NEWS

A special vigil was held by the Peninsula/Palo Alto branch on January 22, 2021, to mark the TPNW’s entry into force.

By Judy Adams
Member, Peninsula/Palo Alto Branch’s DISARM/Peace Issues Committee

February 2021

WILPF’s Call for Peace Campaign began with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), so it naturally occurred to me to organize a modest vigil to honor the treaty’s entry into force on January 22, 2021, and to coordinate our local efforts with a number of activist groups in the area.

We invited local peace & justice, environmental, and faith-based groups who also organize around nuclear disarmament issues to cooperate on a calendar of vigils and other actions on the weekend the TPNW entered into force (January 22-23). We tried to coordinate the timing of the events as one would schedule a “progressive dinner,” with events separated by enough time for interested people to at least participate in two events at different locations a short car trip apart in the counties where most of our members live (Santa Clara and San Mateo). Together with other groups, we ended up holding a “time-coordinated” series of six events: four vigils on the 22nd and one on the 23rd, and one virtual Zoom event on the evening of the 22nd.

View a slideshow of pictures from these events here.

I committed to widely publicize the events since I coordinate our branch email and outreach/publicity. The former director of our local Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto provided a related video interview with Jackie Cabasso, nuclear disarmament activist at the Western States Legal Foundation and North American coordinator of Mayors for Peace, on the PPJC YouTube channel, and they included our calendar of events in PPJC online newsletters.

Although it was not located in one of the counties listed, we included a Tri-Valley CAREs “banner holding” event at Livermore National Lab where they keep an eye on the research conducted there (this event was listed in the first WILPF Resource Guide relating to the treaty). We also partnered with the San Mateo Peace Action and Pacific Life/Catholic Worker groups to reciprocate attendance at each other’s TPNW events.

Protests, Vigils, and a Zoom Meeting

The “first course” in our offerings of events had two options: a “banner holding event” at 8 am outside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (in Alameda County) to protest the lab’s research supporting the development of weapons of mass destruction. This was an RSVP event to ensure there would be sufficient signs and banners for participants. The other early option was a 9 am vigil outside the main gate of Sunnyvale’s Lockheed-Martin facility with members of the Pacific Life Community / Catholic Worker movement from San Jose and Redwood City. Our branch member Cherrill Spencer represented our branch while another volunteer and I set up for our noon vigil. Lockheed is complicit, as is Livermore Lab, in the nuclear weapons industry.

We had welcome rain on Friday as California has been suffering from drought, and the coordinated calendar allowed participants time to dry out a bit before joining WILPFers and other volunteers at our branch-sponsored vigil from noon to 1:30 pm, held at a busy Palo Alto intersection. Fortunately, our banners were waterproof, and volunteers took the precaution the day before to put our signs in protective plastic, including several with QR codes that can take one to the WILPF online petition in support of the Treaty. Our numbers were increased by the Lockheed vigil organizers who joined our vigil after theirs, and other regular supporters of our vigils, along with a core group of WILF members. We were joined by Sharat Lin, the well-known peninsula “Peace Dancer” and photojournalist.

There was a break in the events allowing plenty of time to get to San Jose for the next event, a 5-6 pm peace vigil outside the downtown MLK public library. The “last course” scheduled on the 22nd was a virtual Zoom event from 7-9 pm organized by the San Jose branch. Songs were led by branch member Rev. Rowan Fairchild, Joan Goddard narrated a Powerpoint presentation about the history, details, and ramifications of the TPNW, and participants had an opportunity to ask questions and discuss actions to take in the ensuing campaign to support the treaty. Cherrill and I both attended. Here is a recording of this Zoom session.

Our final event of the TPNW weekend, which I attended, took place under clear blue skies in San Mateo on Saturday, January 23 from 3-4 pm, in front of the Bank of America building, organized by the San Mateo Peace Action group.

The daunting rain forecast on Friday probably kept some away and we were at the height of COVID restrictions for Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, so undoubtedly some people stayed home to limit possible exposure. But we’ll be back, with determination to end the nuclear era and establish a global ceasefire. We hope the wide publicity for this set of events will help raise the participating groups’ visibility for future events.

The slideshow includes one photo for each event that was planned by other groups, and a handful of pictures from our own vigil. The captions include contact information for other organizers. Questions or thoughts? Contact me at wilpf.peninsula.paloalto@gmail.com

Extend the UN Global Ceasefire and cut all military spending 50%!

We Call for Peace
To the people of the US, we have an alternative: Let us unite and commit to creating the conditions that support a peaceful world.

In the US, it is past time to invest our nation’s energies and resources to building a new model. We have the wealth and ability to address human needs and support the environment that sustains us all. We can make a difference in the US and, as the world’s wealthiest nation, globally. We recognize: We are one world.

We can no longer afford to squander our resources and energies on war.

The Pandemic and Climate Collapse Introduce Us to a New Era

The pandemic has created not only a global health crisis but also a global economic crisis.

Together, these combine to create a human needs crisis. Both increased funding and the Implementation of the UN’s proposed Global Ceasefire are crucial to provide humanitarian aid. Medical supplies and personnel must reach vulnerable populations.

We can increase the resources and energies we devote to laying the groundwork for meeting human needs, so that we can live in peace.

The effects of climate chaos are increasingly visible. In the midst of the pandemic, we experience the climate crisis, which has become more and more evident in the US and all over the world.

We can restore our planet with thoughtful use of our resources and energies.

The People Must Lead the Way to a Peaceful World

With multiple crises, the need for a humanitarian pause in fighting must be obvious. But from long experience, we understand: It will take concerted efforts to bring heads of state and others from conflicting parties to the talks necessary to build agreement on action steps to stop the fighting.

We must make that effort, because those who pay the highest price in armed conflicts are the same ones who suffer the most from COVID-19. Beyond that, they are the ones most at risk from the effects of climate change chaos – women, children, refugees and the displaced, those with chronic and acute health conditions, the poor, and the marginalized – often lack influence with those who make the choice to wage wars. But in our country, we, the people of the US, do have power.

As a government by the people, the US can take a strong stand for diplomacy, instead of arms. Let the US join others to show conflicting factions that the powerful nations of the world choose a shift in values. Working to support and develop nonviolent means for resolving or addressing conflict, the US can promote both the immediate and the long-term actions necessary for such a shift.

The US, along with other countries, can work to bring parties to the peace table. For peace to be lasting, we need all parties to be represented. Women must be equally present, as provided under Security Council Resolution 1325 – now ten years old. Imagine the positive global effects, when the US demonstrates commitment to cooperation.

The UN and other parties are already working for a pause in fighting. On July 1, the UN Security Council voted unanimously for the Global Ceasefire. It’s time for armed forces to withdraw, in order to de-escalate tensions. At the same time, the means and places for hearing the demands and grievances of all parties – again, with women equally present – must be established. Articulation of issues is prerequisite to the negotiation of issues.

Now is the time to invest our energies and resources in the conditions that make lasting peace possible!

The People Must Make the Choice of Where We Spend Our Resources

The key to making such changes possible is redirecting US military spending. We call for cutting all US military spending by 50% and directing that money to human needs. We start with the official Department of Defense (DoD) budget, passed by Congress in the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). However, the reported US DOD budget, about $750 billion a year, is actually only half of the total reported US military expenditures.

Other amounts for military expenses are counted under other departmental budgets, such as the Department of Energy, for many nuclear weapon-related expenditures. The total “accounted for” and “reported” US war-related funding sources for 2020 totaled $1.25 trillion

In addition there are funds unaccounted for. These “unsupported adjustments” are discovered, but not explained, through government audits. On average, each year since 1998 another $1.24 trillion is spent, but unaccounted for, by the Pentagon, equaling $21,000,000,000 (21 trillion dollars) total since 1998.

At a time like this, for a purpose like this, with the power of the people mobilized, the US can acknowledge that military solutions are no solutions! The US can make the necessary choices:

• To end contracts with and subsidies to companies that make weapons of war.
• To refuse to approve arms sales and transfers to other countries.
• To cut costly new weapons systems and weapons development.

We, the people, must lead the US on this new course. The shift from a war economy to a peace economy will take time and persistent vigilance. An economy founded on peace will nourish a culture and a society more consistent with humane values. Let people’s lives enjoy renewed meaning by incorporating humane values at the base of our economy!

So We Issue this Call for Peace:

• To the United Nations Security Council: Extend the Global Ceasefire.•
• To the US Congress: Cut all military spending by 50% and move the money to fundhuman needs.

We must embrace the opportunity for this long-sought shift. In the months ahead, through the efforts of issue committees, branches, and at-large members, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom US will work with other organizations to develop and refine strategies and actions to advance and extend this Call.

For members

If you are a member and are not receiving regular email updates, please contact Chris Wilbeck at info@wilpfus.org.

For non-members

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Click here if you would like to join WILPF. Membership includes:

• Participation in your local branch
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• The opportunity to join and work with WILPF’s issue committees—or form a new one! (see wilpfus.org/our-work)
• An excellent chance to meet like-minded individuals and contribute your skills and talents to the crucial work to end war and all causes of war that WILPF commits to in multiple ways

WILPF Philly members Marlena Santoyo and Ana Santoyo (second and third from right) participated in a Poor People’s Hearing on Democracy in Norristown, Pennsylvania on November 7, 2020.

December 2020

Burlington Hosts “Power, Privilege & the Vote” Virtual Suffrage Events

By Marguerite Adelman
Burlington Branch

WILPF Burlington, with a mini-grant from WILPF US, held a number of virtual suffrage programs with Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner for Vermont high schools and universities in late October.

Many of the programs were recorded and the University of Vermont Program – POWER, PRIVILEGE & THE VOTE: Focus on Women, Culture and Herstories of Suffrage – is now available for viewing at this link: http://go.uvm.edu/i1enx

In this comprehensive presentation, Dr. Wagner explores important influences in the U.S. Women’s Suffrage movement that are often forgotten. Who were the women presidential candidates in the 1800s? What were the challenges they faced? How did the indigenous people influence ideas of women’s suffrage and rights? Who was not included in the U.S. suffrage movement and why? How can the herstories of women’s suffrage provide a lens through which to explore the ongoing creation of democracy in our country?

Feel free to show this program at your own virtual WILPF meeting in the coming months!

WILPF Philly Branch Intersects with Put People First PA

By Ana Santoyo
Member, WILPF Greater Philadelphia

Thanks to WILPF national, WILPF Philly members Marlena Santoyo and I connected with the Philadelphia and Montgomery County Healthcare Rights Committee Put People First PA movement, a moral revival of MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign.
 
As part of that effort, on November 7, 2020, I and others took part in a public hearing on “What Is Democracy for the Poor and Dispossessed”? As a social worker and Mexican American woman I voiced my testimony in Spanish and English.

The following week on November 10th, I participated in a march at the capitol in Harrisburg demanding driver's licenses for all in Pennsylvania. (For more information, read Pennsylvania House Democrats Propose Drivers License for Undocumented Immigrants).

Divided We Fall, United We Stand! ¡La Gente Unida Jamás Será Vencida!

Maine WILPFers Planning for Entry-Into-Force on January 22, 2021

By Christine DeTroy and Martha Spiess
Maine WILPF

Coordinating with other groups in Maine, Maine WILPFers look forward to celebrating the TPNW #NuclearBan’s EntryIntoForce on January 22, 2021.

Plans are underway to caravan our #nuclearban Banner from Southern Maine to Downeast Maine – until the light gives out or unless there is a blizzard.

https://www.facebook.com/WILPFmaine/ Please follow and like us!

Photo: Christine DeTroy pauses to review the new banner’s text.