Committee Updates and Action Items
Published on July, 42 2020
The Advancing Human Rights Committee worked with Development Chair Marybeth Gardam to design this Facebook post for Juneteenth 2020.
August 2020
Get Creative & Help Appeal for Online Support!
By the WILPF US Development Committee
Are you a whiz on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook? Do you enjoy being creative in your activism? Are you interested in learning the platform Canva and helping to design appealing social media posts and graphics?
The WILPF US Development Committee is looking for your help. We are hoping to appeal more consistently to the public for online support, using a calendar of timeline events suggested by the national issue committees.
Holidays and commemorations that mark peacemaking efforts, international cooperation, and human rights resonate with our local and national projects and tie to WILPF’s program work. By using these dates, you can help create a schedule of posts that can be prepared ahead and scheduled for publication on several social media ‘channels’.
“We have a reasonable and growing presence on Facebook,” notes Development Chair Marybeth Gardam, “but we are just barely visible on Twitter and we have yet to dip our toes into Instagram.”
“As an example of what we would like to be doing,” Gardam explains, “the Advancing Human Rights (AHR) Committee developed a list of calendar dates that intersect with the theme of human rights. They worked with me to create a JUNETEENTH post for Facebook, using a new creative graphic platform Canva.”
“I’m just learning Canva, but it’s kind of fun to be creative,” Gardam says. “The three AHR chairs helped suggest the quote and select the graphic. That made my work a lot easier!”
If every issue committee could suggest 5-10 events a year that tie to their work (and we hope they do!), there would be a lot more Canva-creating to do.
Development is looking for eager VOLUNTEERS to help with some of that creative organizing from the safety of your computer desk. Get creative and do good at the same time!
Contact Marybeth Gardam at mbgardam@gmail.com to learn more or sign up!
Honoring Civil Rights Icons John Lewis and C.T. Vivian
By Valarie Young
Co-chair, Advancing Human Rights (AHR) and Working Toward Racial Justice
“If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?”
― John Lewis
In less than 100 days, the future of our democracy will be in the hands of the American people as we vote in our general election. We must unite and make sure our voices will be heard.
Our country lost two civil rights icons in less than 24 hours recently, Rep. John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian, both of whom died on July 17, 2020. The AHR Issues Committee pays homage to Lewis and Vivian, leaders for human and civil rights who dedicated their lives for equality and the right to vote in the United States. If it had not been for these two men, and other activists who shared their courage and dedication, the civil rights movement would never have had the power it did.
The struggle for human and civil rights continues. Right to vote laws must extend across the nation, and apply equally to all voters.
John Robert Lewis, Georgia Congressman Who Advocated “Good Trouble”
John Robert Lewis, who dedicated his life to advancing human and civil rights, died at the age of 80. Read this detailed, impressive obituary in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987-2020 and spent nearly four decades championing the causes of marginalized communities.
Never one to rest on past victories, he continued to speak and listen to young people throughout his life. Consider this quote on youth climate activists released in September 2019:
“These young people are saying we all have a right to know what is in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, and the food we eat. It is our responsibility to leave this planet cleaner and greener. That must be our legacy."
Watch this Note to Self Video: (7 minutes): Georgia Congressman John Lewis was born and raised on a cotton farm outside Troy, Alabama. He later became one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement. In this ongoing series, Note to Self, Lewis recalls getting into what he famously calls “good trouble.”
C.T. Vivian, Champion of Nonviolence
The Rev. C.T. Vivian, civil rights leader and champion of nonviolent action, died at the age of 95.
Read his obituary on NPR, which explains that in spite of suffering multiple beatings during his protest activities, including his notorious showdown with Dallas County Sheriff James G. Clark, “he held fast to one principle: ‘In no way would we allow nonviolence to be destroyed by violence.’” He continued to have a long and distinguished career of standing up against oppression and seeking justice for all.
One of Vivian’s famous quotes is, “You are made by the struggles you choose.”
This video provides a brief outline of his remarkable career. His Oral History was recorded in March 29, 2011 by Taylor Branch.
Next month’s AHR update will include tributes to Ella Baker, the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” and Fannie Lou Hamer, who worked tirelessly to secure voting rights for African Americans.
Global Ceasefire Passed Unanimously!
By Joan Goddard
WILPF US Program Committee
On July 1, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a legally binding resolution to enact a 90-day Global Ceasefire. The US previously voted against the Global Ceasefire.
The UN resolution focuses on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing countries in need. However, excluded from the cease fire are all military operations against Al-Qaida, ISIL, and other groups designated terrorist by the Security Council.
Extending the global ceasefire and defunding the military would be major steps toward an enduring peace. In the US alone, counting all of the funding sources, the Department of Defense budget totals $1.25 trillion-dollar a year (see this article in The Nation: America's Defense Budget Is Bigger Than You Think). Just a 50% reduction in these US “defense” expenditures would make over half a trillion dollars a year available for funding the Green New Deal, public health care coverage, and social benefit work on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Watch next month’s eNews for more on progressive alternatives to military expenditures and total dollar costs and other effects of the US military.
Middle East Committee Wants to Build Bridges Not Walls
By Barbara Taft
Co-chair, Middle East Committee
“Bridges Not Walls” is a new Middle East Committee campaign showing how we’re all interconnected.
Israel’s Separation Wall is a physical barrier making it easier for Palestinians and Israelis to view one another negatively. The bridges enabling them to see each other as human have disappeared, preventing contact.
The U.S./Mexico border wall creates the same de-humanization, encouraging negative stereotypes. When walls prevent human contact, we stop looking one another in the eye and responding to cries with human touch and care. We miss that touch now with COVID-19. Differences are amplified when we’re separated. Separation is rooted in the “divide and conquer” concept.
Let’s tear down artificial walls, physical and psychological, and see what we share in terms of our humanity. Let’s build bridges to connect us all. Over the next three years, our goal is to find these connecting bridges, learn the issues, causes, dreams, and goals of others and work together.
More information to come on the Middle East Committee's webpage and in future eNews articles!
August 13th ONE WILPF Call: Voter Suppression during COVID-19
By the ONE WILPF Call Team
How can you anticipate and recognize potential voter suppression going on in your state and city? What can you do about it in a time of pandemic? How can you maintain social distancing and still get the message to vulnerable communities about getting out to vote?
The next ONE WILPF Call on August 13, 2020, focuses on recognizing and addressing voter suppression in this time of COVID-19.
Speakers Molly McGrath, Advocacy Director from the Wisconsin ACLU and Chris Carson, outgoing national President of the League of Women Voters, will give us the tactics and responses they're advocating, and we'll be planning a September Solidarity Action in response. Join the call at 7 pm eastern/6 pm central/5 pm mountain/4 pm pacific.
This is a Maestro Call... you phone in using your phone and also follow along on your computer screen. Once you register you'll receive an email with the call-in number and PIN number, and a link to the visual interface/social webinar. You'll receive a reminder 2 hours before the call, coming from michael@teamgood.org.
