WILPF May eNews

Join End Wars/DISARM! in May for a Nuclear Free Future, Demilitarization of the

Heavens, and an End to Wars!

by Carol Urner

Peace / San Francisco?Creative Commons Attribution License, photo by Σταρος

Give some time in May to create the better world we know is possible. At this moment, WILPF activists are engaged in End Wars/DISARM! work in three different spheres. Join their action, learn more, and support:

Abolishing Nuclear Weapons, Eliminating Nuclear Power
Keeping Space for Peace
Ending and Preventing War

Contact nffchairs@wilpf.org to find out how you can do more to work towards total disarmament and peace. (Note: END WARS/DISARM also works on Dismantling the War Economy. Look for updates in the next Enews.)

Read and circulate the US WILPF Iran statement on Iran, Israel, peace in the Middle East and the UN proposed Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone.

Download Reaching Critical Will Tool Kit on the Iranian Nuclear Situation here. (Tool Kit includes: Briefing paper; talking points; and sample letters to the editor and political representatives.)

Download WILPF fact sheet on Middle East Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction here.

Help Build a NATO-Free Future: Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice

by Joan Ecklein

Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice in Chicago:

May 18-19, 2012

While NATO meets in Chicago, peace & justice activists will gather at the Counter-Summit for Peace & Economic Justice to map an alternative path towards a world free of war, want, & occupations. In plenary sessions and 28 workshops, we will share analysis, conduct trainings, and feature campaigns to bring the troops home, to move the money from the Pentagon to meet real human needs and to create a more peaceful, just and secure world. With leading and grassroots activists from across the US and around the world, the counter-summit will provide rare and critically important opportunities to learn from one another, to network and to build more integrated peace, economic and social justice movements.

WILPF has organized the following workshop: Close NATO Military Bases: NATO Missiles, Nuclear Weapons and Military Bases -Obstacles to Peace and Disarmament. The speakers are Bruce Gagnon, Jacki Cabasso and Irene Eckert (German WILPF member, activist against military bases.) WILPF members Libby Frank and Beth Adams are participants in other workshops.

The Counter Summit is sponsored by Network for a NATO Free Future, a coalition of peace, faith, labor, economic and racial justice, and immigrant rights groups and will be held at People’s Church, 941 W Lawrence, Chicago, IL. To register or for more information, please visit: www.natofreefuture.org or email: info@natofreefuture.com.

For Earth Democracy—Let's Rally for Fair Trade

Have you heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “free trade agreement”- the NAFTA of the Pacific? Not, unless you’ve followed Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. But New Zealanders are saying “NO” to this NAFTA of the Pacific that is meant to isolate China and is hailed as a “landmark, 21st century trade agreement, setting a new standard for global trade and incorporating next-generation issues."

Yet, it is the same old agenda. This is why we’ve created the Earth Democracy Issue group to present a new agenda for people, our communities and nature. In the next eNews, we’ll outline the creative and exciting directions this work can take us.

The TPP continues corporate globalization and trade policies that benefit the 1% and the TPP “free trade agreement” (Trans-Pacific FTA) could quickly: offshore millions of American jobs, undermine food safety, further deregulate Wall Street, end Buy Local and Buy America policies, impact access to lower-cost medicine, decrease environmental protections, and more.

As the case in all “free” trade agreements, corporations of every signatory country can lodge an investor complaint against the U.S. for any local, state or national law considered to harm their investor right to profit at the expense of jobs, human rights and social, economic and environmental justice. If the corporation wins the claim, either the U.S. government pays a huge multi-million fine with tax-payer $$ or strikes the law passed by our elected representatives.

Take a look at maps showing where foreign TPP corporations are located in the U.S. that could challenge our sovereignty and laws passed by our elected representatives. Read more...

WILPF International Initiative: Ending Discrimination and Reinforcing Women's Peace

and Security in the MENA Region

This spring, WILPF International, in collaboration with other strategic partners, will be holding a series of national consultations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (May 2012) and a conference in Geneva (June 2012) to advance women's rights and women's participation regarding all matters relating to peace and security. Results from national consultations in Jordan, Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Tunisia will then shape WILPF’s two day international conference in Geneva during the 20th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), and will also be used to develop a long term capacity building program for organizations working to end discrimination against women and to ensure women’s full involvement in the prevention of conflict and promotion of peace and security.

The background which led WILPF to organize the MENA advocacy project resulted from a growing awareness that the extremely militarised and non-consultative leadership style against which ordinary citizens revolted against through popular uprisings internationally labeled ‘the Arab Spring’, relied heavily on the exclusion and subordination of women – including from all discourses on peace and security. WILPF recognized that while women have been key actors in the popular uprisings, the historical patterns of patriarchal exclusion found in earlier regimes were being re-shaped, and even worsened, by the newly emerging political parties and male leaders. Although women played vital roles in street- level mobilization to end oppressive regimes, women’s activism was not translating into increased public participation in reform processes—as was strikingly clear in the Tunisian and Egyptian elections. Read more...

WILPF's Statement on Iran

Statements

Statement of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom -

United States Section - On Iran and Support for a Weapons of Mass

Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East

Endorse WILPF's Statement on Iran here.

We in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section (WILPF US) are dismayed by current drumbeats for war and calls for increased sanctions on Iran. This is reminiscent of build up to the Shock and Awe invasion of Iraq in 2003. Fear of nuclear weapons development is again given as the rationale. This time there are major differences and alternatives that could move us toward the global abolition of nuclear weapons. The way will not be easy but is infinitely preferable to the dangerous war that will inevitably be the result of current policies. It is time to lift the sanctions and to stop the war talk. We need to open the way to future peace and stability in the Middle East. We urge women and men committed to a world of peace, human rights and security for all to participate significantly in coming negotiations.

The Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (WMD FZ) is a positive alternative to war and military actions for which United Nations (UN) member states have been working through the UN since 1980. At the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference all 187 nations party to that treaty, including the United States, agreed unanimously to hold a high-level conference among the Middle Eastern states to establish a WMD Free Zone. This year, for the first time, it is possible to begin the negotiations on the proposed WMD Free Zone treaty. Helsinki was chosen as the site for this high-level conference (the “2012 Helsinki Conference”) in which all Middle Eastern States are invited to participate. The goal is to ban nuclear, chemical and biological weapons use, production, stationing, stockpiling or transport in the Middle East.

Read the full statement here (PDF).

Read the full statement here (webpage).

Endorse WILPF's Statement on Iran here.

WILPF Activism: Local to National to Global

enews

Join in Efforts to Achieve a Global Uranium Weapons Treaty

by Isabel Macdonald

Members and supporters of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW) and WILPF from the U.K, Norway, Sweeden, Belgium, the U.S and Japan meet in Manchester, England, March 2012. Photo courtesy of Rochdale News

WILPF invites eNews readers to join in efforts to achieve a global uranium weapons treaty by supporting the work of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). With the support of our U.S Branches we aim to raise awareness of the fact that the U.S Government uses chemically toxic radioactive waste in wars and that the time has come for an end to this practice. Uranium weapons, often called “depleted” uranium (DU) weapons, are manufactured from radioactive waste materials produced during the nuclear fuel chain and the production of nuclear weapons.

The Washington DC Branch of WILPF, through a mini-grant from the National Office, is currently sending out information to WILPF members throughout the US with an invitation to promote viewings of the documentary URANIO 238, produced by the San José, Costa Rica Quaker Peace Center. We aim to challenge the United States Government's position on Depleted Uranium as in October 2012 a new resolution will be passed on uranium weapons in the UN General Assembly. Read more...

Earth Democracy—New Beginnings

by Nancy Price

In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 as World Water Day. This year’s theme was “We are Thirsty – Because We are Hungry” is urgent.

Simply put: with 7 billion people to feed on the planet today, a billion of whom already live in chronic hunger, and another 2 billion expected to join the population by 2050, the need to provide sufficient nutritious food for all, as well as sufficient drinking water, is urgent. In a recent article, “Water-short world will need ‘More crop per drop’," government Ministers at the official 6th World Water Forum are quoted saying that demand for drinking water, agriculture, industry and energy production have to be balanced. By balanced, let’s keep in mind that many corporate and government policy-makers support calculating and pricing an amount of water per day per person. Yet, we know that industry and energy overuse, waste and pollute water with impunity. More importantly, the Institute for Food and Development Policy finds that in all countries, from developing to industrialized, the main cause of hunger is poverty—not a shortage of food, and the conversion of agricultural land to other uses. Read more...

International Women's Day: A Time to Advance the Rights of Women Locally and Globally!

Read WILPF International’s Statement celebrating International Women’s Day.

Sierra Foothills WILPF Celebrates International Women's Day

Celebrating International Women's Day, Millee Livingston from Sierra Foothills WILPF, Auburn, CA, delivered a talk about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at the Sierra Foothills Unitarian Universalist (SFUU) service on March 11, and at the April 5th meeting of the Auburn Area Democratic Club (AADC). Her talked urged all participants at both talks to demand that the U.S. join the 187 other countries (out of 193) who have ratified the Convention originally adopted by the UN General Assembly in December, 1979. The Convention “gives women around the globe a strong human rights framework for their struggles for equity, justice and control of their own lives." She noted that “had the United States ratified CEDAW, the current assault against women’s rights would be a direct violation of this treaty."

Signatures from the SFUU talk and the AADC talk were sent in a letter (see sample letter here) to President Obama, and California Congresswomen Boxer and Feinstein are urging ratification of CEDAW this election year.

Cleveland Branch Enjoys Visit by Pakistan Section President

by Yoshiko Ikuta

The Cleveland Branch of WILPF, locally known as Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice celebrated International Women’s Day on March 10, 2012. We met at the Kan Zaman Middle Eastern restaurant in a revitalized Cleveland neighborhood near downtown. The ambience of the Arabic interior décor added to the international flavor and welcoming atmosphere for our speaker, Sameena Nazir from Pakistan. Read more...

WILPF Member Awarded at 2012 ACLU Wisconsin Bill of Rights Celebration

Rose Daitsman, of the Milwaukee Branch of WILPF, was presented with the Eunice Edgar Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to economic, gender, and racial equity at the 2012 ACLU Wisconsin Bill of Rights Celebration on March 17. In accepting the award, Rose paid tribute to Jane Addams, who, in addition to being the first International President of WILPF, was a founder of ACLU and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She noted how Addams enabled people to find their voice to organize to combat injustice and oppression and said, ”Without Justice, there can be no Peace, and without Civil Liberties there can be no Justice. The United States Bill of Rights and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights together provide the moral and ethical values that can be a guide for restructuring our society." The Milwaukee Branch sponsored a table at the event that displayed a WILPF History Exhibit.

Moving Mountains for Peace

by Carol Urner

For almost a hundred years WILPF women have been breaking down the mountains of war, stone by stone and "peace by peace.” Conversely, WILPF promotes building beloved communities with economic justice and human rights for all, and establishing national and international institutions based on principles of dialogue and diplomacy. We’ve come a long way, but still have a long way to go. Here are a few glimpses of the varied work of the END WARS/DISARM! Issue Committee to move the mountains of war and nurture the roots of peace. Read more...

Practicing Peace in WILPF: Wisdom Survey

by PracticingPeace Committee

Please fill out the online PP Wisdom Survey here.

Image courtesy of Fer Gregory via Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

Do you follow a format for consensus building when collaborating with other members, or have a practice for non-violent communication or conflict resolution? How do you instill peaceful communication into your group meetings? Would you be willing to answer a few questions so we can learn from you? We are the Practicing Peace Ad-Hoc Committee established at last April’s annual Board meeting, with the charge of generating peaceful communication processes for internal and external use by WILPF. You might have seen last spring’s E-news notice inviting members to join the group. (See, http://www.wilpf.org/2011Congress#Communication). Read more...

Reflections on U.S. WILPF's Participation in the 56th CSW

by Robin Lloyd

Local2Global WILPF Members Participate in the 56th CSW

Twenty college age WILPF-U.S. Practicum students, and 8 Local2Global WILPF members, made U.S. WILPF’s participation in the 56th CSW our largest ever. For first hand reflections from former Practicum participant and 2012 Local2Global Coordinator, see Katie Booher's Blog.

This year’s theme focused on "the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges." In addition to our own Practicum and Local2Global participants, WILPF members from sections around the world, including Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden and Lebanon, participated in numerous events and voiced our recommendations for a holistic approach to conflict prevention. Read WILPF's complete CSW Summary here.