From CNY Solidarity Coalition:
We are still in need of a few volunteers for Plowshares (see info below)
Here are the shifts where we still need a first or second person:
Saturday 12/4: 12:30 pm – 3 pm AND 3-5 pm
Sunday 12/5: 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Please respond to this email, or to Rhonda: rshungerford8@gmail.com
Upcoming Meetings (on Zoom until further notice):12/12/21, 1/9/22, 1/23/22, 2/6/22, 2/20/22, 3/6/22, 3/20/22, 4/10/22, 4/24/22.
Please note the change in the December dates. The Syracuse Peace Council Plowshares Craftsfair will take place on Dec. 4 and 5, so our one December meeting will be on 12/12.
Committees will meet on their own. See last page to sign up for committee lists.
CNY Solidarity Coalition Meeting, Sunday Dec, 12, 3 PM on Zoom.
We have collaborated on several important actions with Syracuse DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), including the Invest in Our NY campaign.
DSA and the STOP (Syracuse Tenants Organizing for Power) Coalition will bring news of their work on housing issues in Syracuse, followed by an overview of the work of DSA’s other committees, with an eye toward future collaborations.
Articles of the Week:
Why We Need to Upgrade Our Face Masks—and Where to Get Them
High-quality respirators such as N95s and K95s are now widely available and provide the best protection against COVID, according to experts. Why aren’t more people wearing them?
(According to the article, both surgical masks and cloth masks are far less effective than N95’s and equivalents.)
Read it in Scientific American
Giving Tuesday, explained
A short history of Giving Tuesday, the international day for giving back.
And here’s one on a related topic:
One of the most frequently used criteria for judging a charity is also one of the worst
Our focus on “overhead” doesn’t help us learn what really matters.
Public-Private Partnerships Are Quietly Hollowing Out Our Public Libraries
The for-profit, private company Library Systems and Services is a major threat to one of our most beloved, democratic and socialistic institutions. The same arch-villains known for siphoning taxpayer-funded government bailout money into their own pockets now have majority control over a private company that manages 80 public library systems in the U.S. and which loudly and proudly claims to be the “3rd largest library system in the US.”
Why the Energy Transition Will Be So Complicated
The degree to which the world depends on oil and gas is not well understood.
Read it in The Atlantic
EVENTS/ACTIONS CALENDAR:
Action Alert:
Ryan McMahon is pushing hard to get his aquarium built. He proposes to spend $85 million in cash for it. The cash comes from 2020 budget SURPLUS of $25 million and because of the continued austerity budget of 2021, there is projected to be at least a $60 million budget SURPLUS this year. He only needs a simple majority (9) to pass this. We have at least 8 “NO” votes, so we need one more and we need the 8 to stay firm.
He is pressuring the Republicans to pass this – he wants it finished in time for his re-election campaign. We’ve begun to get supportive emails from hotel/restaurant owners so we need more citizen input to stop this.
We are still in a pandemic which may very well get worse, and our hospital system is on the brink of failure. Even talking about this as a “job creator” is absurd in the face of so many businesses (to say nothing about bus/truck drivers) begging to hire people. Even Amazon is having trouble hiring. Children have not done well as they return to school and teachers are burning out, etc.. etc., etc.
Economic development is of course important, but we have many more immediate needs for the citizens who live here whose needs should be met before focusing on tourism. (Plus we don’t know how travel will ultimately be impacted by the current/future pandemic.)
Please consider emailing ryanmcmahon@ongov.net and copying in the legislators – all their emails are on the Legislature’s website at ongov.net.
League of Women Voters of Syracuse Metropolitan Area
Special Meeting on How to Combat Low Voter Turnout
December 1st from 6pm to 7pm
Local Election Season has been Completed; Why did only 30% or less of registered voters in Onondaga County actually vote in this past election? What have we heard?
• Not much to vote for on my ballot, why bother!
• Don’t know who is running.
• I work two jobs, have a family and no time.
• I vote for the President.
• All politicians are crooks.
• My vote doesn’t count.
Onondaga VOTES! has knocked on doors, handed out flyers with candidate names listed, held candidate forums and attended community events to register and educate voters in the City of Syracuse.
What can WE DO together and individually to change this downward trend? What groups do you belong to? Do you need and want training?
Join our meeting to brainstorm and develop strategies for 2022 election to “Get Out The Vote”.
ZOOM Meeting Info: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5634341614
Meeting ID: 563 434 1614. Passcode: LWVSYR
Or Phone in (no video) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 563 434 1614
Passcode: 925553 (only for phone in)
51st Annual Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival
Much More information Here
December 4-5, 2021(Saturday 10-5; Sunday 10:30-4:30)
Science and Industry building at the Great New York State Fairgrounds, Syracuse, NY map
Please be aware: Proof of full vaccination OR negative Covid test within 72 hours will be required for all those ages 12 and up.
Gate #2 – Plenty of free parking on site
Admission: $2-$5 Sliding Scale. Under 12 Free.
COVID Precautions in place for the event: Proof of full vaccination OR negative Covid test within 72 hours of entry required for all those ages 12 and up. MASKS REQUIRED FOR ALL AGES 2 & UP.
About Plowshares: Plowshares is Central New York’s premiere multicultural craftsfair, featuring over 120 local craftspeople and community organizations. A beautiful community of activists, conscientious consumers and fair traders gather for a weekend of commerce and communing at the Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival. Plowshares is an opportunity to step into the kind of world we’re working so hard to create: a place of justice, of peace, of compassion, of environmental sustainability. This is Plowshares under COVID, so if you have been before, it will have some new challenges – but it will have the same spirit. So bring your good spirit and good cheer!
UPDATES AS OF 11/29: We WILL have running water and functioning bathrooms in the Science & Industry Building for Plowshares! So, no Porta Potties and no need to use the bathrooms in a different building. We will still have some bottled water available and still encourage folks to bring a reusable bottle.
We’ll also have vegan and vegetarian food available from PB&J’s Lunchbox food truck!
Check out the crafters & community groups that will be at the event here.
Check out the entertainment schedule for the weekend here.
Volunteers needed: help us make the event a success! Plowshares is a labor of love that comes together thanks to the help of many volunteers. Sign up to volunteer here. Since we are reinventing Plowshares for the second year in a row, volunteers are even more necessary than usual. Please get involved in helping out.
Delavan Holiday Open Studios
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2021 AT 10 AM
Visit studios for holiday shopping and chat with the Artists. Fine art paintings, photography, glass, metal jewelry, beaded jewelry, custom clothing, fabric art, printing and more!
Democracy Now! will celebrate 25 years on the air
Tuesday Dec. 7th at 8 p.m. ET – Virtual Event
will stream at democracynow.org.
Special guests will include:
Noam Chomsky, world-renowned political dissident and author
Angela Davis, legendary activist and scholar
Danny Devito, Emmy Award-winning actor
Martín Espada, National Book Award-winning poet
Danny Glover, actor and activist
Winona LaDuke, Indigenous leader
Arundhati Roy, the acclaimed Indian writer and activist.
The event will also feature musical performances by the Grammy Award-winning Mexican singer & songwriter Lila Downs and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.
Amy Goodman, Juan González & Nermeen Shaikh will host the virtual event.
Please donate in honor of Democracy Now!’s 25th anniversary today. If you can give $50 or more, you’ll get to choose from some great 25th anniversary gifts!
SAVE THE DATES:
Looking Back & Looking Forward: Round Table on the Future of GreeningUSA
Friday, December 10, 12:00pm – 1:30pm, EST on the GoToMeeting Platform
Attendees at the final GBL of the year will have the opportunity to share their views on what’s been working, what deserves change and offer suggestions for the future of GreeningUSA, the organization that has worked to promote sustainability since 2004.
Small, all volunteer, not-for-profits such as GUSA constantly struggle to fulfill their missions and programs. GreeningUSA is no different. When committed stalwarts decide to refocus, move-on or age-out, it becomes a challenge to an organization’s sustainability; recruiting and retaining committed volunteers is vital to sustaining what we do. So come and join in December’s GBL discussion to help celebrate and sustain the mission of GreeningUSA.
REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 5pm on December 9.
Registration Link: https://tinyurl.com/vs4phzbc Link to virtually attend using GoToMeeting will be sent to those registered
Climate Change Theater Action -Syracuse
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2021 AT 7 PM – 9 PM
ArtRage – 505 Hawley Avenue,Syracuse,13203,US
Climate Change Theater Action -Syracuse
Event by HeatSmart CNY, CNY Solidarity Coalition and 2 others
An evening of Staged Readings of plays performed as part of International Climate CHANGE Theater ACTION events.
COVID Precaution: We are limiting the audience to 35 people so please make sure to make an online Reservation through eventrbrite. Guests must wear masks regardless of vaccination status. The actors will not be wearing masks.
Join us for an evening of Staged Readings of plays performed as part of International Climate CHANGE Theater ACTION events. The performance will be followed by a hopeful conversation with the audience about our current climate change emergency.
COVID Precaution: Reservations required. Guests must wear masks regardless of vaccination status. The actors will not be wearing masks.
Climate Change Theatre Action is a worldwide event running through December 18, 2021
Milton Loayza’s performances and productions of Latin American plays have been presented at Syracuse venues like ArtRage, The Point of Contact, the Red House, and Syracuse University. He has toured nationally as an actor in the tango opera María de Buenos Aires. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern Languages at SUNY Oswego (with academic interests in ecocriticism and performance philosophy.
Heat Pumps 101
Monday, December 13, 2021 at 7 pm – 8 pm
Event by HeatSmart CNY
Want to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient?
Heat Smart CNY is hosting an online workshop about improving home performance and and clean heating and cooling technologies like air and ground source heat pumps.
We’ll talk about how heat pumps work, places to consider reducing energy loss, and available grants and incentives. We can help save the planet while making our homes safer and more comfortable!
The presentation by Dick Kornbluth will be followed by a Q&A with expert installers.
Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZUldumtpzsrGNRPMu…
DONATIONS:
The next few newsletters we will include suggestions for donations to groups that have an impact. Please send your suggestions. We will prioritize local groups working in our community but will also include some national or international organizations.
Syracuse Peace Council
SPC is funded by the contributions of supporters like you – whether you donate monthly or a couple times a year, $100 or $10, you’ll be in the good company of hundreds of Central New Yorkers who believe that peace and justice are worth working for. The weapons manufacturers seem to have an endless line on federal funding – which is why we are reaching out to you to help make sure SPC has the funds needed to maintain a robust level of activism.
Read Our Fall 2021 Fund Appeal Message and Donate Today!
http://peacecouncil.net/donate
CNY Workers’ Center: Help us remove barriers to worker participation in campaign organizing by providing stipends to worker leaders and reimbursements for transportation and childcare so low-wage workers can put more time into winning workplace victories
Workers know what workers need. The most powerful voices organizing for better working conditions and worker protections are workers. But low-wage workers often face many barriers to participating in organizing, including long shifts, non-traditional hours, childcare responsibilities, lack of transportation and lack of technology. We’re launching a new leadership development program that will provide a monthly stipend of $100 to participants to reduce these barriers to participation and value the extra effort it takes to make an ongoing commitment.
DONATE NOW to Support Worker Power!
Syracuse Center for Peace and Social Justice
The Syracuse Center For Peace And Social Justice is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving progressive organizations that promote nonviolence and the elimination of all forms of social oppression and environmental injustice at local, regional and national levels. The organizations within The Center educate and inform the Central New York community through varied programs and activities. Organizations that benefit from the center include Workers’ Center of CNY, Black Lives Matter Syracuse, Unchained, Public Citizen, Agree NY (Alliance for a Green Economy), Syracuse Peace Council, NY Immigration Coalition, CNY Solidarity Coalition.
Donate to Syracuse Center for Peace and Social Justice
Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network (SIRDN) works for immigration justice in Central New York and beyond through organizing, advocacy, and solidarity support for directly affected individuals and their families. They are raising funds to provide for basic needs like food, medicine, rent, and transportation.
Donate to SIRDN’s fund.
Syracuse Community Choir
Every little bit helps. And on GivingTuesday Nov 30, mMeta will match $8 million in qualifying donations.
To provide an opportunity for all people to sing and perform songs of peace and justice in a safe and inclusive community. Our values include music that addresses issues of oppression such as ableism, racism, sexism or homophobia, provide inspiration for changing the world and promote respect for the earth. Our desire is to sound good, have fun and love each other and the earth well.
Donate Here
Please consider donating to your favorite renewable energy activists this giving season!Supporters like you help us battle corporate energy companies, the fossil fuel and nuclear industries, and powerful trade organizations that perpetuate resource extraction and profiteering. We need to raise $5,000 during our end of year fundraiser so that we can keep fighting next year.
As an added incentive, a generous donor will match all new donations up to $2,500. If you’ve never donated to AGREE, please consider giving this year to help us tap that matching fund.
ArtRage is no ordinary gallery.
We are committed to breaking down the art world’s boundaries about who is welcome. We believe that everyone has the right to art and that art is essential to building an open, just world. Our vision for change is one that creates a community of open-minded, tolerant individuals with an appreciation for the inclusion of art in everyday life. We offer the community an experience that encourages the breakdown of boundaries so that people can see themselves in the work and then in one another. We exhibit art that cultivates critical thinking skills; leading to question the power structures that exist in our society and to imagine other ways of life.
Kanatsiohareke is a powerful Mohawk community that Tom Porter started decades ago as a way to create a Mohawk presence in the heart of their homeland. In the late 1700s and early 1800s the Mohawk were driven from their territory by invading Colonial armies and settlers. Kanatsiohareke has provided important education, inspiration and support to thousands. Tom Porter didn’t wait for the Land Back movement to develop, he organized people to resettle in their homeland.
Please consider supporting their important work Here
Light Work
Light Work’s mission is to provide direct support through exhibitions, artist residencies, affordable workspace, and publications to emerging and under-recognized visual artists working in photography and related digital and electronic media.
Donate to Light Work
Onondaga Earth Corps
Every little bit helps. And on GivingTuesday Nov 30, Meta will match $8 million in qualifying donations.
Since its inception in 2004, the mission of the OEC continues to be to empower youth to be active participants in creating positive change for their communities and the environment. When the Eli MacDonald Green Team was reinvented in 2005 as the Onondaga Earth Corps (OEC), OEC was formed to:
•Help youth understand the relationship between people and the urban ecosystem
•Engage youth in hands-on community and environmental service learning projects
•Train youth for future jobs and careers in environmental fields, and
•Empower youth by developing their leadership abilities that help them analyze situations, solve problems and implement strategies to improve their communities.
Unchained Christmas Giveaway 2021
Help Unchained give kids in Syracuse with a parent in state prison a special Christmas! Being separated from your family is never easy, but the holidays are often especially difficult times.
Over the past three years, Unchained has provided gifts to nearly 100 Syracuse children from parents in dozens of prisons across the state. COVID-related restrictions on visits and phone calls continue, making it especially difficult for children to maintain relationships with their incarcerated parents. The same families ripped apart by incarceration have also been hardest hit by the pandemic, and they need community solidarity this holiday season.
Donate: https://www.facebook.com/UnchainedNOW/
HOLIDAY SHOPPING THOUGHTS
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 books from the richest man in the world. Support independent bookstores. Shop online with Bookshop.Read about it here. Or try OR Books. It embraces “progressive change in politics, culture and the way we do business.” (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
ArtRage Gallery Virtual Fair Trade Sale
November 1, 2021 to January 15, 2022
We are once again opting for a virtual sale this year. In addition to it being safer, we loved that everyone could choose from the full range of SERRV products rather than the limited selection at an in-person event.
Your purchase supports ArtRage Gallery and artisans from around the world!
There are two ways to shop with SERRV International as a fundraiser for ArtRage:
1. Place your order through ArtRage using this order form and ArtRage will receive 25% to 50% of the sale.
2. Shop directly with SERRV. Through our partnership with SERRV International, ArtRage Gallery (The CORA Foundation) will receive 20% from your purchases made online using this special web address: https://www.serrv.org/?a=artrage. Make sure you see the banner that The CORA Foundation will receive 20%.
There is FREE Ground Shipping on $50+ orders from November 8-22! Use Promo Code SE4SERRV21
We’ll keep you posted on other upcoming promotions.
VERY BUSY? BUT WANT TO DO YOUR PART? JOIN STREET HEAT!
BAN KILLER DRONES MONTHLY STREET HEAT
4 to 4:45 pm every first Tuesday of the month thru the winter – local upstate drone action coalition members protest the nys national guard’s 174th attack wing.
For over a decade we have been gathering right across from the main gate of the 174th’s host, Hancock Airbase, on East Molloy Road in the town of Dewitt.
Please join us. To learn more: 315 478 4571 and upstatedroneaction.org.
PALESTINE SOLIDARITY WEEKLY STREET HEAT. Gaza and Palestine Solidarity Street Heat to 4 -4:45 PM Every Friday. Join us at the intersection of East Genesee St & Erie Blvd east [across from the DeWitt fire station]
CNY Solidarity Coalition: Follow us online and on social media. Check out our Website and our Instagram.Follow us on Twitter: @CNYSolidarity and @IndivisibleNY24 and Facebook: www.facebook.com/cnysolidarity/ and
www.facebook.com/groups/IndivisibleNY24
From our Committees: To sign up for each of the committee mailing lists, contact the person listed.
Indivisible NY24: Contact: Deborah Rose: dcurryrose@gmail.com
Climate Justice: Contact: Dick Kornbluth dick@dickkornbluth.com
SLAT (State/Local Action Team) Contact: Peter McCarthy – pmccar1100@gmail.com
Beyond War and Militarism. A joint committee of CNY Solidarity Coalition and the Syracuse Peace Council.Contact: Ron Van Norstrand; ron@vannorstrandlaw.com
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Peter McCarthy
pmccar1100@gmail.com