Gus Newport 1935-2023

Where ever progressive politics were going…
Gus got there first

All of us at the Middle East Children’s Alliance share with people across the country and around the world deep sorrow at the loss of our dear friend the lifelong activist, social justice leader, and long-time MECA Board President Gus Newport.

“In 1988 when we were just starting the Middle East Children’s Alliance, the first thing we did was call Gus and ask him to serve as President of the Board,” said Barbara Lubin, MECA founder and retired executive director. “Of course, he said yes, and he said yes to everything we ever asked of him for the next 33 years. Having Gus as our president gave us instant credibility because he was loved and respected the world over.”

When Gus retired from the board in 2022, MECA organized a tribute event bringing his family members, dear friends, city government and campaign colleagues, and comrades from some of the movements and organizations Gus helped lead over decades. Check out this report and photos of the event and a video recording of the event, which includes Gus’s own words about his lifetime of activism.

Angela Davis, Gus’ friend and comrade and one of MECA’s Founding Advisors, made these remarks about Gus at the event: “I cannot even begin to do justice to the leadership Gus has offered us over the years and to the ways in which he has modeled anti-racist work, especially how he has always emphasized the context, the internationalist frameworks of this work. Whether we are talking about [South Africa] anti-apartheid movement, the Central America solidarity movement, and, especially important for our contemporary organizing strategies, the struggle to develop support for Justice in Palestine.”

From fighting for racial and economic justice to human rights for LGBT people and Palestinians, wherever progressive politics were going, Gus got there first. We can’t begin to recount all of Gus’ remarkable work—from when he was a teenage activist against police brutality in Rochester New York and continuing at the time of his death on June 17—but there’s a good summary in this Common Dreams article about him.

We are so proud and honored to have worked with Gus and to have called him our friend. He was truly one of a kind and impossible to replace.

We raise our glasses to you, Gus.