Join Us: IMV Monthly Meeting Sunday

Feb 21

IMV Meeting Sunday 1:30 pm

We are looking forward to seeing everyone for our February 2025 meeting! We'll be reviewing what's going on locally, in Albany, and in Washington and how we can take action.

IMV February 2025 Meeting
Sunday, Feb. 23rd, 1:30-3:30 pm
New Hartford Public Library (Sammon room, the big room at the lower level)
2 Library Lane, New Hartford

Agenda for this meeting includes
1) What we can do to resist the Trump/Musk administration and the Republican congress
2) Structured & interactive planning session for a local public demonstration related to the protecting the Department of Education
3) Announcements/Updates: NY21 election, Climate, Petitioning

We are now starting our 9th year of monthly meetings. And these meetings are where we connect with each and where our work gets done. We make political activism local, bite-size, and fun! See you on Sunday.

IMV and Senator Schumer Invite You to a Healthcare Fight Organizing Call

Cutting $2 trillion in healthcare and programs that families need to then give $4.5 trillion in cuts to billionaires and wealthy corporations is what the Republicans want, which means that it’s up to all of us to stop it. How are we going to do that? You’re fired up to make a difference, come find out at the Healthcare Fight Rally Call with Leader Schumer on Wednesday, February 26th at 8pm.

You’re invited to come and get a behind-the-scenes look on what’s going on in Congress with the Republican extremist plan to cut healthcare to give even more money to the richest people on the planet. We’ll hear stories of how this will negatively impact New Yorkers if Republicans get their way, and how we are going to organize together to fight back. Join fellow activists, organizers, advocates and labor leaders from across NY for this must-attend event with Senator Chuck Schumer. Register here for our Wednesday, February 26th at 8pm call. This call will not be recorded.

Mark Your Calendar for Two New Events

Don't miss registering for these two events new to the calendar. If you want to meet Blake in person, then email your RSVP. And if you are willing to write an LTE for him--or on any topic that is motivating you right now (threats to financial and personal data from DOGE? Federal workers losing jobs? Loss of federal agencies and their mission critical functions in our lives? You get the idea)--then be sure to register for Sarah's LTE Zoom so you can write an effective letter!

Sunday, March 2, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, Meet & Greet with Blake Gendebien, Candidate for NY21. Copper City Community Connection, 305 E. Locust St, Rome. RSVP to: Atopi4@verizon.net

Thursday, March 6th, 6:30-7:30pm, Letter to the Editor Training. Join Indivisible Organizer for NYS, Sarah Reeske, for a training on how to craft a strong letter-to-the-editor to share your personal stories you are passionate about. All experience levels are welcome. Example topics provided will be supporting the NY21 Democratic candidate Blake Gendebien for the upcoming special election, and the healthcare cuts fight. You're welcome to bring your own topic! Register HERE

Updates on Events This Past Week

NY21 Meet-n-Greet with Blake Gendebien
600 people showed up for this Indivisible zoom organized by Sarah Reeske. Many of the attendees live in NY21, some were from counties in NY21 but who live outside the district--like residents of Southern Oneida county, and some were from across NY but are determined to help flip NY21 in the Special Election. The verdict? Blake Gendebien is the real deal! Several people said that he inspired them more than any congressional candidate they've seen for a long time. Blake is rooted in his community and he is a good listener. He likes making connections with people, and he speaks plainly about what people in places like Rome and the North Country really want and need.

Indivisible OneNYS Zoom
We had a great statewide call on Wednesday night for NY Indivisibles. Thanks for being a part of it. Here's the agenda, which includes new linked resources. Check them out.

One critical thing we heard about was that the month of March is going to be focused on a fight to save healthcare from the Republicans in Congress. We have just four weeks (with a reconciliation deadline of 3/27) to make Republicans scrap their plan to cut $2 trillion in cuts that will impact Medicaid, SNAP, rural hospitals and more. This is like the ACA fight of 2017, but we've got to do it in a month. Let's make history and save lives.

Many thanks to Kim Snyder, group leader from Indivisible New Rochelle who presented about best practices to keep individuals and our groups safe from a data protection lens.

Congressional Recess
It was the Syracuse area that lifted up the good work that Rep. Mannion has been doing in Congress. Citizen Action hosted and local labor groups participated in a rally with Mannion to call attention to the catastrophic threat of job loss for federal workers and what that means for communities. Although the event had to be postponed from Monday to Tuesday because of weather, it was a successful event and demonstrated collaboration among community activists, labor unions, and our Democratic Congressman who is fighting the illegal actions of this administration. We encourage everyone to amplify the event in your social media accounts!

Inspiration and Reminders

Indivisible Co-Founders Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin's piece, How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch, in The Nation this week got top billing on The Rachel Maddow Show this week. Here's the ending that she quoted in full:

"These are frightening times, and frightening times call for active, courageous leadership. Musk and Trump are really seeking to annex the operations of the state to their pet vanity projects, bigotries, and conspiracy theories , but our enemy is not one or two men. Our enemy is apathy, cynicism, and fatalism; the pernicious, authoritarian-friendly belief that we are merely victims of world events rather than active participants in a global struggle for freedom and justice. Every time one of us—a family member, a community organizer, a representative, a senator—takes a step forward in this fight, a thousand pairs of eyes watch and learn. Courage is contagious.

Take that step, and steel yourself with the knowledge that you are the defender of a 250-year experiment in self-governance—a real-life pluralistic democracy, imperfect as it is, striving to be more perfect. Our predecessors deposed a brain-addled king; they crushed the violent insurrectionists of a slaveholding confederacy; they forced the robber barons to contend with workers and unions; they kicked the Nazis’ asses throughout Europe; they broke the back of the southern segregationist political bloc; they fought back against the terrorizing forces at Stonewall. We have planted ourselves in stubborn opposition to monomaniacal fascists of one form or another for a quarter of a millennium. No entitled reality-TV has-been backed by an addle-brained billionaire who cheats at video games is going to roll over us now.

We will not finish this fight, but we can each be damn sure to do our part while we’re here. Together, we are the opposition, and this is our republic—if we can keep it. This is the part where we keep it."

So, we're asking you to take at least one step this week...and if you can, to take one action every day, forward in this fight. The calendar is full of opportunities! If you need a quick way to check off your list: we recommend:

1. Make a Call. Every Day. Use the 5Calls App or bookmark Indivisible's page. (Scroll down the page to see the calls you can make.)

2. Write an LTE to local newspapers. Not sure how? Sign up for the workshop on Zoom.

3. Come to our meeting on Sunday, Feb. 23rd. 1:30-3:30 pm. You'll connect, learn, and steel your self with the knowledge that you are in the fight.

We were made for this moment.
Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Breathe, then PUSH.
No one let go of anyone's hand.

Follow us on Bluesky: @Indivisiblemv.bsky.social, on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv and of course on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.