Get your monthly update of news: the Iowa and New Hampshire Primaries and Nevada Caucus will have taken place!  Where will the candidates stand? Impeachment trials will have come and gone (won't they?).  What will the impact be on the election? Jean Pierre LaRochelle will lead the discussion and you can share your points of view.  Good food too if you're so inclined.  (Next Political forum will be on March 23, save the date now)

Author of FASHIONOPOLIS:The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes, Dana Thomas will speak to us about  the damage – environmental and other - wrought by the colossal clothing industry and the grassroots, high-tech, international movement fighting to reform it.  Thomas's latest dynamo book on the world of fashion is an eye-opening look of how women (mostly) contribute to a problem they can also help cure.

The tenth and final Presidential Debate in a long and arduous primary campaign season.  DON'T MISS IT!

Debate 9 from Las Vegas, Nevada, will be transmitted at our Joe Allen Debate Watch.   Join us for the watch and discussion. 

Chair of the Reproductive Rights Action Team of the Democrats Abroad Global Women’s Caucus, Salli Swartz, will update us on bills that would create a felony crime called "abortion murder" and that have created a controversy around the world.  These bills could be part of a nationwide trend towards banning abortions with no exceptions - even for rape, incest or a pregnant person's life.  Legislators in Congress are examining these bills now and Salli will address how reproductive justice can prevail.

A titan of literature passed away in August 2019. Together with the Global Black Caucus, organizers of Books Abroad warmly invite you to join us in reading and discussing Morrison’s revolutionary novel

THE BLUEST EYE

Please RSVP HERE to receive the information to join this online meeting.   

And here’s a little more information.  If you haven’t seen the new documentary, The Pieces I am, give yourselves a treat. It will enforce what we all know about the great author: that she is an exquisite human being and thinker.  Here's the link to the film's webpage with different viewing options: https://www.tonimorrisonfilm.com  It's also available on Hula, so anyone with a VPN and a Hulu account can watch it for free.

Watch the transmission of the eighth Presidential Debate which will take place in  Manchester, Hew Hampshire.  Six candidates have qualified for this one: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren.

Be informed.

Your monthly – and best - roundup of news: impeachment analysis, the Democratic candidates, the 2020 elections...  Jean Pierre LaRochelle will lead the discussion and you can share your points of view for discussion.  Democrats speak up and speak out in the cordial atmosphere of The Frog Revolution.  Good food too if you want.

Our theme was VIOLENCE, in all its forms, against women.  "Sexual violence is a global epidemic that is all around us, yet it is nowhere, precisely because it permeates every facet of our presence in the world, echoing throughout political and popular cultures, ricocheting off the cement walls that define our boundaries." - Michele Chen from  Roxane Gay's "Not That Bad." 

We need and Equal Rights Amendment to protect women against violence.  Laws alone do not solve the problem.

Salli Swartz leads the discussion about the ERA that followed the viewing of the documentary Equal Means Equal, answering the question: Why, in the year 2019 with so many opportunities for American women, do we need the Equal Rights Amendment?

Democrats Abroad went into action on Saturday evening Nov. 10 as Donald Trump arrived in France. Their candlelight vigils showed him what they think about his 'leadership.'   SUPPORTING the TRUE American values including humanitarian concern for others, the first amendment, respect for science, respect for journalists, freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation, equality for women and people of color, care for the environment and dedication to fair play and true democracy. HONORING American victims of right-wing hate crimes inspired by Trump's rhetoric. And RESPECTING our Constitution and the right to pursue investigations without hindrance.

The new Democratic National Committee  created an infrastructure to support candidates up and down the ballot and organize year-round -- leading to wins in some places that would've seemed unthinkable two years ago. Here are some of the ways Democrats gained ground across the country :

• 29 House seats flipped so far -- with a good shot at flipping at least half a dozen more once all the results come in;
• Seven governors' seats flipped;
• Six legislative chambers flipped -- bringing the total number we've flipped up to seven this cycle;
• Four Republican state legislature supermajorities broken;
• In total, Democrats flipped over 290 individual state legislative races last night -- bringing our total on the cycle up to over 330!
• Four states voted to expand voting rights, including a constitutional amendment in Florida that will restore voting rights to more than 1 million people with felony records;
• Three state Supreme Court seats flipped;
• Three red states voted to expand Medicaid;
• Two states voted to raise their minimum wages;
• One U.S. Senate seat flipped -- congrats to Jacky Rosen.

And here are some of the incredible candidates who won historic victories last night:

Democrats Abroad France organized rallies and candlelight vigils across the country with “Families Belong Together” events in Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, and Toulouse to protest Trump’s pointlessly cruel “Zero Tolerance” policy towards refugee and immigrant families, and a July 4th “Vive La Resistance” apero/picnic by the Seine in Paris with coalition partners to register voters and organize for the Fall.  On June 30th we marched in the LGBTQ Gay Parade.  With just four months ahead of us, we must continue to mobilize voters to speak out and defend our Democratic Party values.

Every year, Democrats Abroad France remembers the fallen soldiers who bravely died while serving in the US Armed Forces.  Decorating graves to remember the dead is an ancient tradition that continues to this day. In America the tradition began with those who died in the Civil War.  All are invited to attend.  Since 1918 is the 100th Anniversary of WWI, the ceremonies will be grandissime.    We will be laying wreaths in ceremonies throughout France on the graves of these heroes on the following dates:

Memorial Day Ceremonies Meuse-Argonne May 27th at 11am 

Memorial Day Ceremonies May 27th at St. Mihiel 4pm 

Memorial Day Ceremonies Lafayette Escadrille May 27th at 10am

Memorial Day Ceremonies Surennes May 27th at 2.30pm

Memorial Day Ceremonies May 27th Oise-Aisne at 3pm

Memorial Day Ceremonies Epinal May 27th at 10:30am 

For more information, contact: ammattson52@gmail.com or brooke.elizabeth.burns@gmail.com

On April 5, we honored the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. The event was held in the sanctuary of the American Church in Paris where Dr. King himself spoke in October of 1965, and the Church was full. The program was organized by co-Chair of the Diversity Caucus, Reed Kennedy, and included a welcome from church clergy, excerpts from Martin Luther King's writings. music, and speeches as well as a panel discussion on the life and legacy of the civil rights icon. A key moment featured author Jake Lamar reading the moving Letter From Birmingham City Jail from the same pulpit where Dr. King spoke.

For those of you who could not make it to the event, here are links for few pictures (photo credit: Richard Allen) as well as athe livestream video .

Donald Trump was elected on the promise to change the face of American politics and bring power back to the people. The nation is today divided and more polarized than ever before. While looking back on 2017, what can we predict for American politics in 2018?   Hall Gardner, Christopher Dickey, Anne Deysine and Joe Smallhoover examined these issues on  January 22 at the American University of Paris.  You can watch the informative discussion of this memorable evening HERE.

Hundreds of people turned up at Place du Trocadero in the rain that had little effect on the happy, spirited, diverse crowd. There were speakers, witty creative signs, a sea of pussy hats, lots of press and many groups: Indivisibles, Our Revolution, Women’s March-Paris, Page-Paris, and more. Folks gathered to support women, Dreamers, Democrats, immigrants, people of color, transgender people, abortion rights and real news – in addition to fighting Trump and his entire agenda.

It felt good to know that the movement didn’t end last year, and au contraire, seems to be picking up more steam.

If you missed the exciting rally, you can watch it here