Peace and Freedom articles from December 2005

Peace and Freedom archives from December 2005

Meet the presidents.(Interview)
December 22, 2005... Peace & Freedom Editor Theta Pavis recently talked with WILPF's new co-Presidents Chris Morin and Tamara James about their hopes and plans for the organization. Both women work full time. P & F: What are your top three goals as...

Reader's forum.(Letter to the editor)
December 22, 2005... Dear Friend: In response to your request in the recent issue of Peace & Freedom for statements on what being 90 and a WILPF member is like, I would say that on reading the magazine's recent and past issues, I must say that I have a feeling...

Iraq--a quagmire?
December 22, 2005... Does the U.S. administration want to get out of this "quagmire"? Or is a permanent military occupation the goal? If so, why? In this brief article we'll review some of the facts leading up to the Iraqi situation in the latter half of 2005,...

Counting and accountability.(estimates of victims of Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina often politically biased)
December 22, 2005... If anything good has come from the unfolding of the Katrina disaster over the past weeks, it may be that on this rare occasion the foreign and domestic press portrayals of the U.S. have been similar. For once, Americans are seeing themselves as...

Why war is all the rage.(PeaceEducation)
December 22, 2005... The stories of the more than 2,000 young U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq since 2003 are heart-wrenching. They came from all over the country--white, black, Asian and Latino. Some were immigrants, farmers, students and athletes. They shared...

Counting the cost & stopping the war.
December 22, 2005... In October 2004, just before the U.S. presidential election, the internationally respected British medical journal, The Lancet, published a study by Les Roberts and Gilbert Burnham, professors of public health at Columbia and Johns Hopkins...

International WILPF on the Middle East.
December 22, 2005... International WILPF has been concerned about the region since 1919--after Britain promised Palestine to the Jews and then kindled the national aspirations of the Palestinians. In 1930, our first section in Palestine was formed. Soon, WILPF...

Perceived interests direct policy.
December 22, 2005... Discussing Israel is difficult, especially for those who remember the Nazi onslaught and World War II. Israel was seen as a haven for Jewish victims of Fascism. By manipulating fear, the corporate media have convinced the public that the U.S....

Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace.
December 22, 2005... My early life was spent in the idyllic setting of the Friends Schools of Ramallah, Palestine; climbing a giant fig tree, visiting the cooks, gardeners, and my father in his office as Principal. I was aware of the violence during the Arab Revolt...

Save the Water Campaign.
December 22, 2005... The United Nations International Year of Freshwater was marked by WILPF with the Fall 2003 issue of Peace & Freedom titled Hydropolitics: The Future of Water--Who Has It? Who Doesn't? Who Controls It? How Do We Use It? These questions apply to...

DISARM Issues Committee.(Around and about WILPF)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... DISARM, now an Issue Committee, set its agenda at the recent WILPF Congress. Join the new DISARM list-serve open to any WILPF member with a concern for demilitarization, disarmament and dismantling the war economy! Contact curner@qwest.net. ...

New nukes, old nukes, no nukes!(Around and about WILPF)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Jackie Cabasso, WILPF member and organizer of the Abolition Now campaign, led an information-packed workshop that helped participants develop concrete action plans. Three of the most important are 1) enlisting more mayors in the Vision 2020...

No wars in space!(Around and about WILPF)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Participants discussed their own branch plans for Keep Space for Peace week October 1 to 8, and received organizing packets prepared by WILPF and Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (to which WILPF belongs). Susi Snyder...

Women & Cuba action Issues Committee.(Around and about WILPF)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... The Cuba Issues Committee is recruiting people for the Cuba Advocacy Network (CAN!), a legislative strategy that aims to: * Deliver veto-proof Congressional legislation that ends the ban on travel to Cuba. * Allow all manner of trade...

Building the Beloved Community.(Around and about WILPF)
December 22, 2005... Building the Beloved Community issue committee continues the work that UFORJE (Uniting for Racial Justice Campaign) started, to address racism in all its forms and strategize towards racial justice. The following description of The Beloved...

Breaking the chains of occupation Haiti Issues Committee.(Around and about WILPF)
December 22, 2005... During her 200 years of independence won from the tyranny of France, Haiti has since suffered all sorts of interventions; military, economic, and political. With determination to tear free from the fabric of despotism and tyranny, Haitians...

WILPF celebrates 90 years.
December 22, 2005... WILPF celebrated its 90th year of action this past August during the National Congress held in San Francisco. Over 200 members gathered at San Francisco State University for WILPF's 29th Triennial Congress. On opening night WILPF was...

Corporations v. Democracy Issue Committee.
December 22, 2005... Many of us absorbed the Congress workshops in San Francisco with a growing conviction that in most WILPF struggles, from Cuba and Haiti to Water and the Middle East, the tentacles of corporate power are there. Accordingly, as we metamorphose...

Celebrating with WILPF's twins.
December 22, 2005... AS WE MARK WILPF'S HISTORIC 90TH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR, WE HONOR AND RECOGNIZE OUR SISTER TWINS--WOMEN BORN DURING 1920 OR BEFORE. CALIFORNIA BERKELEY/EAST BAY Madeline Duckles (life member) Leonore Veltfort Lillian Elder ...

Human rights: from the local to the global.
December 22, 2005... Among the many interesting points raised by Ann Fagan Ginger during her highly informative talk at the WILPF U.S. Congress was the observation that economic, social and cultural human rights exist in their nascent form within the United Nations...

New books by and about WILPF members.(Women and the U.S. Budget: Where the Money Goes and What You Can Do About It)(Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11)(Elise Boulding: A Life in the Cause of Peace)(Book review)
December 22, 2005... Two WILPF members have published exciting and useful books. Both authors can be contacted regarding presentations and book signings in your community. Women and the U.S. Budget Now in bookstores across the country, Women and the U.S....

Open letter to WILPF's U.S. members.(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)
December 22, 2005... I'm Lois J. Fiedler, a relative newcomer to WILPF (3 years). I have been aware of WILPF since my time on the faculty of the University of Minnesota but never joined until recently and I just attended my first WILPF Congress! So why am I...

New program coordinator joins WILPF.(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)
December 22, 2005... Kate Zaidan joined WILPF as program coordinator in July. She has been organizing for environmental and social justice on both a local and national level for six years. A graduate of Antioch College, having transferred there from the University...

Pushing for peace at the United Nations and beyond.
December 22, 2005... In a deep blue suit and black head veil, a woman recently passed me in the early morning, outside the United Nations. Her serenity contrasted with the issues at hand. Inside, the U.N. was in disarray, as its staff and volunteers sorted...

Giving to receive: build a legacy of Peace and Freedom.
December 22, 2005... At the tremendously successful 90th Congress in August our work on all fronts was galvanized to meet WILPF's ambitious goal of $900,000 by the end of 2005. This will give us a vital reserve as we work towards a century of peace making. Now we...

Member and branch honored.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Madeline Duckles (Berkeley/East Bay) received the Social Courage Award from the National Association of Peace and Conflict Studies in February 2005. She spoke of "the extraordinary history of the women's peace movement" (including, of course,...

Birthday parties (90th and others).(BranchAction News)(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... New York presented an evening of artistic expression and an exhibit of historic photographs for the 90th. Portland held a parade on a May morning and a celebration in the afternoon. MN Metro held a fundraiser "Birthday Bash" in June: Des Moines...

Iraq aggression/occupation.(BranchAction News)(protests of Iraq war)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Every branch reported participation in anti-occupation activities--marches, protests, letter writing, speaking out. Most participated in WILPF's Counting the Cost campaign, and had the War Resisters League flyer in their newsletters....

Corporate power.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Des Moines has three concurrent study groups, with 24 people, under way. Diane Krell, president, read a statement about corporate power and the rights of people at a City Council meeting. Portland had a long editorial from The NY Times about...

Save the water.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... All branches are gearing up to inform their members about the new campaigns. Some are ahead of the game. Cape Cod members, of course, developed the campaign study guide in long, painstaking work. Monterey County had a talk on "Developing...

Nuclear matters and the military.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Most branches were concerned about or took part in some way in the U.N. NPT Review held in May. Los Angeles sent an intern for the whole week. The intern also helped the DISARM campaign gather information before the conference. St. Louis...

Tax day.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... San Jose handed out more than 1.000 "Where Your Tax Money Really Goes" flyers. They reported that tax day events also took place in San Mateo, Palo Alto (WILPF Grannies) and Santa Cruz (WILPF bake sale). St. Louis included a sign-up sheet for...

National issues.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Berkeley published a very useful comparison of drug prices. One chart showed the price for 100 tablets, the actual cost of ingredients, and the percent markup. Another chart compared prices at Costco, Walgreens, and online Canadian and Thai...

International issues.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... San Jose asked members to support Chechen President Asian Maskjhadov's call for peace talks with Russia. It urged sending letters to Bush, the Secretary of State and the Chechyna ambassador. Portland printed a long article about "The Heartbreak...

Raging Grannies.(BranchAction News)(activist group)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... What great successes these groups are having in attracting media attention and getting their message out! The Tucson Grannies tried to get the National Guard to recruit them, so they could take the place of young people. Instead they were...

Media.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Sierra Foothills co-sponsored a "Forum on Media" in September, a panel discussion with representatives from press, radio and TV. It also co-sponsored a meeting with Dahr Jamail, an unembedded, independent journalist in Iraq who has done...

Programs.(BranchAction News)
December 22, 2005... Los Angeles, MN Metro, and Peninsula had "report backs" from the national Congress in September. Los Angeles asked its members, "Where do we go from here?" Madison featured a speaker on "Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts...

Legislation: a few concerns.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Rep. Lynn Woolsey's Amendment to FY06 D (St. Louis); CAFTA (Portland); safe drinking water (Santa Cruz); Pentagon seeking exemption from Public Health and Pollution cleanup laws (Santa Cruz); universal health care (Peninsula, St. (Louis); a...

The arts.(BranchAction News)(Brief article)
December 22, 2005... Cape Cod created a Peace and Justice Theater Festival, performing readings of seven, 10-minute plays selected from over 70 submissions, including "Peace," "Slave Day," and "How to Walk Out of a Restaurant." Portland, Sierra Foothills, Detroit,...

2005 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards.
December 22, 2005... The 52nd annual Jane Addams Children's Book Awards ceremony recently took place in New York. The winner in the Books for Younger Children category is Selavi: A Haitian Story of Hope, written and illustrated by Youme Landowne, from Cinco...