Report Back From Global March to Gaza

Fhar Miess Speaks

July 16, 6pm 

Brattleboro, VT 

Register for location and zoom option here

Fhar Miess, a member of Southern VT for Palestine and VCPL, joined thousands of people from across the globe in Cairo to march to the border with Gaza. They had intended to break the Israeli siege and protest the genocide. But the Egyptian regime blocked the march, subjecting organizers and participants to surveillance, arrests, beatings, kidnappings, and deportation. They even prevented the activists from peacefully assembling in Cairo.

Fhar will report back on his experiences and share lessons learned for organizing in repressive conditions. The event will be hybrid, with the physical location in Brattleboro and the Zoom link to be shared out prior to the event. Please register here for the location and, if you want to join by zoom, select the remote option. 

Come to the VCPL Meeting!

Saturday, June 21, 1pm

Burlington’s Friends Meeting House

173 North Prospect St, Burlington

Zoom forthcoming

Join VCPL’s meeting this Saturday! We’ll talk about our huge success in raising the profile of Palestine at the No Kings Rally, talk about how to respond to the US and Israel war on Iran, brainstorm ideas for July 3rd in Montpelier, and discuss plans in our campaigns to free Mahmoud Khalil, pass more free speech resolutions, get Apartheid Free Communities on more ballots, and launch BDS in towns and institutions throughout the state. After our general body discussion, we’ll break up into our working groups. Join us, stop the genocide, end Israeli apartheid, and free Palestine! 

Emergency Rally: No War on Iran!

End all US Aid to Israel! 

Wednesday, June 18, 6pm

Top of Church St

Burlington, VT 

Having spent the past 20 months committing a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, while invading and bombing both Lebanon and Syria, and carrying out airstrikes against Yemen, the Israeli regime has lit the fuse for a wider, regional war that could easily morph into a global conflict by launching a major, illegal bombing campaign against the people of Iran. Come to the top of Church Street at 6pm where we will strategize, hear from a lightning-quick group of speakers to guide us about what we can do in these times, and loudly and proudly declare that Vermonters want their needs met, and do NOT support the US sending billions to bomb even MORE children.

Emergency Rally: Free Nacho and Heidi!

Monday, June 16, 6:30pm

Vermont Statehouse

115 State St., Montpelier

This Saturday as tens of thousands of Vermonters protested Donald’s Trump’s authoritarian rule and assault on immigrants, his Border Patrol agents arrested and detained two Migrant Justice leaders in Franklin County. They pulled their car over, smashed its windows, and violently detained Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz and his stepdaughter and recent Milton high school graduate Heidi Perez. At the No Kings Rally, we all promised to defend everyone under attack without exception. Now is the time to deliver on that pledge. All out to free Nacho and Heidi! No human being is illegal!

No Kings, No Bosses, No Borders!

VCPL Feeder March to the No Kings Rally

June 14, 11:30am 

City Hall, 149 Church St., Burlington VT

Join VCPL’s feeder march to 50501 and Indivisible’s No Kings Rally in Burlington. It is part of a national day of action against Donald Trump’s military parade in DC on his birthday. There will be actions throughout the state with the largest planned for Burlington’s waterfront park, where thousands are expected. It will feature freed Palestinian political prisoner, Mohsen Mahdawi, along with politicians, activists, and union members. Come to our rally along with Free Her, Migrant Justice, and unions and march to the No Kings demonstration to protest Trump’s authoritarian program, Washington’s bipartisan genocide in Palestine, and the bosses’ attack on workers, migrants, trans people, people of color, women, and all the oppressed. We must fight not only Trump but the whole ruling class in a struggle for collective liberation here and throughout the world. Bring signs, banners, and Palestinian flags. None of us are free until all of us are free!

From LA to Burlington: ICE out of our Communities!

June 10, 6pm 

City Hall Park

Burlington, VT

Last week, the Trump administration ordered ICE raids on workplaces in LA to arrest and deport migrants, triggering mass protests from the city’s multiracial working class. ICE and the LAPD responded with brutal repression and arrests, including of SEIU union leader David Huerta. Trump has mobilized the California National Guard to LA, his advisor Steven Miller is threatening further deployments elsewhere if people resist ICE raids, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has floated the idea of sending in the Marines. With our democracy in peril, we call on everyone, especially union members, to oppose Trump’s authoritarian repression, defend immigrant rights, and get ICE out of our cities and state. Join the emergency protest on Tuesday at 6pm at Burlington’s City Hall Park. An injury to one is an injury to all! Solidarity is the only way to win! 

Join VCPL at People’s Pride

June 7, 12 noon

Battery Park, Burlington

Join VCPL at this year’s People’s Pride. We will have flags, banners, and a speaker as part of the rally and march. There will be an art build and workshops at 11am. The march will start at 12:30 and culminate with speakers at City Hall at 1pm followed by a full afternoon of performances and tabling. We embrace People’s Pride and their call to “join us to tie the struggles together, emphasize solidarity, show the power we have collectively, and celebrate our queer identities and lives." Until all of us are free, none of us are free. 

Tickets at the door.

Confused by the news? Want to watch a real and current story, produced by a Palestinian and an Israeli, about defending people from the destruction of their homes and forced displacement? Join us for showings of the Oscar winning documentary, No Other Land. It captures the resilience of the Palestinian community in Masafer Yatta, West Bank. Filmed over several years, it chronicles activist Basel Adra's efforts to document and resist the forced displacement of his village by Israeli forces. Collaborating with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, the film offers an intimate look at friendship, resistance and the human cost of oppression. Celebrated for its unflinching portrayal of life under occupation, No Other Land has garnered international acclaim for shedding light on stories often overlooked.

Get tickets: https://savoytheater.com/purchase/255718/

Hybrid — join on zoom or at the Friend’s Meeting House in Burlington

Nakba Day Vigils

Thursday, May 15:
Montpelier, 12pm, State House Lawn
Burlington, 5pm, City Hall Park
Brattleboro, 5:30pm, Pliny Park

On Nakba Day, May 15, please join us in remembrance, grief, and continued solidarity with the Palestinian people. In commemoration of the Nakba, we invite you to create memorials for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered and displaced by the State of Israel (and Zionist paramilitaries prior to its creation) since 1948. If you would like to contribute, please bring items such as candles, flowers, drawings, photos, shoes, shrouds, signs, flags, and more. We welcome your creativity in expressing our shared grief and solidarity.

Tickets at the door. Suggested donation of $10. Proceeds go to Masafer Yatta.

Confused by the news? Want to watch a real and current story, produced by a Palestinian and an Israeli, about defending people from the destruction of their homes and forced displacement? Join us for showings of the Oscar winning documentary, No Other Land. It captures the resilience of the Palestinian community in Masafer Yatta, West Bank. Filmed over several years, it chronicles activist Basel Adra's efforts to document and resist the forced displacement of his village by Israeli forces. Collaborating with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, the film offers an intimate look at friendship, resistance and the human cost of oppression. Celebrated for its unflinching portrayal of life under occupation, No Other Land has garnered international acclaim for shedding light on stories often overlooked.

Nakba Day Vigils

Thursday, May 15:
Montpelier, 12pm, State House Lawn
Burlington, 5pm, City Hall Park
Brattleboro, 5:30pm, Pliny Park

On Nakba Day, May 15, please join us in remembrance, grief, and continued solidarity with the Palestinian people. In commemoration of the Nakba, we invite you to create memorials for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered and displaced by the State of Israel (and Zionist paramilitaries prior to its creation) since 1948. If you would like to contribute, please bring items such as candles, flowers, drawings, photos, shoes, shrouds, signs, flags, and more. We welcome your creativity in expressing our shared grief and solidarity.

Nakba Day Vigils

Thursday, May 15:
Montpelier, 12pm, State House Lawn
Burlington, 5pm, City Hall Park
Brattleboro, 5:30pm, Pliny Park

On Nakba Day, May 15, please join us in remembrance, grief, and continued solidarity with the Palestinian people. In commemoration of the Nakba, we invite you to create memorials for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered and displaced by the State of Israel (and Zionist paramilitaries prior to its creation) since 1948. If you would like to contribute, please bring items such as candles, flowers, drawings, photos, shoes, shrouds, signs, flags, and more. We welcome your creativity in expressing our shared grief and solidarity.

Emergency mobilization!! The Trump administration’s request to appeal Rumeysa’s transfer to Vermont was denied! Now, her bail hearing is scheduled for Friday morning in Burlington. We will take to the streets outside her hearing to demand freedom for Rumeysa and an end to these attempts to silence our movement!

The Trump administration has launched a war on working people. Trump, Musk, and their fellow oligarchs are ripping up union contracts, denying workers the right to collective bargaining, laying off thousands, and slashing social programs. To get away with this all-out assault, they are trying to divide and conquer us, scapegoating migrants, people of color, trans people, and Palestine solidarity activists. But the labor movement will unite, resist the Trump administration, and defend everyone under attack. We know that an injury to one is an injury to all! 

This May Day we will rally and march in Williston, Vermont in solidarity with Migrant Justice’s day-long picket at Hannaford Supermarkets. They are demanding that Hannaford join Milk with Dignity and pay farm workers fair wages and benefits. We will assemble, march past the ICE Data facility, which centralizes and distributes information to immigration authorities and law enforcement throughout the country to arrest and deport migrants, and end with a rally at Hannaford with Migrant Justice.

We call on all unions, faith groups, and organizations to endorse and mobilize for May Day in Williston. We do so in solidarity with all other May Day actions throughout the state from Montpelier to every other town and city. Now more than ever we must revive the tradition of solidarity forged on the first May Day in 1886 that united all workers–migrants and citizens–in a strike for an 8-hour workday. Today, as the rights and living standards of all workers and oppressed groups hang in the balance, we must unite and fight for our collective liberation. Join us! 

Endorsers: AFSCME Local 1674, Cooperation Vermont, Free Her, Green Mountain Democratic Socialists of America, Green Mountain Labor Council, Jewish Voice for Peace VT-NH, Migrant Justice, PPNEUnited, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Tempest Collective, UAW 2322, Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, Vermont Workers Center

Join VCPL for a rally at Mohsen Mahdawi’s second court appearance. At his first one, VCPL in close collaboration with his legal team and groups from all over VT and NH mobilized hundreds of people to fight for his freedom. We encourage all supporters of our first amendment rights and Palestine to build the rally on Wednesday April 23 at 8am. Like Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and others, Mohsen Mahdawi was abducted by immigration authorities. He was detained at his citizenship hearing in Colchester for speaking out against Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine. Bring your co-workers, neighbors, and friends to participate in a protest outside the court building and a silent presence inside to support Mohsen. Defend free speech! Free Mohsen now! Free them all!

Sign the petition to show your support for this resolution by April 28!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSceYqBfQsNYEFQdAbdKF9n4wVgRQOBkNyoh_wrwgpW7sw2nPA/viewform

Mon, April 28 5:30pm Rally + 6:30pm Public Forum

Main Street Landing Film House - 60 Lake Street

Buy tickets —> https://donorbox.org/the-encampments-burlington

When a group of students at Columbia University in New York launch a movement protesting the war in Gaza, they spark a nationwide uprising in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Encampments spring up at hundreds of campuses as students object to their own university’s investment in the US and Israeli arms industry. Featuring detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil, The Encampments takes viewers inside America’s student uprising with incredible intimacy and urgency. Professors, whistleblowers, and student activists shed light on a moment that captivated the nation’s attention and continues to make headlines today.

Directed by Kei Pritsker & Michael T. Workman

Starring Mahmoud Khalil, Sueda Polat, Jamal Joseph, Grant Miner, Maya Abdallah

Your contribution will be processed by Greater Boston Together, Inc., a social welfare organization that supports the work of Boston PSL. 100% of your contributions will be used for the purposes outlined above. Contributions or gifts to Greater Boston Together, Inc. are not tax deductible.

VCPL calls on all supporters of freedom of speech and Palestine to join us for a rally in support of Mohsen Mahdawi at his court appearance on Wednesday April 23 at 8am. Like Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and others, Mohsen Mahdawi was abducted by immigration authorities. He was detained at his citizenship hearing in Colchester for speaking out against Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine. Join us for a protest outside and a silent presence inside the court in support of Mohsen. Defend free speech! Free Mohsen now! Free them all!

Hybrid option TBA

With Trump arresting Palestine solidarity activists and Israel re-launching its genocidal war, we have to re-double our solidarity with the Palestinian people. Join VCPL on Saturday April 19th at 1pm in Burlington to discuss next steps after our AFC victories in towns and cities across the state. Already we have plans in the works for resolutions for the Burlington City Council, new campaigns for AFC, the BDS struggle against Eleos at HCRS, and a May Day protest at ICE in Williston. After our general body discussion, we’ll break up into our working groups. Join us, stop the genocide, free Palestine!

Montpelier: Statehouse Lawn @History Museum, 11:30am

Burlington: April 5th, City Hall, 11:30am

Brattleboro: Post Office, 11:30am

All Other Sites: Look for Palestinian Flags and Signs

All out in Vermont! Organizers in Indivisible have announced Hands Off! protests in cities and towns throughout Vermont on midday on April 5. Find your protest here: https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/?from_map=true&lat=44.00557405141511&lon=-74.0490180276567&zoom=6.5585188208829575. Join Palestine contingents in Montpelier, Burlington, Brattleboro, and other towns!

Organizers are calling for the Trump administration to take their hands off everything from Social Security to unions and immigrants. Palestine, however, is not included in their list of demands. That is a mistake.

Why? Because Trump is using the attack on Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists to carry out his war on higher education, unions, and our first amendment rights to speech, assembly and protest. The new resistance must stand up for all under attack and without exception, especially Palestine. If we leave any chink in our armor of solidarity, Trump will exploit it to all our detriment.

We are calling on all supporters of Palestinian liberation to join VCPL contingents, bring Palestinian flags, and make signs saying, “Hands Off Palestine!,” “Hands Off Palestine Solidarity Activists!,” and “Hands Off the First Amendment!” While the organizers have excluded Palestine, we know that the people support our slogans! The votes throughout the state against Israeli apartheid prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

We have an opportunity and responsibility to make sure that the Palestine solidarity movement merges into the broader resistance Trump’s war on all of us. Palestine will not be excluded. All out on April 5th!

Join us for our organizing meeting! We’ll discuss our plans to intensify our campaign for Apartheid Free ballot measures as well as support the campaign against HCRS that Southern VT for Palestine has launched. We will meet as a large group and then break up into our five working groups—Action, Campaigns, Education, Vermont Labor for Palestine, and Collective Care. Join us, get organized, and build the movement for a free Palestine! 

At this teach-in led by Jewish Voice for Peace and sponsored by Workers United, workers will learn about the myriad ties that bind our struggle for justice in the workplace with the Palestinian struggle for liberation. We will also learn about concrete actions and tactics that empower workers to act in solidarity with Palestine. Speakers will share their knowledge and experience in this intersectional struggle, followed by a Q&A. All workers, union and non-union, are encouraged to attend!

Join us for our organizing meeting. We’ll discuss plans to intensify our campaign for Apartheid Free ballot measures and to support the campaign against Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS) for contracting with the Israeli Firm Eleos that Southern VT for Palestine has launched. We will meet as a large group and then break up into our five working groups—Action, Campaigns, Education, Vermont Labor for Palestine, and Collective Care. Join us, get organized, and build the movement for a free Palestine!