NEWS
WILPF changes the world by changing lives. Beginning with our own. We all know this to be true and, as president, I know this to be true at both the micro and macro levels. I am continually humbled by WILPF’s past and inspired by its future.
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Working in the national office alongside Ria, our Director of Operations, processing the responses generated by WILPF’s annual year-end fundraising appeal is a humbling experience. I’ve opened letters from so many of you, felt gratitude for your continuing generosity, and been heartened by the personal messages that knit our community together—greetings and a reminiscence from a friend in Florida, scattered notes of appreciation and encouragement, beautiful cards and checks from women I will never have the pleasure of meeting. This past week, I opened a letter from a member in Indiana, recalling that she first joined WILPF in 1938, seventy-four years ago: “I am now 103 and running out of strength and money, but I am so thankful that I can send in my dues one more time -- and I could still read the last issue of Peace and Freedom. I liked the tone of it and I glory in your goals and perseverance.”
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Keep up with WILPF around the world through the WILPF International Blog, on the homepage at www.wilpfinternational.org. |
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Organizational Updates: A warm WILPF welcome to the newest member of the National Board: Cheryl Diersch of Burlington,VT, who was elected as secretary at the November board meeting. The search continues to fill the newly created position of Chair of Membership Development. Please send nominations to nominations@wilpfus.org. In 2013, the National board will be meeting bi-monthly via conference call scheduled on the second Tuesday of every other month. The first call will be at 8:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 15. WILPF board meetings are open to all WILPF members. We are using a new call-in system that requires participants to pre-register; please write to Ria Kulenovic at rkulenovic@wilpfus.org if you wish to attend. The agenda for the January meeting includes: a proposal for the next WILPF national congress, a report from the Transition Working Group, and the workplan for our Ad Hoc communications committee. As was previously announced, members wishing to give input regarding the timing, location, length, or content of the next WILPF national congress are invited to provide their comments in writing to nominations@wilpfus.org no later than January 5, 2013. Congratulations to members Suzie Ditmars(CA), Beth Friedman Kirk (IN), Peggy Luhrs (VT), Rita Maran (CA), Sheila Martel (MD), and Jane Weed-Pomerantz (CA) who have been chosen to participate in the 2013 Local2Global program and represent WILPF at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women meetings in March. We look forward to seeing you in New York. |
Those of us currently serving on the National board are similarly proud of the persevering activism of WILPF members in our branches across the country. Branches in Philadelphia and Boston staging regular “Drone Marches”, the tireless efforts of our Washington D.C. branch to outlaw the use of depleted uranium, the initiative of branches across California in forming a network to support state ballot measures to require labeling of genetically modified foods and recognize the human right to water. We are awed by the courage of WILPF sections working to prevent and end conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Colombia, and around the globe. We are sustained by the connections WILPF provides, intellectually and emotionally enriched through these relationships, kept young by the continual opportunities WILPF membership provides to make a positive difference in the world.
Nonetheless, the naysayers make it easy to succumb to anxiety and inaction. And, election years can take a toll on those of us who come from politically-mixed families. My own family, for example, includes at least one Rush Limbaugh acolyte and at least one member of the NRA, as well as some iconic figures of the Catholic, pacifist left. Therefore, at the end of this election year, I am especially grateful for the grounding and support offered by my sister WILPF members: you kept me pro-active and sane in 2012. And, buoyed by the generosity of my WILPF family and friends, I am facing 2013 with renewed vigor—hopeful that, in 2059, when I am 103, I will still be able to demonstrate my commitment to WILPF through gifts of energy and money.The coming year is full of threats, to the environment and to human security. Extrajudicial killings authorized by presidential fiat; erosion of civil liberties sanctioned by congressional inaction; a Senate hesitant to ratify any new treaties or rejoin the International Criminal Court. The United States has never needed WILPF’s leadership more.
If you haven’t already given, please help WILPF reach its year-end fundraising goal by making an on-line contribution today.
With much love and admiration,
Laura H. Roskos, President
U.S. Section, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Dear WILPF US M
embers and Friends,
What might you like to see for the next WILPF, US Section, Membership Congress? We are asking for your input and comments. Please send your input to nominations@wilpfus.org no later than Friday, January 5. The national WILPF board hopes to make a decision on this matter when it meets by conference call on January 15, 2013. If you wish to participate in that meeting, please contact Ria at rkulenovic@wilpfus.org for details.
In the last few decades, we've had such a Congress every three years, lasting 4–5 days, in various (rotating) parts of the U.S. The functions and activities for those congresses have varied over time. Our hope is that the next WILPF membership congress be welcoming, inclusive, and accessible to members who have diverse lifestyles and are at different places in their lives. To achieve that vision, we’d like your responses to the following questions. We also ask for your additional suggestions!
1) Three years from 2011, when we had a congress in Chapel Hill, will be 2014. Do you think a 2014 Congress a good idea for WILPF US?
In 2015, WILPF International will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. There is talk of a
special women's conference, in conjunction with or in place of the WILPF International
Congress scheduled for that year, to take place in The Hague, Netherlands. How could a 2014
WILPF US Congress build toward that event? Or should WILPF US focus on 100th anniversary
celebration/commemorations events in the US in 2015, rather than the 2014 Congress? What
ideas do you have?
2) If we do have a 2014 Congress for WILPF US, what form should it take? What do you think of these suggestions?
a) We're considering ways to reduce the "carbon footprint" resulting from the need for transportation (flights) to our congresses, so what do you think of regional congresses? (Perhaps we could send a team of presenters to three or four locations, Lots of traveling for the team, less traveling for everyone else.
b) Should we make the physical meeting(s) virtually accessible as well—via conference call or home computer virtual meeting technology?
c) Should we shorten the Congress to 2 1/2 days (such as Fri. afternoon through Sun. afternoon), to make it more affordable?
d) How about having a delegate structure at the congress, to make decisions about program or other national matters. (What ideas do you have as to how to approach representative delegates?)
3) What do you think of the idea of WILPF US replacing the triennial congress with an annual meeting? These meetings would be much shorter—a couple of days or less—and, like the Congresses, would rotate to locations around the country, so more members might come from the local area. Would you be more likely to attend an annual meeting?
4) What other suggestions do you have for Congresses? Here are a few samples; please feel free to respond as to what you think of them or to offer your own ideas.
• Offer cheaper registration to first-time attendees or students.
• Pair off first-time or younger attendees with older member who could mentor the newer one.
• Provide incentive to branches to each send at least one person to the meeting.
Remember, we look forward to hearing from you at nominations@wilpfus.org by Friday, January 11.
Please include with your response the following information:
- Are you a WILPF member?
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If yes
a) for approximately how many years?
b) do you relate to a specific branch?
c) do you consider yourself an active member? - How many WILPF US Congresses have you attended?
Thank you!
December 10 marks the last day of the 16 Days Campaign, Human Rights Day, and Jane Addams Day in the state of Illinois.
The assault on women's rights will never end until there is a legal foundation for women’s claims of equality.
End the war on women today. Tell the 113th Congress to halt the piecemeal erosion of women’s rights by ratifying CEDAW* in 2013.
- Remember that the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated.
- Remember that the Violence Against Women Act has not yet been reauthorized by Congress.
- Remember that reproductive freedom and sexual autonomy rests on court decisions not on legislation.
- Remember that even with the gains made in this year’s elections, women still comprise only 20% of the U.S. House and Senate.
- Remember that only seven countries, including Iran, Somalia and the U.S.A., have failed to ratify CEDAW.
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| If you would like some of WILPF's new War on Women buttons for an event or tabling, please contact Rose at daitsman@milwpc.com |
In 2012, we worked to get more women elected to the U.S. Senate and succeeded. Now, we need to support them in affirming the rights of all women. Tell the incoming Senate to halt the piecemeal erosion of women’s rights by ratifying CEDAW.
This petition will be delivered to every senator on January 3, the day the 113 Congress will be sworn in. Our goal is to deliver 50,000 signatures demonstrating that voters in the United States do care about women’s civil liberties and human rights.
Sign the petition to ratify CEDAW Now!
For hard copy versions of the petition to ratify CEDAW, click here
Last week, the 112th Senate voted against ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), in what even conservative commentators are calling “an embarrassment” and “a travesty.” It was embarrassing because 38 senators revealed their ignorance and ideological blindness. It was a travesty because the U.S., once a global leader in recognizing the civil liberties and human rights of the disabled with the 1990 passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), has now become a laggard by refusing to join the international treaty guarantying those same rights to people around the world. The CRPD, inspired by the ADA, has already been adopted by 82 countries, but not by the U.S.
In this same way, the U.S. has now become a laggard in protecting the rights of women by failing to join 185 other countries as a party to CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. But in the U.S., women—unlike the disabled—have no federal legislation to fall back on when ideologues threaten to re-define rape or repeal access to birth control. Remember, the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified.
Act now to ensure that your full human rights are respected and protected.
Act now to ensure the rights of your daughters, sisters, mothers and lovers.
Act now to end the War on Women once and for all.
*CEDAW, the International Treaty guaranteeing women’s equality, civil liberties and human rights, was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 but has not yet been ratified by the U.S. Senate. Once ratified, it will become federal law.
by Ellen Thomas, Disarm/End Wars Issue Committee
DUE JANUARY 2, 2013: PUBLIC COMMENTS TO THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) REGARDING ITS “WASTE CONFIDENCE RULE.” YOU CAN HELP BY MAKING PUBLIC COMMENTS ON YOUR OWN AND IN SUPPORT OF THE WILPF POSITION ON THIS ISSUE. SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS.
BACKGROUND: Since enacted in 1984, this Rule accepted, illogically, the idea of on-site storage for at least 120 years of high-level radioactive waste at reactors, stored in indoor wet pools and outdoor dry casks. This faulty premise was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 8, 2012, when it ruled in favor of a coalition of states and environmental groups.
The Court Order requires the NRC to prepare a decades-overdue environmental impact statement (EIS), to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), about the risks of on-site high-level radioactive waste storage, with NO NEW OR EXTENDED LICENSES TO BE GIVEN until the decision is made on what to do with the waste.
On October 25, 2012, the NRC published a Notice in the Federal Register giving only until January 2, 2013, for public comments.
WILPF's Disarm/End Wars Committee is asking the NRC to stop generating more radioactive waste and not move any radioactive waste from existing sites until a permanent storage solution has been found.
We ask that the NRC leave the public comment period open until a decision is made, and that the NRC include nuclear experts in the decision-making process that are not part of either the government or the nuclear industry.
For example, we propose:
David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists
Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
Helen Caldicott, Nuclear Policy Research Institute
Robert Alvarez, Institute for Policy Studies
Dan Hirsch, Committee to Bridge the Gap
Geoff Fettus, Natural Resources Defense Council
Ed Lyman, Union of Concerned Scientists
plus long-time nuclear activists who live in the vicinity of nuclear facilities, such as:
Diane Curran, Attorney
Marvin Reznikoff, Radioactive Waste Management Associates
and founding members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
In your letter, you may have other experts to recommend.
We expect that what will come of this is an end to an adversarial or hierarchical decision-making process.
With such an abundance of uncertainties, not only environmental but also economic, caused by actual happenings such as Fukushima and recent evidence of climate change, the communities that are experiencing accidents, leaks, and the overwhelming threat of what could happen and has happened, need to be involved in a solution.
This takes us beyond the theoretical approach into something that might actually work: cooperative brainstorming.
Please contact the NRC by January 2, 2013. (See footnotes.) We suggest that you explain how you, personally, and your community are affected by nuclear waste policies.
Environmental scoping comments can be submitted using Docket ID NRC-2012-0246:
- electronically at http://www.regulations.gov
- by mail to: Cindy Bladey, Chief; Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch; Office of Administration; Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Washington, D.C. 20555-0001.
- by fax to: Cindy Bladey/NRC, at (301) 492-3446.
- by upcoming NRC Webinars: Wed., Dec. 5, 1-4pm Eastern (10am-1pm Pacific), or Thurs., Dec. 6, 9pm-Midnight Eastern (6-9pm Pacific). You must pre-register to participate by contacting NRC's Susan Wittick at Susan.Wittick@nrc.gov or (301) 492-3187.
Helpful links:
- Beyond Nuclear has issued a call for comments with sample language you might use.
- NRC Scoping Meetings For New Waste Confidence Directorate EIS
Image credit: WILPF member Frances Crowe http://en.wikipedia.org/
The Building the Beloved Community Issue Committee (BBC) is seeking WILPF members to join in advocacy work on issues embraced in this committee’s mandate. We are planning an organizing conference call in early December.
If you are concerned about racial justice issues and the interrelationships between them and the other issues of concern to WILPF and think you might like to join this call, but aren’t already on the BBC listserv, please click here and provide us with your name, branch (or location) and contact information and we will include you in notification of our upcoming conference call. If you are already on the BBC listserv we hope you are able to be on this call, too—we’ll also send out information about it on the BBC listserv.
Building the Beloved Community (BBC) – The goal of the BBC initiative is to work toward racial, economic, gender justice and peace with economic and political democracy. The focus seeks to address the inequities based on capitalist corporate power, war, and systemic institutionalized oppression.
BBC provides educational information about the history and nature of systemic racism, connections between oppressions, internalized oppressions, racial justice, and the struggles for racial justice.
As we in WILPF know, racial justice is not an issue that stands alone—it is a reality that intersects with all oppressions. BBC encourages WILPF members in branches and at large, as well as other interested organizations and individuals, to work in coalition around racial, economic and social justice issues at many levels, local, national or international level.
by the Earth Democracy Issue Committee
Bill McKibben and 350.org have launched the Go Fossil Free—Divest From Fossil Fuels Campaign. After a summer of unforgiving drought, unprecedented Arctic melt, and Hurricane Sandy, McKibben is responding to the public’s pent-up desire to challenge the fossil fuel industry’s long-term grip on energy policy. By joining this campaign, WILPF members and friends may realize our present-day responsibilities as Guardians of the Rights Held by Future Generations—a foundational principle of our Earth Democracy work and, in particular, of our Global Warming/Renewable Energy subcommittee.
Now, post-election, McKibben is building a multi-pronged campaign, modeled on the 1980s anti-Apartheid movement, to inspire us, our communities, and all types of large and small institutions to divest fossil fuel companies from stock portfolios, pension funds, and other holdings to influence the industry to keep 80% of their current carbon-based fuels in the ground and influence the industry to invest in socially responsible renewable energy sources and technology. He seeks to inspire citizen-led boycotts, blockades, marches on shareholder meetings and more.
Do The Math. We must burn less than 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2-degrees C (=3.6-degrees F) of warming, but above that risks catastrophe for all life on earth. The problem is that fossil fuel corporations have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount at the current use of about 31 gigatons of carbon a year, and this amount is increasing. At this rate, McKibben emphasizes, we’ll blow through our 565 gigaton allowance in 16 years.
The fossil fuel industry in planning to burn it all, unless we rise up to stop them.
This multipronged ampaign has these components:
First, a strong Fossil Free Campus divestment action. On Nov. 5, Unity College, Maine was the first school to announce that their Board of Trustees unanimously voted to divest the College endowment fund from fossil fuels, emphasizing the College’s commitment to sustainability. At Harvard, the Undergraduate Council voted 72% in favor of the University divesting its $30.7 billion endowment from fossil fuels. Already more than 47 campuses are engaged in divestment campaigns and the list grows daily.
Now during the holidays talk with your children and grandchildren who are on school vacation about this campaign. Great resources are here, including “A Campus Guide to Divestment,” “The Plan,” and FAQ.
Second, an Off-Campus Divestment Campaign for your community or state, at your church, union, or work place that may have endowments or pension funds that are invested in fossil fuels. We can push our local and state officials and money managers at these institutions to move toward divestment. We’ll create a “WILPF Go Fossil Free” Fact Sheet” and post soon to the website.
And, third, on-going citizen-led boycotts, blockades, marches on shareholder meetings and more—whatever people create to bring the message home and increase awareness of the need for divestment.
Do the Math. There are three simple numbers that add up to “Global Warming's Terrifying New Math." We must burn less than 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide to stay below a 2-degrees C (=3.6-degree F) increase in warming, anything above that risks catastrophe to all life on earth. We have already raised the temperature .8-degrees C. Right now we are at 392 ppm (parts-per-million) and scientists say that 350 ppm is the safe limit. But fossil fuel corporations have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount at the current rate of use of about 31 gigatons of carbon a year, and this amount is increasing. At this rate, McKibben emphasizes, we’ll blow through our 565 gigaton allowance in 16 years. The fossil fuel industry in planning to burn it all for profit unless we rise up to stop them.
California Earth Democracy Tour:
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By artist Ann Altman from Silverton, Oregon, www.annaltman.com |
Because in California oil and gas companies anticipate accelerating fracking in 2013, Earth Democracy plans a statewide tour between March 22, World Water Day and April 22, Earth Day to branches and other groups of members. We envision a program to expose the harms of fracking, facilitate discussion of the Draft Declaration of the Rights Held by Future Generations and Bill of Responsibilities for Present Generations, and how to develop a local divestment. Very soon we’ll announce this tour to CA Branches, members and friends and invite them to collaborate with us to plan the tour and local events. The CA Team includes: Mathilde Rand and Randa Solick from Santa Cruz, Jean Hays from Fresno, and Nancy Price from Davis.
Please join the Earth Democracy mailing list by contacting Nancy Price: Nancytprice39@gmail.com or Linda Park: veggiepark@sbcglobal.net and if you wish to join the work of one of the subcommittees: Rights of Nature/Guardianship of the Commons; Food Democracy/Local Economy; Global Warming/Renewable Energy; and Human Right to Water and Health, please email Leadership Team members at teamearthdem@wilpfus.org and please contact us at catour@wilpfus.orgfor questions and to begin planning together.
