Updates

It has been my pleasure to serve as the Director of Operations of WILPF US Section. What a journey it has been!

This organization has gone through many changes over the past century, but the fundamental principles have remained the same: commitment to peace, with racial, social, economic and environmental justice for all people everywhere. WILPF has had to be resilient and adaptable in order to survive 100 years, and thus it is necessary for the WILPF US Section to adapt to meaningful 21st -century activism. What would that look like?

From West to East, five Branches are actively participating in the Earth Democracy program with a focus on water and on Guardianshipfor Future Generations, developed by Carolyn Raffensperger and one of our framing initiatives  We hope you’ll be inspired by their work and invite you to contact the person at the end of each report for more detailed discussion and mentoring.

When people think of Detroit, the automotive industry, Motown, and unions come to mind. And now, bankruptcy. The bankruptcy proceedings, in which a judge determines which of the hundreds of creditors, banks, and pensioners will take a “haircut” and how much of a loss, has revealed the devastating impact of corporate power on the city. For example, potentially illegal “credit default swaps” have jeopardized the city’s pension system, and city workers are facing cut-backs in their modest pensions.

Gregory Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice and Michael Walli, in July 2012, walked into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and up to the Highly Enriched Uranium Maintenance Facility – the building that stores the US’s supply of weapons grade uranium. On February 18, 2014, they were sentenced to 5 years, 3 years, and 5 years, respectively.