NEWS

“By making banking a public utility, with expandable credit issued by banks owned by the people, the financial system can be made to serve the people, rather than people serving the banks. Credit flow can be released so that industry and free enterprise can thrive, and the economy can reach its full potential.”  
        —Ellen Brown, of Public Banking Institute. 

"We can either learn about money and discover and work for alternative ideas, or continue to be invisibly screwed by a system that disadvantages (us) and refuses accountability”.   
        —Rickey Gard Diamond, AnEconomyofOurOwn.org

Organize for a more just economic future with the
WILPF US PUBLIC BANKING TOOLKIT

Download this 45-page document here.    

This toolkit is an anthology of books and articles, resources for further reading, and materials you can use to get started organizing a new public bank in your city or state.   

• You’ll find out what public banks are and what makes them different from the big privately owned transnational banks and investment firms.  
• You’ll learn how public banking can offer advantages for moving the money to human needs and away from: 
  • War and war-profiteering, 
  • Climate-threatening extractive fossil fuel industry investment, 
  • Far flung investment that steals reserves from local small businesses, local home financing and affordable student loans.
• You will: 
  • Fiind fact sheets and handouts, talking points and articles to share.  
  • Learn where public banking initiatives are started, and how you can help begin the dialogue locally or support initiatives which are already underway.  
  • Start with your own small group who’ll use this toolkit to learn more yourselves, then start working on a plan to move this initiative forward locally.  

Our Committee is always looking for excellent resources for more learning on our LEARN MORE pages. You can suggest additional materials to add to our toolkit.   

This collection of information is the work product of the Women, Money & Democracy Committee of WILPF US, and it’s a FREE download, because we want the Public Banking Toolkit to be used widely, without limitations or fees.  

You can support our work with a donation

Your donation to support the work of the WILPF US Women, Money & Democracy Committee and updates to this toolkit would be deeply appreciated. 
As little as a $10 donation would be great, or whatever you can afford.   
Donate online here.  

Or send a check. 
to Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom – US Section
PO Box 13075, Des Moines IA  50310.  
Please mark “Donation -W$D” in the check memo line.    
These donations are not tax deductible because WILPF US is a citizen advocacy organization and a portion of our W$D work is for organizing towards system change.  

The Golden Rule showing a banner announcing the EIF of the TPNW sails past Oahu, Hawai’I between Kaneohe Bay and Honolulu, on January 22, 2021. WILPFer Helen Jaccard on left, Connie Durant on right. Photo by Captain Kiko, used with his permission.

By Cherrill Spencer
Coordinator of Resource Preparation Team for the Call for Peace Campaign

February 2021

Our enthusiastic members braved the snow and rain to celebrate the entry into force (EIF) of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to inform their communities about it as part of the ongoing WILPF US Call for Peace Campaign.

WILPF US recently started a Call for Peace Campaign which you can read about in this October 1st 2020 President’s Corner. This campaign has two demands: to the United Nations Security Council to extend the current Global Ceasefire and to the United States Congress to cut all military spending by 50% and move the money to fund human needs. Three related action-oriented themes have been chosen for WILPFers to work on, the first being to celebrate the Entry into Force (EIF) of the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) with outdoor demonstrations to bring the TPNW to the attention of our legislators and the general public,

Three Action-oriented Themes of the Call for Peace Campaign

We have a team of volunteers researching and writing resource guides to inform and encourage WILPF members to take action on these three themes: (i) the new TPNW treaty; (ii) Move the Money from the military budget to programs that help US residents and (iii) advocate for the continuation of the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire.
 
Our first four resource guides focused on the Entry Into Force on January 22, 2021 of the TPNW. The guides are linked to an eAlert sent on January 18. This treaty is a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading to their total elimination. It is a legal contract between the states party (=countries) that have ratified it. This treaty has 20 articles and the first article is the most important one, it lists everything a country must not do with nuclear weapons. One article declares that 90 days after 50 countries have ratified the treaty it comes into effect, making nuclear weapons illegal in those countries; that date was January 22, 2021. No surprise: the USA has not even signed this treaty and has tried to persuade ratifying states to revoke their ratifications (none has bowed to this pressure).

Why Celebrate the Entry into Effect of the TPNW?

This TPNW is a win for civil society and forward-thinking governments over the traditional power structure. Eighty-sixty countries have signed the TPNW and many of those, beyond the first 50, are going through their treaty ratification process, so an increasing fraction of the world’s population will be living in totally nuclear-weapon-free regions.

Furthermore, one of the 20 articles prohibits assisting anyone to engage in any of the prohibited activities. So it could be that nuclear weapons manufacturing companies, such as Raytheon, which have offices and factories in ratifying countries (even though those factories do not make parts for nuclear weapons) could be affected by the TPNW, and their directors could be arrested if they visit that country. “Assisting” could also be applied to investing capital in a nuclear weapons company and so banks such as Chase could be found guilty of assisting companies to make nuclear weapons and the missiles that deliver them. Two of the five largest pension funds in the world have already divested from the nuclear weapons industry.

All these wins are worth celebrating and so we asked WILPF branches and members-at-large to get out on the streets on Friday, January 22 and let their local communities know about the TPNW and its coming into force. We provided them with banner and lawn sign designs, sample letters to the editor and to our newly-inaugurated  President, op-eds and warning letters to the CEOs of nuclear weapon companies, to hand in after gathering outside their local offices.

WILPFers Celebrate the TPNW’s Entry into Force in 20 Places

I am pleased to report that our members turned out (masked and properly distanced) at 20 different places from sunny Hawaii to frigid Vermont, a noticeable fraction of the 150 Treaty EIF events that took place all over the world on January 22, 2021.

Photo by Pam Richards, used with her permission

For example our Milwaukee, Wisconsin branch gathered outside the Chase Center in downtown Milwaukee, with lots of banners, signs, and flags to celebrate the TPNW’s entry into force.

And our Boston branch descended on the Raytheon BBN Technologies offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts where they left letters of alert about the TPNW for Raytheon’s CEO, Gregory J. Hayes, and its Senior Scientist, Dr. Talib Hussain. Eileen Kurkoski of WILPF and Susan Mirsky of MA Peace Action formed a Treaty Compliance Unit; they dressed in mock HAZMAT outfits and delivered the alert letters.

Photo by Eileen Kurkoski, used with her permission.

We have made a slideshow of 14 more photos from different locales where WILPFers demonstrated on January 22, 2021, shown in reverse alphabetical order by state.

Three of our branches—Des Moines, IA, Pittsburgh, PA, and Peninsula/Palo Alto, CA—have written their own reports on their EIF actions which appear elsewhere in this newsletter.

Many thanks to our enthusiastic members who braved the snow and rain to celebrate the entry into force of the TPNW and to inform their communities about it!

This is just a step along the way to nuclear disarmament. Now we need to be contacting our Congressional reps about all the arms control treaties the USA should be following and the new legislative acts regarding nuclear weapons being introduced into the 117th Congress, such as the one described in Ellen Thomas’s article.

All our “outstanding” members sent several photos of their events and you can see them in our WILPF SMART website.
 

Women inside an abandoned construction site occupied by Syrian refugees in Saida, Lebanon in October 2015. Photo credit: Richard Juilliart / Shutterstock.com.

By Nada Farhat, Tura Campanella Cook, Theresa El-Amin, and George Friday 
Middle East Peace & Justice Action Committee 

February 2021

“Lebanon WILPF Speaks: Challenges and Hope,” a webinar featuring Diala Chehade, Hala Kilani, Shirine Jurdi, and Ferial Abu Hamdan, will be held on Tuesday February 9, 2021 at 9 am Pacific / 12 noon Eastern / 7 pm Lebanon. [Note the unique time!]

Register here

In this webinar, you will be able to hear directly from our distinguished sisters in WILPF Lebanon. The Lebanon section, established in 1962, has played a pivotal role in formulating WILPF policy statements on the Middle East for nearly 60 years. Lebanon today is challenged by local impacts of war, political instability, and government corruption. Some of the topics that will be discussed include: 

• How does WILPF Lebanon bring the voices of women into decision-making at national and international levels? 
• What is the role of US foreign policy in the crises facing Lebanon?  
• How can we build solidarity?

Send questions in advance for the speakers to LebanonWebinar@gmail.com

Speaker Bios
Our four speakers come with vast experience in human rights, gender equity and equality, climate action, and peace and disarmament advocacy.

L to R: Diala Chehade, Hala Kilani, Shirine Jurdi, Ferial Abu Hamdan. All photos used by permission of speaker.

• Diala Chehade - Attorney in Beirut advocating for human rights protection
• Hala Kilani - Senior Communication officer at the Climate Action Network  
• Shirine Jurdi - WILPF MENA International Board Representative, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict MENA Liaison, Campaign to Stop Killer Robots team leader 
• Ferial Abu Hamdan - a past member of The Lebanese Council of Women who has served as Vice President of WILPF Lebanon and as a representative to WILPF's International Board

Lebanon Hosts Huge Number of Refugees

Lebanon, with a population of 5.5 million, hosts the largest number of displaced persons per capita in the world: one in every four people is a refugee. The Syrian war has spilled over to Lebanon for years and the tension between Israel and Iran is a dance of horror tormenting every Lebanese, regardless of religion or political affiliation. People in Lebanon are longing for peace and prosperity in their homeland. 
    
In June 2020, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported on the dire living conditions for Syrian refugees and how they had worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic: See "Economic Misery Engulfs Syrian Refugees and Their Hosts" by Walid Saleh and Warda Al-Jawahiry.

According to a United Nations Population Fund report on the Lebanon Humanitarian Emergency, struggles between refugees and their host communities are causing deteriorating living conditions and compounding the economic crisis in Lebanon.

Register here for the Zoom webinar to learn more and discover how you can join in solidarity with our WILPF sisters in Lebanon.
 

By Nancy Price
Co-chair, Earth Democracy Committee

February 2021

Time to organize for World Water Day March 22 on the theme “valuing water,” focused on pricing and also on the social, environmental, and cultural “value” of water. Join the global conversation about what water means to you.

Join the Conversation

• We want to hear from you!
• Tell us what water means to you.
• Share your views on social media.
• Tag your post with #Water2me.
• Your voice will help shape the World Water Day 2021 campaign and will inform a report about the importance of water.

Check out ongoing discussions

Earth Democracy invites you – our members and branches – to join in this global World Water Day conversation about what water means to you.

The organizers of World Water Day want to:

• Learn and share WHAT IS BEING DONE by people all over the world, and by you and your community, to protect water. They want to hear your stories, thoughts and feelings about water and will create a collective record of  Audio Recordings from the Field. These are stories presented by radio journalists, both professional and amateur, of community members who are interviewed and their voices aired through community radio with listeners responding through text messages and calls into the station if possible. 

• Go to https://www.worldwaterday.org click on the “Learn,” “Share,” “Act” sections for information, and scroll down for information, a ToolKit (soon to be posted), and Social Media materials. 

What WILPF Members and Branches Can Do

Here’s one WILPF example of what’s being done: Californians will remember that nearly all of our CA Tour March 7-22, 2020 – “Exposing the Pentagon: Hidden Polluter of Water” events were cancelled because of COVID-19, including our Forum for Sunday which was going to be held March 22, 2020, World Water Day, in San Francisco. We’re now going back to the radio stations that interviewed Pat Elder last spring so he can give an update, and February 24, he’ll be on Jean Hays’ WILPF “Stir It Up” community radio program in Fresno.

You – our members and branches might:  

• Organize a Zoom or group phone call to share together - How is water important to your home and family life, your livelihood, your religious and cultural practices and spaces, your personal and community wellbeing, and your local environment?  
• Talk about how water is under threat from a growing population, increasing demand of agriculture and industry, the worsening impacts of climate change and ever-increasing contamination.

Earth Democracy’s Human Right to Water Project will post questions to discuss and materials for World Water Day. For example, here are some questions that we would ask when “valuing water”:  

1. How do we calculate the value of water? Is it is a public good, a public commons to be share equitably and protected for present and future generations, or is water just a commodity to invest in for profit? 
   On December 18, 2020, Maude Barlow and Vandana Shiva wrote decrying the move by CME Group, the largest financial derivatives exchange company, that on December 7, 2020 launched the world’s first futures market in water so financiers and investors can profit from the planet’s water crisis. They wrote: “We deplore this development and urge people and governments everywhere to reject it…If water is put on the open market like oil and gas, it will lead inevitably to rising water prices in a world desperately in need of water for life.”
    
2. What is happening in your community to enforce that Water is a Human Right? Today, with COVID-19 still spreading rampantly, water is even more precious because good attention to handwashing helps to control infection as described in this article: 'The Most Basic Form of PPE': 1.6 Million Households Face Water Shutoffs. In California alone, 1.6 million poor and fixed income households cannot pay their water bills now because of job loss, taking in additional family members, or deaths of the main income provider, and so these households are in danger of losing their fundamental human right – access to water for personal and household use. Furthermore, local municipal water systems that are losing revenue from unpaid water bills risk going under and being bought up by private, for-profit water corporations. Already a a large coalition is calling on Biden to impose a national moratorium on water shutoffs. What is the situation in your town, city, or state? 

If you have questions that you’d like to share with our Earth Democracy community, please email co-chairs Nancy Price and Randa Solick at earthdemocracy(@)wilpfus.org and we’ll incorporate them into our early March World Water Day Action Alert.