Eight campaigns that deserve our support

by Ellen Thomas, Disarm/End Wars Committee

So many new, serious campaigns!  Check these out, and post info about others on WILPF US Facebook. Disarm/End Wars Committee has developed and/or been asked to help with some notable current campaigns to stop nuclear weapons deployment in Europe, nuclear waste transportation in the US, and to promote solutions: I-Can Humanitarian Pledge, World Beyond War, and the Proposition One nuclear weapons abolition and energy conversion campaign to support HR-1976 in Congress.

Here are some current campaigns that everybody should know about and, if inspired, endorse:

• No nuclear weapons in Europe petition
  "Do not upgrade the US nuclear weapons in Europe. Remove them..."
• I-CAN Humanitarian Pledge on abolition of nuclear weapons.
• World Beyond War pledge on ending all wars.
• Flush the TPP is an open letter to Congress related to the Pacific Pivot and thus to disarmament and nuclear weapons abolition.  It presents the US campaign point-of-view which ignores the military component of the Pacific Pivot. Nancy Price and Marybeth Gardam invite all WILPF members to co-sponsor along with Earth Democracy, Corporations v Democracy, and Disarm/End Wars Committees. 
• Talks on ending the violence in Syria began on Friday, October 30 in Vienna so the imminent threat of nuclear extinction is again lessened, though not removed. We are now revising our open letter on the crisis and on using the Kellogg Briand Pact, the UN Charter and the International Criminal Court as existing tools to stop the violence.  Contact Carol Urner Carol.disarm@gmail.com if you wish to join the process. Read the European Union account of the meeting from the one woman among the 18 governments represented. Federica Mogherini hopeful after intensive Syria talks.
• California and Oregon have just made voting registration automatic for every eligible state resident. If you live in any other of the 48 states you can join the campaign of Roots Action and Nation magazine to do the same in your own state. States already have the records that make this possible. Take a few minutes to inform yourself and begin the process in your own state.
• Stop Fukushima Freeways’ media blitz was launched successfully October 27, but the threat of reopening Yucca Mountain repository has not gone away. The campaign website shows the perils of the massive and unnecessary radioactive waste transportation that would occur across the US if the moribund and scientifically-indefensible Yucca Mountain, Nevada waste dump were to be revived. Maps showing transportation routes are displayed and being developed. Check with NIRS or Beyond Nuclear if your area is affected.
• And of course discuss with your own Representative, and his/her staff, the need to co-sponsor HR-1976, the nuclear weapons abolition and energy conversion bill introduced by Eleanor Holmes Norton 12 times since the voters of DC demanded she do so in 1993 with successful voter initiative 37. Now we believe it is a bill for which the time has come. For too long those who seek power and profits at the expense of people, peace and the planet have been leading us on the road to extinction with promotion of endless wars for profit. This bill makes peace profitable!  Even if this bill is never passed we need it now to show us clearly an alternative way to survival.

  Also download the Dear Colleague Letter  and deliver it to your Representative and his/her local office. If possible, make an appointment to discuss HR 1976 with your Representative or his/her local staff. Contact Ellen Thomas et@prop1.org with questions and to report back on progress or problems. See a history of the bill, which we call “Proposition One,” and follow the Proposition One Campaign blog on Facebook.

Be sure to check out the WILPF US Facebook page where members can post photographs and reports of WILPF events and share information.

Send your submissions to Ellen Thomas et@prop1.org  and/or Joan Bazar joanbazar@sbcglobal.net  Please put "for Facebook" and the title in the subject line.