On the National Day of Action for immigration reform, Hartford joined cities across the United States as people took to the streets downtown during evening rush hour.
The Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance (CIRA) organized the event, with rallies at both the Old State House and State Capitol, and a march in between.
CIRA is comprised of many organizations including the ACLU of CT, African American Affairs Commission, AFT Connecticut, Apostle Immigrant Services, Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Brazilian Immigrant Center, Center for Latino Progress, Comunidad Inmigrante de East Haven, Connecticut AFL-CIO, Connecticut Center for New Economy, Connecticut Coalition to Stop Indefinite Detention, Connecticut Students for a Dream, Immigration Rights Task Force of the Unitarian Society of New Haven, Immigration Task Force of New York Annual Conference of United Methodist Church, International Institute of Connecticut, Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), Junta for Progressive Action, Latino Advocacy Foundation, MECha de Yale, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), New Haven Peoples Center, Oficina Católica de Justicia Social de La Arquidiócesis de Hartford, Seminarians for a Democratic Society, SEIU-32BJ, SEIU-State Council, Somos CT, Unidad Latina en Acción, UNITE HERE, and United Action Connecticut.
The Sandy Hook Run for the Families 5K reached its registration capacity of 15,000 participants. The event’s website says that today’s 5K was “not about running. It is about life: honoring the memory of precious lives lost through tragedy and celebrating the gift of life. It is about uniting in hope for the future.” Continue reading 'Sandy Hook Run for the Families'»
Down at the Legislative Office Building on February 14th, the One Billion Rising event — speeches and a flash mob — called for an end to violence against women. Governor Malloy, stopping here after speaking at the March for Change, said “this is a day of important rallies.”
Malloy drew the connection between anti-bullying initiatives in schools and the efforts taken to curb domestic violence, along with other forms of violence against women.
Among the participants in the One Billion Rising flash mob were students from Miss Porter’s School.
Cathy Malloy, also asked to speak at the event, said, “we want everybody to wake up.”
Last year, over 57,000 individuals were served by domestic violence programs in Connecticut.
A few hundred cyclists took part in the annual Discover Hartford Bicycle Tour, in spite of the rain on Saturday morning. Here they are, before any flat tires or spills:
The American experience in Jamaica is typically limited to visiting resorts.
The documentary Life and Debtexplores what happens behind the scenes at these resorts, along with how globalization has affected the rest of the island.
This film, released in 2001, will be shown at the Charter Oak Cultural Center at 7p.m. on January 26, 2012.
“We been there all this time and they kicked us right out the door,” said Eddie Williams, a 20-year employee of Capitol Cleaners who has spent eighteen of those years working inside of the Hartford Courant building.
Williams is one of the janitors whose last day of work will be this Friday, due to the lost contract.
Razmik Hovannis and Anna Hit — also cleaning staff at the Courant and members of SEIU 32BJ — looked grim about their futures. Hovannis has worked ten years in the building and has been employed with Capitol Cleaners for 20 years; Hit has been with them for nine.
Although not ideal, the next move has been to try to secure their jobs at the building by applying for work with Pressroom Cleaners, the new cleaning contractor. Wojciech Pirog, a union delegate and representative for members employed by Capitol Cleaners, says the janitors have applied for work with with the new company, but have so far heard nothing. Continue reading 'Mourning Job Loss'»
If the police issue several traffic advisories letting the public know that they will likely be unable to use a street during part of the day, and then they barricade that street so that no vehicular traffic can use it, can activists who — after the road has been made impassable already — are physically blocking an entrance ramp on that block be arrested for impeding traffic?
Yes.
A dozen people, including some with SEIU, CCAG, and the machinists’ union, were peacefully arrested after blocking the Broad Street on-ramp to I-84 East. Peter Goselin, with the National Lawyers Guild, said that the arrests were carried out smoothly.
Three police on horseback kept themselves at a respectful distance from activists near the Bank of America on Park Street. Saturday morning’s march had been billed as a family-friendly, law-abiding event, yet a speaker from Occupy New Haven threw around phrases that could be interpreted otherwise, at one point telling the throng to “seize the banks,” while the crowd stood opposite one. It is this uncareful rhetoric that escalates tense situations and alienates others who would have joined in. It makes one curious as to who this “99%” actually is if there is a lack of sensitivity toward those with children (this, in effect, primarily excludes mothers from the movement), those who can not risk arrest because they can not afford to be bailed out from jail, and those who can not risk injury because they lack health insurance.
Ignoring the weight words carry only further dilutes the message.
As the anti-Bank of America activists walked down Broad Street and Park Street, residents and shop owners, for the most part, looked puzzled. Sometimes the chants were about banks getting bailed out, but other times, the chanting called for an occupation of Hartford; little thought seems to have gone into what this might sound like in a neighborhood where many residents’ native countries have actually experienced occupation.
And this population along Park Street is not one Occupy Hartford activists should want to alienate. If anyone knows something about poverty, unemployment, rental housing, and medical bills, it’s Hartford locals. According to data from HartfordInfo.org, 42% of Frog Hollow residents live below the poverty line; the median household income for this neighborhood is just above $17,000. Almost all of the housing in this area is rental. The Park Street corridor might not have as much to say about student loans as some of the Occupy Hartford activists, but the residents could offer more insight about what it is like to live paycheck-to-paycheck and worry about whether or not the electricity will not be shut off that month.
Despite the lapse in judgement by a few, Saturday’s march remained peaceful. The police-to-activist ratio was something like 10-to-1, perhaps in part to the public announcement that civil disobedience was being discussed as a possible tactic. While activists stood across from Bank of America, one was inside closing her account, which was, after all, the purpose of Bank Transfer Day. Continue reading 'Occupy Hartford: Marching through el barrio'»
Comments (1) 
end to violence against women. Governor Malloy, stopping here after speaking at the 
“We been there all this time and they kicked us right out the door,” said Eddie Williams, a 20-year employee of Capitol Cleaners who has spent eighteen of those years working inside of the Hartford Courant building.
on Park Street. Saturday morning’s march had been billed as a family-friendly, law-abiding event, yet a speaker from Occupy New Haven threw around phrases that could be interpreted otherwise, at one point telling the throng to “seize the banks,” while the crowd stood opposite one. It is this uncareful rhetoric that escalates tense situations and alienates others who would have joined in. It makes one curious as to who this “99%” actually is if there is a lack of sensitivity toward those with children (this, in effect, primarily excludes mothers from the movement), those who can not risk arrest because they can not afford to be bailed out from jail, and those who can not risk injury because they lack health insurance.
other times, the chanting called for an