Jobs NOT Jails Public Forum

Tuesday October 6, 2015
Worcester Public Library, Saxe Room 6-8 p.m.

Are you for Job Creation instead of Mass Incarceration?

Join EPOCA, Neighbor to Neighbor and Worcester area Jobs NOT Jails supporters to hear testimonies on why it’s time for change and to learn about the Justice Reinvestment Act.

RSVP via Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/408832645983842

Jobs NOT Jails Justice Reinvestment Act – Joint Judiciary Committee Hearing

At the State House in Boston

Show your commitment to advance racial and economic justice. Don’t miss the Joint Judiciary Committee Hearing on Jobs NOT Jails omnibus legislation, the Justice Reinvestment Act at 1 p.m.

Join us at 11:00 am for a short rally and meeting with our legislators prior to the hearing. The Justice Reinvestment Act will improve justice and safety, reduce incarceration and invest millions of dollars to create jobs for struggling families.

Your involvement is key to the success of ending mass incarceration in Massachusetts. If you are interested in submitting written testimony in support of the bill or meeting with your legislators or both, please follow this link.

RSVP via Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/711607562301715

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Summer might be ending, but the Summer of Solidarity is NOT Over!

Jobs NOT Jails is forming a network of people who are fighting to end mass incarceration and ensure living wage jobs for all people. Please join us! We are working to create powerful actions in small teams.

If you would like to get involved or if you’d like information about the next training, please click here.

The 31st annual Bread and Roses Heritage Festival is a FREE, open air, celebration of the ethnic diversity and labor history of Lawrence, Massachusetts, on the Campagnone (North) Common in Lawrence, from 11:30AM-6PM. It takes place in honor of the most significant event in Lawrence history: the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike.

Enjoy a day of musical, dance, and theatrical performances from a range of cultures. This is the region’s only true Labor Day festival. The day is full of fun, music, dancing, delicious food, helpful resources, and more!

Performers Include: Si Kahn, Bread and Puppet Theater, Angkor Dance Troupe, Squeezebox Stompers, O’Shea-Chaplin Irish Dancers, Lisbeth Perdomo, Henry the Juggler, and more!

When: Monday, September 7, 2015, 11:30 am to 6:00 pm
Where: Campagnone Common / 200 Common Street / Free / Lawrence

Sacco and Vanzetti
Remembered in Boston, Sunday, August 23, 2015
PRESS RELEASE / PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Sunday, August 23rd, in Boston, the 88th anniversary of the execution of Nicola Saccoand Bartolomeo Vanzetti will be remembered. Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and committed anarchists whose trial is regarded as one of the great miscarriages of justice in American history. Calling attention to the continued repression of immigrants and radicals, the Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Committee invites all to attend and participate in the ninth annual march and rally.

We will begin by gathering at Visitors Center (Tremont and West, Boston) at 2PM, followed by a march to the North End at 3PM, and conclude with a rally at 4PM at the Paul Revere Mall at 416 Hanover Street and will feature a number of speakers and live music at both locations.

For the last ten years, the SVCS and other organizations and individuals have sought to bring public attention to the wrongful execution of the two Italian immigrant workers and radicals in 1927. We invoke their tragedy and our local history not just to remember Sacco and Vanzetti, but also to demonstrate how little has changed in the 88 years following their execution. Nationalist fearmongering and the repression of dissidents are as prevalent today as it was during the Red Scare in the early 20th century. The way in which immigrant workers are rounded up, detained and deported today under the pretext of a War on Terror, a War on Drugs or securing our borders, is eerily similar to the Palmer Raids targeting immigrants in the 1920s. Furthermore, the repressive role of the state has been made evident by systematic of police force used in particular against people of color. And while the overwhelming majority of developed nations have abolished the death penalty, the retention of capital punishment in the United States puts the U.S.in the disgracefully bad company of countries notorious for their human rights abuses. The Boston City Council has declared August 23, Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Day in the City of Boston, for the last 8 years, under the initiative of former councilors Felix Arroyo, Chuck Turner, and currently, Charles Yancey.

The organization sponsoring this year’s Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Day are the IWW, the Black Rose Collective, Encuentro 5, and the Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Society.

Contact: Sergio Reyes
Email: info(AT)saccoandvanzetti.org
Web: www.saccoandvanzetti.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/saccoandvanzetti

On September 22, 2015 at 1pm in Gardner Auditorium at the Massachusetts State House, the Agriculture Committee will hear arguments for and against transparency in GMO food labeling. This is an absolutely critical opportunity to make your voice heard and to sent a strong message to state legislators:

We need to know what were eating and we need the Massachusetts legislature to pass mandatory GMO labeling THIS SESSION!

The Massachusetts GMO labeling bill (H.3242) is the most popular bill in the State House, with over 75% of the legislature signed on as cosponsors.

We could soon join with Connecticut, Maine and Vermont in setting the standard for national mandatory GMO labeling. But if its going to come up for a vote this session, we need to turn out with undeniable energy and make this a priority for legislators this year. With 30 new GMO crops in the pipeline and Monsanto working to pass the federal DARK Act, we dont have time to waste.

Please help us fill up the hearing room (which seats 600) with GMO labeling supporters. Click here for more info and to sign up to attend the public hearing. We are also collecting testimony to present to the committee.

“The DARK ACT passing the House shines a big, bright light on our opposition and the lengths they will go to to keep us in the DARK about what we are eating. This bright light on who controls our government and who our elected officials are actually representing will galvanize the grassroots. We did not lose today. We gained strength and momentum and now more people will be shaken from their complacency to stand and fight with us.”

(From the community forum)

Hey Folks, please take a minute and sign this White House petition! This is a personal letter I am sending to you because this matters deeply to me, and in my heart I feel this has to be won.

National Forest land which has been used by the Apaches for ages has been given away to a mining company, and Obama is our last hope to save the National Park space from destruction. We need 100K signatures by August 21, and this hasn’t even topped 1000 yet.

This land was given away to to a mining company in a recent (unrelated) spending bill. After the people fought to keep mining out for many years, the industry finally got it’s way. But, it’s not over yet! Please take a moment of your time to take the next step in saving this sacred land!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/save-oak-flatapache-leap-holy-place-san-carlos-apache-tribe-designating-it-national-monument

Oak Flat, currently a part of Tonto National Forest, has been a sacred place for the San Carlos Apache tribe for generations, used for coming-of-age ceremonies for young girls and for traditional acorn gathering. An addition to the most recent National Defense Authorization Act makes it part of a land swap between the Forest Service and Resolution Copper Mining, a subsidiary of two multinational corporations. This land has been protected from mining since the Eisenhower administration. We call on President Obama to use his designated authority to establish National Monuments in order to preserve this sacred place from destruction.

Thanks kindly for your thoughtful participation. Please tell everyone you can to help with this!