No nation keeps such a high percentage of its people in prison as the USA. Europe's rate is a fraction of ours. On May 31 the Valley Post emailed a state senator from Northampton and one from Brattleboro to ask their reactions to the following quote:

Seventy-thousand Lyft and Uber drivers in Massachusetts formed a union on May 25. “I'm thrilled,” Peter Cianciolo told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on May 28. He lives in Springfield, Massachusetts and has been a Lyft driver since 2017. Cianciolo grew up in Connecticut and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts in 2012. “I'm very excited. It's an incredible feeling to be part of history.”

A bus will leave from Deerfield, Massachusetts, near Greenfield, to go to an ICE protest in Burlington, Vermont. The bus will leave on May 27 at 8:30 a.m. It will arrive back in Deerfield by 3:30 p.m. Tickets cost $46 round-trip and are available via https://fccpr.us.

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In Northampton, eight peace protesters were arrested on April 29 for non-violent civil disobedience. They blocked the entrance to the L3Harris military supply factory. The protesters have a web page at:

www.instagram.com/DemilitarizeWesternMass

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In Brattleboro on April 24, two people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. The Valley Post was there. The protesters blocked the entrance to Citizen's Bank, which is “helping for-profit prison companies get the cash they need to lock more people away in ICE detention.” That quote is from:

In Holyoke on May 1 there will be a march to demand that politicians tax the rich and help the poor. Other goals include abolishing ICE and war. The march is being organized by the Western Mass Area Labor Federation and other groups. It will start at 4:30 p.m. at the corner of Dwight and Heritage streets.

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The town of Jamaica, Vermont is in the same county as Brattleboro. On April 19 in Jamaica, an on-duty state police officer severely injured Reika Fisher, age 18, and Kaori Shiya age 50.

The nurses at the hospital in Greenfield on April 14 voted to authorize a strike. “We are united in standing up for our patients and our community,” said Suzanne Love. She is a nurse at the hospital. “Nurses are committed to securing a contract that ensures patient safety and keeps care local.”

The nurses have a web site at www.MassNurses.org.

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On March 16 in the Pioneer Valley town of Westhampton, about 200 students walked out of the public high school to protest proposed budget cuts. Two of the organizers were students Lucy McVey and Augustus Niswonger. On March 17, they emailed the Valley Post, “We planned to make the walkout both a call to action and a way to spread more facts and information to students.

On March 10, about 200 people marched eight miles from Amherst to Northampton. They were calling for human rights for people in Tibet. Amnesty International last year criticized China for interfering in Tibetan religious practices as the Dalai Lama announced his succession plan. The group said last year that, as of 2024, “school closures by the Chinese government threatened Tibetan culture and language.” That quote is from:

www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/report-asia-and-the-pac...

The Pioneer Valley march organizers have a web page at:

www.facebook.com/RTAM2019

On March 1 in Greenfield about 75 people rallied for peace in Iran. The Valley Post was at the Greenfield protest. Skilled singers led the rest of the group in singing peace songs. The same day in Brattleboro, about 100 people were at a rally for the same cause. One of the groups that organized the Greenfield rally has a web site at www.traprock.org. The Brattleboro protest was organized by the Brattleboro chapter of the national group Indivisible.

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In Amherst on March 28, there will be a No Kings march, starting at 12:30 p.m. at Kendrick park. The same day in Greenfield, there will be a No Kings march starting at noon at Beacon field. In Brattleboro on March 28 at 10 a.m., a march will start from a location to-be-determined, organizer MD Baker told the Valley Post. The details will soon be at www.NoKings.org, she said. There will be rallies in Holyoke and Northampton. Details are on the No Kings web site.

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