Category: Activism

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. 

Connecticut Rally: Rise Up for Gaza – International Day of Action

Saturday, Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m.
New Haven Green

This October marks two years of Israeli-led US- manufactured genocide on Gaza and its people. Despite the bombs, the starvation campaign, and the devastation of nearly 90% of the Strip, Palestinians have not abandoned their homes or their land and we must not abandon them now. Raise your voice and keep the pressure on our state officials! Follow on Instagram @ampalestinect for updates.

Hartford Workers Over Billionaires Labor Day

Monday, Sept. 1, 12–3 p.m.
Connecticut State Capitol
210 Capitol Ave
Hartford, CT 06106

The billionaires continue to wage a cruel war on working people, with their cronies in the administration, ICE and law enforcement backing up their attacks. This Labor Day we will continue to stand strong, fighting for public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, shared prosperity over corporate politics.

Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that ensure access to opportunity and a better life for all Americans. The billionaire’s time is up.

On Sept. 1 we will continue the movement we launched together on May 1st, standing in solidarity with all our communities under attack and fighting for real wins for all our people.

In thousands of communities around the country we encourage you to take a stand with us on Labor Day. On the streets, outside the offices of the corporate criminals who are behind the attacks on our freedoms and at congressional offices. Together we will demand a world that works for all of us.

OUR DEMANDS TO BUILD THE SOCIETY WE ALL DESERVE:

  • Stop the billionaire takeover and rampant corruption of the Trump administration.
  • Protect and defend Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs for working people.
  • Fully funded schools, and healthcare and housing for all.
  • Stop the attacks on immigrants, Black, indigenous, trans people, and all our communities.
  • Invest in people not wars.

Please note: A core principle behind all our events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

 

Immigrant Advocates Demand Action from CT Lawmakers as ICE Announces Arrests from 4-Day Operation

by Daniela Doncel, Aug. 20, Connecticut Public Radio
[Excerpts from article]

Around 100 community members huddled under a roof of umbrellas chanting “ICE out of Connecticut now” as rain poured down on Danbury Superior Court.

Advocates with Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants demanded action from state lawmakers after several Connecticut cities have seen a surge in the presence of federal immigration officers.

The rally took place less than a two-minute walk from the same location where dozens of ICE officers gathered and detained two individuals on the Danbury courthouse steps earlier this month.

In a statement released on Wednesday [Aug. 20], Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Boston confirmed that 65 people were apprehended by ICE in Connecticut over four days this month.

Family members of one of these taken individuals spoke at the rally. Edwin Andres Calva-Guaman was taken into ICE custody last week at the Danbury Superior Courthouse, according to his sister Monica Apolinario.

“[Calva-Guaman’s] lawyer told him to go to the Danbury Superior Courthouse because he supposedly had a court date. I showed up in court to ask why he had to attend, but in actuality, he didn’t have a court date. We don’t know why they summoned him, and we don’t know where they took him,” Apolinario said in Spanish.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal faced pushback when he spoke at the rally in Danbury on Wednesday.

After introducing him to the crowd, organizer and co-founder of Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants Juan Fonseca Tapia spoke to Blumenthal directly.

“We know you condemned this fascist administration and the terror inflicted on our community,” Fonseca Tapia said. “We know that. But on behalf of my community, I am asking you, what are you going to do to keep our families safe?”

When Blumenthal responded by asking the crowd if they were ready to fight, several individuals in the crowd shouted back, “Are you?”

Blumenthal said he was ready.

In response to the uptick in ICE activity, Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants has organized a petition with demands for state elected officials. According to the petition, the group is calling on Gov. Ned Lamont and the legislature to strengthen Connecticut’s TRUST Act, a law that limits how local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials.

[The entire article is at https://tinyurl.com/mr2kutbp]

Born in an internment camp, blind CT man is determined to protest at 82 years old

By Jordan Nathaniel Fenster | Danbury News-Times

Stan Nishimura took a taxi to get his brand new walker. It’s cherry red, the kind with a seat installed that lets him have a rest if he gets winded. The walker will give him some more mobility, allowing him to walk the grounds of his retirement community, but that’s not the sole reason he made the trek.

Stan Nishimura, 82, of New Haven.Jordan Fenster/Hearst Connecticut Media Group

Stan Nishimura, 82, of New Haven. Jordan Fenster/Hearst Connecticut Media Group

Nishimura, now 82, had been to a recent protest at Yale, but he “really wasn’t able to get around.”

“That’s part of my life,” he said. “There’s real limitations.”

Nishimura, the grandchild of Japanese immigrants, was born in an internment camp in Arizona, one of those set up after Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 9066, which authorized the use of military personnel for the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans. Most of the 125,000 people put in those camps, like Nishimura’s parents, were American citizens. The order referred to them as “alien enemies.”

Nishimura is legally blind and, having survived stage IV lung cancer, his lungs aren’t what they once were. He needed the walker to attend the No Kings protest in Hartford. There, he was among thousands in Hartford and elsewhere around Connecticut and the country, protesting against President Donald Trump and what organizers have said are authoritarian actions.

“That’s how I see my life,” he said. “First defeating the Trump MAGA fascists and then getting to a whole other world is a prime focus. Secondary to that is my individual concerns, because they’re doing it, not just for me, and it’s nice that I can go, but they’re doing it in terms of what is needed for humanity.”

Click here to read the rest of the story on the News-Times web site and fo more photos. .

https://www.newstimes.com/connecticut/article/ct-japanese-internment-camp-trump-no-kings-20379100.php

Schools Protest at Capitol Ends with Arrests

by Mona Mahadevan, May 21, 2025, New Haven Independent

Ten public education advocates, including five New Haven teachers and one student, were arrested at the state Capitol Wednesday [May 21] afternoon during a sit-in outside Gov. Ned Lamont’s office. ….

Chief among their demands: raising the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) foundation amount and adopting a higher weight in the ECS formula for students with special needs.

The demonstration — organized by the New Haven Federation of Teachers, AFT Connecticut, and Connecticut For All — took place as New Haven Public Schools Supt. Madeline Negron considers laying off 129 employees, including 56 teachers and all 25 librarians, to close an anticipated budget shortfall of $16.5 million for the 2025 – 2026 school year. …

Included among those arrested as part of Wednesday’s act of civil disobedience were New Haven teachers union President Leslie Blatteau and Wilbur Cross student John Carlos Serana Musser, a student representative on New Haven’s Board of Education.

[To read the article in its entirety, please go to www.newhavenindependent.org/article/teacher_arrests]

June 8th – Rally to Defend Civil Liberties

Come to the New Haven Green on June 8, 12:30 p.m. for a legal, peaceful, mass demonstration!

• Free Mahmoud Khalil and all targeted activists
• Hands off Rumeysa Ozturk
• Stop all attacks on the rights to protest, organize, and due
process
• Stop all deportations, return Kilmar Abrego Garcia and all
other CECOT prisoners
• Stop passport confiscations
• Stop all attacks on queer and trans people
• Stop RFK’s Autism Registry
• Protect and expand healthcare and social services
• Protect and fund our schools and universities
• Hands off our unions

Our civil liberties are clearly under attack.

The Trump Administration is kidnapping activists, revealing private information of people of color, and waging a rapidly escalating war on our most basic rights to silence its critics.

Activists and community members are building a fightback in defense of democratic rights. Union leaders, rank-and-file workers, and community organizers have formed the CT Civil Liberties Defense Committee.

https://tinyurl.com/46yhbza4

No Kings! National Day of Defiance! June 14

Saturday, June 14, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Connecticut State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave., Hartford.

In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings. NO KINGS is a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allies. We’ve watched as they’ve cracked down on free speech, detained people for their political views, threatened to deport American citizens, and defied the courts. They’ve done this all while continuing to serve and enrich their billionaire allies.

On Saturday, June 14, we’re taking to the streets nationwide. We’re not gathering to feed his ego. We’re building a movement that leaves him behind.

The flag doesn’t belong to Donald Trump. It belongs to us. We’re not watching history happen. We’re making it.

On June 14th, we’re showing up everywhere he isn’t—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings. Check out nokings.org for more information.

A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.

[From the website www.mobilize.us/nokings/c/no-kings/event/create. Also see www.nokings.org and www.fiftyfifty.one.]

Anti-Avelo ICE Deportation Flight Protests Spread from New Haven

by Mark Zaretsky, May 18, 2025, New Haven Register

It’s not just a few dozen people in New Haven or Connecticut anymore who are upset about Avelo Airlines running deportation shuttles for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It’s grown into a national movement, with its own newly-minted national coalition, which recently held its first national online meeting.

On Monday [May 12], the day Avelo began running ICE charters from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz., more than 100 people rallied outside Tweed New Haven Regional Airport, Avelo’s oldest and largest East Coast base.

At the same time, about 30 people gathered on a road leading to the Mesa airport, holding signs that denounced the Trump Administration’s deportation efforts, according to the Associated Press.

[To read the New Haven Register article in its entirety, please go to https://bit.ly/4jeRjxz. For additional coverage and photos, please see Lucy Gellman’s article of May 13 in Arts Paper at bit.ly/4dw4mJJ.]

Update on Medicare for All CT

[Editor’s note: Medicare for All CT (M4ACT) has worked diligently in advocating for a rational and national healthcare system. Below is the notification we received from M4ACT. We wanted to share their list of other healthcare advocacy organizations, as well as the M4ACT email address, for readers who may want to contact them with their questions and concerns.]

For years, Medicare For All CT has advocated and educated around the need for universal health care in the state and the nation through canvasses, meetings with members of Congress, municipal resolution campaigns around the state, and more.

Now, however, due to relocations, health issues, and conflicting personal obligations, M4ACT’s leadership is unable to give this mission the full effort and attention it deserves.

We will therefore be on indefinite hiatus while we consider the best way to move forward.
You are welcome to contact us at our normal email address, info@medicare4allct.org, with any questions, comments, or concerns.

For those who want to remain active, check out these other health care advocacy groups:
Physicians for a National Health Plan https://pnhp.org

HUSKY 4 Immigrants https://www.husky4immigrants.org

CT Health Policy Project https://cthealthpolicy.org

Public Citizen https://www.citizen.org

Thanks, everyone, for all the time, attention, and ACTION over the years.

Medicare For All CT

CT Legislative Session Ends June 4

Many key pieces of legislation have not been decided at the time of our printing. Bills on education, labor, energy, the environment, housing, immigrants’ rights and healthcare were part of this session. To find out what passed, please go to Connecticut Citizen Action Group’s website at ccag.net.

[Editor’s note: Check the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven’s website for an update of what the federal funding cuts will mean for Connecticut: bit.ly/3SUNZg7.]

80th Anniversary of the US Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

An estimated 140,000 people died in the US bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Three days later, on August 9, an estimated 74,000 people perished in the US bombing of Nagasaki. Mostly all killed were civilians.

The bombing of Nagasaki was the last time nuclear bombs were used in warfare.

The United States is the only country to have used nuclear bombs in warfare.

This year, as in years past, on August 6 and 9, the New Haven peace community will gather to remember the dead, call for an end to war, and demand the abolition of nuclear weapons. On Wednesday, August 6 at 8 a.m., the commemoration will be by the flagpole on the New Haven Green to hear a statement from the Mayor of Hiroshima, voice our concerns, and share thoughts on the horrors of war and how to effectively work for peace. On Saturday, August 9 at 10:45 a.m., we will gather at the Amistad statue in front of City Hall, 165 Church St., to hear a statement from the Mayor of Nagasaki. There will be featured speakers from the peace community and time for attendees to address the audience. Please call Henry Lowendorf of the Greater New Haven Peace Council for additional events that will commemorate the bombings: 203-389-9547.

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