For the safety of our community, we are conducting our meetings online until conditions permit us to resume assembling in person.
Monday January 23d 7-8 PM The Pro-Democracy Fight in 2023: Strategies and Tactics to Win! with Aaron Scherb Sr Legislative Director of Common Cause
Democracy won in the 2022 midterms, thanks to YOU, and every person who wrote, called, texted, showed up, and/or VOTED.
But, as we know, anti-democratic politicians continue working to suppress our votes, undermine our institutions and destroy our democratic system of governing.
There are more of us than them, our policies are more popular than theirs, so how do we translate this people power into legislative and policy wins that will strengthen and expand our democracy so that we move ever closer to that more perfect union?
Join IN-SLWM as we welcome back Aaron Scherb, Sr Legislative Director of Common Cause
Aaron will share with us this powerful organization’s upcoming pro-democracy priorities and initiatives, and how grassroots activists like us can help.
Monday, Jan. 23d, 7-8pm, via zoom
Zoom opens at 6:50, meeting begins at 7PM
Sunday, January 22d 1-2:30 PM
RALLY - BIGGER THAN ROE
City Hall Northampton
On January 22, 2023, the anniversary of Roe V Wade, as we mourn the loss of nearly 50 years of constitutional protections, we send a clear message:
The midterms were just the beginning.
We are taking our fight to every state house and every state legislator in this country. We are putting all politicians at every level of government on notice: If you come for our families, our freedoms, or our future, we are coming for your seat.
Our movement is strong. Our movement is growing. Our movement is Bigger than Roe.
Come hear inspiring speakers including Congressman James McGovern, Representative Lindsay Sabadosa, and others from Generation Ratify, Planned Parenthood Western MA, and others. We'll hear what’s happening locally and nationally and actions we can take now to protect and expand reproductive freedom and human rights.
Show up for freedom
Sunday, Jan 22nd, 1-2:30pm
City Hall, Northampton MA
Add your voice and find out what we here in MA can do to strengthen all our freedoms now!
Here's the Mobilize link to register & for more info
(or you can just show up).
This rally is being organized by Alice J, the high school student who organized last fall's Women's Wave rally, with the support of Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left WM
Sunday, January 22d 4 PM
After the Rally:
THE STORY OF JANE
Jan 22nd, after our rally, join Indivisible Mass Coalition for a virtual discussion about - and with - the Janes - a pre-ROE, underground group who risked much to help women access safe abortions!
Indivisible Mass Coalition is continuing the conversation about life in post-Roe America. You can read the book, The Story of Jane, by Laura Kaplan, and/or watch the HBO documentary The Janes, and then join us as we talk about what we are prepared to do to keep our rights and bodily autonomy!
Special guests, including an original Jane, will help us understand the dangers of life without abortion access and brainstorm what we can do about it.
RSVP for this very special event here by January 20, 2023 and a special link to view the film will be emailed to you.
ACTIONS
Phone
Banking
Illustraton by PA Phone Banker, Nora Brown
Phone Bank for Democracy!
Our weekly phone banks are back, beginning Thursday, Feb 9th, 6-8pmET, with training at the start of every bank!
We'll be taking our fight to the states, calling voters to educate and advocate for laws to protect and expand democracy! First up - defeating voter suppression amendments in PA!
BAR INSURRECTIONISTS FROM THE BALLOT
Sign the Petition
Enacted after the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies from public office any individual who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then engages in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or gives aid or comfort to those who have.
By inciting a violent attack on Congress in an effort to prevent the certification of his own electoral defeat, Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and violated his oath of office. Free Speech For People and Our Revolution have teamed up to urge Secretaries of State and chief election officials across the country to follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and bar insurrectionists from any future ballot.
Sign hereto tell Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin to abide by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and bar Trump from appearing on any future ballot in MA.
And read about this success in New Mexico! where citizens filed suit and a County Commissioner was removed from office as a result of his participation in the Jan. 6th insurrection!
TEAMS
Climate Team Starting
Our recent survey showed considerable interest in climate change/climate justice as an issue. As a Steering Committee member with an environmental science background, I volunteered to organize and coordinate a group to take on this issue. I decided to begin by creating a sort of clearinghouse for climate action.
I have started sending participants occasional emails with information about actions they can take related to climate. These emails will be about climate action of all sorts and addressing climate issues of all sorts. They may be about fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines, climate-related legislation, forest and soil protection, and more. Participants may be asked to sign a petition, send a letter or postcard or email, call a legislator or corporate office, maybe even attend a rally or march. I’ll do my best to keep it to one or two emails per week at a maximum unless something urgent comes up with a short deadline for action. I expect to keep the number of emails down by creating a kind of digest, including several action opportunities in each email, if possible.
These notices will come mostly from two local groups – the Climate Crisis group at Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution and Climate Action Now – along with other organizations around the state and beyond. No one is obligated to respond to every call for action. These are opportunities, not requirements. Anyone can join, and anyone who has joined can leave the list at any time.
If you’d like to join in, email Michael Dover at mjdover44@gmail.com. I hope you’ll find this interesting and, at least sometimes, compelling.
Feminist Activists of MA Team
Watch this powerful 4-minute music video Stand With Me featuring members of the IMC Feminist Team!
Join feminists from across the state to help organize actions centering on women's rights.
Currently, we're focused on fighting for abortion rights and access through a variety of tactics, including postcarding (to remind voters where their candidates stand on abortion), rallies, podcasts and more.
Here's a continuously updating toolkit with actions to take RIGHT NOW in the fight for reproductive freedom!
On Wed evenings at 8 pm or Fri mornings at 9 am, join Paul Spector and activists from across the country to collaborate on helping Democrats win elections. At Paul's meetings, you will...
hear upbeat political news
share questions and comments
learn about new political actions
support fundraisers with special guests -- such as Swing Left, Movement Voter Project, Flip the Senate, New Georgia Project, and Bucks County Democrats
hear inspiring music (mostly from Playing for Change).
Folks find his meetings educational, uplifting, and hopeful, and it's wonderful to see 50-100 other people at each of the two meetings. To check out the meeting, come Wednesday at 8 p.m. or Friday at 9 a.m. EDT, to this Zoom room: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87820043147?pwd=aXZ0K3QrZGtHR2dBUFlCZnk2TU1hQT09
NEWS
Results from our Member Survey
Thanks to all who responded to our 6-question survey asking about your priorities and interests as we move forward in 2023. If you haven't already filled it out, there's still time to let us know what matters to you - you can find the survey here.
We're excited to share these results, and our plans based on your priorities, at our Feb 6th zoom meeting. Stay tuned for the zoom link and more info!
SELECTED READING
This section of our newsletter features one article written by a subscriber and one article selected by our steering committee. Subscribers to the newsletter are welcome to submit writing by email to info@indivisiblenorthampton.org with the subject line "Newsletter Submission".
The opinions expressed in the writings don't necessarily reflect any consensus of Indivisible Northampton.
When you click the link in your confirmation email, a Zoom page will open in your web browser and the Zoom app will open.
If the Zoom app does not open, here are a few things you can try. You will need to know the meeting id, which is embedded in the address of the Zoom page that opened. On the page that opened in the browser, in the address bar you'll see an address that looks something like this:
