Local
Lowell’s Points of Light Lantern Celebration
Saturday, April 22, 5-9pm, 282 Suffolk St, Lowell, MA 01854
Imagine watching hundreds of personalized floating lanterns released into the Western Canal, as you enjoy Lowell’s diverse music, traditions, and food. This is the Points of Light, a spring celebration of unity and renewal.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/821666707972075/
Lowell Earth Day Parade & Festival
Sunday, April 23, 11am-3:30pm, UTEC Lowell 35 Warren St, Lowell, MA 01852
We invite organizations, individuals and families to the streets of downtown Lowell to celebrate the greening of our city with a mile-long parade featuring The Party Band, members of the Sullivan School band, puppets, costumes, and eco-conscious groups. Immediately following the parade, we’ll be holding a fun sustainability festival for all participants and the general public.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/131633854041606/
Solidarity Lowell General Meeting
Sunday, April 23, 5pm, Mill No. 5, 4th floor
On the agenda: tabling at local events, presentation by Thrive, committee updates, May Day preparation, postcard action from the RRT, and more!
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1876769112592529/
Merrimack Valley Sanctuary Network Formation
Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 1pm, St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, 8 Kirk St. Lowell, MA
At this press conference, select religious leaders will declare the formation of a Merrimack Valley Sanctuary Network. Clergy of various faiths will gather to announce the creation of the Merrimack Valley Sanctuary Network to protect undocumented immigrants from an unjust policy of mass deportation, joining over 800 congregations nationwide. They offer shelter and protection to those families who are in immediate danger within our community and ask those who have nothing to fear to stand in helping them.
For more information about the Merrimack Valley Project: http://www.merrimackvalleyproject.org/
Planning meeting- A Day Without Immigrants Lowell to Lawrence
Wednesday, April 26, 6:30-9pm, University Crossing at UMass Lowell, room 490, Lowell, MA
Do you want to stand in solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters? Do you want to fight back against Trump’s agenda of racism and discrimination? Join us in planning our mobilization of students and workers from Lowell to go to Lawrence on May 1st for A Day Without Immigrants march! Thousands will be in the streets May 1st in Lawrence and it’s projected hundreds of thousands around the country.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/285881631851905/
Take Back the Night
Thursday, April 27, 6-10pm, Lowell City Hall, 50 Arcand Dr, Lowell, MA
Across the country, April marks the month of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention. In Greater Lowell, we join with community partners, families, and individuals to raise awareness about sexual violence in all forms. The event begins at 6pm with a rally at Lowell City Hall Plaza, followed by a march down Merrimack Street to U-Crossing (220 Pawtucket Drive). There will be an indoor gathering for survivors and their loved ones to share their stories in a safe space about the impact of sexual violence in their lives.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/329144597468981/
Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes Marcha /Day Without Immigrants March in Lawrence
Sunday, May 1, 10am-4pm, Campagnone Common, 200 Common St, Lawrence, MA 01840
Lawrence has always been a city of immigrants. In 1912, Lawrence immigrants who demanded better wages and better work conditions made history leading the successful strike “Bread and Roses” that lasted 9 weeks. This May 1st, if you are an immigrant and/or believe in immigrants’ rights, join the national boycott! Do not go to work, school or buy anything on this day. Join Cosecha Lawrence and several other local organizations in showing the public how much the economy of this country depends on immigrants, but most importantly that Lawrence is ready to stand up again for human and labor rights of all immigrants!
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/363931354006128/
State
March for Science Boston
Saturday, April 22, 2-4pm, Boston Common, Boston, MA
This Rally for Science celebrates the discovery, understanding, and sharing of scientific knowledge as crucial to the success, health, and safety of the human race. We join together to champion not only science itself, but also publicly funded and publicly communicated scientific knowledge as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity. We unite as a diverse and nonpartisan group to celebrate Boston as a space for scientists and scientific research and to support of five main goals: Communication, Funding, Policy, Literacy, and Improvement. Kids’ exhibits from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Allow plenty of extra time to get there, and don’t count on cell service working to find the people you want to meet up with, since the Women’s March ran into the problem of overloaded cell towers. Arrange a meeting point in advance!
More information: https://www.marchforscienceboston.com/
Demand the Massachusetts Pension Fund stop funding climate disruption
Thomas Golden 617-722-2263
David Nangle 617-722-2575
Rady Mom 617-722-2460
Colleen Garry 617-722-2380
James Lyons 617-722-2460
There is a budget amendment at the statehouse which would divest the state pension funds from coal and set up a commission to report on divesting from oil and gas. It is Amendment #380.
Sample Script: “Hello, my name is ____ and I’m calling from _____, Massachusetts. Please support Amendment 380 to the budget for divestment of state funds from fossil fuels. Thank you!”
More information: http://massdivest.org/
Convince Governor Baker to support an An Act Restoring Financial Transparency in Presidential Elections
617.725.4005
Introduced by State Senator Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), S.365 is one of more than 25 bills nationwide that would force presidential and vice-presidential candidates to release tax returns before appearing on individual state ballots.
Sample Script: “Hello, my name is _____ and I’m calling from _____, Massachusetts. Please support S.365, which would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns. Thank you!”
More information: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S365
March for Climate and Science
Saturday, April 29, 12pm-3:30pm, Boston Common, Boston, MA
This demonstration is organized by the People’s Climate Movement, which grew out of the historic 2014 march on the eve of the UN Climate Summit in New York City. Planned for the 100th day of the Trump administration, the march will oppose Trump’s climate change denial and continue the mission of the original 2014 march to demand urgent action on the global climate change crisis.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/114630515717476/
Federal
Stop the concentration camps for gay men in Russia
Address:
Aleksandr Ivanovich Bastrykin
Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation
Tekhnicheskii pereulok, dom 2
105005 Moscow, Russian Federation
(Please note that international postcards require $1.15 in postage)
On 1 April, the Russian independent daily newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported that over a hundred men believed to be gay have been abducted in recent days, as part of a coordinated campaign. The men were reportedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated, and forced to disclose other LGBTI individuals known to them. Novaya Gazeta claimed to have verified information about at least three men who had been killed by their captors, but its sources claim that there have been many more killings.
Suggested text: “Aleksandr, Please carry out prompt, effective and thorough investigations into the reports of abductions and killings of men believed to be gay in Chechnya and to ensure that anyone found guilty or complicit in such crimes will be brought to justice in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. You must take all necessary steps to ensure safety of any individual who may be at risk in Chechnya because of their sexual orientation and condemn in the strongest terms possible any discriminatory comments made by officials. Remind the Russian and Chechen authorities that they have an international human rights obligation to prohibit discrimination and to investigate and prosecute hate crimes, the most invidious form of discrimination. Thank you!”
More information: http://metro.co.uk/2017/04/13/heres-how-to-help-tortured-gay-men-in-chechnya-camps-6572033/
Help DREAMer Juan Manuel Montes Return Home
Department of Homeland Security: 202-282-8495
Juan Manuel Montes has lived in the United States for 14 years and has twice been granted deferral of deportation and a work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. President Trump has stated that DACA recipients, or DREAMers as they are also called, are not currently targets of his mass deportation campaign. Despite Juan’s active DACA status, he was arrested by ICE agents in February and deported to Mexico within 3 hours of his arrest because he did not have his ID on him.
Sample script: “Hello, my name is ______ and I’m calling from ______, Massachusetts. I’m calling to support the return of DACA recipient Juan Manuel Montes to his home in the United States. ICE should respect the protected status of DACA recipients. Thank you!”
More information: https://5calls.org/issue/recbM75Ptb4BvHs8C
Protect U.S. coastlines from the expansion of offshore drilling
Elizabeth Warren: 202-224-4543 or 617-565-3170
Edward Markey: 202-224-2742
The Trump Administration has announced plans to expand offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters, putting the Atlantic, Pacific, Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Arctic Ocean potentially at risk. This brazen proposal would overturn the federal government’s recently finalized 5 year offshore drilling program that was informed by years of environmental review and input from millions of citizens.
Sample Script: “Hello, my name is ____ and I’m calling from _____, Massachusetts. Please protect our oceans from any new offshore oil and gas development. Offshore drilling is a polluting activity that puts our coastal economies, communities, and natural resources at risk. The impacts from routine operations and inevitable oil spills would significantly harm the coastal recreation and tourism sector. Thank you!”
More information: https://secured.surfrider.org/action/engagement?actionId=AR0005772&id=701i00000018YoU
The RRT (Rapid Response Team) Action List compiles action items from the week into one place. If you would like to add anything to the weekly update, please send it to Marissa Dupont on Facebook or at marissa.dupont@gmail.com using subject line “RRT”, or use hashtag #RRT in the Solidarity Lowell Facebook group.