Monterey screens films and holds advocacy workshop

Thirty Seconds to Midnight: The Final Wake Up Call

By Judy Karas, Chair, WILPF Monterey County Branch

In early June, the Monterey County Branch hosted two film screenings and discussions with visiting filmmaker Regis Tremblay. The first was Thirty Seconds to Midnight: The Final Wake Up Call. The following day, we presented the documentary of Tremblay’s 2016 Russian trip, Je Suis Russia, a counter-narrative to the image that the US media has created of Russia and of President Putin. The first film was preceded by mention of the UN negotiations for a nuclear weapons’ ban treaty that was held in New York City in mid-June.

On June 24, our WILPF branch cosponsored a Citizen Advocacy Workshop with Kevan Insko, Director of Program and Organizational Development for the Friends Committee on Legislation of California (FCLCA) at the Monterey Peace and Justice Center. Open to the public, the workshop focused on grassroots advocacy and training on how to lobby California legislators. Local activists and interested persons attended. Included in the workshop was a discussion of issues people are interested in and wish to work on in their communities and on a state level; how to read a bill, how to develop talking points for writing your legislator, and how to plan for a visit to the legislator’s office; and resources that are available to activists and people who want to be more involved. Other sponsors of the event were the Monterey Peace and Justice Center and the Monterey Peninsula Friends Meeting (Quakers).