Category: Peace

SCSU Rally Calls For ICE-Detained Student’s Release

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Thomas Breen, April 6, 2026, New Haven Independent

More than 100 students, teachers, and immigrant rights advocates gathered outside of Southern Connecticut State University’s (SCSU) Buley Library Monday [April 6] to speak up for a classmate who was detained by federal immigration agents off campus last week.

photo: Thomas Breen

photo: Thomas Breen

Speaker after speaker on Monday — including co-emcees Justin Farmer and Sam Morrison, students and faculty from SCSU, and organizers from UNITE HERE 217, the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, and Unidad Latina en Acción, among other groups — called for the detained student to be released, for the university to support undocumented students, and for a mass mobilization against the Trump administration in response to the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

[More at https://bit.ly/4tpkTpM.]

 

 

Singing Resistance Chapter in New Haven

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A New Haven chapter of Singing Resistance has emerged! Join the group or start your own using the Singing Resistance Toolkit and Songbook.

Songbook: tinyurl.com/songbookSR

Accompanying Toolkit: tinyurl.com/toolkitSR

Follow us on Instagram: @singingresistancenhv

We sing to protect our neighbors and ourselves. We are grounded in love, nonviolence, and solidarity. ICE OUT.  Now, tomorrow, forever.

linktr.ee/srnewhaven

Mother’s Day Tribute Garden News

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by Paula Panzarella, West River Peace Garden

On Saturday, May 9 at 11 a.m., we invite you to take part in the first Mother’s Day Tribute in the expanded area of the West River Peace Garden. In case of rain, the gathering will be on Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m.

The West River Peace Garden features blooming native perennials, a magnolia tree, and a Ginkgo tree (grown from a cutting of a Ginkgo that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945). Now we have a circular garden to the north side (near MLK Blvd.), developed through the initiative of a neighbor who felt the need for Mother’s Day to include paying homage to mothers who have passed on.

We hope you’ll bring a plant for the garden in memory of your mother. Share a story about your mom, listen to music, decorate a stone to put in the garden, and meet the neighbors.

The West River Peace Garden is by Ella Grasso Blvd. between Legion Ave. and MLK Blvd. We work in the garden every Friday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and welcome all volunteers. For info, call 203-350-3795. Our website is westriverpeacegarden.org.

An Urgent Call to PAR Newsletter Readers

by Ann Froines, Back from the Brink

Are you concerned, even frightened, that the regional wars involving nuclear powers in these perilous times could spark an exchange of nuclear weapons? The result of such an exchange could result in the deaths of millions over time—from the explosions themselves, radiation contamination, and a “nuclear winter” resulting in vastly lowered food production. Prominent scientists and medical personnel have warned for decades of this possibility because nuclear weapons are on hair-trigger alerts. One mistake in a complicated system could result in devastation to the planet.

You can help avert this catastrophe by participating as an individual in the grassroots campaign launched by the coalition Back from the Brink. (See preventnuclearwar.org.) At this readable website you will find this campaign’s common sense approach to nuclear policies that will secure a safer future for all the world. You can easily join as an individual, provide financial support, and use its advocacy tools to help prevent a nuclear war.

The approach argues for actively pursuing through diplomacy verifiable agreements among nuclear powers to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. Furthermore, it advocates, among several other measures, the cancellation of the one trillion dollar plan to replace the current U.S. nuclear arsenal with “enhanced weapons.” Such expenditures will not make us safer but instead prioritize an arms race that deprives our nation of much needed programs for health care, housing and education.

Fifty members of the House of Representatives, including three of the five Connecticut representatives, have endorsed House Resolution 317, a bill that describes Back from the Brink’s objectives (Reps. DeLauro, Hayes, and Larson). Connecticut citizens are also trying to arrange a meeting with Senator Chris Murphy, who would be an important voice advocating for the companion resolution, Senate Resolution 323.

Please won’t you consider joining in the citizens’ campaign for a sane nuclear policy and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons?

Sincerely, Ann Froines, Hamden, CT

In Memoriam: Cal Robertson

 

Many PAR readers who, from the 1980s on, attended peace rallies and demonstrations in Groton and New London against war, nuclear weapons, and the production of the nuclear submarines, met Cal Robertson, who earned their admiration and respect. Stephen Vincent Kobasa, New Haven writer and activist, wrote this article originally for the Hartford Catholic Worker at https://bit.ly/4t9c6YJ.

Cal Robertson: Persistent Witness for Nonviolence ¡Presente!

by Stephen Vincent Kobasa

(Htfd Catholic Worker ed. note: Cal Robertson was born unto eternity on January 3. Cal was universally known to residents of southeastern CT for his decades long daily vigil for nonviolence at the Sub base in Groton, the Sailor and Soldiers monument in New London, and elsewhere. Cal was a soft-spoken man of very few words – in part because of a head injury, but more so out of humility. If you ever met him he undoubtedly greeted you with “solidarity in the struggle,” and handed you a poem. Cal vigiled for peace in penance for his time in the Vietnam War.)

“Purity of heart is to will one thing” was a claim made by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Until my first encounter with Cal Robertson, I never had a clear proof that anyone I knew possessed that quality. But Cal did, passionately.

He was a wounded healer, a veteran, full of grace, who carried memories that most of us would be afraid to imagine. He was one of the few human beings I have ever known who was simply incapable of arrogance. Humility was in every one of his gestures, along with compassion. His laughter was explosive, always accompanied by a single loud clap of his hands, an audible punctuation that was also a sign of both his affirmation and his pleasure.

He had a sincere curiosity about every person he encountered, intent upon finding the questions that would reveal what mattered most about them, and to them. His fidelity to the practice of nonviolence was unfailing, with even his smallest gestures carrying a touch of peace.

There was a kind of penance to his life, but it led him to joy. Everyone who knew him was led there, too. In the traditional Jewish phrase, his memory will always be a blessing.

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.

New Haven Team in UN Associate Organization

by Manuel Camacho, City of New Haven Peace Commissioner

The United States is now being represented internationally by a team of young people who are engaged in their communities in various ways. Manuel Camacho from New Haven, CT, leads this new team as the U.S. Representative in a larger entity known as the International Federation of Young Citizens. The IFYC is an associate member of the United Nations and engages with local, national, and international institutions. The Federation has teams of young people from over 13 countries, each one titled ActualiTeam(name of town/city in country). For more information on the Federation and its mission, you can visit their website at https://fijc.org/ to learn more about it.

The newly accredited U.S. team titled ActualiTeamNewHaven is currently comprised of 5 members: Manuel Camacho (City of New Haven Peace Commissioner/Vice President of SCSU College Democrats), Adrian Huq (Co-founder of New Haven Youth Climate Movement/Board Member of Sustainable CT), Mark De Lima (Member on Easton, Connecticut’s Commission for the Aging/Current Medical Student), Anthony Fiore (Treasurer of Southern Connecticut State University College Democrats), and Jacqueline Lorthe (City of New Haven Peace Commissioner).

Since its accreditation on Jan. 8, 2026, the team has voted on and proposed language amendments to official proposed international statements/stances regarding the U.S.’s operation in Venezuela and the current state of Gaza. The team has participated in the United Nations’ recent Call for Input on Climate Financing and Human Rights. There is an upcoming Civic Town Hall to be hosted by the UN at its headquarters in New York, towards the end of January, where the team will be attending a discussion with Her Emissary Annalena Baerbock (President of the UN General Assembly). The topic of the town hall: a discussion on how civic societies will contribute to protecting the principles of the United Nations and engaging in the broader reform of the Organization to modernize and make it fit for the 21st century.

This is just the beginning, as the team has much to navigate through as they engage in international dialogue during such uncertain times for the United States, both domestically and internationally. However, these young people are willing to represent the best and most positive parts that their country still has.

Oppose Attacks on Venezuela, Support Socialists There

by Stanley Heller, Administrator, Promoting Enduring Peace

By the time you read this, Trump may have launched an awful attack on the Venezuelan mainland. His Department of War is already killing scores of Venezuelans under the guise of fighting drugs, bombing boats he claims are bringing drugs to America, while making fantastic claims on the number of US lives he’s saving. The idea that you could wipe out crime just by killing “criminals” left and right was shown false long long ago (besides being morally revolting).

Of course, it’s likely part of a plan desensitizing Americans to the plan to invade and seize the assets of another fossil fuel giant (this one having the biggest oil reserves on the planet).

Promoting Enduring Peace came up with this brief statement on its views:

“We condemn the Trump Administration’s bombings of boats supposedly running drugs to the U.S. Criminal activity is not ‘war.’ Alleged criminals should not just be killed nor is this legal under US or international law. All these boats could easily have been stopped by naval authorities.

“As far as the military threats to Venezuela and Colombia, only the citizens of those countries have the right to determine who should be in power, not the US government. We stand in solidarity with Venezuelan socialist and democratic forces who organize for the rights of the Venezuelan people against dictatorship and imperialism.”

If the attack or invasion comes, we hope there will be a massive outpouring of anger all throughout Latin America led by the Left.

One problem is this disastrous idea that Venezuela is a “socialist” country and the blind support many on the Left give to the Maduro regime. He leads a country with the lowest minimum wage in Latin America, a government that enforces extreme austerity measures, and repression of all dissidents. None of the socialist parties were allowed to run in the 2024 presidential election, not even the Communist Party which had been Maduro’s ally until just a few years ago. We can support Venezuelans without supporting Maduro and discrediting ourselves.  Learn more about this from Venezuelans. See PEPeace.org.

City of New Haven Peace Commission Projects

by Paul Bloom, Peace Commission member

The City of New Haven Peace Commission is a city commission initiated by the United Nations 32 years ago. We were one of the first cities designated by the UN for their Peace Messenger Cities project, and only one of four cities in the United States of the more than 100 member cities worldwide.

The Peace Commission has numerous small projects in which we engage, and which are always changing, but there are several projects and events that are ongoing. Each year we plant a peace tree at a school or other New Haven site, we commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with an event on the Green, and we commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King with an event at City Hall (see peacecommission.org). Our other significant ongoing project is the West River Peace Garden located at the intersection of Ella T Grasso Boulevard and MLK Jr. Boulevard. The Peace Garden was also established by the United Nations and is a small site that promotes quiet, peace and introspection. Please consider stopping by anytime  (but most especially when winter has passed) to visit and to meet with friends (see westriverpeacegarden.org).

There is also a new project which we are just starting to engage in, and which we want to invite you to consider joining. That is: working with other organizations and individuals in New Haven and the surrounding region in order to develop a regional strategy which effectively rejects the promotion of nuclear war and the development of nuclear weapons. We are just starting to make connections with other organizations that would like to engage with us on this issue, and we look forward to having other individual area residents join us in this mission.

If you would like to contact us, please note the following:

For general Peace Commission information: Roberto Irizarry, Chairman, Peace Commission, rocolino@yahoo.com.

For information about the Peace Garden: Aaron Goode, lead person of the Peace Garden project, aaron.goode@gmail.com.

For anti-nuclear information: Paul Bloom, Peace Commission member, paul.bloom.arc.70@aya.yale.edu.

A Petition in Response to a Movie about Nukes

by Stanley Heller, Promoting Enduring Peace

It may seem like a simple ask, a call to have the president take part in a nuclear war drill. Actually, it could have enormous consequences. On Oct. 24, Netflix streamed the movie A House of Dynamite. At one point the fictional president says, “I had one briefing when I was sworn in…one.” In an interview, a technical advisor for the film said that no president since Ronald Reagan has taken part in the national security drills involving nuclear war. Annie Jacobsen makes the same point in her 2024 book Nuclear War: A Scenario. She quotes President Reagan’s memoirs, “Six minutes to decide how to respond to a blip on a radar scope and decide whether to release Armageddon! How could anyone apply reason at a time like that?”

So, after talking with folks from Back from the Brink, our organization came up with a petition, “Urge President Trump experience a nuclear war drill to see the folly of nuclear weapons.”  You can see it on Change.org. Here’s a quick link: tinyurl.com/nuclear-drill.

It may seem futile to try to educate Donald Trump about anything given his politics and his persona but the 1980s have an interesting lesson for us.  Ronald Reagan came in with far-right views and made all kinds of aggressive threats. He faced pushback from the Nuclear Freeze movement and the million-person anti-nuke rally in NYC in 1982. Two movies were produced in the ’80s: WarGames and The Day After, both with stark messages about the results of nuclear war. Reagan saw both movies and they strongly affected him. Within a few years he negotiated with Gorbachev and came up with a treaty that sharply reduced the number of nuclear weapons.

The petition background lists a number of interim measures that could make the world safer, like taking weapons off hair-trigger, abandon “launch on warning,” pledging no first use. Please sign the petition and spread it around.

Dr. Ira Helfand and Dr. Bárbara Cruvinel Santiago to speak at Yale 7-8:15 p.m. Thursday Oct. 9

Location: William Harkness Hall, Room 119, 100 Wall St, New Haven, CT 06511

Speakers: Dr. Ira Helfand (Back From the Brink; International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), Dr. Bárbara Cruvinel Santiago (Yale Physics; Berkeley College)

As global tensions evolve, nuclear weapons continue to raise questions of security, peace, and existential risk—concerns that have grown more acute in recent years. This event will: examine why the dangers posed by nuclear weapons are growing and urgent; explore the humanitarian and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons use and the risks embedded in current U.S. nuclear policies and posture; and provide useful information about how Yale students, faculty and staff and the general public can get involved and help reduce these threats.

Opening remarks provided by the Yale Chaplain’s Office. Additional remarks provided by Rishi Gurudevan (Yale College; Students for Nuclear Disarmament) and Cassady Mullaney (Yale Physics; Kimball Smith Series).

Visit tinyurl.com/yalenuclearweapns to register.

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

Famed Professor to Speak on Biodiversity and Sustainability in War-Wracked Palestine

by Yann van Heurck, First Unitarian Universalist Society

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh will speak via Zoom at First Unitarian Universalist Society of New Haven during the 10:30 a.m. church service on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Dr. Qumsiyeh, former professor of biology and genetics at Yale and author of many academic papers and books, including Sharing the Land of Canaan, is currently director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability, and of the Palestine Museum of Natural History, at Bethlehem University in Occupied Palestine. A Christian Palestinian, Dr. Qumsiyeh will share the groundbreaking work of the Institute to preserve the flora, fauna and human populations of the region amid devastating attacks on the environment.

Unitarian Universalism is a multiethnic, multireligious faith that encourages social activism in a context of spiritual awareness. Everyone is welcome to join our service at the meeting house (608 Whitney Ave., New Haven) or by Zoom link. Email Yann for the link at janinawoelfin@gmail.com. We urge all friends of nature and justice to join us!

Pedal for Palestine, Sunday, Sept. 21

by Ellen Rubin, JVPNH

Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven (JVPNH) invites you to join us on September 21, 2025 for Pedal for Palestine. We will be cycling in “slow motion” through the streets of New Haven to create connection and community with Gaza and Palestine. We welcome bright banners with clear messaging and visibility, noisemakers of all types, high spirits and riders of all ages and abilities – with safety as a priority. Please wear your helmets, honk horns, ring bells, blow kazoos, follow the marshals and make new friends!

We will start at 10 a.m. at the Mill River by Cross High School to highlight the destruction of educational resources in Gaza, stopping at the water treatment plant, public library, local hospital, and media outlets to highlight the corresponding devastation of life-sustaining resources in Gaza today. We will end by the Sea at Long Wharf around 2 p.m., with plans to get to know one another, enjoy the food trucks, and hopefully dance! The goal is to promote solidarity, education and funds for the families in Gaza facing famine, genocide, and internment camps. Folks can join at any of the planned stops (maps will be provided) or join us at the start or finish or anywhere in between. If you are not a bike rider, you can help with refreshments, leafletting, fundraising to the grass-roots organizations providing food, healthcare, and children’s services in Palestine (MECA and RAWA) &/or just party with us. We stand and pedal for Peace and Justice in Palestine. Join us!

For more information and to register to ride, go to jvpnh.org/pedal-for-palestine.

Signs for the Times: the New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice Continues

by Joan Cavanagh, Vigil Participant

“Never Again for Anyone;” “No More Money for Genocide;” “Resist Fascism Now- Before It’s Too Late;” “Arms Embargo Now;” “Food Distribution, Not Population Annihilation;” “Silence Is Not an Option;” and, of course, “Resist this Endless War,” are among the messages made visible every week by the New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice.

Ongoing weekly since 1999 throughout the administrations of five different presidents, the vigil’s theme has been consistent: the wars and military interventions abroad and repression at home are all part of one assault aimed at consolidating enormous wealth and power into the hands of a very few people at the expense of the rest of us and the health of our planet.

After the U.S.-enabled destruction of Gaza and its people following the HAMAS attack on Israel, culminating now in a campaign of mass starvation and population removal, the vigilers decided to continue this weekly presence well beyond its 25th year.

Today, with all three branches of the United States government caught in the stranglehold of a global movement toward fascism, visible street resistance to all manifestations of the “endless war” is a crucial part of our refusal to be silenced. This is what fascism looks like:

  • Mass institutional compliance with the dictates of Trump and his lackeys on every issue, including the abolition of D.E.I., the removal of healthcare from certain groups of people, the rewriting of U.S. history and the criminalization of dissent.
  • The federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. police force (a prototype for takeovers of more U.S. cities).
  • The invasion of our cities by masked ICE thugs and the illegal arrests, detainments and deportations of U.S. citizens as well as immigrants.
  • The criminalization of poverty and homelessness.
  • Massive cuts to vital social services needed by millions in our country, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
  • And, of course, the never-ending blank check for war-making, weapons production and military intervention handed to the President of the United States.

Currently, three to six people attend the vigil. With more urgency than ever, we invite others to join: 12 to 1 on Sundays at Broadway, Park and Elm streets. This is what democracy looks like. (https://newhavensundayvigil.org).

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