WILPF NEWS
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
East Bay and San Francisco Branches
Work to Advance Peace, Justice and Human Rights
MARCH 2024
International Women’s Day 2024
The United Nations & Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom!
Sunday Forum and UUSF Women’s Rights Group with Barbara L. Nielsen
On Sunday, March 3rd, our own Barbara Nielsen, member of the San Francisco Branch of WILPF, spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco. She talked about International Women’s Day, established by the United Nations on March 8, which focuses on various UN mechanisms for member states to support women, including the annual CSW meetings, the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, and the interrelations between the UN and WILPF, which has had special consultative status at the UN since 1948. Barbara has been an official delegate of WILPF at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women. To listen to Barbara’s talk and the Q&A following, click here.
Tell your Senators to STOP S.1111: The ADVANCE Act of 2023
Take a stand against a new bill that keeps US taxpayers on the hook for the full costs of nuclear disasters and promotes nuclear energy worldwide. S. 1111, the ADVANCE Act of 2023, is a comprehensive pro-nuclear bill that includes a host of provisions propping up the nuclear industry, including renewing the Price-Anderson Act.
The most dangerous aspect of the bill is the renewal of the Price-Anderson Act, a 1957 law which caps the industry’s liability for nuclear disasters at only $13 billion. The Price-Anderson Act makes US taxpayers liable for the full costs of nuclear disasters – which could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars – and exempts the insurance industry from covering homeowners and businesses for damages from those disasters.
WILPF US Virtual Congress
May 30-June 2, 2024
Originally planned as an in-person Congress in St. Paul, Minnesota, our National Congress Committee and the Board have decided that our 2024 Congress will be entirely virtual. With a modest registration charge (to be determined) and no other financial costs, all income levels should be able to attend. With evening and weekend sessions and zero COVID risk, active participation will be available to all those interested, as much as their free time and energy levels allow!
By being virtual and easier for more members to attend, this year’s Congress holds the opportunity to meet with members from the many brand new branches we now have, compared to 3 years ago! I anticipate that some of the young women from the new Miami Mujeres Branch will join us at the Congress. Also, members from the several other southern branches, formed over the last few years, will be able to attend, as well as branches that are in the process of forming – such as the re-initiated Chicago Branch, which, on February 24, just held its second event.
Despite the change in format (from in-person to virtual), the theme of Water on the Frontlines for Peace will still be the focus of the Congress. The program will include some exciting featured speakers, including from various indigenous groups.
Mark your calendar now and look for more details on the WILPF US website.
The UN Practicum in Advocacy through Activist Eyes
Experience the 2024 Commission on the Status of Women
Thursday, March 28, 11:30am
This month WILPF US brought a cohort of students and activists to the UN’s annual Commission on the Status of Women in New York City, stressing the critical role that women can and must play in organizing and planning for a feminist peace agenda.
Practicum Coordinator, Shilpa Pandey, led and facilitated the week-long program, which included four women activists at various points in their activist and advocacy journey.
How did it go? What did they learn? How will they continue to sustain their advocacy going forward? You can learn all this and more by tuning in to this zoom presentation. You’ll meet this year’s participants, hear precisely how meaningful the experience was, and how they intend to continue to connect with WILPF US through projects and outreach.
FCNL Campaign on the Military Unfunded Priority List
The Friends Committee on National Legislation has a campaign to abolish the U.S. military’s unfunded priority list—the Wish List the military has that is not in their budget to Congress, allowing them to get more money for things they want that they didn’t put in their budget. Last year the U.S. Controller and the Secretary of Defense came out opposing this priority list, saying all the military wants should be in their regular budget. There is now a bill in Congress to reign in wasteful Pentagon wish lists, the Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act (H.R.4740). To learn more and to contact Congress to support this bill, click here.
EXPLORE WILPF TODAY
www.WILPFEastBay.org or www.WILPFSF.org
WILPF East Bay, P. O. Box 13083, Oakland, CA 94661
WILPF-SF, P. O. Box 590253, San Francisco, CA 94159
https://www.facebook.com/WILPFEastBaySanFrancisco/
Before Enlisting: https://www.BeforeEnlisting.org/
National WILPF www.wilpfus.org
International WILPF: www.wilpf.org www.facebook.com/WILPF
PEACEWOMEN and REACHING CRITICAL WILL
