Citizens turn out to support Palestinian rights. Rep. Delgado missing again.

 

Photo by Ellen Davidson

We had no shortage of people coming out to protest Israel's racist military actions in the West Bank and Gaza. There were over 80 who gathered to protest Israeli apartheid and US complicity in these horrendous war crimes. MECR joined JVP-Hudson Valley, Vets for Peace, and Women in Black to hold this vigil and teach-in about the issues.

It is a shame that Rep. Delgado has said or done nothing so far. Part of it must be the free trip he got to Israel at the beginning of his term. Another part is the financial support he gets from the Israel Lobby. He received over $30,000 from the lobby this last year. But our progressive champion is nowhere to be seen in many areas, like universal healthcare, the Green New Deal, and efforts to trim the defense budget. And he certainly is PEP, progressive except for Palestine.

Can't the Democratic Party do better than that? Isn't it time to talk about running someone else in the next primary?

Equal Rights for All in the US, Northern Ireland, and Palestine

 

 Zoom Panel on Equal Rights for All:

Resisting Settler Colonialism and

White Nationalism in the United States,

Northern Ireland, and Palestine 

Sunday, April 11 at 2 pm Eastern Time

Speakers will explore the successes and failures of their various liberation campaigns, with the goal of learning from each other and building international solidarity. The panel will include: 

• Fanon Frazier, a local community organizer with Citizen Action HV from Kingston, NY
• Jim Keys, a filmmaker, cultural activist and guerrilla muralist from Derry, Northern Ireland
• Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, an internationally known peace and justice activist, author, and natural scientist with the Palestinian Museum of Natural History in Bethlehem, Palestine

Sponsored by Jewish Voice For Peace - Hudson Valley, Middle East Crisis Response, NYC Veterans For Peace, US Boats to Gaza, and Women in Black - New Paltz.

You are invited to watch our Zoom panel

 

Watch the video here:

https://youtu.be/Wh_elSbf348

Friday, Dec. 4 from 7 to 8:15 pm ET

Zoom panel on "How police and vigilantes operate

to attack and undermine minority groups and

progressive movements in the U.S. and Palestine." 

Speakers will explore how we can support local and national movements in overcoming racism and political repression to achieve basic human rights for all. The panel will include a Kingston, NY BLM activist (Anne Ames), the editor of mondoweiss.net (Philip Weiss), and a radical feminist, revolutionary member of Black Alliance for Peace (Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture). To register in advance for this Zoom meeting, click on the button above. Sponsored by Jewish Voice For Peace - Hudson Valley, Middle East Crisis Response, NYC Veterans For Peace, US Boats to Gaza, and Women in Black - New Paltz. 

Losing Our Homes

MECR joined with other groups to present this panel on losing our homes. We have been pleased with how many people have shown up for these Zoom panels. The panelists themselves were great, and were able to shed light on how housing dispossession works against African Americans in the US, and Palestinians in the West Bank. Watch the "Losing Our Homes" panel on YouTube.

Thursday, Sept. 10 Zoom panel on Losing Our Homes: The Destruction of Community, Culture and Identity. In this perfect storm of economic and pandemic crisis, millions of people run the risk of displacement through evictions, foreclosures, gentrification, and ethnic cleansing. Rashida Tyler, Founder of The REAL Kingston Tenants Union and Board Member of Citizen Action of New York, and Talal Jabari, Palestinian journalist and documentary filmmaker, will each make a short statement, including their own personal observations of displacement. We will then open the panel up to questions. To register in advance for this Zoom meeting go to https://mideastcrisis.org. Sponsored by Jewish Voice For Peace - Hudson Valley, Middle East Crisis Response, NYC Veterans For Peace and Women in Black - New Paltz.

 

Congratulations to all who have been involved

Congratulations to all who have been involved with putting this ad in the Kingston Freeman, especially the Congress Committee (used to be Delgado Committee), the many people who donated money, and even the Kingston Freeman itself, which never would have printed this in the old days. The ad appeared in this Sunday's print edition of the Freeman, and was also posted on-line.

So let's take a moment to celebrate how effectively MECR and JVP - Hudson Valley have worked together on this and on other projects. For those who have been supportive in the past, why don't you consider becoming more active. We have a very interesting Zoom panel coming up on Thursday, Sept 10 at 7 pm. Check it out and register at https://mideastcrisis.org/

Children in Detention, an introduction to the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign

We had a great turnout for our first Zoom panel. Over 80 people registered and about 45 actually signed in and participated in the event. As soon as we edit the program, we will put it up here so that you can watch our two speakers respond to the movies and answer questions from the audience. There is no doubt that JVP/MECR will be doing more of these events in the future.

Watch the "Children in Detention" panel on YouTube.

-Tuesday, June 16 from 7-8 PM. “Children in Detention,” an introduction to the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign. A ZOOM panel featuring Kwame Holmes, PhD, Scholar in Residence, Human Rights Program, Bard College, and Shaina Low, U.S. Advocacy Officer at Defense for Children International, Palestine, will discuss systemic mistreatment, abuse and arrest of Black American and Palestinian youths in the US and Israel. We recommend two short films, "Arrested for Being Black” (13 min) and “Detaining Dreams” (21 min) as resources to watch ahead of time. Sponsored by Jewish Voice For Peace - Hudson Valley, Mideast Crisis Response, Veterans For Peace, and Women in Black - New Paltz. Contact: mecr@mideastcrisis.org or 845 876-7906.

Short films:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlKu6Whdilo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rw69pLILqw

"Gaza Fights For Freedom" documentary

We had over 30 for the "Gaza Fights For Freedom" documentary at the Mtn. View Studio this Saturday night. Steve Romine (Woodstock Truth Squad MONDAYS, 7-10 pm, WIOF 104.1 FM) organized it, and Vets for Peace cosponsored. 

We picked up about 25 signatures for the Delgado petition on the rights of children in Palestine. 

Thanks to Steve for setting this up.

"Gaza Fights For Freedom" documentary Jan 4

- Sat, Jan 4 at 7:20 pm. "Gaza Fights For Freedom" documentary at the Mt. View Studio, 20 Mountainview Ave, Woodstock. 

https://www.answercoalition.org/gaza_fights_national_tour