PNN’s mission is to engage, educate and empower our neighbors to make our City a better place to live. Here’s what’s coming up in each of these areas:
Engage: "Saving Our Social Services" Working Group
Educate: Prison Oversight Board
Empower: Blackout Friday Boycott, "Not Our President" Rally
Saving Our Social Services Working Group Meeting
Thursday, March 6th, 7PM, via Zoom
All of us are deeply alarmed by the Trump Administration’s intention to gut almost every kind of social service funding that comes from the federal government. Previous Republican Administrations have attempted broad brush cuts before, but this one exceeds all of the others in its radicalism, attempting to make drastic cuts without waiting for Congress to approve them.
However, federal courts seem to be holding them back, so a fight over Congressional spending priorities is coming and will be critically important. We need to be fully prepared to get our voices heard. We also need to be ready for similar fights over state and city budget priorities, which are very much going to be shaped by what eventually comes down from Washington.
With all that in mind, the “Saving Our Social Services” Working Group will be hosting a zoom meeting on March 6th @ 7 PM with some special guests who will educate us with the latest information on what is on the chopping block at all three levels of government.
They'll join us as together we discuss how we can best mobilize for the struggle to preserve, if not enlarge, the threatened programs. Please save the date. More information will be forthcoming soon.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
President's Day Rally & March
Monday, February 17th, 12PM-2PM, City Hall North Apron
This President's Day, join our allies for a "Not My President" rally at City Hall, followed by a march to the Art Museum to protest the Dictator-in-Chief and his South African Overlord. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier will lead our speakers at City Hall.
You'll hear about our efforts to hold the Democrats in Congress to task - we want no deals with the dictator, no votes, no cooperation of any kind until Trump’s spending freeze, agency firings, and other unconstitutional moves are rescinded and layoffs are reversed. See you there.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Blackout Friday (We're Not Just Targeting Target)
Friday, February 28th, Everywhere
What started as a planned boycott of the Target box stores has morphed into a nationwide boycott of every major retailer who bent the knee to Trump extremism and stopped diversity, equity and inclusion hiring.
The point of the boycott is to inflict a day of financial penalty on corporate cowardice and make the boardroom boys more afraid of we the people than they are of Don the Con and his band of fascists.
Shareholders will not be happy if a big chunk of their shoppers take their business somewhere else with the implied threat of continued withholding of our money. Joining Target among the guilty are Amazon, McDonald's, Pepsi, Walmart, GM, Ford, Meta, Lowe's and John Deere.
Will this serve as a "lesson learned" for corporate cowards? Perhaps, it's time to find out.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Help Make Neighbors Aware of Prison Oversight Board
In December, City Council passed legislation allowing Philly voters to authorize a citizen-run, investigation-based Prison Oversight Board for all of Philadelphia’s prisons. This spring, it will be up to the residents of Philly to make this Board a reality by voting to make it part of our City Charter.
But, a lot of folks don't know about the Board and what it will do for the people, many awaiting trial, who are sitting in jails that have become uninhabitable. Human decency requires us to provide a clean, safe environment to those being detained. If enacted, this Board will shed a much-needed light on what happens inside Philadelphia’s carceral facilities.
If you'd like to help spread the word to put this Board in place, sign up below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
This Week in History
Feb 18, 2010 – Manning Docs Leaked. Wikileaks began releasing nearly 750,000 documents by Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, shedding light on atrocities committed by American armed forces, painting a far grimmer picture of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Feb 19, 1942 – Japanese-Americans Interned. In one of the sadder moments in our nation's history, FDR ordered the internment of fellow Americans for fear they might harbor spies and saboteurs for the Japanese Empire.
Feb 21, 1965 – Malcolm-X Assassinated. Black leader Malcolm-X was gunned down while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in NYC.
Thanks for your activism!
Tim Brown, Organizing Director
Opmerkingen