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It would have been outlandish to suggest that a small region like Gaza, seemingly bereft of significant natural resources, political will of its own, and let alone sovereignty, would become the world’s most significant geopolitical spot on earth. 

 The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and the legendary resistance of the Palestinian people, however, have changed our calculation - or perhaps miscalculation - regarding what a besieged nation can achieve, in terms of collective resistance, in fact changing the rules of the game altogether. 

 However, it is still early to fully fathom the surely significant possible outcomes of the current upheaval resulting from the Gaza war and Resistance.

 While Israel and the United States are desperate to return to the status quo model, which existed in the Middle East prior to October 7, the newly emerging Palestinian leadership is keen on introducing a new era of international relations, namely new geopolitical players, who could, in turn, rope in new allies, with their own political ambitions and economic interests. 

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Love and Happiness 

Sheila ordered a gin and juice from David, the bartender, and laid a dollar on the counter. She glanced at her watch and saw she had about two hours before her girls would get out of school. David made her drink, set a napkin on the counter in front of her and sat the drink down.

“How you been doing, Sister?”

“I’m cool, Dave. How you?”

“Doing all right, hanging in there, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Lupe Gonzalo
The Packer: “Drawing on her experience with the Fair Food Program, Gonzalo has helped to train, mentor and educate workers from other regions and industries on the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility model.”“Gonzalo also was a member of the CIW team working with Futures Without Violence, which collaborated with CIW and other Fair Food Program partners on the first sexual harassment training curriculum for the agricultural sector in the U.S.”

As 2023 draws to a close, farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are celebrating the organization’s 30th anniversary. In the last 30 years, the CIW — which began as a loose gathering of farmworkers meeting weekly in a borrowed church hall in the small, crossroads town of Immokalee — has grown in size and success to become the founder of the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program, the leading social responsibility program in the US agricultural industry today, and of the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model, the new paradigm for human rights protection in global supply chains to which the FFP gave rise.

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In response to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s review of its proposed constitutional amendment to protect voting rights, the coalition supporting the amendment released the following statement:

"We are disappointed to see the Attorney General reject what we think was indeed a fair and accurate summary of our proposed amendment, but we remain undeterred from moving forward with our ultimate commitment to putting an amendment on the ballot that will ensure secure and fair elections for all Ohioans,” Molly Shack, Executive Director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, said for the Coalition. “We know Ohioans are ready to put necessary protections in our state constitution that guarantee we all have equal paths to the ballot box and that our democracy is accessible to all of us.”

This amendment is an Ohio Voters Bill of Rights that will expand voter participation by creating automatic and same-day voter registration, protect against discriminatory barriers to the ballot box, and ensure Ohio’s elections remain secure and fair without sacrificing equitable access to the polls for all voters.

Kids putting a sign on a tree

Global challenges are grounded in local places. The health and vitality of every single community, every single child, every single acre of land, every single tree is important to creating a livable future. Every single local effort to do so is significant.

This is why I personally intervene to protect communities and people’s quality of life. Here, in Cleveland, I’m working with local homeowners to save a grove of mature, legacy trees from being destroyed by the local school board, even though a deed restriction protects the trees and the parkland on which they stand.

Today, as we prepare for a new, more hopeful, peaceful, New Year, I appeal to you on behalf of the Cudell community residents in Cleveland, Ohio, for public help in funding the court case to save the trees.  

My wife, Elizabeth, and I paid the bond to halt the cutting down of 50 trees in the Cudell neighborhood park. We have attended each several court hearings in support of the people. The people trying to save their park and the trees have one lawyer. The school board has six!

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