Committee Updates: Calling All Members to Anti-Racism Awareness; Webinar on International COVID Collaboration; Help WILPF Advance Human Rights

WILPF member, Cherrill Spencer, with others at BLM rally, June 6, Palo Alto. Photo by Ruth Robertson, used with permission.

February 2021

WILPF Calls All Members to Anti-Racism Awareness Work
 
Now is the time for all at-large and branch members to seek out deeper understandings and analysis of structural and institutional racism in the United States!

As became obvious with the massive demonstrations following multiple racist killings and assaults, the United States is in a new era of attention to the institutionalized effects of racism. Many WILPFers across the country are already active with Black Lives Matter, SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), the Poor People’s Campaign, and other groups. But, beyond the sensitivity and efforts of individual members, WILPF must take up this cross-cutting issue on a national and organizational level, so that all our work and processes are better informed.

National WILPF leadership is urging all WILPF members – through individual reading and study, with branch discussions and programs, and by thoughtful interactions – to increase your knowledge of structural and institutional racism, as well as your individual anti-racism awareness. WILPF US has launched many racism education, racial justice, and anti-racism initiatives over the decades, with the most recent ones being, at the turn of the century, UFORJ (United for Racial Justice), followed a few years later by Building the Beloved Community. Now WILPF leadership calls on all of us to expand and refresh our understandings.

To assist members and branches, a national committee is compiling a list of resources. But don’t wait to get started!  For self-education we already published the beginning of such a list in this eNews article.

International Collaboration Needed to Fight COVID-19: Learn More at February 3 Webinar

By Cindy Domingo
Chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee

Cuba’s role in the battle against COVID-19 is undeniable. Over 45 healthcare teams, operating under the name of the Henry Reeves Brigade, are working in over 40 countries providing healthcare to people being impacted by COVID-19. Within their own country, Cuba has 129 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 while the US has a 50+ times higher rate at 6,649 cases per 100,000.

Why is this? Find out by attending the webinar, “The Importance of U.S., Canada and Cuban Medical and Scientific Collaboration to Treat and Prevent COVID-19,” on February 3 at 3:00 pm EST, sponsored by US-Cuba-Canada Normalization Group of which WILPF is a member. Webinar information and registration here. 

Can You Help WILPF Advance Human Rights?

By Joan Goddard
2020 WILPF US Program Chair

After a hiatus of several months, the longtime Advancing Human Rights (AHR) Issue Committee is now in preparation for renewal. Are you interested in one or more human rights issues? Help to reestablish the AHR Committee, with subcommittees, at the March 4 AHR Committee meeting.

In past years there have been a variety of AHR subcommittees, including human trafficking, the Beloved Community, and CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women). We’d like to revive some of them now, along with possible new subcommittees.

A single subcommittee could focus on CEDAW, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (regarding women being equally represented in negotiations to end armed conflicts) and other similarly female-focused national and international agreements. Another subcommittee could gather WILPFers with experience and/or concerns around immigration and border militarization issues.

Please speak up if you are interested in working with other WILPF members on one of these or on other human rights issues. You can be an AHR member, chair the committee or a subcommittee, or help in other ways. Please send suggestions and/or nominations (yourself or others) for committee leaders or members, and contact AHRChair@wilpfus.org to get the registration details and further information on the March meeting!