WILPF NEWS
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
East Bay and San Francisco Branches
March 2019
Get involved! Become better informed!
Work to Advance Peace, Justice and Human Rights
A good way to become involved from your home is to join our Monthly One WILPF calls on the 2nd Thursday of the month. We hope you can join us for our next call on Thursday, April 11th at 4 pm. The topic will be the Green New Deal and we will have a speaker from the environmental movement explain what the Green New Deal is and how we in WILPF can work to support it.
Pre-Register to join the call HERE http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/NW7UOTL6KBLOV3E
IMPORTANT DATES TO JOIN AN ACTION
March 22 World Water Day
March 30-April 4 70th Anniversary of NATO demonstrations in DC and around the country
April 4 Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s Riverside Church PEACE Speech
April 22 Earth Day
Women’s Peace Initiative Conference March 22
Our own Barbara Nielsen, members from Women Cross the DMZ, https://www.womencrossdmz.org Women for Genuine Security http://www.genuinesecurity.org/and WILPF-US https://wilpfus.org/ will participate in a peace conference in San Francisco for delegates to connect, network, and learn from each other to further their goals of peace making led by women. There will be five delegates from WILPF-US.
World Water Day March 22
Join WILPF-SF for leafletting March 22nd from 11:30-12:30. Meet at the Grove Street entrance to BART, we will be leafletting outside the Civic Center BART station. The flyer will emphasize ground water that has been contaminated by years of seepage from the military’s firefighting foams. groundwater and drinking wells contaminated by years of seepage from the military’s firefighting foams. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/03/15/with-lawsuits-on-the-horizon-dod-looks-for-ways-to-cut-contaminated-water-cleanup-costs/
We are supporting the Sierra Club World Water Day ACTION by calling our congress members to support The Green New Deal, especially
Senator Dianne Feinstein 415 393-0707
National WILPF- Disarm Issue Committee
Disarm Committee is working on nuclear issues, including transport of nuclear material on US highways. WILPF US joins Alliance for Nuclear Accountability DC Days, May 19-22 : there is a one-day teach-in each year in DC on nuclear issues. See http://www.ananuclear.org/ Disarm co-chair Ellen Thomas has sent a letter to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton about re-introducing her anti-nuclear bill and requesting changes to the bill, including adding an appeal for the Anti-Nuclear Treaty in the bill. Ellen followed up with her office, but has not heard back, and encourages your ACTION: contact Norton’s office: 202-225-8050 and say you agree with the revisions in the WILPF letter, and you hope that she will introduce the bill quickly.
Join us for the National Mobilization to oppose NATO,
War and Racism..Hands off Venezuela
No wars No Nato March 31 rally 1pm at Oakland Federal Building(1301 Clay St.) and march to Frank Ogawa Plaza. WILPF will be there with our banner. There is a national mobilization on March 30th answercoalition.org, but the Oakland event will be on the 31st to not conflict with the Palestine Land Day in San Francisco on that Saturday.
BEFORE ENLISTING
WILPF East Bay members are joining counter recruitment folks and veterans to talk about learning the facts about military service, knowing your rights if you are considering enlisting, and considering alternatives to military service. Our group, BEFORE ENLISTING, has been going into high schools in Alameda and Contra Costa County, showing an amazing film called “Before You Enlist,” followed by a talk by a veteran about his experience in the military. The film runs about 20 minutes and is very worth watching: https://vimeo.com/275420248
Pat Elder, our speaker on the February One WILPF call, has done work in Counter-Recruitment and is the author of Military Recruiting in the United States. He is now focused on pollution of water on military bases, particularly the Air Force‘s use of chemicals to extinguish fuel fires that are polluting the ground water around the country near the bases. He is currently doing a tour of 8 bases in southern U.S., calling press conferences at each base. You can see his videos at https://www.facebook.com/wilpfus/ His book Military Recruiting in the United States is excellent and is this month‘s WILPF East Bay/SF book suggestion.
WILPF FIGHTS FOR IMMIGRATION RIGHTS
Where are the children? A report by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that thousands of children were being separated from their parents for at least one year before the administration announced their separation policy to the public. HHS officials failed to keep records of the identity or tracking of these children because they say they were not legally required to do so before the June 2018 court order. “We don’t have any information on the children that were released prior to the court order,“ says the assistant Inspector General for HHS.
Where are the children now? How old are they? Are they with relatives? Are they in detention centers? Were these children old enough to even know their own names?
Link and consider aligning with the organization Families Belong Together, an international movement calling for an end to cruel and inhumane immigration policies. YOU CAN WRITE YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES to urge that immigrant families be kept together, asylum seekers be given rapid review, and the process be given adequate resources.
Join WILPF and you join at three levels:
International, US and local branches
WILPF International is located in New York and Geneva and very involved in working for peace at the United Nations. WILPF was a major contributor to the UN ICAN resolution banning nuclear weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize. Right now we are campaigning to “End the Whole Nuclear Era” www.wilpf.org
WILPF US tries to keep our members informed and connected. As a dues paying member, you receive “Peace and Freedom Magazine” and monthly newsletters from US WILPF and your branch. www.wilpfus.org
Are you aware we have issue committees that have on-line meetings?
Advancing Human rights, Corporations vs. Democracy, Disarm/ end wars, Earth Democracy, Middle East and more recently we have joined the Poor Peoples’ Campaign. You can link to wilpfus.org for more information
ANTI-WAR LEAFLETING: Join us on Wednesdays 11:30–Noon at the Grove St. entrance to SF Main Library. Call Betty to confirm (415-931-1126)
EXPLORE WILPF TODAY
www.WILPFEastBay.org or www.WILPFSF.org
WILPF East Bay
P. O. Box 13083, Oakland, CA 94661
Http://www.facebook.com/WILPFEastBaySanFrancisco/
WILPF US: PO Box 13075, Des Moines, IA 50310 Tel: 617-266-0999
National WILPF web site: www.wilpfus.org
International WILPF: www.wilpf.org