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.
by New Haven Chapter of Refuse Fascism
Join with the New Haven Chapter of Refuse Fascism along with New Haven groups and individuals to protest against all of the fascist Trump regime with the unifying demand: TRUMP MUST GO NOW!
Every Monday, 4-5 p.m., weather permitting, join us on South Frontage Road near the corner of Church Street South, outside The Towers’ east gate. Bring signs, banners, whistles, etc.
Info: newhaven@refusefascism.org, RefuseFascism.org
Arise, then… women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.
Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage,
for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: Disarm, Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
nor violence vindicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
at the summons of war,
let women now leave all that may be left of home
for a great and earnest day of council.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take council with each other as to the means
whereby the great human family can live in peace,
each bearing after his own kind the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask
that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality,
may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient,
and at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
to promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
the amicable settlement of international questions,
the great and general interests of peace.
~ Julia Ward Howe
by Paula Panzarella, West River Peace Garden
On Saturday, May 9 at 11 a.m., we invite you to take part in the first Mother’s Day Tribute in the expanded area of the West River Peace Garden. In case of rain, the gathering will be on Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m.
The West River Peace Garden features blooming native perennials, a magnolia tree, and a Ginkgo tree (grown from a cutting of a Ginkgo that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945). Now we have a circular garden to the north side (near MLK Blvd.), developed through the initiative of a neighbor who felt the need for Mother’s Day to include paying homage to mothers who have passed on.
We hope you’ll bring a plant for the garden in memory of your mother. Share a story about your mom, listen to music, decorate a stone to put in the garden, and meet the neighbors.
The West River Peace Garden is by Ella Grasso Blvd. between Legion Ave. and MLK Blvd. We work in the garden every Friday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and welcome all volunteers. For info, call 203-350-3795. Our website is westriverpeacegarden.org.
The Progressive Action Roundtable newsletter does not publish in July or August. If your organization has events planned for the summer, send the information by May 18 to parnewhaven@hotmail.com so that we may include the events in our summer calendar listings. Thank you!
Calling all clean energy supporters. We will be selecting 10 lucky winners to receive a copy of Bill McKibben’s landmark book, Here Comes the Sun.
by Ann Froines, Back from the Brink
Are you concerned, even frightened, that the regional wars involving nuclear powers in these perilous times could spark an exchange of nuclear weapons? The result of such an exchange could result in the deaths of millions over time—from the explosions themselves, radiation contamination, and a “nuclear winter” resulting in vastly lowered food production. Prominent scientists and medical personnel have warned for decades of this possibility because nuclear weapons are on hair-trigger alerts. One mistake in a complicated system could result in devastation to the planet.
You can help avert this catastrophe by participating as an individual in the grassroots campaign launched by the coalition Back from the Brink. (See preventnuclearwar.org.) At this readable website you will find this campaign’s common sense approach to nuclear policies that will secure a safer future for all the world. You can easily join as an individual, provide financial support, and use its advocacy tools to help prevent a nuclear war.
The approach argues for actively pursuing through diplomacy verifiable agreements among nuclear powers to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. Furthermore, it advocates, among several other measures, the cancellation of the one trillion dollar plan to replace the current U.S. nuclear arsenal with “enhanced weapons.” Such expenditures will not make us safer but instead prioritize an arms race that deprives our nation of much needed programs for health care, housing and education.
Fifty members of the House of Representatives, including three of the five Connecticut representatives, have endorsed House Resolution 317, a bill that describes Back from the Brink’s objectives (Reps. DeLauro, Hayes, and Larson). Connecticut citizens are also trying to arrange a meeting with Senator Chris Murphy, who would be an important voice advocating for the companion resolution, Senate Resolution 323.
Please won’t you consider joining in the citizens’ campaign for a sane nuclear policy and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons?
Sincerely, Ann Froines, Hamden, CT
Many PAR readers who, from the 1980s on, attended peace rallies and demonstrations in Groton and New London against war, nuclear weapons, and the production of the nuclear submarines, met Cal Robertson, who earned their admiration and respect. Stephen Vincent Kobasa, New Haven writer and activist, wrote this article originally for the Hartford Catholic Worker at https://bit.ly/4t9c6YJ.
by Stephen Vincent Kobasa
(Htfd Catholic Worker ed. note: Cal Robertson was born unto eternity on January 3. Cal was universally known to residents of southeastern CT for his decades long daily vigil for nonviolence at the Sub base in Groton, the Sailor and Soldiers monument in New London, and elsewhere. Cal was a soft-spoken man of very few words – in part because of a head injury, but more so out of humility. If you ever met him he undoubtedly greeted you with “solidarity in the struggle,” and handed you a poem. Cal vigiled for peace in penance for his time in the Vietnam War.)
“Purity of heart is to will one thing” was a claim made by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Until my first encounter with Cal Robertson, I never had a clear proof that anyone I knew possessed that quality. But Cal did, passionately.
He was a wounded healer, a veteran, full of grace, who carried memories that most of us would be afraid to imagine. He was one of the few human beings I have ever known who was simply incapable of arrogance. Humility was in every one of his gestures, along with compassion. His laughter was explosive, always accompanied by a single loud clap of his hands, an audible punctuation that was also a sign of both his affirmation and his pleasure.
He had a sincere curiosity about every person he encountered, intent upon finding the questions that would reveal what mattered most about them, and to them. His fidelity to the practice of nonviolence was unfailing, with even his smallest gestures carrying a touch of peace.
There was a kind of penance to his life, but it led him to joy. Everyone who knew him was led there, too. In the traditional Jewish phrase, his memory will always be a blessing.
by Lynn Stoddard, Third Act CT
Bill McKibben’s talk, Back to the Wall, Face to the Sun: The Climate Crisis and the Renewable Answer is the UConn Teale lecture on April 2 at 4 p.m. This in-person lecture is FREE and takes place at the UConn Student Union Theater (2110 Hillside Rd., Storrs). No registration required. Parking info for the Storrs campus: https://park.uconn.edu/visitors/storrs/ . More info is here: https://environment.institute.uconn.edu/teale-lecture-series/.
Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages.
McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign.
by Women’s & Gender Studies Department, SCSU
The 25th Women’s & Gender Studies Conference at Southern Connecticut State University April 17–18, 2026, Southern Connecticut State University, School of Business Building, 10 Wintergreen Ave., New Haven
We are excited to welcome you to join us for our 25th Women’s & Gender Studies Conference at SCSU featuring our keynote speaker, Dr. Nirmala Erevelles, as well as three of our plenary speakers, Jen Deerinwater, JuPong Lin, and Souksavanh Keovorabouth.
Dr. Erevelles is a professor of social and cultural studies in education at the University of Alabama. Her work focuses on disability studies, critical race theory, transnational feminism, sociology of education, and postcolonial studies to examine how disability intersects with race, class, gender, and sexuality, particularly in relation to students in U.S. public schools and disabled people in transnational contexts.
Jen Deerinwater is a bisexual, Two-Spirit, multiple-disabled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning journalist and organizer who covers the myriad of issues their communities face with an intersectional lens.
JuPong Lin is an independent artist, practice-led researcher, writer, and cultural worker who dances with horseshoe crabs and makes ceremony with cranes. Her mission is to hospice the dying colonized world, serving as a death doula through the arts and poetics to create futures of joyful interspecies co-becoming. JuPong was a faculty member in the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College for nearly 20 years before the College closed in 2024. She recently completed her doctorate in Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England.
Souksavanh Keovorabouth is from the Diné (Navajo) Nation and second-generation Laotian, Queer, Trans, Two-Spirit, and Nadleeh. They come from a lineage of survivors of the Navajo Long Walk, Native Boarding Schools, Relocation, Indian Placement Program, and Urbanization. They call Chinle, Arizona home and work as an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University in Women and Gender Studies & Applied Indigenous Studies.
Please register for the conference by visting: https://inside.southernct.edu/womens-and-gender-studies/conferences/2026.