Windham County Action Network (WeCAN)

"Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will fill it with fear."
Naomi Klein (b.1970)
Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization and of capitalism. On a three-year appointment from September 2018, she is the Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University

     Welcome to this week's Weekly Email Update, WeCAN Family. We have a few new items listed below, so please take a moment to scroll through to the end of the email to ensure you don't miss a new addition. We hope that you and yours have a New Year filled with positive change, health, and happiness and we look forward to seeing you at a meeting or event in 2020. Happy New Year! 

HAPPENING THIS WEEK, MONDAY, DECEMBER 30th, 2019-SUNDAY, JANUARY 5th, 2020

Trump War-Interruption Planning and Strategy Session
Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 at 16 Washington Street (Brattleboro, VT, 05301) at 6:30pm. Teleconferencing may be available. Please contact [email protected] for more information call (802)490-9363, or visit BrattleboroCommonSense.org.
Trump is a cornered snake now and is more likely than ever to start a new war.  Let's start a way to prevent it.  The first line of defense that we can use is the military itself.
We must
·remind U.S. military officers that their oath is to the Constitution, not the president.
·establish an emergency legal defense fund, to encourage honorable officers to invoke the Nuremberg Principles and refuse unlawful orders.
·create a local Justice Coordinator to administer this effort, promote the indictment of Donald Trump, and serve other social justice causes

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Protest Vigil at TD Bank
sponsored by Post Oil Solutions
Friday, January 3rd, 2020 (and every Friday) at TD Bank Brattleboro (215 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT). In front of the building. 12pm-1pm. Signs will be provided
TD is a major investor in Tar Sands. TD helps to fund the Dakota Access Pipeline. What You Can Do (besides attending the vigils): If you’re a TD depositor, change banks! Founded in 2005, Post Oil Solutions is a 501c3 community organizing project in Southeastern Vermont whose mission is to help empower the people of the Central Connecticut River Valley bioregion in this era of global warming and climate change to develop sustainable, resilient , collaborative, and socially just communities leading to a self- and community-sufficient post petroleum society.

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Legalize Safe Hitch-Hiking / Climate Rescue Strategy and Planning Session
Friday,  January 3rd, 2020 at 16 Washington Street (Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 6:30pm. Teleconferencing may be available. Please email [email protected], call (802)490-9363, or visit www.brattleborocommonsense.org for more information. 
Safe licensed hitchhiking has been done in Europe; we can do it here to SERIOUSLY reduce carbon emissions from automobiles and provide a real community-based climate rescue measure.  Now it can be safe in the U.S. with simple use of cellphones to record identities and locations. Drivers and Riders can photo each other for security and send photos to police or friends. People have another way to share resources and get to know each other.  Share a ride; make a friend.

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LGBTQIA+ Allies Youth Yule Dance
sponsored by Outright Vermont
Friday, January 3rd, 2020 at The Root Social Justice Center (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 7pm-11pm.
Like in Goblet of Fire, but with fewer straight/cis people. 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Drugs and the CIA, with Nick Biddle
part of the Brattleboro Democracy Forum and sponsored by We Celebrate Democracy/Civil Rights for All
Monday, January 6th, 2020 at Brooks Memorial Library (224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301), in the Main Reading Room. 7pm-9pm.
Drug-running has been fundamental to CIA operations, strategy and funding throughout its history. The US Senate Kerry Committee Report of 1989 detailed CIA drug-running through the 1980s to fund terrorist wars in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Professor Alfred McCoy, University of Wisconsin, and Professor Peter Dale Scott, Emeritus University of California, have written extensive histories of CIA drug-running from its inception in 1947 to the present. The facts are known and so little regarded. This presentation will review CIA drug operations to ponder why the facts matter and are simultaneously ignored. Nick Biddle, PhD in History, retired professor of history, Brattleboro resident since 2013, co-owner of Artrageus1 (Elliot St). 

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Impeachment and the Rule of Law with Tim Kipp
part of the Brattleboro Democracy Forum  and sponsored by We Celebrate Democracy/Civil Rights for All
Wednesday, January 8th, 2020 at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden (157 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 12pm-1pm.
This is the 2nd of a 2 part lecture /discussion.
The concepts of a “nation of laws and not of people” and the “rule of law” are as old as the nation-state itself. Elbowing aside the “divine right of kings” this new system would become the very foundation of democracy.
What happens when the president violates the oath of office? Through the lens of history and contemporary politics this lecture/discussion will examine the roles of the Constitution, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Council, the 25th Amendment, and impeachment in addressing presidential misconduct. The conclusion will ask, “How well is the US living up to the principle of the Rule of Law?”
Tim Kipp, retired US history and political science teacher of 39 years and a political activist since the 1960’s.

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Healthy Communication Lab
presented by the Brattleboro Community Justice Center and facilitated by Emily Megas-Russell of With Great Heart
Monday, January 13th, 2020 in the Brooks Memorial Library Community Room (224 Main St, Brattleboro, VT 05301 ). 6pm-8pm. The Community Room can be accessed via a ramp from the street level to the main entrance; an elevator will take you to the third floor and there is a ramp from the Municipal Parking Lot to the third floor entrance as well. There are single-use, gender neutral bathrooms available and light snacks will be provided.
In this lab you will be experimenting with how you can communicate your needs in a way that is authentic and non-violent. Test out identifying, expressing, and
putting boundaries around your needs and feelings while respecting others' right to do the same. 
It's a part of Community, Accountability, Safety, and Harm (CASH) Labs, a series of "labs" put on by the Brattleboro Community Justice Center that seek to build the skills folks need in order to prevent, respond to, and heal from instances of interpersonal harm while addressing the harm's systematic roots.

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Celebrate the Underground: A Hands-On Cooking and Eating Veggie Experience
Sunday, January 12th, 2020 at the Brattleboro Food Coop (2 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). in the Community Room (please use the 7 Canal Street Entrance). 4pm-6pm. Free; donations accepted with gratitude. Register with shareholder services (802-246-2821) or via email - [email protected].
Edible Brattleboro has invited a guest chef to help prepare the menu for our next cooking and eating experience that will feature the underground vegetables. Join us for a wonderful experience preparing a 3-course meal and then sitting at the communal table to enjoy what we made.

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Book Club: On Fire by Naomi Klein
hosted by Everyone’s Books
Thursday, January 23rd, 2020 at Everyone’s Books (25 Elliot Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 6:30pm-7:30pm.
Please join us as we discuss 'On Fire' by Naomi Klein on Thursday, January 23, 2020. 

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Refugee Theater: Kurdish and Yazidi Women Speak Out
hosted by the Vermont Humanities Council and Brooks Memorial Library
Wednesday, February 5th, 2019 at Brooks Memorial Library (224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 7pm-8:30pm. Free.
Rojava, a revolutionary experiment in Kurdish Syria, attempts to create an inclusive democracy safe from ISIS, Turkish incursion, and Syria’s civil war. Smith College professor Ellen W. Kaplan discusses the process of interviewing women, activists, refugees, and fighters from the Rojava region, and transforming their experiences into theater. Part of the Vermont Humanities First Wednesdays free lecture series.

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RESOURCE FOR WeCAN: Rapid Response Text Alert System
When WeCAN began, Song & Solidarity set up a Rapid Response Text Alert System for WeCAN Groups. Directions for signing up are on WeCAN's website, here: https://www.wecantogether.net/rapid_response. We are grateful to Song and Solidarity for providing this service.

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STANDING REGULAR MEETINGS  

Women Veterans Weekly Coffee and Tea Social
Thursday Mornings at Brattleboro Legion Post 5 Inc. (32 Linden Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 9am-10am.
All female veterans are invited to join in the Women Veterans group coffee held at the American Legion.  All women veterans are welcome. You do not need to be a Legion member.

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Youth 4 Change
Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month from 5:30pm-8pm. 
For more information please contact Youth 4 Change at [email protected].
Agenda:
5:30pm: Drop in homework time and art making
6:00pm: Food
6:30pm: Meeting and Organizing
Youth 4 Change is for local-area youth 12-22 interested in political organizing around local/state/national social justice issues that are important to them. Brattleboro area advocates and educators are holding a space, and assisting youth in building a strong personal tool kit to organize for change. Using a variety of creative methods, we aim to enable youth with tools for resilience, courage and compassion, while fostering their ability to speak up about issues that matter to them, and to take action in the name of love and liberation for all people.  Come explore issues of racial, economic and gender justice through art, movement, first-hand accounts and contemplative practices. Connect with area youth around the issues that matter to you and strengthen your tool kit for action! 

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Windham County NAACP Regular Meetings
Monthly community meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month at The Root Center for Social Justice (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301) on the First Floor from 6pm-7pm. For more information please email [email protected]. All are welcome. 
The meetings are open to anyone interested in racial justice. The Mission of the NAACP is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

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Brattleboro Common Sense Open Meeting and Orientation for New Volunteers
Every Sunday at 16 Washington Street (Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 10:30am. For more information please call 802.490.9363 or go to www.BrattleboroCommonSense.org.
Come and check out Brattleboro's kick-ass group that makes global issues local. 
This summer our proposal for renewable-sourced municipal electricity and our petition for a sustainability coordinator were approved, but other terms of our Climate Crisis forum and common sense conservation lost their first vote in March. Brattleboro voters also approved our Youth Vote Amendment in March.
CURRENT AGENDA :
We are very glad to improve our unique and aggressive DECLARATION of CLIMATE EMERGENCY with Selectboard input that sets all Americans equal across the political divide, establishing compassion and unity for the sake of climate rescue; Local Wall Street Tax; police safety; basic social research
BACKGROUND : in 2010 EMDOVY v Brattleboro: Superior Court order that ends censorship of petitions by the Selectboard; in 2014 We promoted Brattleboro's Declaration that climate change is a real and human-made, and that carbon be listed as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

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ONGOING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING 

Indigo Radio
Sundays at 12pm on Brattleboro Community Radio 107.7FMTo stream live: Visit www.wvew.org 
Indigo Radio, deepening understanding and making connections! IndigoRadio is a group of area educators seeking to learn through engaging with others in our community and throughout the world. We will be talking about educational and social issues both globally and locally and connecting them to our lives and Brattleboro community. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indigoradiowvew/. For archive recordings of past shows: https://soundcloud.com/user-654648353. 

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     Thank you, once again, for making 2019 such an active and hopeful year, friends. Your commitment to your community inspires others to work towards peace and we are so appreciative of your dedication. Thank you! 
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Joanna and Leslie 
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