"We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest"

People’s World 38th Annual African American History Month Celebration

'We who believe in freedom cannot rest'-- Reclaiming the Struggle in 2012

HARTFORD Saturday, February 25 at 6:00 PM at 405 Capitol Ave

NEW HAVEN Sunday, February 26 at 4:00 PM at 37 Howe St

The 38th Annual African American History Month Celebration, “'We who believe in freedom cannot rest' – Reclaiming the Struggle in 2012” expresses our hope and determination to remember the past and our pledge to continue the fight against rising inequality and racism in this election year.

The celebration hosted by the People's World will take place on Saturday, February 25 at 6:00 pm in Hartford at La Paloma Sabanera, 405 Capitol Avenue and on Sunday, February 26 at 4:00 pm in New Haven at the Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street.

Guest speaker Raglan George, Executive Director of AFSCME 1707, represents day care, Head Start and home care workers in New York City. Active in the labor movement for over 40 years, he was raised in Harlem where he learned that the greatest contribution anyone can make to society is to fight for labor rights, peace and justice. With these convictions, he embarked on a journey of political, social and labor activism to eradicate the ills of our society, and is a national leader today.

Tribute will be paid to the legacy of Henry Winston in his 100th birth year. Winston organized African American youth in the South in the 1930s and became National Chair of the Communist Party USA in 1966. Blind due to racist denial of health care while imprisoned for his ideas in the 1950s he proclaimed, “They have taken my sight but they can never take my vision.” Winston led in the world-wide effort to Free Angela Davis and the solidarity movement to dismantle apartheid in South Africa.

In New Haven, prizes will be awarded to participants in the high school arts and writing competition, “What is your vision for the future? How can being involved in the struggle for freedom and equality bring positive change to your life and the larger community?” [Submissions must be received no later than 5 pm Friday, February 17, 2012] Drumming will be performed by Brian Jarawa Gray. Children's posters drawn on Martin Luther King's birthday at the Peabody Museum will be on exhibit.

Both programs will include a light buffet. Tickets are $5 or what you can afford. Information: 203-624-8664

ICE JAILS OVER 13,000 IMMIGRANTS

No Conviction, But No Freedom: ICE Jails Over 13,000 Immigrants
Posted by Daniel M. Kowalski

"On a single day this past fall, the United States government held 13,185 people in immigration detention who had not been convicted of a crime, some of whom will not be charged with one, according to information The Huffington Post obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Instead, at a cost of roughly 2 million taxpayer dollars per day, the innocent men and women were detained while immigration authorities sorted out their fates. This case stands in stark contrast to the stated goal of immigration policy under the administration of President Barack Obama: to detain and deport unauthorized immigrants who've been convicted of crimes. ... " Locking people up is big business.

The Corrections Corporation of America, which gives heavily to both parties, is explicit about the connection between immigrant detention policy and the private prison company's bottom line. "[T]he demand for our correctional and detention facilities and services ... could be adversely affected by changes in existing criminal or immigration laws, crime rates in jurisdictions in which we operate, the relaxation of criminal or immigration enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction, sentencing or deportation practices, and the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by criminal laws or the loosening of immigration laws," the company wrote in an analysis for investors filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission." - Elise Foley, Jan. 27, 2012.-- LexisNexis Communities Immigration Law Community
Posted by Tom Connolly

NOTE TO THE HARTFORD COURANT - STOP CORPORATE GREED!

Photo above: Members of 32BJ and their labor and community supporters continue their pressure outside of the Hartford Courant to reinstate union jobs Thursday 1-2-2012. Members of 32BJ has been cleaning the Hartford Courant for over 20 years until the management decided to hire a non-union contractor. [See other photos below the article]

The Hartford Courant decided to bring in a non-union cleaning contractor on December 1st, at the expense of the eight long-term union cleaners. Some of the eight union workers have been with the Courant for over 20 years. At the same time the Courant is cutting union jobs with health health insurance it participates in the Management Incentive Program. The Courant parent company and the Courant managers stand to receive combined bonuses of up to $42,500,000 dollars. The fight to save union jobs at the Courant will continue.

Photo Above: John Olson, President for the CT AFL-CIO joins the 32BJ/SEIU picket line at the Courant and pledges his support for the workers.

Photo Above: The Fat Cat and the Rat are symbolic of the greedy Hartford Courant top management.

Photo Above: The youngest member of the 32BJ picket line fighting for his future.

Posted by: Tom Connolly

Photo: 32 BJ workers in front of the Hartford Courant and a previous demonstration.

KEEP THE PRESSURE ON - SUPPORT DISPLACED CLEANERS AT THE HARTFORD COURANT.

The Hartford Courant fired their custodians who serviced them for over 20 years and hired a non-union business to replace them.

WHEN: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012 -- “GROUNDHOG DAY”
TIME: 3:30PM
WHERE: Hartford Courant - 285 BROAD STREET, HARTFORD

If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Groundhog Day will there be justice for workers in Hartford?

Local 32BJ, SEIU Connecticut District
196 Trumbull St. 4th Flr., Hartford CT 06103
(860) 560-8674 http://www.standwithbuildingworkers.org/

Posted by: Tom Connolly

GET CORPORATE MONEY OUT OF OUR DEMOCRACY!

Photo Above: The projection on the side of the wall of Citizens United Bank notes that "Corporations re not people" as part of a labor-community coalition demonstration on Jan. 19, 2012.

"Corporations Are NOT People and Money Is NOT Speech!" and "Get Corporate Money Out of Our Democracy" was the theme of two demonstrations held in Hartford on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20. The demonstration on Jan. 19 was sponsored by a labor-community coalition and the Jan 20 demonstration was titled "Occupy the Courts"sponsored by Occupy Hartford and a group of concerned citizens who are just getting organized. The demonstrators were part of national actions to protest the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, [Jan. 21, 2010] a bitterly divided Supreme Court overturned a century of established precedent by ruling that corporate spending on candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment.

In so doing, Justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Kennedy effectively declared that corporations are indistinguishable from people with respect to federal law and the U.S. Constitution. As a result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, corporations and billionaires can spend unlimited sums of money, without disclosure, in political campaigns.

Wall Street, oil and coal corporations, insurance and drug companies and the military-industrial-complex will weigh in with hundreds of millions of dollars to distort the truth and outright lie without disclosure or accountability to their shareholders or the public.

The goal of the top 1 percent is simple. They will spend as much as it takes to elect candidates who support a right-wing corporate agenda, and they will spend as much as it takes to defeat our candidates who are fighting for us, the 99 percent. Will our democracy survive in which ordinary people can control their future? Or will "democracy" simply become another commodity owned and controlled by billionaires and corporations in order to serve their own purposes? The 99% say "NO!" [See additional Photos of the demos below.]

Posted by: Tom Connolly