Between The Lines - Luz Catarineau Colville and Mark Colville: New Haven’s Amistad Catholic Worker House Celebrates 20 Years of Community Activism (Week Ending Aug. 7, 2015)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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New Haven’s Amistad Catholic Worker House Celebrates 20 Years of Social Justice Activism

Posted July 29, 2015

Interview with Luz Catarineau and Mark Colville, Amistad Catholic Worker, New Haven, CT, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

The Catholic Worker movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933, believes in responding to the material and spiritual needs of the poor by offering food, shelter, and prayer gatherings, but also by confronting the structural economic and political injustices in America that make poverty and violence possible. There are more than 200 Catholic Worker communities that provide social services in cities across the U.S.

Luz and Mark Colville founded the New Haven, Connecticut Amistad Catholic Worker House in 1994, in one of the city’s poorest, most dangerous neighborhoods. There they raised four children, the youngest of whom is 11. The couple got to know their neighbors and took part in local and regional protests against war, homelessness, police violence, among other issues.

Mark Colville, who has been arrested many times in civil disobedience actions was among hundreds arrested during peaceful protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. Police conduct was so egregious that those arrested won a civil settlement 10 years later. With the $14,000 won in the lawsuit, the Colvilles decided to throw a big party at New Haven’s premier park to celebrate the Amistad House's 20th anniversary. Hundreds attended the afternoon beach party and the evening dinner dance. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with both Luz and Mark Colville and asked them to share a bit of history of their social activism and priorities.

MARK COLVILLE : Even though we have a roof that’s starting to leak and needs to be replaced, we felt that for various reasons it was important to seize this moment to celebrate – to celebrate victories, celebrate the movement, celebrate the struggle that all of us are involved in. So we decided to use a good chunk of this money to throw a party for the 20th anniversary of the Amistad Catholic Worker. So that’s what we did.

BETWEEN THE LINES: One thing I remember as a reporter was, you lived, especially years ago, in a pretty dangerous neighborhood, and there were people next door dealing drugs. AndI remember you put up a sign that said, “Please get help” and “don’t sell drugs.” And right around that time, you got a bullet through one of your rooms, which happened to be the room where your infant son was sleeping. And you organized this big march that went around the neighborhood in the evening and made the point that you weren’t going to tolerate it, that it wasn’t good for the neighborhood, that it wasn’t good for you. That was one of my highlights. And am I right that the drug dealing next door ceased?

LUZ COLVILLE: Oh, yes. So, it was ECCO, Elm City Congregations Organized, and it was all their dues-paying members and lay organizations got their people out there, and we had a candlelight vigil in our neighborhood calling out the drug dealers and saying we would not stand for this violence in our neighborhood. The drug dealers were out there, present, and they were all laughing at the beginning because there was only a trickle of candles at the beginning. Then all of a sudden you see this flood of candles coming through, hundreds of candles coming through the corner of Morris Street. It was just amazing. And Mark called the drug dealers out by name, saying this will not happen in this neighborhood. We have kids that we’re raising, other neighbors are raising their kids, and it’s time for it to stop. And pretty much, people took notice. Now it’s no longer hidden in darkness, and everyone started to feel confident that this is my neighborhood. And that’s what it was all about; it was about empowering our neighbors to say, I have a right to be safe. And so, we weren’t instigating a problem here, we were just trying to help people see that everyone has a right to live in their own neighborhood, as safe as possible.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, my understanding of how the Catholic Worker operates is that there’s sort of two tracks. One is meeting people’s everyday needs by providing food and clothing and other things that people can come and get once a week, and the food is every day, or Monday through Friday. And then there is the speaking truth to power, and I know that Mark has been arrested so many times you probably can’t keep track. But just talk about that a little bit, Mark, some of the things you’ve done over the years, and you’ve served some serious jail time as part of that.

MARK COLVILLE: Well, first of all, we have an open door for meals, and that’s where everything starts. Everything we get involved in both as individuals and as a community, it all starts at the table, what we call a common table, and everybody’s invited to come and break bread together. And we use that moment, we use those meals, as a way, first of all, of people getting to know each other, and secondly, people learning how to share their burdens with each other and to carry the other person’s burden. And so when we get involved in social issues, it’s all an outgrowth of the relationships that are nurtured in the breaking of bread.

In the Catholic Worker movement there is a very rich history and tradition of anti-war action, non- violent action against war and the various other forms of violence against the poor. So groups of us, small groups of us, have often been involved in acts of resistance against violence and injustice and poverty and the impoverishment of people. As somebody trying to be a Christian, I feel a strong imperative to really look at the law and how the law justifies immorality and crimes against humanity, and to stand on the other side of that law. And so we’ve been involved in various kinds of movements over the years at the Amistad house, from the Plowshares movement to the anti-torture movement, and of course, resisting all the numerous invasions that our country has been involved, our military has been involved in, since 1994, when we first organized.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, going forward for the next 20 years, Luz, what do you see as your job, or what’s your vision for the Amistad Catholic Worker in the Hill neighborhood in the city of New Haven?

LUZ COLVILLE: I think what’s really great about the Amistad Catholic Worker is that we sort of move with the flow and respond to people in crisis. So there is no hidden agenda, there is no planned agenda. You sort of have to move forward and live day to day. I’m not home all the time; I do work outside of the household to supplement the income of our community to make sure the bills are paid so our house can say open so people can come in and have their needs met. But I’m there for the long haul.

Learn more about the Catholic Worker Movement in America by visiting amistadcw.wordpress.com.