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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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Table of Contents
AHR Committee Leads WILPF-US in Coalition to "Intercept the Traffickers"
The Global Climate Convergence
DISARM/End Wars January Actions and 2014 Calendar
Welcoming WILPF-US Interns and Bookkeeper
AHR Committee Leads WILPF-US in Coalition to "Intercept Human Trafficking"
by Rose Daitsman, Jan Kubiac, Barbara Nielsen, and Lucinda Tate–Advancing Human Rights Issue Committee
 Advancing Human Rights Issues Committee’s Human Trafficking Subcommittee leads WILPF US in coalition on Super Bowl Sunday “Intercept Human Trafficking” anti-human trafficking campaign for 2014 - News about President Obama’s Proclamation declaring January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2014—AND, new leadership for the AHR Committee will take us forward into 2014 (information on new leadership coming soon on wilpfus.org).
As part of AHR’s commitment to encourage awareness to WILPF members and others concerned for social justice, we are proud to share the good news that Barack Obama has issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2014. Read more here.
Through the AHR Subcommittee on Human Trafficking (HT), WILPF-US is a coalition member of the anti-human trafficking campaign led by the United Methodist Women (UMW), “Intercept Human Trafficking,” that has as its most public focus a direct action at football’s Super Bowl XLVIII, on Feb. 2, 2014, at the MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This is the largest sporting event in the United States and using a football term, “intercept,” as an analogy for the campaign is an apt concept for an action at this event. Although big sporting or entertainment events are not proven to cause human trafficking, such events intensify the space in which such crimes can occur. All WILPF branches and at-large members are encouraged to get involved and plan actions in local communities on Super Bowl Sunday and, of course, if you are able to get to East Rutherford, your participation there would be most welcomed. Check out this excerpt on the Super Bowl Sunday Intercept the Traffickers Campaign for ideas! (You can also contact Jan Kubiac, convener of the HT Subcommittee, at jankubiac@yahoo.com. More detailed information on this campaign will be on our webpage by the third week in January.)
The Global Climate Convergence
by Nancy Price, Earth Democracy Leadership Team Member
It is very exciting to announce The Global Climate Convergence, a new national and international campaign that is “springing up” just in time for WILPF members, Branches and friends to join the Call to Action for Earth Day to May Day, 10 Days to Change Course.
The Convergence creates a unifying call for a solution as big as the crisis barreling down on us—an emergency Green Economic Transformation through a Global Green New Deal including universal jobs, health care and education, food and housing security, economic and political democracy, demilitarization, and an end to fossil fuel use by 2030.
Don’t forget that Global Warming/Renewable Energy is one of Earth Democracy’s sub-committees. Now is the time to start planning your local Earth Day to May Day event in collaboration with other groups to reclaim Earth Day from the corporations and rally round for system change not climate change. Read more . . .
DISARM/End Wars January Actions and 2014 Calendar
By Ellen Thomas, Carol Reilley Urner and the DISARM/End Wars Team*
 In January we continue our campaign for Nuclear Weapons Abolition by 2020. Alice Slater and Jackie Cabasso will be available to meet with WILPF branches and their communities on our legislative agenda including finding more co-sponsors for HR 1650 and promoting the US Conference of Mayors Resolution for nuclear weapons abolition by 2020. Jackie can also explain and promote planned UN negotiations or a Middle East WMD Free Zone.
Download and help us update our DISARM/End Wars calendar and receive support for your own or your branch projects on disarmament and ending wars. Work on what you believe is most important, be it banning militarized drones, protesting US military action in the Middle East, gun control, or questioning the Pacific Pivot. We hope everyone will support our campaign for nuclear weapons abolition by 2020 and an end to the profiteering industries that promote them. We also invite you to support Sister Megan and the Transform Now Plowshares. You may also want to join in commending Kerry and the White House for recent more creative diplomacy in the Middle East.
Read more . . .
Welcoming WILPF-US Interns and Bookkeeper
by the Communications Committee
 Catherine Brady brings a background in grassroots oraganizing to her job as bookkeeper: Catherine Brady, WILPF’s bookkeeper since summer 2013, has been involved in finance and administration in the Boston area since pre-computer days, but after the abacus was in general use. During the mid-80s to early 90s she was engaged in national social change campaigns as a grassroots organizer and fundraiser. Since 2008 she has worked as a part-time contract bookkeeper for several small non-profit groups. She has admired WILPF’s work for many years, and is thrilled to be able to be a part of it. Catherine and her life partner live in Cambridge, and have a college-age daughter.
 Introducing Alanna Kelly, the intern responsible for assisting WILPF preparations for the Commission on Status of Women: Alanna Kelly, the Leadership/Outreach Coordinator is responsible for working with the Local2Global and 2014 UN Practicum participants who will be attending the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March. Alanna is a recent graduate of Northeastern University. A Boston native, she has had the opportunity to travel to Italy, Greece, Bosnia, and Serbia as well as study at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Alanna is passionate about international humanitarian efforts and hopes her experience with WILPF will lead towards a career in greater social change.
 Meet Caitlin O'Donnell, WILPF administrative intern: Caitlin O'Donnell is a 2011 graduate of George Washington University with a B.A. in International Affairs, concentrating in International Development and Africa. She spent a semester abroad in Uganda, where she studied the role of sports as a tool for community reconciliation and rehabilitation of former child soldiers. After graduation, Cait moved to New York City, where she worked as a project manager at a translations company, and later as a conference manager. She is currently living in Boston before beginning her Peace Corps service as a Youth in Development volunteer in Cameroon.
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