About 40 teachers marched in Greenfield on December 21. They were calling on the school board to negotiate a fair union contract. On December 22 the teachers posted a photo of their march at:
The average worker in the USA who belongs to a union makes $191 more per week than the average non-union worker. Reducing inequality is good for democracy since billionaires buy politicians.
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About 50 people attended a rally in Greenfield on September 7. They were calling on the mayor and city council to fire the police chief. Rachel Gordon organized the rally. On September 8 she told the Valley Post that the people at the rally were “very energized. I’m really happy with how it went. We protested in front of city hall for a while and then moved to the Main Street/ Federal Street intersection for a while. A lot of cars honked at us in support.”
About 85 people attended an abortion rights rally in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Bellows Falls is on the Connecticut river, and is in the same county as Brattleboro. Leslie Goldman is a member of the Vermont legislature. She told the Valley Post she was at the rally. Jeanette Staley was one of the event organizers. She told the Valley Post that Goldman “spoke eloquently at the rally.” The rally was on August 19.
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In Springfield about 20 people attended a rally on July 11. Charles Stokes lives in Springfield. He moved there 50 years ago from New Jersey. He is 60 years old. He was at the rally. “The mayor and city council need to make it easy for people to access health care, including addiction and mental health care,” Stokes told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on July 13. “Community gardens too.” These things would reduce violent crime, and the number of people in prison, Stokes said.
On April 2 about 30 people were at a rally in Montague, Massachusetts. Montague borders Greenfield. The goal was to get politicians to “stop the massive destruction of fish and related river life by the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station,” on the Connecticut river near the Vermont – Massachusetts border. An April 4 mass email from the Wendell State Forest Alliance reported on the rally.
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On February 22 the owner of the Brattleboro Reformer daily newspaper published in the Reformer an opinion article written by him. “War is the Answer” was the headline. The long article elaborated on why the multi-millionaire businessman feels Russia invading Ukraine is a good thing for the U.S. economy.
A dozen people attended a Greenfield rally February 14. They were calling on Biden and congress to do more to help poor people in Afghanistan. It was very cold in Greenfield that day, Patricia Hynes told the Valley Post. She was at the rally and she's on the board of a group that has a web site at www.traprock.org.
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About 80 people were at a rally in Springfield on January 22. The goal was to get congress to pass voting rights legislation, Lydia Wood told the Valley Post. She runs a group that has a web site at https://wmalf.org.
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About 40 people were at rallies in Greenfield and Northampton on January 22. The goal was to ban nuclear weapons. Pat Hynes told the Valley Post about 25 people were at the Greenfield rally. She's on the board of a group that has a web site at https://traprock.org.
About 100 people attended a rally to demand politicians provide good quality homes for homeless people. The rally was in Montague, Massachusetts, which borders Greenfield. It was on December 24. Cate Woolner organized the rally. In her speech at the rally she said, “Welcome and thank you for choosing to spend some of your Christmas Eve here, shining a light on the fact that on any given night, not just Christmas Eve, there are 30 – 40 community members sleeping in cars and tents, couch surfing from friend to friend or in the hospital or other facility with no where to go upon discharge.
At least six people from the Pioneer Valley, and at least one from Brattleboro, were among 655 people arrested for non-violent civil disobedience outside the White House between October 11 and October 15. The protests were to call on Biden to do more about climate change. The six Pioneer Valley residents are Paki Wieland, Priscilla Lynch, Marty Nathan, Sofia Perrotto, Sue Donaldson, and Russ Vernon-Jones.