The Progressive Action Roundtable mission is to inform the greater New Haven community about the activities of many progressive groups, so that people may learn about them and become involved in discussions and actions on issues for the common good, such as peace, health, racial equity, justice, clean energy and the environment.
Medicare for All CT is supporting a bill for state-level single-payer healthcare in the Connecticut General Assembly. For details and to learn how to get involved, please email info@medicare4allct.org or visit the website medicare4allct.org.
by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee
There’s an electronic billboard over the highway just as I-91 flows into I-95 going towards New York City. Since Feb. 10, for eight seconds out of every minute of the day and night, drivers and passengers will see the urgent message “Stop the War, Stop Arming Israel.” The billboard directs people to the website StopArmingIsrael.org. It will be on display through March 9.
A coalition of groups and individuals thought of using the method of billboard to reach people not usually seen in progressive areas. It’s expensive but at the very least we hope this billboard display will normalize the idea of stopping the guns to Israel.
The Coalition is made up of the Middle East Crisis Committee, Palestine Solidarity Committee of Danbury, Health Care Workers 4 Palestine – Connecticut, CT for a World BEYOND War, Veterans for Peace Chapter 18, Connecticut Palestine Alliance (CTPA), Justin Paglino, MD–PhD, Tree of Life Education Fund, Hassan Fouda, and Promoting Enduring Peace. A score of other people made donations.
On behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Committee of Danbury, Dr. Justine McCabe said, “The imperial and immoral actions of the US—in arming Israel’s genocide as well as in its support for autocratic regimes in the region—dangerously collide with the persistent striving for democracy by ‘decolonized’ people who overwhelmingly identify with Palestinians.” She continued, “While working as an anthropologist and psychologist in Gaza and West Bank, I witnessed the intense frustration and disgust among Palestinians for US unconditional support for Israel—long before this genocidal war. In fact, US support for apartheid Israel as its geopolitical proxy to control the Middle East makes both Israelis and Americans less safe, less secure. Tragically, in their ‘special relationship’ as hyper-militarized cultures, the US and Israel dehumanize their own citizens by their brutalizing dehumanization of Palestinians.”
Besides messaging the general public, the coalition will alert each member of the CT legislature, the governor and federal elected officials about the billboard and the need for each of them to act to stop weapons from going to Israel.
Women & Gender Studies Dept., SCSU
The Southern CT State University Women’s & Gender Studies Department will hosting a forum titled “Palestine Solidarity and Movements for Gender, Racial, and Intersectional Justice” with esteemed scholars and activists Ahlam Muhtaseb (California State University-San Bernardino), Isis Nusair (Denison University), Laila Farrah (DePaul University), and Penny Rosenwasser (Jewish Voice for Peace, SF; City College of San Francisco). The event will be held online, March 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. EST. The link to register is here: bit.ly/3COQ9ty.
For more information, please email wgs@southernct.edu or phone 203-392-6133.
NHFPL Communications and Marketing Team
At the New Haven Free Public Library (NHFPL), we believe that informed communities are strong communities. That’s why we’re excited to celebrate National News Literacy Week by launching our brand-new Information Literacy page!
In today’s fast-paced digital world, misinformation spreads quickly. It can be challenging to tell the difference between reliable news, misleading content, and outright falsehoods. Our new Information Literacy page is designed to help you develop the skills to fact-check sources, recognize bias, and think critically about the information you consume.
Our new page (which can be accessed at nhfpl.org/factcheck) offers fact-checking resources to verify claims and debunk misinformation, tips for evaluating sources and spotting fake news, and links to free guides on media bias to help you navigate today’s media landscape.
All resources shared on this page are unbiased, nonpartisan, and verified as trustworthy by our information professionals on staff. Whether you’re a student, educator, or lifelong learner, these tools will empower you to engage with the news confidently and responsibly.
We’re proud to announce we’ll also be hosting more programming in the future centered around building these skills for all ages. We’ve also added some new books to our collection to assist with fact-checking and evaluating news sources. Sign up for our monthly newsletter at nhfpl.org/subscribe for updates on these offerings.
Join us in promoting news literacy and building a more informed community. Visit nhfpl.org/factcheck today or call your local branch for assistance.
Hamden Miller Memorial Library
Volunteers at the Hamden Miller Memorial Library will staff the Seed Library two afternoons each week:
* Thursdays from 1-4:30 p.m. through June 5
* Saturdays from 2-4:30 p.m. through June 7
A basic assortment of current-season seeds will be on display whenever the Seed Library is staffed.
Also, a wide selection of past-season seeds is available for self-service whenever Miller Memorial Library is open. These include vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals (annuals and perennials).
Can’t visit while we are staffed? We are working on a short list of common veggie seeds (and a few flowers and herbs) to be available to request, and we will fill limited requests weekly for pickup at any Hamden Library branch. Look for details at the Seed Library.
We are located at 2901 Dixwell Avenue in Hamden.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was the site of one of the worst workplace tragedies in American history. On March 25, 1911, fire broke out at the factory, which occupied the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building, in Greenwich Village, New York City. At the time, there were over 500 employees—most were young women; most were recent immigrants. The fire began on the 8th floor; most workers on the eighth and tenth floors were able to escape. However, those on the 9th floor, where the rear door was locked to prevent theft, were trapped. The locked exit, the collapse of the fire escape, and the inability of the fire truck ladders to reach above the sixth floor, resulted in the death of 146 workers, mostly young women. Many of the victims jumped to their death, rather than remain in the burning building.
Before the fire, workers at the Triangle Factory, along with thousands of other workers in the shirtwaist industry, were actively organizing for union recognition as a protection from the dangerous and abusive conditions. Company employees, some as young as 14, worked nine to sixteen hours a day. In November 1909, over 20,000 immigrant garment workers in their teens and twenties left their shops in an eleven-week general strike for union recognition and better working conditions. Known as the “Uprising of the 20,000,” it was the largest strike by women to date in US history.
After the fire, the company’s owners were acquitted of manslaughter charges and paid a maximum of $75 in damages to 23 of the victims’ families. However, the horror of the fire outraged the public, and led to many important reforms, including the creation of agencies to regulate health and safety conditions in the workplace. The fire also strengthened the nascent labor union organizing efforts, led largely by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
The Official Commemoration of the 114th Anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire will be March 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Washington Place and Greene Street, NYC. The Commemoration will be held rain or shine.
For information about the event and the link for livestreaming, please go to https://rememberthetrianglefire.org/event.
by Mark Pazniokas, February 14, CT Mirror
The death of Carl “Robby” Talbot in a jail cell thick with the choking fumes of a potent pepper spray was described Friday as the catastrophic consequence of excessive force and medical neglect, compounded by a forged use-of-force report and an ineffectual internal investigation.
Angel Quiros, the commissioner of correction, did not protest the lawmakers’ harsh assessment. Talbot’s mother, Colleen Lord, offered one dissent: Her son’s death also is a consequence of the criminalization of the mentally ill, a failure that began outside jailhouse walls, long before her Robby died.
The first public dissection of all that went wrong at the New Haven Correctional Center on March 21, 2019, came Friday in a Judiciary Committee hearing on whether to accept a proposed $3.75 million settlement of the federal lawsuit filed by Talbot’s estate.
Undisputed is that Talbot, 30, who had a history of mental illness and misdemeanor arrests, had become agitated after being jailed on a probation violation, and that a jailhouse supervisor, Lt. Carlos Padro, responded with four long point-blank bursts of pepper spray, twice in a shower room and again in an elevator and a cell.
Read the whole story here: https://ctmirror.org/2025/02/14/ct-inmate-death-hearing
Hamden Public Library
Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) premieres its 35-minute film, Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide, which examines this controversial topic, considering its historical context, current practice, and impact on health care.
With poetry and song written and performed by a West Haven, CT-based poet, songwriter, and performance artist, Elaine Kolb, the film includes interviews with disability and social justice activists; a nationally known palliative care doctor, Dr. Diane Meier; and a retired Connecticut disability rights attorney, Nancy Alisberg, who discuss their personal and professional reasons for strong opposition to the practice. With captioning, narration, and ASL interpretation. Audience discussion and question and answer session to follow.
This program is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Registration is recommended.
Tuesday, March 25, 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Memorial Library
2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden.
by New Haven Museum
WWII changed the lives of American women, who were essential to the war effort. In honor of Women’s History Month and the 80th anniversary of the war’s end in 1945, Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven (JHSGNH) will share the stories of seven such women: Lucille Wolfe Alderman, Mitzi Fenster Bargar, Rose Rosenberg Dubin, Edith Londer Gillman, Ruth Grannick, Laura Small Levine, and Rita Small Melman. Their stories illustrate the ways American women in the Elm City contributed to the war effort.
JHSGNH volunteers, writer Carole Bass and oral-history interviewer Rhoda Zahler Samuel, will present video memories of these local women, following a historical overview and discussion by Jennifer Klein, Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University, of the ways WWII influenced women’s roles.
The lecture is presented in memory of Judith Ann Schiff, a founder of JHSGNH and the Ethnic Heritage Center, a New Haven Museum board member, Yale University’s chief archivist and New Haven’s city historian. In person and streaming on Facebook Live.
Join us on March 2 at 2 p.m. New Haven Museum is located at 114 Whitney Ave. It is wheelchair accessible.
by Connecticut People’s World Committee
The 51st People’s World Black History Month Celebration, including the annual arts and writing competition for grades 8 to 12, will take place Saturday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. at the New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe St., New Haven.
Black Youth Leadership – Resistance 2.0 in Today’s Freedom Struggle is the theme for the event and competition. The full invitation to the competition is below.
In addition to the presentation of prizes for the competition, the event on Saturday, Feb. 22, will include drumming, a panel discussion by youth activists, and guest speaker Aaron Booe, national organizer for the YCL USA.
A $5 contribution is asked if possible or what you can afford. No one will be turned away.
For information contact ct-pww@pobox.com or leave a message at 203-624-8664.
Arts and Writing Competition for Students Grades 8 to 12 is sponsored annually
by Connecticut People’s World Committee to remember the lives and dedication of Dalzenia Henry and Virginia Henry to the youth of New Haven and to make a better future.
BLACK YOUTH LEADERSHIP
Resistance 2.0 in Today’s Freedom Struggle
This SOLIDARITY PLEDGE: We Won’t Go Back! was made by all present at the People’s World Amistad Awards, Dec. 14.
“It’s up to us to defend our hard won democratic rights and protect our future. We reject all racism, bigotry, militarism and attempts at fear and division. We reject the use of smear tactics to justify war, repression and deportations. We join together in solidarity, and celebrate our diverse multi-racial, multi-national, multi-gender and multi-generational working class and people. Inspired by the historic freedom struggle, we pledge resistance and solidarity to defeat the Project 2025 corporate agenda and move forward, not back. We pledge to join in rapid response with our allies to resist every attack on any section of the people – an injury to one is an injury to all. We pledge to organize for multi-racial workers’ rights and worker power to win transformational change that puts people, peace and planet before profits. We Who Believe In Freedom Will Not Rest Until It’s Won.”
In 1964 when three young civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi, civil rights activist Ella Baker said: “Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son—we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.” James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner disappeared together during Freedom Summer. In response, hundreds more young people came to the South to take their place.
Express in artwork, essay, poetry, rap or song:
Share digital art work, drawings, paintings, collage, prints, photographs, essays, poems, raps or songs (max. two pages).
Entries must be received by 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 13. MUST INCLUDE: Entry title, Name, address, phone, email, age, school, teacher’s name (if applicable). Send entries to: ct-pww@pobox.com. Prizes: Gift cards ($200 first place, $100 second place, $50 third place) and books. Presentation Prizes and recognition for all entries will be presented February 22 at the 51st Annual African American History Month Celebration. Info: ct-pww@pobox.com or leave messages at: 203-624-8664.