135 in the Streets

On August 12 in Northampton about 75 people attended a labor rally. Candie St. Jean is a nurse at the Northampton hospital. In a speech to the people at the rally she said, “Our hospital and its corporate owner are failing to protect, support, and respect nurses. The signs outside call us front line heroes. Inside, we are struggling to provide safe patient care because the hospital is not providing adequate protection, safe staffing, and transparency as to their plans for the rising number of cases.”

Greenfield Black Lives Matter Rally is August 1

In Greenfield on August 1, there will be a Black Lives Matter rally at 10 a.m. at the town common at the corner of Main Street and Route 5. The organizers have a web site at www.RacialJusticeRising.org.

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In Springfield, there was a rally to call on politicians to stop landlords from evicting their tenants, and to help low-income landlords. Eleven people were at the rally, which was on July 22. The organizers have a web site at www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org

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Virus Can't Stop Community Radio

Community radio stations in Greenfield, Northampton and Brattleboro are broadcasting new editions of locally produced shows despite the epidemic. The stations are WMCB, WVEW, and WXOJ. They all play "Democracy Now," an important alternative to NPR news. Anyone who lives in the Valley can have a show on these stations.

Land Saved

An all-volunteer group has protected thousands of acres near Brattleboro in recent years. “We just got a state grant for $116,000,” Carolyn Mayo-Brown told the Valley Post on January 31. She is a member of the Putney Mountain Association and is leading the group's effort to save land in Dummerston, Vermont. Dummerston borders Brattleboro. “With private donations and the grant we now have about $160,000.” The group needs another $40,000 or so to buy 55 acres in Dummerston. Mayo-Brown said she is confident that will happen.

Workers Win

On November 13 in Greenfield workers had a victory. Teaching assistants in the Greenfield public schools held a rally for justice on November 5. On November 13 they won raises. The workers have a web site at www.nea.org.

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There will be a rally on November 20 in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts to stop a giant corporate bank from evicting a low income family from the family's home. East Longmeadow borders Springfield. The rally will be at 6 p.m. outside 137 Pleasant Street. The rally organizers have a web site at www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org.

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Native Americans Lead Protest

Native Americans led a protest rally near Greenfield September 9 following a corporate acid spill that killed thousands of big and small fish in a river. The September 1 spill into the North river in Colrain, Massachusetts was from a factory owned by Barnhardt Corporation of North Carolina.

3 More Protesters Arrested

Three more people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience August 14 at Wendell Massachusetts State Forest near Greenfield, bringing the total number of arrests to nine since August 6. The goal of the ongoing protest is to stop planned logging of 80 acres of 110 year old oak trees on publicly owned land. Logging causes climate change.

The people who were arrested on August 14 are Plainfield, Massachusetts residents Erik Burcroff and Rema Loeb; and Dennis Carr of Cummington, Massachusetts.

4 More Protesters Arrested

Four more people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience August 12 at Wendell Massachusetts State Forest near Greenfield, bringing the total number of arrests to six since August 6. The goal of the ongoing protest is to stop planned logging of 80 acres of 110 year old oak trees on publicly owned land. Logging causes climate change.

The people who were arrested on August 12 are Wendell, Massachusetts residents Jim Thornly and Morgan Mead; Miriam Kurland of Goshen, Massachusetts; and Priscilla Lynch of Conway, Massachusetts.

Activists Fight for Nature

On June 25 a group that is fighting planned logging on publicly owned land near Greenfield said the logging will likely start soon. “On June 24, the loggers began installing gates on Carlton Road and Dirth Road in Wendell (Massachusetts) State Forest. Installing the gates definitely means the beginning of logging,” said James Thornley, a spokesperson for the group. “Gates are not an independent, unrelated factor. The loggers are paying to have these gates installed — they would not spend this money if they were not about to commence cutting.”

31,000 Stop and Shop Workers Strike

On April 11, hundreds of Stop and Shop workers in the Pioneer Valley went on strike. They joined 31,000 Stop and Shop workers in other parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The Pioneer Valley workers have a web site at www.ufcw1459.com. They need people to boycott Stop and Shop, and show up at their picket lines, if they are going to win.

Low wages are one of the main reasons workers went on strike. Stop and Shop is owned by a corporation based in Holland that has about 370,000 employees, including about 2,000 in western Massachusetts.