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WILPF-US continues its mission to create the peaceful transformation we wish to see in the world. WILPF envisions a transformed world at peace, where there is racial, social, and economic justice for all people everywhere—a world in which:
- The needs of all people are met in a fair and equitable manner
- All people equally participate in making the decisions that affect them
- The interconnected web of life is acknowledged and celebrated in diverse ways and communities
- Human societies are designed and organized for sustainable existence
We invite WILPF-US Branches and Issue Committees to send articles along for inclusion in WILPF eNews, published each month. To find out more, please email newsletter@wilpf.org.
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If you're not already a member, please consider joining today!
Table of Contents
Drones Quilt Project Memorializes Victims, Educates Public
Global Climate Convergence for People, Planet, Peace Over Profit
Represent WILPF in Planning the 2015 US Social Forum
Updates on the Intercept Human Trafficking Campaign
DISARM/End Wars February 2014 Update
Drones Quilt Project Memorializes Victimes, Educates Public
by Leah Bolger, Drones Quilt Project Coordinator
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as “drones,” are responsible for the deaths of more than 2,400 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent British non-profit organization. Use of Predator or Reaper drones, which carry 500-pound Hellfire missiles, started with President Bush in the “Global War on Terror.” They have been used with increased frequency by the Obama administration to assassinate people in direct violation of international law. Not only is the US murdering people in countries with which the US is not at war, the killing is being done by a civilian agency, the CIA, in complete secrecy with no virtually no accountability. It is difficult to know the precise number of deaths due to the remote locations of the strikes and the secrecy surrounding the program. The majority of victims have not been identified, but include hundreds of women and children.
The Drones Quilt Project was created as a way to acknowledge the deaths caused by these drones, and to memorialize the victims. Participants in the Drones Quilt Project are asked to make a quilt block, containing the name of a drone victim. Blocks are also made to remember the unidentified victims through the words “Unnamed Woman,” “Beloved Grandfather,” “Cherished Daughter,” or something similar. The blocks are then sewn together and made into a quilt. The quilts are one component of the Drones Quilt Project exhibit—the other two being large “information panels” which help educate the viewer, and a two-sided handout identifying many anti-drones resources as well as a list of 16 action ideas. Read more . . .
Global Climate Convergence for People, Planet, Peace Over Profit
by Nancy Price, Earth Democracy Issue Committee
 The Global Climate Convergence for People, Planet, Peace over Profit that I reported on in the January eNews, has released a video showing leaders from across the spectrum of grassroots justice movements before a packed auditorium at the January 18 launch in Chicago. Each speaker spoke from the heart that it is essential to come together to build a more unified movement for justice that is deeper and stronger than the interconnected crisis of the economy, ecology, peace and democracy, which all have their roots in a system driven by profit.
The convergence is based on new understanding that the climate crisis is on track to dismantle civilization as soon as 2050. This intensifies all our struggles for justice, and creates urgency for collaboration and unified action. The Convergence will help to multiply, amplify and build synergy across grassroots justice movements.
The first groundbreaking action campaign of the Convergence called "Earth Day to May Day, 10 Days to Change!" was also launched on January 18. The Earth Day to May Day campaign will include actions rallies, marches, festivals, arts and culture, civil liberties and organizer trainings, People’s Movement Assemblies, a global solidarity fast, and much more in communities across the country and beyond. Read more . . .
Image credit: The WILPF Earth Democracy logo was designed and donated by www.ciafront.org.
Represent WILPF in Planning the 2015 US Social Forum
by Sydney Gliserman and Ellen Schwartz, WILPF National Program Committee Co-Chairs
We are looking for a WILPF-US Representative to the US Social Forum (USSF)'s National Planning Committee. WILPF-US has had a representative on the NPC, the decision-making body of the organization, since the first USSF in 2007. Responsibilities include:
- Staying up-to-date on relevant issues and procedural matters;
- Participating in a once-monthly conference call;
- Participating in one to two working groups;
- Possibly attending the next USSF in 2015 (will be held simultaneously in several interconnected gatherings located around the country); and
- Communicating actions/relevant information with the WILPF-US Program Committee via the program listserv or through attendance on the committee's once-monthly conference call.
We anticipate the time commitment for the position to be approximately 2-5 hours per week. Interested individuals should contact the Program Co-Chairs, Sydney Gliserman (sydney.gliserman@gmail.com) and Ellen Schwartz (ellen@nicetechnology.com) for further information. Please reply by March 11.
Individuals interested in the USSF, but not in this particular role, should note that there are many other opportunities for participation in the USSF process. These include attending or participating in local and regional organizing committees, as well as the working groups (gender justice, poverty, communications-media, and others)—which are open and looking for new members. Consult the USSF website http://www.ussocialforum.net/ for more information.
Updates on the Intercept Human Trafficking Campaign
by the Human Trafficking Subcommittee of Advancing Human Rights
 The Intercept Human Trafficking Campaign was created by the United Methodist Women (UMW) to raise awareness of the spike in human trafficking at the Super Bowl and other Large Sport Events. Now in it’s fourth year, UMW invited WILPF and other secular and ecumenical organizations to partner in the Feb. 2, 2014 campaign at Metlife Stadium in E. Rutherford, NJ and for the long-term effort to end Human Trafficking.
As the Super Bowl has ended, other large sport events will follow and humant raffickers will follow them! But human trafficking occurs every day of the year everywhere! Never has a Super Bowl seen such an extensive and concerted effort to make awareness a vital year round tool of prevention and prosecution than in New Jersey. Those who recognize the signs of human trafficking will gain the confidence to report suspicious activity and traffickers know that the general public is on heightened alert. More importantly, will male customers realize that they are contributing to a heinous crime and that the general public is on to them? The “Boys will be Boys” attitude that carries this miserable process must change.
DISARM/End Wars February 2014 Update
by Ellen Thomas and Carol Urner for the DISARM/End Wars Issue Committee
 Sister Megan Rice is joining WILPF and promoting the Nuclear Free Future Bill, HR 1650, from prison. Up-to-date news and background information can be accessed from Transform Now Plowshares. Several of our WILPF members have been attending the trial and sentencing hearings and are in close touch with Sister Megan. If you would like to join those sending her supportive emails in prison contact Coralie Farlee at cfarlee@mindspring.com.
Have you contacted your Representative yet on HR 1650? Background and resources to help you in meeting with your own representative are available from WILPF. Just follow the link for more information and resources. Keep in touch with Ellen Thomas at et@prop1.org regarding your contacts and results. All members of the House Progressive Caucus should certainly be approached as soon as possible. Raul Grijalva (Arizona), co-chair of the Caucus, has already become a co-sponsor. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who introduced HR 1650, is invited to speak on the bill for nuclear weapons abolition and conversion to a truly green economy at the international conference of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. They will be coming from around the world to Washington D.C.for their meetings February 25-27. John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich (PNND UN Rep.), Barbara Lee, Carolyn Maloney, Edward Markey (PNND Vice-Chair) and George Miller are among the current US members of PNND. Read more . . .
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