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Move Over AIPAC: Building a New US Middle East Policy
CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Global Exchange, Interfaith Peace-builders, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, together with over 100 peace and justice groups, are organizing a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, called “Move Over AIPAC: Building a New US Middle East Policy,” and we would like to invite you to be a part of this important national happening! Timed to coincide with the annual policy meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), we will bring activists and concerned citizens from around the country to learn about the extraordinary influence AIPAC has on U.S. policy and how to strengthen an alternative that respects the rights of all people in the region. More info about the DC actions here.
More generally, Move Over AIPAC is a campaign that aims to wean U.S. policy away from AIPAC’s grip towards an even-handed position that respects international law and the human rights of all people in the region.
We are concerned that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has a dangerous stranglehold over U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East. AIPAC’s unrelenting support for the illegal policies of the Israeli government—separation walls, settlements, the siege of Gaza—in addition to its bellicose policies across the region, especially Iran, has been devastating for Palestinians and the Middle East, including Israel. It also harms our reputation around the world and squanders $3 billion a year subsidizing the powerful Israeli military when we need that money to rebuild the United States.
No Justice in bin Laden Killing
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May 2, 2011
Justice Done or Missed Opportunities?
On Sunday, President Obama announced that the United States conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and strongly proclaimed “justice has been done.” [1] “Justice has been done” was then reiterated throughout our nation and the entire international community. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed Osama bin Laden's death claiming that he was personally “relieved that justice has been done.”[2] Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berusconi, further stated that bin Laden’s killing was not only “a great result for the United States but also for all democracies,” and Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said that “getting rid of bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide.”[3] Americans chanted in the streets and sang patriotic songs.
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), US Section extends our hearts to all people who have suffered as a result of violent acts of terrorism, but deeply challenges the belief that “justice has been done” when the blood of another has been spilled – even if it was a person who caused great harm. In choosing, once again, to use force rather than to pursue justice through established rules of law, the US. Government missed out on profound opportunities to advance universal guarantees of human rights, strengthen peace and security, and open pathways for greater understanding and reconciliation.
WILPF Strongly Endorses Move to Amend
Going for the Whole Corporate Enchilada: WILPF Strongly Endorses Move to Amend
It’s getting clearer every day that the issues WILPFers care about are impeded on a grand scale by corporate power, corporate money, and corporate culture. Profiteering has replaced public service and concern for our “common wealth” in too many state legislatures and in the halls of Congress. Our Republic is threatened because of it.
Indeed, for many WILPFers the question has become, “How do you meaningfully dissent when you no longer live in a Democracy?” The Move To Amend (MTA) campaign stands apart from many of the other Pro-Democracy campaigns because it targets the root of corporate power: the constitutional rights corporations stole from human persons. Move To Amend wants to strip from corporations ALL of those rights, not just their first amendment rights. We plan to do it by amending the Constitution of the United States.
Time for an EXIT strategy from Afghanistan
Time for an EXIT strategy from Afghanistan
Virginia Pratt’s Thoughtful and Inspiring Letter to Senator Kerry:
Dear Senator Kerry,
I am told that we are spending 10 million a day on the War in Afghanistan. From what I can see, the money would be better spend it if were flushed down the toilet. At least it would not be lining the pockets of warlords while also causing death and destruction.
We have been in Afghanistan for over 9 years with nothing to show as a positive outcome for either us or the tortured Afghan people. The country is riddled with corruption. The infrastructure – roads, water, sewer system and electricity are close to non existent. The children, especially girls, have almost no access to education. The life expectancy is as little as 45 years old because of the poverty, the harsh conditions, and the lack of medical care. Women have only two rights - the right to pray and the right to obey their husband. Women are sold and forced into marriages at very young ages. The country is brimming over with widows, orphans, and maimed people forced to live on as little as a dollar a day. Afghanistan has been plunged into the dark ages.
The actions of our military have not been heroic. Rather, the use of drones, and night raids, have terrorized and killed civilians. The war has resulted in at least 7 million citizen casualties, far more than 9/11. The recent reports of US military claiming bones of killed civilians as “trophies” further demonstrates the depraved outcome of our military intervention. Hardly a day goes by without reports of civilian casualties including young children and occasional wedding parties.
NEW Nuclear Weapons Abolition Bill Needs Your Support Now - Take Action
NEW Nuclear Weapons Abolition Bill Needs Your Support Now - Take Action
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| Explosion at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011. (AP Photo/NTV/NNN Japan) |
Washington DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced the "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act," which re-directs the money from nuclear weapons to provide carbon-free, nuclear-free energy resources.
Click here to view and download the text of the legislation, HR-1334, introduced by Rep. Holmes Norton, HR-1334 (pdf)
Click here to write your Representative asking for co-sponsorship of this legislation IMMEDIATELY.
No nuclear power plant has been built in the U.S.A. since 1974, and the new nuclear power plant construction being planned is only possible because the U.S. taxpayer will have to provide what Wall Street won't: 100% loan guarantees, and funding nuclear waste repositories on as yet unidentified sites. Nuclear power provides 20% of this country's electric energy; we can easily follow Germany's lead in committing to building no new plants, and replacing those still on-line with renewable and sustainable energy sources. We must all keep the memories of both Fukushima and Hiroshima alive wherever we go.
Let’s act now to turn popular opinion into public policy! This may be the last chance we get to turn to truly clean energy and away from war and destruction. 
Close the School of the Americas During April 2011 Days of Action
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Close the School of the Americas During April Days of Action
School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) is mobilizing for a gathering in Washington, DC from April 4-11, 2011 to take their demands to the White House, the halls of Congress, and other sources of military and foreign policy decisions.
Many WILPF women have been in the annual demonstrations at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the SOA (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation) is located. A few of us have even “crossed the line”, been arrested and served three months in prison. This imprisonment is a deliberate act of solidarity with the oppressed people and martyrs of the Americas, who suffer as a result of the repressive techniques taught to “students” at the SOA.
Turn Out For Rallies In Solidarity With The People Of Egypt!
UNITED NATIONAL ANTIWAR COMMITTEE CALLS ON ALL SUPPORTERS TO TURN OUT FOR RALLIES IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT AND OTHER ARAB COUNTRIES TODAY, THIS WEEKEND, AND IN COMING DAYS
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No More US Support to the Mubarak Dictatorship!
Hands off Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen!
The Egyptian people, inspired by the victory in Tunisia and building on their own heroic rallies and strikes in recent years, have now taken the lead in the regional revolt against US-backed dictatorships. Today, Friday, January 28th, masses have poured into the streets for the third straight day of protest, and are once again fighting valiantly against cops and troops armed with US made and paid for weapons.
It is the US government which has created and STILL supports the Mubarak regime to the tune of $1.5 billion a year as part of its regional military apparatus, and it is US banks and corporations that have imposed the neoliberal austerity regime of unemployment, poverty and malnutrition against which Egyptian workers have been rebelling for decades.
The US Department of Defense is meeting this very week with Egyptian military officials to discuss how to maintain this oppression. A DoD press briefing reports: "With regards to Egypt:… we actually this week are hosting senior Egyptian military leaders at the Pentagon for our annual bilateral defense talks… So that's just an example of how engaged we are with the Egyptians, even as these developments have taken place on the streets in Cairo and elsewhere…”
And it is the US State Department which has already begun maneuvers throughout the region to ensure that any governments that fall are replaced with equally compliant regimes -- maneuvers such as the visit by the head of “Near East Affairs” in the State Department this week to Tunisia, and by their “National Democratic Institute” to Yemen, to “advise” on “clean elections” – i.e. to plot how to subvert the goals of the masses in the streets.
UNITE AGAINST CITIZENS UNITED! Demonstrate on January 21, 2011!
Organized money is backing endless war, environmental damage, climate change and conflict in the Middle East.
The only way to fight organized money is with organized people!
UNITE AGAINST CITIZENS UNITED!
Organize Now In Your Area For
Rallies or Demonstrations on (or around)
Friday, January 21st, 2011
1st Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on
Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission.
80% of Americans polled last spring said the Supreme Court ruling was wrong!
BACKGROUND: Corporate America is raking in more profits than ever before. They are using those dollars to weaken the safety net that protects We The People and to effectively silence us. The new Congress will be stacked with members who owe their allegiance to the vastly wealthy corporations that funded their campaigns. They will take their lead from weapons manufacturers, big ag, dirty old energy corporations, corporate polluters and free trade junkies. The ‘profits at any price’ crowd.
WILPF Continues Racial Justice Trainings in 2011
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In the current political climate, the Tea Party is capturing media headlines and the voices for racial justice continue to go unheard. Racist incidences and commentaries are more prevalent since the election of the first African American president. More states are considering immigration laws similar to Arizona and racial divides are widening. Is this because of the policies put forth by President Obama or is this the United States of America showing its true colors and exposing all the subtle forms of racism that have existed during the terms of Caucasian presidents?
In 2009, WILPF and the Building Beloved Community issue committee, sponsored Racial Justice Trainings in 14 branches, who invited their local allies and community partners. We are continuing this tour in 2011, conducting interactive, community building trainings that explore systemic racism and white privilege and how, even as social justice activists, they affect our own thinking and attitudes. The trainings will again be facilitated by Sha'an Mouliert, a WILPF member from Vermont and racial justice consultant and trainer.
Represent WILPF at the Commission on the Status of Women
A new Program offers Support for Delegates from WILPF Branches interested in participating in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women meetings in New York from February 19 – 26, 2011. You’ll be working at the UN as a member of a six person delegation, bringing WILPF perspectives into conversations with government and NGO representatives, learning the ropes, and preparing to take UN advocacy strategies and campaigns back to your local branch and beyond. Read more here.
From the Local to the Global
New Program to Support Delegates from Active WILPF branches at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Sign A Petition Against Four More Years of War
This petition was created by Tom Hayden on November 15, 2010 and is viewable here or click on the image. 
Here is some material as posted at the petition site:
Background (Preamble):
We object to the United States proposal for Afghanistan being presented this week to NATO ministers.
It is not a peace plan. It is a plan for four more years of combat by US and NATO forces.
It is not a plan for US or Western troop withdrawals but for further occupation. It is a proposal to gradually lessen Western casualties and lessen Western visibility while transitioning to Western-financed, Western-armed, and Western-advised Afghan army combat in a civil conflict. It is a plan for long-term Western military bases.
It is not a plan to stop al Qaeda or terrorists from attacking Western targets. There are virtually no al Qaeda left in Afghanistan. The most recent terrorist attacks on America have been inspired by our deepening wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In seeking to save our military reputation, we all but assure future threats against Western targets. CIA officials even describe Yemen’s al Qaeda cell as more dangerous than al Qaeda in Pakistan. [NYT, Oct. 18, 2010]
It pre-empts the Administration’s own proposal for a full “review” of Afghan policy in December. The timing instead is aimed at shoring up a faltering Western alliance.
WILPF Takes Direct Action to End Wars
In Boston, WILPF members assembled outside the office of Sen. John Kerry to protest the ongoing war in Afghanistan. In Philadelphia, WILPF members visited the offices of Sen. Robert Casey and Rep. Joe Sestak with written statements. Member Marge Van Cleef specifically challenged the U.S. drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are killing people indiscriminately. She and other members called for a moratorium on the “war on terror.” During the action, Dr. Ronald Coburn discussed the high suicide rate of returning U.S. soldiers. Citing a recent study which showed that between 2005 and 2008, the number of California vets who committed suicide was three times higher than the number of soldiers killed in action during the same period, Dr. Coburn called for officials to include these suicides in their total number of military deaths. He recommended increasing the funding for support and therapy groups for the 25 percent of soldiers who return home suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). WILPF Member Dory Loder highlighted the cost of the war, which has exceeded $3 trillion.
Don’t Let Them Divide Us
The nationally coordinated raids that occurred on September 24th at 7 a.m. targeted many activists in Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. Some 14 individuals were subpoenaed to appear before a Grand Jury. The WILPF MN Metro Branch was one of the first groups to publicly stand in solidarity with other peace organizations and progressive activists in condemning the FBI raids. The branch’s statement said, in part: “Such tactics serve only to suppress dissent, inhibit action for peace and justice, and discourage legitimate travel abroad. They are evidence of an ongoing climate of curtailment of civil liberties under the pretext of the ‘war on terror.’”
We encourage other branches to make and publicize similar statements, and meet with their legislators to protest these invasions. The national meeting of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression was called to address the ongoing FBI actions and three key demands were discussed: ending the repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists, returning all materials seized in the raids, and calling off the Grand Jury. During the meeting, Attorney Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild explained that the Guild sees the material support laws, which are the basis of the investigation against the 14 anti-war activists, as an attempt to repress U.S. activists' involvement and solidarity with liberation struggles.
