Peace and Freedom articles from January 1 2003

Peace and Freedom archives from January 1 2003

On disarming despair.(positive outlook in difficult times)
January 1, 2003... How can a democratic activist help but feel discouraged? I would like to think the recent front-page feature in The New York Times on Elliott Abrams, President Bush's new director of Middle East Affairs and a pardoned player in the Iran-contra...

Save the dates!(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom conference)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... May 9-11, 2003 Join us Mothers' Day Weekend for the WILPF West Gathering at the Asilomar Conference Center on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula in California. It has been six years since the Western Branches last met. Here's our chance...

Working for peace in a time of war: disarm! Campaign leadership team.
January 1, 2003... WILPF has worked for peace, freedom, and a world without war since its inception, when that small group of intrepid women, many of them from countries that had not yet granted them the right to vote, gathered in a valiant effort to stop World...

A letter to the women of Iraq.
January 1, 2003... WILPF has launched an initiative called "Women to Women." The project involves promoting a letter from women in the United States to the women of Iraq (see below). With this project, we are declaring that we will not participate in making war...

Sobering statistics.(military statistics)
January 1, 2003... In November 2002, in preparation for the International Executive Committee Meeting in New Zealand, International WILPF sent all sections a questionnaire about disarmament and their country's military. The following is the U.S. section's...

Middle east section head tours U.S.A. (Committee Corner).(Aliyah Strauss)(Excerpt)
January 1, 2003... Last September, Aliyah Strauss, Israel section president, visited 11 U.S. WILPF branches -- Cleveland, Cape Cod, Boston, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Madison, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. --during a month-long...

Anti-death penalty committee. (Committee Corner).
January 1, 2003... As the government of the United States sits poised to invade another country, it has already declared war on the human rights of its own citizens. Today almost 4,000 men and women sit on Death Row in the United States. A disproportionate number...

Lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered committee. (Committee Corner).
January 1, 2003... During this time of impending war and fear of terrorism, single-issue committee work may seem trivial. So it's good to keep in mind that all of our issues are connected. Those of us working for better health care, housing, education, racial...

The world made safer or more dangerous? The implications of the Bush administration's blueprint for National Security Policy.(George W. Bush)(Column)
January 1, 2003... On September 20, 2002, the Bush Administration released The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (NSSUSA). Presidents are mandated by law to produce such a document, which outlines an assessment of security needs and how...

Challenge corporate power, assert the people's rights: campaign statement on war against Iraq.
January 1, 2003... The Campaign Leadership Team The proposed war against Iraq would make a mockery of democratic decision-making while furthering a U.S. corporate agenda. Who decides what action should be taken by the government of the United States of...

Action alert.
January 1, 2003... Abolish Corporate Personhood is the theme of national actions by WILPF's Campaign to Challenge Corporate Power, Assert the People's Rights. One of our goals is to influence the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to abandon its position that...

World summit on sustainable development; unspoken agenda: what about the military?
January 1, 2003... The United Nations-sponsored World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 24 to September 4, 2002. A follow-up to the 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, its objectives were to...

"Millions for reparations": UFORJE Joins N'COBRA to support national March for reparations.
January 1, 2003... During the weekend of August 16-17, 2002, members of UFORJE and WILPF staff members joined with the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) in a "Millions for Reparations Demonstration and Protest" in Washington, D.C....

Terrorism hypocrisy. (Women & Cuba).(case of five Cuban activists in the United States)
January 1, 2003... "Every human being has a right to self-defense," said Mirta Rodriguez, the mother of Antonio Guerrero, a Cuban citizen born in the United States who was sentenced to life in a U.S. prison for working against terrorism. "After 40 years of...

Upholding our right to travel.
January 1, 2003... Helen Levi Travis, who died recently at 86, was an inspiring WILPF woman. In 1962 Travis dared to challenge the United States government's travel ban against Cuba and visited twice without a valid passport stamp. For this indiscretion, Travis...

International executive committee convenes in New Zealand.(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom conference)
January 1, 2003... Kia Hora." This is the Maori greeting heard repeatedly as WILPF members gathered in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand) for the 2002 International Executive Committee (IEC) meeting November 25-December 3, 2002. The members had...

Congress videotapes available!
January 1, 2003... VHS videotapes from the WILPF U.S. Section 28th Triennial Congress are now available. Select from the following presentations: 1. Report from WCAR (World Conference Against Racism) and introduction of campaign work by representatives of the...

Leave no child...unarmed? (Peace Education).
January 1, 2003... The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, is touted by many as a federal bipartisan success story designed to impact the way children learn in school and how schools and states are held...

JAPA award-winning books available to branches.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Since 1953, the Jane Addams Peace Association has honored children's books that most effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of all people. At our Awards Ceremony in New York last October, five...

Will the warriors ever learn? (Historic Footnote).(women's protest against the Vietnam War)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In 1971, the text of the following Peace Declaration was taken to the women of Vietnam by Kay Camp on behalf of WILPE The inhuman and interminable war waged by the governments of the United States of America and South Vietnam, which has...

WILP fln Washington; opposing the war economy in wartime: finding new allies.
January 1, 2003... Popular mobilization against the Bush Administration's perpetual war and escalation of fear-based spending on "national security" may bring a surging realization that "It's the defense economy, stupid!" Allies seeking increased social spending...

Wilpfers honored. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... The Poudre Valley Green Party presented Fort Collins member Mary Bates and her husband Paul (see photo) with its Green Giant Lifetime Achievement Award. Together they have devoted more than 100 years to working for peace and social justice. St....

New calls to action. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... In Portland, a Code Pink Alert by Medea Benjamin and Starhawk calls on women to "be outrageous for peace." Imagine a blast of Pink at your town council meeting, a Pink attack on your local oil company or gas station, a Pink witness in the...

Resisting war on Iraq. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... Catonsville participated in a "Peace Path" that stretched through Baltimore, with people silently holding signs saying "Peace" in different languages. San Jose started a monthly Silent Walk for Peace, part of a global movement of slow-paced...

Protecting civil liberties. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... (A pervasive issue since the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act was passed in October 2001.) Minnesota Metro sponsored a talk on civil liberties by a professor of criminal constitutional law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG)....

Challenging corporate power. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... Minnesota Metro assembled a coalition to plan a March forum around the theme of the role of corporations in a democracy. Cape Cod began a Project on Democracy to help citizen activists understand the role of corporations in a democracy and...

Aanti-racism. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... After members of the Cape Cod branch witnessed an instance of racial profiling of young, male African-American drivers visiting the town of Wellfleet, MA, they met with the police department to demand training, and sent a letter to all attorney...

Health care issues. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... Los Angeles participated in an NGO conference on world health issues and inequities, with the U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS Africa as keynoter, and held a program on affordable health care for all, as did Palo Alto. Asheville cosponsored...

Israel/Palestine. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... Boston, St. Louis, Ann Arbor, Cape Cod, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Portland sponsored a visit by Aliyah Strauss, president of the WILPF Israel Section and founder of Women in Black in Tel Aviv, to speak on the relationship between Israelis...

Cultural offerings. (Branch Action News).
January 1, 2003... Rockaway heard a reading from Douglas Scott's play Mountain, whose lead character is the late Justice William O. Douglas. Cape Cod is compiling a book of four centuries of HerStory--Women's Work on Cape Cod for International Women's Day in...

Meetings and speakers. (Branch Action News).(Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, California)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Jody Dodd, WILPF's U.S. Section Leadership and Outreach Coordinator, spoke at Rockaway's celebration of WILPF's silver jubilee and at Palm Beach County's November meeting. Des Moines heard from Rita Hohenshell, who has "served time" for her...

Other issues. (Branch Action News).(social justice activities, California)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Palm Beach County supports an ordinance guaranteeing a living wage for county employees. Des Moines participated in a walk to raise awareness of the need for criminal-justice system reform. Santa Cruz and Monterey County focused on protesting...

In memoriam.(Philip Berrigan)(Obituary)
January 1, 2003... Philip Berrigan October 5, 1923--December 6, 2002 Philip Berrigan, a lifelong activist for nonviolence, died of cancer at home at Jonah House, a pacifist community he co-founded with his wife, Elizabeth McAlister, in 1973. During his...