NEWS

By Jan Corderman

March 2022

On Valentine’s Day, Des Moines Branch members picketed for a Factory Farm Moratorium! 
  
Roses are Red 
Violets are blue 
Factory Farms stink: 
Pee-Yew! 
 
Iowa, Iowa, I love you! 
Too bad that your rivers are filled with poo 
A factory farm ban 
Will make you good as new! 
Iowa, Iowa, we love you! 

Holding pink and red hearts with Valentine’s Day-themed messages, picketers called on the Iowa legislature to pass a factory farm moratorium out of love for Iowa’s farmers, communities, environment, and future generations.

Factory farms pose an ongoing threat to Iowa’s waterways, as evidenced by the new report by the Department of Natural Resources that documents 751 rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands across Iowa now considered impaired. Raw, untreated hog sewage can contaminate waterways through field runoff, spills, and cracks in confinement pits. Manure leaks and spills result in fish kills, nitrate and ammonia pollution, antibiotic hormone and bacterial contamination, algae blooms, impaired waterways, and closed beaches. Factory Farm neighbors suffer increased childhood asthma and adult asthma, bronchitis, airway obstruction, nasal and eye irritation.

Recently the media have also been reporting on nitrogen and phosphorous pollution from Iowa fields that run downstream and contribute to the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico– an area that now equals the size of New Jersey. The dead zone is an area that is so depleted of oxygen that fish and other marine animals are not able to live in the water.

With the surge in COVID-19 cases, it wasn’t safe to together indoors, so instead, folks gathered together outside the state Capitol to distribute information and hear from speakers about these environmental and health problems and bring attention to the movement for a moratorium.

Agribusiness corporations need to be held accountable for their environmental degradation, and Iowa legislators need to stop carrying (dirty) water for the industry.   The bill would put an end to Big Ag’s predatory growth in our state, confront our water quality crisis, and rectify the unfair treatment of contract growers.

Opponents of our movement say it's because we're anti-agriculture or even anti-farmer. But we know that's not true. We picketed with other factory farm fighters to let our legislators and the public know our true motivation: LOVE.

Love for clean water, love for independent farmers, and love for future generations of Iowans who deserve the best Iowa we can give them.

Rather than polluting our waterways and cooking the planet with nitrogen and methane, Iowa can lead the world in sustainable agricultural enterprises, livestock disease research, and healthy food production and processing. 
 
For more info: 
It All Runs Downhill: The High Cost of Cheap Meat 
Find the Triangle and Des Moines Branches' presentation at WILPF’s 2021 Congress on the WILPF US YouTube Channel.
Find the article in the fall 2021 Peace & Freedom, page 6.

By Cindy Domingo
Co-chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee

March 2022

WILPF’s Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee and US Women and Cuba Collaboration are participating on two panels with the Federation of Cuban Women’s Delegation to the United Nations 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The panels are part of a two-day national conference being held in Manhattan, New York, on March 19 and 20 at The Peoples’ Forum. The Cuba conference is being organized by the US-Cuba-Canada Normalization Conference Committee, which came together last year and represented the largest coalition of groups in North America ever formed to organize and advocate for the lifting of the US blockade against Cuba. Due to COVID-19, the conference will be limited to 150 people in person but will also be available virtually. To register and for more information on the conference and the panels, please visit iucnc.org.

See below for a description of the two panels:

Cuban Women on the Frontline: Advancing Women's Human Rights and Cuba’s Families Code

Saturday, March 19, 2022
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. EST

Cuba is amid a nationwide discussion encompassing about 78,000 meetings in electoral precincts about a new set of laws called the “Families Code.” These revolutionary laws with over 400 articles include the protection of the right of all people to form a family without discrimination; updating the legal definition of family institutions with inclusive rather than strictly heteronormative models and establishes the right to family life, free from violence, and centers the value of love, affection, solidarity, and responsibility.

This panel features the Federation of Cuban Women's (FMC) Delegation to the UN 66 Commission on the Status of Women: Teresa Amarelle, FMC Secretary-General; Osmayda Hernandez Beleno, FMC International Relations; Gretel Marante Rosset, FMC International Relations; and Yamila Gonzales Ferrer, Vice President, National Union of Jurists, a member of the Commission who drafted the Families Code. 

Why Building Solidarity with Cuba’s Women’s Movement is Necessary to Ending the US Blockade!

Featured speakers:

• Jan Strout, US Women and Cuba Collaboration and NOW's Global Feminist National Committee
• Kathryn Trujillo-Hall, Founder of Birthing Project, USA, and Ambassador of Federation of International Gender and Human Rights (FIGHR)
• Moon Vazquez, Lesbian and Allies Project of US Women and Cuba Collaboration
• Closing: Cindy Domingo and Caridad Morales Nussa, US Women and Cuba Collaboration

Gender Equality: Key to Tackling Climate Change for Cuba

Saturday, March 19, 2022
2 p.m.–4 p.m. EST

Moderator: Cindy Domingo, Chair, US Women and Cuba Collaboration and Co-chair, WILPF's Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee

This panel is a virtual Parallel Event of the NGO Commission on the Status (CSW) of Women 66th United Nations Forum and is being held live at this conference.  

The Beijing Platform for Action is the global women and girls' human rights agenda and this year's CSW will emphasize the leadership of women and girls in changing the world especially when it comes to climate change. The Cuban Delegation to the CSW will talk about how under the Cuban revolution Cuban women have achieved gender equity; how women and girls are impacted by climate change in Cuba and what is their role in how Cuba deals with climate change now and in the future?

Featuring the Federation of Cuban Women's (FMC) Delegation to the UN 66 Commission on the Status of Women - Teresa Amarelle, FMC Secretary-General; Osmayda Hernandez Beleno, FMC International Relations; Yamila Gonzales Ferrer, Vice President, National Union of Jurists; and Gretel Marante Rosset, FMC International Relations.

Other featured speakers:

"Cuba's Approach to Climate Crisis and Tarea Vida" 
Helen Yaffe, Professor in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow and respected specialist in Cuban Studies

"Role of Indigenous Women in Protecting our Environment"
Cheryl Wapes'a-Mayes is enrolled in the Assiniboine-Sioux Tribe at Fort Peck Indian Reservation in NE Montana and serves on NOW's National Board

“A Better World is Possible – Yolanda Winds”
Isabella Borgeson, Outside Policy Fellow with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and an award-winning spoken word artist

Closing: Dr. Melissa Barber, Graduate of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) and former Program Coordinator of the IFCO Administered Cuba-US Medical School Scholarship Program.

Click here to view slide show of photos of WILPF members across the country celebrating the first anniversary of the entry into force of the TPNW.

By Ellen Thomas
Disarm/End Wars Co-Chairs

February 2022

On the weekend of January 22, 2022, WILPF members gathered around the country to celebrate the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).  Below are photos that were sent to the Disarm Committee Chairs to post at WILPF SMART and add to the larger collection at Nuclear Ban Treaty Days of Action on Facebook.

If you have photos that we haven’t received yet, please send them, with descriptions of places and people, to disarmchair@wilpfus.org so we can add them!

And be sure to let people know they can send letters to their Senators and Representatives in support of the TPNW!

You can check on how many countries have ratified the TPNW at ICAN – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Asheville, North Carolina (photos by Scott Baker)

Ellen Thomas, who intended to participate, was quarantined with COVID and was unable to attend the Asheville event, but Scott Baker kindly sent photographs.

WLOS News wrote about the event, “Stop the nuclear madness -- that was the message behind a demonstration held in downtown Asheville Saturday, Jan. 22. The group Reject Raytheon AVL gathered at Pack Square Saturday afternoon calling on the U.S. to join the United Nations Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

Brunswick, Maine (from Martha Spiess)

Christine DeTroy of WILPF_ME and Rosalie Paul of PeaceWorks (and Raffi) launch the 2022 Maine #NuclearBan Banner Caravan from Brunswick, Maine. The banner travels to General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works in Bath next, to join an event sponsored by Smilin’ Trees Disarmament Farm, Maine Natural Guard, Global Network,  ME VFP, and Pax Christi Maine. Over the next few months, the Caravan will visit landmark people, places, and things in Maine that have advocated for this Milestone Treaty.

Burlington, Vermont (from Robin Lloyd)

Four members tabled and leafleted in the atrium of the Davis Center at the University of Vermont Friday noon. Many students came and went, and a few stopped and talked and signed up to help lobby our state house of representatives to make VT free of nuclear weapons delivery systems. (The resolution has passed in the Senate, so we have only one to go!). Pictured is Robin Lloyd, Jane Hendley, and John Reuwer. Photographer: Jean Hopkins.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, California (from Judy Adams)

Judy Adams helped coordinate branch involvement and did publicity for the Livermore event, which Marylia Kelley organized. Two WILPFers from Berkeley/East Bay (Ed Thacker, for Sandy, and Anne Henny), and from Palo Alto (Judy Adams, Cherrill Spencer, Chuck Jagoda, and a new "transfer" member moved to our area, Lotus Yee Fong). All photos are from Pro Bono volunteer Misha DeGraw and can be viewed here. 

Madison, Wisconsin (from Pamela Richard)

Church bells ring in a New era of No Nuclear Weapons in Madison, WI, on Jan 22, 2022. Abolish Nuclear Weapons and No F-35 Nuclear weapons bombers in WI or anywhere! Pamela Richard sent a short video clip of the church with bells ringing. You can view the video here.

Palo Alto, California (from Cherrill Spencer)

Peninsula/Palo Alto branch of WILPF held its demo celebrating the first anniversary of the EIF of the TPNW at the busy corner of El Camino Real and Embarcadero Roads in Palo Alto from noon to 1 p.m. There were five people that held signs and banners silently and showed them to the thousands of cars that passed through the intersection during that hour, plus around 100 pedestrians. 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (from Tina Shelton)

Tina Shelton and others show their banners and signs to abolish nuclear weapons. You can view more pictures here.

San Francisco, California (from Betty Traynor)

Barbara Nielsen, Deetje Boler, and Betty Traynor, three members of WILPF San Francisco, went to Japantown to put up some signs (see holding in photo, put together by Betty Traynor) and gave out small business cards on TPNW (made by Barbara Nielsen) to people there for about an hour. 

Joan Patchen Fund Grant; WILPF Humboldt Branch Report; Poor Peoples Campaign: A Call for Moral Revival; W$D Zoom Meetings; Get Involved: No Killer Drone Group; TNPW First Anniversary; Protest U.S. Enabled Blockade of Yemen

Joan Patchen Fund Grant

Joan Patchen served in many capacities and inspired many great actions as a WILPF member. She was Program Coordinator for the international WILPF Congress held in Baltimore. A gifted artist and actor, she also taught nursery school on Cape Cod and worked as an agricultural artificial insemination technician in Kentucky, among her many career experiences. Joan's joy in life, her enthusiasm for creating a better world, and her booming and infectious laugh helped lead the Cape Cod branch during one of its most productive eras. Her family and friends established the Joan Patchen Fund as a way to continue Joan's work through the efforts of WILPF branches.

Inquiries about applying for a grant from the Joan Patchen Fund can be addressed to Elenita Muñiz, Cape Cod WILPF, at elenita@meganet.net.

WILPF Humboldt Branch Report

WILPF Humboldt Branch is planning for our annual International Women's Day celebration, which will be on March 8 in conjunction with the Arcata Playhouse's Zero to Fierce Womxns Festival. We're also taking applications for our Edilith Eckart Memorial Scholarship (Deadline: April 1, 2022) — applications are open to people in Humboldt county for local to global projects. Last year, we helped fund a program supporting individuals and families hosting young people aging out of foster care; a Native American group creating a self-defense video for and by tribal youth; a Hmong community group raising awareness about domestic violence; and a Black Music and Arts group for a kids day camp. We are also raffling off a quilt to benefit the scholarship. You saw the quilt in your last Peace and Freedom magazine, but the raffle's still going on. Get your tickets now.

Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

As we go through the next months, we will ask you to take steps to organize and join us in one of the most enduring campaigns to fight for and mobilize political voting power for those who lack adequate representation in America today.

Please go to the Poor Peoples Campaign website to join the campaign and receive updates as we move towards this momentous date. If you would like to be a part of the committee to organize our mobilization on this date, or if you have questions or comments, please reach out to Emily Keel at ekkeel@protonmail.com.

The Women, Money, & Democracy Committee Re-Envisions Itself

What’s next for WILPF US’s Women, Money & Democracy Committee? Stay tuned.

The W$D Committee includes brilliant women from across the US and meets via Zoom every third Tuesday at 8 p.m. eastern. If you are interested in joining W$D, contact Marybeth Gardam at mbgardam@gmail.com.

WILPF’s new No Killer Drone

WILPF’s new No Killer Drone group meets on Zoom at 4 p.m. EST on the first and 3rd Sundays of the month.  It is a time to discuss what we are reading and watching in the news, discuss this book, and plan actions. If you are interested in being involved, please contact Eileen Kurkoski at eileen4wilpf@gmail.com or 617-928-0958.

TPNW First Anniversary Celebrations
On the weekend of January 22, 2022, WILPF members gathered around the country to celebrate the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).  Click here to view photos that were sent to the Disarm Committee Chairs to post at WILPF SMART and add to the larger collection at Nuclear Ban Treaty Days of Action on Facebook.

If you have photos that we haven’t received yet, please send them, with descriptions of places and people, to disarmchair@wilpfus.org so we can add them!

And be sure to let people know they can send letters to their Senators and Representatives in support of the TPNW!

You can check on how many countries have ratified the TPNW at ICAN – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Protest U.S. Enabled Blockade of Yemen

We ask individuals and organizations across the states to protest at the district offices of their U.S. House of Representatives members on Tuesday, March 1, with the above demands. Congress: Lift the Blockade. Stop U.S. Complicity in War on Yemen.

Please add your organization to this joint statement by clicking here. For more information, visit the Every 75 Seconds website or contact them at info@every75seconds.org.