Category: FCCPR In the News

Virtual Community Forum on Wednesday, March 9 at 6:00pm

Greenfield City Council President Sheila Gilmour and the Western Mass Area Labor Federation

The forum will feature nurses and community advocates and is open to participation from the public. It will provide an opportunity for transparent discussion about the needs of Baystate Franklin Medical Center frontline staff and the community during the pandemic and beyond.

 Join via Zoom  — March 9, 2022 at 6 p.m.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88378593195

Yesterday at noon, roughly 80 people gathered on the Town Common in Greenfield to protest Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and the role that NATO has played over the past 70 years in dividing Europe, threatening the security of Russia, and furthering the goals of US imperialism. Thanks to local musicians Ben Grosscup and Annie Hassett for their participation.

About 80 people gathered in Greenfield to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the imperialist role of NATO

Initiated by CodePink and RootsAction

FCCPR has signed onto this statement.

As organizations representing millions of people in the United States, we call upon President Biden to end the U.S. role in escalating the extremely dangerous tensions with Russia over Ukraine. It is gravely irresponsible for the president to participate in brinkmanship between two nations that possess 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.

For the United States and Russia, the only sane course of action now is a commitment to genuine diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation – which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the precipice of nuclear war.

While both sides are to blame for causing this crisis, its roots are entangled in the failure of the U.S. government to live up to its promise made in 1990 by then-Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would expand not “one inch to the East.” Since 1999, NATO has expanded to include numerous countries, including some that border Russia. Rather than dismissing out of hand the Russian government’s current insistence on a written guarantee that Ukraine will not become part of NATO, the U.S. government should agree to a long-term moratorium on any NATO expansion.

Reluctantly, due to the bad weather coming, we are postponing the Voting Rights Rally scheduled for Monday Jan. 17th on the Greenfield Common.

We will be in touch with other national groups that are organizing around voting rights to plan when we will reschedule the rally.

Please be sure to contact our Senators and urge then to end the filibuster and pass both the voting rights acts.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would make illegal voting rules that discriminate on the basis of race, language, or ethnicity and empower voters’ to challenge discriminatory laws.

The Freedom to Vote Act would solidify comprehensive voter protections, including a minimum of 15 days for early voting, mail-in ballots, and making Election Day a national holiday.

• Overturn Citizens United.
• End the Filibuster and Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
• End racist voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering.
• Abolish super PACs and replace corporate funding with publicly funded elections that amplify small-doner donations.

Please contact Senator Markey https://www.markey.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion

Senator Warren https://www.warren.senate.gov/contact/shareyouropinion

Monday January 17th

10:30 to 11:30 am

Greenfield Town Common

In 2021, 52 restrictive voter laws were passed in various states across the country, limiting options to vote and undermining local elections officials’ ability to mind elections. Georgia’s law, SB 202, criminalized handing out water to voters standing in long lines. Texas’ SB.1 would have election officials face prosecution for regulating poll watchers’ inappropriate behavior in the polling place.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would make illegal voting rules that discriminate on the basis of race, language, or ethnicity and empower voters’ to challenge discriminatory laws.

The Freedom to Vote Act would solidify comprehensive voter protections, including a minimum of 15 days for early voting, mail-in ballots, and making Election Day a national holiday.

• Overturn Citizens United.
• End the Filibuster and Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
• End racist voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering.

• Abolish super PACs and replace corporate funding with publicly funded elections that amplify small-doner donations.

Please contact Senator Markey https://www.markey.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion

Senator Warren https://www.warren.senate.gov/contact/shareyouropinion

On Friday afternoon, December 24^th, Christmas Eve, from 2 – 3 PM, concerned citizens gathered in front of the former Farren Hospital in Montague.

With winter upon us, and not enough shelter beds in Franklin County to meet the needs of people who are unhoused, many community members face this emergency by sleeping out in the cold in cars or tents. No one should spend winter nights unsheltered. And yet the former Farren Hospital in Turners Falls stands empty when only last April it housed 100 people. Why are our town governments and local non-profits responsible for homelessness services allowing vulnerable people to sleep out in the cold? Would you like to join others in addressing this issue? If so, let us know at info@fccpr.us

Saturday, November 13, 2021
Greenfield Town Common, 11 am – noon 

November 11, 2021, is Remembrance /Armistice Day —  103 years since World War I ended in Europe. This year, the Traprock Center for Peace & Justice and Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution Peace Task Force will mark the anniversary during their weekly vigil at the Greenfield Town Common, on Saturday, November 13, 11 am – noon.

“We will be out to support calls from Veterans for Peace and World Without War to return Armistice Day to its original meaning, a day to advocate for the ending of all war,” explains Marty Schotz, convenor of the Continuing the Political Revolution’s Peace Task Force.

Bells to ring for peace

“We are grateful to the Second Congregational and Unitarian-Universalist churches in Greenfield for supporting this call by ringing their church bells at 11AM on the 13^th “ says Traprock’s Pat Hynes. “This is a traditional and solemn way to call the public to attention.”

Traprock and the Peace Task Force invite all interested to join the Standout. Signs to hold and printed information to read and share will be on hand. All are welcome.

Background: from Armistice to Veterans Day

“For decades in the United States, as elsewhere, this day was called Armistice Day, and was identified as a holiday of peace, including by the U.S. government. It was a day of sad remembrance and joyful ending of war, and of a commitment to preventing war in the future. The holiday’s name was changed in the United States after the U.S. war on Korea to “Veterans Day,” a largely pro-war holiday on which some U.S. cities forbid Veterans For Peace groups from marching in their parades, because the day has become understood as a day to praise war — in contrast to how it began.” — worldwithoutwar

Veterans For Peace calls on everyone to stand up for peace this Armistice Day. See more on their website https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/armistice-day

Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021  from 11:00 – 12:30 on the Greenfield Common

The international climate conference that will affect all our futures starts October 31 in Glasgow. Extinction Rebellion is holding readings of the IPCC report and die-ins in various towns to draw attention and demand truth and action. Everyone is welcome to take a turn reading. You are encouraged to wear black or costumes of mourning that you could lie down in on the grass.

More information and sign-up here.

We are pleased to announce that all six candidates that FCCPR endorsed and worked for in Greenfield won their elections.

The 3 School Committee candidates ran as a slate with the slogan, of “For Transparency, Respect, and Equity in Greenfield Schools.”

The winners are Glenn Johnson-Mussad, Elizabeth Deneeve and Kathryn Martini. The education task force of FCCPR looks forward to working with them.

Jim Geisman won a seat on the Board of Assessors. This is important as the Board had become fairly non-functional and there are many questions as to how tax assessments are done.

Two long time FCCPR members were running for re-election and winning their seats on the City Council. Sheila Gilmour won for Precinct 6 and Doug Mayo was re-elected for Precinct 8.