Sunday, July 17, 2011

An Upcoming Tuesday Protest, and a Quick Update

(1) This isn't an official SSU event, but a comrade has asked us to spread the word: Louisville Jewish Voice for Peace is organizing a protest in Lexington for Tuesday, July 19, at 4pm at the TIAA-CREF office at 2365 Harrodsburg Road/South Creek Park. It is part of a national day of action sponsored by a range of organizations, calling on TIAA-CREF to divest from companies that are producing weapons and military surveillance technology for the Israeli military. All are welcome; please spread the word. For more information about the local protest, contact Russ Greenleaf at 256-525-5290 or e-mail russgreenleaf@yahoo.com. For more information about the national campaign, visit http://wedivest.org.



(2) A quick update on the campaign for justice for the Florida tomato pickers: a few weeks ago, three SSUers went up to Cincinnati for a protest at the national office of Kroger, at Kroger's annual shareholders' meeting. We met with some activists from Ohio Fair Food campaign, the Cincinnati Interfaith Worker Center, and a delegate from a Florida group that's been working with the Immokalee Workers. Although Kroger is still recalcitrant, a Kroger representative did tell the activists' delegate at the shareholders meeting that Kroger knows there are customers concerned about the issue and that they are watching, keeping track of how much concern customers are showing. Let's keep the pressure on! Many thanks to the Lexington chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth for getting lots of postcard signatures in support of the campaign! It's been a pleasure collaborating with KFTC and other organizations to build a multi-organization campaign for farmworker justice!