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Danbury, CT
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Labor: Manchester Passes Living Wage Ordinance
Posted by : shoes on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 09:22 PM EDT |
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The Connecticut Working Families Party recently posted a victory in Manchester, CT last week when the Manchester Living Wage Ordinance passed the city council on a 6-3 party-line vote.
What is a Living Wage Ordinance?
For the Working Families members in Manchester, that night's vote was a victory that had been over a year in the making. At the first organizing committee meeting of the Manchester area chapter, members brought up the fact that the Manchester Board of Directors had voted against a Living Wage proposal the previous year. And the Living Wage was certainly one of the issues that motivated Machinists union leader John Taylor to petition onto the ballot as Working Families candidate for Board of Directors. Although John later withdrew from the race, his candidacy certainly raised the profile of the Living Wage among voters and elected officials alike - prompting Republicans to make wild accusations of a "quid pro quo."
After the election, Working Families members continued to press the issue, bringing together a coalition with church leaders, peace and justice activists, and union leaders. We held rallies, spoke at public hearings, and held our elected officials feet to the fire. The 6-3 party-line vote showed a clearly philosophical divide between those who believe our economy should support workers trying to raise their family and those who insist that only the "invisible hand" of supply and demand should determine wages -- even at businesses that profit from public tax dollars.
The ordinance itself is fairly strong, as it covers both town contractors and recipients of tax abatements. It sets a Living Wage of $11.06 per hour (115% of the poverty level for a family of four) and includes an additional payment of $3 per hour if family medical benefits are not offered.
Read the Hartford Courant article...
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Connecticut Action: National Day of Action for Immigration Reform - April 10
Posted by : shoes on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 07:04 PM EDT |
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Stand up with the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ and The Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform & CT Coalition for Immigrants Rights
National Day of Action
On April 10, 2006, immigrants and their allies nationwide are continuing the historic mobilizations to oppose the harsh and unworkable HR 4437 and demand real immigration reform that is comprehensive, respects civil rights, reunites families, protects workers, and offers a path to citizenship for the current undocumented and future immigrants to the US.
Read more...
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Connecticut Action: Protest Bush in Bridgeport April 5
Posted by : shoes on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 05:58 PM EDT |
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President Bush will surprisingly be in Bridgeport, CT at the Playhouse on the Green. Plenty of citizens and social justice groups will be on hand to protest his policies. One such group, The Middle East Crisis Committee demands that he
Brings the Troops Home Now
Lets Food into Gaza
Doesn't Attack Iran
Doesn't Criminalize Immigrants
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at 10:30 AM
Playhouse on the Green, 177 State Street
The Danbury News-Times/Associated Press apparently read this website in relation to the Bush protest tomorrow and included our information in their brief synopsis.
Read more for directions...
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Local Events: Dave Bonan's 5-year Car Free Bicycle Anniversary
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 12:45 PM EST |
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It's been in the works for 6 months and this will be a benefit for the Hat City Free Press. Come ye all you crazy imc fringers out of the woodwork!
Read the Fairfield Weekly Article
Dave Bonan's 5-year Carfree Bicycle Anniversary
Friday, March 31, 2006, 9pm-2am
Cousin Larry's Cafe, 1 Elm Street Danbury
Bands: In Itself (indie rock), Six7 (lou reed meets david byrne) Flight 909 (1955 rock and roll, punkified)
$10 cover gets you 3 bands, any free drink and a vegetarian and meateaters buffet catered for 100 people.
Raffle items are a brand new Specialized bicycle with tune up, 3 HARTweekly and monthly bus passes, a Metro North train ticket and many local business gift certificates.
There will be an afterparty, but you have to come to find out where it is.
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Labor: Danbury Police Union Settles With City of Danbury after 3+ years
Posted by : shoes on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - 04:31 AM EST |
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Danbury Police Union Cotract Finally Settled
by Mark Langlois, News-Times
DANBURY — City Hall and the police department have settled a contract dispute that has dragged on for nearly three years.
In a binding arbitration decision issued March 15 and made public today, the city appears to have won the vast majority of disputed issues with the police union.
Negotiations between the city and the police union were forced into arbitration after union members voted down two offers.
The contract said workers will receive a 3 percent wage increase for 2005 and 2006. The union wanted a 3.5 percent increase.
On the issue of medical insurance, workers will pay 12 percent of their premium as of July 1, 2006.
Regarding the disputed employees’ contribution to the pension, union members will contribute 4.5 percent. The city had wanted the union to pay 6 percent.
In a decision that covers 150 employees, the arbitrators resolved a contract that expired in June 2003. The city and union held negotiations starting in April 2003, but they were halted by a series of changes in union leadership.
Police union officials have said the contract dispute has contributed to low morale within the department and caused a number of officers to leave the department for better paying law enforcement jobs.
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Connecticut Action: Two CT Antiwar Marches and Rallies This Weekend
Posted by : Ernie Wells on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 08:43 PM EST |
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This weekend marks the 3rd anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It promises to be the largest mobilization of Connecticut residents to oppose the war from so broad a spectrum of allies and organizations, organized by the umbrella group, CT United for Peace.
Saturday, March 18, 2006, 11am
Gather at Fair Haven Middle School
164 Grand Avenue, New Haven
5,000 people will march down Grand Avenue to Elm Street and end at the New Haven Green
End The War in Iraq! Bring the Troops Home Now! Money to Rebuild the Gulf Coast, Not War! -- No Attack on Iran! -- Justice for the Palestinian People! -- Hands off the Muslim, Arab and Immigrant Communities: Civil Liberties for All!
Speaker schedule:
--The Reverend Alvan Johnson, Jr., Bethel AME Zion Church
--Jeremy Brecher, historian and editor of IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond
--State Representative William Dyson of New Haven, Assistant House Majority Leader
--Professor Dimitri Gutas, Yale University Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies
--Peter Knowlton, national executive board member, U.S. Labor Against the War
--Kathleen Sloan, executive director, CT National Organization For Women
PLUS: Speakers from the Immigrant Rights Movement, the Muslim, Iranian and Palestinian Communities; singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards; greetings from the Sikorsky Strikers, and so much more!!!
Directions
For more information, call 860-538-3920 or visit www.ctunitedforpeace.org
1,050 CT Folks have already endorsed the 3/18 march. 67 groups will be represented.
Endorsing Organizations: 1 World Communications; Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Committee; American Friends Service Committee; Bridgeport Teachers For Peace; Campus Anti-War Network, SCSU; Central Connecticut Veterans For Peace; Ct TransAdvocacy Coalition; Colombia Action/CT; Committee in Solidarity with Venezuela, Norwalk; Connecticut Coalition for Peace and Justice; Connecticut Peace Coalition, New Haven; Connecticut Communist Party USA; Council for National Interest; Crater Food Market; Danbury Committee for World Peace; Democracy For America, Fairfield County; El Coqui Restaurant, New Haven; Genesis Internet Café; Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba; Green Party (Connecticut, New Haven, Greater Hartford); Greater New Haven Peace Council; Guilford Peace Alliance; Hartford Catholic Worker; Hartford Bring the Troops Home Now; If Americans Knew; International Socialist Organization; Iranians For Peace and Justice; Junta For Progressive Action; Justice for Palestinians Committee, Danbury; LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT; La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse & Bookstore; Las Americas’ Mini Mart, New Haven; Latinos Contra La Guerra; La Voz Latina, Trinity College; Lucy’s Hair Salon, New Haven; The Malik Organization, New Haven; Manchester Peace Coalition; Middle East Crisis Committee; Middletown Alliance For Peace; Muslim Coalition of Connecticut; Muslim Student Organization, UConn; Muslim Students Organization, Yale; National Organization of Women, CT Chapter; New Haven Market; Palestinian American Congress; People Against Injustice; People of Faith-CT; The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund; Progressive Student Alliance, CCSU; Progressive Student Alliance, UConn; Queers Without Borders; Regional Coalition For Immigrant Rights; Todo Connecticut Con Vieques; Trinity College Women’s Center; UConn Free Press; Unidad Latina en Accion, New Haven; United Electrical Workers, Northeast Region; United Nations Association of Greater New Haven; United Students Against Sweatshops, UConn; Vecinos Unidos; We Refuse to Be Enemies; World Can't Wait (Danbury, New Haven, Stonington).
March 19th - Rally Against the War in Hartford
Connecticut Opposes the WAR!
Sunday, March 19, 2006, 2pm
Old State House
800 Main Street
Hartford, CT
March to Senator Lieberman’s Office
Tell Sen. Lieberman
Connecticut Opposes the WAR! He Should Too!
$250 BILLION Spent on the War Could Fund Jobs, Health Care, Education and Housing; Take Care of Our Vets and Fight Violence in our Cities!
Logistics:
We have use of bathrooms in Old State House.
Disabled accommodations made: Call if you need assistance from your vehicle to roped-off chairs in front of the stage for seniors and disabled: (860) 655-4179.
Parking: There is free on-street parking and there should be a lot of it on a Sunday. There are also several area garages, including the new Morgan Street garage, just north of Constitution Plaza. All area garages shown on map at: http://www.hartfordparking.com/map.htm
Program Entertainment Confirmed:
Gospel Choir from Mt. Olive Baptist Church
YCL Political rap group
Hartbeat Ensemble theater group
?Mira? poet/rapster
Partial list of endorsers for 3/19 march:
CT AFL-CIO, CT Citizen Action Group (CCAG), CT Coalition for Peace and Justice, CT National Org. for Women (NOW), CT State Rep Andy Fleischmann, CT State Senator Jonathan Harris, CT State Rep. Melissa Olson, CT State Rep. Brendan Sharkey, Charter Oak Cultural Center, CT Coalition for Peace and Justice, CT State Council of Machinists, Citizens for Global Solutions-NE CT Chapter, Congress of CT Community Colleges Peace Caucus, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Greater New Haven Peace Council, Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice, Peace Action of Greater Hartford, Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice, Sisters of Mercy of St. Joseph and of Notre Dame, Jack Hennessy, Evelyn Mantilla, David McCluskey, Denise Merrill, Tim O'Brien, Elizabeth Ritter, Toni Walker, Toni Harp, AFT CT, AFSCME Council 4, AFSC CT, CT Trans Advocacy Coalition; Communist Party USA CT; District 1199 SEIU; Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba; United Nations Assn. Green Party CT; Greater Hartford Labor Council; Harmony House New Haven; Hartford Catholic Worker; Media Ed. Foundation; Military Families Speak Out; New Haven People’s Center; NE Coalition for Peace Justice; NE CT Media Coalition; People of Faith CT; Queers Without Borders; Socialist Party USA Central CT; UAW CT State CAP Council; W. Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice, and the Danbury Peace Coalition.
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Local News: Danbury IMC Member Dave Bonan is Published Nationally
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 05:29 PM EST |
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Dave Bonan, one of the founding members of the Danbury IMC and the Hat City Free Press was recently published in InterMixx Magazine's 100th issue. InterMixx is a webzine as well as a national independent magazine which is distributed from Los Angeles to NYC and places in between.
The article was titled, "Mercury (Up)Rising" and it was a detailed history of the Danbury, CT music scene with an emphasis on each venue from 1965-2006. The article focused on the scene's re-emergence from 1989-2006. Another installment will be published in March 2006.
You can download the issue in pdf format at the website.
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Connecticut Action: Protest New Danbury Anti-Immigrant Group Saturday
Posted by : shoes on Monday, February 20, 2006 - 07:02 PM EST |
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From Peter Goselin, CT National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
During the last year, Danbury has been ground zero for the anti-immigrant movement, but the Latino and other immigrant communities and their allies have successfully organized opposition in numbers far greater. Now a new anti-immigrant organization has been formed in Danbury, and it is holding a public forum this Saturday, February 25. They have brought in Terry Anderson, an African-American radio talk show host from LA, whose specialty is the claim that African-Americans are being "forced out" by "illegals." While the organizers of this group are themselves vilely racist, they are happy to bring in a person of color to preach that Latinos and African-Americans should be enemies.
The local immigrant rights group DACORIM, that organized last year's unity march in Danbury, and the Regional Coalition for Immigrant Rights are calling for a peaceful protest outside this hate-fest. The details are in English and Spanish in the email below. It is vital that we not allow this sort of divide and conquer mentality to take hold in Connecticut. This event also shows plainly that it is not enough to say -- as some have done -- that we favor immigrant rights because "they do the work Americans won't." It's time we all took a stand for decent jobs and fair treatment for all working people. We have to come out for immigrant rights as human rights -- the right to live without police harassment and intimidation, the right to work without exploitation, the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
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Saturday, February 25, 2006, 7pm
Rogers Park Middle School, across from Danbury War Memorial
People who need a ride from Hartford please call Latinos Contra la Guerra at 860-538-3921. People from New Haven please call Unidad Latina en Accion at 203-606-3484
We want to show them that Danbury is a united community, without room for hateful and divisive agendas. We NEED your presence there! Signs are welcome! MEETING PLACE FOR PEACEFUL PROTEST PARTICIPANTS: We will meet around the Rogers Park Soccer fields, by the pond, at 6:00 PM.
Please see below for more information about the speakers and agenda for the anti-immigrant meeting:
Forum on Illegal Immigration Speakers: Terry Anderson – talk show host on WLRA Los Angeles, CA, Michael W, Cutler – retired INS Agent, Peter Gadiel – 9/11 Families for a Secure America and Sandra Gunn – field coordinator for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Sponsored by: United States Citizens for Immigration Law Enforcement PO Box 178 West Redding, CT 06896
For more information please call 203-778-9020
Read more on Terry Anderson and read the above in Spanish...
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Connecticut Action: Antiwar March in Ridgefield Saturday
Posted by : shoes on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 03:03 PM EST |
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Most folks in Danbury and or western Connecticut loathe some Ridgefield residents because of their snobbiness and McMansions, SUV's and Starbucks, and also from many years ago when they were touted #1 Town in Redbook. But let's not have the ultra-rich ruin it for the good ones, like the MoveOn and Dean supporters and the rich ones who actually put their money where their collective mouths and passions are.
This Saturday, there will be an antiwar march in Ridgefield, and quite possibly, it may be the first march since General Wooster marched through during the Revolutionary War! I can't confirm it, though.
Saturday, February 11 at 1:00PM
Ballard Park, next to CVS
84 West to Exit 3, 7 South for 5 miles, right on 35 West for 4 miles. CVS on the right.
The group will meet at the entrance to Ballard Park that is near CVS. The march will include several stops at war memorials to pay tribute to those who have served our country and to draw attention to the Iraq war and the need to bring the troops home. The first stop will be at the Battle of Ridgefield Memorial in Ballard Park. Other stops include the United Methodist Church and the Community Center. There will be a short ceremony at each of the memorials and the names of those killed in Iraq will be read.
The Ridgefield Coalition to Stop the War has sponsored several peace vigils. The coalition seeks to end the war in Iraq by putting pressure on elected officials and by working to draw attention to this crucial issue.
Sponsored by the Ridgefield Coalition to Stop the War.
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Local Events: Drown Out Bush's State of the Union Address!
Posted by : shoes on Sunday, January 29, 2006 - 03:31 PM EST |
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Nineteen citizens from the Greater Danbury area, and one from New Canaan, converged at the Danbury Library on January 31, joining 67 other cities across the country (including Hartford and New Haven) to symbolically drown out Bush's State of the Union Address. The event was sponsored locally by the Danbury Peace Coalition.
Musical instruments such as a stand with cymbals, a tambourine, cowbells and blastblocks were present as well as pots and pans. As the portable radios blasted the raucous applause (sounded like static) of the address, the anxious crowd bopped up and down on both sides of the curb (the other side was a pedestrian island) and got the cars to honk. Not one person disapproved or yelled at us. Signs present were "Real Eyes Realize Real Lies", "Out of Iraq Now!" and a banner reading "How many innocents must die for Americans to feel secure?" Songs were sung on a guitar like John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth", Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers and Bob Dylan's "Times They Are a Changin'".
The high point came when 3 African-American youth, who just exited the Harambee Youth Center, ran down to see the crowd, grabbed signs and bopped up and down with us. They left soon after.
The event was covered by a lone News-Times photographer, Chris Wade. When there were only two people (I was one of them) in the beginning before the crowd arrived, Wade approached us with a camera and told us as he got ready to shoot to "start getting ready to yell at cars." I promptly stopped and told him he better rephrase the question and that we were there to educate citizens, not yell at cars. He didn't apologize and was suprised at my answer. Then he left. I called the newsroom and told them the predicament and they called him back to cover us, and by then the crowd had swelled.
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This demonstration has been organized to give an opportunity to all those who are fed up with the policies of the Bush Administration, be it in respect of the War in Iraq or handling of the Katrina disaster or cutting much needed social and welfare programs, or the muddle he has caused by the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. It is also intended to send a clear and powerful signal to the Bush Administration that the people no longer want this administration to remain in power.
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Local News: Hat City Free Press featured in New England Press Association Newspaper
Posted by : shoes on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 04:12 PM EST |
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Dave Bonan, one of the co-founders of both the Danbury IMC and the Hat City Free Press was interviewed a year ago by a student at Northeastern University about "unusual" newspaper names. We didn't think our paper had an unusual name, rather one that paid homage to the workers and workers' health in the once-famous "hat capital" of the world.
Following is the story on the front page of the New England Press Association's December 2005 issue.
The Bear Facts aboutThe Original Irregular ... and other odd newspaper names
The section about us is taken from the end of the article.
The Mad Hatters Independent Media Center in Danbury, Conn., chose a name that reflected the tumultuous labor history of the city.
In the 1800s, Danbury was known as the “Hat Capital of the World.” By 1887, the city manufactured five million hats a year. In the process of turning rabbit fur into felt, hat makers were routinely exposed to large amounts of mercury, which led to widespread poisoning and psychosis. Twenty to 40 percent of workers complained of tremors, rashes, headaches and an inability to talk, walk or eat. The poisoning spread through the workers’ families, and any worker who complained would be blacklisted.
The United Hatmakers of North America Local 10 protested the labor conditions and, in 1941, won a government ban on use of mercury in nonmilitary workplaces.
Today, the Mad Hatters Independent Media Center, which publishes the Hat City Free Press, honors with the name of its paper the workers who suffered. The paper publishes every other month, and advertises only independent businesses. Hat City Free Press has a distribution of 5,000, and is available free at locations in Southeastern Connecticut. (incorrect, ed.)
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Connecticut Action: Northeast Consulta to Stop the War - January 21
Posted by : shoes on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 07:53 PM EST |
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Northeast Consulta on Direct Action to Stop the War
Saturday, January 21
8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Capital Community College
950 Main St., 11th floor Hartford, CT
The Behind the Rocks Infoshop will be sponsoring a reception the night before with music (Sharp Teeth, Evan Greer) and film (We Interrupt this Empire). The infoshop is located @ 418A New Britain Ave., Hartford, between Hillside Ave., and Monroe St. If you're coming from out of town via mass transportation and need to be picked up friday night, please give us a call at 860-416-4575.
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Connecticut Action: Paul Bremer to Speak in New Canaan Wednesday
Posted by : shoes on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 06:34 PM EST |
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Paul Bremer, "the architect of the war in Iraq" and former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority will be speaking in New Canaan (his home town) on Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30pm. He was previously supposed to speak at the New Canaan Public Library, but he received word that many would be out in full force to protest his visit, so the venue has been changed to St. Luke's School.He is coming to talk about his recently published book, "My Year in Iraq".
Wednesday, January 18
7:30pm
St. Luke's School - 3777 North Wilton Road New Canaan
Hosted by The Fairfield County Ad Hoc Bremer Belongs Behind Bars Coalition (BBBB).
THE MAN WHO GAVE HIS FRIENDS IRAQ
by Paul Cantor
Lewis Paul Bremer III, the man who gave his friends Iraq, is coming home.
At 7:30 PM on January 18 Bremer, will be at the New Canaan Library to talk about his just published book, “My Year in Iraq.”
Bremer grew up in New Canaan and like his former boss, George W. Bush, went to Yale and then earned an MBA from Harvard. On May 6, 2003 he was named U.S. administrator of Iraq by the President. Then in his 14 months as head of what was euphemistically termed the Coalition Provisional Authority and with the backing of the U.S. military he oversaw the dismantling of the Iraqi armed forces, the awarding of lucrative contracts for the rebuilding of the country to US based multinational corporations, and the widespread pilfering of Iraq's physical and financial assets.
Read more of the article and get directions...
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: Anti-Immigrant Legislation Passes House
Posted by : Colin on Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 01:43 PM EST |
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Restriction, Racism and Reality: Racism in immigration policy
By Eian Weissman
Last Saturday marked a national day of protest by various anti-immigrant groups from around the nation. These groups, rallying under the banner “STOP THE INVASION”, gathered at hiring sites across the country where illegal immigrants gather to wait for work.
This month heralds another important milestone for immigrant rights. The passage in the House of Representatives of the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, aka HR 4437, seems like just the latest milestone in this longstanding ebb and flow of nativist sentiment.
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Local Events: Danbury Immigration Forum January 17
Posted by : shoes on Friday, January 13, 2006 - 04:31 PM EST |
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The Undeclared War On Immigrants
Tuesday, January 17, 6:00 pm
Danbury Public Library 170 Main St (Corner of West and Main St) Event room, downstairs
Why is it almost impossible for immigrants to become legal?
Why have immigrant workers become political targets both in Washington and Danbury?
How has war in Iraq and Afghanistan hurt immigrants in the US?
Speakers:
-Philip Berns, attorney specializing in family law for immigrants and former Peace Corps volunteer in both Haiti and Ecuador
-Marela Zacarias, of Latinos Contra La Guerra (Latinos Against the War) political activist and muralist
-Ingrid Espinosa, president of DACORIM - Danbury Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants
Sponsored by Danbury Peace Coalition
For more information contact:
DanburyForPeace@yahoo.com
(203) 417-3590
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Local News: Plant to Close in New Milford, More Jobs to be Eliminated
Posted by : shoes on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 07:56 PM EST |
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New Milford will be losing about 130 Givaudan (owned by Nestle) employees in New Milford's job base by spring of 2006 in another round of layoffs that will hurt the small industrial town, just 15 miles north of Danbury.
Related story links from IMC Archives
Kimberly Clark to Serve More Layoffs?
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Local Danbury Corporation to Fire Workers, Transfer Jobs in-state
Thursday, September 30, 2004
More New Milford Workers Laid Off - Total Now 323
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Story most relevant to January 10, 2006 articles
Nestle to cut 100 workers , New Milford plant to close by end of 2005
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Breaking News: Kimberly Clark Lays off 300 Workers in New Milford Plant
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Read more of the News-Times article...
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Local News: Front Page News-Times Article on IMC Member Dave Bonan
Posted by : shoes on Thursday, January 05, 2006 - 04:46 PM EST |
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My letter to the editor which will be published in a few days criticizes the author, photographer and editor's mistakes and halving of quotes. It follows when you click "Read more."
Danbury's 'bicycle guy' rides a left wing radical course
By Eugene Driscoll
January 4, 2005
(inset The News-Times/Michael Duffy
Activist Dave Bonan displays a copy of his alternative newspaper, The Hat City Free Press, in his Danbury office.)
DANBURY — Meet Dave Bonan.
Percussionist, political organizer, activist, environmentalist — and a guy who has been shot by rubber bullets not once, but twice.
"I haven't been arrested in four and a half years, which is a long time for me," he said.
Bonan, 29, edits The Hat City Free Press, an alternative, left-leaning newspaper published whenever he can manage it. He's also the public face for the Danbury Independent Media Center, a progressive library and reading room on Main Street.
Don't know Bonan? He's easy to spot. He is probably the only guy making his way through the streets of Danbury on a bicycle today.
"Yeah, I'm the bicycle guy," Bonan said, sitting in front of his computer in the media center, which is on the second floor of 241 Main St.
Bonan's office — neat, organized and spacious — is filled with posters, pictures, books and bumper stickers. There is a calendar with the Dali Lama. There's a black and white computer printout of President George Bush, with "I love the Danbury IMC" superimposed. There is a poster depicting Wal-Mart as evil.
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Connecticut Action: Smash Fascism in Connecticut
Posted by : shoes on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 02:12 PM EST |
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News Coverage of Rally
Hartford Courant
Associated Press
News-Times
Posted to the IMC newswire...
(from the moderator) Paul Streitz and the CTCIC Danbury chapter will be at Kennedy Park in Danbury from 5:30am until they leave. Kennedy Park is located on Elm Street. Mapquest "1 Elm Street" to get accurate directions if you are coming out of town.
A bunch of racists, anti-immigrants, white supremacists, and more are trying to stage a national protest at day-labor sites in the United States on Jan 7th, in the morning. Based out of Connecticut, Paul Streitz and his Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control are calling on his mostly retired, old white male friends to scapegoat undocumented people for 'taking jobs' and 'being terrorists' and other myths. If you care about civil rights, human dignity, and believe that no one is illegal, please come out and stop them.
For stories and information about past protests against the CCIC:
www.NobodyIsIllegal.org | Guerilla Science blog
Why The CCIC is Wrong |
Protesting the Waterbury-Area Meeting of the CTCIC| Video of past protest | Danbury Indymedia
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Local News: Plowshares Activist, Ardeth Platte, Released from Danbury Prison Today
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 05:03 PM EST |
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Update What to say as I was sandwiched between Ardeth and her supporters from New Haven, Boston and Baltimore and other reporters and the nonstop flashbulbs from the News-Times and the Associated Press.
Associated Press Article
News-Times article
Excerpts for this feature taken from the Nuclear Resister, issue #138 Sept. 2005 and reprinted in the Hat City Free Press Nov/Dec issue.
Ardeth Platte, 69, and her codefendants, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson, are Dominican religious sisters who entered, revealed and symbolically disarmed a Minuteman nuclear missile in its silo on the high plains of Colorado, October 6, 2002.
Platte has been serving her sentence at Danbury’s Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) on Route 37 aka Pembroke Road. She will be released on December 22 between 7:30am and 9:30am.
Those wishing to join area citizens in welcoming her as she is released should call Stephen Kobasa at 203-777-3849. Please wait across the street because prison officials have indicated they will slow down her release if citizens are on prison property. We will be going out for breakfast down the street at Deep's Trellis Restaurant on North Street.
Platte will be released to probation and will be allowed to return to Baltimore and her home at Jonah House. Gilbert, who also lives at Jonah House, and Hudson, who resides in Washington State, are on probation after serving their prison terms. Gilbert
and Hudson have both refused to pay fines or restitution, and federal authorities in Colorado will have to decide whether this violation should result in provocation of their probation and a return to prison.
Read more about Plowshares actions...
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All Topics: Newswire: An Evening With David Rovics
Posted by : jeffgreen on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 09:26 AM EST |
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Writing songs of social significance in the vein of Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg and Phil Ochs, David Rovics has performed before tens of thousands of people at concerts, theaters and universities all over the world, and is acclaimed by the Hartford Advocate (CT) as “the Pete Seeger of his time.”
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All Topics: Newswire: Troops Out Now! Petition Delivery to Sue Kelly (R-NY19)
Posted by : jeffgreen on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 04:14 PM EST |
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December 14, 2005
Fishkill, NY
 Twenty people gathered in front of Congresswoman Sue Kelly's (R-NY19) district office in Fishkill today to deliver petitions signed by more than 1500 constituents calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
The event, part of a national series of events schedule for today by moveon.org was hosted by Steven Warshaw of Golden's Bridge, NY. In a statement, Mr. Warshaw said, "Enough slaughter already, Sue! Haven't we learned from Vietnam?"
Joining Mr. Warshaw were WWII Veteran's Cliff Carpenter and Jim Mearns, Vietnam Veteran Jim Schmitt, local peace activist Connie Hogarth and Kathleen Kovalsky, mother of Air Force sergeant Daniel Kovalsky.
 Standing before a flag-draped coffin representing the 2146 (12/14/05) US soldiers killed in the Iraq war to date, those attending read statements asking Congresswoman Kelly to bring the troops home from Iraq as quickly as possible.
Before delivering petitions to Mrs. Kelly's office, Connie Hogarth read a statement in which she asked the Congresswoman to admit that the reasons we went to war in the first place were based on false information. Mrs. Hogarth said further, "It is time to turn the priorities of our country from spending over 250 billion on this war and its machines and instead vote to put that money to feeding the hungry, providing housing, for the 45 million Americans that have no health insurance and for our veteran's care and benefits."
After Mrs. Hogarth read her statement, Jim Schmitt and Jim Mearns carried the coffin inside the building to the Congresswoman's office where they were met, and stopped, by a staffer. The staffer said he would related to Mrs. Kelly the group's concern but refused to allow photographs nor any more than a few people in the office. Most stood in the hallway listening.
 After the event, Mr. Hogarth being interviewed for local cable TV News said, "Yes, it is time Congressmember Kelly, listen to our plea, our demand, that you free yourself from President Bush's rhetoric and defense of this war and put your best efforts to begin to stop this bloody war now"
View pictures here: http://www.bongoboy.com/peace/121405_petition/index.html
For more information contact:
Steven Warshaw
101 Park Road Extension
Golden's Bridge, NY 10526
914-767-0007
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Local News: Mayor Boughton and Suffolk County Executive Create Coalition to Reform Immigr
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 07:15 PM EST |
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Mayor Boughton and Suffolk County Executive Create Coalition to Reform Immigration Laws
By Dave Bonan
There was a press conference today (12.08.05) at 3:30pm at Danbury City Hall to address the federal, state and local issues of illegal immigration reform. After the joint presentation by Mayor Mark Boughton and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, there was a question and answer session for press only. The audience was filled with about 50 members of the media, community activists and directors of various social service and cultural agencies. Media present from Danbury were: Hat City Free Press, Comunidade News, Tribuna CT, El Canillita and the News-Times. Other media were the Associated Press, Noticieras Telemundo 47, Fox 61, News Channel 8, CT Public Radio and Brasilero Times (Bridgeport/Boston).
A new coalition has been formed as the first of its kind, spearheaded by Boughton and Levy and they will be sending letters to 3,000 elected Mayors and chief elected officials to convene in Washington, DC in February 2006. They previously had informal conversations with 200 mayors in the country and have had positive feedback. They wish to direct the discussion of reform to a nationwide setting to 1) address the securing of our borders, 2) seek to have the federal government reimburse local municipalities with an overburdened influx of illegals on their economy, 3) a plan for illegals already living and working in the U.S. and 4) streamlining the immigration laws which as Boughton says are "complex, with many forms to fill out - symptomatic of the bureacracy that serves nobody. This organization seeks to force Congress to serve someone."
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Local News: CT Passes Sweeping Campaign Finance Reform
Posted by : shoes on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 03:29 PM EST |
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CT Passes Sweeping Campaign Finance Reform Law
December 1, 2005: After its former governor went to jail for accepting lavish gifts from contractors with business before the state, the Connecticut Legislature early today became the first state in the country to approve voluntary public financing for legislative and statewide races. Other states, such as Maine and Arizona, have public financing, but voters approved those measures through ballot initiatives, not lawmakers who will have to live under the new system. Gov. Jodi Rell (R) has said she will sign the legislation.
The victory in Connecticut comes weeks after voters in Albuquerque, N.M. approved a similar public financing ballot initiative for their municipal elections. Arizona and Maine also have voluntary public financing of state campaigns. Portland, Oregon, has it for municipal campaigns, and North Carolina has public financing of judicial campaigns.
Common Cause worked with the Connecticut Citizens Action Group and Public Campaign to bring about this historic win. Common Cause acknowledges the dedicated, hard work of Karen Hobert Flynn, chairwoman of Connecticut Common Cause and chief strategist of the campaign, and Andy Sauer, executive director of Common Cause Connecticut.
The Connecticut bill takes effect Dec. 31, 2006, after the end of the current election cycle. The voluntary system can be used for the first time to the 2008 state legislative campaigns. Under most circumstances, qualifying candidates would be given $25,000 for House and $85,000 for Senate races.
To qualify for the public financing, candidates would have to earn a place on the ballot and further show their viability by raising seed money. House and Senate candidates would need $5,000 and $15,000, respectively, in contributions of no more than $100, with 90 percent of the money raised within the state. In addition, House candidates would need to raise 150 contributions of $5 or more and Senate candidates would need to raise 300 contributions from within their district. In 2010, a gubernatorial candidate who raised $250,000 in small contributions would be eligible to receive $1.25 million for a primary race and $3 million for the general election.
In addition, the bill includes:
A ban on campaign contributions from lobbyists
A ban on campaign contributions from state contractors
The elimination of the notorious "ad books," a blatant loophole to the corporate contribution ban.
The end of unlimited contributions from political action committees.
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Connecticut Action: CT to Mark 1000th Execution November Today with a "Day of Action"
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 03:42 AM EST |
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Danbury News-Times coverage
UpdateThe execution of Robin Lovitt
has been stopped - his sentence commuted to life.
However, the 1000th execution will now be on Friday, Dec. 2 at 2 a.m. - 29 hours later. All events scheduled for today are on except the recently cancelled Waterbury vigil.
Connecticut to Mark 1000th Execution November 30 with a “DAY OF ACTION”
The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty is sponsoring or supporting numerous activities around Connecticut.
At 9 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30, the United States will execute the 1000th person since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. To mark this event, Connecticut began by holding a vigil and rally at the Capitol on November 13 to bring attention to this tragic occasion. However, on the day of the actual execution, the following events are scheduled to take place:
**5 p.m. – The University of Hartford – Robert Nave, Executive Director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty and the State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Amnesty International will be giving brief remarks prior to his prescheduled presentation to a class on “Law and Justice in Film and Literature.” The press is welcome to this event. Mr. Nave will be available for interviews starting at 4:45.
**6 p.m. – Churches and places of worship around the state will Toll their Bells in witness of the execution. A list of 51 anchor churches that will toll their bells are listed at the end of this bulletin. However, please note that the Archdiocese of Hartford has instructed all churches to toll their bells and all Episcopal and UCC (United Church of Christ) churches have been invited to participate in this public witness.
**6 p.m. – New Haven – People Against Injustice will hold a 15 minute vigil at the corner of Elm Street and Broadway. (Nearby Christ Church will be tolling their bells.) For more information on this event, please contact Sally Joughin at 203.787.5262 or peopleagainstinjustice@earthlink.net or Stephen Kobasa at 203.777.3849 or skobasa@snet.net
**6 p.m. – New Haven – Kimberly Square (Intersection of Kimberly Avenue and Lamberton Street) – The International Socialist Organization is sponsoring a “Candlelight Speak-Out” in response to the pending execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams. Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Los Angeles Crips gang, is scheduled to be executed by the state of California on December 13th. While in jail, Tookie experienced a conversion to peace and social justice and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on several occasions for his work while in jail for gang violence prevention. For more information call 203.645.4907 or isonewhaven@yahoo.com.
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Media: NYC Independent Media Center Needs New Digs
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 02:35 AM EST |
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Dear Friends,
NYC Indymedia and The Indypendent are in a time of transition. We are moving out of our longtime home at 34 East 29th St. at the end of the month. The space is almost entirely empty after a mad weekend of cleaning. On Tuesday Nov. 29, we will celebrate the amazing first five years of Indymedia here in New York (as well as the 6th anniversary of the birth of the global Indymedia network) with a rockin' party featuring music, historic Indymedia video footage from the past half-decade and plenty of beverages. From the heady rise of the “anti-globalization” movement to 9/11 and its grim aftermath to the mass protests of Feb. 15 and the 2004 Republican National Convention to the countless day-to-day struggles for justice here in the nation’s largest and richest city, our ever-growing network of volunteer mediamakers has covered the stories that mattered with passion and integrity. Please join us and help support the continued growth of radical, independent media. Sliding scale $5-25. Doors open at 6 p.m.
If you can’t make the party but would like to donate, please go to: https://ssl.nycimc.org/
Where Next? To follow the discussion about NYC Indymedia’s search for a new home go to: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2005/11/60789.html
Who We Are: NYC Indymedia Working Groups
Print
www.indypendent.org
Video
http://www.nycimcvideo.org/
Spanish
www.elindependiente.org
Indy Kids
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2005/11/60608.html
Web
www.nyc.indymedia.org
U.S. Indymedia
us.indymedia.org
Global Indymedia
www.indymedia.org
NYC Indymedia in the News:
“The New York Model: Indymedia and the Text Message Jihad” by Jeremy Scahill
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=6193
“Inside the Indymedia Collective: Passion vs. Pragmatism” by Gal Beckerman
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/5/anarchy-beckerman.asp
"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: What's the Matter with Indymedia," by Jennifer Whitney
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/23741
“The Indypendent Sweeps the Ippies: Local Indymedia paper recognized for excellence in community journalism, wins 11 awards”
http://nyc.indymedia.org/or/2005/10/59272.html
Next Issue of The Indypendent: Dec. 7
Thank you for your interest and support!
NYC Indymedia & The Indypendent
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All Topics: Hartbeat Ensemble Presents "News to Me"
Posted by : shoes on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 01:51 PM EST |
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Hartbeat Ensemble Presents "News to Me"
Through the combined styles of Hip-Hop Theater and Musical Theater, News To Me focuses on a group of young people who are given the chance to create their own TV news program. Once they decide to report on disparities in the No Child Left Behind Act, the youth face a governing group of adults who would like to “white wash” what is broadcast over the airwaves.
Premiers at the
Charter Oak Cultural Center
21 Charter Oak Ave., Hartford, CT
November 17 – December 10, 2005
Tickets: $15-$25 Sliding Scale
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Read the Hartford Courant article
Read more about the play...
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Local Events: Danbury IMC's Free Screening of "Walmart - The High Cost of Low Price"
Posted by : shoes on Thursday, November 17, 2005 - 02:01 AM EST |
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The Danbury IMC will host a free screening of Robert Greenwald's "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" at 241 Main Street, Suite 3 in Danbury at 8pm. Greenwald also directed and produced the successful documentary about Fox News Corporation, titled "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" last year.
Instead of the film being released into the theaters, people are organizing their own screenings - upwards of 7,000, (November 13-19) in what is now dubbed "The largest grassroots mobilization in movie history" to create extensive word of mouth about the film. We are at seating capacity, but if you wish to stand, be our guest.
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Two events today that deal with low-wage jobs and Walmart.
1pm - Community Coalition for Justice at Wal-Mart: Legislative Hearing, Legislative Office Building (LOB) 300 Capitol Avenue in Hartford
The Community Coalition for Justice at Wal-Mart is a coalition of community and labor groups fighting for fair employment and health care policies for Wal-Mart workers. On Thursday, November 17, the Connecticut General Assembly will hold a joint committee public hearing concerning Wal-Mart's employment practices and the economic impact to Connecticut communities. The legislature's Labor and Public Employees Committee and Human Services Committee will jointly host a screening of the film, followed by a public hearing with input from Wal-Mart employees.
Thursday, November 17, 10am-12pm
Legislative Office Building, Room 1B, Capitol Avenue, Hartford
The Betrayal of Work and Welfare: Why low-wage workers can't make ends meet with support from jobs and welfare.
Guest speakers: Beth Shulman, author of "The Betrayal of Work, How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans and their Families"
Release of report by the Legal Assistance Resource Center on CT's family welfare program, Temporary Family Assistance and how CT spends its federal TANF funds and related funds.
Sponsored by the CT Alliance for Basic Human Needs
Info: Jane McNichol at 860-278-5688 x 15
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Local News: Hat City Free Press Volume 5 Issue 1 Out!
Posted by : shoes on Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 05:52 PM EST |
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That's right folks! Volume 5.
"Working to create a citizens' medium for the open expression of perception and truth."
The Hat City Free Press, a publication of the Mad Hatters Independent Media Center, is now in its fifth year of producing the area's (Fairfield and Litchfield County) only volunteer-run, independent free newspaper. With 4 years under our belt, we are experiencing a new lifeblood, with countless volunteers, new writers from the local area and more local stories being sent to us.
We started the newspaper because we felt the area needed to hear the real voice of its citizens as well as providing stories that fell in the cracks the corporate media left behind. We cull stories from other sources from around the world that most people don't get a chance to know about as well as original stories. We try and take issues from a global perspective and focus on delivering them to the public on a local level of understanding.
We continue the trend of the last issue with no articles on the front page, but rather amazing thematic artwork with catching photos, done by our truly talented and modest imc artist, Eian Weissman.
This issue features the cover story, "Bordering on Racism: Paul Streitz and the CT Citizens for Immigration Control", an analytical, in-depth look at the recent wave of anti-immigration sentiment in Danbury. Also featured is the end of the 4-year Taco Bell Boycott and the settlement of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the most significant victory since the 1960s grape boycott, the costofwar.com and iraqbodycount.net updates and Hartford Food Not Bombs role in providing direct relief to Hurricane Katrina victims.
Part 5 and 6 of "The Detriments of Soy" will have to wait until later since the author is now married with a child on the way.
This issue is be downloadable here: HCFPv5i1
Click here for our list outlets
If you would like to subscribe, request bulk mailings or advertise, email dave@madhattersimc.org
To contact the paper, email hcfp@madhattersimc.org
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Local News: Election Day 2005 Information
Posted by : shoes on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 01:36 AM EST |
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Election 2005 Recap
Vote for State and Local Candidates
Remember to vote between 6am - 8pm!
Danbury Street Listings for Voter Locations
Danbury Voter Locations
2005 Primary Election and Information
For more info:
Danbury Registrar of Voters at 203-797-4550
CT List of Candidates for Mayor and First Selectman
www.vote-smart.org
www.opensecrets.org
www.followthemoney.org
The Danbury Police Union endorsed Dean Esposito for Mayor. They will be picketing against Boughton at all 7 polling venues for a fair contract with the City of Danbury. They have been working without a contract since July of 2003. The contract agreement was rejected 135-0 last year and this year by 126-9. A police officer's car parked in front of the station last night had bumper stickers that were anti-Boughton. One said "Crime doesn't pay. Neither does the City of Danbury. 135-0. Any questions?" The other was a rat that had "Boughton nibbles taxpayer $" on its body and it said "S.O.B. Sour on Boughton".
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Local News: Anarchist Professor David Graeber Is Fired from Yale
Posted by : shoes on Friday, October 28, 2005 - 04:17 AM EDT |
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As we reported back in early May of 2005, a petition told of an imminent firing at Yale University of David Graeber, an anarchist professor of anthropology and a well known anarchist/scholar in regional activist circles internationally. He had risen to popularity after the World Economic Forum (WEF) came to New York City in February 2002 when he wrote countless articles and scholarly publications in criticism of corporate globalization.
Later that week the European Union (EU) urged Yale to reinstate him and the British and Canadian United Federation of Teachers (UFT) urged the same or they would institute a substantially large boycott of Yale.
Read his interview from May 13, 2005 in Counterpunch
His petition has letters sent in from staff and/or faculty from the University of Sussex, England, University of Glasgow, Scotland, University of Manchester, England, University of Chicago, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, London School of Economics, among others.
IWW Professor David Graeber kicked out of Yale
Professor points to politics as Yale fails to renew contract
By MATT APUZZO - Associated Press Writer, October 23, 2005
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- By all accounts, Yale anthropology professor David Graeber is one of the brightest minds in his field. His books are taught worldwide and the London School of Economics recently asked him to give its annual Malinowski lecture, an offer reserved for the world's most promising young anthropologists.
And he's about to be unemployed.
Graeber is an anarchist whose counterculture writings are nearly as popular as his academic work. He carries an Industrial Workers of the World union card and has been arrested during anti-globalization protests.
So when Yale recently told Graeber not to return next year, it touched off a letter-writing campaign from professors worldwide, some of whom suggested that the Ivy League university is letting politics influence its hiring.
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Today's big story |
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No big story for today.
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