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.

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

by Frank Panzarella, PAR reader and musician

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

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

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

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

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

This is a worthwhile film.

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

Community Dinner at Volume Two

by Volume Two/Never Ending Books

Folks will be hosting a Community Dinner every second Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at Volume Two (V2), A Never Ending Books Collective, at 810 State St., New Haven. Bring what you can and take what you need! Sign up to bring a dish here: https://tinyurl.com/2ndthurscommunitydinner and subscribe to the V2 newsletter at https://neverendingbooks.net.

V2 offers free books and a free space for your gig, group, or gathering. LGBTQIA and BIPOC events encouraged and celebrated! For all booking and other inquiries, contact NEBCollective@gmail.com.

Call for Proposals for the 25th SCSU Women’s & Gender Studies Conference

by Women’s & Gender Studies Department, SCSU

(Re)making the World: A “How-To” Conference on Feminist, Crip, and Decolonial Worldmaking, April 17–18, 2026, at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven

In As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance (2017), Leanne Betasamosake Simpson writes:

Resurgence is not a metaphor. It is the flight out of settler colonialism, towards something we have been taught is impossible.

This conference takes Simpson’s call for radical resurgence seriously — positioning “how-to” as a feminist practice, politic, and theorizing.

The 2026 Southern Connecticut State University Women’s & Gender Studies Conference invites communities to gather for a feminist, crip, and decolonial practice of refusal, survival, and worldmaking.

In an era of rising authoritarianism, climate catastrophe, and technological dispossession, we ask

How do we refuse extractive systems of labor, knowledge, and identity?

How do we create alternative economies of care, access, justice, and decolonial business?

How do we unlearn oppressive epistemologies and forge liberatory practices?

How do we crip, queer, Indigenize, and decolonize institutions not built for us?

How do we resist algorithmic bias, surveillance capitalism, and technocratic ableism?

How do we (re)imagine feminist futures?

The 2026 conference offers a space to explore the pedagogies, practices, and possibilities embedded in the question of “how to?” across disciplines, communities, and movements. We seek proposals that move beyond critique to praxis — embracing failure as pedagogy, interdependence as resistance, and joy as a radical act.

Submission Guidelines: Individual papers, workshops, roundtables, performances, exhibitions, teach-ins, skill-shares, activist toolkits, and other creative or non-traditional formats are welcomed.

We encourage proposals from caregivers, community organizers, entrepreneurs, artist-activists, and others whose work centers lived experiences, collaborative strategies, and collective visions for justice and inclusion.

The deadline is Jan. 5, 2026 (earlier submissions encouraged). Notifications will be sent by Jan. 30.

Send proposals to wgs@southernct.edu with the subject “2026 SCSU WGS Conference Submission” and include the name of the proposer, email, phone number, affiliation (if any), and any accessibility needs. The proposal should be approximately 150-250 words and should include a 50-word bio for each presenter and a separate section with a description of the proposed format of the session.

Registration details will be available shortly. Please email or phone the Women’s & Gender Studies Department at wgs@southernct.edu or 203-392-6133.

Sierra Club Demands No Pipeline Expansion!

by Sena Wazer, Sierra Club CT

The Trump Administration has stated their intention to drive methane gas pipeline expansion in the Northeast. These expansions harm our communities, drive climate change, and raise our electricity prices.

Yet instead of standing up, governors across the Northeast—including in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts—are allowing for these expansions to move forward.

So we’re fighting back. But to be effective, we need to build people power across our states, and to do that, we need your help!

The No Pipeline Expansion (NOPE) Northeast Coalition is hosting an in-person and interactive workshop on Dec. 6, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Middletown. The workshop will include an opportunity to learn about gas pipeline expansions in Connecticut and the Northeast, build power, strategize next steps, and take action.

Whether you are a new or experienced activist, have engaged with the NOPE Northeast Coalition before or are brand new, we want you to join us. To find more information about the workshop and RSVP, please go to bit.ly/nopepipelineworkshop.

Please email sena.wazer@sierraclub.org with any questions and check out the coalition’s past work at nopenortheast.org.

Join the Party: Build the Movement!

by Connecticut Working Families Party

The Connecticut Working Families Party (WFP) was built on a simple idea: When working people come together, we win. WFP helps elect transformational leaders who fight for fair wages, racial justice, immigrant rights, and a democracy that works for ALL of us—not just the wealthy few.

To keep that work independent and people-powered, we rely on dues-paying members. Any recurring gift—at any amount—makes you a member. Your dues help us train candidates, organize communities, and win elections for the working class. If you believe in a Connecticut where everyone can thrive, not just the elite—join us. https://tinyurl.com/9ww2zxhw.

News from the First Unitarian Universalist Society

From 10:30-11:30 a.m. on Nov. 30, the First Unitarian Universalist Society will feature guest speaker Robin Greenfield at our service, at 608 Whitney Ave.

Robin is an activist, social reformer and servant to Earth, humanity and our plant and animal relatives. Robin lives simply and sustainably to be the change he wishes to see in the world and in active resistance to destructive and exploitative systems. His life is an experiment with truth and integrity. This year he devotes the entire year to foraging the entirety of his diet and teaching others how to forage. He also embarks on the One Million Community Fruit Trees Initiative with a goal of planting 1 million fruit and nut trees from 2025 through 2035. Read more at robingreenfield.org.

Lynne Charles will facilitate the service, which will be followed by a vegan potluck hosted by the UU family.

For more information about our congregation and how to Zoom our services, please visit uunewhaven.org.

TEDxProspectHill is Coming to New Haven on Dec. 14, 2025 at the Foote School!

 

Join us for a day of impactful talks featuring eight inspiring speakers, all coming together to spark conversations and new ideas. Interested in attending? Get your tickets at tedxprospecthill.eventbrite.com. Student tickets are $5, general admission tickets are $10. The Foote School is located at 50 Loomis Place, New Haven, and is wheelchair accessible. The event is from 4-8 p.m.

TEDxProspectHill is an independently organized TEDx event licensed under the global TEDx platform. Rooted in the Prospect Hill neighborhood of New Haven, this event brings together voices from the community, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and academia to foster dialogue, build connections, and create opportunities for meaningful partnerships. By bridging gaps between groups, TEDxProspectHill seeks to amplify diverse perspectives and strengthen collaboration across sectors.  This year we are exploring the theme “What If?”, inviting community to share perspectives that spark conversation and reimagine the systems we live within. For more information visit tedxprospecthill.com. To get in touch with our organizing board, please email hello@tedxprospecthill.com.

Some No Kings Next Steps

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

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

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

For more info: greaternewhavenindivisible@gmail.com.

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News from Greater New Haven Indivisible

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

Photo: Chris Volpe for the New Haven Independent

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

People Have the Power!

Janis Underwood, Greater Westville Indivisible

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

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

Photo: Chris Randall

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

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

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

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

ICE Raids Dixwell Avenue Car Wash

ICE and Homeland Security Have Kidnapped Immigrants in the Greater New Haven Area

In the past month, employees at a car wash in Hamden have been taken by ICE, and a man on the New Haven Green was grabbed by Homeland Security. Below are excerpts from articles about these cases

 

by Mona Mahadevan and Thomas Breen Oct. 15, 2025, New Haven Independent

Hamden’s mayor, town council president, and two dozen immigrant rights activists and fellow politicians gathered on Dixwell Avenue Wednesday afternoon [Oct. 15] to denounce an ICE raid that took place at a nearby car wash Wednesday morning.

Still looking for answers as to what exactly happened, the elected officials said that federal agents seized a total of eight people.

An eyewitness to the raid, meanwhile, said she saw at least 10 agents show up — some wearing masks and tactical gear — and described a man being slammed to the ground and a woman being hauled away into an unmarked van.

Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett said at Wednesday’s press conference at the Keefe Community Center that the raid happened at the Optimo Car Wash, located at 1126 Dixwell Ave., at approximately 10:20 a.m.

She said that, as part of this raid, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained a mother and father while their kids were in school.

“The acts from the administration and ICE are deplorable, they are disgusting, they are not what we represent in Hamden,” Garrett said. “People are living in fear because of an inhumane presidency.”

[See entire article at bit.ly/4qxO2hG]

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