at James Hillhouse High School were formative in and outside the classroom, as he spent organizing with a fire he still carries every time he speaks today.

[You can read the article in its entirety at www.newhavenarts.org and click on Arts Paper]

52 Years In, Love Marches On

by Lucy Gellman, The Arts Paper, Jan. 17, 2022

Tenikka Hampton lowered her mask and lifted her face toward the sky, her breath wispy and white in the morning air. Portraits of President Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. peered from a sign that read “We Shall Overcome: The Dream Still Lives” in her hands. Around her, Humphrey Street was still waking up to the bone-cracking cold. She began to sing, collapsing hundreds of years onto a single city block.

“We are marching/On Dr. King’s birthday,” her voice rang out, and a chorus joined in around her. “We are marching/ Each and every day!”

Ten-degree temperatures couldn’t stop Hampton and members of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church from keeping spirits high at the 52nd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Love March Saturday morning, held on what would have been Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 93rd birthday. Braving the cold and the wind, close to five dozen marchers began at the church’s Lawrence Street home, wound through the streets of East Rock singing, and ended with a short speaking program and mask and test giveaway outside the church.

“You are a drum major for justice,” said Pastor Kennedy D. Hampton Sr., whose father, the late Rev. George W. Hampton Sr., started the march in 1970. “We can’t get comfortable. We can’t become complacent. We can’t become satisfied. Because until there’s equal justice for all, we have no reason to be satisfied.”

…Mincing no words, State Sen. Gary Winfield said he was tired of hearing about the “Santa Claus version of Dr. King,” the mild-mannered beacon of harmony and racial reconciliation that Republicans tweet glowingly about once a year. He wants his children—and all children—to know the Dr. King who rallied for labor rights and against capitalism, who led the Poor People’s Campaign, who the then-nascent F.B.I. saw as one of the most dangerous men in the United States for his basic belief that Black people should have equal rights.

[You can read the article in its entirety at www.newhavenarts.org and click on Arts Paper]

CT NOFA’s 40th Winter Conference: Innovation and Determination

CT Northeast Organic Farming Association is proud to present our 40th Winter Conference to be held virtually over the course of two weeks, starting Feb. 11 until Feb. 26. In week one, we will offer over 20 workshops on farming, seed saving, organic land care, community food security, social justice issues, and more. In week two, we will host small in-person meet-ups around the state to gather and share much-needed social connections.

Join us as we learn, grow, innovate, and think critically about what our food and farming will look like in the future.

Conference registration includes over 20 live sessions and exclusive access to all recordings and pre-recorded content.

This year, we are implementing a sliding scale pricing model, allowing us to practice economic solidarity, providing mutual support for the cost of our programs. In this way, we make our education more accessible and help cover costs of operation. Choose the pricing tier that fits with your income and access to wealth, and help us create a more just, inclusive, and equitable conference. Many thanks to Soul Fire Farm, and Rock Steady Farm for their vision and leadership in advocating for equitable pricing models. Minimum registration fee is $15. Scholarships are still available thanks to our generous donors and sponsors. There is a link to request a registration fee waiver on the registration page for the conference at ctnofa.org.

URI Seeks Requests for Street Trees

Thanks to a partnership between the City of New Haven and the Urban Resources Initiative, you can request a tree to be planted for free, as long as you commit to watering the tree to ensure it survives. Planting a tree not only helps to shade, beautify, and add value to your home and the street, but it also provides paid work experience to adults with barriers to employment. URI’s tree experts will work with you to plant a tree that thrives at your location and fits your interests.

The spring planting season is only a few weeks away, so request your tree today! New Haven properties only.
To make a request, visit uri.yale.edu/get-involved/request-free-tree. For more information, contact: uri@yale.edu or 203-432-6189.

Heiwa Salovitz, June 10, 1969 – January 3, 2022

Heiwa was a New Haven activist until 2010 when he moved to Austin to work with its chapter of the disability rights organization ADAPT. His involvement in many New Haven organizations for peace, justice, disability rights, human rights, equity and respect for all impacted everyone who knew him. Heiwa was Muslim, had cerebral palsy, and used a wheelchair. He was active, outspoken and effective in making change. The PAR Planning Committee extends our deepest condolences to all his family and to his many friends.

From The Record-Journal, Jan. 7, 2022

Heiwa Salovitz, of Austin, Texas, formerly of Wallingford and New Haven, passed away January 3, 2022.
He is survived by his mother Elaine Harris (late Richard Harris), his siblings Charlie, Robin, Amy (Gary), Larry (Debra). He was the beloved uncle to Autumn (Marvin), Heather, Noah, Ava, and Sophie, great-uncle to Harmony, Jadyn, Shaelynn, Brooklyn, and Sirene. He was predceased by his bio parents Simon Salovitz and Dee LeDoux.

He will be missed by his many friends and extended ADAPT family, where he was a fierce advocate of change and reform for people with disabilities.

The Consequences of Endless War

by Joan Cavanagh, New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice

On August 29, 10 members of the Ahmadi family, seven of them children, were killed by a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan. One branch of the Pentagon investigated another and essentially decided that the mistake was an unfortunate by-product of a usual days’ work that did not go quite as planned.

This strike gives us a small window into the methods and consequences of the war that the U.S. government is waging daily and the sense of normalcy with which its architects regard it. So does the air-strike on Baghuz, Syria in 2019, which killed an estimated 60 civilians and whose previously successful cover-up was revealed by the New York Times on November 13 of last year.

These “incidents” are the tip of the iceberg. In 20 years, U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan have caused thousands of deaths among non-combatants, the full extent of which remains unknown despite valiant attempts by watchdog groups, whistleblowers, and non-governmental organizations to document them. Many have gone unreported or underreported. The whistleblowers have been sentenced to prison.

This is the 21st-century face of endless war: anonymous killing by remote control, off the radar of most of us, although it is being done by our own government. The consequences for the immediate victims are obvious. Survivors face less visible but deeply scarring outcomes.

The role of these virtual warriors is unprecedented. Studies of post-traumatic stress disorder among them are necessarily in their infancy but an estimated 4% are already suffering from PTSD. Surely the cumulative psychological toll of witnessing the devastating results of their work will have a long-term impact that we cannot predict.

Historically, U.S. citizens, who have learned the truth of wars being fought, and war crimes committed in our names, have struggled to end them. We cannot possibly achieve a decent society while our nation is inflicting this kind of damage on the rest of the world. Please, learn as much as possible about these wars that the policymakers would prefer you didn’t concern yourself with, and act to help stop them.

Joan Cavanagh is part of the New Haven Sunday Vigil to “Resist this Endless War.” This is an edited version of a longer Forum piece in the New Haven Register on November 28, 2021, https://www.nhregister.com/opinion/article/Opinion-The-consequences-of-endless-war-16653302.php.

Art Perlo, 74

by Paul Bass, New Haven Independent, Dec. 23, 2021

Art Perlo, Ward 24 co-chair and executive board member of the Yale Unions Retirees Association, passed away on Dec. 18, 2021, after a year-long battle with bladder cancer.

Alder Evette Hamilton called him a “gentle giant” for his kindness, commitment, humor and broad knowledge that touched the lives of so many in the city, state and around the country.

Born in New York on November 2, 1947, son of Marxist economist Victor Perlo and artist Ellen Perlo, Art moved to New Haven in 1975 after living in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, to join his life partner Joelle Fishman, participating in her People before Profits campaigns for Congress and mayor.

As an independent economist and activist, Art devoted his talents to the cause of the rights and equality of working class people of all races, genders and national backgrounds.

An IT worker at Yale’s Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry lab for 35 years, he helped organize and was a founding member of the clerical and technical workers union Local 34 Unite Here in 1984. Although not eligible for the union with his managerial and professional job classification, he was appreciated for honoring the strikes of Local 34 and Local 35, joining his co-workers on the picket line for respect and improved wages and benefits. He was an early proponent for restructuring Yale’s hiring practices to open job opportunities for Black and Latino New Haven residents.

Since the 1990s ….

READ THIS ENTIRE OBITUARY HERE:  www.newhavenindependent.org/obituaries/art_perlo_74

Contributions to the causes closest to Art’s heart can be made at: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/art-perlo-presente-carry-it-forward/

Due to the rise in COVID a gathering will not be held at this time. On January 1, 2023 an open house continuing the annual tradition of Art and Joelle will be held to celebrate Art’s life and carry on the movement-building his life exemplifies.

 

Lynda.com gets an upgrade

Previously named Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learning has returned as an upgraded platform with double the number of courses available in six more languages. Choose from thousands of online courses to learn in-demand skills from real-world industry experts. You can find course recommendations tailored to your interests so you know exactly what to learn next. LinkedIn Learning tracks the courses you have in progress and lets you set weekly goals to help make lifelong learning a part of your regular routine.

To log in you will need your library card number and your PIN (the last four digits of your library card number).

Help Counter the Upcoming Effort to Pass Medical Assisted Suicide Legislation

by Joan Cavanagh, Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide

In the middle of a pandemic that has killed close to a million people in this country, in the face of a medical system that repeatedly shows itself unable and unwilling to try to save the lives of the most vulnerable, members of the CT State Legislature are gearing up once again to try to legalize Medical Assisted Suicide. The session begins in February, and “Compassion and Choices” has already hired at least one extra lobbyist to help push it through. You may remember that they got it out of the Public Health Committee for the first time last year.

Incredibly, some of the same leaders who say they are planning an all-out effort to reform Connecticut’s mental health system by increasing funding and staffing (see https://ctmirror.org/2022/01/11/ct-legislative-leaders-mental-health-system-in-deep-crisis-is-priority-in-2022-session/) will also be pushing for this legislation.

Constituent pressure is the only thing that will cause the liberal Democrats in favor of this to change their minds. New or seldom heard voices are especially important to weigh in on this!

PLEASE: 1. If you have a personal connection to any of the Democratic legislators (not limited to those members of the Public Health Committee, where this legislation is likely to be introduced), start talking to them now to let them know of your objections. And prepare to keep talking to them as the bill with its specific language takes shape.

2. If you’re part of a political organization or religious group whose membership identifies as largely liberal or progressive, introduce this as a topic on their agenda. Speak up about it yourself and invite members of Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (which formed in New Haven in August) to address them in person or via Zoom. We are interested in meeting with these folks as soon as we can.

Joan Cavanagh is also a member Second Thoughts CT and the New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice.

Empowering Local Clean Energy Action in 2022, 10-11:30 a.m. Friday Jan. 14

The CT Energy Network Presents Empowering Local Clean Energy Action in 2022 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 14, 2022.

It will be a 90-minute info session covering:

· The new PACE Path to 100% Handbook
· Using social media to highlight local efforts
· Strengthening the network of CT clean energy advocates

As local clean energy advocates across the state make plans for the year ahead, PACE and the CT Energy Network would like to share several helpful resources. Foremost among these is a new handbook for local clean energy groups to take concrete steps to promote energy efficiency, renewables and electrification. We will send out this handbook to all registrants; we hope that you will find it useful and will help us improve it based on your practical experiences.

 

In addition, this event will share some recent efforts to use social media to highlight efforts of local clean energy advocates. PACE is eager to support local teams in spreading the word on events, initiatives and programs being carried out locally. Finally, we would like to use this event to further strengthen and empower our Connecticut clean energy community. With your help, the CT Energy Network and PACE would like to help advance these collaborations.

Who should attend:

All local clean energy advocates, including those that already belong to a dedicated group (e.g., task force, commission, sustainability team), as well as folks from towns that do not yet have an organized group of this kind.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/empowering-local-clean-energy-action-in-2022-group-therapy-tickets-235543957317

Vigil to Support Mark Colville’s Probation Violation Hearing Jan. 10

Join us at 1 p.m. Jan. 10 for a vigil either in person outside the Federal Courthouse in Hartford, CT or virtually to support Mark Colville, one of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7. Mark is being called back to court because he refuses to submit to drug testing which is one of the conditions of his 3 years of supervised probation. He contends it has nothing to do with what the 7 were sentenced for.

Meanwhile, Mark points out that the Federal court continues to protect nuclear weapons even though the possession of nuclear weapons is illegal under international law, (see the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons https://www.icanw.org). Right now, the US is spending $100,000 a minute for the next 10 years on the development and production of new nuclear weapons. These are stolen resources from the people of this world. It begs the question: Who are the real criminals here? And why are they not drug-testing the Pentagon’s nuclear war planners, whose criminality and terrorist threats now place the United States in the category of a rogue nation and whose work continues to threaten all life on this planet?

The vigil will be live-streamed on Facebook and Youtube. Further details will be on the website closer to the date. https://kingsbayplowshares7.org.

* * * * * * * * * *

Also note that January 11 will mark the twentieth year that the prison at Guantanamo has been open. Witness Against Torture is planning a small presence in Washington, DC this year and many other vigils around the country. There will be a vigil at the White House at noon and then participants will attend webinars at a nearby church. Some people will fast from their homes from Jan. 7-11 and get together on Zoom in the evenings. Details are at: http://witnessagainsttorture.com/2021/12/22/january-11-rally-at-the-white-house-20-years.

EMAIL: kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com

WEBSITE: www.kingsbayplowshares7.org

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Kingsbayplowshares

TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/kingsbayplow7

INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/kingsbayplowshares7

Traditional Reading ‘Beyond Vietnam’

by Henry Lowendorf, Greater New Haven Peace Commission

It has become a tradition in New Haven to celebrate the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., with a public reading of his brilliant speech, Beyond Vietnam.

The reading will take place at noon Monday, Jan. 17, via Zoom. Contact the Peace Council at 203-389-9547 or grnhpeacecouncil@gmail.com if you would like to read or participate. To listen in solidarity, contact us for the Zoom link.

At a time when the people of our country and the world face an ongoing pandemic, economic deprivation, gross inequality in jobs, health care, housing, education, we celebrate the crystal clarity of King’s vision for peace and justice expressed during the brutal U.S. war on Vietnam 54 years ago. Today we call for ending the dozens of wars, blockades and gross interference in the political affairs of other nations waged by the U.S.A.

The Greater New Haven Peace Council invites you to join in reading this powerfully emotional and historical analysis that is today as relevant as it was when King presented it in 1967.

King: “I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

Congress is now passing a new military budget of three-quarters of a trillion dollars, a huge increase over Trump’s last budget, which itself was highly bloated over Obama’s. Military spending consumes over half of U.S. discretionary budget while the U.S. spends more on weapons and war than the next 11 countries combined.

King: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Contact the Peace Council now to be added to the roster of readers or for the Zoom link to listen to the readings: 203-389-9547,  grnhpeacecouncil@gmail.com.

King called for an end to the madness of militarism, inequality and greed. Let’s settle for nothing less than a just transition to a Green, Peace Economy that works for all of us.

Mothers and Others for Justice

by Cindy Miller, intern, CCA

Mothers and Others for Justice (MOFJ), a New Haven grassroots advocacy group sponsored by Christian Community Action (CCA), is welcoming new members to join us in our efforts to enact positive changes around the lack of affordable housing, healthcare disparities, safe communities and other quality of life issues.

Many of the group members are single heads of household women of color who use their individual and collective voices to influence state and local policy and decision-makers to implement solutions that help people to become self-sufficient. Participation in MOFJ has proved transformational for many members as they return to school, serve their communities, work on political campaigns, and run for office.

Many of the members of MOFJ are committed to the HEALTH sub-committee (Helping Everyone Achieve Lasting Trusted Healthcare) in order to identify and advocate for changes in the healthcare system. We recognize that access to safe, affordable housing is closely related to achieving optimal health outcomes.

Over the years, the members of MOFJ have become empowered by sharing their life stories locally and at the State Capitol. In the coming months, the group is enthusiastic about the opportunity to have their stories recorded in a new grant-funded story lab. Like the cliché, a picture is worth a thousand words, one story of a member of MOFJ and his or her unique struggles tells much more than pages of statistics.

MOFJ will co-host a January legislative breakfast where they will have the opportunity to communicate directly with members of the local and state government the areas in which they believe legislation is necessary. Benefit cliffs and affordable housing top the list of concerns, the latter concern being evident at a recent aldermanic meeting where a number of members of MOFJ presented testimony about inclusionary zoning.

During the pandemic, healthcare disparities between low-income people of color and others were starkly demonstrated — further evidence that those whom CCA serves do not have lasting trusted healthcare. In order to better understand the gaps and areas of dissatisfaction, a survey of 200 members of the community is underway, and there is an online town hall meeting scheduled for Monday, January 10, from 7-8:30 p.m. to encourage conversation and possible solutions on ideas where participants feel need improvement. This meeting has been entitled, “Tell ’Em Why You’re Mad!” It is important that the participants be entirely forth-coming as that will enable CCA to plan its advocacy work through which change can be achieved. Furthermore, it is hoped that the participants will bring up areas about which they want to be educated in a five-part “Health Institute” that will be open to the public to be held in the Spring.

MOFJ has monthly meetings on the fourth Wednesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in New Haven at which there is frequently a speaker on issues of interest. All are welcome to attend meetings as well as to participate in the upcoming Town Hall Meeting on healthcare issues and the HEALTH Institute.

If there are questions, don’t hesitate to contact either Merryl Eaton (Director of Advocacy and Education at CCA): merryleaton@ccahelping.org) or Cindy Miller: cmiller@ccahelping.org.

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