From CNY Solidarity Coalition:
Next Meeting: 1/10/21, 3 PM on Zoom. CNY Solidarity Annual Membership Meeting. Includes election of Coordinating Committee.
Articles of the Week:
If you only read one of these, please read this one. We will be keeping in touch with this campaign, which is being organized by DSA and a coalition of other groups. Also see the Invest in Our New York phone banking events below.
The Socialists vs. Andrew Cuomo Read it in The Nation
Newly elected DSA members in the New York legislature will work with grassroots organizers to force the governor to tax the rich. Will their inside/outside strategy work?
And see this quote, for evidence of the effectiveness of our work: “Before 2018 Cuomo mostly got his way. A cadre of Democrats in the state Senate who caucused with the Republicans made progressive legislation almost impossible. In 2018, a grassroots campaign defeated nearly all of those conservative Democrats, replacing them with progressives.”
We’ve been telling you for a while to read Heather Cox Richardson’s brilliant and readable daily news summary. Now the NY Times has noticed. Maybe they read this newsletter.
Heather Cox Richardson Offers a Break From the Media Maelstrom. It’s Working. FB article w link to NYT
“She’s writing for people who want to leave an article feeling “smarter not dumber,” she says, and who don’t want to learn about the events of the day through the panicked channels of cable news and Twitter, but calmly situated in the long sweep of American history and values.”
2020 in Review – Activism Matters: City of Syracuse, SPD, and the Commitment to Transparency in Response to Summer Protests Read it on urbancny.com
“A month of daily protests. The visceral community-wide call to action created the atmosphere, generated the creative tension, results of which can be monitored. Links below are to articles on urbancny.com which details the city’s commitment along with associated revisions to policies and procedures.”
50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says Article on CBS News
“For the first time in a century, the 400 richest American families paid lower taxes in 2018 than people in the middle class, the economists found.”
A New Congressional Budget Office Study Shows That Medicare for All Would Save Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Annually Read it on Jacobin
“The most exhaustive study on Medicare for All just came out. Its conclusion: a single-payer system would guarantee health insurance to all people while reducing overall health spending by hundreds of billions of dollars every year.”
The Wealth of the World’s Billionaires Grew by a Staggering $1.9 Trillion in 2020 Read it.
Elon Musk alone increased his fortune by $110 billion.
…That brings their total wealth to a staggering $11.4 trillion, a figure that’s increased 20 percent from just a year ago despite what is one of the most severe economic crises in modern history.
EVENTS/ACTIONS CALENDAR
Annual (Early) New Year’s Eve Demo
5-5:45pm, Thursday December 31
Along Salina St. by Clinton Square
Start off the New Year right: Stand up and out for peace and social justice. Use one of our signs or bring your own. Of course, we’ll stretch out along the block and stay safe.
For more info, contact Ann or Ed at 315-478-4571 or anntiffany6235@gmail.com.
Organized by the Beyond War and Militarism Committee of the Syracuse Peace Council and the CNY Solidarity Coalition.
Every Day: Help Flip the Senate! Turn Georgia Blue:
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/
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, starting again in January, email: Kevin Atwater, Central New York Chapter, NYCLU. katwater@nyclu.org
Sustainable Manlius – Open Meeting
Thursday, January 7, 2021 – 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.
Email Councilor Katelyn Kriesel with any questions: kkriesel@townofmanlius.org
Invest in Our New York is a new campaign seeking to tax New York’s wealthiest residents in order to fund the services we need to support the working class and keep our economy afloat. The six bills proposed by the state-wide coalition will raise between 50 and 75 billion dollars in annual revenue, and our goal is to include all six in the state budget as it is negotiated over the next few months.
January 9, 1PM – 4 PM Phonebank to Support Invest on Our New York
January 10, 1PM – 4 PM Phonebank to Support Invest on Our New York
Save the date for Indivisible’s National Day of Action. Info Here
Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 12:30 PM
Join us outside the Hanley Federal Building in Syracuse as we call on Sen. Schumer to prioritize a robust democracy reform agenda in the new Congress.
Co-hosted by Indivisible NY24 and Indivisible Syracuse, this event is part of a national Indivisible day of action
See https://artragegallery.org for ArtRage’s upcoming events!
January 7, 2021 at 7pm
Curtain of Water Discussion with filmmaker Joe Guerriero
In conjunction with our current photography exhibition, JOE GUERRIERO: WAITING FOR NORMAL- Cuba and the United States, please join us for a Zoom conversation with photographer and filmmaker Joe Guerriero.
Dislocation Location: Discussion Series on Art as a Refuge and Rallying Point. Part 2.
January 13, 2021 – 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Join us for a 2nd Zoom reading and discussion group in conjunction with our current exhibition, Joe Guerriero: Waiting For Normal- Cuba and the United States. We will read from Jennine Capó Crucet’s How to Leave Hialeah, a book of short stories tracing the space between Cuba and the United States (via a Hialeah, a city in northwest Miami-Dade county).
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. 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.
Now “open” at www.plowsharescraftsfair.org.
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
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