Members Section

The Results of the recent Strategic Planning survey which is to inform major changes in the structure of WILPF as an organization can be seen by clicking on the following link. Strategic Planning Survey.

To access the survey, you need to use the following password: 2015

The sixty-second session of the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security closed on Friday, 2 November 2007. It was a rather uneventful session, with a few key highlights (see below). Most delegations continued to lament the lack of progress in disarmament and non-proliferation, especially in the Conference on Disarmament (CD). They called for the adoption of the comprehensive programme of work in the CD at the beginning of 2008, and expressed hope for success at the next nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee. It would be preferable if First Committee itself was used more effectively to advance the cause of disarmament and international security, rather than as a stage from which to "urge" consensus in another forum. In his remarks on 18 October, Ambassador Landman of the Netherlands paraphrased Victor Hugo, announcing that the time will come when the instruments of war, and in particular weapons of mass destruction, "will be on show in museums in the same way as today one can visit and inspect instruments of torture, fashionable in the Middle Ages and thereafter. And we would all be wondering that such weapons have existed and their use ever contemplated." To reach this point, governments, diplomats, and civil society need to not just theorize about the new (collective) security environment they envision, but to work towards it.

Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

The UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security began on Monday, 8 October. After the first few days of General Debate, most delegations appear optimistic about the possibilities for progress before them, and are eager for the momentum created in the Conference on Disarmament this year to carry on throughout the First Committee. Unfortunately, the usual signs of resistance from certain delegations are already clear; however, as the representative from Honduras said, peace is a "constant aspiration" that should be a "permanent reality", and the First Committee is another chance to take a few small steps in this direction.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, 31 October 2000.

For the full text of the resolution, please CLICK HERE

To receive the 1325 PeaceWomen E-Newsletter, send an email to subscribe@peacewomen.org with "subscribe" as the subject heading.

For past issues of the newsletter, CLICK HERE.

For PDF version of this newsletter, CLICK HERE

THIS ISSUE OF 1325 PEACEWOMEN E-NEWS FEATURES:

1. Editorial: Marking Seven Years
2. Women, Peace and Security News
3. Feature Event: Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security
4. Feature Statement: WILPF Statement on UN Day
5. Feature Initiative: Call for Submission: Global Peacebuilders Peacebuilding Approaches Catalogue
6. Feature Resource: DCAF Report: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict & Austrian Action Plan on Implementation of Resolution 1325
7. NGO Working Group on Women, Peace & Security Update: Statement at WPS Open Debate
8. Women, Peace and Security Calendar

The PeaceWomen Project is a project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Please visit us at http://www.peacewomen.org

Revised & adopted by the National Board, April 2002, with changes based on amendments made through the Board meeting, November 30, 2007.

Click here to view and download the By-Laws as a pdf document.

A. The U.S. Section operates under the International WILPF Constitution and By-Laws: "The League aims to bring together women of different political beliefs and philosophies united in their determination to study, make known and help abolish the causes and legitimization of war, and to work toward world peace.....The League sees as its ultimate goal the establishment of an international economic order founded on meeting the needs of all peoples and not those of profit and privilege. The work of the U.S. Section of the League is based on these aims and principles and on the statements and resolutions adopted by the International Congress and the International Board."

ALASKA
Dee Hunt emailed the following to me: “In April 2007, we hosted Jody Dodd, U.S. WILPH leadership and outreach coordinator, who conducted workshops on non-violence and civil disobedience at local churches and at the university, in addition to speaking about water privatization and pathways to resisting the Iraq war.  She also gave us a wonderful orientation about WILPF and had great suggestions for fundraising and building membership.
On June 26th, we partnered with several local peace organizations to co-sponsor a forum entitled Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice, which coincided with the ACLU–sponsored Day of Action in Washington, D. C.  The speakers were:  Susan Wingrove, President, Board of Directors, Alaska ACLU; Karen Button, an independent journalist who had recently returned to Alaska from interviewing Iraqi refugees in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon; and a representative from Amnesty International who presented on the “Stop Torture” campaign.
One of our members has coordinated (and I participate in) a “Truth in Recruiting” group which has successfully worked with the Anchorage School District to develop and adopt procedures which more clearly define the parameters and guidelines for recruiting activities.  These procedures will be in place to implement this Fall.  Our next step is to recruit and train volunteers to “adopt a school” where at least monthly they will interface with career/school counselors, monitor recruiting activities, be available to talk with students about  peace alternatives, and to clarify, when needed, information about the military and military recruitment.  Training is beginning this week.
Some of us are involved with a local Quakers effort called “Alaska Eyes Wide Open.”  Since 2004, the American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker peace and justice organization) has toured the Eyes Wide Open around the country in a deeply moving exhibit of boots, shoes, and photo panels reflecting on the enormous human cost of the war in Iraq.   Reminiscent of the Viet Nam War memorial, this exhibit has a simple  artistic vision and powerful moral clarity.  This May, the national exhibit was turned into state exhibits, and organizing committees are working on local showings across the country.   For the Alaska exhibit we plan on  approximately 15 pairs of military boots to represent the Alaska resident service members killed in the war, plus approximately 90 boots to represent the Alaska based soldiers who have lost their lives.  We are seeking 200 pairs of civilian shoes to symbolize the Iraqi civilian causalities.  Each pair of boots and shoes will have a tag with the name and age of the soldier or civilian represented. 
A WILPF subcommittee is delving into water quality as related to Alaska mining.  We are studying the issue, attending lectures, making contacts with potential partners, attending the North American Indigenous Peoples Mining Summit this week here in Anchorage, and developing a film series.  This work dovetails with research I am doing for a tribal consortium concerning the proposed Donlin Creek gold mine in western Alaska”

1325 PeaceWomen E-News
Issue #93
September 2007

Focus on Burma

The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, 31 October 2000. CLICK HERE for the full text of the resolution.

To receive the 1325 PeaceWomen E-Newsletter, send an email to subscribe@peacewomen.org with "subscribe" as the subject heading.

For past issues of the newsletter, CLICK HERE.

Hello to WILPF Branch Contacts! October 2007

This branch mailing, as always is full of resources for your branch to use in local actions. As we engage in this period of transition and strategic planning, we are coming from the framework of “watering the seeds of WILPF”. WILPF branches are the lifeblood of WILPF and we hope that these resources assist you in your work.

An Activist’s Songbook

“Raging and Roaring with the Santa Cruz WILPF Raging Grannies” is a compilation of 39 witty and hilarious parodies written to the tunes of well-known songs, for and by the gaggle of grandmothers who make up the Raging Grannies of Santa Cruz WILPF.

Like all the Raging Granny gaggles around the nation, these feisty women of a certain age, dressed in wildly-flowered bonnets, and aprons, are seething with indignation at the Bush Administration and all its deeds to enrich the rich and tread on the poor, its “Endless Wars,” its attacks on our environment, its policies which make the United States a disgrace around the world--and they have tuneful ways to express these feelings in a way that makes their audiences roar with laughter and nod their heads in understanding.

84-year-old wants government to focus on children and social services, not war

Joan Wilderman has lived in downtown Campbell for 50 years. She is a mother, a grandmother, even a great-grandmother, but Wilderman is not a "typical" granny; she is a Raging Granny.

The Raging Grannies are an international group of mostly women who strive to make a difference in their communities, countries and the world by publicly proclaiming their views on important matters through song.

The Grannies are organized geographically by groups, or gaggles, as they prefer to be called.

"What I love about the Grannies," says Wilderman, "is that we aren't just standing on a corner waving a sign, which I have done in the past; we are bringing attention to important matters with songs. We think it is a different way to reach people, maybe less threatening than shouting, and maybe more memorable."

The Raging Grannies borrow tunes from well-known songs and change the words to express how they feel about pivotal topics such as immigration issues, health care and war. Right now, one of the most pressing issues for the San Jose gaggle is the war in Iraq. One of the anti-war songs the Grannies sing is sung to the tune of "God Bless America." The words are simple but clear: