Calling On All Writers: What Can You Contribute to Peace & Freedom Magazine?

By Wendy McDowell
Editor, Peace & Freedom

February 2024

We know there is a deep font of wisdom, knowledge and expertise in WILPF. We would love to have a wider range of WILPFers writing knowledgeable and well informed articles on topics related to Peace & Freedom issue themes!

WILPF US’s flagship magazine Peace & Freedom is published twice per year. Not only is this publication read and enjoyed by all active WILPF members, but branches and at-large members share it with the public when they table at local peace and justice events.

Unlike eNews articles, which necessarily need to be short and focused on events, calls to action and programming, Peace & Freedom articles allow you to go into greater depth. You can delve into the history, politics and continued activism related to your topic, as Gwyn Kirk did in the lead article from the last issue (Fall/Winter 2023): "Seventy Years Is Enough: End the Korean War!".

Find that issue and other back issues on the WILPF US website at: https://wilpfus.org/resources/publications.

You can also write about topics your issue committees or branches have chosen to focus on. In the last issue, Janice Hawkins from the Des Moines Branch shared her branch’s experience getting a "No Mow May" initiative off the ground, with advice to other branches that might choose to pursue similar efforts in their own backyard.

Peace & Freedom is an ideal place to share expertise you’ve gained from your personal, work, and/or activist life that you know other WILPFers could benefit from. In the latest issue, Linda Belle provided insights from her years doing local conflict resolution work in Santa Cruz County, and two members from the Domestic Prisoners of War Issue Committee, April Rumery and Rita Gonzalez, shared vitally important perspectives from domestic violence survivors.

Sometimes we also print book reviews or book recommendations, yet another avenue for those of you who are avid readers. In the Fall/Winter 2023 issue, Robin Lloyd’s discussion of two recent books that referenced four "fearless" women intensely committed to world peace throughout the twentieth century highlights yet another topic you can write about, one that is beloved to many WILPFers: the long, storied history of peace activism.

What might you contribute to a future issue of Peace & Freedom? Please contact me by email at wendymcdowell12@gmail.com with topics and areas of interest you could address. If writing is not your forte but you know writers (either inside or outside of WILPF) who would be able to discuss an important issue, feel free to share those ideas and contacts with me.

Another possibility is to propose a Q&A with someone you know has the knowledge base to address an issue important to WILPF. That’s what a team of WILPFers did for the Spring/Summer 2023 issue when they interviewed Palestinian activist Mazin Qumsiyeh for "Manufactured Water Scarcity and Mental Colonization."

The Spring/Summer 2024 issue is going to be focused on US election issues, including the economy from a WILPF perspective. Instead of funding solutions to the expanding climate crisis and the vast racial and class inequality, the United States continues to allocate over half of our discretionary budget to the military. What are activists already doing to challenge the dominant "rigged economy," and how do we build a "solidarity economy"? How can we "move the money" to fund much-needed public health, education, climate mitigation and infrastructure programs that benefit the people?

I’ve already reached out to some of you to write for the upcoming issue (please do answer my emails, even if you are unable to write this time around). The following issue of Peace & Freedom will be partly devoted to material from the WILPF US Congress, but there is always room for additional articles related to the main theme or pieces focused on unique branch initiatives.

I look forward to hearing your ideas and hopefully working with you in the future! Write to me at: wendymcdowell12@gmail.com.