Cuba commemorates the 67th National Rebellion Day

Peoples Dispatch, July 27, 2020- This July 26 marked the 67th anniversary of Cuba’s National Rebellion Day. On July 26, 1953, Commander Fidel Castro with a hundred revolutionaries launched the attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba, while another group of combatants attacked the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes military garrison in Bayamo. Although the attacks failed, the uprising marked the beginning of the Cuban revolution and laid the foundation for the anti-imperialist movement that defeated the US-backed military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959.

Cuba awards Friendship Medal to Harry Belafonte

OnCuba, July 25, 2020- Cuba awarded the Friendship Medal to renowned U.S. actor, musician and social activist Harry Belafonte, the island’s ambassador to Washington, José Ramón Cabañas, announced this Thursday.
The Friendship Medal is a distinction awarded by the Council of State at the proposal of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, in recognition of a “trajectory of solidarity” with the island and “unconditional attachment to the defense of the Cuban revolution.”

SF joins fight for US-Cuba medical cooperation

48Hills, July 22, 2020-The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution July 21 calling for the US to cooperate with Cuba in the fight against COVID 19. At a time when the federal and many state governments are failing to curb the pandemic, the resolution noted that the US can “save lives by entering into medical and scientific collaboration with Cuba.”
The Cuban government has successfully used interferon to mitigate the effects of COVID 19. The Trump administration has refused to allow sale or even testing of interferon and other Cuban-made drugs.

People of Oakland Move Closer to Refunding the Community as City Council Creates Official Task Force to DefundOPD by 50% in 2021

No photo description available.

Anti Police-Terror Project

For Immediate Release

7/29/20

Contact: Cat Brooks 510-631-4353, cat@justiceteams.org

People of Oakland Move Closer to Refunding the Community as City Council Creates Official Task Force to DefundOPD by 50% in 2021

Oakland, CA: The people of Oakland moved one step closer to realizing the goal of refunding resources to the community. After weeks of sustained protest and direct action, City Council unanimously approved a resolution last night to create an official task force to determine how to cut the Oakland Police Department’s budget by 50% next year.

The 19-person “Reimagining Public Safety Task Force” will have four advisory boards and a five-month timeline to develop draft recommendations. It will meet once or twice per month to make final recommendations to the City Council to defund OPD by 50% by March 31, 2021.

The transition team was an idea of the Defund the Police coalition, lifted up by CM Nikki Bas and later joined by CM Loren Taylor after intense community pressure. Oakland residents have overwhelmingly demanded that affected community members and survivors of police violence lead the new task force.

“While there is still much work to be done, this is a win for the People of Oakland. We forced the so-called Equity Caucus to commit to defunding OPD by 50% and investing that money in areas that truly keep us safe like housing, mental health, healthcare, and youth programs.” Cat Brooks, Anti Police-Terror Project

“This transition team only exists because of pressure from the People. Tireless years of organizing made this happen — and we will not relent until we actually cut OPD funding by 50%.” – liz suk, Political Director, Oakland Rising

In recent weeks, thousands of Oakland residents have joined what has become an international call to invest in services that truly keep people safe by divesting from police — building on the Anti Police-Terror Project’s five-year campaign to #DefundOPD and the Black Organizing Project’s 10-year campaign to dismantle the OUSD police department.

The Defund the Police Coalition, a broad coalition of Oakland-based community groups, has succeeded in mobilizing the community to defy the curfews, kicking school police out of Oakland schools and colleges, holding packed town halls, marching in the streets by the thousands, and engaging in peaceful civil disobedience at the homes of the school board directors, councilmembers, and the mayor.

Nearly two-thousand people from Oakland participated in a survey outlining who should serve on the commission- and made clear that survivors of police violence and community based experts should be centralized on the transition team. The community said resoundingly that current or former representatives from law enforcement and their families should not be involved in the task force. Thousands of community members have voiced support for reinvesting the money cut from OPD into housing, mental health support, healthcare, youth programs, jobs, and other social services that are proven to strengthen public safety.

“The People are clear: we want to divest from policing and invest in the Black New Deal. We’ll settle for nothing less — and there will be repercussions for any councilmember who stands in our way come November.” – James Burch, Policy Director, Anti Police-Terror Project

The Defund the Police Coalition includes Anti Police-Terror Project, Oakland Rising, Ella Baker Center, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, ACCE, Community Ready Corps, Bay Rising, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, Asians for Black Lives, Black Organizing Project, and many other Oakland community organizations.

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Lanterns For Peace, August 6, 2020, Milwaukee: 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki 

Lanterns for Peace- Hiroshima/Nagasaki Candlelight Vigil

Join Peace Action of Wisconsin on Thursday, August 6th, 8pm, for a candlelight vigil along Lincoln Memorial Drive to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and renew our commitment to a world free from nuclear weapons.

75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki 

Thursday, August 6th, 8PM – 9:30PM
Along Lincoln Memorial Drive, Milwaukee

Near Bradford Beach Pedestrian Bridge

(Free Parking in the lot across from Bradford Beach and the North Point lot just south of there.

Meet in either one of the two parking lots to pick up lanterns, signs and banners.)

 SAFE SOCIAL DISTANCING – 10 feet apart.

Everyone please wear masks. 

For more information, contact Peace Action of Wisconsin, 414-269-9525

 

August 3, 2020: Car Caravan to Madison to Demand Health Be Placed Over Profits

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Car Caravan to Madison to Demand Health Be Placed Over Profits

Wisconsinites want safe, healthy, and equitable schools and communities! Wisconsin education workers will lead a car caravan to the Capitol to demand Wisconsin State Health Secretary Palm and other elected leaders and government officials do their job! Join the car caravan starting in Kenosha and ending in Madison to demand…

• No in-person schooling until scientific and public-health data supports it
• Police-free schools
• All schools must be supported to function as community schools with adequate numbers of counselors and nurses
• Safe conditions including lower class sizes, PPE, cleaning, testing, and other key protocols
• Equitable access to online learning
• Support for our communities and families, including a moratorium on evictions/foreclosures, direct cash assistance to those unable to work, and other critical social needs
• Moratorium on new charter or voucher programs
• Massive infusion of federal money to support the reopening funded by taxing the billionaires and Wall Street

The car caravan will start in Kenosha at 9:30am and move to Racine by 10:30am, Milwaukee at 11:30am and Madison by 1pm.

Turn your car into a moving billboard with messages that support the demands above. Remember this is a socially distanced event and we want participants to ride alone and not with others.

This action is being hosted by Kenosha Education Association, Leaders Igniting Transformation, Madison Teachers Incorporated, Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, Rea-Reaa Unity, Voces de la Frontera, Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES).

All educators, parents and communities MUST contact their Senators https://educationvotes.nea.org/issue/covid-19/ to demand the resources we need to keep students, staff, families and communities safe. Congress has a national responsibility to act. We support affiliates building coalitions and local support to ensure safe, equitable school re-openings. https://www.demandsafeschools.org We want every student back in school, but only when it’s safe!