December 2024 WILPF Announcements
Published on December, 25 2024
Honoring Peace: Detroit Branch Donates Award-Winning Books to Inspire Young Readers
by Laura Dewey
The Detroit Branch continued its annual donation of Jane Addams Peace Association award–winning books to the Children’s Department of the Detroit Main Library. Four titles, including A Song for the Unsung celebrating the life of Bayard Rustin, by Carole Beston Weatherford and Rob Sanders, will be displayed and available for check-out, on January 15, 2025, in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Rustin was the organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington, D.C., which was led by Dr. King.
Photo: In front of 170 W 130 St., March on Washington, left to right Bayard Rustin, Deputy Director, Cleveland Robinson, Chairman of Administrative Committee / World Telegram & Sun photo by O. Fernandez.
Other titles are The Lost Year, The Artivist, and The Flag. Peace education books are given in honor of Helga Herz (1912–2010), an activist with the Detroit Branch of WILPF, a volunteer at the Wayne State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, and a librarian at the Detroit Library for 30 years. She also supported the American Friends Service Committee and was an ardent anti-nuclear activist. Her mother, Alice Herz, immolated herself in 1965 to protest the war in Vietnam.
The Detroit Branch’s donations of the award-winning books began under Helga’s direction, and the Detroit Library’s main branch is now home to dozens of these children’s books, dating to 1953, the first year of the Jane Addams Peace Association book awards.
Building Community and Standing for Justice: Humboldt Branch in Action
by Sue Hilton
Humboldt Branch, Humboldt County, CA
The Humboldt Branch has been actively engaging with the readings provided by Program Committee Chair George Friday during the June training, and we’re planning to continue our discussions. We’ve also been busy selling tickets for our annual quilt raffle, which supports the Edilith Eckert/Jean McCovey Scholarship. This has given us a great opportunity to connect with the community. The quilt raffle will take place on December 21. Looking ahead, we’re beginning to plan our annual International Women’s Day event, which will be held on March 8.
Recently, much of our focus has been on supporting Centro del Pueblo, a local immigrant rights group we’ve been allied with for several years. We’re working together to prepare for whatever actions Trump and his allies may attempt. This includes speaking to City Councils across the county and the County Board of Supervisors to ensure that local resources are not used to support deportations, as the county passed a sanctuary law in 2018. We are also addressing the pressing issues of bullying and hate crimes within our community.
This poster highlights an event held last week, sponsored by Centro del Pueblo and partially funded by our branch’s Edilith Eckert/Jean McCovey Scholarship. We were honored to hear “the inspiring stories of Indigenous migrant women working in Humboldt’s tourism industry, including hotels and restaurants, while reclaiming and celebrating their cultural heritage.”
WILPF Peace Pentagon Virginia Branch: Weekly Worldwide Wakeup
by Rev. Laura M. George, J.D.
Executive Director, Founding Mothers World
Date: January 1, 2025 @ 11:00 am EST
Webpage: www.FoundingMothers.world/weekly-wakeup
Launch Rally Registration Link: TBD
The WILPF Peace Pentagon Virginia Branch is focused on the Founding Mothers Movement (FMM) – a global coalition to attain planetary Partnership and Peace. FMM stewards the reimagined global Women’s Congress, which meets on the first Saturday of every month at 11:00 am EST. At the third Congress in September, the Women’s Congress passed the Founding Mothers Proclamation, which contains two solutions to the polycrisis:
(i) universal rights for all women, including reproductive freedom; and
(ii) an end to war.
The Proclamation also contains a solemn promise: If our wisdom is ignored, the Founding Mothers will commence campaigns on New Year’s Day 2025 – a direct-action response to Project 2025. Thereafter, our novel, nonviolent demonstrations will escalate to include noncooperation, targeted girlcotts, and civil disobedience.
John Lewis (1940-2020) famously told us to make “good trouble.” During the Civil Rights Movement, he was arrested 45 times and later served 33 years in the U.S. Congress. To herald the arrival of the Founding Mothers, we’re going to make “good noise” on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. And we will repeat this tactic EVERY Wednesday at HIGH NOON in EVERY time zone.
The purpose of the Weekly Worldwide Wakeup is to declare our arrival and provide weekly reminders that the Founding Mothers mean business. The duration of the weekly Wednesday event may be as short as 5 minutes if done at home or work, though we encourage longer and larger group events at visible public venues.
Every week, we will make a variety of loud noises to arouse curiosity and gain public support for our mission. Tactical noise-making may include:
- Playing musical instruments, drums, rain sticks, gongs, and singing bowls
- Blowing whistles, including bird whistles that our children will love!
- Banging pots and other materials easily found in our homes
- Singing, chanting, and street dancing to music, including flash mob performances
- Shouting our tagline: Planetary Partnership and Peace
- Shouting our motto: Truth * Love * Light
- Shouting our goal: We’re here to build the MOTHER of all Movements!
To kick off the Weekly Worldwide Wakeup campaign, FMM will hold a virtual Launch Rally on January 1, 2025, at 11:00 am EST. The Rally will feature notable speakers and performers. Then, after the Rally on the East Coast, we will go outside and make some good noise!
To date, three WILPF branches have joined FMM: the Peace Pentagon branch in Virginia, the virtual Jane Addams branch, and the WILPF International branch in Ghana, Africa. We invite more WILPF branches to join FMM and contribute to this Meta-Unity coalition. Help build the MOTHER of all movements, with the power to shift the paradigm!
Join Us in Jan. and Feb. for the Jane Addams Branch Events – but NOT in December!
by Darien De Lu
President, WILPF US
The monthly third-Wednesday open gatherings, to which all WILPF members are welcomed, are taking a break! The Jane Addams events will resume on Wednesday, January 15, with very timely speakers from Korea Peace Now. Hear how women are leading the continuing quest for peace in Korea.
In February we’ll hear from one of the leaders from the new Chicago Branch. Carron Little is an artist and the director of the Chicago Women's History Center. She has an intriguing art project that lifts up the issue of unpaid labor in this country, especially among caregivers who are mostly women. How much labor do you provide each year that is unpaid? This could be anything from helping at church, caregiving for grandkids, gardening for friends, caring for an elder (including your spouse!) – even cleaning the house!
Carron seeks to raise community awareness about the amount of unpaid labor our economy depends on – especially women’s unpaid labor. To focus on the unpaid labor of the attendees at her art shows, Carron writes a printed “check” – covered in her own art – for each one.
Save January 15 and February 20 and every third Wednesday for the Jane Addams Branch events!
5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 7 pm CT / 8 pm ET.
Join the gathering for the featured speaker(s), followed by WILPF announcements and open discussion.
Support Peace within WILPF – Volunteers Wanted!
by Darien De Lu
President, WILPF US
Do you want to help WILPF practice the peace-seeking we advocate? WILPF is looking for two kinds of volunteers for our new Peace Seekers Procedure for dispute resolution.
Even if you have little or no special background, you can volunteer to be a supporter. We’re looking for folks to help get the program off the ground by assisting with the creation of the basic administration and dispute forms needed to proceed. We’re flexible: You can help with small, discrete tasks!
Or perhaps you have special peace-building skills? Are you trained, experienced, and/or learned in mediation, arbitration, nonviolently addressing conflict, or other aspects of dispute resolution?
If you’re interested in either kind of assisting, please contact me, Darien De Lu, at President@wilpfus.org. Both kinds of volunteers are highly appreciated – and I particularly want to hear from potential Peace Seekers applicants by January 6, if possible!
WILPF Collaboration Initiative Can Help Propel Your Branch’s Area of Interest!
by Darien De Lu
President, WILPF US
Branch members! Would you like to focus national WILPF attention on some issue that is important to your branch? Let WILPF US use our communications capacity to spread the word about it through a special Office of the President and Branch Collaboration Initiative.
As WILPF President, I can help your branch connect with the WILPF publicity. Get the word out about the political and civic actions you recommend to WILPFers, providing your branch’s description and analysis of an issue.
The first example of this Collaboration Initiative was the essay, “Fund Schools First: Calling for a Commitment to the Future” – available on our website here. While it is longer than what other branches are likely to offer, it shows the latitude of this initiative. And that first example shows the WILPF tradition of identifying a number of related issues and tracing the connections among them, while focusing on a particular issue.
Please feel free to contact me to find out more about this branch collaboration project – by email (President@wilpfus.org) or phone (after 9:30 am PDT: 916/739-0860).
Expanding Your Perspective: You can apply to be our next WILPF International Advisory Board Member Alternate
by Darien De Lu
President, WILPF US
How does it affect our WILPF US Section, that we are part of the international organization of WILPF? In what ways does our international-level work influence our perspectives on issues to a wider realm? You can discover the answers to these and learn about WILPF International first hand if you’re appointed to the position of International Advisory Board Member Alternate
The current opening is for a fairly short-term Alternate position – through the next International Congress. This position is a good one for someone wanting to try out becoming more involved with national and international leadership. As the Alternate, you would be invited to attend, virtually, the WILPF International Advisory Board meetings, twice a year. Also, optionally, you’d be part of the WILPF US Board meetings.
The virtual Advisory Board meetings address topics of general concern to WILPF International sections. The terms of the Advisory Board Member and Alternate continue until one to three months after the next WILPF International Congress. The incumbents may re-apply for the next term; the full terms are about three years.
Applicants must have been a WILPF US members for 24 out of the last 30 months and be current members. To get more information, contact the Nominating Committee (including Chair, Ellen Schwartz) at Nominatingcommittee@wilpfus.org. The deadline for applications is not yet determined.
Mark Your Calendar!
New WILPF US Website Launch!
You are invited to the
Re-initiation of and introduction to the new WILPF US Website
January 16, 2025
5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET
Register in advance for this meeting:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
