Unless it's postponed due to coronavirus, there be a peace rally in Brattleboro on April 15. The rally will be outside 2 Main Street from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. With 4 percent of the world's population, the USA spends as much money on war as the rest of the world combined. This year the USA will spend $1.6 trillion on war. That's 47 percent of the federal budget, meaning about half your income taxes go to war. This data is from:

www.warresisters.org/sites/default/files/fy2021piechart.pdf

More information on the Brattleboro rally will be posted soon at:

CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band will play at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on February 14 at 7 p.m. CJ Chenier was born in 1957. According to his web site, he “spent his childhood in the tough tenement housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas.”

Chenier played with Ringo Starr on Paul Simon's album Rhythm of the Saints. Chenier performed with Simon on a concert tour. A video of CJ Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band performing live is at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMMSv2WpYKw

They play zydeco music. This photo shows people dancing at a zydeco concert. photo by:

On February 13 in Northampton, about 25 people attended a march, with rallies before and after. They were protesting Stop & Shop’s involvement in the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Details are available via the web site of one of the groups that organized the march: www.xrWesternMass.org. Workers at the River Valley food co-op in Northampton are union members. The below photo shows the second rally. To enlarge the photo click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.” photo by Hayley Berliner

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Soul singer Son Little will perform a concert at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on January 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18 plus a "service fee." In December he will play in Los Angeles. In March he will play in Paris, France. You can hear one of his songs at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zilN0KCkhRA

The annual Northampton Women's March, which attracts thousands of people every year, is moving to Springfield. “It will be on January 18,” Rachel Maiore told the Valley Post on November 19. She's the main organizer. “What a gift it’s been to develop relationships with community leaders in the Springfield area.”

Details are at www.PioneerValleyWomensMarch.org.

In Brattleboro on November 3 there will be a rally to call on congress to remove Trump from office. Among his likely crimes are sexually assaulting women, failing to pay taxes -- Trump is a billionaire -- and using taxpayer money to bribe leaders of foreign nations to help Trump get re-elected. The rally starts at 2 p.m. at Pliny Park at the corner of Main and High streets. As of October 30 about 30 people had RSVP'd. Details are at:

www.facebook.com/events/2960179400874665

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Proving the power of collective action, a group of college students in Northampton scored a major victory against climate change. On October 18, Smith College announced it will stop buying stock in fossil fuel companies and will sell the stock the college owns in those companies. More than $100 million of Smith College's $1.9 billion in savings is invested in fossil fuel companies. The students used rallies to pressure the college to divest.

On October 5 a land trust announced it had saved 350 acres of forestland in two towns that border Northampton. Kestrel Land Trust permanently protected the land in Westhampton and Williamsburg. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every day.

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The following local newspapers are owned by out-of-state corporations: Hampshire Gazette, Amherst Bulletin, Brattleboro Reformer, Springfield Republican, Greenfield Recorder, and Valley Advocate. The corporations that own these newspapers are run undemocratically. Other news organizations are run democratically. A group in Northampton that works nationally to improve local journalism had a major victory this summer when officials with the state of New Jersey announced the state will invest $2 million in local journalism.

About 450 people attended rallies in Northampton and Brattleboro on May 21. The rallies were calling on politicians to guarantee women's right to safe, legal abortions. “We had a great turnout,” Debby Pastrich-Klemer told the Valley Post. She was the MC at the Northampton rally. About 300 people were there, Pastrich-Klemer said.