April 5 Hands Off!

 

A national day of action on Saturday April 5 will have a clear message: “Hands Off!”. In Connecticut protests at noon will be held in Greenwich, Bethel, Westport, Guilford, Salisbury, New Milford, New London, Stamford, New Haven, Cornwall, Torrington, Newtown, Danbury and a state-wide protest in Hartford at the State Capitol at 3 pm.

The call says “Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. Connecticut is fighting back! They're taking everything they can get their hands on—our health care, our data, our jobs, our services—and daring the world to stop them. This is a crisis, and the time to act is now.

“This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country.”

For Connecticut events details visit:

https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/?country=US&state=CT

Students Demand Quality Education for All

 

The fight is on at the state legislature and nationally for equal, quality public education for all students.

John Carlos Serana Musso, student representative on the New Haven Board of Education, led 80 students to Hartford by train to tell the legislature and Governor “It should not matter what your zip code is, every student deserves the best quality education.” Current state funding has left New Haven with $1,000 less in per pupil spending than wealthier towns.

Just two days later Trump signed the executive order to dismantle the federal Department of Education which funds special education, nutrition and other vital programs.

The struggles were linked by Constanza Segovia, organizing director of CT for All coalition, speaking at the student press conference. “All of us stand before you UNITED with the REFUSAL to normalize the violent policies of the current US president,” she said. “We stand before you with a clear demand to our leaders in DC, and our leaders in Hartford. Join us in this refusal as they try to set back decades of civil rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigrant rights, and education justice work in this country.”

Following the president's executive order, Rep. Jahana Hayes, former national Teacher of the Year, announced she has submitted a resolution of public inquiry..

“I am not going to sit by and let us go back to a time where special education students were placed in the basement and not allowed to be educated alongside their non-disabled peers. I am not going to go back to a time where students came to school and didn’t get a hot meal or a book or computer or broadband — or all the things they needed to learn,” she said forcefully.

The American Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit to reverse the special order. Jenny Graves, executive vice president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, who had accompanied her students to the state capitol said, “Our schools are already grossly underfunded in Connecticut. It would be absolutely devastating to lose this.”

Striking i-Health Workers Launch Boycott

Unions and community held a solidarity picket with striking iHealth DSM warehouse workers, members of Teamsters Union Local 671, outside the Omni Hotel in New Haven where their multi-million dollar employer was holding their 2025 national conference.

The workers have been on strike since December for unfair labor practices, union busting, and delays in negotiations. On the second day of the strike i-Health illegally fired 12 workers, and fired another worker in January.

iHealth required work on holidays and a mandatory 72 hour work week. The company also refused to offer affordable healthcare.

The picket kicked off a boycott of all iHealth DSM nutritional supplements until demands are met, including AZO, Culturelle, Estroven and Ovega 3. iHealth makes hundreds of millions of dollars of profits for their multi-billion dollar parent company DSM Fermenich.

Teamster locals, New Haven Rising, New Haven Federation of Teachers and the Hamden Tenants union joined the picket to demand iHealth DM settle the contract and rehire the illegally fired workers .

“It is unfortunate that companies and the billionaire class see Trump’s administration as a chance to ignore Federal Labor Law, and get away with bullying workers at every opportunity,” said Lawrence Sanchez, Teamsters Local 671 member and fired i-Health striker.

“In the end, our battle is the same regardless of what union you are in. It is the same battle every union and worker fights when they decide to stand up for their rights,” he said to shouts of support.

After calling on the Legislature to pass SB 8 so make striking workers become eligible for unemployment insurance after two weeks, Rev. Scott Marks of New Haven Rising exclaimed,“We know this playbook. We will fight, and we will win!”

“Right now the rich people in charge–in Washington DC and in these companies–are trying to step on the necks of working people because they think they can get away with it.” said Eli Sabin, Ward 7 Alder. “But are we gonna let them?” he asked the crowd, to a resounding “NO!”

 

Hundreds March to Protect Our Future

Marches, rallies and protests filled the streets in Connecticut this week as the resistance to Trump's Project 2025 expands.

The Hillhouse High School marching band led hundreds of members of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, students and families from Gateway Community College to the New Haven Green in a march to “Protect Our Kids” and demand fully funded schools, not tax cuts to billionaires.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten joined the march as Trump installed Linda McMahon as Education Secretary with the goal of dismantling the Department of Education.

“Let's fill the streets with a clear message - When public education is under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” said NHFT president Leslie Blatteau.

A nationally coordinated protest to stop the attack on democracy by Trump and Musk was held at the State Capitol and in Willimantic. A march to expand TRUST Act protections for immigrant families in Connecticut proceeded from Hartford City Hall to the State Capitol.

A rally at the West Haven VA to stop the attacks on federal workers and communities was called by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the CT AFL CIO. Rep Rosa DeLauro and US Sen. Richard Blumenthal vowed to stop the layoffs of federal workers and cuts to services.

“It's not just the workers who are under assault from an unelected billionaire. It's the services our communities count on. And everyone who relies on federal funding,” said the CT AFL-CIO.

“Make no mistake: this is all part of a Project 2025 strategy to exhaust and overwhelm working people from all angles as quickly as possible so we can't fight back. We will not let Donald Trump and Elon Musk cut Medicare, reduce Social Security benefits, eliminate federal funding for our schools, layoff and fire critical workers, cut services and staff for our veterans, and so much more,” their statement concluded.

A rally with Rep. John Larson in Hartford and retiree and senior organizations demanded an end to threats to dismantle or privatize Social Security.

“A fight for our freedom, our families, and our future” - 51st People's World Black History Celebration

By Jahmal Henderson

A spirit of resistance filled the New Haven Peoples Center as an overflow crowd celebrated the power of unity at the 51st People's World Black History celebration themed “Black Youth Leadership – Resistance 2.0 in Today's Freedom Struggle.”

“This is a fight for our freedom, our families, and our future,” .said keynote speaker Aaron Booe, national Young Communist League USA organizer.. “Victory depends on our ability to unite, resist, and build the better world we deserve.”

The celebration included awarding of prizes for the annual arts and writing competition grades 8 to 12, a youth panel and African drumming.

Welcoming the event, emcee Mary Thigpen received huge applause saying the event was part of building the resistance movement.

The celebration kicked off with presentations by the winners of the Arts And Writing Competition.

Third place winner Jay’Den Morris, a sophomore from Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, recited her poem 'Equality In Our School,' emphasizing the importance of equality and unity among students.

Second place winner, a senior at Educational Center for the Arts, Jayden Davis' dance choreography to Sam Cooke’s 'A Change Is Gonna Come” was presented in an extraordinary video.

First place winner Journey Rosa, a freshman at Sound School, performed her powerful poem The Color Line about race and the inspiration of historical freedom fighters for today's struggle against hate, racism, sexism, and bigotry.

A dynamic youth panel discussion, moderated by Ramzie Highsmith, art teacher and activist, featured John Carlos Serana Musser, a student representative on the New Haven Board of Education; Torell Yarbough, artist/ youth organizer in New Haven's Newhall/Dixwell neighborhood, his mentor Remidy Shareef, a leader of New Haven Rising; Ambar Santiago-Rojas, a youth immigrant rights organizer; and A.J. Johnson youth organizer with “Ice The Beef” anti-violence organization.

A.J. discussed the negative effects of social media on young people including misinformation and emphasized addressing the issues, urging the youth to consider how current events will impact their lives

John talked about the difficulty of convincing young people they can make a difference, and how organizing and a strategic plan can help address the fear among students due to Trump administration deportations and dismantling the Department of Education.

Ambar highlighted the challenges of motivating young people to take action and getting adults to listen to their voices. She discussed her efforts to raise awareness about the fight for undocumented immigrants' rights and defending people against Trump policies.

Torrell emphasized the need for solidarity to address the challenges youth face, and the need to stay informed, and push to create more safe spaces. Remidy Shareef emphasized the urgent need to support the youth, community involvement in nurturing young people and organizing entire families to address the daily struggles they face.

Keynote speaker Aaron Booe shared his experiences with labor organizing, youth alliances, and social justice movements. A recent graduate of Howard University, he highlighted the work he's doing in Washington DC with the Communist Party USA.

“At this moment Black youth leadership is critical,” he said. “The MAGA movement is working to undo the hard won victories of past generations from civil rights to labor rights. They seek to send us to the back of the bus, back to the closets and back to the shadows. But we are not going back!” he declared to prolonged applause.

Booe discussed how Black youth are continuing the freedom fights of previous leaders like Frederick Douglass during Reconstruction, and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who drew inspiration from the Reconstruction era for his civil rights leadership.

He stressed the importance of using strategies from both eras in today's freedom struggle. “Douglass understood that victory requires unity and that movements succeed by uniting all the forces that can be united to defeat the immediate enemy, This lesson remains just as relevant today”.

“At the the heart of this struggle was the unity of young people,“ he said/ “Black, white youth through organizations like Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee which led voter registrations and organized sit ins and militant direct actions. All of this contributed to  Dr King in the late 1960’s understanding that the fight for civil rights was inseparable to the fight for labor rights”.

Booe noted how Black youth must continue to organize in this next phase of the struggle, whether through boycotts or campus sit-ins. “We must build the broadest People's United Front ever. It will take unity and resistance to create a better future and world. “

“Today’s movement, today’s freedom struggle, resistance 2.0 must defeat the second confederacy the unholy alliance of white supremest and corporate oligarchs who seek to transform our country into a far right billionaire dictatorship”. said Booe.

To conclude the celebration, acclaimed African percussionist Brian Jarawa Gray led a drum circle, engaging the crowd in a rhythmic finale.