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“Trump allows people to express their racism and bigotry in a way that they haven’t been able to in quite a while and they really love him for that. It’s a shocking thing to realize people love their hatred more than they care about their own actual lives.” – Fran Lebowitz

Join us for our March meeting on March 2nd. We will be meeting in committees to continue our work. 

RSVP Here

Upcoming Meetings of CNY Solidarity Coalition:

Sunday March 2

Also, as we prepare for a variety of ways to confront the ongoing coup, see the special Nonviolent Direct Action event on Feb. 24. See more details on Facebook.

Meeting Policy: In case of a change due to weather, health warnings, etc., we will make a decision by 10 AM the day of the meeting and switch to Zoom. An email notification will be sent.

The rules of the Senate are designed to protect the rights of the minority, and Democrats have tools to grind Senate business to a halt to delay and defy the Trump-Musk coup.

The three biggest weapons? Blanket opposition, quorum calls, and blocking unanimous consent—parliamentary guerrilla tactics that can slow, stall, and obstruct at every turn. Here’s how they work—and why Democrats need to keep using them aggressively.

Read it on Indivisible

Then call our Senators (info from our Contact your Representatives page)

Chuck Schumer

https://www.schumer.senate.gov
Syracuse: (315) 423-5471
Washington D.C.: (202) 224-6542

Kirsten Gillibrand

https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov
Syracuse: (315) 448-0470
Washington D.C.: (202) 224-4451

Each of us has a responsibility to reach inside and find the courage to do what we can in our individual lives; where we work, study, pray, or recreate; and through coming together collectively.

Read the Article by Andy Mager on Common Dreams

NOTE: The article is paywalled on Vanity Fair but here is Ibram X. Kendi’s chilling Facebook comment: 

Trump’s FBI plans to go after antiracist Black leaders and organizations. If history is any guide, Trump’s FBI will exacerbate small rivalries and spread false allegations against organizations and leaders to undermine their reputations and support, and/or to justify jailing or silencing key leaders. The pervasiveness of anti-Blackness among people of all races eases this job of Trump’s FBI—and those unwittingly aiding the state due to petty ideological or personal differences. 

Because when allegations surface about Black people, the racist media prints them without asking for evidence. Racist people believe it without any evidence. They continue to believe it after the allegations are proven to be false. I’ve witnessed this. I’ve experienced this. Expect an acceleration over the next four years. So Black people focused on building antiracist organizations, institutions and movements are going to need your support, your organizing, your grace, and your critical eye.

Samantha Power, the former director of USAID, also laid bare how the US weaponizes humanitarian aid by masking its strategic interests with the rhetoric of altruism. …Power acknowledged that the agency has “generated vast stores of political capital” in the countries where it works and uses its leverage to bolster American financial interests, like helping a US company “enter a new market.”

… to be clear, Musk’s attempt to destroy the agency isn’t cause for celebration. Musk and Trump’s assault on USAID, and the federal bureaucracy writ large, is illegal and undemocratic. Lifesaving programs around the world have been thrown into chaos, including health and HIV services and nearly half a billion dollars worth of food aid that is now at risk of spoilage.

Read it on The Nation

The Syracuse Common Council will vote next Tuesday to spend $25 million to replace 2,790 lead service lines. 

If the council votes to approve the measure, it could bond for all $25 million while it awaits a potential reimbursement of up to $22 million, city officials said Wednesday. 

Also on the table next Tuesday is a resolution to hire a third party firm to conduct the city’s federally mandated water testing in lead pipes.

Read it on Central Current

Excellent 3 ½ minute video from Robert Reich on Facebook explaining where  the real waste is.

In just the first three weeks of Trump’s term, we saw agencies remove access to at least a dozen climate and environmental justice analysis tools. The new administration also scrubbed the phrase “climate change” from government websites, as well as terms like “resilience.”

Here’s why and how Public Environmental Data Partners and others are making sure that the climate science the public depends on is available forever.

Tuesday, Feb 18 at 6:30pm at Cicero Library

Thursday, Feb 20 at 6:30pm at Cazenovia Library

Thursday, Mar 6 at 6:30pm at Fayetteville Library

What would you like to see in this year’s state budget? Assemblyman Al Stirpe wants to hear from you! This is your opportunity to provide your input into Governor Hochul’s 2025-26 State Budget.

Central Current

Tuesday, Feb. 18th  5 – 7 pm. at ArtRage 505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

A panel of leaders in the housing space explore policy solutions to Syracuse’s rising rates of housing insecurity and homelessness.

Drinks and appetizers will be served.

Please reserve your seat today.

Photojournalists Michelle Gabel and Michael Greenlar have spent the past year capturing how the housing crisis is impacting the lives of Central New York residents.

See Article on Central Current

POSTPONED – WATCH FOR NEW DATE

NYS Budget Town Hall in Syracuse – Senator Rachel May

Was scheduled for Tuesday, February 18 

Join Senator May for town hall meetings to engage in a discussion about the New York State budget. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and share your ideas. We look forward to seeing you there.

Wednesday, Feb. 19

5:30-6:30 PM Maxwell Hall Auditorium

As an extension of Interfaith Exploration Week, Hendricks Chapel is happy to welcome John Inazu for an evening lecture. All are welcome to attend this free event.

John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. His latest book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024). HInazu is the founder of The Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship and a Senior Fellow at Interfaith America and the Trinity Forum. He holds a B.S.E. and J.D. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Thursday, February 20 @ 12:00 PM – 2025 Sloan Lecture Series

Erie Canal Museum -318 Erie Boulevard East – Syracuse, NY 13202

New York State’s history of enslavement is often overshadowed and underrepresented in the histories presented to the public. However, New York State historic sites are in the process of bringing this conversation to the forefront of information presented to the public, and Lorenzo State Historic Site in Cazenovia is no exception to this development. Lorenzo is the 1807 home of John Lincklaen—the founder of Cazenovia—and boasts a collection of objects and documents that span from the mid-1700s to the mid-1900s.

Register

Thursday, February 20th 6:00-7:30 PM

Cayuga Community College  197 Franklin Street, Auburn, NY, 13021

Room M214, across from the Irene A. Bisgrove Community Theatre

Thursday, February 20 7 PM virtual

Meet the new Assembly sponsor of the NY HEAT Act Jo Anne Simon and find out how to help pass NY HEAT this year! 

Register Here

NY HEAT Act one-page :info sheet

Friday, February 21, 2025 

Doors open at 5:30; Program: 6 pm

Community Folk Art Gallery

Presented by the Onondaga County Historical Association, 

Curator Robert Searing. 

Panel Discussion. Q&A

NAACP, NYCLU, Syracuse Community Land Trust, South Side C

Baldwinsville Public Library 

Saturday, February 22, at 10:30 a.m.

This is an excellent opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions about pressing issues affecting the community, including housing, education, and the environment. You will also have the chance to raise any topics or questions that are important to you. Senator May looks forward to meeting you and engaging with the community in the Baldwinsville area.

Questions? Senator May’s district office: (315) 478-8745.

Monday, February 24, 6-7:30 pm

Bishop Harrison Center, 1342 Lancaster Ave, Syracuse

Sponsored by CNY Solidarity Coalition

Don’t miss this panel discussion of experienced activists reflecting on their organizing and participation in nonviolent direct action as part of larger campaigns on a variety of environmental, social justice and peace struggles.  Panelists are: Sarah (Howie) Howard, Aly Wane, Jonathan Brenneman, Andy Mager and Ellen Grady. Panelists will also speak to ways that nonviolent direct action can play important roles in our work to stop the MAGA power grab.

This program is the first in a series of events to offer education and training for nonviolent action. The second program will be a training on De-escalation and Peacekeeping skills to create safer and more effective protests, likely in March.  The third program will be a longer Training for Nonviolent Action to help people prepare to plan and participate in nonviolent direct action, to take place in late April or May.

Feb. 26 at 9:30 AM – Syracuse Federal Building 

Ellen is one of the panelists for the Feb 24 Nonviolent Direct Action program.

Ellen Grady, a member of the Ithaca Downtown Berrigan Collective, will go to trial on Feb. 26 at 10 AM . She faces two violation charges stemming from a protest on November 15, 2024, at the Federal Building. Grady and other upstate peace activists went to the Syracuse Federal Building to demand access to the offices of New York’s US Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to “exercise our right to petition the government for a redress of g zrievances”. They wished to “impress upon the Senators the urgency of cutting off offensive weapons for Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples.” They specifically were asking the Senators to support the 6 Senate Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that would block the sale of U.S. weaponry to Israel.

Please join us for a brief vigil before court. 

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 7-8:30 PM

In conjunction with our current exhibition, A PLACE TO CALL HOME

Event by ArtRage Gallery and Central Current

505 Hawley Ave, Syracuse, NY, United States, New York 13203

Free and open to the public.

This talk will define and discuss strategies of redlining, housing discrimination, and urban planning that still affect Syracuse’s development today. Central New Yorkers are increasingly more aware about the histories of Redlining, Racial Covenants, and Urban Renewal. Less discussed are the global origins of these policies. Similarly neglected are the precise ways in which they continue to shape the housing, health, food, etc. systems of American cities. The talk will address these issues and their effects on Syracuse by using a wide range of sources, including PEACE, Inc.’s 2024 Community Needs Assessment for Onondaga County.  Guests are encouraged to raise questions and solutions.

The Speaker: Todd Goehle is Vice President of Operations and Strategy at PEACE, Inc., Onondaga County’s Community Action Agency.

Friday, February 28, 12:05 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Register Here

This forum will be conducted via Zoom. Registration is free and open to everyone.

In November 2024, FOCUS Greater Syracuse, Inc. and PEACE, Inc. held a ‘Whole Family Summit’ focused on how to enhance our community’s capacity to develop collaborative and family-centric solutions for overcoming basic needs. Funded by the CNY Community Foundation, the Summit also served as a pilot that could potentially be replicated to address other community priorities. As the Summit was designed to engage individuals at the grassroots level, the majority of participants were frontline service workers, community representatives, and families. This forum will describe key concepts underlying the Whole Family approach to planning and providing services, and Summit findings.

Thursday, March 6 • 6 p.m. Lakeside Fire Department 1002 State Fair Blvd., Syracuse

Complete the constituent survey Here

Concert with Irish Singer Karan Casey Trio 

Thursday, March 6, 7 PM

Red House Arts Center, 400 S. Salina, Syr. 13202

Legendary Irish musician Karan Casey is joined by Niamh Dunne on fiddle and vocals, and on guitar and accordion, Seán Óg Graham (both of the Irish folk band Beoga). They have toured together for several years and this show premieres new material as well as favorites. Together they bring us songs charged with a sense of social responsibility, from the personal to the historical and political, touching on themes of family, loss, love, the empowerment of women, and Irish revolutionary struggle.

Tickets at https://www.ticketleap.events/…/benefit-concert-w-irish…

Friends of Dorothy is an initiative to be supportive of people with AIDS. Michael Desalvo and Nick Orth, who live in and run the house, have offered home-based care and support to people with AIDS and others in need since October 1992

Tuesday, March 11th 6:00 – 7:30 pm at Fayetteville Library, 300 Orchard St.

A presentation by Ian Shapiro, Associate Director of Building Science and Community Programs at S.U. Ian is a national expert in the history, design, efficiency, cost of operation and health benefits of  electric heat pumps and holds a number of patents relating to heat pumps and air conditioning. If you are considering upgrading your air conditioning or heating system you want to hear this presentation! In addition to his academic knowledge Ian can speak as a home owner who had a heat pump installed 5 years ago. 

If you want to attend via zoom Register Here

Sunday, March 16, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET Online

Host Contact Info: greta@worldbeyondwar.org

Please join us to learn from and support the Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN). The Network works to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the militarization of Israeli society, one soldier at a time. They have valiantly stood by refusers serving jail sentences, elevated stories of refusers through social media, press and email campaigns, and educate the global public on the importance of conscientious objection as a tactic. More importantly, they help organize spontaneous refusers into coherent movements with strategies and demands.

Register

Friday, March 28, 2025 – 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at ArtRage Gallery

CALL FOR ART

The ArtRage Gallery Board of Directors invites all community members to submit your 10″ x 10″ artwork to be exhibited, and sold, as a fundraiser for ArtRage Gallery, on March 28, 2025.

Artists of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds are encouraged to submit work. SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS! If we can count on you to submit your art please send us a quick email to info@artragegallery.org

to help us with our planning.

Submission Guidelines  and more Here

Syracuse Street Heat is just one, very unencumbered way to work for peace and social justice. We’re part of a decades-long grassroots tradition here, in Ithaca and elsewhere. We stand out and stand up for what we stand for. 

A handful of us stand at busy intersections, for 45 minutes at rush hour, pivoting to the traffic with hand-held signs. We want to get the public thinking about issues often underrepresented in the media. We’re there weekly in almost all of Syracuse’s weather (we seldom cancel). Bring your own sign – or use one of ours. No meetings or committees, so participation time is minimal (yay!) Our Team:  Ann, Dick, Ed, Geoff, Jim, Julienne, Les, Leslie, Peter…. 

To learn more, call Ann or Ed: (315) 478 4571.      

EVERY FRIDAY…4 to 4:45 p.m. (“CEASE FIRE NOW”, etc./ Palestine solidarity)

Focused on the war in the middle East…Israel’s military genocide of Gaza and  invasion of Lebanon. We disperse along the sidewalk with our signs at the very busy intersection of Erie Blvd East and East Genesee St. (across from the DeWitt fire station; park in the nearby mini mall lot.) When the temperature is below 20 degrees, we cancel!

Watch past meetings about Micron, Good Jobs Town Hall, Rallies and more on our YouTube Channel.

Donate to the CNY Solidarity Coalition

CNY Solidarity Coalition contributes regularly to local progressive organizations: Syracuse Peace Council, National Action Network, & Urban Jobs Coalition. We also make occasional donations as needed to other local groups. We depend on your donations for this. 

Donate Online through PayPal

Mail donations to: 

CNY Solidarity Coalition

P.O. Box 6137, Teall Post Office, 226 Teall Ave., Syracuse NY 13217

Our Committees

To sign up for each of the committee mailing lists, contact the person listed. 

Indivisible Onondaga County: Contact: Tom Keck

Climate Justice: Contact: Dick Kornbluth

SLAT (State/Local Action Team) Contact: Peter McCarthy  

Beyond War and Militarism: A joint committee of CNY Solidarity Coalition and the Syracuse Peace Council. Contact: Ron Van Norstrand

Elaine Denton

Peter McCarthy

Coordinating Committee

CNY Solidarity Coalition