About 30 people were at a rally in Springfield on July 29. The goal was to get the state to provide good quality homes for homeless people. “The rally went well,” a spokesperson for one of the groups that organized the rally told the Valley Post. The group has a web site at:
www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org
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Vermont Public Radio is now sponsored by the multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation that owns the Hannaford supermarket chain. “Farm workers, farmers and consumers are all calling on Hannaford supermarkets to protect the rights and well-being of the dairy workers behind the company’s store-brand milk and join the Milk with Dignity program,” according to a Vermont-based group that has organized marches with hundreds of people at Hannaford's USA headquarters. The group has a web site at:
In Brattleboro in 2022, dairy farm workers – most of whom are undocumented immigrants from Mexico – held a rally with their supporters. The rally was outside the Hannaford supermarket. About 20 people were at the rally. The workers' web site is above.
Sarah West was one of the Brattleboro rally organizers. She told the Valley Post, "We had about 20 people show up to support the action at the Brattleboro Hannaford. This included folks from Lost River Racial Justice, The Putney School, the Community Asylum Seekers Project and several other individuals from the community. When we delivered the message to the manager urging Hannaford to join Milk with Dignity, he was positioned with security personnel at the store entrance and threatened that if we didn't leave the Hannaford premises he would call the police. We remained peaceful and relocated to the public sidewalk at the entrance to the parking lot, holding signs and handing out informational fliers to dozens of willing customers as they exited the lot. A police officer did arrive on site and supported our right to free speech on public grounds."
She continued, "Despite the manager's confrontational attitude, it was inspiring to see a multi-generational group of community members show up with so much care for the rights and dignity of the farm workers that Hannaford is continuing to neglect. The students from The Putney School came bearing extra signs that they made for the event and held a solid, enthusiastic presence. And we often heard cars honking in solidarity as they passed, including from a Hannaford employee leaving work. I hope our message is being heard."
Whether it will be heard on the Hannaford Corporation-funded Vermont Public Radio remains to be seen.
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Millions of people die of starvation every year. Climate change makes
it harder for farmers to grow food. One of the best ways to stop
climate change is to protect open space from development. That takes
money -- the government can buy land to create wilderness parks, or
can buy farmland and provide 99 year, transferable leases to farmers
at affordable prices. To get this money requires taxes. Billionaires
can afford to pay more in tax. In Brattleboro, Emilie Kornheiser is
fighting for re-election to her seat in the state legislature. She
chairs the House Ways and Means committee and wants to tax the rich.
The New York Times, the Brattleboro Reformer daily newspaper, and two
of the biggest news outlets in Vermont, VTdigger and 7 Days, have
written about Kornheiser. These articles -- especially one that
appeared in VTdigger on July 31 -- have often focussed on her
personality and ignored the fact that the outcome of the election may
be life and death.
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