Massachusetts State News

Vol. 2, No. 3--April 13, 2005

With an active steering committee now in place, we had a very productive gathering. If you wish to place an issue on a future WMPDA agenda, contact Chairperson Suzy Petersson.

Frances Crowe has secured the Media Education Foundation space for us without charge on the fourth Wednesday of each month of April, May, and June. (Obviating the necessity to take up a collection as we did for using the church.) We might respond in support of MEF work and their production of a sequel to their great film Hijacking Catastrophe, by attending a fund-raiser dinner plus entertainment on April 28 in Charlemont. For more information contact: kaufmann@crocker.com. Attendees who have to travel farthest have suggested alternating meeting venues. The summer months might allow us to accommodate long-distance members, with inducements like picnics/cookouts combined with meetings.

Our next meeting will be 7 PM, April 27, at Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic St., Northampton. Letters of support by WMPDA for the campus boycott/attempted ban of Coke^TM products from campus at UMass and Smith, including a summary of Coke's poor corporate behavior around the world were sent to the editors of the Collegian and Sophian. If you have seen any of these letters in print, please let us know. Note: we recommend using any Coke remaining in your possession to clean toilet bowls.

We discussed development of local strategies to inform people of the true costs of the Iraq war and occupation. Though the deadline has passed for most towns to host a Vermont-style town meeting vote, we can still approach select boards and Gordon Tripp and Bill Norris at AFSC are leading the coordinating effort. With services failing to reach their monthly recruiting goals and governors asking that their National Guard units be returned home to handle emergencies for which they are trained, (e.g., firefighting in Western states), town resolutions increase pressure to end the war and discourage new preemptive ventures. Please take up this challenge with the help of some of your neighbors.

Efforts to counter privatization schemes for Social Security were discussed briefly. The hidden agenda in this effort may be yet another Karl Rove scheme to attach younger voters to the Republican Party and achieve total control of the country.

Efforts to organize a WMPDA-sponsored public meeting with Representatives Olver and Neal in Northampton (first in February, then again on the anniversary of the start of the war) have thus far ended in failure. Olver insists the public has been disrespectful of him and offers only meetings with no more than ten people (the size of his office table in Holyoke). Neal does not bother responding to requests. A related effort launched to flood their offices with e-mails did not bear much fruit. Approximately 20 of the 300+ people asked to send e-mails actually did so. The important message here is this: we must be willing to commit the minutes it takes to participate in such efforts if we are to demonstrate strength behind progressive issues. Attendees explored two options: 1) We accept the meeting with ten people and lobby for a public meeting and 2) we invite them to a meeting that we schedule and, if they fail to appear, hold it without them. You can still join the public meeting effort by sending e-mails to Olver and Neal. Important: Please BCC me at cdoerner@surfglobal.net so I can keep track of the emails sent.

Olver and Neal both voted in favor of the new $81-billion appropriation for the war, and Kerry is likely to do so next week in the Senate. Our calls and e-mails could clearly indicate our opposition to this vote. 202-224-2742. While at it, you may want to thank Kennedy for his likely vote against the measure 202-224-4543. Protesting and/or thanking members of Congress are excellent ways to participate in government and demonstrate the strength of progressive values.

We reorganized into two chapters by congressional districts. With sufficient numbers from each district present, willing to sign on as official PDA members in the First and Second Congressional Districts and to pay the nominal one dollar per annum membership fee, that process was accomplished. We will soon establish a process by which each of you can sign up as a member. District organization and affiliation is a first step toward setting an action agenda with a particular member of Congress, fielding progressive candidates, and forming a statewide caucus.

Carl

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