Category: Activism

Time of Chaos, Time for Resistance

by PAR Planning Committee

2026 has begun with many intense challenges for the peace and justice community, locally and nationally. The federal government is out of control. Checks and balances within the government no longer exist as Trump refuses to be reined in even when Congress, the judicial system and states try to do so.

All over the country people have demonstrated against the many horrors and threats to democracy. The US invasion of  Venezuela and kidnapping of its president, the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by ICE in Minneapolis, the threat to implement the Insurrection Act and unleash the military against US citizens who protest, and the approaching dissolution of US-European alliances if Trump follows through with taking over Greenland have made it clear our government does not represent the people or the interests of democracy in the United States.

Greater New Haven-area peace groups have pulled out the stops, sometimes with four demonstrations within four days. We hope in the coming weeks that activists can send PAR reports of their excellent work of resisting fascism. Also welcome are flyers, “talking points,” and transcripts of rally speeches for us to print in future newsletters. Email reports, articles, photos, etc. to parnewhaven@hotmail.com.

Avelo to Exit Deportation Biz

by Thomas Breen, Jan. 7, 2026, New Haven Independent

Avelo Airlines plans to stop running deportation flights for the Trump administration later this month after deciding that its participation in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program is too complex and costly to continue.

Photo: Chris Volpe

Avelo spokesperson Courtney Goff confirmed that coming move for the budget airline in an email comment sent to the Independent on Wednesday.

“Avelo will close the base at AZA [in Mesa, Arizona] on January 27 and will conclude participation in the DHS charter program,” Goff wrote. “The program provided short-term benefits

At an April 30 anti-Avelo protest at Tweed.

but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs.”

AZ Family, a local news outlet in Phoenix, first reported on Avelo’s decision to end its deportation flights, which began out of Arizona last May — prompting a New Haven-based boycott movement, condemnation from politicians and activists across the country, and frequent protests outside of Tweed New Haven Airport, where Avelo has been flying direct commercial flights (but not deportation flights) since November 2021.

“The big lesson here is that human suffering is not profitable,” said Pastor Jack Perkins Davidson of Hamden’s Spring Glen Church in a phone interview with the Independent Wednesday. “I hope Avelo and all corporations in the U.S. have learned that valuable lesson, that collaborating with injustice and collaborating with racism, though it may for them provide the allure of short-term gain, are empty promises. There is no benefit.”

[To read the article in its entirety, see https://bit.ly/3NsEIN2]

Public Forum – Trump’s Attacks on Gaza and Venezuela: A Socialist Response to US Imperialist Wars and Aggression

 

Workers’ Voice will host a forum on Trump’s attacks on Gaza and Venezuela on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at Whitneyville Cultural Commons, 1247 Whitney Ave. in Hamden. At 5:30 p.m. we’ll have social time and food, and the program will start at  6 p.m. For more information, please email workersvoicect@protonmail.com. Cash donations are welcome.

At the same time, the Trump regime has launched multiple deadly strikes on vessels off the coast of Venezuela accusing the Maduro government of being a “narco-terror cartel,” they have also brokered a shaky rotten deal between Hamas and the Israeli government. Today Israel continues attacks on Gaza and has used the “ceasefire” as a pretext to launch attacks on Lebanon.

What is the role of US imperialism in the world and what does it have to gain from these attacks? In Gaza, what does the continued US support of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians mean for international efforts to build solidarity? What is the role of Hamas and what is the way forward? In Venezuela does US imperialism see another opportunity to transfer power to Machado’s opposition party? Is Venezuela a “narco-terror cartel”? What happened to the movement started by Hugo Chávez and is this the logical outcome of Chavismo? What way forward for the people of Venezuela?

Join Workers’ Voice/La Voz de Los Trabajadores for this forum as we discuss these important questions that are deeply impacting working people across the globe.

One to One: John and Yoko – A Collage of the Times

by Frank Panzarella, PAR reader and musician

For the last 60 years, the conservative corporate elite have used every tool to defame and compromise the legacy of the rebellions of the 1960s.  Two major pillars of that fear were embedded in the coming together of the Civil Rights movement and the social and cultural revolutions that were fueled by the war in Vietnam.

The rising tide of Black liberation inspired a generation to challenge the power of Jim Crow, and question all aspects of capitalist society in the United States and its tentacles of international involvement throughout the world.  The war in Vietnam became a funnel for many of these challenges of power.

Even on a social level these often contradictory and painful explorations challenged the norms of patriarchy and sexual relations and self-definition often embodied in the art and music of those times and the growing fight for a new kind of liberating culture.

A new quasi-documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono called One to One: John and Yoko is a fascinating, if somewhat limited, collage of that social revolutionary time.  It provides a small but rich glimpse into the maelstrom of events and the ferment of ideas of a generation seeking a new ideology and even somewhat challenging its own biases.

In today’s environment, where the reactionary forces of racist and fascist politics are attempting to reverse the modest gains since those times, this HBO feature is a welcome small window that reminds us of the complexity and dynamic energy that changed social relations in our country in those times that still reverberate today despite some of the chaotic flaws of those years.  It is those many advances that scare the most conservative in our society that the dreams of democracy, equality, and justice for all might actually happen, threatening the remnants of white privilege and corporate control of most of the wealth in our world and the health of our planet.

This is a worthwhile film.

View the trailer : https://youtu.be/oxagfYjeMV4

Some No Kings Next Steps

Some No Kings Next Steps: There was a No Kings Next Steps video conference last night [Oct. 21]. Here are some things that they talked about:

  1. A) Budget battle/government shut-down: Call senators and tell them to hold the line on asking the GOP to negotiate on healthcare. Or text “shut-down” to 30403 and they will text back what to do.
  2. B) Take control of the narrativeand share your posts on your social media of your stories of how the actions of Trump Administration are affecting/hurting you, criticism of organizations that preemptively capitulate to the Trump Administration, and to showcase stories or resistance (“social proof”).

The next meeting of the Greater New Haven Indivisible group is on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Stetson Library (2nd floor) at 197 Dixwell in New Haven.

For more info: greaternewhavenindivisible@gmail.com.

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News from Greater New Haven Indivisible

Thanks! to everyone who attended the No Kings New Haven event this past Saturday. Across the US, it was the largest peaceful protest in American history – and it was amazing to see so many people on the New Haven Green having a good time while fighting for democracy and progressive values and against autocracy! Way to go, everyone!!

Photo: Chris Volpe for the New Haven Independent

There are Indivisible groups across the US, CT, and in the area. You can check the National Indivisible website where groups are (https://groups.indivisible.org/). Every local Indivisible group decides their own actions in order to work towards change, fight back against rising authoritarianism, and prove—action by action—that courage is contagious.

People Have the Power!

Janis Underwood, Greater Westville Indivisible

In the middle of September, a small group of neighbors were talking about the October 18 nationwide call to action put out by the national Indivisible organization. We noticed New Haven did not have a No Kings Rally in the works. We decided New Haven was not about to be left out of standing up to the authoritarian overreach of this current administration.

Over the next few weeks we mobilized an army of volunteers who came to help in droves and brought expertise, enthusiasm and themselves. We were determined to showcase unity and an action for a peaceful, action-oriented protest that resulted in the New Haven No Kings rally.

Photo: Chris Randall

Over 20 community groups came to share their organizations’ mobilization efforts with sign-up opportunities and information. Much to our joy, several thousand people came to march together with their signs, songs, slogans, puppets, umbrellas and HUGE spirit. The wonderfully diverse community of New Haven made this happen!

Did we know what we were doing? Not exactly, but we had a goal in mind and found people who shared their expertise and talents to help make it happen. Did we make mistakes…certainly. Would we do it again? After a little R & R … maybe!

People never realize their power until they exercise it. You Can Too!!!

Contact Nan to get involved. Her email is greaterwestvilleindivisible@gmail.com.

No Kings Day 2! Demonstrate on Saturday, Oct. 18

www.nokings.org

[Demonstrations on Oct. 18 will take place in many towns across the country and the world. The Hartford demonstration at the Capitol is from noon-2 p.m. The New Haven demonstration will be on the New Haven Green from 3-5 p.m. NOW IS THE TIME!!! See www.nokings.org for all locations. And check the time before you go to ensure the time has not changed.]

In June, we did what many claimed was impossible: peacefully mobilized millions of people to take to the streets and declare with one voice: America Has No Kings. And it mattered. The world saw the power of the people. President Trump’s birthday parade was drowned out by protests in every state and across the globe. His attempt to turn June 14 into a coronation collapsed, and the story became the strength of a movement rising against his authoritarian power grabs.

Now, President Trump has doubled down. His administration is sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing our communities. They are targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting and detaining people without warrants. Threatening to overtake elections. Gutting healthcare, environmental protections, and education when families need them most. Rigging maps to silence voters. Ignoring mass shootings at our schools and in our communities. Driving up the cost of living while handing out massive giveaways to billionaire allies as families struggle.

The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.

Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and bigger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan; it is the foundation our nation was built upon. Born in the streets, shouted by millions, carried on posters and chants, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together.

Because this country does not belong to kings, dictators, or tyrants. It belongs to We the People – the people who care, who show up, and the ones who fight for dignity, a life we can afford, and real opportunity. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.

 

Know Your Rights https://undocumented.media.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3141/2025/03/Know-Your-Rights_One-Pager_Bilingual-2.pdf

Resistance Toolkit Zines

by City of New Haven Peace Commission

The Peace Commission has created a new community resource https://heyzine.com/flip-book/19c5ceb599.html for activism in New Haven in the current political moment.

Be sure to check out our website peacecommission.org for our bilingual Resistance Toolkit Zines, created by Nelani Mejias for the Peace Commission.

[To read more about the Resistance Toolkit, please see bit.ly/3IcUglQ]

 

Know Your Rights https://undocumented.media.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3141/2025/03/Know-Your-Rights_One-Pager_Bilingual-2.pdf

Dozens Participate in Pedal for Palestine Bike Tour – from the Mill River to the Sound of the Sea

by Shelly Altman, Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven

On Sept. 21, dozens of New Haveners cycled and spoke to draw public attention to the catastrophic destruction of life and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank regions of Palestine. The cyclists navigated a 7-mile route through the streets of New Haven. Speakers at six stops along the way highlighted the effects on Palestinian civil society in the areas of education, water sovereignty, press freedom and safety, health care, food sovereignty, and access to the sea. At each of the stops, professionals spoke on the effects of apartheid and genocide in their areas of expertise.

The cycling event was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven.

In her remarks, Jewish Voice for Peace member Ellen Rubin said:

Gaza is now the global epicenter of child/family suffering. It has the highest number of orphans, amputees and trauma victims on Earth. Over 700 attacks on health facilities have left more than 96% of Gaza’s hospitals destroyed or damaged. Healthcare and aid workers have been targeted, killed, detained without charge, tortured and even murdered while in prisons.

Tagan Engel and Jamilah Rasheed are two longtime New Haven food and land justice activists who work every day to protect the fundamental rights of every single human being to have food, clean water, and self-determination. They together asked: Can you imagine if four times the population of New Haven were literally dying from starvation right now, and all the people in bordering towns had nothing to eat or drink for days on end — all while food and water could easily be brought in from Milford, Cheshire and Branford if the occupying government would allow it?

The Narrative Project founder and CEO Mercy Quaye spoke to the need for activists to continue speaking truth to counter the silence and misinformation that is so prevalent in American mainstream media in reporting about Palestine.

We call on our members of Congress to sign on to H.R.3565, known as the Stop Arming Israel bill. To date, the legislation has 49 co-sponsors, but none in Connecticut. All of our members must support this critical legislation.

For more information: newhaven@jewishvoiceforpeace.org.

Jewish Voice for Peace is a national grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. 

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