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! 

Vermont Palestine Conference:

The Struggle for Land and Liberation

Old North End Community Center

20 Allen St, Burlington, VT

October 19, 2024

10am to 7pm

Register at this link for our state-wide educational and activist conference about the struggle to free Palestine. It is free and open to the public, but we encourage those who can to donate $10 to defray costs. To protect the health of all attending, masks will be required. The ONE Center’s building and parking lot is ADA accessible. The ONE Center also has gender neutral bathrooms. Thanks to the People’s Kitchen, the conference will provide a Halal lunch including vegan options for all attending. We encourage everyone who can to donate to the People’s Kitchen to support their work. 

Schedule

9am Registration Opens

10am – 11:30am:  Palestine Today: War, Genocide, Resistance & Solidarity

Speakers: Ashley Smith, Aria Aber, Samia Abbas & Kali Akuno 

12pm – 1pm:  Lunch Break

1pm -- 2:30pm Workshop Block 1

Palestine 101: Colonization & Resistance

Speakers: A Palestinian resident of Vermont and a Member of Jewish Voice for Peace

Dismantling the Colonial-Carceral State: Abolitionists for Palestinian Liberation

Speakers: Jayna Ahsaf & Jonathan Elwell 

Land & Food Sovereignty in the Struggle for Liberation

Speakers: Henry Nichols, Nils Mccune, & Yasmeen El-Hasan

Organizing Apartheid Free Communities, Ballot Measures, & the Fight for BDS

Speakers: Paul Fleckenstein, Willow Butler, & Zoe Jannuzi

Defending our Civil Rights & Resisting the New McCarthyism

Speakers: John Franco & Will Cornish

3pm – 4:30pm Workshop Block 2

An Injury to One is an Injury to All: Labor for Palestine

Speakers: Heather Bowan, Calum Buchanan, & Theo Weeland 

Skilling up for Hard Conversations: An Interactive Workshop

Speakers: Debra Stoleroff & Jason Hersch

No Pride in Genocide: Fighting for Queer & Palestinian Liberation

Speaker: Vivan Bose-Pyne

Migrant Justice Knows No Borders: From Palestine to Mexico Border Walls Have Got to Go

Speakers: Madeline Sharrow & Marita Canedo, 

We Will Not Stop, We Will Not Rest: The Fight for Divestment on Campus

Speakers: Athena Antippas, Logan Roots, Rowan Wade, & Antonio Golán

5pm – 6pm: Building the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation

Speakers: Michele Eddleman McCorkmick, Helen Scott, Wafic Faour, & Fhar Miess 

6pm - 7pm Social 

Sponsored by the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation

FAQ:

Who is this for?
Any and all who are interested in learning more about Palestinian liberation and intersecting struggles/causes, as well as what the struggle for liberation looks like in Vermont. This is a space for seasoned organizers and also anyone brand new to the cause!

Why should I come?
Come if you would like to learn more about both Palestinian liberation and also interconnected Vermont specific struggles for liberation, if you want to strategize, and/or if you want to connect with others who care about Palestinian liberation. There will be lots of information at the conference to help you figure out “what’s next” for you if you would like to get more involved!

How much does it cost?
It is FREE and open to the public, but we encourage those who can to donate $10 to help defray costs. (It is 100% volunteer lead and all donations will go towards facility costs, materials, etc)

Is food provided?
Yes! Lunch will be provided by the People’s Kitchen. It will be 100% halal with vegan options available. We encourage everyone who is able to donate to the People’s Kitchen to enable them to sustain their work.
We will have some life refreshments available later in the day as well but you are welcome to bring some of your own snacks as well.

Accessibility:

-        The Community Center is ADA accessible including in their parking options, entrances, elevators, and bathrooms

-        Gender neutral bathrooms are available on each level

-        Masks will be required by all who attend (it will not be possible to mask during the lunch portion but there will be separate conference rooms available during that time where masks will still be required for anyone who needs a mask required space)

-        Please inform us on the registration if you have any other specific access needs including religious or cultural and we will do our best to accommodate!

Are kids welcome?
Yes! Kids are very welcome. Free childcare will be offered during the plenary sessions (10-11:30am and 5-6pm) and kids are welcome to attend any of the other portions with adult supervision. (Children are also welcome to attend the plenaries but they likely won’t be very engaging for kids).

Will there be recordings available?
There will be recordings of the opening and closing plenaries. They will be available at (coming soon!). While we won’t be able to reproduce the same level of connection opportunities that will happen in-person at the conference, we recommend you attend the next VCPL meeting you are able to (listed under events on this website) as the next best thing!

I can’t come for the whole day – is that okay?
Absolutely! You are welcome to come to whatever portion you are able to.

Suggestions for what to bring with you:

• Something to take notes on

• A pen

• A mask

• A water bottle (refill station available on site)

• Snacks (we will provide some as well) 

How do I get there/is there parking available?

Parking is available at the ONE Center parking lot and on side streets.

I have more questions!
Please email us at vcplconference@proton.me

We hope to see you there! 

Volunteer to Staff Vermont Palestine Conference

We need everyone who can to volunteer to organize and staff our conference on Saturday, Oct 19th in Burlington. Please fill out this form. Indicate which areas you would be interested in helping with and a member of the coalition will follow-up with more details. There are many ways to contribute even if you aren't sure you will be able to attend in-person on the 19th - please fill out the form even if you can't confirm your ability to attend yet!

At our meeting, we’ll discuss building the state-wide conference on October 19 and update everyone on the Apartheid Free Community campaign for organizational affiliations and ballot measures. 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 resistance for a free Palestine!

At our meeting, we’ll assess our participation in Burlington’s Pride Parade, discuss plans for the state-wide conference on October 19, and update everyone on the Apartheid Free Community campaign for organizational affiliations and ballot measures. 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 resistance for a free Palestine!

Join VCPL’s contingent at this year’s Pride Parade, defend the Pride Center against Zionist attacks, and build solidarity for Queer and Palestinian liberation. We will have a float, banners, and placards. Come early, help set up, and also volunteer to help staff the Parade. Look out for more details about the exact assembly location and march route once they’re released by the Parade organizers. Join us in the fight for collective liberation! Until all of us are free, none of us are free!

At our meeting, we’ll plan our contingent at Burlington's Pride Parade, the state-wide conference in October, and the Apartheid Free Community campaign for organizational affiliations and ballot measures. 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 resistance for a free Palestine!