On Wednesday morning, Dec. 4, Susan Triolo and David Greenberg joined Bill Newman and Buzz Eisenberg from 9:00 to 9:30 to talk about the election and FCCPR’s response. Listen to the podcast here.

On Sunday, Nov. 17, 75 people attended the FCCPR General Assembly to discuss and make plans for the future under a Trump administration. 2 hours of lively discussion focused on what we can do in Franklin County to continue the fight for a better world for all. Please see below for details of the meeting and how you can be involved.

The tone was set with some opening remarks by Dave Cohen that reviewed what FCCPR has done in the recent past and some thoughts on the political situation we find ourselves in. here is a brief summary of his remarks:

FCCPR has been in existence since 2015, when we gathered to work on Bernie’s campaign for President. We have continued as a multi-issue, local, grassroots organization.

What we have done recently.

• Put up a billboard in Greenfield exposing Project 2025 and the danger of fascism

• Distributed Project 2025 lawn signs

• Held an Art fundraiser, thanks to Pixie Holbrook, that raised $2,000 to fund lawn signs and the billboard

• Contributed to a billboard in Michigan promoting keeping abortion rights legal

• Collected signatures to get the anti-MCAS ballot question on the ballot and campaigned around it. It passed by 68% in Franklin County.

• The Reproductive Rights task force held meetings and rallies “Beyond Dobbs” to expose the attacks on women’s rights.

• Helped elect progressives to the Greenfield School Committee

• Sponsored a meeting with State Auditor Diana DiZoglio to talk about the ballot question giving the Auditor’s office the right to audit the legislature, which won by 72%.

• Formed The Franklin County Community Land Trust which is now engaged in projects in Greenfield, Montague and maybe Shelburne to create permanent affordable housing.

  We passed out the op ed by Bernie Sanders in the Boston Globe. It contains a basic truth: The Democrats lost this election because they refused to address the problems the working people of this country are facing: inflation, high cost of food, housing, gas, and oil, affordable health care, and in many many areas the lack of good paying jobs.

  Here’s some anecdotal evidence.

  Mass-Care, the statewide coalition for single payer health care-Medicare for All once again ran ballot questions in 11 State Rep districts calling upon the Reps in those areas to support the Medicare for All legislation in the legislature. We in Franklin county have voted for this many times.

  This time people in Western Mass. ran the ballot questions in 2 State Rep districts that vote Republican, basically in Westfield and Agawam, and in both districts the question won – close but we won. Think about it – people voting to eliminate insurance companies, a large sector of the capitalist economy and voting to set up a state-run health care system.

  Why did they vote for this, yet at the same time vote for Trump? Because Medicare for All speaks directly to their needs for good affordable health care, and because people are still anti-corporate in their beliefs. If the Democrats had listened to Bernie they might have won. People want real solutions to their problems, not promises of endless genocidal wars.

  We are entering a new and complex era of politics. We need to fight for what we need and we will need to fight, especially on the national level to keep what we have that is good (but of course could be better): Medicare, Social Security, basic democratic rights, etc.

  While not shying away from what we want and believe, we will have to work with others who we probably don’t agree with on much but who are opposed to fascism. We have to remember that fascism works to make the richest even richer – that is their main point – and they use racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-immigrant beliefs to divide and confuse their opposition.

  On the State level we need to work to get protections passed and to get progressive legislation passed. This means we need to work with and influence our elected Reps. even when we disagree with the anti-democratic way the legislature works.

  We will be dancing on a tightrope to say the least.

  We must remember that as time progresses there will be many calls for action on National issues as the Trump forces proceed with their plans; this will be an ever changing landscape.

  There were many ideas that came out of the meeting. Here are some of the main points.

  1 We need to engage in supporting/protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities. We can be meeting with Mayors, select Boards and perhaps police chiefs to once again discuss the need for and meaning of Sanctuary cities and towns.

  2. We must continue to build alliances with other groups in Franklin county, Massachusetts and the rest of the country.

  3. We must build a supportive, fun community of activists that reaches out to all people in Franklin County.

  4. We must continue and expand the work our task forces have been doing and create new task forces to address the new problems we will face. Please see below for specific information for our current task forces.

  We will be planning another General Assembly in January or February 2025. Stay tuned.

  If you wish to read more extensive notes from the General Assembly click here.

  ---

  FCCPR Task Forces

  Our task forces are committees of people who want to do some planning and work on specific issues. They make plans that are then sent out to the entire membership of FCCPR.

  If you would like to be informed of task force meetings or to get involved please email the coordinators listed below.

  Reproductive Rights – Ann Ferguson, ferguson3638@gmail.com

  Immigrant Rights – Pixie Holbrook, pjholbrook1@gmail.com

  Climate – David Greenberg, dgreenberg@fccpr.us

  Education – Doug Selwyn, dougselwyn@aol.com

  Medicare for All – Judy Atkins, Judithga@comcast.net

  The Reproductive Rights Task Force has a Zoom meeting scheduled for Dec 4^th at 7:00pm. Here is the link.
  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81423378688
  Meeting ID: 814 2337 8688

  There was strong interest in FCCPR helping build community and connections. If you are interested in helping, please write to info@fccpr.us.

  ---

  Please Join FCCPR Now for 2025

  Since its founding in 2015, FCCPR has been a membership organization. Everyone, whether a member or not, is welcome to take part in activities and meetings, but we need a core of people who see the value in having a multi-issue organization and who contribute financially..

  If you want to read our Principles, please click here
  Dues are $10 a year or whatever you can afford.

  Please click here to pay your dues on-line.

  If you would rather send a check, please send it to FCCPR, PO Box 216, Greenfield Ma 01302

  Help Enhance FCCPR’s Social Media Presence
  We are looking to expand our social media presence. 

  Which platforms should we be on?

  What kind of content should we be posting?

  If you would like to help with this or just have ideas, please let us know. Email us at info@fccpr.us

Sunday November 17, 2024

2-4 pm

Guiding Star Grange  

401 Chapman St Greenfield

Where do we go?     What do we do?

Possible agenda:

Some venting time, Why did Trump win?

What do we do? How do we fight against developing fascism?

On the National level

On the State level- How should Massachusetts protect it’s residents rights.

Greenfield Recorder

Auditor DiZoglio drums up support for Question 1 in visit to Greenfield

As part of a statewide effort to encourage voters to vote “yes” on Question 1, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio met with Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution last week at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/PAUL JABLON

Published: 10-22-2024 9:59 AM By ADA DENENFELD KELLY

GREENFIELD — State Auditor Diana DiZoglio ran on the promise of bringing transparency and accountability to the Massachusetts Legislature. Now, after a failed attempt to audit the Legislature last year, she is asking for support from voters.

As part of a statewide effort to encourage voters to vote “yes” on Question 1, DiZoglio met with Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) last week. Question 1, if passed, “would specify that the state auditor has the authority to audit the Legislature,” according to a voters guide printed by the Secretary of State’s Office. Rejection would mean no change in the auditor’s authority.

DiZoglio told attendees gathered at the Guiding Star Grange that the state auditor has audited the Legislature more than 100 times since the inception of the office in 1849, “just like [in] every other state.” It wasn’t until the early 1990s that the then-Speaker of the House resisted an audit and the attorney general ruled state law was ambiguous.

“When I went to go conduct this audit of the state Legislature [last year], I was met with resistance from House and Senate leaders who pushed back and said, essentially, ‘You’re not auditing us. We audit ourselves,’” DiZoglio said.

After discussing the issue with the Attorney General’s Office, DiZoglio decided to create the November ballot measure, clarifying state law.

DiZoglio said transparency is lacking in state government — a 2019 Pioneer Institute study ranked Massachusetts near the bottom in fiscal transparency, and a 2022 article in Forbes magazine made a case for the state being the least transparent in the nation.

In March, members of a Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions recommended against “An act expressly authorizing the auditor to audit the Legislature.” Legislators who spoke at the time implied that DiZoglio’s efforts would erode the independence of the government’s three branches.

The Legislature has pointed out that legislative audits are conducted annually by the private firm CliftonLarsonAllen and typically include an overview of how the legislative process works and financial statements on budgetary accounts, but there are no line item breakdowns of spending.

While the auditing idea is largely opposed by the Democrat-led House and Senate, Pioneer Valley legislators, when contacted by a Daily Hampshire Gazette reporter in September, largely opted not to take a public stance on the ballot question.

DiZoglio also told those gathered at the Guiding Star Grange last week about her personal journey to becoming state auditor. After graduating from college, she got a job at the State House.

“I very quickly learned about all the great things our state Legislature can do,” DiZoglio said. “From investing in education to fighting against climate change to fighting for reproductive rights … I learned about all of these great things. But, I also learned about the flip side — what can go wrong when there is no accountability.”

According to DiZoglio, she experienced sexual harassment while working at the State House and was fired after reporting her experience. This inspired her to run for state representative, a position she held for six years before running for state senator representing the 1st Essex District. She was a senator for another four years.

When former State Auditor Suzanne Bump decided to not seek reelection, DiZoglio “did some soul-searching” and decided to run for the position in hopes of bringing more transparency to the Legislature from the outside.

Additionally, DiZoglio clarified some misconceptions about the state auditor’s role during her visit to Franklin County. As auditor, DiZoglio does not have enforcement authority. Rather, she creates a report based on her findings, and the Attorney General’s Office is responsible for any enforcement measures based on issues found.

In addition to her meeting with FCCPR, DiZoglio met with other Franklin County groups and officials, including the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, the Greenfield Business Association, Mayor Ginny Desorgher and Greenfield Community College President Michelle Schutt.

DiZoglio said she is grateful for the support of groups like FCCPR.

“I … wanted to come out to this wonderful group of progressive democrats who I was thrilled to hear support this initiative,” DiZoglio said in an interview. “We really have a fight on our hands, fighting against establishment rhetoric surrounding our audit initiative. But, with a powerhouse group of supporters like those … here tonight, we are confident that we are going to see success on Nov. 5, and be able to do our jobs to increase transparency, accountability and equity.”

 

Starting Sunday September 15th at 9:00 am

Bid on 30 beautiful pieces of art created and generously donated by professional artists and crafters from our area of Franklin County, MA. Click on the link below for a preview!

We are holding this auction in order to raise money for the installation of one or two billboards directing people to the dangers of Project 2025 (www.project2025.org/policy). Additionally, we will donate to the “Movement Voter Project” (https://movement.vote/groups/) which focuses on funding and supporting youth, communities of color, LGBTQ+ voters, and other communities in key battleground states that bear the brunt of injustice in the United States.

You can participate in the FCCPR Online Arts Auction simply by clicking on this link: FCCPR Arts Auction

If you would like to order a yard sign, please go to:

Click Here to Order Your Lawn Sign

The rightwing program spelled out in Project 2025 (www.project2025.org/policy), is written by the Heritage Foundation, always a tool of big corporations. The main thrust is to allow corporations unfettered rights to exploit workers and the environment. It details the first six months of a radical rightwing presidency.  Backed by more than 100 conservative organizations, Christian nationalists, corporate oligarchs, and militaristic authoritarians, they mean to change America as we know it, turning America into an authoritarian police state and shredding our most cherished freedoms.

It is an 887-page Right Wing plan to change our country and government in the first 180 days of a Trump administration.

• End all government programs that are anti-racist and promote equality in hiring, job promotion, housing etc.
• Ban Abortion
• Suppress the Vote
• End Marriage Equality
• Privatize Social Security
• Rescind all LGBTQ+ rights
• End the ACA, Medicare, Medicaid
• Dismantle EPA, Environmental Regulations
• Give the president total power
• Deport immigrants & round up the homeless
• Restrict Free Speech & the Press
• Tax cuts for the wealthy; higher taxes for everyone else
• No Separation of Church & State
• Dismantle Public Education
• Re-organize the DOJ, FBI, Civil Service to ensure they are under conservative control
• Deploy military in US
• Gut the National Labor Relations Act to deny workers the right to have unions

While we are not happy with tmany of the policies of the Biden administration, especially the promotion of war on Palestinians, we cannot allow a fascist to be elected.

More on Project 2025 to follow.

Everybody read project 2025. You will be amazed at its depth.

It reflects the evolution of right wing politics, the merger of classic reactionary big business with reactionary social politics of small business people which In our country is of course is based on racism and anti-women ideology.

It is a detailed plan on how to give corporations unfettered rule to increase profits and deny all rights to the working class. It is a plan to roll back the clock on all advances, however incomplete, that affect minorities and women.

For example the Project 2025 in detail lists every agency and law that collects data on racial and sexual composition. It would stop all collecting of such data. Without such data you cannot show discrimination in hiring on the basis of race or sex, you cannot show discrimination in housing, you cannot show discrimination in job distribution or anything else.

From Project 2025 Labor Laws

Eliminate EEO-1 data collection. The Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission collects EEO-1 data on employment statistics based on race/ethnicity, which data can then be used to support a charge of discrimination under a disparate impact theory. This could lead to racial quotas to remedy alleged race discrimination. (The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) also has a right to the data EEOC collects.) Crudely categorizing employees by race or ethnicity fails to recognize the diversity of the American workforce and forces individuals into categories that do not fully reflect their racial and ethnic heritage.

Eliminate disparate impact liability. With interracial marriages in

America increasing, many Americans do not fit neatly into crude racial

categories.1 Under disparate impact theory, moreover, discriminatory

motive or intent is irrelevant; the outcome is what matters. But all

workplaces have disparities.

Rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis

of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and

sex characteristics.

Republicans have billionaires and capitalists to fund think tanks and make detailed plans.

We have think tanks but our problem is that we have no relieable political vehicle to implement progressive policies.

The democratic party is pro-choice but pro-corporate and pro-war.

This election in nov choice appears to be between fascist policies and corporate  pro war democrats.

The real choice is under what conditions will we struggle for a better world. Under fascist rule or one that is pro-corporate but more liberal on social issues.

We know the old curse, may you live in interesting times. Well we are in interesting times. The other day the Supreme Court modified one of its numerous right wing decisions. They voted that a law that denies men who assault women the right to own guns should stand, modifying their previous decision that there should be be no restrictions on the right to own guns.

Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing that when the constitution was written women had no rights so they shouldn’t be protected now. Of course, under this logic, he would not be allowed to sit on the Supreme Court since when the constitution was written African Americans we were not considered even human.

I spent my life working in factories and organizing workers into unions. It never ceased to amaze me how many liberals operated on the principal that workers are stupid and cannot understand complicated issues. I never found this to be the case.

We can organize people to vote for Biden, not because we agree with his policies but because we do not want Trump to win. By telling the truth while campaigning we will be building the base for real progressive-politics that are for equal rights for all, that are anti-capitalist. This is the immediate task in front of us.

Before I begin, I’d like to take a moment to invite us to check in with our own bodies, our own breath. How are you showing up to this space today? What are you longing for? Perhaps some of us have come here today as an ally or an organizer. Perhaps some of us have come here today bearing our own wounds in relation to our bodies, our agency, and our own access to healthcare and reproductive justice. Many of us know the ache of being unheard deep in our bones, and many of us also know the power of speaking about that which we know to be true. 

I was honored to be invited to speak with you today about the connection between reproductive justice and the current devastation in Gaza. As a local organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace of Western MA, I have been working closely with local Jews, Palestinians and organizers of many backgrounds and lived experiences to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an arms embargo of Israel, and an end to the relentless genocide of the Palestinian people. 

This genocide in Gaza has left no civilian untouched, and yet, it is important for us to take some time today to really consider the lived realities of many women, care-givers and womb-bearers on the ground. Despite the ongoing censorship of Palestinian voices and unprecedented attacks on journalists in Gaza, many of us have still seen the images of war-torn Gaza, the apocalyptic rubble where neighborhoods once stood, the agonized faces of family members mourning their many children and beloveds, the countless images that you will find at your fingertips on your phone. As feminists, we must keep looking and we must learn to discuss this dire situation as a women’s issue, as a reproductive health issue, as a queer issue, as a disability justice issue, as a human rights issue, as an environmental justice issue, and as a moral issue.

We must also look and listen for the stories that cannot be so readily depicted. We must imagine what it is like to menstruate without any access to menstrual products, we must imagine the choice between bleeding into one’s only dress, or searching for another option, a piece of fallen tent or cloth that cannot be washed. We must imagine what it is to watch our own belly expand as we wait another week, and then another month, for food and water that never comes. We must imagine, for a moment, what it feels like to harbor life in an occupation intent on death, and the sensations of chronic grief, and chronic stress, and chronic terror in our body. We must imagine the complete and total loss of choice, whether because birth control was far from the realm of possibility, or because the conditions themselves cannot be made to support life. We must imagine so much more than any number can convey about infant mortality, stress-induced miscarriages, stillbirths, premature babies and malnourished children. We must imagine, until we know deep in our bones, that each of these bodies, like our body, is a whole universe of longing and need and desire and pain and hope. And we must imagine that we cannot look away. 

The reproductive injustice that is taking shape in countless ways before our eyes and beyond our sight is not only a byproduct of this horrific war, it is an expression of an intentional targeting of Palestinian bodies, lives and society. As we continue to work steadfastly towards securing our own rights to contraception, abortion, and healthcare in this country, we must not forget the many expressions of reproductive injustice taking shape both locally and globally. We must continue to ask ourselves whose voice is not being heard or centered within our communities, our organizations, and our movements. And to never forget the wise words of Audre Lorde: “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” May we find our strength, and our freedom together, and leave no one behind. Thank you.

The war on women is everywhere: in the home, locally, nationally and globally. Take the recent report from NELCWIT here in Franklin County: In this past year: they served 1,933 women survivors of mainly male sexual and physical violence.

In 2018, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center published that 81% of women reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or sexual assault in their lifetime.  Further, the majority of violence against women is perpetrated by male intimate partners and acquaintances.

There are a myriad other misogynist wars on women worldwide – including military wars; sex trafficking and pornography; the theft of female and lesbian sexual identity by SOME IN the trans movement; female genital mutilation; child marriage, etc. – but none at this moment so intensive as Israel’s and the US’ genocidal war on Gaza: 70 percent of those killed are women and their children. Israel’s bombing of hospitals with maternity wards; the starvation of pregnant and breast-feeding women and the record-acute malnutrition among newborns and young children speak loud and clear — End Palestinian women’s potential to give life and the survival of Palestinian babies and children.

How cruelly ironic that as US weapons murder life in Gaza and elsewhere in the world with impunity, 14 US states have criminalized women’s choice of abortion as murder, not even allowing abortion for the hateful acts of rape or incest, 6 more states have early gestational limits. There were 65,000 rape-related pregnancies between July 2022 and January 2024 in those US states banning or putting extreme limits on abortion, post-Dobbs.

Today a majority of US-adults including every from every religion, race, ethnicity; moderate and liberal Republicans and a vast majority of Democrats (women and men), agree that abortion should be legal. Thus, the end of Roe v Wade in the 2022 Dobbs’ Supreme Court decision is a both a War on Women and a War on Democracy, given that the will of the majority of US citizens does not prevail nor influence government policy.

According to the Economist, the United States ranks among “flawed democracies.” Another recent, comprehensive study of democracies worldwide concluded that “only 15 percent of people globally live in places where women and lower income groups have at least somewhat equal access to power.” THE US IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

What fuels the control of women’s bodies in our country? It is MISOGNY and INJUSTICE. After all, there is no comparable moral or medical control of men’s bodies.

Yet the moralistic urgency to preserve life in the womb evaporates once a poor child is born. One in 6 children lives in poverty – the highest rate of all industrial countries; four million youth are homeless.

Clearly, controlling a woman’s right to her own body, is not about the unborn’s right to life, otherwise, all kinds of social legislation for maternal and child health, adequate housing, a living wage, and well-funded education would accompany legislation criminalizing women for abortion.

Regarding women’s loss of economic democracy: women have higher rates of poverty than men, with women of color having the highest. And why? For at least 3 reasons:

1) Domestic violence causes women victims to lose altogether an average of 8 million days of paid work per year and is a strong factor in women’s homelessness.

2)Women’s reproductive labor – giving birth, breastfeeding and caring for children is not compensated with free childcare and paid parental leave in the United States, unlike all other comparable countries. Thus, women who give birth are cheated of savings, pensions and Social Security. No surprise then that the greatest risk factor for being poor in old age is having been a mother.

3)More women than men struggle to cover everyday expenses due to the gender wage gap, which has remained stagnant for 20 years – at 82% – a significant factor contributing to the substantial disparity in poverty rates between women and men age 75 and older.

Even for College graduates in 2024: The same Economic Inequality persists: Male college graduates have been hired at an average sightly over $30/hour; women at slightly over $25/hour: a wage inequality of 82% that will follow these women college graduates ALL THEIR WORKING LIVES

SALARY IS SYMBOLIC: WHY ARE WE WOMEN WORTH 82% OF MEN IN THE WORKPLACE.

I will finish with 2 oppositional realities:

More lives were lost in the 20^th century through violence against women in all its forms in the US than during all 20^th century wars and civil strife. Yet, while thousands of monuments throughout the United States honor those who lost their lives for their country in war, only one—the first of its kind—is currently being planned for women who lost their lives giving birth to the country’s children.

The counterpoint reality is that Feminist revolutions to gain human rights and equality for women (however incomplete that goal remains) have freed and saved the lives of millions of women and girls—without weapons, without fists, and without a drop of blood spilled.

Women have more than a lot that men can learn from: men commit 90% of homicides and almost all sexual violence; men are the primary wagers of war.

Were our skills, our social and intellectual Intelligence, and our wisdom valued and welcomed in all places of social and political decision-making: from home to national governments and the UN, the world might get a chance at global peace and restoring our beautiful planet.