Mayor Kim Bergel at last night’s meeting. Screenshot.


PREVIOUSLY:

A well-backed effort by about a dozen public commenters at last night’s Eureka City Council meeting resulted in a resolution calling for an end to military bombings on Venezuelan boats being added to the next city council meeting’s agenda on Dec. 16. 

The council also unanimously decided to send a 2017 resolution affirming its dedication to human rights to California’s elected representatives in Washington, with a letter added for context.

“All this divisiveness and hate is really boring and it’s painful and it’s hurtful and we really it doesn’t help any of us,” Mayor Kim Bergel said, a tad effusive. “It really doesn’t help any of us.”

The new resolution, written by the Humboldt Anti-War Committee, claims that Eureka has a responsibility to hold the government accountable for violating international laws, and should also support the exit of troops and arms from the Caribbean and an end to sanctions on Venezuela. A call asking for advocates to show up to the city council meeting brought in plenty of activists, many of whom said that they had a moral obligation to do anything they could to stop the extralegal killings of Venezuelan civilians. 

“Kids are struggling, classrooms are understaffed, teachers and aides are not paid nearly enough,” said one public commenter. “And our money’s going to bombs being dropped on boats in Venezuela, probably on the mainland soon. I think this is our opportunity to shovel it back in any way we can…It’s a no-brainer. I think it would mean a lot.”

Bergel said she had remembered the 2017 resolution while listening to the commenters, and thought it relevant enough to be worth sending again. She read through the whole resolution aloud. 

“In light of the current climate in our country and the negativity and hate that is being fostered,” the resolution reads. “…We will never back down on human rights, whether in healthcare, the workplace, or any other area threatened by others who treat people as objects to be demeaned or objects to be assaulted.”

Eureka’s city clerk said she wasn’t sure which government officials the resolution was being sent to. 

Besides Bergel’s comments, there was little discussion on the topic from the other councilmembers.