CT NOFA Winter Conference on Gardening, Farming, Land Care, and Advocacy

by Kimberly Stoner, Director of Advocacy, CT NOFA

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut (CT NOFA) is proud to present our 42nd Winter Conference, featuring a series of virtual workshops on March 20–21 in the lead-up to our full day, in-person gathering and celebration on March 23, 2024, at Eastern Connecticut State University, in partnership with their Institute of Sustainability.

Among the workshops in the virtual schedule on March 20:

  • New Haven’s own Lori Martin of Haven’s Harvest will present a workshop on a “new model for food systems” to get food to the people and not into the waste stream,
  • Ana Legrand on “Insect Pest Management When Transitioning to Organic Production,”
  • Anne Hulick of Clean Water Action on “PFAS Contamination in CT and What Can Be Done.”
    And among the workshops virtually on March 21:
  • “A Beginner’s Guide to Funding Opportunities with the CT Dept. of Agriculture, UConn Extension, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Farm Services Agency,”
  • Yonghao Li of the CT Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven will present “Biological and Organic Control of Plant Diseases,”
  • Kip Kolesinskas on “Creating a Climate Adaptation Plan for Your Farm or Garden.”

On the big day, in person on March 23, the keynote speaker will be Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeeper and national leader of the movement to get Green Amendments into the constitution of every state and eventually into the US Constitution. And there will be an abundance of workshops all day, including starting a community farm, sustainable cannabis and hemp production, making quality compost with New Haven’s Domingo Medina, and bridging community and diversity with experiential farming programs with New Haven’s Nadine Nelson.

One ticket will get you into all three days of workshops, plus lunch on Saturday, and a great opportunity to gather with people from across the state who love the Earth.

Registration is open! Get your tickets at this website: https://ctnofa.org/winter-conference/2024-winter-conference.

CT Man Cleared of Murder After Three Decades of Witness Lies, Years in Prison

Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, Feb. 1, 2024

One of the state’s most bewildering cases of wrongful conviction finally ended Thursday when a Superior Court judge dismissed murder, robbery, and conspiracy convictions against George Gould for killing a bodega owner 30 years ago….

As the case crawled from trial through decades of appeals, each more confused than the last by successive recantations, Gould was imprisoned, released, returned to prison and finally freed.

Codefendant Ronald Taylor, who Gould met the night before the murder, had been released earlier so he could die of cancer at home with his family in 2011.

“George’s mother had always hoped that he would be released from prison while she was still alive and her wish was realized,” said attorney Richard Emanuel, whose work with colleague Joette Katz succeeded in winning dismissal of the case….

Over the next quarter century, Gould and Taylor — until his death in 2011 — experienced a series of heart-stopping legal wins and losses, all based on the state’s vacillating star witness. Gould was freed in 2010 by a judge who decided he was innocent, but imprisoned again a year later when the Supreme Court disagreed. He was freed for good in 2021 when Harmon reduced his sentence to time served and the ordeal approached a conclusion….

(Read the full article here: https://www.courant.com/2024/02/01/ct-man-cleared-of-murder-after-three-decades-of-witness-lies-years-in-prison.)

Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline—You Can Help Right a Wrong

by Melinda Tuhus, local environmental activist

The time is long past to be building more methane gas pipelines. The clean energy future is here. But thanks to Bank of America, construction continues on the Mountain Valley fracked gas pipeline (MVP), which stretches 303 miles through West Virginia and Virginia and would carry 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day if completed. Last spring Congress, at the insistence of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, included a section in the debt ceiling bill requiring that the MVP be completed, overriding many judicial and regulatory decisions that had left it almost dead. Local people along the route have been fighting it for 8 years, and the terrain itself has presented so far insurmountable obstacles.

Bob Congdon photo

It is poised to cross the Appalachian Trail, the iconic 2,193-mile Georgia to Maine hiking trail that is a national park. It is a danger to residents due to destruction of land, contamination of air and water, and, if completed, due to leaks and potential explosions – and to everyone due to its climate emissions.

Bank of America is one of the biggest funders of the MVP, to the tune of $1.5 billion. Please contact CEO Brian Moynihan at Twitter: @BankofAmerica, and Instagram: @BankofAmerica to call on BofA to stop funding the pipeline. If you’re a customer, consider closing your account and going to a local or regional bank or a credit union like Connex.

Another thing you can do — sign a petition to make MVP stop polluting the waters where it’s building the pipeline: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/old-folks-demand-virginia-ag-hold-mvp-accountable?source=direct_ link&

On Jan. 31, two dozen people protested in front of the Bank of America branch at 157 Church Street, and demanded that it stop funding the MVP. We were joined by Maury Johnson, a retired West Virginia educator and an organic farmer, whose land was ruined when MVP, LLC took it by eminent domain to run the pipeline across it. Maury is a fierce pipeline fighter and gave an update on the fight.

And we were appalled to learn right after our rally that Bank of America has reversed its pledge to no longer fund coal projects or projects in the Arctic, which is melting four times faster than the earth as a whole. We urge Bank of America to come over to the right side of history.

For more info: Melinda.tuhus@gmail.com, 203-623-2186.

What Can We Do to Create Peace In the Midst of Conflict? Feb. 14, 2024

Two respected professors have agreed to participate in our third Conversation: Dr. Anat Belitzki, Quinnipiac University and Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and Dr. Jimmy Jones, Islamic Seminary of America. As before, we will have an emphasis on listening, learning, and face-to-face conversations at small tables.

To protect the “safety” of participants and encourage honest conversations, we are once again not sending out press releases.

That means that it depends on each of us to spread word about the event. Feel free to copy the attached flyer, post it, email it to friends, share on social media.

The more participants we have, the richer the conversation.

50th Annual People’s World Black History Month Event Feb. 25, 2024

BLACK VOICES FOR PEACE – GAZA TO CONNECTICUT

You are invited to a special celebration on Sunday, Feb 25 at 4 pm (doors open 3:30) at the Peoples Center 37 Howe St. New Haven and live streamed: “Black Voices for Peace – Gaza to Connecticut” marking the 50th annual People’s World Black History Month event.

The occasion will include prizes for the Arts and Writing Competition Grades 8-12, a workers’ rights panel with 1199 and 4 C’s union members, and guest speaker JOE SIMS co-chair CPUSA and lifelong civil rights and peace activist.

Drumming by Brian Jarawa Gray and friends will also highlight the program.

The event is hosted by the CT People’s World. Donations will be accepted for the 100th Anniversary Fund Drive.

Please circulate this invitation widely. Attached are the event flier and the arts and writing competition announcement. For more information leave a message at 203 624 8664 or reply to this email at ct-pww@pobox.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Haven’s Tiny Home Community Gets Heat and Electricity 

by Abigail Brone, Connecticut Public Radio
January 18, 2024.

A community of tiny homes created to house homeless residents in New Haven now have electricity and heat after months of back-and-forth with the city.

Rosette Neighborhood Village, a community of six “tiny homes” in the backyard of a private residence owned by Mark and Luz Colville, was constructed in October.

For the last four months, Rosette residents and their advocates worked with the city of New Haven to bring the units up to code and get electricity connected. The electricity and heat were recently turned on.

Electricity was approved by city building and fire department officials Saturday, and connected Monday. The development followed an in-person meeting with New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and his team on Jan. 12.

Jacob Miller, son-in-law of the Colvilles, said they’re optimistic about the community’s upcoming Jan. 30, Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.

“Doesn’t seem like the type of thing that we’re gonna get a lot of pushback on when again, ultimately, what we’re providing is a privately-funded social service that’s filling a vacuum in a city that doesn’t have nearly the amount of resources to serve this community, ” Miller said….

The tiny homes are under a 180-day temporary permit, allowing them to remain standing. However, the structures are required to be disassembled when the permit expires.

Elicker declined to specify what repercussions Rosette Village residents and owners may face if the buildings aren’t removed by the deadline….

Read the full article at: https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2024-01-18/new-havens-tiny-home-community-gets-heat-and-electricityfbclid=IwAR0oda0Mpta1fhbdGJMO4tiW9_7CA0XzyGOQIySFM9ckXyBA_ayyIUWOe_M.

Petition to the New Haven Board of Alders: Support a Ceasefire in Gaza

At least 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in the last 3 months, including more than 10,000 children.

This ongoing genocide is supported by US military and with your tax money. $69,076,862 of Connecticut residents’ federal tax dollars are given annually to Israel. New Haven alone supplies $1,838,975 per year.

We call on our alders to pass an emergency resolution calling for:

  • an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank
  • unrestricted entry of immediate humanitarian aid into Gaza
  • an end to US funding of the violence done by the Israeli military & illegal settlements
  • release of all hostages including Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel
  • immediate restoration of electricity, water, food and medical supplies to Gaza
  • an end to the siege and blockade of Gaza
  • reaffirming our Board of Alders’ commitment to combat anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia in all forms, and to ensure the dignity and safety of all its residents

35+ CITIES AND TOWNS ACROSS THE COUNTRY HAVE CALLED FOR A CEASEFIRE – INCLUDING BRIDGEPORT, CT

NEW HAVEN: IT’S YOUR TURN!

2024 Organic Vegetable Gardening Series

Advanced Certified Master Gardener Rachel Ziesk will return to Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven as the series instructor. This class series includes 6 sessions, and all classes are hybrid. Classes will be held on 2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 2/24, 3/2 and 3/9 (Saturdays) from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Gardeners of all experience levels are welcome.

  • Soils and Composting – 2/3/24
  • Cool Weather Crops – 2/10/24
  • Warm Weather Crops – 2/17/24
  • Garden Pests and Diseases – 2/24/24
  • Seed Starting, When and Where to Plant – 3/2/24
  • Essential Flowers & Herbs – 3/9/24

A Green Gift for the Gardener in Your Life: $35 for individual classes, $98 for all 6 classes.
We offer the classes to community gardeners for free with code “honor.”

Register via link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-nhs-of-new-haven-organic-vegetable-gardening-tickets-774407121547?aff=oddtdtcreator.

For more information, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-nhs-of-new-haven-organic-vegetable-gardening-tickets-774407121547?aff=oddtdtcreator, or contact me: Junyi Wang (she/her/hers), Marketing Communications Manager, 203-562-0598 Ext. 212;  jwang@nhsofnewhaven.org.

After Weeks of Telling Israel Not to Widen Gaza War, US Widens It to Iraq and Yemen

by Dave Lindorff, a 2019 “Izzy” winner who has written for Rolling Stone, NY Times, Nation, FAIR, Salon, London Review of Books.

Americans are finally getting sick of US warmongering. For weeks we’ve been reading articles and hearing broadcast reports about how the Biden administration, including President Biden himself and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, have been warning Israel not to cause or allow the war on Gaza to spread across the borders of Israel and its occupied territories into other parts of the Middle East.

Suddenly, the US Navy ships based in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, along with some British ships and planes (added no doubt to be able to call it a “coalition” effort), have hit suspected Houthi militia targets in Yemen, making it the US itself, not Israel, that is “expanding the war.”

This act of war, ordered by President Biden without so much as a consultation with Congress, where progressive Democrats and Republicans are expressing outrage, is doubly dangerous because the Houthi militia being pummeled by the US and Britain are allies or/and are supplied by Iran.

The US also rolled out another provocation — a rocket attack that killed the leader of a Hezbollah militia unit right in central Baghdad. As the headline over that story in the Washington Post put it: “US Strike in Baghdad Raises Specter of a Wider War.”

“Raises the specter,” indeed, and not just outside Israel’s and Palestine’s borders but potentially all the way across Europe and the Atlantic to the US.

Now, admittedly, the US has long dismissed the laws of war, at least when it comes to applying them to its own actions. But however cavalier Washington is about those laws, they are universal and they do say that when a country does violate them, using certain banned weapons for example, or invading a country that doesn’t pose an immediate threat to the attacker, the country that is the target of such violation has the right to respond in kind. So Americans ought to know that attacking a Hezbollah target who is under the protection of the Iraqi government in central Baghdad is actually inviting Iraq, the host country, or Hezbollah, the victim, to attack leaders in the US, either where its troops are based abroad (for example in Iraq) or in DC. Same goes for the US attacks on Houthi militia sites in Yemen. After enduring attacks against their forces and the Yemeni people by Saudi Arabia for years (with US-supplied weapons and direct assistance), the Houthis, at this point, are warning that “US interests” will now be retaliated against.

It’s easy to see how this kind of tit-for-tat, started by a hubristic USA leadership, could quickly spiral out of control. Suppose the Houthis were to launch an anti-ship missile and sink or heavily damage a US Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf…

For the rest of this article, please go to: https://thiscantbehappening.substack.com/p/after-weeks-of-telling-israel-not. For this and other articles: https://thiscantbehappening.substack.com.

Resisting the War on Gaza: An Appeal from the New Haven Sunday Vigil

Joan Cavanagh, vigil participant

We are witnessing, in real-time, ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza. It could not occur without US military aid and financial support. We urgently appeal to you to join the New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice as part of your other efforts to end this atrocity.

The vigil began in May of 1999 as a project of the Connecticut Peace Coalition/ New Haven in response to the US bombing of Kosovo. Similar to the postal service before privatization, defunding, and DeJoy, we’ve vigiled most Sundays since, in sun, rain, snow and sleet, in temperatures ranging from several degrees below zero to 95 degrees above. Our message is simple: Resist this Endless War. By this we mean, resist our permanent state of war and preparations for it, overseas and at home.

Participant numbers have fluctuated from a “high” of 15 to 20 during the initial post-911 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 war on Iraq to a “low” of three to four in recent years. Occasionally, we’ve been told by a dismissive passerby that the US is “at peace.” Not exactly. Consider our ongoing nuclear weapons buildup; our drone bombings against many countries of the world; our “covert” operations and global regime change maneuvers; and our funding of wars conducted by client states. Consider our government’s war on poor and vulnerable populations to benefit a smaller and smaller number of global ultra-rich. Remember that these are ongoing, bipartisan issues.

When our regular vigil participants dwindled to a new low at the end of last summer, we figured we’d had a good run and considered ending it. Then came the terrible October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, followed immediately by an orgy of collective punishment supported by US funds and materiel against civilians in Gaza. It has, as of this writing, taken the lives of over 25,000 people, an estimated two-thirds of whom are children.

We continue with more urgency than ever. We need your help. For more information about the content of the vigil and how to join, please call 203-668-9082 or contact joan.cavanagh@gmail.com or  monicaxavieramcg@gmail.com.

Climate Promise March and Rally in Hartford Feb. 2

by the Sierra Club CT

Calling All Earth Defenders, Justice Champions, and Activists for a Better Connecticut! Climate chaos is upon us and Connecticut is lagging behind on meaningful and equitable climate action. After a lackluster session in 2023, folks who care about the climate, the planet, and the well-being of all people in the state are coming together to plan on how to put pressure on our elected officials and regulatory agencies to Keep Connecticut’s Climate Promise. Focusing on issues like greenhouse gas reduction, clean energy, housing, job creation, and corporate responsibility, we will come together at the Old State House, 800 Main Street, at noon to march through Hartford on Feb. 2 and we will keep up pressure on the legislature throughout the 2024 session. We are hoping for an enormous turnout to remind the powers that be of who they work for and of our inalienable rights to a safe, healthy, and sustainable world.

For more information, please contact Ann Gadwah, Sierra Club CT at 860-733-2249, or ann.gadwah@sierraclub.org. Old State House, 800 Main Street, Hartford CT.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Celebration

by Yale Peabody Museum

Join the Yale Peabody Museum, CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and the New Haven Museum for the 28th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy of Social and Environmental Justice with two days of free events open to all, on Jan. 14 and 15. Space is limited. Free registration is strongly recommended. Live ASL interpretation is available upon request on or before Jan. 7.

Free parking is available in Yale Lot 22 at 260 Whitney Avenue. For more information, call 203-432-8987, or visit the website peabody.yale.edu/events/mlk-celebration,

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Love March Jan. 15

WYBC Radio, 94.3 FM

Join WYBC and Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in New Haven for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Love March on Monday, January 15, at 11 a.m. The MLK Love March in New Haven has been going strong for over 50 years and it celebrates the life and work of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Love March will begin and end at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, located at 100 Lawrence St., and continue to Whitney Ave., Edwards St., State St., and back to Lawrence St. We will march on this day rain or shine to commemorate the dreams and aspirations of MLK. The Love March, which was started by Shiloh’s late Founder and Pastor, Rev. George W. Hampton Sr., has been a positive force in the community of New Haven for more than 50 years. The Love March was created to preserve the notion of nonviolence. Come out and lend your voice of support to the community in making New Haven a better place to live. Scheduled to attend will be some of our political leaders from New Haven and the State of Connecticut.

For further information, please call 203-776-8262, email secretarysmbc100@gmail.com, or visit www.smbcnh.org.

Remembering Alfred Marder, Jan. 18, 1922-Dec. 19, 2023: A Century of Struggle for Peace, Justice and Socialism

by Henry Lowendorf, contributor to People’s World

The PAR newsletter committee is greatly saddened to inform our readers of the passing of Al Marder. Al was a member of the PAR community from its inception over thirty years ago. He was active in dozens of peace and justice organizations and instrumental in the founding of many New Haven groups. Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and all who worked with him.

Al Marder, in his capacity as Amistad Committee President, welcoming the president of Sierra Leone to New Haven City Hall in 2019. Thomas Breen Photo.

Al Marder, a stalwart of the U.S. peace movement and prominent figure in the Communist Party USA, passed away Dec. 19, 2023, at the age of 101. In some ways, the story of his life reads like a serial thriller, with plenty of comedy and tragedy, victories and defeats.

As a teenager, he would sneak out of his parents’ house in a working-class neighborhood of New Haven, early in the morning to meet his good friend Sid Taylor, pushing the family car down the road before starting it so as not to waken his parents. They would distribute fliers and Daily Worker newspapers to workers arriving and leaving plant gates at Sargent and Co. …  Years later, his mother revealed that his parents were in fact aware of his goings-on….

Al Marder poses with New Haven peace activist and Peace Council member Mary Compton at the Peace Day celebration at the Amistad Memorial statue outside New Haven City Hall Sept. 21, 2015. The statue was built thanks to his guidance and supervision. Marder is chairman of the Amistad Committee. (photo: cjzurcher)

Al Marder poses with New Haven peace activist and Peace Council member Mary Compton at the Peace Day celebration at the Amistad Memorial statue outside New Haven City Hall Sept. 21, 2015. The statue was built thanks to his guidance and supervision. Marder is chairman of the Amistad Committee.
(photo: cjzurcher)

Al Marder entered the fight for justice and peace when he was 14 years old, the height of the Great Depression. He saw families being evicted, his own included, and he saw Communists moving their furniture back into tenants’ houses. He wasn’t alone. The nation was demanding peace. Workers were struggling for their rights and moving unionization to the fore. Peace, he said, was a central demand of the Communist Party in the 1930s.

He became an organizer for the Young Communist League (YCL), becoming a leader in the group at age 16. Al began to connect the anti-Semitism that his family, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, experienced with the prevalent anti-Black racism. He found that Communists modeled equal treatment of everyone.

At the New Haven Peoples Center, Al found his milieu. The community center had been bought by immigrant, socialist-oriented Jewish tradesmen for their own families and the broader community. … Eventually, Al would become the president of the non-profit that runs the Peoples Center….

After the war, the U.S. turned its big guns on its former ally, the Soviet Union, and with McCarthyism, attacked the progressive movements at home. In 1954, one of eight charged in the Smith Act witch hunts in Connecticut for thinking communist thoughts, Al had to leave his family and go underground. Eventually caught, he was tried and acquitted, but not without serious consequences to many lives.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Al became a leader in the peace movement as the president of the U.S. Peace Council and vice president of the World Peace Council, positions he actively held until the end of his life.

A prime organizer of the anti-apartheid struggle in Connecticut, Marder helped create and lead the City of New Haven Peace Commission in 1988 and the years that followed….

The Peace Commission introduced resolutions into the New Haven City Council, the Board of Alders, calling for abolition of nuclear weapons and moving money from war spending to human needs. On three occasions, the resolutions became ballot initiatives that won overwhelming approval from the city’s voters.

As a result of these activities, New Haven was invited to join the U.N.-sponsored International Association of Peace Messenger Cities, of which Al Marder was president for 12 years, the only non-mayor to hold that position.

Urged in 1987 by African American school board president, minister, and friend Rev. Edwin Edmonds, Al founded the Connecticut Amistad Committee, Inc., in the spirit of the original 1839 Amistad Committee, the first integrated abolitionist organization….

With his amazing memory, wry sense of humor, and easy laugh, Al was known to all as a great storyteller, attending to detail and drawing basic lessons. He shared many of those lessons with those who knew him—lessons they will carry with them forever.

A memorial service will take place at Beaverdale Memorial Park, 90 Pine Rock Ave., on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 9:30 a.m. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to one of these causes: Hospice Foundation of America, hospicefoundation.org/Donate; Jewish Voice for Peace, jewishvoiceforpeace.org; and US Peace Council, uspeacecouncil.org.

[Read the full article online from People’s World: www.peoplesworld.org/article/remembering-al-marder-a-century-of-struggle-for-peace-justice-and-socialism/]

[Read an article by Paul Bass for the New Haven Independent and the Marder family’s obituary: www.newhavenindependent.org/article/al_marder_crusading_true_believer_to_the_end_dies_at_101]

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