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Come to the next monthly
DORCHESTER STANDOUT FOR BLACK LIVES
Thursday, November 16, 5:30-6:30 PM
(and the third Thursday of every month)
at Ashmont T station plaza.
(Standouts suspended for the Winter after this one)
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Kelley, kelready@msn.com or Becky, beckyp44@verizon.net, or call Dorchester People for Peace 617-282-3783
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DPP COLLECTING PETITION SIGNATURES FOR BALLOT INITIATIVES
People are needed to collect signatures at the polls on Election Day!
Contact Lewis Finfer lewfinfer@gmail.com (617) 470-2912 cell to get an assignment.
Becky writes:
There is now an ample supply of B, C, and H petitions on my porch at 41/41A Brent St., so people can stock up for next Tuesday's easy signature gathering at the polls (and whatever you're able to do after that before the 11/19 deadline for turning them in (to Lew at 1119 Adams St., or SEIU via Kristine).
INFORMATION ON THE PAID FAMILY LEAVE CAMPAIGN here;
INFORMATION ON THE PAID FAMILY LEAVE CAMPAIGN here;
INFO ON THE $15 MINIMUM WAGE CAMPAIGN here
DPP also support the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) as they gather signatures for a ballot initiative to limit the number of patients assigned to each nurse. The MNA is spear-heading these efforts for safe levels of care for their patients. More info is at https://www.massnurses.org/news-and-events/p/openItem/10635
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THE STRUGGLE FOR HOUSING IN BOSTON
MAYORAL ELECTION - In advance of the November 7thelection (please vote!!), current mayor Marty Walsh and city councilor Tito Jackson shared their different visions for the Boston of the future. Details from the debate are at WBUR:http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/10/25/mayor-jackson-final-debate
Right, DPPers Becky and Christine outside the WGBH mayoral debate on Tuesday.
Becky writes:
There were about 25 people, from the dozen groups in this ad hoc get-housing-affordability-into-the-mayoral-campaign coalition with us. At least one TV station and a lot of other folks filmed/photographed us all. (Organized by George Lee and the young people of Keep It 100---full name is Keep It 100% for Real Affordable Housing and Racial Justice.)
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Boston needs to find ways to solve affordability and displacement crises
Boston isn’t the only city with expensive housing. Our city, though, is the most unequal in terms of income in the United States. And the more unequal the incomes, the more unaffordable housing is likely to be if you’re on the low end of the income spread. While we need more action at the state and federal levels, we also need the mayoral candidates to take every possible action at the city level… Do we want to protect our diversity and build current residents’ wealth, or do we want less diverse communities that prioritize wealthier newcomers while long-time residents are pushed out? In this important election and afterward, we need to know the facts. We need to know the candidates’ positions. And together, we – and the next mayor – need to solve the crises of affordability and displacement. More
Sydney sent this roundup:
Development, Gentrification, Displacement, Land Use, and Affordable Housing!
These issues are gaining attention across Boston, including right here in Dorchester. Faced with serious questions about how gentrification is impacting Dorchester residents, neighbors have come together to voice their concerns.
Fields Corner Neighborhood Forum – “Dorchester Not for Sale” and Ujima Boston held a get together on Thursday, November 2nd at the Blarney Stone restaurant in Fields Corner. There was a discussion about a Fields Corner Neighborhood Plan, including the businesses *you* want to see in Fields Corner..
Jim Brooks Stabilization Act (JBSA) for Tenants facing Eviction – You did it!! After a *very* long effort by a coalition of many local groups, including NEU4J, City Life / Vida Urbana, and the Chinese Progressive Association, the JBSA received a hearing at the Boston City Council AND PASSED! This act will provide Boston residents who are facing eviction with information about their legal rights and will allow the city to collect information about where tenants are facing a Notice to Quit. The JBSA now goes to the State House, where this ‘home rule petition’ must receive state-wide support. Please call your state senator and state representative to voice your support. (Please ask your friends to call too!)
Glovers’ Corner - A *very* large parcel of land (and current businesses and homes, too) has been identified for development, right near the Dot Block project and roughly between Savin Hill, Fields Corner, Dorchester Avenue, and the MBTA tracks.
Community Dinners - Dorchester residents are pushing for truly affordable housing to be included in this development. A coalition of local home-owners, tenants, and advocacy groups have assembled over several productive ‘Glovers’ Corner Community Dinner’ meetings to discuss their concerns about affordable housing, good local jobs, and environmentally sensitive development. The Coalition’s vision: “People over profit- We can have nice things, but making sure we can keep things and grow without driving current residents out of the neighborhood.”
Please mark your calendar for the next meeting on Tuesday, November 28th.
Boston Planning and Development Agency - The city’s recent BPDA meeting about Glovers’ Corner is described in this Dot News article: https://www.dotnews.com/2017/keep-people-who-are-there-there-glover-s-corner-visioning-keys-afforda
MAHA Campaign for Truly Affordable Housing – The Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance recently held ‘a meeting where our graduates and their neighbors, families, and friends can discuss ideas and make decisions about collective actions we can take to preserve our communities and help people buy homes’ at their office near Ashmont on Dorchester Avenue. Topics covered included
1. New development in Dorchester & a coalition working to make it affordable. Next Steps.
2. $20 million in new CPA money for affordable housing, open space, and historic preservation. How can we influence how/where that money is spent?
3. Upcoming public meetings where we can make our voices and needs heard.
4. New coalition organizing against gentrification and displacement of residents. What should MAHA’s voice be within that coalition?
5. Similar efforts in JP/Roxbury and Dudley Area. Lessons learned and opportunities to work together to influence City government.
Congressional Legislation to Restrain a First Strike on North Korea
Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) led more than 60 members of Congress in introducing new bipartisan, bicameral legislation to ensure that President Donald Trump cannot attack North Korea without the approval of Congress by prohibiting any expenditure of funds for such a strike. The No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea Act of 2017 restricts funds available to the Department of Defense or to any other federal department or agency from being used to launch a military strike against North Korea without the prior approval of Congress or the imperative to respond to an attack against the United States or its allies. Recent polling demonstrates that more than two-thirds of the American people believe that the United States should attack North Korea only if North Korea attacks first. More
Mass Cosponsors McGovern, Capuano, Clark Tsongas
Cosponsors Sens Warren, Merkley, Sanders (I-VT)
Also:
Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced H.R. 669 and S. 200, the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017
McGovern and Clark cosponsors in House
11 Cosponsors in Senate, incl. Eliz Warren
7 cosponsors, incl. Warren and Sanders
Tell Congress: Take back your authority to debate and vote on authorizing war
House Rules Committee Guts Challenge to Yemen War Legality
House Concurrent Resolution 81 is effectively dead, following a surprise bit of sleight of hand by the House Rules Committee. The resolution demanded an end to US involvement in the Saudi invasion of Yemen, on the grounds that such involvement was never authorized under the War Powers Act. Under the War Powers Act, any Congressman is able to bring such a legal challenge, and is guaranteed a floor vote on the matter. The H.Con.Res. 81 challenge was offered in early October, and delayed until November 2. November 1 rolled around, however, and House leadership quickly forced through a Rules Committee vote which changed the rules on H.Con.Res. 81, stripping it of its privileged status (which would have guaranteed a floor vote). Though the War Powers Act guarantees such a resolution privilege, the Rules Committee claimed Yemen doesn’t rise to the level of the War Powers Act applying. More
STATEMENT ON HOUSE LEADERSHIP'S DECISION TO DE-PRIVILEGE H.CON.RES.81
"We are deeply disappointed that House leadership has again prevented a debate and vote on ending U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen, which is largely responsible for the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. We remind the House leadership that under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, ‘introduction of United States Armed Forces' includes the assignment of member of such armed forces to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany the regular or irregular military forces of any foreign country or government when such military forces are engaged….’ U.S. refueling of Saudi and UAE planes bombing Houthi targets in Yemen meets that definition, therefore by law H.Con.Res.81 should have been privileged. More
Walls and Militarized Police: How Israel Is Exporting Its Occupation to the US
“In the aftermath of 9/11, Israel seized on its decades-long experience as an occupying force to brand itself as a world leader in counter-terrorism,” reported Alice Speri in the Intercept. The successful branding has earned Israeli security firms billions of dollars. The massive payouts are the result of the exploitation of American fear of terrorism, while presenting Israel as a successful model of fighting terror. In the last two decades, hundreds of top federal agents and thousands of police officers have, thus far,received training in Israel or through seminars and workshops organized on Israel’s behalf. Groups like AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs are, to various degrees, involved in turning the US police force into militarized units similar to the structure of the Israeli police. More
A carving in stone reading "ER, Sorry" by Banksy on the controversial Israeli separation barrier
separating the West Bank town of Bethlehem, November 1, 2017. AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP
Balfour Sparked a National Tragedy for The Palestinian People
—With BDS, We Are Fighting Back
On its centennial, many analysts are debating what the Balfour Declaration really meant and whether it was legal for the British empire in 1917 to offer Jewish-European colonists a “national home” in Palestine in “flat disregard of both the presence and the wishes of the native majority,” as Edward Said put it. What is largely missing in the debate, beyond the entirely justified demands for a British apology and for reparations, is the imperative to act now to end the ongoing Palestinian Nakba by ending the complicity of not just the U.K., but crucially the United States and other Western powers in maintaining a system of injustice that has prevailed for a hundred years. By arming Israel, shielding it from United Nations sanctions, and treating it as a state above international law, they are entrenching the patent inhumanity inherent in Balfour’s legacy. More
Meanwhile. . .
CONGRESS TO VOTE ON RESOLUTION SUPPORTING BALFOUR DECLARATION
The American Congress is expected to vote on a resolution in the coming weeks expressing its support for the Balfour Declaration, on the 100-year anniversary of the British document lauded as one of the Zionist movement's greatest international achievements… 
The resolution is proposed by Senator James Lankford (R-OK) together with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). Senator Lankford told Haaretz that "it is entirely appropriate for the United States Congress to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a statement that ultimately led to the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948," said Lankford. "Israel is one of our closest friends and allies, and it is important that we stand with her and honor this important milestone." More
The resolution is proposed by Senator James Lankford (R-OK) together with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). Senator Lankford told Haaretz that "it is entirely appropriate for the United States Congress to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a statement that ultimately led to the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948," said Lankford. "Israel is one of our closest friends and allies, and it is important that we stand with her and honor this important milestone." More
Saturday, November 4: Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons - Is it Legal? Is it Constitutional? Is it Just? 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Harvard University, Science Center C, Cambridge. Nuclear weapons strategy in the United States is designed around “presidential first use,” an arrangement that enables one man, the president, to kill and maim many millions of people in a single afternoon. Is this arrangement just? Is it legal? Is it constitutional? Since the start of the atomic age, how many times have presidents come close to launching a nuclear weapon? What responsibilities does a president have – while in office or once out of office – to inform his own citizenry and the world citizenry of any such contemplated actions? Does Congress, the press, or the citizenry have any record of asking the president to report on his record of contemplated launches? Free Registration
Wednesday, November 8: Resisting the Right-Wing Offensive against land and identity: Lessons from the Grassroots in Honduras and El Salvador, 6pm, at Greenroots, 227 Marginal St #1, in Chelsea
Come listen to Gaspar Sanchez,from COPINH and Norma Ramos, MPR-12, in El Salvador. Both are Popular Educators and Activists engaged in the fight to preserve land and water against extractivist projects promoted by Transnational Corporations. Hear about their victories and challenges.
Thursday, November 9: Norma Ramos, Coordinator of MPR-12, will be sharing with us the challenges faced by Salvadorans in the upcoming elections, with the Right wing party trying to destabilize the Socialist Government with the support of the US Government. Hear what you can do to help resist this agenda. at a 6:30, House Party at 48 Antrim St in Cambridge. Light supper will be served. RSVP at judy_somberg@igc.org
Thursday, November 9: Todd Miller: "Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security" @ 7 pm, First Church JP| 6 Eliot Street. RSVP on Facebook and invite your friends! Veteran Arizona border journalist Todd Miller has covered hot spots in the US and around the planet. He has worked on immigration and border issues from both sides of the U.S. Mexico divide for organizations such as BorderLinks, Witness for Peace, and NACLA. His new book, Storming the Border, investigates how the ecological crisis is creating millions climate refugees who are challenging the developed world's borders and resources. Miller explores how a sense of threat in the United States is giving rise to high-tech surveillance fortresses and fueling calls for an ever-expanding border wall.
Saturday, November 11: BALFOUR’S LEGACY: Confronting the Consequences, 8am-6pm, First Parish Church, Harvard Sq, Cambridge. This conference marks the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which committed Britain to the establishment of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine without consulting the indigenous
population. It will explore the consequences of this British commitment, and what lies ahead.
Wednesday, November 15: Bruce Cumings: The Sources of North Korean Conduct, @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm, Boston College, Devlin 108 Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 United States + Google Map. Bruce Cumings's research and teaching focus on modern Korean history, twentieth-century international history, US–East Asian relations, East Asian political economy and American foreign relations. His first book, The Origins of the Korean War, won the John King Fairbank Book Award of the American Historical Association, and the second volume of this study won the Quincy Wright Book Award of the International Studies Association. Dominion From Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power and The Korean War: A History are his most recent books. …Find out more »
Sunday November 19: Janice Kortkamp: An American titled Housewife in Syria, 2:00-4:00pm, Boston College (Fulton Hall-Room 511). Janice Kortamp became an independent and completely self-funded journalist after noticing the western media bias regarding Syria, and how that bias was promoting war and destabilization in Syria and the levant region.
She visited Syria four times over the past year and half ,spending three months traveling around highly populated areas ,on the out skirts of Damascus, Homs, Latakia, Kassb, Tartous, Arwad, Aleppo and recently Deir al Zour. Kortump also traveled to meet Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Kuwait, and Germany. Additionally she tracks the situation in Syria on a daily basis. Sponsored by The Syrian American Forum
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