On February 24th at 5am, Russia launched an unprovoked military attack on Ukraine. People all around the country woke up to air raid sirens and bomb explosions. Their lives changed forever. In the following days, Russia deliberately bombed hospitals, kindergartens, densely populated residential areas. Russian troops are ruining the civilian infrastructure, and people are cut off from sources of food and water. Many people are left homeless and forced to flee the country. In this difficult time, we launched Ukraine Forward to supply life-saving resources to people in Ukraine.
Ukraine Forward is an initiative of the Ukrainian American Education Center, a registered 501c(3) nonprofit. The Tax ID number is 80-0311003.
The idea of racism, prejudice, and identity bias is sometimes abstract and fuzzy. This project brings it into focus with powerful stories from your neighbors. Here is the idea:
“Storytelling for change. We believe that for Sudbury to be a place of belonging, it must be a place of equity. Lived Experiences collects local stories to document identity-based experiences, including racism and prejudice, IN SUDBURY—from people who live, study, visit, or work in Sudbury. Our survey is anonymous and—if you want it to be—confidential so that you can tell your story without fear. Our goal is to make Sudbury a better place to live, work, learn—or just be. By understanding the experiences of individuals in our community, we can raise community awareness and collaborate with local advocacy groups and our Select Board to effect change.”
We did it! It passed! Congrats to Sustainable Sudbury and everyone else who made it happen!
Update:
Update: We only got through the first 18 articles last night (May 2). At this rate we’ll need all three continuation dates (tonight (3rd), tomorrow (4th), and the 9th). Let’s hope we can keep a quorum going until Article 58! “Except for the election of Town Officers, no meeting shall be legal unless a quorum is present, and a quorum shall consist of one hundred registered voters; once a quorum has been assembled, the continued existence of a quorum shall be presumed until a count of the voters present, which shall be taken upon the call of seven or more registered voters, establishes that a quorum is not present.“
The Committee considers town politics non-partisan and rarely gets involved (although of course individual members get involved as it suits them). However, at our April 13th meeting we voted to endorse a citizen-led motion, Article 58, for action on the climate crisis at a town level. Hiring a Sustainability Director costs money, but it pays off: Natick hired one and ended up saving a lot more than the project cost. And it helps to save the planet. Here is more information from the petitioner, Alex Vei:
“Dear Friends and Neighbors,
We are very grateful to the Sudbury Democratic Town Committee for their recent endorsement of the Climate Emergency Declaration (Article 58) on the warrant for Sudbury’s 2022 Annual Town Meeting. As many of you know, Town Meeting starts tomorrow evening Monday May 2nd 7:30 PM at the L-S Regional High School.
I invite you (and any voters you can bring) to attend and vote YES on 58, the Climate Emergency Declaration. With your help, we can win this vote and help Sudbury take important actions to urgently respond to the risks posed by climate change.
Not only would Article 58 publicly acknowledge that Climate Action Now must be a priority for our town, it would take steps towards a comprehensive plan and enhanced staffing for sustainability and climate in Sudbury. For more information about Article 58 and the reasons for supporting it, please see: https://www.sustainablesudbury.org/climate-emergency/
As for logistics…I understand not everyone has the time or ability to attend the entire Town Meeting. Notably, Article 58 will be the final article and it may not come up during the first night. Currently planned continuation dates include Tuesday 5/3 and Wednesday 5/4.
To help, we are planning to use e-mail periodically during the Town Meeting to keep people informed of progress through the agenda and be present at the right times. If you’d like to get these e-mail updates, you are most welcome to sign up using: https://tinyurl.com/SudburyCELetter.
Thank you for your consideration of supporting Climate Action Now in Sudbury by voting YES on 58!
Best Wishes, Alex Vai
On Behalf of the Sudbury Climate Emergency Working Group
The annual town elections are on Monday March 28, 2002. There are several changes compared to last year. The covid-era no-excuse mail-in ballot option was not renewed, so the two main choices are in-person and (if you qualify) absentee mail-in. There is a third “emergency” option: if you have been exposed to covid or are sick, you should NOT go to the polling station. Instead call the township on 978-639-3351 for voting options from home.
In addition, to these voting changes, the precincts have also changed.
The Sudbury Democratic Town Committee regards town elections as non-partisan and does not endorse any particular candidate, so Google around, do your own research, and vote your conscience!
As a starting point, here are links to the 2022 League of Women Voters Sudbury Candidates’ Forums:
Access the programs from the www.sudburytv.org or lwvsudbury.org home pages or from the links below. There are five forums: Select Board, L-S, Goodnow Library, Board of Health, and Uncontested Races. Each program is fully indexed. Click on a question or respondent in the indexing to navigate to that part of the program.
Uncontested Races (note: there are some signs for write-in candidates around the town, so “uncontested” might refer to “on the ballot”. For example Richard Williamson, incumbent Sudbury Parks & Recreation Commission member, was omitted from the ballot due some kind of snafu. If you want to vote for him write in his name and his address, 22 Farmstead Lane.)
“Thank you all for coming out today! My name is Tania Vitvitsky, one of the organizers of Sudbury Stands for Democracy, formerly known as the Sudbury Protest Group. For over two- and one-half years, we stood on this same spot protesting the actions and policies of the Trump Regime. You are here because you have watched and read the news, seen photos and videos of the shocking unprovoked attack on a sovereign democratic Ukraine by Russia — with troops and missiles from the north, the south and the east. This is David versus Goliath and so far, with the help of democratic friends and allies, David is holding his own. But this is also much more than a war between two countries. Ukrainians are fighting and dying for the right of sovereign states to choose democracy over autocracy.
Putin wants to drag his country and neighboring countries back to a 19th century style imperialism and colonialism. But Ukrainians want neither a Russian Tsar nor to live in a Russian colony. The people of Ukraine simply want to live their lives in their own country and chart their own future. Unlike their warmongering neighbor to the north and the east, Ukrainians enjoy actual not sham elections, a free press and a vibrant civil society. Now you may ask, why am I holding a strange-looking stringed instrument — this is a bandura, the national instrument of Ukraine and I would like to tell you a story about the men who played this instrument. The tragedy of the Ukrainian kobzars was described in “Testimony,” Dmitri Shostakovich’s memoirs “as related to and edited by” Solomon Volkov, a Russian musical journalist, published in London in 1979. “Since time immemorial, folk singers have wandered along the roads of Ukraine.” Volkov quotes Shostakovich. “They were almost always blind men … but no one ever touched or hurt them… And then in the mid-thirties the First All-Ukrainian Congress of Lirnyks and Bandurists was announced, and all the folk singers had to gather and discuss what to do in the future. ‘Life is better, life is merrier,’ Stalin had said. The blind men believed it. They came to the congress from all over Ukraine, from tiny forgotten villages. There were several hundred of them at the congress, they say. It was a living museum, the country’s living history. All its songs, all its music and poetry, And they were almost all shot, almost all those pathetic blind men killed… In his book the “Harvest of Sorrow” the late scholar Robert Conquest also mentions this assault on Ukraine’s “national heritage.” “The popular and patriotic culture of Ukraine had long been sustained in the countryside by the blind bards — the Kobzars, celebrated by Taras Shevchenko— who wandered from village to village, earning their keep by singing the old national songs and reciting the national ballads. Thus, the peasantry were constantly reminded of their free and heroic past.” So, I say, when your neighbor kills your culture, steals your history, and denigrates your language, the logical next step is to kill the people. And that, tragically, is what is happening now. What can you all do! • As constituents — contact senate and house — keep the pressure on with sanctions and in particular, continuing to freeze Russia’s foreign exchange reserves the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions that would immobilize any assets of the Russian central bank in the United States or held by Americans. The Biden administration estimated that the move could impact “hundreds of billions of dollars” of Russian funding. Biden administration officials said Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, European Union and others have joined the U.S. in targeting the Russian central bank. EVEN THE SWISS! • As donors — the needs are enormous and growing and I keep getting requests for suggestions — working on a list • As consumers – Russia uses fossil fuels as blackmail. YOU can ask liquor stores to dump Russian Vodka — there are plenty of other vodkas And finally, to finish the story of the bandura, you will hear a plea to the Almighty to protect Ukraine, by the Ukrainian National Bandurist Chorus. Thank you. Now, I will ask State Representative Carmine Gentile to say a few words.”
February 28, 2022
Original post:
Our friends over at Sudbury Stands for Democracy (formerly the Sudbury Protest Group) are holding a stand out in support of the people of Ukraine. It will take place on the commons in front of the Sudbury Town Hall (322 Concord Rd, Sudbury MA 01776), on Monday, Feb. 28, from 4 – 5 PM.
It isn’t necessary but if you have them, bring signs or Ukrainian flags or even yellow sunflowers tied with blue ribbons. You can make your own sign by printing this file on nine sheets of regular 8.5 by 11 inch printer paper. Then use scissors and tape and a big piece of cardboard (approx 32 inch by 27 inch) to mount the sheets in a three row by three column pattern.
But don’t hesitate, just come! There will probably be some spares or you can just wave at the passing cars.
CAUCUS WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12 at 10:00 AM (ON ZOOM)
This year’s Convention will be held on Friday, June 3rd and Saturday, June 4th. It will take place at the DCU Center in Worcester, and also virtually, to endorse candidates for statewide office and to unite to elect Democrats down the ballot on November 8th, 2022.
The caucus is open to all Sudbury registered and pre-registered Democrats. Pre-registered Democrats who will be sixteen by February 4th, 2022, will be allowed to participate and run as Delegates or Alternates. Sudbury can elect 12 Delegates and four Alternates to the Convention.
Those interested in getting involved with the SDTC should contact Tania Vitvitsky at info@sudburydemocrats.org.
Update: Despite the weather in the morning, we surpassed last year’s drive with 30 banana boxes filled with an array of food products as well as toiletries. With Peg Espinola, Lisa Kouchakdjian, Marilyn Unger-Riepe and Tania Vitvitsky.
Please bring your own signs. We will meet on the Commons at 4pm January 6, 2022, opposite Sudbury Town Hall, and protest (peacefully obviously) for about an hour. Please wear a mask and observe safe social distance. #trump_equals_sedition
Here are some other ways you can take action, from a listing by mobilize.us.
RallySpotlight on Democracy Hosted by Concord Indivisible for January 6 Vigils for Democracy Monument Square, Concord, MA Rally with Concord Indivisible and our allies to protest the insurrection and plant our collective feet firmly on the ground where democracy in America began. T… Show details Eastern time Thu, Jan 6 · 4–6pm
Community EventJanuary 6 Vigil for Democracy Hosted by Fred V. and 1 others for January 6 Vigils for Democracy One year ago militants attacked our Capitol and tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Since then we have been subjected to the “Big Lie” that the … Show details Eastern time Thu, Jan 6 · 4–5:30pm
RallyJanuary 6 Vigil for Democracy Hosted by Dhruba S. for January 6 Vigils for Democracy Framingham Downtown RT126 and RT135, Framingham, MA It’s been nearly one year since armed right-wing militants attacked our Capitol and tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Since that time the sam… Show details Eastern time Thu, Jan 6 · 6–7pm
Community EventJanuary 6 Vigil for Democracy Hosted by Eric S. for January 6 Vigils for Democracy Whittemore Park (corner of Mass Ave and Pleasant Street) Mystic St, Arlington, MA January 6 was a violent and deadly attack against all Americans – against our country, our democracy, and our freedom as voters to choose the leaders that repre… Show details Eastern time Thu, Jan 6 · 6–7pm
RallyJanuary 6 Vigil for Democracy Hosted by Sharon B. for January 6 Vigils for Democracy 525 Canton Ave, Milton, MA January 6 was a violent and deadly attack against all Americans – against our country, our democracy, and our freedom as voters to choose the leaders that repre… Show details Eastern time Thu, Jan 6 · 5:30–6:30pm
RallyJanuary 6 Vigil for Democracy Hosted by Mary S. for January 6 Vigils for Democracy 111 Park Avenue & Salisbury Street, Institute Park, Worcester, MA January 6 was a violent and deadly attack against all Americans – against our country, our democracy, and our freedom as voters to choose the leaders that repre… Show details Eastern time Thu, Jan 6 · 12–1pm
