Building the Fight for Reproductive Justice (Philadelphia forum)

On Saturday, April 26 at 2 p.m., Workers’ Voice and the National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice will sponsor a lively forum and discussion on how to build a mass movement to fight for reproductive justice.

For years, a right-wing offensive of targeted legislation, intimidation, and violence has eroded abortion rights. With a far-right government in power, how do we build a unified fightback? Join us for a discussion of how we can build a movement to defeat the right-wing attacks and win the right to abortion and bodily autonomy for all. Speakers will include Charlotte Strauss Swanson, of the National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice, Ava Fahey, of Workers’ Voice, and Hannah UE, of the Philly Abortion Rights Coalition.

Please join us on Saturday, April 26 at 2 p.m. at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, located at 1906 Rittenhouse Square, to consider these questions, learn from experienced reproductive justice organizers, and take one step closer to a mass movement that can win reproductive justice for all.

Defend Civil Liberties (Connecticut mass meeting)

On Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m., in the First & Summerfield United Methodist Church (425 College St, New Haven, CT) community members will come together for a mass meeting on Civil Liberties, Unions, and Defending Our Right to Organize.

Our civil liberties are clearly under attack. The Trump Administration is kidnapping activists, doxxing people of color, and waging a rapidly escalating war on our most basic rights in order to silence its critics. On March 8, plainclothes ICE agents – without a warrant – abducted Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green card-holder married to a U.S. citizen who was 8 months pregnant at the time. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and other officials admit that Khalil has committed no crime and is targeted solely because the administration disagrees with the political content of his speech – a direct and open violation on First Amendment rights.

Officials call for the mass deportation of student activists – even demanding that universities hand over names and nationalities of students who have protested – and begin by abducting Badar Khan Suri in Virginia and Rumeysa Ozturk in Massachusetts. Venezuelans taken without charges, or any due process, are sent – in direct violation of a judge’s orders – to a prison camp in El Salvador.

After ICE took Khalil to a Louisiana jail, Columbia university expelled Grant Miner, President of the UAW Columbia grad employees chapter, one day before bargaining was set to begin for his protesting for Palestinian rights. The UAW national chapter has decried the anti-democratic firing of their chapter president by Columbia administration. The government is attempting to erase history in schools and libraries, threatening the jobs and educational integrity of teachers, librarians, and students.

Now more than ever, the link between our labor rights and free speech is clear: when speech is no longer protected, the government is free to target union advocates, disrupt bargaining, and go after all advocates for social justice. We are at a crossroads. We can hunker down, watching as our neighbors and co-workers are terrorized into silence and inaction. Or we can take this moment to create new connections with each other and strengthen old ones to build a movement capable of turning back this wave of repression.

Activists and community members are building a fightback in defense of democratic rights. Union leaders, rank-and-file workers, and community organizers are putting together a civil liberties defense meeting that will be open to participation by all who understand the importance of grassroots movements working together to protect civil liberties. We are looking for collaborators to help organize, build, promote, and endorse this effort!

Speakers will include Kathy Manly, legal director for the Coalition for Civil Freedoms; Alyce Coleman, of the REACH Fund; a speaker from the ACLU of Connecticut; and Bishop John Selders of Moral Monday CT.

The meeting is endorsed by GEU UAW Local 6950, 4Cs SEIU 1973, Hartford Federation of Teachers, Connecticut State University AAUP, Teamsters Local 1150, Pride Caucus, CT Palestine Alliance, MARUF-CT, Sunrise New Haven, UUC Stamford Social Justice Committee, Moral Monday CT, Veterans for Peace Chapter 42, We Will Return, New Haven Jewish Voice for Peace, UCONN Jewish Voice for Peace, The REACH Fund of Connecticut, CT Labor for Palestine, and Clan Mother Shoran Waupatuquay Piper of the Golden Hill Paugussett Nation. The meeting is still accepting both individual and group endorsements. You can endorse the meeting at this link.

May 1: International Workers’ Day

Coming up, mass protests will take place around the country on May 1, traditionally celebrated as International Workers’ Day. Many of the actions will center on the oppression of immigrants and the wave of deportations that is being carried out by the Trump administration. In Philadelphia, the AFL-CIO and over 20 local unions are sponsoring a rally to reclaim “May Day for the workers, not the billionaires.” We will provide more information soon.