What Can You Do This Week to Resist Authoritarian Power?
All Roads Lead to Rome & Herkimer This Week
You have your choices of rallies tomorrow, Saturday, August 23rd:
Rome Protect the Vote/Fight Trump Rally
12:00-1:30 pm
East side of Ft. Stanwix (sidewalk along Black River Blvd), Rome
#ReleaseTheFiles #StopTrump #ProtectTheVote
Bring school supplies and non-perishable food to donate to local centers.
Details and registration
Herkimer Rally to Protect Our Rights
5:00-6:30 pm
321 E. Albany St.
Herkimer
Gather with us to stand up for Same sex marriage, Due process for everyone, safe education for our children, health care and social security. We will gather at 321 East Albany street, Herkimer at 5 pm on Saturday August 23. We will be standing on the sidewalk and grassy areas on Route 5 and on Route 28 north.
Details and registration
If Utica is your preferred location, please join the weekly rally at 10 Broad Street, Thursdays, 4:00-5:30 pm. Always a good place to connect to other people resisting facism and fighting for democacy--and get some honks!
Indivisible MV Community Circles: Rome and Mohawk
Indivisible MV Community Circle in Rome
Wednesday, August 27th, 6-7:30 pm
Rome Community & Arts Center
308 W. Bloomfield St., Rome
Sign up to come if you are new to local political activism or if you want to get to know some people personally in your own community who are showing up for IMV events in this challenging time.
Details & Registration
IMV Community Circle (Mohawk-Herkimer County)
Tuesday, August 26th, 6 pm
555 Route 5-S, Mohawk (German Flatts Community Center)
Indivisible is committed to empowering people and communities to stand up for our values and call attention to actions that threaten those values. We will continue to meet locally as well as join the larger Indivisible meetings. We will be meeting in the pavilion. You are welcome to bring a chair or we can sit at the picnic tables.
Details & Registration
Poster Party & 5Calls Party
Everyone come to a poster party! This event is the definition of making political action local, bite size and fun. Gather with other IMVers on Thursday, August 28th, 6:00-7:30 pm, for a Poster Making & 5 Calls Party, Dunham Public Library, 76 Main Street, Whitesboro.
Poster supplies will be available. You are welcome to bring rulers, yardstick, erasers, pencils, permanent markers, foam poster boards or stiff cardboard. And there will be mutual support for setting up and making calls on the 5 Calls app. Just bring your phone. We want to keep calling our elected reps and making signs for Thursday rallies and upcoming mobilizations. Use this link to sign up: Details & Registration
Need a Rally on Labor Day?
IMV is not hosting one, but our friends in Madison County who love to do rallies on the village green in Hamilton (bottom of the hill from Colgate University) are planning a great event. Bring a sign and join the group on September 1st, 5–6:30 pm: Labor Day protest, part of Labor Day Protests nationwide. Hamilton Village Green. Theme: Over Billionaires.
It's also a food drive, so bring non-perishable food items if you can. Details and registration here: https://www.mobilize.us/mayday/event/825467/
Rome Democratic Fundraiser
You're cordially invited to attend the Rome Democratic Committee Fundraiser featuring guest speaker Blake Gendebien, NY-21 congressional candidate on Monday, Sept. 22, 6-8 pm. This event supports three Democratic candidates for Rome Common Council and two Rome area County Legislator Candidates. Register (or contribute if you can’t attend) here.
Big IMV Meeting Save the Date
Please mark your calendar for our next big IMV meeting. We finally have a certificate of insurance to rent the space at MVCC Utica campus so we can have a meeting with hundreds of people! We are hard at work on an agenda that covers a lot of ground. This is the meeting that takes us to the next level of activism, mobilization, and organizing so that Indivisibles and our allies can hold the line against Trump and the authoritarian MAGA Republicans, and ultimately defeat their destructive takeover of government and Project 2025. You won't want to miss it. Please invite friends.
IMV September 2025 Meeting
Wednesday, Sept. 17th
6:00-7:30 pm
MVCC-Utice Campus
1101 Sherman Drive, Utica
Details & Registation
Climate Crisis Working Group
New Yorkers Urge Governor Hochul To Reject Dangerous Gas Pipelines and Nuclear Power Plants Threatening Central NY
On opening day of the NY State Fair a planned press conference was canceled due to weather. IMV CCWG chair Maggie Reilly was scheduled to speak. Below is the excerpt from her comments that was included in the press release.
“Governor Hochul, Say yes to a just economy that would create thousands of clean energy jobs, lower greenhouse gas emissions while supporting those communities hit hardest by climate change. Say yes to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities by accelerating renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar and battery storage. Governor Hochul, Say NO to nuclear power plants and fracked gas pipelines that will continue to pollute our air, water and soil,” said Maggie Reilly, Environmental Engineer and Climate Activist, Climate Crisis Working Group of Indivisible Mohawk Valley.
“This federal administration is destroying all climate progress to revive not only an antiquated oil & gas economy but to bring back dirty coal. They are doing everything possible to stop the momentum of transitioning this country to a cleaner energy economy. So today we urge Governor Hochul to show courage and stand up to this authoritarian regime that is empowering the fossil fuel industry. Instead, Governor Hochul must protect the citizens of New York State, be on the right side of history, and be a leader who will give our youth hope. For it is their future that is on the line.” added Reilly.
Please Join IMV Members on September 21st in Albany for the SUN DAY Event
If you are interested in car pooling please contact Maggie Reilly at margaret_reilly@mac.com
SunDay is a day of action sponsored by a coalition of groups, including Third Act and 350.org, celebrating the unstoppable rise of clean energy and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. We’ll come together to showcase the power of the sun and wind, the energy sources that can power our world without pollution.
https://actionnetwork.org/events/sun-day-new-york-capital-region?source=direct_link&
Your Renewable Energy Projects and Federal Incentives
If you or anyone you know is interested in an electrification project such as solar installation, heat pumps, induction stove, energy efficient improvements such as insulation or window/door replacement, etc., the Federal Incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are in effect until December 31, 2025. You can contact Maggie Reilly: margaret_reilly@mac.com or go to NYSERDA or Rewiring America for more information. It is NOT too late. Renewables are becoming cheaper and are a cleaner way to power your home!! Let’s do this now!!
One Call or Email for Climate
The NYS legislature this year passed one environmental bill, A.8888/S.8417, a bill that ends the 100 foot gas line extension subsidy. To become law, the Governor needs to sign it.
This law will save New Yorkers at least $200 million a year and will encourage the adoption of clean energy technologies in homes. Governor Hochul has supported this provision in the past. Call or email Governor Hochul here and ask her to sign the bill immediately. And also tell her to say NO to nuclear and fracked gas pipelines and say yes to clean energy such as solar, wind and batteries.
Great Turnout on Saturday for Fight the Trump Takeover in Rome
Thank you! Our Fight the Trump Takeover & Protect the Vote Rally in Rome had a great turnout on Saturday! Two Hundred of you showed up and spread out along Black River Boulevard (in the hot sun) and along Erie Boulevard (some shadier areas) around Fort Stanwix National Monument. There were more than 300 similar events around the country, organized on short notice in support of the Democratic legislators in TX who refused to capitulate to the Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas outside the usual census cycle for the sole purpose of changing blue and purple seats red ahead of the 2026 midterms. Some ofour press release made it into The Daily Sentinel print and electronic edition on Wednesday.
We hear that there is a big mobilization (Think 5 million attending No Kings events in June) coming for this fall. If you want to be prepared with IMV gear for that event, or for smaller rallies, then order your tshirt or hat now: IMVshopnow.com
Friends, as they have been chanting day after day in the #FreeDC rallies,
"We Believe That We Will Win."
But it is going to be a lot of hard work. Some risk. Some courage.
No one let go of anyone's hand.
Website: indivisiblemv.org
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.
