2025 Highlights (see newsletters too)

We got our share of sun and music at the Lowell Folk Festival.

in the "Free Speech zone"

Many attended "No Kings" demonstrations

We brought back the Guernica/Gaza banner to Raytheon after Israel escalated.

Our annual donations were mailed out.

Pat Scanlon’s video has been completed and distribution begun. It is on his site at https://patscanlonmusic.com/

Michael Bleiweiss, Pat Scanlon, and Boryana Tacconi, joined Andover Indivisible in meeting with MA State Senator Barry Feingold, MA Rep Tram Nguen, Mass Dem director Alex Bausch, and field director of MA AG, Jess Laverty. The meeting of over a hundred people was called Massachusetts Strong: Building a Blue Wall to Protect Our Liberties.

Members attended rallies in Boston and locally, organized by Common Cause, League of Women Voters, 50/51, and two postal unions. There are weekly standouts in Andover Thursdays 5:30 pm at South Church, and Saturdays in North Andover at the UU church.at 11 am.

We scheduled our annual meeting for May 24, at Barbara’s house.

April 2025

busy, but met May 6.

Immigrants: Allan contacted the Merrimack Valley Project and the Quaker Meeting House in Dover, NH. Boryana reported on Indivisible resources and on repeatedly calling MA elected officials on behalf of Columbia student activist Mahmoud Khalil, arrested by ICE and detained in Louisiana.

There were several minutes of free talk, first about Immigrant's problems, then about the Signal Chat scandal, Trump’s national security advisor Waltz accidently including a journalist on seeing military secrets.

Divestment: Allan has written to MA Representative Tram Nguen and asked for a meeting to discuss H2984 (MA House Bill to require the Pension Reserves Investment Management to divest from companies providing military equipment to Israel.) Tram Nguen is not easily available.

Allan proposed that MVPP work on H 1264/S.767, the bill that would require the Massachusetts administration to divest public pension funds from all entities involved in manufacturing, producing, selling, or promoting weapons of mass destruction.
Many were interested

It seems that we do not have a unified position on Ukraine.

MVPP's weekly vigils at Shawsheen Square and Raytheon are continuing. In addition, members have been at protests in Boston and elsewhere.

The Donation Committee met after the meeting.

Upcoming Events: Hands Off protest,
participation in Pat Scanlon's Climate Change Music Video

Allan Sifferlen reported about MAPA pursuing a State House bill demanding divestment from companies selling weapons to Israel.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the Biden administration for aiding Israel’s war crimes in Palestine.

Some members raised doubts about the utility of peace vigils and protest as they do not seem to affect political realities. Various justifications: clearing one’s own conscience, stopping use of tax dollars for genocide; speaking truth to the authorities; and keeping ideas alive, were offered for continuing the activities.

Boryana and Brian attended a pro-Ukraine rally of a thousand people in Boston on February 24. Boryana attended rallies and a lobbying event with Indivisible Andover.

A group of Quaker congregations is suing the Department of Homeland Security regarding restricting ICE arrests in houses of worship.

We engaged in a heated discussion about the war in Ukraine and Trump’s efforts to end it. All lamented the tremendous loss of life and infrastructure. Some opined that the war could have been avoided by reaching a negotiated settlement. Most were troubled by Trump’s plan to end the war at Ukraine’s expense and did not agree with Trump's blaming Ukraine for starting the war.

The Donations Committee will meet in February.

Some of the attendees who had watched the movie “From Ground Zero” commented on how the experience had affected them.

We discussed life under Trump 2.0, and options for MVPP action. We agreed that joining other activists may be the most productive course.
It was mentioned that the Quakers and ACLU had already filed suits against some of Trump’s executive orders.

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