THE MANHATTAN GREEN SHEET – JANUARY, 2011
(Information/Commentary compiled by one member of The Manhattan Green Party (www.manhattangreens.org, email: ManhattanGreens@gmail.com -- also visit www.greenparty.org).)
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR JANUARY
STOP SCHOOL CLOSINGS/CHARTER TAKEOVERS!
Jan. 27th 4:30-6:30pm, City Hall Plaza, Near the Brooklyn Bridge (Trains 4, 5, 6, 2, 3, R, A, C) Stand up to privatization! Rally with students, parents, teachers, community members. (email gloriabrand2@gmail.com) Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Education plans to close 26 more schools this year. Bloomberg has played a shell game with our most vulnerable children, shuffling them around from closing school to closing school. This process has disproportionately affected students of color, only serving to further perpetuate a separate and unequal school system in New York City. In addition, the DOE plans to grant more public school space to charter schools through co-locations, undermining resources and pitting school communities against each other.
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April 9, 2011 National Antiwar Demonstrations in NYC and San Francisco, sponsored by the United National Antiwar Committee of NYC (contact mailto:acpollack2@gmail.com, mailto:UNACpeace@gmail.com or write UNAC at P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054 or call 518-227-6947. http://nepajac.org/April9NYCPeace.pdf. Bring U.S. Troops Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza! Trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for all, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad. End FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and inter-national solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders. Immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings, death squads.
NEWS ABOUT THE GREEN PARTY
Arizona Green Party in response to Tucson: "Nonviolence is one of the Ten Key Values of the Green Party. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence; it is a willingness to resolve conflict in a constructive manner with a spirit of good will and respect. ... bloodshed and brutality are not replacements for compassionate dialogue and diplomatic actions."
Green Party Alex White will be running for Mayor of Rochester, NY. White opposes control of the city school district, and supports a return to neighborhood precincts for the Rochester Police Department.
Updates of 2010 from Ronald Hardy of “Green Party Watch” (http://www.greenpartywatch.org):
Re Cathie Black's appointment as Chancellor of New York City schools, Tom Siracuse, retired public school teacher, told reporters that to support his application for Black's former job at the Hearst Corporation he was reading a book. Gloria Mattera called it "an outrage that Mayor Bloomberg has handpicked Cathie Black and the State Education Commissioner granted her a waiver so she could be hired.
May 7, 2010, Caroline Lucas becomes first Green Member of Parliament in United Kingdom -- Ms. Lucas won a hotly contested race in Brighton Pavilion to become the Greens' first-ever member of parliament.
May 31, 2010, Green Party and Cynthia McKinney Condemn Freedom Flotilla Massacre. "The Green Party, led by 2008 Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, has been vocal and active critics of Israel's war on the people of Gaza. Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party's Intl. Committee: "We demand immediate action from the US, including emergency orders from President Obama to cut off all aid to Israel."
August 21, 2010, The Green Party performed very well in the federal elections in Australia, with Adam Bandt winning a seat outright in Melbourne with over 35% of the first-choice vote, and the Greens winning about 12% of the vote in the lower house.
Nov. 3, 2010, election returns resulted in the Green Party gaining ballot access through at least 2012 in two of the most populous, New York and Texas (though lost ballot access in Illinois and Wisconsin). In NY through to 2014, thanks to Howie Hawkins for Gov. earning over 50,000 votes. In Texas to Ed Lindsay for State Comptroller winning over 5% of the vote through 2012. Tom Clements, Green Party Senate Candidate in S.C., netted the greatest number of votes, 118,000, 9.37% of the total.
About PA State Assembly candidate (http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/) Hugh Giordano: "Hide your unions, Democrats, because the Green Party is coming to take them away. Hugh Giordano, a 26-year old, Roxborough native and food workers' union organizer for Local 152, ran on the Green Party ticket for a seat in the 194th. He lost, but garnered 18% of the vote (23% in Philly)--an unprecedented number for a third-party candidate. Giordano's words in a letter to union workers: "We owe the Democrats and Republicans NOTHING, because they have done NOTHING for our members, for our contracts, and for the movement. How much longer are we going to support a bunch of failures?" Hard working Giordano had many people come out for him. More from his letter: "Many labor unions still believe the Democrats are 'labor's friend'. Really? How can this be when they failed to pass EFCA, they bail out the super rich, failed to pass Single-Payer health care, pass horrible trade laws (NAFTA), attack pensions, and most of all -- are in the pockets of the same people we fight every day, the corporations! ... we CANNOT run as a Democrat or Republican; those two parties are too corrupted and entrenched. We must strengthen and build a THIRD PARTY! ... The corporate Democrats ONLY win because we fuel them, but then they turn their backs on us. ... The Green Party is the party of labor. They have a platform that is 100% pro-labor (repeal Taft-Hartley, NAFTA, and prosecute CEO's who break the law). (http://www.gp.org) ...It's time we make history and do the right thing."
NY Green Party issues being addressed in NY for 2011 include: a ban on hydrofracking for natural gas; education; state budge/progressive revenue options; single payer health care; climate change; and peace/cut the military budget.
Sam Smith of Progressive Review in CounterPunch (http://counterpunch.org/) writes in praise of the success of Green Party Fred Horch in Maine and the past success of John Eder there. "The big parties gave up human relationships long ago. Which is why we have such a hard time relating to them. But you can't text your way to the presidency, you can't Facebook a revolution and you can't save the planet with twitter. At some point real people have to join with, talk to, and help other real people."
UK Young Green membership spiked by 10% in just one weekend when Parliament voted to trebel the cap on university fees in England to 9000 pounds per year. The young people are abandoning their support for the Liberal Democrats.
GREEN ACTION OF THE MONTH
December 12, 2010-EMPTY PLATES SPECIAL: Take Care of the Hungry Not the Wealthy! Protest by Manhattan Greens, Union Square, NYC
Julia Williams, 12th US Congressional District, Detroit, MI in 2010 organized a state and national EMPTY PLATES protest: THE BEGINNING: ONE SMALL OUTCRY!!!! DEC. 12, 2010
“I call for all of us who reject the economic terrorism of our legacy parties to RISE UP and hit the pavement! I want to see grandmothers and mothers, grandfathers and fathers, children, union members, students, Greens, Socialists, any group that rejects the idea that forced starvation can in any way “be good for our country”, become a visible, palpable, physical presence, and demonstrate on December 12th! “
Following is part of "Empty Plates" protest flyer! We stapled green copies of it to empty white paper plates and handed them out. In the center of each paper plate we hand wrote "Fight Economic Terrorism: White House 1-202-456-1111, Call Congress 1-866-220-0044."
WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR HUNGRY, NOT OUR WEALTHY! TELL BARACK OBAMA, “USE AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO START A WPA!”
Patrick Martin, WSW: “In a society which took seriously the value of human life and the future of its children, the spectacle of 50 million people at risk of hunger, including 1 million children, would be a social emergency. Given that the United States once boasted of its ability to feed the planet, the indifference to the growth of hunger at home is a national scandal.” A new report from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture reveals 50 million Americans exist under the poverty line and were too poor to buy adequate food last year. That is approximately 17.4 million families. More than a third of these households, with over one million children, were forced to skip meals. “
From the Dept. of Agriculture or Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine:
• Nearly 1 in 4 American children live in households that struggle to put food on the table. That’s 16.7 million children.
• Nearly 1 in 4 children in America is at risk of hunger. Among African-Americans and Latinos, 1 in 3. (16.7 million children)
• About half of all American children will receive SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—Food Stamps) benefits at some point before age 20. Among African-American children, 90 percent will enroll in SNAP before age 20.
• 1 in 8 people is enrolled in SNAP. Nearly half are children.
• More than 90% of SNAP benefits are used up by the third week of the month.
• 1 in every 2 babies born in the United States is enrolled in WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children).
Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2009.
• More than 1 in 8 people in the United States lives below the poverty line, which is $21,756 for a family of four in 2009. 1 in 5 children in the United States lives below the poverty line.
• Most Americans (51.4 percent) will live in poverty at some point before age 65.
• A person working full-time at the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. The official poverty line for a family of three—one parent with two children—is $17,285.
From Bread for the World website: http://notes.bread.org/
• U.S. has gone from 1st to 9th place among nations in percentage of its population that graduates from college. U.S. 24th in the portion of children who have a high school degree. The main reason the U.S. economy was so dominant for much of the 20th century is because U.S. workers on the whole were so much better educated than other workers across the world.
GREEN QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE MONTH
1) Briefly, how have you served Green Party in the past and/or how do you intend to serve it now?
2) What are the three most burning issues that you would like the Green Party to fight for?
3) Explain 3 ways Green Party can ramp up membership at local, state and/or national levels.
Please email answers to libbyliberalnyc@gmail.com.
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GREEN CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING FOR THE MONTH
Howie Hawkins (Green candidate for NY Gov. 2012:
Today in America the best paid one-fifth of the population receives about one half of all national income, while the bottom one-fifth receives less than 4 per cent. The distribution of wealth in America is even more unfair. Here, the top one-half per cent of all property owners control over 25% of all wealth; while the top 5% sit on nearly 70% of wealth and property. What chance does the average person have for exercising his or her democratic rights under these conditions!
Behind this unfair distribution of wealth and income stand a few giant corporations who own or control nearly all newspapers, television networks and radio stations, movie companies, book publishers, and other sources of information and means of communication. Both of America's major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, are dependent on these corporations and the few super-rich individuals and families associated with them. In fact, nearly all major offices in the US government, whether elected or appointed, are filled by individuals from this corporate network. What chance does democracy have under such conditions? What chance do nature and the environment have?
Hawkins Recommends: 1) TAX THE RICH! 2) WPA-STYLE JOBS PROGRAM! 3) STATE SINGLE PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL! 4) FULLY FUNDED PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES, END OF MAYORAL CONTROL, PREVENTION OF PROPERTY TAX CAP, CALL TO OPPOSE CHARTER SCHOOLS! 5) END DRONE STRIKES! 6) END SPYING, END CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICAL DISSENT, END ATTACKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES! 7) FULLY END THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS, INVOKE LEGALIZATION AND TAXATION OF DRUGS AND END MASS IMPRISONMENT OF NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS! 8 ) END TORTURE! 9) END THE SCAPEGOATING OF MUSLIMS! 10) RAISE MINIMUM WAGE TO $12 AN HOUR! 11) BAN ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING! 12) FOCUS ON CLEAN ENERGY PROGRAMS! 13) BAN ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS! 14) STRONG TENANT RIGHTS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING! 15) BRING THE TROOPS HOME! END THE WARS NOW! CUT THE MILITARY BUDGET 50-75%! END ECONOMICALLY FORCED MILITARY ENLISTMENT!
Hawkins: the nation needs a new "New Deal," a "Green New Deal." It would include the promise of full employment with government as employer of last resort; a single-payer health plan; and full funding for education. He also called for an end to tuition in the city and state universities, a state bank to invest government funds and pension dollars, and a more progressive tax structure. (Hawkins as candidate for Governor had only 3 paid staffers, spent $50,000 in total on his campaign. Compare that to what the corporate-financed campaigns cost Paladino and Cuomo. Hawkins explanation as to why his campaign was not corporate-financed? “We want to be supported by the people, not the special interests.”)
Gloria Mattera … the four pillars of the Green Party: Non-violence and the demilitarization of the United States; social and economic justice; ecological wisdom; and grassroots participatory democracy.
[Betty] Davis, a retired school teacher and principal and veteran of the Ocean Hill/Brownsville fight for community control in the 1960s, said, "Cuomo's proposal for inter-school competition for performance grants is just going to be way for the state to force down the throats of reluctant parents, teachers, and school districts the agenda of Bush's No Child Left Behind and now Obama's Race to the Top. It's all about high-stakes testing and public school closings, charter school openings and privatization, mayoral control and union busting. The first thing the state needs to do is fully fund the public schools, particularly in inner cities and rural communities with limited property tax bases, as mandated by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court decision.”
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Green's Hawkins: Cuomo Solution to $9 Billion NY State Deficit? Rich Get $5 Billion Tax Break, State Workers Get 10,000 Layoffs!
This email came today from Howie Hawkins and the Green Party of New York:
Hawkins Opposes Cuomo's Proposals for Tax Cuts to the Rich, Job Cuts, Says Single Payer Health Care is the Solution to Medicaid
Howie Hawkins, the former Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that Cuomo's proposals to resolve the state's alleged $9 billion state budget deficit by giving a $5 billion tax cut for the wealthy and laying off more than 10,000 state workers was doomed to failure and would be rejected by state lawmakers.
Hawkins challenged Cuomo's claim of transparency, saying Cuomo's penchant for micromanaging was freezing out the public and was at least partially to blame for Cuomo's inability to attract qualified Commissioners and senior staff. Most of his Cabinet remains unfilled a month into his administration.
"Cuomo may have lowered the drawbridge to Fort Pataki but the King and his Court have retreated behind closed doors in the inner sanctum. Only the rich and powerful are granted an audience. You don't even know who the budget director is. If advocates want to meet with even middle level staff, they need the approval of the boys in the back room," noted Hawkins. "Even the so-called ethics reform and public campaign financing are being negotiated behind closed doors, without much sunshine."
Hawkins cited Cuomo's so-called Medicaid Restructuring Commission as an example of where special interests were given a front row seat by the Cuomo administration while consumers and the general public were left out in the cold. Medicaid is by far the biggest part of the state budget.
"The biggest problem with Medicaid is the out of control costs of the overall health care system. Despite the fact that the excessive profits, waste and inefficiencies of health insurance are the major reasons why our health care system performs so poorly despite spending far more money than other country, national Democrats recently decided to increase the power and central role of private insurance. If New York wants to control our health care budget, they need to follow the example of Vermont, which is trying to eliminate private insurance and control costs by moving to a single payer system," said Hawkins.
The Primary Care Coalition in NY estimates that overall state spending on health care could be reduced by $10 billion (or 6% of the total bill) through enhanced access to modern, coordinated primary care. Much of the spending on expensive in-patient care and medical treatments could be reduced or eliminated if robust primary care were available in every community. Achieving this can best be accomplished by the kind of coordinated planning environment that a unified single payer system would make possible.
A state funded study of various universal health care systems recently concluded that a single payer system would lower New York's health care costs by $28 billion annually by 2018 compared to the insurance mandate system just enacted by Congress. A recent Vermont study came to the same conclusion in that state, leading the Governor to push for adoption of a single payer system.
Hawkins did say that he was encouraged by Cuomo's acknowledgement in the State of the State address that prisons should not be a job development program. Downsizing the state's prison system to reflect the decline in the prison population and increased support for work release programs would save the state more than $300 million according to the Correctional Association. Hawkins would save additional money by diverting more non-violent offenders out of prisons into community restitution and ending the War on Drugs by decriminalizing or legalizing drug possession and focusing on drug treatment for addicts. The Correctional Association estimates that just repealing (not reforming) the Rockefeller Drug Laws alone would save $155 million per year.
Hawkins faulted both Cuomo and President Obama for failing to acknowledge that the country is in the midst of a great recession with poverty and unemployment at crisis levels.
"We need jobs now, not more promises of corporate subsidies and trickle down economics. New York should take the $14 billion we rebate to Wall Street speculators from the stock sales tax and invest that in a WPA style jobs program to provide half a million jobs right now for New Yorkers. Instead of more tax cuts for the wealthy, we should recapture the tax windfall they just got from Obama and balance the state budget. We should raise the state minimum wage to $10 an hour to stimulate the economy by putting more money into the hands of working people who will spend in buying local services and goods," added Hawkins, a co-chair of the state Green Party.
Cuomo is seeking to give a $5 billion tax cut to the state's wealthiest residents by ending the personal income tax surcharge on high incomes that was enacted by state lawmakers two years ago. Hawkins and the Green Party would go in the opposite direction, raising the tax rate for the state's wealthiest residents. He noted that the top 1% now receives 35% of all income in the state, up from 10% in 1980, according to a Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of state tax returns.
The Greens would also enact a carbon tax on fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse emissions while raising funds to invest in clean energy technology, green jobs, and a carbon-free economy within a decade.
"It is time for Wall Street to start bailing out Main Street," said Peter LaVenia, the other state party co-chair.
The Greens would provide local property tax relief through an expanded property tax circuit breaker; a state takeover of local Medicaid costs in conjunction with a state single payer program; and increasing local revenue sharing to comply with existing state law of 8% of state revenues.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Mavi Marmara Massacre: Eyewitness Account, Feb. 1, 6:30pm, Brooklyn College
From an email from Manhattan Green JM:
The Palestinian Club of Brooklyn College presents:
Featured speakers: JAMAL ELSHAYYAL and MOUSTAFA BAYOUMI
(RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185019744853542)
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On May 31, 2010 (Memorial Day), commandos from the Israeli Defense Forces intercepted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a humanitarian mission carrying aid and heading to break the siege on Gaza. The MV Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in the fleet carrying over 600 civilian passengers, was raided and seized by military force. The IDF fired at passengers, some at close range, and killed 9 people, one of which was a 19-year-old American citizen.
Join us for a discussion and an eyewitness account of what happened aboard the Mavi Marmara with professor Moustafa Bayoumi and guest speaker Jamal Elshayyal.
Jamal Elshayyal is a British news producer for Al Jazeera English. He studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and joined Al Jazeera in 2006. Among the stories he covered are the 2006 war in Lebanon, the Darfur peace talks, Egypt's role during the 2008 Gaza invasion, and the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. He was on and broadcasting live from the Mavi Marmara before communications were cut.
Moustafa Bayoumi is an award-winning writer and an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College. He completed his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is co-editor of the Edward Said Reader and the author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America. He is the editor of Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How It Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict, a compilation of articles on the Mavi Marnara and the blockade of Gaza.
Doors open at 6:00 PM, event begins at 6:30 PM
IMPORTANT: Seats are limited and Brooklyn College requires a guest list for non-Brooklyn College guests! RSVP now and please show up with photo ID! Guests must RSVP at: (PalestinianClubBC@gmail.com)
Refreshments will be served.
Co-sponsored by: Al-Awda NY Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine - NY, Brooklyn For Peace, Existence is Resistance, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, MAS Youth - NY, Siege Busters, Students for Justice in Palestine - Hunter College, Students for Justice in Palestine - New York University.
The Palestinian Club of Brooklyn College presents:
The Mavi Marmara Massacre: An Eyewitness Account
Featured speakers: JAMAL ELSHAYYAL and MOUSTAFA BAYOUMI
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2011
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
(doors open 6:00 PM)
GOLD ROOM, 6TH FLOOR, BROOKLYN COLLEGE STUDENT CENTER (SUBO)
(RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185019744853542)
_____________________________________________________
On May 31, 2010 (Memorial Day), commandos from the Israeli Defense Forces intercepted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a humanitarian mission carrying aid and heading to break the siege on Gaza. The MV Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in the fleet carrying over 600 civilian passengers, was raided and seized by military force. The IDF fired at passengers, some at close range, and killed 9 people, one of which was a 19-year-old American citizen.
Join us for a discussion and an eyewitness account of what happened aboard the Mavi Marmara with professor Moustafa Bayoumi and guest speaker Jamal Elshayyal.
Jamal Elshayyal is a British news producer for Al Jazeera English. He studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and joined Al Jazeera in 2006. Among the stories he covered are the 2006 war in Lebanon, the Darfur peace talks, Egypt's role during the 2008 Gaza invasion, and the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. He was on and broadcasting live from the Mavi Marmara before communications were cut.
Moustafa Bayoumi is an award-winning writer and an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College. He completed his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is co-editor of the Edward Said Reader and the author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America. He is the editor of Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How It Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict, a compilation of articles on the Mavi Marnara and the blockade of Gaza.
Doors open at 6:00 PM, event begins at 6:30 PM
IMPORTANT: Seats are limited and Brooklyn College requires a guest list for non-Brooklyn College guests! RSVP now and please show up with photo ID! Guests must RSVP at: (PalestinianClubBC@gmail.com)
Refreshments will be served.
Co-sponsored by: Al-Awda NY Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine - NY, Brooklyn For Peace, Existence is Resistance, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, MAS Youth - NY, Siege Busters, Students for Justice in Palestine - Hunter College, Students for Justice in Palestine - New York University.
KEEP WALMART OUT OF NYC!!! City Hall, Thurs., Feb. 3, 2011-11am
From an email from Manhattan Green JM:
The day we’ve all been waiting for is about to arrive.
Next Thursday, the New York City Council will finally hold its much-anticipated first hearing on Walmart’s plans to open stores in New York City. We’re going to pack the steps of City Hall at a rally before the hearing to make sure everyone knows how strongly our city opposes Walmart’s plans to hi-jack our local economy by killing jobs and shuttering small businesses.
And we want to bring your voice with us.
We’re circulating a petition to let City Council know that a company that kills three jobs for every two it “creates” is not a company we want setting up shop in our city. Can you sign the petition and ask at least two friends to do the same?
SIGN THE PETITION!
We know that most New Yorkers don't want a future of poverty wages, high unemployment, and limited opportunities for locally-owned businesses that reinvest in our communities for their city. But right now, Walmart is busy mounting a slick PR campaign to co-opt local support and create the false impression that they're wanted here. If you don't want to let Walmart's marketing execs speak for you, then it's crucial you stand up and make your voice heard now:
SIGN THE PETITION!
Our goal is to get at least 1,000 signers by next Thursday’s hearing, but we can’t do it without your help. So thank you in advance for getting the word out, and we look forward to seeing you Thursday Feburary 3, at 11am on the steps of City Hall (map | RSVP).
-- Austin Guest and the NY Jobs with Justice / Urban Agenda team
NY Jobs with Justice and Urban Agenda are merging. Visit our new website at http://nyjwj.org
The day we’ve all been waiting for is about to arrive.
Next Thursday, the New York City Council will finally hold its much-anticipated first hearing on Walmart’s plans to open stores in New York City. We’re going to pack the steps of City Hall at a rally before the hearing to make sure everyone knows how strongly our city opposes Walmart’s plans to hi-jack our local economy by killing jobs and shuttering small businesses.
And we want to bring your voice with us.
We’re circulating a petition to let City Council know that a company that kills three jobs for every two it “creates” is not a company we want setting up shop in our city. Can you sign the petition and ask at least two friends to do the same?
SIGN THE PETITION!
We know that most New Yorkers don't want a future of poverty wages, high unemployment, and limited opportunities for locally-owned businesses that reinvest in our communities for their city. But right now, Walmart is busy mounting a slick PR campaign to co-opt local support and create the false impression that they're wanted here. If you don't want to let Walmart's marketing execs speak for you, then it's crucial you stand up and make your voice heard now:
SIGN THE PETITION!
Our goal is to get at least 1,000 signers by next Thursday’s hearing, but we can’t do it without your help. So thank you in advance for getting the word out, and we look forward to seeing you Thursday Feburary 3, at 11am on the steps of City Hall (map | RSVP).
-- Austin Guest and the NY Jobs with Justice / Urban Agenda team
NY Jobs with Justice and Urban Agenda are merging. Visit our new website at http://nyjwj.org
April 9th March & Peace Rally in NYC -- Further Info
Here's more info from an email from Manhattan Green, Jim, re April 9th anti-war action:
The Green Party of New York and New York Metro Progressives are among the endorsers of the April 9, 2011 march and peace rally in NYC.
For a list of endorsers, see the demonstration website www.UNACpeace.org.
A flyer for the event is at nepajac.org/April9NYCPeace.pdf, Please copy and circulate widely.
If you want to get on the mailing list for updates, send an email to UNACpeace@gmail.com.
I attended the initial organizing meeting Jan 13th. The plan is to hold organizing meetings in person at 7pm every other Weds. I think the next one is 1/26 at a location TBD. They will also try to create a calendar of events in support of April 9th Send event postings to hanalei@gmail.com.
April 9th will have a rally and march from Union Sq down to Foley Sq where they'll be a second rally. There will be a mirror event in San Francisco. Possibly others in London, Vancouver.
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Note from Jim:
Let's get the word out as much as possible to make this huge! Those who can take an active part in helping to organize are needed.
The Green Party of New York and New York Metro Progressives are among the endorsers of the April 9, 2011 march and peace rally in NYC.
For a list of endorsers, see the demonstration website www.UNACpeace.org.
A flyer for the event is at nepajac.org/April9NYCPeace.pdf, Please copy and circulate widely.
Demands:
Bring U.S. Troops Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza!
Trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for all, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
End FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
Immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads
If you want to get on the mailing list for updates, send an email to UNACpeace@gmail.com.
I attended the initial organizing meeting Jan 13th. The plan is to hold organizing meetings in person at 7pm every other Weds. I think the next one is 1/26 at a location TBD. They will also try to create a calendar of events in support of April 9th Send event postings to hanalei@gmail.com.
April 9th will have a rally and march from Union Sq down to Foley Sq where they'll be a second rally. There will be a mirror event in San Francisco. Possibly others in London, Vancouver.
---
Note from Jim:
Let's get the word out as much as possible to make this huge! Those who can take an active part in helping to organize are needed.
STOP SCHOOL CLOSINGS IN MANHATTAN January 27 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
FROM AN EMAIL FROM NY GREEN ANN ROOS:
Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Education plans to close 26 more schools this year. Despite the DOE's claim that these school closings are aimed at reforming schools, they have instead opened the door to privately-run charter schools and have limited school options for those affected. According to the accounts by parents, students and teachers, DOE policies have had the effect of sabotaging the schools that are slated to be closed, not "fixing" them.
Bloomberg has played a shell game with our most vulnerable children, shuffling them around from closing school to closing school. This process has disproportionately affected students of color, only serving to further perpetuate a separate and unequal school system in New York City.
In addition to closing schools, the DOE plans to grant more public school space to charter schools through co-locations, undermining public school resources and pitting school communities against each other.
We demand quality resources and support for our public schools, not closings and privatization!
Join parents, students, teachers and community members at a rally to stop school closings.
January 27 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
City Hall Plaza near the Brooklyn Bridge
Trains: 4, 5, 6, 2, 3, R, A and C
(Lists in formation)
Sponsored by: The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers, Grassroots Education Movement NYC (GEM), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE),Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública (CPE-CEP), The Manhattan Local of the Green Party of NY State, Class Size Matters, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
Endorsing Organizations: Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Center For Immigrant Families (CIF), The Puerto Rico Solidarity Network - PRSN NY, People Power Movement, Renaissance School of the Arts-M377(UFT Chapter), City Wide Coalition for Educational Excellence Now, South Bronx Community Council, Black Women Against Urban Violence, Teachers Unite (TU), NY with UPR (NY with University of Puerto Rico), Dee Knight, The Independent Workers Movement/Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores, District Leader Chris Owens (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn), Retiree Advocate Caucus-UFT, CUNY Mobilization Network Green Party of NY State, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Radical Women, Answer Coalition, Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), black New Yorkers for Educational Justice (BNYEE), New Action/UFT, National Black Education Agenda (NBEA), State Assemblywoman Annette Robinson 56th AD, Youth on the Move (a program of Mothers on the Move), PACE Network, Roots Revisited, S.E.E.D.S., Inc., The Healing drum Collective, Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) Solidarity Network
Help plan the protest!
Join the meeting on Tuesday, January 24 at 5 p.m. in room 5414 of the CUNY Graduate Center, located at 34th Street and 5th Avenue. Contact gemnyc@gmail.com for more information.
Join a rally to....
Stop the school closings!
Stop charter takeovers
Defend public education
Say no to privatization
Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Education plans to close 26 more schools this year. Despite the DOE's claim that these school closings are aimed at reforming schools, they have instead opened the door to privately-run charter schools and have limited school options for those affected. According to the accounts by parents, students and teachers, DOE policies have had the effect of sabotaging the schools that are slated to be closed, not "fixing" them.
Bloomberg has played a shell game with our most vulnerable children, shuffling them around from closing school to closing school. This process has disproportionately affected students of color, only serving to further perpetuate a separate and unequal school system in New York City.
In addition to closing schools, the DOE plans to grant more public school space to charter schools through co-locations, undermining public school resources and pitting school communities against each other.
We demand quality resources and support for our public schools, not closings and privatization!
Join parents, students, teachers and community members at a rally to stop school closings.
January 27 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
City Hall Plaza near the Brooklyn Bridge
Trains: 4, 5, 6, 2, 3, R, A and C
(Lists in formation)
Sponsored by: The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers, Grassroots Education Movement NYC (GEM), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE),Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública (CPE-CEP), The Manhattan Local of the Green Party of NY State, Class Size Matters, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
Endorsing Organizations: Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Center For Immigrant Families (CIF), The Puerto Rico Solidarity Network - PRSN NY, People Power Movement, Renaissance School of the Arts-M377(UFT Chapter), City Wide Coalition for Educational Excellence Now, South Bronx Community Council, Black Women Against Urban Violence, Teachers Unite (TU), NY with UPR (NY with University of Puerto Rico), Dee Knight, The Independent Workers Movement/Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores, District Leader Chris Owens (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn), Retiree Advocate Caucus-UFT, CUNY Mobilization Network Green Party of NY State, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Radical Women, Answer Coalition, Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), black New Yorkers for Educational Justice (BNYEE), New Action/UFT, National Black Education Agenda (NBEA), State Assemblywoman Annette Robinson 56th AD, Youth on the Move (a program of Mothers on the Move), PACE Network, Roots Revisited, S.E.E.D.S., Inc., The Healing drum Collective, Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) Solidarity Network
Help plan the protest!
Join the meeting on Tuesday, January 24 at 5 p.m. in room 5414 of the CUNY Graduate Center, located at 34th Street and 5th Avenue. Contact gemnyc@gmail.com for more information.
"I'm a Cage-Free Liberal Voting Green in November (and not for Obama in 2012)!"
THIS IS ONE OF MY BLOGS PRIOR TO THE ELECTION:
Obama and company apparently feel they deserve some appreciation and recognition in their what I can only call "bizarro bubble" perspective. It seems Obamaco is getting ready to blame us on the left for any Dem losses in November.
I say, let us take advantage of this opportunity. If we are marginalized and demonized by them whenever politically convenient, "Let's give them something to talk about!" Let us make our displeasure felt at the voting booth! Though when was the last time any real messages from us on the left actually made the establishment or faux-progressive media radar. To blame us they will have to end their insulting denial of the scope of our existence.
I say again, "Blue Dog Obama Treats Far Left Like a Hydrant." I was chided by some for calling us "far" left. Relatively speaking, I meant. It is not we who have drifted far left, it is Obama and legacy Dems and legacy Repubs who have galloped right. And yet, Obama spins away in indignation, as he continues to self-annoint all his sell-out activities as "historic". Borrows progressive rhetoric to celebrate his destructive, constitution-eroding, regressive leadership.
Glenn Greenwald says it all so well as he responds to a recent quote from Obama:
[snip]
[snip]
Thanks, Glenn. More and more I am inspired to vote NOTA (none of the above) in terms of legacy Dems and go for the GREENS!
We've got 5 weeks and then we've got 2 years. We are in a tug of war to get our country, our constitution, our multi-trillion dollar military, bank and insurance bailouts, our pre-rogue criminal international reputation back from the status quo establishments -- both of them -- in power. Someone said recently the Dems as the lesser of two evils sure have gotten more and more evil. Time for their reckoning. We know the Republicans are murdering rabid rat bastards. It is time to call out the Dems as murdering rat bastards. Both are WAR/MONEY parties. Both are beholding to the fabulously wealthy .1% of the country.
I am not going to hold my nose and vote this election for either party that massively BETRAYED the citizenry. Yes, the Republicans are awesome in their cravenness. So are the Dems. Obama and the Dems betrayed. Pointing to the Republicans can't eclipse that. Well, it does for some. But not for those of us seriously paying attention. Obama and the Dems want us to eat sh*t and smile. Obama isn't even bothering to play Lucy and the football this time. He is so smug and arrogant. He thinks we have no place to go. We do, Mr. President. We can go Green. We can go for real reformers. We can't afford to lose more time and liberty from callow pretenders.
Obama and company apparently feel they deserve some appreciation and recognition in their what I can only call "bizarro bubble" perspective. It seems Obamaco is getting ready to blame us on the left for any Dem losses in November.
I say, let us take advantage of this opportunity. If we are marginalized and demonized by them whenever politically convenient, "Let's give them something to talk about!" Let us make our displeasure felt at the voting booth! Though when was the last time any real messages from us on the left actually made the establishment or faux-progressive media radar. To blame us they will have to end their insulting denial of the scope of our existence.
I say again, "Blue Dog Obama Treats Far Left Like a Hydrant." I was chided by some for calling us "far" left. Relatively speaking, I meant. It is not we who have drifted far left, it is Obama and legacy Dems and legacy Repubs who have galloped right. And yet, Obama spins away in indignation, as he continues to self-annoint all his sell-out activities as "historic". Borrows progressive rhetoric to celebrate his destructive, constitution-eroding, regressive leadership.
Glenn Greenwald says it all so well as he responds to a recent quote from Obama:
[Obama] The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible. . . . .If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election.
This may be one of the most audaciously hilarious political statements I've read in quite some time. The Holder Justice Department's record on domestic civil rights enforcement is actually one of the few areas where there has been substantial improvement -- and that's a perfectly legitimate argument to make -- but for Barack Obama to cite "civil liberties" as a reason why Democratic apathy is "just irresponsible," and to claim with a straight face that this election will determine whether we're "the kind of country that respects" them, is so detached from basic reality that I actually had to read this three or four times to make certain I hadn't misunderstood it. To summarize Obama's apparent claim: the Republicans better not win in the midterm election, otherwise we'll have due-process-free and even preventive detention, secret assassinations of U.S. citizens, vastly expanded government surveillance of the Internet, a continuation of Guantanamo, protection of Executive branch crimes through the use of radical secrecy doctrines, escalating punishment for whistleblowers, legal immunity for war crimes, and a massively escalated drone war in Pakistan. That's why, as the President inspirationally warns us: "If we want the kind of country that respects civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election."
[snip]
What is notable about it is what it reveals substantively. The country is drowning in a severe and worsening unemployment crisis. People are losing their homes by the millions. Income inequality continues to explode while the last vestiges of middle class security continue to erode. The Obama civil liberties record has been nothing short of a disgrace, usually equaling and sometimes surpassing the worst of the Bush/Cheney abuses. We have to stand by and watch the Commander-in-Chief fire one gay service member after the next for their sexual orientation. The major bills touted by Obama supporters were the by-product of the very corporatist/lobbyist dominance which Obama the candidate repeatedly railed against. Rather than take responsibility for any of this, they instead dismiss criticisms and objections as petulant, childish, "irresponsible whining" -- signaling rather clearly that they think they're doing the right thing and that these criticisms are fundamentally unfair.
[snip]
And it's even more baffling that they seem to believe that insulting their disappointed supporters -- rather than addressing the source of their critiques or, even better, doing something about them -- will generate enthusiasm to go vote.
Thanks, Glenn. More and more I am inspired to vote NOTA (none of the above) in terms of legacy Dems and go for the GREENS!
We've got 5 weeks and then we've got 2 years. We are in a tug of war to get our country, our constitution, our multi-trillion dollar military, bank and insurance bailouts, our pre-rogue criminal international reputation back from the status quo establishments -- both of them -- in power. Someone said recently the Dems as the lesser of two evils sure have gotten more and more evil. Time for their reckoning. We know the Republicans are murdering rabid rat bastards. It is time to call out the Dems as murdering rat bastards. Both are WAR/MONEY parties. Both are beholding to the fabulously wealthy .1% of the country.
I am not going to hold my nose and vote this election for either party that massively BETRAYED the citizenry. Yes, the Republicans are awesome in their cravenness. So are the Dems. Obama and the Dems betrayed. Pointing to the Republicans can't eclipse that. Well, it does for some. But not for those of us seriously paying attention. Obama and the Dems want us to eat sh*t and smile. Obama isn't even bothering to play Lucy and the football this time. He is so smug and arrogant. He thinks we have no place to go. We do, Mr. President. We can go Green. We can go for real reformers. We can't afford to lose more time and liberty from callow pretenders.
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