U-ACT and the Amistad/Rosette Neighborhood Village Community Demand that Homelessness in New Haven Be Decriminalized

by Mark Colville, U-ACT and Amistad Catholic Worker

Every Friday from 12-1 p.m., the Unhoused Activist Community Team (U-ACT) hosts a community lunch and public speak-out on the New Haven Green, directly across from City Hall, 165 Church St. Our purpose is twofold: 1) To reach out with direct hospitality to our unhoused neighbors who are forced to take refuge on the street each day, and 2) To give a loud public voice to the misery and unnecessary suffering imposed on them by Mayor Elicker’s continued inaction and the policies that criminalize low-income people. The speak-out is often joined by public health experts, street medicine caregivers, tenants’ rights groups, immigrants’ rights collectives, anti-violence and anti-police brutality organizations, and Palestine solidarity folks, all demanding justice and decriminalization.

Central to U-ACT’s demands is a moratorium on police sweeps of tent city encampments. These are a direct violation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which authorizes economic refugees to take up residence on unused public land when the state fails to provide them with adequate and affordable housing. We further demand that the city come into compliance with the UN—to which it is bound by congressional treaty—by designating one or more parcels of public land for the development of a supported emergency encampment for our un-housed economic refugee neighbors.

Rosette Neighborhood Village, located in the backyard at the Amistad Catholic Worker at 203 Rosette St., is a private initiative that is currently providing a working model of what a supported encampment looks like, and how the city could eliminate homelessness by replicating it on a larger scale. We demand that this form of emergency shelter be immediately and permanently legally zoned before another deadly harsh winter descends. Instead, Mayor Elicker shut off the power to this vibrant backyard micro-neighborhood in June, during the hottest days of the year so far. This cruelty must stop. This mayor must be stopped.

Please come join us for lunch and speak-out every Friday and stay for U-ACT’s weekly organizing meeting from 1-2:30 p.m. in the public library across from the Green at 133 Elm St.

For more information please contact Mark Colville at 203-645-5417.

THE EMERGENCY IS TONIGHT!
“The only solution is love and love comes with community” – Dorothy Day

2024 Greater New Haven Labor History Association Conference Sept 8, 4 – 6 p.m.

by Steve Mooser, Greater New Haven Labor Association

Les Leopold, the Executive Director of the Labor Institute, is the Keynote Speaker at the Greater New Haven Labor History Association’s annual conference on September 8. He and longtime community organizer and housing advocate, Kim McLaughlin, will receive the organization’s Augusta Lewis Troup award.

For decades, Leopold has been an impassioned and articulate advocate for workers’ rights and financial well-being. He founded the Labor Institute in 1975 to work for a more equitable and just society. The Institute conducts educational programs for unions, environmental organizations and other community activist groups. Bringing diverse groups out of their respective “silos” to work together has been a priority.

In 2009, Leopold wrote “The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity and What We Can Do About It.” His 2015 book, “Runaway Inequality: An Activist’s Guide to Economic Justice,” focused on the causes of income inequity. The most significant impact has been caused by the growth of the financial sector. Neo-liberal austerity measures and significant cuts in corporate taxes and those of the wealthy forced communities to scramble to fund basic service needs, including incurring greater debt to financial entities.

In his latest book, Wall Street’s War on Workers, he expands on how the financial sector has strip-mined middle-class wealth. Leopold clearly demonstrates the result of stock buybacks. Venture capitalists buy up control of an economically healthy company by incurring tremendous debt. Borrowed funds are used for bonuses and to buy back stock. The once-healthy company is saddled with debilitating debts, resulting in massive layoffs.

A second theme is using polling data to debunk the commonly presented message that the blue-collar workforce and white working class are lost to extreme right-wing political forces.

We look forward to an exciting meeting, including music by labor troubadour Frank Panzarella. Admission is free; donations appreciated!

GNHLHA Conference is Sunday, Sept. 8, 4–6 p.m. at The Labor Center/NHFT Union Hall, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven. Parking is available in the back.

Pizza will be served at the conclusion of the program. For more info: Steve Mooser, nowunion@yahoo.com.

Betsy Ross Arts School and New Haven Peace Commission Celebrate International Day of Peace

by Millie Grenough, New Haven Peace Commission

Cultivating a Culture of Peace is the 2024 theme of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. To celebrate this theme locally, Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School will collaborate with the City of New Haven Peace Commission to host the annual planting of the Peace Tree on their school grounds, 150 Kimberly Ave., New Haven, on Friday, September 20, at 10 a.m.

For decades, the City of New Haven Peace Commission has planted a tree on the grounds of a different city school, library, or public building. The trees and plaques remind us of those killed by gun violence in our community and in wars abroad, and affirm the commitment of New Haven as a United Nations-designated Peace Messenger City, for action toward peace and justice everywhere.

At the Sept. 20 event, students will perform and will unveil an inscribed marker bearing a message that expresses their desire and commitment to work actively for peace. The plaque will be mounted near a tree that they choose, donated and planted by Urban Resources Initiative.

When the General Assembly of the United Nations initiated the Day of Peace in 1981, it stated that peace “not only is the absence of conflict, but also requires a positive, dynamic participatory process where dialogue is encouraged and conflicts are solved in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation.”

Betsy Ross teachers and students are known for their creativity in music, dance, theatre, and the visual arts. We are eager to see how they will highlight their vision of peace. Expect creative performances by students and a few peace-loving grown-ups.

Photos of earlier peace monuments and dedication ceremonies: www.PeaceCommission.org. Put the date on your calendar now: Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 at 10 a.m. at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, 150 Kimberly Ave., New Haven 06519.

Up-to-date info: http://www.PeaceCommission.org and http://www.rossarts.org

Social Media: http://facebook.com/newhavenpeacecommission and Instagram: @nhpeacecommission

Contact: Principal Jennifer Jenkins, Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, email: jennifer.anderson@new-haven.k12.ct.us, phone: 475-220-5300 and Fred Brown, City of New Haven Peace Commission, email: 1professorb@gmail.com, phone: 203-415-1370.

Unemployment Is Largely an Unrecognized and Underestimated Problem in Connecticut and Nationwide

by Sarianna Sabbarese, Jobs and Human Rights Task Force

Official Unemployment: 3.9% or 72,573 CT workers
Hidden Unemployment: 47,808 (working part-time because they can’t find full-time work)
Want Jobs But Are Not Currently Looking: 58,760 (left out of most statistics)
Full, Accurate Count Of Un- And Under-Employed Workers In CT: 181,141

Many not included in the official “unemployment” statistics grapple with underemployment. For instance, those who are not currently looking for work, those who string together multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet, and those who work “under the table” because they aren’t granted access to stable, life-supporting opportunities through the labor market.

The Jobs and Human Rights Task Force is a CT-based group working under the auspices of the National Jobs For All Network. The nationwide long-term goal is to advance and advocate for a policy plan that radically reimagines the existing labor system. We seek a Federal Job Guarantee for all people that recognizes access to meaningful, living wage employment as a human right to which all who wish to work are entitled. We believe that systemic inequality and injustice make all people poorer.

We work at the state level to lay the groundwork for this human rights-based employment framework. Connecticut contains both soaring wealth and deep poverty within its borders. The economic disparities found here mirror those seen across the US. Thus, it can serve as an ideal state in which to push for, test out, refine, and model interventions that address the root causes of this unjust and unequal system — interventions that can then be applied on the national level.

Help us reach our goal of establishing a job creation program that will employ 10% of un- and underemployed people in Connecticut! We meet on the second Wednesday of each month. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 11, at 8 p.m. via ZOOM. Email Sarianna Sabbarese at ssabbarese@gmail.com for the link, or for more info about the Task Force.

Brian Tokar To Give the 2024 Shafer Lecture

by Stanley Heller, Administrator, Promoting Enduring Peace

The annual Shafer Lecture, presented by Promoting Enduring Peace, will feature Brian Tokar, author of “The Green Alternative,” “Earth for Sale,” “Toward Climate Justice,” and “Climate Justice and Community Renewal: Resistance and Grassroots Solutions.”

This free event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. Please see the enclosed insert for more information.

To learn more about Promoting Enduring Peace, please see PEPeace.org or @pepeace on social media.

Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS)

On Sunday, Sept. 15, noon to 4 p.m., and Monday, Sept. 16, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Hotel Marcel, 500 Sargent Drive, get charged up at NEEVS, the ultimate gathering for EV enthusiasts, policymakers, and those seeking trusted guidance on driving electric. Sunday is dedicated to educating and informing consumers as they meet and talk with a variety of EV owners showcasing their cars and as they participate in a ride and drive event to experience EVs on a 1.5-mile route. The NEEVS symposium is a fantastic opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of electric vehicles and network with industry experts. Discover the latest incentives, policies and advances in zero-emission vehicles and pathways to decarbonizing the built environment. Register at https://tinyurl.com/4uvn7hva.

Walk with Guilford Peace Alliance Sept. 21

by Yann van Heurck, Guilford Peace Alliance

The Guilford Peace Alliance (GPA) invites all progressives to join them walking in the annual town fair parade on Saturday morning, Sept. 21, 2024. The march begins at 9:30 a.m. at 40 High Street in central Guilford to walk in the parade at 10. Join and help hand out leaflets.

The GPA holds weekly Saturday morning vigils, which have been going on for 45 years! Attend their Saturday peace vigils on the Guilford Green (11 a.m. to noon) to highlight important issues of the day.

ALL ARE WELCOME! Bring signs and issues, come to talk. GPA also sponsors public lectures, opposes the arms industry and US colonialism and supports pro-democracy movements and freedom for Palestine from the US political arrangements that partitioned and stole its land.

For more information, contact Yann at janinawoelfin@gmail.com and 203-245-9720.

Zionist Betrayal of Jews Slide Show Available

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

A new and expanded edition of the book “Zionist Betrayal of Jews” has been published. The book was first published in 2019 but is now updated with new material about the Zionist embrace of Trump and white-nationalist enabler Elon Musk. It also has a new section about the collaboration of a Hungarian Zionist leader with the Nazis.

I have created an 80-photo slideshow about the revelations of the book that I’d be happy to present to your organization online or in person. It’s one thing to read about events and another to see photos of the history. For instance, there are photos in the slideshow of an anti-Nazi campaign capped by the 100,000 who turned out in New York in 1933. The Zionists undermined this effort with their sabotage of the anti-Nazi boycott. Photos also show Zionist leaders’ deals with dangerous antisemitic governments in South America and the nefarious activities of Trump and Musk.

The information is not only of great value for Jews but also for all non-Jews sympathetic to Palestinian rights. The latter are routinely tarred as antisemites. My book and slide show demonstrate the utter hypocrisy of the Zionists, who collaborated again and again with violent antisemitic forces. The slide show lasts about 35 minutes and is followed by Q&A and discussion.

More about the book at stanleyheller.com. Reach me at mail@thestruggle.org.

Reentry Program for People Who Were Formerly Incarcerated and Their Families

by Rebeka Bamgboye, Outreach Specialist, Urban League of Southern CT

The Urban League of Southern Connecticut’s True Haven program supports individuals and families affected by incarceration, focusing on stable housing and mental wellness. Participants receive six months of intensive financial education and housing support. The program also trains community members in trauma-informed counseling to improve their mental health and the community’s safety. True Haven aims to break cycles of instability and empower families within our community.

To participate, one must be:

  • 18 or older
  • Recently released from prison or have an incarcerated family member
  • Live in Beaver Hills, Newhallville, Hill North and South, Fair Haven, Dwight/West River, or Dixwell

    Visit www.ulsc.org or call 203-327-5810 for more information.

Elm Shakespeare Company presents Richard III

Elm Shakespeare Company presents Richard III, Tuesday-Sunday at 7:30 p.m. through Sept. 1.

This production is free in Edgerton Park!

Elm Shakespeare Company’s 29th annual summer production, Richard III, directed by Rebecca Goodheart, Elm’s seasoned Producing Artistic Director, is set to be a landmark event at the Alexander Clark Playhouse Stage in Edgerton Park, running until Sept. 1st.

With over two decades of experience in directing, acting, and teaching Shakespeare, Goodhearted will explore the role society plays in creating villains and the cost of political violence on us all.

This year’s production features Lisa Wolpe, an internationally renowned theater artist known for her groundbreaking work on Shakespeare and gender, in the title role of Richard. Wolpe’s involvement brings a unique depth to the character, offering audiences a new perspective on the classic play. Her innovative approach to gender in theater juxtaposed to a traditional medieval setting, promises to be a production that continues Elm Shakespeare’s tradition of bringing thought-provoking and accessible Shakespeare to New Haven.

For more information, visit https://www.elmshakespeare.org.

Interfaith Service Festival — Sunday Aug. 4, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

New Haven Green (at College and Elm)

This announcement has everything you need: the Program Schedule, Early Morning Joe Volunteer links, Kosher Cookout Menu, Habitat Volunteer links, bring your lawn chair reminder….. it’s all here.

Read on, take your time, plan ahead, and make the most of our day together on August 4.

Thank you for waging peace,
Bruce A. Barrett, Founder/President

For complete information, visit https://mailchi.mp/e028abead27c/interfaith-festival-update-august-4th-schedule-and-more?e=f00696fb56

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