Three New Branches in the South!; Plus Maine & St. Louis Events

A Tax Day Spring awakening held on the Brunswick, Maine town green was co-sponsored by Maine WILPF.

June 2021

Three New Branches in the South!

By Theresa El-Amin, Fannie Lou Hamer Branch
George Friday, Triad North Carolina Branch

On May 22, 2021, new WILPF members in Metro Atlanta and the Triad of North Carolina (Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem) held an event via Zoom to announce they had achieved branch status with ten or more members. On March 20, the Fannie Lou Hamer Branch (Columbus, GA) held a similar event when it reached over ten members including honorary member Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of Americas (SOA) Watch.

Robin Lloyd led off the celebration on May 22 by inviting the more than 20 participants in the Zoom event into the Africa Day event underway at her home in Burlington, Vermont. Robin shared her history as a third generation member of WILPF-US by telling how her grandmother boarded a ship in 1915 to attend a meeting with women from around the world trying to stop the first Great War. Jan Corderman welcomed the new branches and thanked the Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN) for leading the way to organize three new branches in the South in less than five (5) months.

Theresa El-Amin, SARN Board Chair, thanked Jan Corderman for providing the tools to make recruiting new members easy. “Having the ‘Join WILPF Today’ brochures made it easy to recruit new members. After reading the timeline snapshot of WILPF history and our commitment to human rights, a just economy, racial and social justice, those invited to join expressed appreciation for being asked,” said El-Amin.

After new members from the Triad, Metro Atlanta, and Fannie Lou Hamer branches introduced themselves, members from the Des Moines, Fresno, San Jose, and Triangle branches introduced themselves. Ellen Thomas, co-chair of Disarm/End Wars, told of committee activities and invited new members to the next meeting. Leni Villagomez Reeves, co-chair of the Cuba and Bolivarian Alliance issue committee, described efforts in support of ending the US blockade against Cuba. Joan Goddard provided an update on plans for the Advancing Human Rights issue committee to meet on June 30. Barbara Taft, co-chair of the Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee (MEPJAC), discussed the many activities underway including Israel-Palestine work. Jan Corderman reported on the Membership Development Committee campaign, “One by One, We Grow.”

In support of efforts towards full participation of the many new Black women joining WILPF branches in the South, the Black Liberation Caucus was also formed at the May 22 meeting during a 15-minute breakout session. Agreement was reached by the eleven (11) participants in the Black Liberation Caucus. [Video of the May 22 Zoom event is up on the WILPF US YouTube channel].

WILPF Maine Co-Sponsors “Tax Day Spring Awakening”

By Martha Spiess
Maine Branch

Maine WILPF co-sponsored a 2021 Tax Day Spring Awakening on the green in Brunswick with several other groups on May 17. We spoke about divesting tax dollars from the military and investing them in human needs – to education, climate, food, health & peace.

Several Maine WILPF members attended the event – one of the first outdoor ventures for this year – with vaccinations in arms, masked, and distanced. It was lovely to be in the physical presence of so many allies.

Our #NuclearBan Banner Caravan was on display with a QR code for participants to find out more about Eleanor Holmes Norton’s bill HR 2850 to provide for nuclear weapons abolition and economic conversion, and information about where to read the text (http://prop1.org/prop1/hr-2850.pdf). We asked Maine’s members of Congress to become co-sponsors.

Our #NuclearBan Banner caravan was launched on January 22, 2021, from Christine DeTroy’s doorstep and has since continued to travel across Maine, visiting related mile markers that help distinguish the MILESTONE treaty.

Graphic: Promotional poster for the May 17 Tax Day Spring Awakening co-sponsored by the Maine Branch.

St. Louis Branch Holds Mother’s Day Micro-Action

By Cara Jensen
WILPF Saint Louis Branch Communications & VP

Drawing inspiration from the Cape Cod branch's clothesline actions, WILPF St. Louis held a Mother’s Day for Peace Micro-Action using paper peace cranes and a flyer with a QR code to raise awareness of the anti-war origins of Mother's Day.

The plan included creating origami peace cranes, hanging or having them available in a basket, and posting a sign about how Mother’s Day began as a nonviolent protest of war in 1870. The action took place on May 9, 2021.

About five or six branch members spread throughout the St. Louis region participated, including Joyce Best, pictured here.