Below is a selection of upcoming events in Vermont relevant to the left.
Almost a hundred gathered at a vigil in front of Burlington City Hall late afternoon on Friday, November 25th to commemorate the lives lost in Israel’s wave of military and settler violence brought on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Speakers and attendees called for a true ceasefire, not a humanitarian pause, as the first step to ending decades of bloodshed and apartheid.
Watching local Vermont Jewish organizations react to the crisis in Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests in Burlington with victimization, dehumanizing language, and even the outright rejection of anti-Zionist Jews as members of the broader Vermont Jewish community, has affirmed to me, an anti-Zionist trans woman and Jewish Vermonter, that Zionism has completely hollowed out generations of Jewish values, even in Vermont.
A dozen protesters have disrupted a fundraising event for Vermont U.S. Representative Becca Balint in Burlington. The action, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace of Vermont and New Hampshire, is part of an international day of action calling for a ceasefire to end the bombing, siege, and invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces.
As Israel continues its ongoing siege and bombing of Palestinians in Gaza, and the death toll passes a grim 10,000, Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders continues to refuse to call for a ceasefire. To many inspired by Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential bids, it has been a legacy-tarnishing moment for someone who stood as the key figurehead of a growing left movement in the United States.
Over 1,000 gathered and marched from Battery Park through downtown Burlington on Saturday afternoon to support human rights for Palestinians and oppose Israeli apartheid as the ongoing bombing, siege, and invasion of Gaza — and escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank — continues.
Below is a selection of upcoming events in Vermont relevant to the left.
Halloween-themed signs and chants accompanied yesterday’s rally in support of unionizing graduate student workers at the University of Vermont. Despite the rain, more than one hundred grad students and allies attended the event.
UVM administrators have abruptly canceled the appearance of Mohammed el-Kurd, a Palestinian journalist and poet, mere days before his scheduled event, citing safety and security concerns, but campus community members aren’t satisfied with that rationale.
“Free, free Palestine!” echoed across downtown Burlington Saturday afternoon as more than 200 gathered at a rally on the steps of City Hall to oppose Israeli apartheid and support justice and human rights for Palestinians.