WILPF Congress and Student Uprisings on Gaza

President's Corner

The WILPF Congress Counters the Disease of Busy-ness and Statement on Student Uprisings on Gaza

May 23, 2024

How many of us have busy calendars and long to-do lists, often including “political work”? And how often does the weight of those responsibilities serve to allow – or impel – us to put aside the possibility of taking action on other political work? 

Perhaps we’re so busy with other matters that we feel we have no time for political work.

Isolation & Walling Off Our Hearts

I believe the effect of our excessive busy-ness – even when it is political work – is to “wall off” our human responses and feelings from the deeply disturbing daily news. With our hearts already so hurt, we seek to protect them from further assaults. But, when we do that, a further and serious effect is that we grow numb. Seeking some kind of emotional experience, we use distractions, and we misinterpret the experience to believe we’re happy. For many of us, the distractions become a kind of addiction.

Few of us – especially after the isolation created by the COVID pandemic – have the multiple close relationships, especially politically aligned relationships, that are important to create a supportive place for our emotional expressions. Coping alone with our unprocessed trauma, we embrace the modern disease of busy-ness, constructing over-filled lives that isolate us and wall off our hearts and our emotional responsiveness.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

We have alternatives. I’m writing to tell you about an important one: our WILPF Congress.

With our busy-ness, I realize some of us will say, “How can I possibly make time for the multiple days of the Congress?” The short answer is this: As a caring person seeking to bring the values of WILPF into the world, in the society of the U.S. today – in your life, you need what our Congress provides.

No matter how busy your life is, to support the caring person you are, you want to make time and space for what our Congress provides! When you participate in our Congress, you’re reminded of what matters – and what you have the agency to influence. If your heart is hurting, the human connection with like-minded WILPFers is likely to be healing and nourishing.

You can put your heart into your life and work, in a world where your action matters. In our value-filled Congress – in contrast to the U.S. popular culture, which often commodifies and flattens the differing values of most facets of life – you can find renewal.

You, as a WILPF member – as someone outside of the cultural-political mainstream – want and need a different kind of cultural and political space, shared with others!

You and your activist heart are at risk of being trapped in our distracted and narrowed society. At our Congress we’ll speak to the political you – and to the whole you. Together, we’ll be re-minded about the importance of our advocacy.

On issues, our Congress goes beyond the news flashes on the electoral horse race, the latest extreme weather disaster reports, the daily tally of far Right initiatives or new incidents of gun violence, or even the crushing reality of suffering in photos from around the world. We support you by offering the lively exchange of information, ideas and analysis about the fundamental issues of our times.

We are not alone: Student Uprisings, Unreported Global Movements

Of course, our WILPF Congress isn’t the only place for such exchanges and issue insights. Right now, on campuses across the U.S., tens of thousands of students are gathering for occupations, vigils, and demonstrations that can provide such exchanges. And they’re under attack. Our Congress is a place of safety, where we practice and protect nonviolence and the WILPF International Code of Conduct.

WILPF supports the pro-peace and pro-justice for Palestine student movement, and it’s important that we, too, speak up. At our Congress you’ll hear about other movements in the U.S. and abroad – movements that rarely get corporate news coverage. And it’s important that we speak up about them, too – sharing with others the suppressed news about them. We’ll invoke those movements, for the wisdom and inspiration they give us.

Right now, the activist students are inspiring me. I invite you to read my newly released President’s Statement: “Inspiration from the Nationwide Student Uprisings in Support of Justice in Gaza and What We Must Learn and Remember”.

Beyond the Intellect

Our Congress features items to support the emotional and even spiritual side of us. With “culture breaks” we nourish those human parts with songs and poems. With conversational spaces, our exchanges – from casual to profound – speak to the human need for personal contact. Even simply being in a place that acknowledges and addresses the yearnings of our hearts – so often denied, buried, or walled off – even that affirmation helps us re-open our heart connection.

Probably, to be fully present to our world and times, we should make time regularly to feel and cry. At Congress, we’re not planning organized crying, although – with an open heart – you may well cry when hearing some of the speakers. Yet another way to feel, express, and release some of the turmoil of our hearts is through dancing. Join us to dance together – in the privacy of your own home!

Your Agency, Our Advocacy, and Effective Action

Our Congress program planners have put together thoughtful and eye-opening presenters. You, in company with other members, can move beyond the data of most news coverage to information. Information comes from an understanding of context and contributes to the strategic assessment that grounds realistic advocacy.

Yet, in our busy-ness infected society, information and strategy are not enough to support action. It is when our hearts connect us to our lives and our principles that we become able to be effective. We have worked for months to develop a Congress program that offers comprehensive ingredients for success. WILPF has worked for over 100 years to develop a community of activism that supports our effective action.

You can still register for the Congress! Let go of the fear and distraction holding you back. Embrace the call of your heart for informed action, and be drawn to the wide-ranging presentations and other scheduled program features. Now is the time to step beyond busy-ness to engagement. Register today!

This is your life, you are in charge of the schedule.
 

Darien Elyse De Lu
WILPF US President