Category: Uncategorized

ConnCAT and the NH Free Public Library Partner to Bring Culinary Excellence to the Green

The Connecticut Council for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT) and the NH Free Public Library (NHFPL) announced their newly minted partnership which enhances food options and brings culinary opportunities to New Haven’s nine squares.

Through this partnership, ConnCAT’s Orchid Cafe will open its doors in Ives Squared on the New Haven Green. This second location is set to bring the fruit of ConnCAT’s Culinary Arts Academy to the downtown area. Orchid on the Green opened August 12, and a grand opening celebration is slated for Monday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m.

“Our mission at ConnCAT has always been to assist community members in their efforts to grow, develop and improve their circumstances,” ConnCAT President and CEO, Erik Clemons said. “Supporting the community with job opportunities, entrepreneurial guidance and authentically welcoming spaces remain at the core of the work we do, and we’re excited to integrate that work into the long-standing mission of the NH Free Public Library. This partnership will allow us to deepen our commitment to New Haven while ensuring that community members have consistent access to Orchid’s nutritionally rich menu and social-ly responsible mission.”

“We are excited to welcome ConnCAT and its culinary arts café, Orchid on the Green, to Ives Squared, the library’s renovated space for 21st-century learning, entrepreneurship and civic engagement,” City Librarian Martha Brogan said. “The café is the social engine of Ives Squared, promoting the exchange of ideas in a convivial and relaxed atmosphere with an inventive food and beverage menu. With ConnCAT as our partner, we look forward to deepening our programmatic and service collaboration in support of our shared community values.”

Orchid Café’s premier location was established in 2017 as a full–service breakfast and lunch restaurant that provides training opportunities for participants in the ConnCAT Culinary Arts Academy. The culinary arts program trains adults in the areas of food and beverage operations, entrepreneurial skills, baking and pastry arts, and advanced culinary skills. Graduates also receive the national Food Service Protection Manager certification. The program is targeted to low-income individuals from New Haven, with approximately 25% formerly incarcerated individuals.

Orchid on the Green is an innovative opportunity for the two mission-driven organizations to grow, collaborate, and continue developing the pipeline of local talent.

Enjoy a 10% discount with your NHFPL library card and take in the view of the historic New Haven Green.

Readers want to know what you’re up to. Submit to the PAR New Haven newsletter!

Dear PAR Contributors,

Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

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Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the September Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Sunday, August 18.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

We ask everyone to limit articles to 350 words.

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1. If you ask or encourage new groups to submit articles or calendar items to PAR, please give them a copy of these tips.

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4. If you know of someone who wants to write an article but does not use e-mail, send an e-mail to us with that person’s name and phone number.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT INSERTS

We prefer to carry articles and calendar listings rather than inserts. But if you have an insert to include in the Newsletter, we ask you to send the information contained in the flyer to this e-mail address as well so that it can be easily added to the PAR calendar.

Your organization must make and pay for the inserts. We will be able to handle only those inserts that are a full sheet (8.5 x 11) or half-sheet (8.5 x 5.5) of paper. We cannot accept postcards or cardstock flyers. There is a fee of $7 for inserts.

***

E-mail us if you’d to join our monthly planning meetings or help with the mailings. We always welcome more helpers and new ideas.

We’re looking forward to your articles! Thank you for your help in creating this community newsletter.

– PAR Planning Committee

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PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504

June Newsletter Deadline Sunday May 19

Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you, support your activism and build the struggles. Send us articles (even a paragraph or two) about what your group wants to do and any ideas for organizing!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

Reminder: we do not publish in July or August. Please send us your articles and calendar items through September for our June issue.

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the June Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Sunday, May 19.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

We ask everyone to limit articles to 350 words.

Please include an enticing headline/title for your article so our readers will focus on your work right away.

Be sure to indicate your name and organization as they should appear in your byline.

If you haven’t written recent articles for PAR, please include information about your group’s purpose.

Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we will include photos.

IMPORTANT: Don’t neglect to add your organization’s contact information such as phone number, e-mail address or website, so our readers can get more information about what your group is doing

ABOUT CALENDAR ITEMS

If you mention an event in an article, please also send a SEPARATE calendar announcement.

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VERY IMPORTANT: Please indicate whether your event location is wheelchair accessible.

You can also send us SAVE THE DATE items about future events, even if you do not yet have all the details in place.

Pie Chart Flyers – Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes | War Resisters League

Perfect for Tax Day leafletting, as a focus for forums and panels and workshops and more!

The new edition of the War Resisters League’s famous “pie chart” flyer, Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes, analyzes the Federal Fiscal Year 2020 Budget (FY 2020 is 1 October 2019 – 30 September 2020. This FY2020 issue has just been published. Order now, and we’ll get them to you as soon as we can! 

Each year War Resisters League analyzes federal funds outlays as presented in detailed tables in “Analytical Perspectives” of the Budget of the United States Government. Our analysis is based on federal funds, which do not include trust funds – such as Social Security – that are raised separately from income taxes for specific purposes. What federal income taxes you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2019, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Leaflet with this flyer year-round and on Tax Day, April 15, 2019, and throughout the Global Days of Action on Military Spending, April 13 to May 9, 2019.

Get involved in WRL’s organizing and education work: No SWAT zone: campaign to end police militarization, nonviolent direct action training, internationalism, counter military recruitment, resisting airwars, and more. Visit WRL’s membership handbook. Find resources to challenge militarism, curb police power, strengthen nonviolent action and lift up community resilience!

Write elected officials  letters-to-the-editor, and posts online. Send and share copies of this flyer. Explain your budget priorities for a better world.

Divest from war! Refuse to pay all or part of your federal income tax. Though illegal, thousands of people openly participate in this form of protest. Sign up at wartaxdivestment.org. Whatever you choose to re- fuse—$1, $10, 48% or 100%—send a letter to elected officials and tell them why. Contact us for information or referral to a counselor near you. Contribute resisted tax money to groups that work for the common good.

For more about refusing to pay for war, sample brochures, and to watch the introductory film Death & Taxes, contact the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, (800) 269-7464 or see nwtrcc.org. Support the Peace Tax Fund bill: peacetaxfund.org.

Order a DVD of NWTRCC’s film, Death and Taxes from WRL’s online store.

Read and use War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, a 144-page handbook with history, methods and resources. Available for $5 plus postage from WRL’s onlines store.

You can also download the flyers and print them locally. 

Fiscal Year 2020 (Released March 2019) Pie Chart Flyer
in English, lower resolution, in color (pdf)
in English, higher resolution, in color (pdf)
in English, lower resolution, black and white (pdf)
in English, higher resolution, black and white (pdf)
in Spanish, lower resolution, in color (pdf)
in Spanish, higher resolution, in color (pdf)
in Spanish, lower resolution, black and white (pdf)
in Spanish, higher resolution, black and white (pdf)

We offer these downloads free of charge, but we really appreciate your donation to support the work of producing this important resource each year.  If you can, donate today!

For Pie Charts from previous years, check out the Pie Chart Archives

Source: Pie Chart Flyers – Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes | War Resisters League

UCONN Third Annual The Solution is Socialism Conference April 6

by UConn Youth for Socialist Action and Socialist Action CT

It is finally here! Socialist Action and the UConn Youth for Socialist Action present the third annual The Solution is Socialism Conference! Come Saturday, April 6, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. to the University of Connecticut Storrs Information Technology Engineering Building, Room C80. Join with students, workers, and activists to learn about the burning issues of today in labor, LGBTQI+ rights, ecosocialism, Marxist economics, feminism, anti-imperialism, anti-racism, and more! Capitalism can only continue to hurt working people; it’s time we take control!

Speakers include:

  • Holly Lewis, professor at University of Texas Austin, author of The Politics of Everybody: Feminism, Queer Theory, and Marxism at the Intersection.
  • Bryan Palmer, Professor Emeritus at Trent University, author of James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left and Revolutionary Teamsters.
  • Fred Moseley, professor at Mt. Holyoke College, author of a wide range of books and articles on Marxist economics, most recently Money and Totality: A Macro-Monetary Interpretation of Marx’s Logic in Capital and the End of the ‘Transformation Problem’.
  • Doug Greene, independent Marxist historian, writes deeply and accessibly on history and theory, including Communist Insurgent: Blanqui’s Politics of Revolution, as well as an upcoming critical biography of Michael Harrington, and the article Gramsci for Communists.
  • David Pijoan, a revolutionary socialist leader from France.
  • Donald Jean-Marie Bellman, shop steward, volunteer Executive Committee member of Unite Here! Local 217, a tirelessly energetic organizer inside and outside the Haitian community in Connecticut.
  • Lupita Agrado, blazing new meanings and pathways of rank-and-file militancy, shows how the leadership of women is central in efforts to organize hotel workers. A 20-year banquet server, she was a key leader in the drive to organize her own shop at the Hilton and the Sheraton in Stamford, CT.
  • Joe Hutchinson, a front desk agent and leader in the newly organized Sheraton Stamford hotel, will discuss his first-hand knowledge of worker-to-worker organizing and how it connects with the labor struggles that defined the 1930s.

Info: www.facebook.com/events/375671613279496/?ti=ia

Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/third-annual-solution-is-socialism-conference-tickets-57932794548

Additional questions can be directed to our Facebook:
www.facebook.com/SocialistActionCT. Or you can text or call Ernie: (860)967-9836

Call for Articles for April Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter

Dear PAR Contributors,

Readers want to know about your organization, what it’s doing and about upcoming events.

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you.

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the April Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Tuesday, March 19.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES ARE EASY!

350 words.

Include a headline.

Indicate your name AND organization name.

Include information about your group’s purpose.

Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we can sometimes include photos.

Include your organization’s contact information.

If you mention an event in an article, please also send a calendar announcement with street address and complete location information and whether the venue is wheelchair accessible.

The PAR newsletter comes out approximately Saturday, March 30. Please consider this when submitting calendar items.

For more info visit par-newhaven.org

March 16 National March on Washington: Hands Off Venezuela! No Coup, No sanctions, No New U.S. War!

by Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)

On Saturday, March 16, thousands of people will march in Washington, D.C. against the Trump administration’s effort to engineer a coup in Venezuela and a new devastating war there. The aggressive policy against Venezuela repeats the ugly pattern of wars for regime change in the oil-rich countries of Iraq and Libya. National Security Advisor John Bolton is reading from the same script, declaring a “troika of tyranny” in Latin America (like the “axis of evil”) as a precursor for regime change first in Venezuela, and then Cuba and Nicaragua. Trump has always said that the “mistake” of the Middle East wars was that the U.S. didn’t “take the oil.”

It is time to stand up and with a clear voice say NO to the newest example of the “Monroe Doctrine,” which the U.S. government has used for over two centuries to repeatedly invade Latin America and Caribbean, control its politics and extract its resources.

The White House aims to overthrow the government of President Nicolás Maduro and replace him with Juan Guaidó. Guaidó is a U.S.-trained operative who was unknown to the vast majority of Venezuelans before he proclaimed himself president — at Vice President Mike Pence’s urging. Although Guaidó has the backing of Trump, the CIA, and the Republican and Democratic Party leaderships alike, huge numbers of Venezuelans have marched to reject this coup and defend their independence.

On March 16, the people of the United States will come together to say:

  • U.S. hands off Venezuela!
  • NO to the coup — the U.S. does not have the right to select other country’s leaders!
  • NO to the sanctions, oil embargo and economic war on Venezuela that aims to cause suffering for ordinary people in the country.
  • NO to intervention and war from the U.S. and their proxies in the region.

    [email protected]

Readers want to know about your organization, what it’s doing and about upcoming events

Dear PAR Contributors,

Readers want to know about your organization, what it’s doing and about upcoming events.

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you.

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the March Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Sunday, February 17.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES ARE EASY!

350 words.

Include a headline.

Indicate your name AND organization name.

Include information about your group’s purpose.

Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we can sometimes include photos.

Include your organization’s contact information.

If you mention an event in an article, please also send a calendar announcement with street address and complete location information and whether the venue is wheelchair accessible.

The PAR newsletter comes out approximately Thursday, February 28. Please consider this when submitting calendar items.

For more info visit par-newhaven.org

PAR Deadline Approaching

Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you, support your activism and build the struggles. Send us articles (even a paragraph or two) about what your group wants to do and any ideas for organizing!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

The deadline for the February Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Saturday, January 19.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

Please limit articles to 350 words.

Please include an enticing headline/title for your article so our readers will focus on your work right away.

Indicate your name and organization as they should appear in your byline.

Please include information about your group’s purpose.

Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

Include photos in case we can use them.

IMPORTANT: Include your organization’s contact information so readers can get more information about what your group is doing.

ABOUT CALENDAR ITEMS

If you mention an event in an article, please also send a SEPARATE calendar announcement.

Please give street addresses for any events or meetings, even for “well-known” public buildings.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please indicate whether your event location is wheelchair accessible.

You can also send us SAVE THE DATE items about future events, even if you do not yet have all the details in place.

The PAR newsletter will come out approximately Thursday, January 31. Please consider this when submitting calendar items.

Here are other suggestions about submitting copy to the PAR Newsletter:

1. If you ask or encourage new groups to submit articles or calendar items to PAR, please give them a copy of these tips.

2. Submit copy by e-mail, either as regular text or as an MS Word or attachment (.doc or .docx).

3. If you are a first-time author for the PAR Newsletter, thank you! We hope you will subscribe and encourage others in your organization to do so.

4. If you know of someone who wants to write an article but does not use e-mail, send an e-mail to us with that person’s name and phone number

Creative Reuse: Learn to Crochet with Plastic Bags

Come to the Mitchell Library for a hands-on workshop on Monday, Jan. 14 at 6 p.m.

Join artist Marsha Borden and learn how to transform ordinary plastic shopping bags into mini-works of art.  Through a process of creating yarn from plastic, participants will craft simple objects using chain stitch. Participants are encouraged to gather and bring their own plastic bags to the workshop, as well as a size N crochet hook if they have one. Beginning crochet skills are helpful but not necessary.

Marsha Borden is a textile artist who uses plastic bags in her work. Recent projects have included crocheting a coral reef representing marine animals threatened by plastic pollution.  She is currently exploring how manmade and natural materials intersect in a series of new works titled. More about her work is at www.marshaborden.com. Mitchell Library, 37 Harrison St. (203) 946-8117.

Update of Lawsuit about State Seizure of Energy Efficiency Funds; Millstone Tries to Pose Nuclear Energy as ‘Renewable’

by Paula Panzarella, Fight the Hike

This year, a large portion of the efficiency and clean energy funds that we pay through our electric bills was appropriated by the legislature to go into the state’s General Fund. $87.5 million was taken in 2018, and $77.5 million is scheduled to be transferred in 2019.

Many organizations, including Fight the Hike and CT Fund for the Environment (CFE), were involved in a lawsuit against the state to have the money returned. U.S District Judge Janet Hall recently filed her decision against us. The following excerpts are from CFE’s announcement on this:

  • Unfortunately, the judge just ruled that the state’s sweep of ratepayer funds did not break contracts between ratepayers and their electric companies because nobody promised ratepayers that their dollars would not be transferred to the General Fund for unrelated purposes.
  • Silly us for trusting what it says on our energy bill.
  • Now, these funds are just another hidden tax, and you’ll still breathe dirty air.
  • The loss of the lawsuit proves how difficult it is to stop lawmakers from stealing and spending millions of dollars earmarked for specific purposes on anything they want unless there are clear requirements in the law.
  • We won’t forget what happened after the raid. The legislature’s sweep of these funds destroyed more than 3,000 jobs in Connecticut, clean energy businesses have closed their doors, and energy efficiency projects across the state have been canceled.

There are plans to appeal this decision. We must let our legislators know we disagree with Judge Hall’s ruling, and demand that all the efficiency and clean energy funds be restored.

Regarding Millstone: If it weren’t tragic, it would be laughable that anyone could consider nuclear power a clean, renewable source of electricity. This is a deadly mistake. Just the excavation of uranium is enough to render it a filthy, polluting source of energy, let alone its risk of exposing millions of people to radiation.

  • A tentative ruling by state utility regulators may boost efforts by the owner of the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant to have the electricity it produces considered in ‘zero carbon’ auction that the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection conducts to procure power.
  • Commissioners with Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority ruled that the Waterford-based power plant “is at risk of retirement.” Dominion Energy, the Virginia-based company that owns Millstone, has claimed for several years that economic conditions in the nation’s energy markets are making it difficult for the utility to keep operating the plant if it not be allowed to compete for lucrative long-term contracts that are awarded to the winners of the zero-carbon auction.
  • Joel Gordes, a West Hartford-based energy industry consultant, said PURA’s commissioners erred in their draft ruling.
  • “To treat nuclear power as if it were a renewable resource is completely inappropriate,” Gordes said. “Real renewable resources don’t produce a deadly byproduct that has to be guarded for an eternity.”

(excerpts from the on-line New Haven Register of Nov. 17, 2018, “Connecticut Utility Regulators Say Millstone Nuclear Power Plant ‘At Risk’ of Closing” by Luther Turmelle)

Tell DEEP and PURA that we will not stand for Dominion trying to redefine “clean, renewable resources.” Contact: Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, (860) 827-1553, (800) 382-4586, [email protected]. Katie Dykes, Chair of PURA, (860) 827-2805, [email protected].

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, (860) 424-3000, [email protected]. Rob Klee, Commissioner of DEEP, (860) 424-3571, [email protected].

Readers want to know — December PAR Deadline Nov. 19

Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you, support your activism and build the struggles. Send us articles (even a paragraph or two) about what your group wants to do and any ideas for organizing!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the December Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Monday, November 19.

Call for articles for December Progressive Action Roundtable newsletter

Dear PAR Contributors,

Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you, support your activism and build the struggles. Send us articles (even a paragraph or two) about what your group wants to do and any ideas for organizing!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the December Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Monday, November 19.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

We ask everyone to limit articles to 350 words.

Please include an enticing headline/title for your article so our readers will focus on your work right away.

Be sure to indicate your name and organization as they should appear in your byline.

If you haven’t written recent articles for PAR, please include information about your group’s purpose.

Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we will include photos.

IMPORTANT: Don’t neglect to add your organization’s contact information such as phone number, e-mail address or website, so our readers can get more information about what your group is doing.

ABOUT CALENDAR ITEMS

If you mention an event in an article, please also send a SEPARATE calendar announcement.

Please give street addresses for any events or meetings, even for “well-known” public buildings.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please indicate whether your event location is wheelchair accessible.

You can also send us SAVE THE DATE items about future events, even if you do not yet have all the details in place.

The PAR newsletter will come out approximately Friday, November 30. Please consider this when submitting calendar items.

Here are other suggestions about submitting copy to the PAR Newsletter:

1. If you ask or encourage new groups to submit articles or calendar items to PAR, please give them a copy of these tips.

2. Submit copy by e-mail, either as regular text or as an MS Word or attachment (.doc or .docx).

3. If you are a first-time author for the PAR Newsletter, thank you! We hope you will subscribe and encourage others in your organization to do so.

4. If you know of someone who wants to write an article but does not use e-mail, send an e-mail to us with that person’s name and phone number.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT INSERTS

We prefer to carry articles and calendar listings rather than inserts. But if you have an insert to include in the Newsletter, we ask you to send the information contained in the flyer to this e-mail address as well so that it can be easily added to the PAR calendar.

Your organization must make and pay for the inserts. We will be able to handle only those inserts that are a full sheet (8.5 x 11) or half-sheet (8.5 x 5.5) of paper. We cannot accept postcards or cardstock flyers. There is a fee of $7 for inserts.

***

E-mail us if you’d to join our monthly planning meetings or help with the mailings. We always welcome more helpers and new ideas.

We’re looking forward to your articles! Thank you for your help in creating this community newsletter.

– PAR Planning Committee

Progressive Action Roundtable is on Facebook

For automatic PAR updates, sign up on our website: par-newhaven.org

If your group has a website, please add our link to your webpage.

To renew your own subscription or to buy a subscription for a friend, the rate is $13 for 10 issues. Please make the check out to PAR and mail it to:
PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504

Call for UNH and Yale Law to Break Ties with Saudis

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee (MECC)

[As the PAR print edition goes to print, Newsweek has picked up this story of the universities’ collusion with the Saudi government. By the time you read this in PAR, we expect more investigation will have been done and publicized on an international scale. Congratulations, Stan Heller, for exposing this local world-wide connection!]

Ever more gruesome details emerge daily of the likely torture-murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on orders of the highest officials of the Saudi government.  The Middle East Crisis Committee (MECC) has for years advised Connecticut institutions with relationships with Saudi Arabia to break ties with the cruel regime.  In view of the Khashoggi murder, we call on the University of New Haven, which has helped create a security studies program at the police college of Saudi Arabia and is apparently teaching forensic skills there, to immediately suspend all cooperation with King Fahd Security College. It should publicly explain what it is doing in its secretive program in the kingdom.

We have asked how they can justify doing work with a police college in a country with an absolute monarchy and a justice system known for prosecuting activists calling for democratic rights and full equality for women, one where suspects are tortured. We’ve been met only with silence.  We’ve also called on University of New Haven administrators to explain if any of the skills they are teaching in Saudi Arabia are being used by the Saudi military which is engaged in a brutal illegal war in Yemen.

The Middle East Crisis Committee also calls on Owen Fiss and Anthony Kronman, directors of the Abdullah S. Kamel Center for the Study of Islamic Law at Yale Law School, to speak out. This murder of Khashoggi is an outrageous violation of any legal precept and demands condemnation. It would be extremely beneficial if the Kamel Center hosted an emergency public conference of Islamic law scholars to examine the woeful state of the Saudi system of justice in a country that claims to strictly follow Islamic law.

The center was funded by Abdullah Kamel’s son Saleh Kamel.  Abdullah Kamel was detained by Prince Mohammed Bin Salman last fall on charges of corruption.  Reportedly $4 billion, most of Kamel’s money, has been forfeited without any due process.  Forbes magazine, which had estimated Kamel’s fortune at $2.6 billion, has removed him from its list of billionaires.

Updates will be posted at thestruggle.org and our Facebook page Middle East Crisis Committee.

Seminar on Shared Solar in Manchester, Nov. 10

by Solar Energy Association of CT

The Solar Energy Association of Connecticut will present a seminar on “Community Solar/Shared Solar — How to make it work” on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 2 p.m. at the Community Room in Manchester Police Station.

The value and workability of rooftop PV solar systems have been amply demonstrated over the last several years. How-ever, it is clear that such solar systems can at most be used by a small fraction of people in the U.S., because of shading and other constraints. For more widespread use of solar energy, it is necessary to use Shared Solar/Community Solar systems.

This seminar will discuss the major questions which arise for shared solar systems, with special reference to Connecticut.

What is Community Solar/Shared-Solar? What are the different types of such systems? What are the benefits of Community Solar – financial and environmental? What are the financial and legislative issues that need to be resolved for shared solar systems? How would an individual or family participate in a shared solar program?

Selected examples of Community Solar projects will be discussed, pointing out the issues to be addressed.

¥ou can also participate with your ideas and questions.We invite you to attend; it helps if you let us know in advance by calling (860) 223-5684, (860) 649-9827, or (203) 613-4363.

The Solar Energy Association of Connecticut is a nonprofit, professional, educational organization which supports and promotes the use of renewable energies and environmentally benign technologies. For more information: www.SolarEnergyofCT.org.

 

Interested in hearing about the great developments for green energy in our state? Subscribe to CT Green Energy News. E-mail Peter Millman at [email protected] and he will set up your e-subscription. CT Green Energy News is where you can read about news and events for advocates of clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate action at the state and local levels, focusing on Connecticut. Brought to you by People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE) and Eastern CT Green Action (ECGA).

Coalition for People Invites You to Join Our Board

Coalition for People is planning its annual meeting in April 2019. We look forward to more people being involved to make sure their issues of importance are acted upon. There is room for additional people to join the board, and we hope some PAR readers take up this challenge to help organize and advocate for the disenfranchised in the New Haven area.

We are working closely with Mothers (and Others) for Justice around issues of affordable housing; we have been networking with organizations around homelessness, the criminalization of the poor, and Yale New Haven Hospital’s neglect by discharging homeless people to the street. YNHH’s actions have led to the deaths of at least two homeless people in the past year.

People have a right to have a home, enough food to eat, a job with a living wage and healthcare. Our government still has not accepted the fact that healthcare is a right for all. The struggle for universal, comprehensive single-payer healthcare continues.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 2-4 p.m. at the Fair Haven Library, 182 Grand Ave. in the community room in the lower level. Starting again in December we will meet there the third Wednesday of each month. Please e-mail us if you need a different meeting time and tell us when you can meet. We are flexible and want to make meetings convenient for everyone who wants to join us.

[email protected].

“Show Me How”- Learn about the New Haven Promise: FREE Money for College!

Come Monday, Nov. 5, 6:30 p.m. or Saturday, Nov. 17, 10:30 a.m. to Mitchell Library, 37 Harrison St., New Haven.

Yes, the New Haven Promise Scholarship works! If you are a New Haven Public School Student, you can receive free college tuition! The New Haven Promise Scholarship is an annual award that covers up to full tuition, and tuition only, at a Connecticut public 2- or 4-year college or university, or up to $2,500 at an in-state private institution. Don’t wait until senior year! Register as early as 7th grade. Learn about the requirements for the Promise Scholarship. Hear from Promise staff, New Haven Promise Scholarship recipients and very happy parents!

Please call to register: (203) 946-8117. Refreshments will be served at both events. Parents are highly encouraged to attend with their students.

NHFPL Mitchell Library, 37 Harrison Street, New Haven, (203) 946-8117, www.nhfpl.org.

Vote YES on the transportation BALLOT AMENDMENT

According to CT Roundtable on Climate, there will be a ballot initiative, to be voted on Nov. 6 to approve a constitutional amendment to use the special transportation fund only for transportation purposes.

It’s called the Transportation Revenue Lockbox Amendment. Since 2005 the legislature has moved more than $250 MILLION away from the Special Transportation Fund, including $50 million in 2016  alone.

The legislature has also put into the General Fund $155 million from the Clean Energy & Efficiency Fund collected by UI and Eversource from their customers, i.e. US, users. Were we consulted?

The cowardice of the legislature is unfathomable — they will do anything to prevent raising taxes on the rich, but it’s all right to take from programs that benefit the rest of us.

Download the flyer here.

Ecoworks — We can’t do this without you!

Ecoworks relies on an amazing team of committed volunteers to accomplish our mission. We are looking for motivated volunteers, who can commit their time for at least 3-hour shifts.

Why Volunteer?

Support Creativity and Reuse — Help us divert useful materials from the landfills

Meet People — Meet other creatively-minded people and connect with your community

Discount — 20% off all scrap and reuse materials when you volunteer

Immediate Volunteer Opportunities

We have moved into our new space at 89 State Street in North Haven, but we are not quite finished or ready to open. We are looking for volunteers to help set-up the new space.

Organizing — Organize boxes of stock either by moving them to areas in the store or in the warehouse space

Unpacking — Assist with unpacking stock and placing on shelving or display areas

Signage — Assist with writing up signage for prices and shelf labels

Core Volunteer Opportunities

No matter what your experience or skill level, there’s a role for you at EcoWorks. When we open we will regularly need volunteer help with:

  • Receiving and processing donations
  • Stocking and organizing
  • Assisting customers, including register sales
  • Supporting our team at community events and workshops
  • Teaching workshops
  • Administrative support
  • Social mediaWe appreciate your willingness to support our mission.
    If you would like to volunteer, please email our Volunteer Coordinator at [email protected].
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