NEWS
Table of Contents
Members' Voting on Bylaws Amendment Allows Reshaping of WILPF US at National Level
Follow WILPF at the Human Rights Council
No War on Iran—Promote a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone
Intelligent Compassion: Feminist Critical Methodology in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom by Catia Cecilia Confortini
Reminder: Global Frackdown Day of Action, September 22
DISARM/End Wars Update
A Victory for the Earth and for Future Generations
Human Right to Water Act in California Needs Governor Brown's Signature to be Law (DEADLINE SENSITIVE!)
CvD Issue Committee Extends Time for Monsanto Survey: Branches Asked to Weigh In
16 Days Campaign
WILPF Launches New Website
Members' Voting on Bylaws Amendment Allows Reshaping of WILPF US at National Level
By WILPF US ad hoc Bylaws Committee
Sometime this month all WILPF US members should receive a letter, a packet of information. containing a ballot and background information for an all-member vote on three important proposed Bylaws amendments: Direct Member-election of President, Creation of a Board Membership Development Committee and Committee Chair, and Creation of Staggered Elections for Board Members. These three changes are substantial in defining the nature and potential responsiveness of our national board; they are a response to long-standing member advocacy for changes in our structure. Please inform other WILPF members you know—whether at large or branch members—about this important vote and encourage them to participate and to tell us, by their votes where they stand.
The US Board has consensed in support of these three proposals and the national ad hoc Bylwas Committee hopes that you will respond in favor of all three amendments.
More information will become available via the (updated) WILPF US website (most likely on the Bylaws page). We expect, also, to have a "discussion board" on the website for members to share considerations and opinions about the proposed changes. Read more...
Follow WILPF at the Human Rights Council
By the International Secretariat
The 21st session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) will begin on Monday, September 10th and WILPF will be present and active as the Council reviews the Universal Periodic Reviews of thirteen nations (including India and Finland, where there are strong WILPF sections), the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Use of Children in Armed Conflict. The staff of WILPF’s International Secretariat in Geneva has been preparing and strategizing for the three weeks of the council, in concert with WILPF members from relevant national sections.
WILPF has put together a team to cover the council and they will be attending most sessions and side events on behalf of WILPF. To keep you informed about what is going on, there will be posts to Facebook and Twitter daily. If you need to reach WILPF at the HRC between September 10 and September 28, while the council is in session, please write to rights@wilpf.ch.
No War on Iran—Promote a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone
By the Middle East Issue Committee, Odile Hugonot Haber and Barbara Taft, Co-Chairs
Jaako Laajava, facilitator of the upcoming Helsinki conference on a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone.
Share the following letter with your contacts and use in writing your own letters to the President, Congress, and the press. Call the White House today 202-456-1111, TTY/TTD 202-456-6213 to urge restraint and diplomacy instead of threatening to bomb Iran.
Middle East Committee co-chair Odile Hugonot Haber traveled to Vienna to distribute and speak about the WILPF US statement supporting a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone with participating Middle East ambassadors and NGOs at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Prep-Conference. Here is our letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton advancing the MEWMDFZ. Read more...
Order Now: Intelligent Compassion: Feminist Critical Methodology in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom by Catia Cecilia Confortini
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has a unique role in post-war peace activism. It is the longest-surviving international women's peace organization and one of the oldest peace organizations in the West. Founded in 1915, when a group of women from neutral and belligerent nations in World War I met at The Hague to formulate proposals for ending the war, WILPF sent delegations of women to several countries to plead for peace, and their final resolutions are often credited with influencing Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points. Today, the organization counts several thousand members in 36 countries, on five continents. Since 1948, it has enjoyed consultative status with the UN, and it was instrumental in bringing about recent United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security. Download a coupon good for 20% off your book order here. Read more...
Reminder: Global Frackdown Day of Action
By Nancy Price, Earth Democracy Issue Committee
On September 22, WILPF and Earth Democracy join the growing coalition in the Global Frackdown Day of Action calling for a global ban on fracking. Join this growing and powerful people’s movement to ban fracking not just in the U.S., but world-wide. This is one big step toward environmental and climate justice that will help secure national and international peace and freedom now and for future generations.
Planning a local Event? Print out Earth Democracy's new "Don't Frack with US: Our Bodies, the World's Water 'Peace Begins at Home'" fact sheet in color and black and white here (available in grayscale or color). Read more...
DISARM/End Wars Update
Looking back on August's Nuclear Free Future Month and Looking forward to September Steps Toward Peace
By Carol Urner, DISARM/End Wars Issue Committee
Image from Keep Space for Peace poster, October 6 to 13, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Co-Sponsored by WILPF, Reaching Critical Will
We look back on an active August Nuclear Free Future month. Listen to Ellen Thomas’ song, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Fukishima sung by Courtney Dowe. Hiroshima-Nagasaki reports from Branches are being posted on the UFPJ Nuclear Free Future website. Read the enthusiastic report by Hattie Nestel and Cecile Pineda on their August tour to 11 communities threatened by controversial nuclear reactors in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine. They will be happy to help you arrange meetings in your own communities where Cecile Pineda can share from her book Devils Tango: How I Learned the Fukishima Step by Step.
In September we continue to move forward in our quest for a Nuclear Free Future, an end to wars and occupations, and dismantling the war economy. On Thursday September 6 Jean Verthein will represent WILPF at an open UN General Assembly conference on ending all nuclear testing and proceeding to abolition. Remember the D.C. Branch campaign to ban depleted uranium. Read and sign their petition to Hilary Clinton. We will also be planning for Keep Space for Peace week and space demilitarization October 6 to 13. Branch contacts should have already received posters, Space Alert newsletters and action suggestions. Some Branches are already planning to focus on satellite controlled drones. Carol Urner will visit D.C. Branch and deliver KS4P week posters, newsletters and a WILPF letter to Congress and to NGO leaders September 9 to 14. Read more for important additional September events, details and action resources. Read more...
A Victory for the Earth and for Future Generations
By Jean Hays, Earth Democracy Leadership Team, Fresno, California
Fresno Raging Grannies from left to right: Betsy Temple, Ellie Bluestein, Nancy Kelly, Nancy Waidtlow, Pat Wolk
For a decade, Jesse Morrow Mountain, a predominant foothill at the gateway to the Sierra Mountains and to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks just northwest of Fresno, California, has been the target of the Cemex Corporation, one of the world’s largest purveyors of construction material. Cemex wanted to turn the mountain into a gravel quarry, for all purposes, slashing a giant hole in its side. The crowning insult to the Earth was the fact that the mountain, called Wa-ha-lish by the Choinumni Tribe who has made their home there for close to a thousand years, is sacred ground.
WILPF Fresno’s Earth Democracy Issues Group decided it wanted to help the Friends of Jesse Morrow Mountain of nearby Reedley, and WILPF’s gaggle of Raging Grannies also took on the task. Read more...
Human Right to Water Act in California Needs Governor Brown's Signature to be Law
By Nancy Price, Earth Democracy Leadership Team Member
Human-right-to-water activists in Sacramento in April 2011.
Photo courtesy of Anne Hoffman.
The Human Right to Water Act, AB 684, just passed both houses of the California Legislature. It is now on Governor Brown’s desk to sign into state law and policy.
To ensure Governor Brown signs AB 685 this month, we invite one last action by California WILPFers. Please print out this petition to have your family and friends sign so all Californians can have access to safe, affordable water for drinking, cooking and sanitation. One petition page from many CA WILPFers will let the Governor know the extent of grassroots support. THIS IS DEADLINE SENSITIVE, PLEASE RESPOND NO LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 12!
It’s been four long years to get to this point!
Mail to the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry Action Network, CA, 717 K St. #514, Sacramento, CA 95814 to be delivered before September 13 or FAX to: 916 441-0015. On September 13 or shortly thereafter, a delegation of the Save Water Alliance (California) of which WILPF U.S. is a member will meet with the Governor’s office to deliver letters and petitions. Read more...
CvD Issue Committee Extends Time for Monsanto Survey: Branches Asked to Weigh In
By Marybeth Gardam, Chair, Corporations vs Democracy Issue Committee in Collaboration with the Food Democracy/Local Economy Subcommittee of the Earth Democracy Issue Committee
Because so many individual WILPF members responded to say they could not speak for their branches in considering what, if anything, they would be willing to do to address the issue of Monsanto, we are expanding the survey through September. We ask that members ask their BRANCHES to consider this question at their September meetings and to have the branch representative complete the survey.
This survey is still available at the WILPF website.
16 Days Campaign
Message from PeaceWomen
Roving Flash Mob from Cape Cod Branch's "Blow the Whistle" Action
The 2012 16 Days Campaign will continue with the global theme: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women!
Last year, we had historic participation by WILPF sections.
More information will be available soon, but the 2012 Take Action Kit and other relevant materials are available now.
Visit the links below for more information:
- 2012 Take Action Kit Materials 2012 Take Action Kit
- 2012 Flyer by WILPF Challenge Militarism: Invest in Peace / Desafiando al Militarismo: Invirtiendo en la Paz – WILPF / Défier le Militarisme: Investir en Paix- WILPF: English, Español, Français
- WILPF Sections 2011 activities WILPF Summary of 2011 Action
WILPF Launches New Website
The long awaited redesign of WILPF’s website is finally here! You’ll now find us at a different URL: www.wilpfus.org. The change of address is part of an international overhaul of WILPF’s web presence; when completed www.wilpf.org will be the gate way to WILPF around the world.
For now, please update your homepage and browser to our new address, check out the navigation which we think will promote our goals of transparency and inclusiveness, and participate in one of the on line discussion boards. Let us know what you think about the new design by writing to the national board at dialogue@wilpfus.org.
Other important news, shared by Laura Roskos, President of WILPF's U.S. Section can be found here.
It Has Been Four Long Years to Get to This Point.
The Short History of AB 685:
AB 1242, the first Human Right to Water policy bill, was part a “water bill package” introduced in early 2009. After AB 1242 made it through all Assembly and Senate Committee hearings with some amendments and was passed by the Assembly 53-24 and the Senate 23-14, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed it. The Governor, however, did sign some of the other more “narrowly focused” bills in this 2009 package.
After this, the Safe Water Alliance, a coalition of faith-based, tribal, environmental, health, public-policy and community advocacy groups, including WILPF, was formed and in February 2011 introduced AB 685, the Human Right to Water, as part of an ambitious six-bill package of to ensure clean drinking water for all Californians. In early spring, Catarina de Albuquerque, the United Nations Independent Expert on the human right to water made a fact-finding mission to the United States. In California she visited several Central Valley, CA communities in an area where for too many years residents have suffered the financial and health impacts of unsafe water at home and/or in schools.
In 2001, with Governor Brown in office, there was stronger opposition to AB 685, the Human Right to Water Act, since it was anticipated he might sign this bill. The oppositions’ demands for amendments seemed meant to stop the bill and discourage the bill’s author Assembly Member Eng and Safe Water Alliance members. When it did not, and the bill made it through the Assembly in June, 2011 by 52-24, it was finally stopped by the last Senate Committee, Senate Appropriations that put the bill on the “suspense file” where bills are sent to die.
However, Governor Brown did sign several of the narrowly focused bills in the package, at the signing saying: "The bills I have signed today will help ensure that every Californian has access to clean and safe sources of water. Protecting the water we drink is an absolutely crucial duty of state government."
Meanwhile, with the key policy bill, AB 685, stuck in the Senate Appropriations Committee, members of the Safe Water Alliance met to formulate and implement a strong “inside the capitol” and “outside grassroots” strategy to get the bill to the Governor’s desk. This necessitated taking amendments to clarify this was a broad policy bill to direct State Agencies and Departments when making decisions about water policy to consider the impact on the human right to health and that doing so would not impose a fiscal liability on the state, a point the opposition kept raising.
Finally, at the last minute when the fate of all bills has to be decided, on August 16, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 5-2 to send the bill to the Senate Floor. It was one of only 5 out of more than 200 bills that this Committee voted out and on August 23 it passed by 22-16. Because the bill was amended in the Senate, it has to go back to the Assembly for “concurrence.” On the morning of August 29, it passed by only 42 votes, 41 need for a majority…very close, but “every drop counts.” But by close of session that day, it had gained enough votes to pass 51-28.
The Earth Democracy Leadership Team thanks all CA WILPF members who responded to our action alerts over the years. Taking action is what turns our education into on-the-ground victory as we build the movement for Earth Democracy and the Human Right to Water and Health.
The Human Right to Water Act, AB 684, just passed both houses of the California Legislature. It is now on Governor Brown’s desk to sign into state law and policy.
To ensure Governor Brown signs AB 685 this month, we invite one last action by California WILPFers. Please print out this petition to have your family and friends sign so all Californians can have access to safe, affordable water for drinking, cooking and sanitation. One petition page from many CA WILPFers will let the Governor know the extent of grassroots support. It’s been four long years to get to this point!
Mail to the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry Action Network, CA, 717 K St. #514, Sacramento, CA 95814 to be delivered before September 13 or FAX to: 916 441-0015. On September 13 or shortly thereafter, a delegation of the Save Water Alliance (California) of which WILPF U.S. is a member will meet with the Governor’s office to deliver letters and petitions.
On September 13, a delegation of the Save Water Alliance (California) of which WILPF, U.S. is a member, will meet with the Governor’s office to deliver petitions. We want to be sure the Governor knows the grassroots want him to sign.
Water is essential to life. All Californians need access to safe, affordable water for drinking, cooking and sanitation. However, millions of Californians are living with toxic tap water at home and/or in school. While billions are spent on water infrastructure in California, low-income families and communities are being left behind. Low-income families in California who struggle with polluted water service in their home are forced to buy bottled water to safeguard family health - spending up to 10-20% of their income on water and sanitation. And the health impacts from polluted water are severe and impact the most vulnerable: infants, the young and elderly. The status quo in California is both a water and a moral crisis. California's current water policies have proved to be inadequate to the task. As we chart our course toward an uncertain hydrological future, AB 685 will help California to balance the needs of families, with those of the environment and the economy.
Image: Human-right-to-water activists in Sacramento in April 2011. Photo courtesy of Anne Hoffman.
By Jean Hays, Earth Democracy Leadership Team, Fresno, California
For a decade, Jesse Morrow Mountain, a predominant foothill at the gateway to the Sierra Mountains and to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks just northwest of Fresno, California, has been the target of the Cemex Corporation, one of the world’s largest purveyors of construction material. Cemex wanted to turn the mountain into a gravel quarry, for all purposes, slashing a giant hole in its side.
WILPF Fresno’s Earth Democracy Issues Group decided it wanted to help the Friends of Jesse Morrow Mountain of nearby Reedley, and WILPF’s gaggle of Raging Grannies also took on the task.
California Highway 180, a designated two-lane scenic highway running by Jesse Morrow Mt. and into the national parks, would become a road on which 700 gravel trucks would travel each day. This, together with the elevated dust levels in an already air-polluted San Joaquin Valley and the thousands of gallons of water scheduled to be used at the mine, made it an environmental nightmare.
The crowning insult to the Earth was the fact that the mountain, called Wa-ha-lish by the Choinumni Tribe who has made their home there for close to a thousand years, is sacred ground.
The Cemex plan to mine the mountain was first presented to the Fresno County Planning Commission three months ago. Several of our WILPFers testified, and the Grannies serenaded during breaks in the meeting. Our coalition was relieved when the Commission rejected the mining plans; however, the struggle was far from over. Cemex appealed the ruling to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and we waited for that hearing date to be announced.
On August 28 hundreds of people were on hand to speak on behalf of the mountain: gathered in a rented ballroom together with proponents provided with t-shirts saying “Cemex: Mining = Jobs.” The hearing lasted nine hours; both sides giving presentations in the morning and the afternoon being open to testimony by the general public. One of the most stunning moments in the afternoon, a moment near and dear to hearts of WILPF’s Earth Democracy members, happened when one County Supervisor asked if the Choinumni Tribal Elders had been consulted when the first plan to mine the mountain was introduced by Cemex. County staff answered that they had tried, but it was not apparent who the head of the tribe was. The supervisor then asked, “Who is the Tribal Chairman now?" Staff did not know. Then, a man from the audience stood and said, “I am." Some of us were invited to a meeting some time ago with Cemex officials, and those of us who were opposed to the mine were not invited to more meetings."
Toward the end of the nine-hour hearing, the supervisors couldn’t muster enough support to approve the mine’s environmental impact report, making it impossible to proceed to the final vote for the mine’s approval.
WILPF’s Earth Democracy members were filled with joy upon hearing Supervisor Susan Anderson say, “It’s a long-term decision. It’s a decision that will live long past our lifetime, and I’m having difficulty with it." This sentiment was echoed by Supervisors Debbie Poochigian and Henry Perea.
In our Earth Democracy vision statement we talk about the effects of our actions on future generations. Environmentalist and WILPF California’s guest speaker, Carolyn Raffensperger, would call it “becoming beloved ancestors.” This also reflects our emphasis on the Indigenous perspective of Earth not belonging to us, but, instead, us belonging to the Earth.
Another of our Earth Democracy statements is that Nature has rights. It is the right of Jesse Morrow Mountain to exist, free from invasive attempts to destroy it. I think the three of four County Supervisors realized this on a deep level.
As the Raging Grannies testified in song:
“Supervisors, get it right!
Don’t let Cemex dynamite!
For the mine would be a blight,
Morrow Mountain, here we come!
(To the tune of “California, Here I Come”)
