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December 2023
Happy Holidays, Biden-Harris Admin Lowers Costs for Families, Israel-Palestine Conflict, Democrats are Winning, Trump Ramps Up Hate Rhetoric, Supreme Court
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Our country and the world seem to be on a knife’s edge—between freedom and authoritarian rule, between climate opportunity and climate threat, peace where people can thrive and wars and destruction. December is a time when we celebrate some of the holidays most associated wtih peace and wishes for goodwill. For Channukah—we light candles, bringing hope out of the darkness. For Christmas—when we raise hope of peace and sister/brotherhood for all. For Kwanzaa— we light candles, honor our ancestors, and reflect on our social values. Amidst all the threat and pain, we do need to remember our humanity and the humanity of others — that what happens to real people who love, cry, bleed, and have joy and sorrow as we do. It is still important that we find the basis for unity, even with our important differences, to build a future that reflects the majority that we do represent. And that we work for a society where all of us can thrive with peace and justice and organize to win the freedom that we all seek. | |
Biden-Harris Lowering Costs for Families. | |
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As part of his agenda to lower costs, President Biden just announced 30 new actions to strengthen supply chains and make sure families get the products they need when they need them:
- Creating the Council on Supply Chain Resilience, which will work across the government and private sector to make it easier to get goods from ports to shelves.
- Invoking the Defense Production Act to mitigate drug shortages and make more essential medicines in America.
- Making new investments in clean energy and our nation’s food systems.
- Establishing new data-sharing capabilities to improve supply chain monitoring.
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AP News: In the 2023 midterms, Democrats exceled in Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia! and won BIG on reproductive freedom! Abortion rights supporters won an Ohio ballot measure and the Democratic governor of beet-red Kentucky held onto his office by campaigning on reproductive rights and painting his opponent as extremist. A Democrat won an open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after campaigning on his pledge to uphold abortion rights. And Democrats took full control of the Virginia statehouse, blocking Republicans from being able to pass new abortion restrictions and delivering a defeat to Gov. Glenn Youngkin that may douse any buzz about a late entry into the GOP presidential primary. | |
Trump Ramps Up Nazi Rhetoric. | CNN: “The former president has been ramping up his rhetoric on the campaign trail, promising to conduct the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if he wins the White House next year. He has said that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” in comments that echoed White supremacist rhetoric and has compared migrants who come to the US to the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.” | “The former president has reminded us that he is hellbent on destroying the Affordable Care Act. In doing so, he is making an assault on the financial and health security of America’s families. This is a kitchen table issue to the n-th degree. Let’s be clear about what this means, this assault. As many as 40 million Americans could be kicked off their health care, tens of millions in any event. 150 million Americans with preexisting conditions could once again be denied coverage. 150 million. This was one of the really crucial points of the Affordable Care Act, access. Families would once again face lifetime limits on care. We hear this every day from families, especially with babies born with preexisting conditions. Young adults couldn’t continue to be on their family plan until age 26. Again, being a woman would now become a preexisting medical condition. So when he says he’s going after our health care — believe him, because he’s done it before. I was there in 2017 when he was one vote away in the Senate from repealing the ACA.” —Biden-Harris 2024 National Advisory Board Chair Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi | |
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CNN: A US appellate court decision undercutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 rejects decades of precedent and appears likely to provoke a confrontation at the US Supreme Court, where the milestone law has been increasingly under attack.
At stake are the voting rights of Blacks, Hispanics and other racial minorities that have been vindicated under a section of the VRA prohibiting discrimination based on race. Section 2 has helped ensure that states draw legislative and congressional districts fairly and that minority voters have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch have called a key provision of the law into question. More Information Here.
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Portside: A new U.N. report sets the stage for high-stakes negotiations at COP28 this month. This is the first-ever “global stocktake” since the Paris Agreement was ratified in 2016. When countries signed on to the international treaty, they agreed to a number of goals, including reducing carbon emissions to limit warming and providing financial assistance to developing countries. The stocktake is an inventory of how much progress countries have made toward these goals.
The emissions assessment emphasizes that the world is off track in its quest to accomplish the aims of that agreement.
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(Photo Above): Yahel Shoham, 3 years old, upon her arrival in Israel after being freed. Yahel was one of the 13 Israeli hostages that Hamas released late Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, in the second round of swaps under a cease-fire deal.
HCR: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing supporters refused to agree to the terms of the truce until U.S. President Joe Biden pressured them to do so. “This deal was a Biden deal, not a Netanyahu deal,” a senior official in the Israeli government told NBC reporters. Biden administration officials have been constantly engaged with the region’s leaders to help hammer out the agreement.
President Biden said, “I have consistently pressed for a pause in the fighting for two reasons: to accelerate and expand the humanitarian assistance going into Gaza and to facilitate the release of hostages.” He emphasized that “this cycle of violence in the Middle East” must end and called for “a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can one day live side by side with equal measure of freedom and dignity.”
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“This is a humanitarian catastrophe that risks igniting a wider regional conflagration. We all want it to end as soon as possible. To make progress, however, we must grapple with the complexity of this situation that too many people on both sides want to wave away. Needless to say, I do not have all of the answers to this never-ending tragedy. But for those of us who believe in peace and justice, it is imperative that we do our best to provide Israelis and Palestinians with a thoughtful response that maps out a realistic path to addressing the reality we face today.”
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Vox: Three college students of Palestinian descent were shot in Burlington, Vermont, an incident authorities are now investigating as a possible hate crime. The shooting took place as fears have grown about rising anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim sentiment, as well as rising antisemitism, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. More here
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NYT: Hundreds of students at Hillcrest High School protested against a pro-Israel teacher who had changed a social media profile photo to an image of her holding up an “I Stand With Israel” sign. The teacher had been targeted for her backing of Israel and for expressing her Jewish identity.
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Holiday Book Gifts Recommendations. | |
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How do underdogs, facing far stronger opponents, sometimes win? Deepak Bhargava and Stephanie Luce’s Practical Radicals offer winning strategies, history, and theory for a new generation of activists.
Based on interviews with leading organizers, this groundbreaking book describes seven strategies to bring about transformative change. Two overarching case studies anchor the book: the brilliant techniques used by enslaved people and their allies to end slavery, and the sinister but effective ways elites imposed our current system.
Practical Radicals offers insights on strategy used by business, military, and political elites, addresses the challenges of overcoming conflict within organizations and movements, and concludes with a discussion of how our movements must adapt to meet new challenges in the twenty-first century.
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When artists and organizers combine forces, new forms of political mobilization follow—which shape lasting social change. And yet few people appreciate how much deliberate strategy often propels this vital social change work. Behind the scenes, artists, organizers, political activists, and philanthropists have worked together to hone powerful strategies for achieving the world we want and the world we need.
In Art Works, noted movement leader Ken Grossinger chronicles these efforts for the first time.
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Heather spoke at Colby College and the University of Southern Maine tying the Jane’s film to the need to motivate people to get involved in elections. | |
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December 7 – Hannukah Begins (8 days)
December 24 – Christmas Eve
December 25 – Christmas Day
December 26 – Kwanzaa (6 days)
December 31 – New Year’s Eve
January 19 & February 2 – Possible Government Shutdown deadlines, Speaker of the House Johnson is demanding tax cuts for the wealthiest in order to approve Appropriations bills
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When we organize, we can change the world. | | |
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We are so glad to be your partner in this movement for democracy and justice for all.
– Heather Booth and the Team
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Newsletter Designed by Cara Homick | | | | |
