Photo credit: WILPF US Wonder Women Tribute Video 2017
WILPF leader Cindy Domingo is the recipient of the Asian Pacific Islander Community Leadership Foundation’s 2017 Kip Takuda Award for her outstanding contributions to the organization and the Asian Pacific Islander community.
Cindy is the Chair of WILPF Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issue Committee and was former US WILPF board member.
Congratulations Cindy!
For the complete announcement, go here.
2017 UN Programs participants and faculty gather in the UN General Assembly room prior to a panel presentation on women's economic empowerment at the Commission on the Status of Women. Shown: Eliza Garbutt, Melissa Torres, Barbara Nielsen, Dixie Hairston, Blanca Gerard, Caitlin Plummer, Rylan Flugence, Mikayla Varunok.
By Dixie Hairston, UN Programs Coordinator and Practicum Co-Faculty
Each year, WILPF US leads a delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The Commission on the Status of Women is the principal UN Policymaking body that is dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women and girls. The 2018 CSW will be the 62nd session and will take place in New York from March 12-23 at the United Nations Headquarters.
The focus of CSW changes each year to highlight an important issue within the scope of their work. The priority theme for 2018 is “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.” Additionally, the session and all associated events will focus on a review of the Millennial Development Goals (MGDs) for women and girls. The review theme for the 62nd CSW will look at “participation in and access of women to the media, and information and communications technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women.”
Delegates will participate as representatives of WILPF US and will experience the discussions and processes towards UN decisions on women's rights/issues in both formal and informal meetings that will take place during the first week 62nd Commission on the Status of Women. The delegation will provide ample opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and exploration of opportunities in international relations and advocacy work.
There are two ways that individuals may participate in the delegation:
The UN Programs take place the first week of the CSW.
This year, delegates will be required to arrive in NYC no later than noon on Saturday, March 10 and stay through Saturday, March 17, 2018.
For more information and to access application documents please follow this link
The deadline for submission is Sunday, November 19, 2016 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time).
About the Programs
Local2Global
Through its consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), WILPF US may attend the Commission on the Status of Women. The Local2Global program was created to help open opportunities for seasoned members to bring local voices into the national and international work of WILPF. Additionally, Local2Global was created to foster intergenerational mentorship and relationship-building between members of WILPF US and students just becoming involved with WILPF US via the Practicum.
UN Practicum in Advocacy
The Practicum’s main goal is to share the access WILPF has to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women with higher education students studying in institutions across the nation. Throughout the delegation, students are able to contribute to discussions, engage in peer-to-peer learning with each other and network with professionals in their field of study. Through the program, participants have access to all open UN High-Level meetings, Side Events and NGO parallel events hosted throughout the week.
Nondiscrimination statement:
The selection process for the UN Practicum in Advocacy Program of WILPF US requires that you be currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral program. The selection process for Local2Global requires you to be a member of WILPF US in good standing. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, citizenship, ancestry, age, religion or spiritual creed, disability or handicap, sex, pregnancy, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local laws. Retaliation is also prohibited. The working language of the WILPF U.S. UN Programs is English.
For questions, please contact Dixie Hairston at practicum-mail@wilpfus.org.
Credit: Roots Action Network
By DISARM-End Wars Issues Committee by Co-Chair Ellen Thomas
Because of recent concerns about North Korea; Fukushima; nuclear facilities in the paths of hurricanes, tornados and fires; and the hazards of transporting radioactive waste, Americans have nuclear weapons AND nuclear power on their minds much more than before.
NEW! Contact Your Representatives In The US House of Representatives
As you know, WILPF-US has actively been supporting legislation in the US House of Representatives that DC’s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced in each Congressional term for the past two decades. The bill, the NUCLEAR WEAPONS ABOLITION AND ECONOMIC AND ENERGY CONVERSION ACT, deals with both nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
The newest version of the bill, HR 3853, was introduced in September 2017 and we are again actively supporting it. This bill addresses both industries we are focusing on in our “END THE WHOLE NUCLEAR ERA” campaign, launched last January at the Women’s March in DC and around the USA.
HR 3853 is the ONLY legislation in Congress that calls for complete, global abolition of nuclear weapons. It suggests how this can be accomplished - earmarking the money currently used for nuclear weapons to re-tool the weapons industries and retraining the workers to do something useful for society, like developing carbon-free and nuclear-free energy, environmental restoration, health care, education, and other human needs. Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Raul Grijalva, John Lewis, and Lacy Clay have said they will sign on to the new legislation this year.
We need to contact everyone in positions of power about this new bill, HR 3853!
Exciting Updates on our WILPF-US Petition to Urge the POTUS and US Senate to Support (ratify) the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty
The first day the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty (“Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”) was open for signing on September 20, 2017. 50 Member States signed their intent to follow-through on the ratification process and 3 Member States signed their ratifications of the Treaty!
Our USA process for ratification of a UN treaty requires the POTUS to sign after the US Senate gives its consent and that is what our petition asks them to do. Right now, they are scoffing at the ban treaty and its process.
Our online and paper petitions have several thousand signatures so far!
As of October 31, 2017, 1,555 signatures have been mailed in from the paper petition by WILPF members in California (591), Iowa (116), Massachusetts (55), Maine (16), Missouri (42), North Carolina (34), New York (6), South Carolina (22), Tennessee (98), Vermont (274), Washington (12), Wisconsin (158); from the Democracy Convention in Minneapolis (32) and from the World Beyond War Conference in the District of Columbia (99).
Help us get more signatures!
Links to both versions of these petitions can also be found at the top of the Proposition One Campaign website, which brought Voter Initiative 37 to Washington DC voters in 1993 (it passed!) and led to the introduction of Eleanor Holmes Norton's bill the first time in 1994.
For more information, contact Ellen Thomas at et@prop1.org.
Attendees at the Santa Cruz Branch Fall Gathering, Sept. 23, 2017. Photo by WILPF member Paula LeRoy.
By Marcia Heath, Santa Cruz Branch Co-chair
The well-attended WILPF Fall Gathering was an opportunity for new and old members to meet each other and hear reports from Randa Solick who attended the 2017 Democracy Convention, and from the three members, Cappy Israel, D Nunns, and Nancy Glock-Gruenich, who attended the WILPF Congress. We heard Congress presenter, Nancy G-G, give a summarized version of her workshops and explain how she is developing them into a 7-part TV series titled, “The Future We Need ... And How to Get It.” The Community TV series will be accessible on YouTube. For more information email wilpfsantacruz@gmail.com
Starting in December and going through June, our branch will hold monthly Strategic Action Study Circles at which we will invite members and the public to view and discuss the TV programs. Nancy describes the series as “From breakdown to breakthrough, connecting citizens here at home to systems transformations worldwide.” Each program will address CHANGE, from Change the Story, to Change Our Ways, the Market, the Rules, the Politics, the Game, and eventually to ‘Shaping the Systems that Shape Us’. Dr. Nancy Glock-Gruenich (nglock@post.harvard.edu) will co-host the TV series with Leanne Nurse, Environmental Protection Specialist from Washington D.C.
Our Branch is sponsoring the TV series with the Santa Cruz Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Center for Applied Community Engagement.
Besides supporting the TV programming and sponsoring the monthly Strategic Action Study Circles, our branch is taking the lead in working with the Peoples Democratic Club and SC4Bernie on Public Banking, an idea for which consensus is growing around the state of California and across the country.
Santa Cruz has many activist organizations. The WILPF branch is continuing to step up its coalition work with these partners, as it has been doing over the past couple of years. For the first time, our holiday party will be titled, “WILPF and Partners Holiday Party.”
Happy holidays all.
By Judy Karas, Chair WILPF Monterey Co. Branch
WILPF Monterey Country Branch is screening “A Bold Peace: Costa Rica's path of demilitarization,” on Sunday November 11, 2-4pm, at the Monterey Public Library (open to the public).
The film details the events, starting almost 70 years ago, when Costa Rica abolished its army and committed itself to fostering a peaceful society. In 1948, Costa Rica dismantled its military establishment and intentionally cultivated security relationships with other nations through treaties, international laws, and international organizations. Free of the burden of military spending, the financial savings was invested in their people, creating strong public institutions including public higher education and universal health care. In short, Costa Ricans created a society committed to peace, solidarity, and international law.
The program is cosponsored by the Monterey Peace and Justice Center. This event is the second in a 3-part mini-series presented by WILPF and the MPJC with the theme, “Positive Futures: How the World Might Live.”
Scheduled in conjunction with Veterans Day observances, this event beckons people to begin to think differently about war and peace.
For more information, please contact Judy Karas at jkaras@sonic.net or Joyce Vandevere at jvand@comcast.net
By DISARM-End Wars Issues Committee by Co-Chair Ellen Thomas
Join other WILPF members on a conference call and online for a FUN NEW WAY to SPREAD THE WORD about our online petition to support the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. Join us in our WEEKLY WEDNESDAY TWITTER STORMS!
Next November Twitter Storms are Wed., Nov. 15 and 29
No call on Nov 22.
The Twitter storm calls are fun and lively! We provide the texts for the Tweets. Everyone on the call sends the same Tweet. You don’t have to type any Tweets yourself – you just “click through” on two pages that are provided.
One of our “Tweeters” said it’s pleasant, convivial company along the lines of being together in a room stuffing envelopes – except we’re on our phones and computers, using the Maestro platform to help us Tweet together!
All you need is to have a Twitter account. Register yourself online at www.twitter.com or we can help you do it. Then, register for the Maestro phone and online conference series (similar to the One WILPF calls set-up).
Click HERE to register for these fun Weekly Wednesday Twitter Storms, at 4:00 pm Pacific/7:00 pm Eastern, every Wednesday EXCEPT November 22, the day before Thanksgiving, through the end of December 2017.
Need help to get started?
Not sure how to set up a Twitter Account? Want hands-on training to feel comfortable about using the Maestro “Social Webinar” page while being on the telephone call? We can help!
Click HERE to register for a training call.
Next training call is Monday, November 20, at 5:00 pm Pacific/8:00 pm Eastern.
You’ll be Tweeting in a few minutes! Then join us for the Wednesday Twitter Storms!
We want these petition tweets to go viral! Now is the time!
For more information, contact Ellen Thomas at et@prop1.org.
Photo Credit: Ruth van Veenendaal
By Stelle Sheller, WILPF Greater Philadelphia Branch
"Celebrating Activism Forum" at the Perelman Art Center in Philadelphia
The Greater Philadelphia Branch participated in the “Celebrating Activism Forum” organized by the Raging Grannies of Philadelphia, in conjunction with The Art Museum of Philadelphia's exhibit, “Philadelphia Assembled.”
The Moderator of the forum was Helen Gym, Philadelphia City Council Member at-Large. She is a great and exciting speaker who is working very hard to end widespread inequality and poverty in Philadelphia! She has many ideas of practical things she is working towards.
Members of the Forum included:
It was an exciting forum! The halls were filled with tables from many different activist organizations. Lots of wonderful people!!
Photo includes a banner sent to Dr. Rothauser (holding end portion), upon return from a recent trip to Japan. Also pictured are event members and some participants. There were Nine “Nuclear Candles” that represent the nuclear nine countries that we hope will see the light to nuclear disarmament. We distributed the Nuclear Warheads Stockpile flier from the PCU Nagasaki Council for Nuclear Weapons Abolition.*
By Christine DeTroy, WILPF Maine Branch
On Tuesday, October 24, 2017, the Maine Branch of WILPF hosted the second of a three-part series based on the Gensuikyo’s call for an international PEACE WAVE. We invited area residents to join in the celebration of this year's landmark UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The event was scheduled to coincide with United Nations Day.
David Rothauser, a Massachusetts filmmaker, teacher and writer, presented his acclaimed film "Hibakusha: Our Right to Live." The film tells the story of Japanese, Korean and American survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the journey of Yoko and her music teacher who survived the Hiroshima bombing. Yoko's journey is paralleled by that of David, an American boy who learns of the bombing through Hollywood movies and World War II propaganda. A discussion followed, including Dr. Rothauser’s comments on Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution -- the article that renounces war.
The final part of the Peace Wave is scheduled for Nov 14. It includes the film, “Command and Control,” along with two physicians from Maine’s Physicians for Social Responsibility who will speak about the public health impacts of Nuclear.
The group is very grateful for the support of a WILPF US Mini-Grant.
* Nagasaki University is the only university in the world that has inherited a medical college having experienced the atomic bombing. Achieving a “world free from nuclear weapons” is thus a paramount concern to the University. Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA), located in a city that was attacked by an atomic bomb, is an educational and research institute which is the interdisciplinary center of local academia with a firsthand experience of the horror of nuclear weapons.
Photo courtesy of student from Middlebury Institute of International Studies
by Judy Karas, chair WILPF Monterey County Branch
WILPF Monterey County Branch co-sponsored a panel discussion on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at the McCone Irvine Auditorium, Monterey CA.
With 122 UN member states having passed the Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on July 7th in New York City, we enter an era where nuclear weapons' possession, development, and possible use will be stigmatized and "delegitimized." The panel gave information about the process of negotiating and passing the Ban Treaty, the ratification process, and various perspectives toward the Ban Treaty. Masako Toki discussed Japan's position on the Ban Treaty and youth involvement with the disarmament issue. The panel also discussed the current nuclear weapons situation, including the U.S. nuclear weapons' modernization plans and the important role of civil society and education.
Speakers included Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director Western States Legal Foundation; Masako Toki, Education Project Manager, Center for Nonproliferation Studies (Critical Issues Forum); Sarah Bittner, Pacific Grove High student participant Critical Issues Forum, and Lesley Kucharski, MIIS student in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies and former intern at the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs while the Ban Treaty was negotiated. The panel discussion moderator was Larry Levine, this year's recipient of the Bahai Human Rights award.
Co-sponsored by the Middlebury Institute International Studies, Monterey Peace and Justice Center, UNA-USA Monterey Bay Chapter, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Monterey County Branch, the program was informative and "connections" were made with staff members at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the local chapter of the UNA-USA Monterey Bay group.
For more information, please contact Judy Karas at jkaras@sonic.net.
By Nancy Price
The growing U.S. network of military bases and outposts is justified to protect our empire of political and economic allies no matter the financial, human and environmental costs. A new Coalition will hold the January 2018 Close U.S. Foreign Military Bases Conference, January 12-14, 2018, at Baltimore University, Baltimore, Maryland.
The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases is a new group of 13 organizations, including WILPF US, who endorse the reality that U.S. foreign military bases are principal instruments of imperial global domination through wars of aggression and occupation and the source of environmental pollution that threatens the health and lives of people in surrounding communities and of the ecosystems on which they depend.
Coalition member organizations include: Alliance for Global Justice, Black Alliance for Peace, Code Pink, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, International Action Center, MLK Justice Coalition, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Popular Resistance, United National Antiwar Coalition, U.S. Peace Council, Veterans For Peace, World Beyond War, and WILPF US.
The closure of U.S. foreign military bases is one of the first necessary steps toward building a robust global movement of movements to create the just, peaceful and sustainable world we envision and must demand. The conference will focus on the history and economic costs of foreign bases, environmental and health impacts, and on five regions: South America and Guantanamo, Asia Pacific & Pivot to Asia, Europe & NATO, The Middle East and Africa.
The serious and long-lasting impacts of pollution on the health of people of all ages living in communities near bases must be carefully documented and exposed.
Just now, for example, ten years after ousting the U.S. Navy, the destructive impact of Hurricane Maria has once again focused attention on the extensive contamination from 60 years of test bombing on the island of Vieques. Residents of this island to the east of Puerto Rico have faced serious debilitating illnesses and death over the decades, with shamefully little help from the U.S. Navy or our government to acknowledge the impacts of contamination and address the public health disaster.
Conference Information
Click here for conference schedule and list of confirmed speakers. As more speakers are confirmed, full biographies and pictures will be posted.
Click here to endorse the Unity Statement as an individual or as a Branch.
Click here to register and place an Ad or a solidarity statement in the conference program. The regular registration fee is $50 and includes two lunches. A low income/student rate of $25 is also available.
For more information on this important conference, please contact Leah Bolger, leahbolger@comcast.net or in Corvallis, OR at 541-207-7761
WILPF US Section
PO Box 13075
Des Moines, IA 50310
Tel: 617-266-0999
