From CNY Solidarity Coalition:
Meeting Schedule: We have decided to cancel the scheduled Dec. 20 Meeting. A previous meeting was postponed, so at our Dec. 13 meeting we decided to take a holiday break.
Next Meeting: 1/10/21, 3 PM on Zoom. CNY Solidarity Annual Membership Meeting. Includes election of Coordinating Committee.
The Dec. 13 meeting, attended by over 25 people on Zoom, included breakout meetings of four active committees:
· IndivisibleNY24
· Beyond War and Militarism
· Climate Justice
· State/Local Action Team
If you are interested in more information about any of those committees, respond to this email.
The CNY Solidarity Coalition Coordinating Committee needs to fill some empty positions that need to be filled in January. Please respond to this email if you would like to know more about this exciting opportunity!
Articles of the Week:
In New York, Calls to Tax the Superrich Are Gaining Ground in Jacobin
The “billionaires’ tax” bill they support (S.8277 / A.01041) would tax the unrealized capital gains of New York State’s 119 billionaires, whose net worth grew from $521.5 billion to $600.7 billion during the period from March to June, according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, their tax obligations are 79 percent less than they were in 1980…
Progressives are getting ready to push Biden on immigration reform. Read it on Vox
“If they go back to Obama-era immigration policies, they will have failed.”
Legislator Julie Abbot-Keenan provided what I believe was a very misleading response to my recently published Commentary on the budget. Read It. From our friend County Legislator Mary Kuhn: commentary on the budget and Abbot-Keenan’s opinion in the 12/15 Post Standard.
WHERE TO DONATE:
The 50 Best Charities to Give to Right Now (from Good Housekeeping, Here. NOTE: As noted below, Charity Watch and Charity Navigator rate organizations on financial health and transparency, not on social justice goals or impact.)
“To vet these organizations, we combed through Charity Watch and Charity Navigator, two trusted watchdog groups that assign charities a grade or number rating for financial health and transparency.”
If you are making year-end donations, please keep the Syracuse Peace Council in mind. CNY Solidarity Coalition, since its inception, has benefited not only from SPC’s direct support, but especially from its years of accumulated wisdom and experience. The CNY Solidarity Coalition absolutely would not be here we are without that support.
Now it’s our turn. SPC has historically depended on the Plowshares Craftsfair for a large portion of its operating budget. Plowshares is operating online this year (see below, and shop!) but it is unknown how much will be raised. Please consider a generous donation or ongoing pledge to support this essential voice in our progressive community!
174 Ways to Donate in Support of Black Lives and Communities of Color
From New York magazine
CNY Wish List: Looking to help? Here’s a wish list from local non-profits in CNY Read it Here
Advance Media New York assembled a list of our local non-profits’ most pressing needs to help them through the season – the CNY Wish List. And we’re publishing and promoting that list so we can work together to help the organizations in our community that help others.
Want to fight climate change effectively? Here’s where to donate your money. From Vox. Here
These are six of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations. You may not have heard of them.
Founders Pledge, an organization that guides entrepreneurs committed to donating a portion of their proceeds to effective charities, used these same criteria to assess climate organizations. Its comprehensive report, released in 2018, informed my research and the list below. As in that report, I’ve chosen to look at groups focused on mitigation (tackling the root causes of climate change by reducing emissions) rather than adaptation (decreasing the suffering from the impacts of climate change). Both are important, but the focus of this piece is preventing further catastrophe.
EVENTS/ACTIONS CALENDAR
Every Day: Help Flip the Senate! Turn Georgia Blue:
Voter Turnout with Fair Fight in Georgia
Fair Fight (Stacey Abrams’s organization) has phone and text trainings every Sun., Tue., and Thur. at 4pm and virtual phonebanks every Sat. and Sun. at 11am. Click here to sign up.
Please consider making a donation and volunteering to help her group, Fair Fight: https://fairfight.com/
Join celebrities and civil rights icons (Dolores Huerta, Rob Reinder, Alyssa Milano, Anjelika Wshington, Misha Collins..) and sign up to make calls to voters of colors in Georgia every day this week! Sign up Here .
Josh Ruebner on Palestine, Biden, and Lobbying Congress
Tuesday, Dec. 15 7 PM EST – 8 PM EST
Register: https://zoom.us/…/tJEtceCsrT0rHtJCNk1McZnu3Te1sJ4ykQqu=
Josh is the Senior Principal at Progress Up Consulting, a government relations firm for progressive causes. He was previously Executive Director of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, and an analyst for the Congressional Research Service. Josh is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of the books Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace, and Israel: Democracy or Apartheid State?
NYCLU is continuing its series of Tuesday Talks on the Rt 81 project.
Read the NYCLU’s report, Building a Better Future: The Structural Racism Built into I-81,and How to Tear It Down, here. “The I-81 project could be the catalyst for knitting back together what the highway destroyed [the 15thWard, where about 90% of the 11,000 Black Syracusans lived]. By taking a hard look at the harms done to people in the past, there is a real chance to improve housing conditions, health outcomes, and economic and educational opportunity for all people in Syracuse.”
For the links to the Tuesday Talks, email: Kevin Atwater, Central New York Chapter, NYCLU. katwater@nyclu.org
Democratic Candidate Training – Session 2 Information Here
THURSDAY, Dec. 17 AT 6:30 PM EST – 8:30 PM EST
Flip the Leg and the Onondaga County Democratic Committee are coming together to provide a five-session candidate training. We’ll cover the basics of campaigning, how to file, raise money, and get your message out. While the training is focused on County Legislature races, this training will be help prepare you for any local race or even just helping your local candidates.
Winter Solstice Concert: An Evening of Peace, Justice and Hope
MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2020 AT 7 PM EST Info Here
You are warmly invited to Syracuse Community Choir’s Annual Winter Solstice Concert. This virtual event will be live-streamed on SCC’s Facebook & Youtube.
We are pleased to give our Annual People’s Peace Award to Yusuf Abdul-Qadir. Yusuf is a community activist, organizer, and peace advocate working as director of the NYS Civil Liberties Union and an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University.
This concert will feature inspiring footage from the 2016 Winter Solstice Concert by Ellen Blalock, a montage of past songs and photos, as well as moving moments from 2020, all woven together by filmmaker Dave Fathers.
Sustainable Manlius – Open Meeting
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 AT 7 PM EST Meeting Link Here.
Join us for the first Sustainable Manlius meeting of 2021! This is going to be an open meeting of the committee, so all who have an interest in sustainability or who would like to get involved in the Town of Manlius’ effort to become a Climate Smart Community are invited to attend.
We are strongly encouraging students and young people to get involved. It is a an opportunity to learn more about sustainability, government, and community organizing, and a great chance to network with sustainability leaders in the community.
Email Councilor Katelyn Kriesel with any questions: kkriesel@townofmanlius.org
Jan 13 – Save the date for Indivisible’s National Day of Action. More to come!
SPECIAL SHOPPING SECTION:
We don’t normally promote shopping here, but with a busy shopping season combined with a need to stay home, here are a few options:
1. Support Local/Independent Businesses as much as possible. Buy gift cards, order and pick up, etc. They really need our support! Example: https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com
2. Don’t buy from the richest man in the world. Support independent bookstores. Shop online with Bookshop. Read about it here. Or go to https://www.onlib.org for Library Takeout or to download books, movies, etc.
3. Shop at Green America’s directory of green businesses Here
4. Seven Sites that are Great Alternatives to Amazon for online essentials. article from Fast Company
5. See the special events below from some of our most progressive institutions.
NEW: Sustainable Alternatives to Amazon from Green America HERE
With local governments issuing stay-at-home orders and the closure of non-essential businesses, the response, while appropriate and much needed, is hitting small businesses and workers across the country.
One thing hasn’t changed: we all still need essential goods, such as home cleaning products, personal care products, food, and something to pass the time with. In response, Green America provides you with a new and expanded version of our previous article “12 Greener Options than Amazon!”
ArtRage Fair Trade Sale – Virtual Edition
November 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021
Each December ArtRage Gallery hosts a two-day fair trade sale. Your purchases support artisans around the world and small local businesses. This year we feel it’s safer to offer a virtual Fair Trade Sale.
Two ways to shop with SERRV International AS a fundraiser for ArtRage:
1. Place your order through ArtRage
2. Shop directly with SERRV. ArtRage Gallery (The CORA Foundation) will receive 20% from your purchases
Details Here
Syracuse Peace Council Plowshares Craftsfair Online
Nov. 20 – Jan. 31
We are going virtual with Plowshares this year. Ten weeks of sharing, shopping, and crafts November 20-January 31, with a special weekend of online performances and live-streaming events on December 5-6 to celebrate Plowshares’ 50th Anniversary.
Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival has been an SPC tradition (and major fundraiser) for 50 years! This is not the celebration we had envisioned last year, but just like everyone else, we are adapting and doing the best we can to celebrate an alternative marketplace built on cooperation, the work of our own hands, and community. Now “open” at www.plowsharescraftsfair.org.
In addition to browsing and shopping from crafters and organizations, those of you who have been to the in-person Plowshares will recognize other familiar features of Plowshares:
- An online Marketplace where you can buy books, calendars, buttons, t-shirts, and more
- An online Silent Auction where you can bid on a great selection of gift certificates for local restaurants and businesses
- Live-streamed entertainment and music
- Opportunities to talk with crafters, SPC organizers, and community members via Zoom
There will be no admission fee, but donations are gratefully accepted. Plowshares is SPC’s biggest fundraiser in the year (and frankly, we’re a bit nervous about finances). We can’t wait to “see” you there!
ONGOING EVENTS:
Street Heat – Weekly Protests are back with Physical Distancing!
HANCOCK: our decade-long protests against Hancock’s piloting killer reaper drones over the Islamic oil lands continue. 6000 East Molloy Rd from 4:15 to 5 p.m. For the winter months, we will reduce our schedule: the first Tuesday of every month: same time 4:15 to 5 p.m. Dec 1; Jan 5; Feb 2; March 2; April 6.
DEWITT: Weekly protest against IDF terrorism, maiming and killing of Palestinians. Fridays NEW TIME: 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. at Erie Blvd E and E Genesee, Dewitt. Park in the nearby mini-mall parking lot.
REGIONAL FARMERS MARKET: Protests are off until April.
For more information: anntiffany6235@gmail.com
JOE GUERRIERO
WAITING FOR NORMAL: Cuba and the United States
October 22, 2020 to January 17, 2021 at ArtRage Gallery
You must make a reservation to view this exhibit in the gallery!
CLICK HERE to reserve your time to see the exhibit.
Photographer Joe Guerriero’s photography and film work does just that, reflecting more than 20 years of spending time with the Cuban people and experiencing first hand the effects of the United States’ continuing embargo of the island. He shows how the embargo affects the lives not only of Cubans but of those Cuban-Americans who still have relatives in Cuba.
COVID-19 INFORMATION:
SIRDN Covid19 Warm Line: (315) 552-1670
Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network (SIRDN) Coronavirus-related information for farmworker, immigrant, undocumented, day laborer, and domestic worker communities. English and Spanish-speaking operators. Text and phone.
SIRDN has also created a resource document for COVID-19 information, for immigrants and undocumented folks. English and Spanish Or use these instructions to have Google translate .
If you do not have a doctor and have questions, symptoms, or may have been exposed to COVID-19, call Upstate University Hospital’s Triage Line at 315.464.397
Onondaga County Coronaviris Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Information Page
COVID-19 Testing Hotline
Upstate University Hospital Regional Triage (COVID-19) Information Page
NYS Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Page
—
Peter McCarthy
pmccar1100@gmail.com