FRIDAY: Know Your Rights with the Police Workshop!

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAINING

Do you know when police are and are not allowed to search you?
Do you know when you have to answer an officer’s questions?
By fully understanding our rights, we can protect ourselves against  unjust police practices.
Join us for a free “Know Your Rights” workshop to learn the basics of  asserting your rights when dealing with the police.

Friday, February 11, 2011 3:30-5pm
Arise for Social Justice
467 State Street in Springfield
Free and open to all

This workshop is brought to you by the Community Coalition for  Justice. We are a group of community members and organizations working to stop police brutality in Springfield and to increase police
accountability to the community.  Questions? Want to get involved? Contact community.coalition.for.justice@gmail.com or call Arise at 413-734-4948 or 413-519-5964.

Michaelann VS Palmer Renewable Energy

Last week I had a chance to debate PRE developers about their proposed biomass plant.  Wish we'd had more time!

Things are heating up-- more soon on our plan to get PRE's permit revoked.

Biomass from WGBY on Vimeo.

Foreclosure protest this Monday!

No One Leaves Campaign to Protest Foreclosure Auction of Diaz Family Home 
                      

SPRINGFIELD, MA On Monday February 7th at 10am, Wells Fargo National Bank, as trustee for an asset-back securitized loan pool, will foreclose on the home of Maribel Diaz, who lives with her three children, Josue, Maribel and Freddie, at 129 Champlain Avenue in Springfield. At 9:30 am, Springfield residents will gather to protest the auction, demand that the bank work with Ms. Diaz to give her a fair and non-predatory loan, and make clear that we will oppose anyone whose business plan is to foreclose and evict the Diaz family from their home.

The Diaz family has lived in their home since 2006, when Ms. Diaz took out a mortgage with WMC Mortgage Corporation through Millennium Mortgage to buy a home for her family to live in. She received a predatory loan. One mortgage, with a principal of $157,600 was an adjustable rate mortgage with a 7.25% interest rate that is scheduled to jump to 14.75% by 2013. That mortgage also had a balloon payment of $149,000, to be paid at the end of 30 years. Mrs. Diaz was never informed of the balloon payment. Her other mortgage, was a fixed rate mortgage with a 11.35% interest rate! Worse, the mortgage company included her then boyfriends income on the mortgage application to qualify her for the loan, but only made the mortgage out to her! 

Her mortgages were quickly sold by WMC Mortgage Corp. to Litton Loan Services who then sold her mortgages to Saxon Bank and Chase Bank. Now Wells Fargo, as trustee, is moving to foreclose. A securitized loan, the foreclosure of Ms. Diaz’s home comes in the wake of the recently decided Ibanez vs. US Bank case, which showed that banks must prove that they have the right to foreclose on an owner before they do so.

“This loan is a prime example of the predatory practices of banks that have helped create the housing bubble and the economic collapse that followed,” say Jeff Napolitano, a No One Leaves coalition member.

These same banks have received billions in taxpayer bailouts and are recording record profits while they move to foreclose and evict families throughout Springfield, leaving families homeless, homes vacant and our neighborhoods in disrepair.

With support of the Springfield No One Leaves Bank Tenant Association, Ms. Diaz and her family are continuing to work to try and get the bank to call off the auction and work with them. If Ms. Diaz is successful, we will hold a rally and press conference at the Diaz family home.

The No One Leaves Campaign is a community-based campaign working to organize residents in foreclosed homes and prevent mass evictions and displacement after foreclosure that are destroying our community. For more information visit www.springfieldnoooneleaves.org

Contact: Malcolm Chu  - 718-666-6872                       nooneleavesspringfield@gmail.com

 

Need affordable housing? Join SAVE For All!

In case you haven't heard, affordable housing is under big-time attack by the federal government.  In Massachusetts alone, we could lose 50,000 Section 8s and 5,000 public housing units.  We've joined the national effort and you can, too!  Here's one way:
Washington, D.C.
February 2, 2011

Dear NAHC Members and Supporters,

Strengthening America's Values and Economy For All is a new campaign to SAVE low- and moderate-income people from loss of economic security due to threatened severe cuts in federal funding and to SAVE the federal capacity to spur economic recovery and progress for the benefit of all. The campaign is being coordinated by the Coalition on Human Needs, and NAHC is taking a leading role.
NAHC has just signed on to SAVE for All's Statement of Principles, and encourages you to do the same. The campaign is developing materials that will make a case for the involvement of federal resources, engage grassroots advocates, employ media strategies, and contact members of Congress with messages consistent with SAVE's Statement of Principles.
You can view SAVE's Statement of Principles here.
To sign on to the Statement of Principles, click here.
SAVE for All is committed to including state and local organizations, especially grassroots service providers, in its campaign. In the next few days, you will receive a message from us inviting you to join the campaign as a field advocate and participate in congressional visits via conference call. NAHC encourages all its members and supporters to join these efforts. Direct communication from constituents is crucial to the success of this campaign.
Please forward this message to your networks and other service providers in your area.
Thanks for all that you do,
National AIDS Housing Coalition

Houston cops beat teenager

Once again, the question: how many beatings are NOT caught on tape?  Would anyone have believed this fifteen year old young man without the backing of technology?  How many people did these particular officers beat before this beating was caught on camera?

State of the Dream, 2011: Austerity for Whom?

Each year on Martin Luther King's birthday, United for a Fair Economy releases its "State of the Dream" report.  You can read a summary here, and have access to the full report.  doesn't look good, folks.

This video features Mazher Ali and Brian Miller of United for a Fair Economy, two of the co-authors of the report, discussing the key findings of the report.

State of the Dream 2011: Austerity for Whom? from United for a Fair Economy on Vimeo.

The First Step to Defeating Tyranny is Solidarity in Alternative Media

The First Step to Defeating Tyranny is Solidarity in Alternative Media

There can be no peace without justice, there can be no justice without truth and there can be no truth, unless someone rises up to tell the truth. (Unknown)

Greenland's Glacial Meltdown

Greenland's Glacial Meltdown

SNOW!

Weather even worse than predicted.  Liz and I are headed to Arise in case anyone shows up for the vigil for David Kato.  Obviously we will schedule another vigil ASAP.

Vigil for David Kato still happening

Weather may keep our numbers small, but we are still vigiling tomorrow for Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato at noon, in  front of Arise, 467 State St., Springfield.


David Kato would savor every snowflake that falls tomorrow.

Hearing on new foreclosure law

Foreclosure-Related State of MA Hearing
Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m.
Springfield Public Office Building at 436 Dwight Street.

The Mass. Division of Banks is holding a public information hearing on regulations related to Massachusetts' new foreclosure law.  While the law passed last August represented progress, our communities need a lot more protection from the banks.  For more information or to confirm that you can be there, contact nooneleavesspringfield@gmail.com

This is a chance to send our State officials a message.  Some points our members have raised:

1) We need the state to increase protections for former homeowners as bank tenants;

2) Banks need to offer meaningful loan modifications to homeowners;

3) We need banks to offer principal reduction on loans, to reflect actual market value of homes.
Share your own thoughts & experiences at the hearing.

David Kato's funeral - Tuesday vigil

ACTIVIST INSULTED AT HIS OWN FUNERAL:

The pastor presiding over the funeral of murdered gay rights activist David Kato went on an anti-homosexual rant Friday, adding insult to injury for the circle of activists hoping to honour and bury their friend.
It started out nicely enough, according to news reports, with friends offering reading tributes and statements of condolence from international leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama. Then the priest, Anglican Pastor Thomas Musoke, took to the pulpit, saying that homosexuality is "evil and will be punished by God....Even the animals know the difference between a male and a female."
Pepe Onziema, of Sexual Minorities Uganda, reportedly pulled the microphone away from the priest, prompting a scuffle. Then the police moved in and whisked the priest away.
Villagers then refused to bury the coffin, so Kato's friends carried it to the grave and buried him themselves.
About 300 people attended the funeral outside the capital city of Kampala. The police still deny Kato's murder had anything to do with his sexuality and was more likely a robbery gone wrong. This is possible, but seems unlikely given the number of death threats he received after he was featured in a tabloid article purporting to expose "Uganda's top 100 homos." The government is likely spinning it this way because any suggestion Kato's murder may have been a hate crime opens a legal can of worms the government would much rather avoid. Most Ugandans oppose homosexuality and would not look favourably upon any government action to protect them from violence.
You can read a full account of the funeral here.
Meanwhile in the U.K., Ugandan lesbian Brenda Namigadde is trying to fight deportation back to her home country, fearing her life will be in danger if she returns. A British judge has ruled she is not really a lesbian, and she could be deported as soon as Saturday. Vancouver Sun.

PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release:  January 29, 2011 -  Media Contact:

Holly Richardson, Out Now (413.348.8234)

 

On Tuesday, February 1, 2011, Out Now, Arise for Social Justice and other concerned members of our community will hold a peaceful vigil in front of the Arise office to remember the life of David Kato, Ugandan LGBT human rights defender, murdered on January 26 in his home.  His violent death comes in the wake of threats, violence and intimidation that he himself and other LGBT individuals and their supporters have faced. In the most recent incident of incitement to homophobic violence, the faces, names and addresses of “alleged homosexuals” were published under the headline “Hang Them” by a local tabloid.

What:     Vigil

When:    February 1, 2011pm at 12:00pm

Where:   In front of the Arise for Social Justice office headquarters,

    467 State Street, Springfield

The murder of David Kato further highlights the concerns many here in our community have had with regard to the recent exposure of Scott Lively’s residency and work in Springfield.  Holly Richardson of Out Now states,” We are calling upon Scott Lively to stop his hateful rhetoric. She adds, “If Scott Lively is truly working to help improve the lives of the people in our city, as he says he is, than I would think he would want to start with a genuine apology for any of his actions that may have led to inciting violence at home or abroad.” 

Arise President Don James says, “We have to stand against oppression wherever we see it.  No one should have to be in fear of their lives because of their sexual orientation.”

The vigil will both show that members of our community will oppose and confront those who put forth hateful and violent rhetoric, and will honor the struggle for human rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Growth of Religious Intolerance Disturbing

First Nation writer Doug Cuthand draws parallels between the historical prohibition of First Nation ceremonies with the Quebec National Assembly's refusal to allow Sikhs to wear their ceremonial daggers into the Assembly.
He wonders if Canada is headed down the slippery slope of religious intolerance.  Fascinating article which you can read at Star Phoenix..

Next Community Coalition for Justice Meeting

Monday, Feb. 7th at 6 pm, at Out Now, 1695 Main St., Springfield.  Help us plan for the upcoming "Know Your Rights" training on Feb. 11, plan court solidarity, plan for the Police Brutality Speak-Out-- all seekers of social justice welcome!

Massachusetts state budget is balanced on the backs of the poor!

I got up this morning to another winter day of at home working. I am grateful to have a job that at least some of the time I can do from home but “man oh man” is this winter killing me. My budget for heat this winter is shot. At $3.09 a gallon it’s going to cost me $2,010.00 to heat my 6 room apartment, almost double from last year. You see we live in a house that was built around the turn of the century, turn of the last century and I think our furnace was built at the same time. I sat down to get some work done, after our internet came back on.

So today when I took a minute to look at the cuts in Gov. Patrick’s 2012 budget my first thought won’t be printed here and then I thought, again the government is balancing the budget on the backs of the poor. I looked in on a couple of websites for more information The piece in “The GovMonitor” was kind to the budget, 4/5 of the article talked about all the things this budget would provide, was structured to do and how they were increasing revenues while the rest talked about where the cuts would be. Of the 12 bulleted cuts 9 will predominantly effect low and middle income people the other 3 effect everyone but again it will be the poor people who suffer most. You can read the whole article at http://www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/governor-patrick-releases-2012-massachusetts-budget-recomendations-45419.html

But here are some of the high points or should I say low points of the budget cuts.

• $65 million to local aid

Let’s see….local aid that means cuts in police, firepersons, highway crews, teachers, trash collectors etc. Oh and don’t forget many of those that get laid-off will fall into the ranks of the poor.

• $45 million for counsel to indigent persons

No more free legal aid outside of the Public Defenders’ Office. Don’t get me wrong… there are some really good P.D’s and there are some shlubs. Let’s be real our state doesn’t pay well enough to attract the best and brightest. And when there is an exceptional one they move on pretty quickly to better paying work. If you are poor the state reminds you that “beggars can’t be choosers”

• $23 million for spending on emergency homeless shelters

This one can in no way be justified. Cutting funding to shelters when homelessness is on the rise and there is nothing firmly in place to keep families from being on the street is just plain stupid. When you have families in motels because there are no shelter beds and then they cut beds, where’s the logic? If you want to save money how about this… Average stay in a motel is 4 months that’s $9,733. Why not take ½ that money and give rental subsidies for 1 year, use the rest of the money to help train people so they can earn enough to support themselves.

• $16.4 million for Department of Mental Health hospitals

Between 1972 and 1990 70% of the state mental hospitals in the country, closed releasing its patient s into the community. Many of these people ended up on the streets, in shelters, in jail or dead. Those that were lucky enough to have family that could provide a place for them to go, as their family members aged, died or went into long term care facilities they too ended up on the streets. So what now? Throw the remaining patients, the ones that are too unstable to handle being in the community without a safety net, into the street? Again the disenfranchised get the short end of the stick.

I’m getting pretty cynical right about now, so I guess I’m starting to rant and being a bit sarcastic.

• $15 million for the Employment Services Program

Yes yes please take away the remote possibility that an unemployed resident could get retrained to find sustainable work.

• $14 million for family respite services at the Department of Development Disability Services

The government says “Families who choose to keep their differently-abled relative at home do not deserve respite. ‘

• $11.5 million for the clothing allowance paid to families receiving TAFDC

$150.00 per child will buy maybe 3 school out fits at Savers or Salvation Army. Local rules for school uniforms don’t help much, rarely do uniform acceptable clothing end up in a second hand store.

• $8 million for Early Intervention services at the Department of Public Health

Early intervention services are utilized by mostly poor people. Poor people have more preventable health issues that any other segment of our population but “Hey unhealthy malnourished people are easier to control.’

• $6.6 million for group care services provide by the Department of Children and Families

Now while I am not a cheer leader for D.C.F. they are needed. How many children will die or be permanently injured because services were cut.

• $6.2 million for the State Police

Small towns beware. The State Police won’t be able to be there to back you up when you need them because they have been laid-off.

• $5.9 million for health promotion activities at DPH

We should keep the masses uninformed. It’s really simple they get sick, they die so we save money.

• 2% cut to all constitutional officers’ administrative budgets, including the Governor’s Office

Okay this is a step in the right direction but how about 20% cut. Let the governor, senators, representatives and constitutional officers’ get their own dam coffee.

There are some ways to raise money a flat tax across the board? Or even just raise the taxes a bit. I’m willing to pay more. Well we still have some time to get changes in this budget but we better work fast, summers just around the corner.

Milton Rogovin

From JoAnn Wypijewski at The Nation: Two days after Milton Rogovin died at his home in Buffalo on January 18, the Gage Gallery in Chicago opened an exhibition of his photographs called “The Working-Class Eye of Milton Rogovin.” Class was not merely Milton’s subject, it was the optic through which he saw the world, something that distinguished his work from what the culture had expected of social documentary photography since the 1930s.

His steelworkers and miners, prostitutes and hustlers, the retired and the unemployed, do not want our pity. They look into his camera from among the tools of their trade, on the streets where they work, at home among their treasures or alone against a bare wall. “Who built the seven gates of Thebes?” Milton used to quote Brecht. Who made the world we know? Where did they live? What did they love? And who is left behind? Milton read history and saw some of the people who made it in perspective. Like aristocrats and astronauts, they posed for their portraits, without, as he said, any “monkey business” from him. Read more at The Nation.

Does Scott Lively accept any responsibility for this?

I am sickened-- absolutely sickened-- by the presence of this man only three doors from Arise!  We've had one meeting between Arise and Out Now and are planning for another for the wider community.  Stay tuned.

New York Times, January 27: NAIROBI, Kenya — An outspoken Ugandan gay activist whose picture recently appeared in an anti-gay newspaper under the headline “Hang Them” was beaten to death in his home, Ugandan police said on Thursday.
David Kato, the activist, was one of the most visible defenders of gay rights in a country so homophobic that government leaders have proposed to execute gay people. Mr. Kato and other gay people in Uganda had recently warned that their lives were endangered, and four months ago a local paper called Rolling Stone published a list of gay people, and Mr. Kato’s face was on the front page.
He was attacked in his home Wednesday afternoon and beaten in the head with a hammer, said Judith Nabakooba, a police spokeswoman. But police officials said they don’t believe this was a hate crime.
“It looks like theft, as some things were stolen,” Mrs. Nabakooba said.
Gay activists disagreed and said Mr. Kato was singled out for his outspoken defense of gay rights. “David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. Evangelicals in 2009,” said Val Kalende, the chairperson of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, in a statement. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood!”
Mrs. Kalende was referring to visits in March 2009 by a group of American evangelicals who held anti-gay rallies and church leaders who authored the anti-gay bill, which is still pending, attended those meetings and said that they had worked with the Americans on their bill.
After growing international pressure, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, indicated that the bill would be scrapped but that hasn’t happened yet and it remains a simmering issue in Parliament. The Americans involved later said they had no intention of stoking such a reaction.
Many Africans view homosexuality as an immoral Western import, and the continent is full of harsh homophobic laws. In northern Nigeria, gay men can face death by stoning. In Kenya, gay people can be sentenced to years in prison.
But Uganda seems to be on the front lines of this battle. Conservative Christian groups which espouse anti-gay beliefs have made great headway in this country and wield a lot of influence. Uganda’s first lady is a born-again Christian and has even proposed a virginity census. At the same time, American organizations that defend gay rights have also poured money into Uganda to help the small and besieged gay community fight back.

Josh Kron contributed reporting from Juba, Sudan

We can't let ourselves be intimidated

Here's the email from Sally Weiss that got folks together yesterday...

There's a CALL FOR SOLIDARITY with the anti-war activists who must appear before a Grand Jury in Chicago early next week.  Let's answer this call and assemble at 4:00 this Tuesday (Jan. 25) in downtown Springfield in front of the FBI office,  which is in the downtown TD Building right in the heart of downtown Springfield.

Carpool from the North at the Gazette Parking Lot on Conz Street,  Northampton, at 3:25.

Ellen Graves and I put together a Stop the FBI Raids demonstration in front of the FBI office (downtown TD Bank Bldg) in Springfield shortly after we heard about the raids in Minneapolis and Chicago on Sept. 24, 2010.  We had a good response, a very good crowd of protestors.  Emma Roderick of BORDC (Northampton) spoke and was our interface to the TV media.  Atty. John Thompson explained our rights as protestors to us and helped us interface with the Springfield police. Carl Moos wrote us up a good explanatory flyer to hand out to citizens; those passerbys seemed quite interested. We chanted,  led by Ellen and by Malcolm Chu of Justice for Jason and No One Leaves.  We certainly got each other energized.

Fast Forward to December.  Marilyn Levin from Boston contacted several members of the Alliance for Peace and Justice of W-MA that one of the people subpoened on Sept. 24 in Minneapolis was available to speak in Northampton.  We jumped at the opportunity.  The very committed activist Meredith Aby gave us a rousing account of what happened to her and what the National Lawyers Guild is doing in building the defense of these activists.  Bruce Miller, professor of Constituational Law at Western New England College,  was our M.C.  Bill Newman of the ACLU and Nick Camerota of IAC-International Action Center provided us with materials,  especially the CCR's "When the FBI Knocks".  Now we knew a lot and were better prepared to protect ourselves and our friends.

IT LOOKS LIKE WE NEED TO EXERCISE OUR FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY and OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH ONCE MORE.  Down below please read a call relayed by PDA's Tim Carpenter for SOLIDARITY PROTESTS ON JANUARY 25 -- this coming Tuesday.  My buddy Ellen Graves is in D.C. fasting and protesting No More Guantanamos and the treatment of Bradley Manning.  So this Sat. morning at 6:15 I am issuing the call,  based on what went well earlier.

Let's meet up at 4:00 this Tuesday (Jan. 25) in downtown Springfield in front of the FBI office,  which is in the downtown TD Building right in the heart of downtown.  There is a little brick plaza there -- just built for a good protest.  It's right on Main Street at 1441 Main.   If you're coming from I-91,  it's just one block from the ramp at Exit 7 (coming from the North).  It is in the general area of the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Square.  There is some parking on the street and in the huge parking area a block away under I-91.

ARISE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE made signs for the earlier demonstration so we're all set there.  We'll try to stay awhile until about 5:30 or so, so that demonstrators can get there after work too.  We did find that there is good passerby traffic at 4:00;  it's a good time for TV coverage;  so let's stick to that starting time.  Checking the weather forecast,  Tuesday will be slightly warmer than Sunday, with some possibility of snow.  (Watch your email for any changes in schedule due to the weather, but it looks ok right now.)

In Northampton we are used to carpooling from the Gazette Parking Lot.  So let's say -- Carpool at 3:25.

Maybe I can rig up a way to fill AFSC's big water jug with some Hot Chocolate to keep us going. 

Try to be there !  Spread the word !  This is our chance to support the brave activists in the Midwest,  our chance to support Meredith Aby, who we know.