WILPF NEWS
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
East Bay Branch
Visit our web page www.WILPFEastBay.org
Contact us at wilpf@wilpfeastbay.org
Meetings are 2nd Saturday of the Month 10am-noon
110 41st St. (Piedmont Gardens) just off Piedmont Avenue in Oakland.
You are invited to join us Saturday for our celebration of Human Rights Day
December 8, 10:00 AM meeting
Join WILPF Eastbay and write a postcard to President Obama. We will be handing them out at Rockridge BART 5-6pm Monday November 19. Join us there!
Dear President Obama
We supported you! Fulfill your promise to TAX THE RICH to pay for
Social Security
Heath care
Education
“It’s the fair thing to do”
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Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Write to President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
Or link and write to the President
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
Or join Progressive Democrats of American PDA to sign an online petition: see below http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1987/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8874
Or copy and paste the following PDA letter to the president and congress which summarizes the concerns of our local WILPF branch discussion on “What Next”.
At this historic juncture, we face an economic and social crisis that requires clarity as we move forward. The solutions must include an end to tax cuts for the wealthy; no reductions in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; and major cuts in military spending. We have an opportunity to redefine what is necessary and what is possible. Future generations are depending on us.
Austerity makes economic problems worse, not better. Only strong, effective stimulative measures can remedy the stubborn lack of demand in the domestic economy, create jobs, foster prosperity, and decrease the deficit. Austerity measures in Europe are exacerbating the economic crisis there. Austerity measures lengthened and deepened the Great Depression here in the USA. We must not emulate erroneous European policies nor repeat tragic mistakes of the past.
Therefore, we reject any deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, and demand policies to stimulate the economy, to fairly raise needed revenues, to rein in out-of-control spending on obsolete weapons, and to end the war in Afghanistan.
We call upon the President, the U.S. House, and the U.S. Senate to enact policies for “Prosperity Not Austerity.” Specifically, we call upon our Federal Government to:
1. Invest in jobs, education and infrastructure to promote prosperity by enacting legislation to create jobs for all.
2. Let the Bush tax cuts and payroll tax cuts expire, and replace them with a Financial Speculation Tax and fair income tax cuts, limited to the first $250,000 of income.
3. Prevent any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid including benefits, COLAs, or eligibility–as well as pass legislation to enact expanded and improved Medicare for All.
4. Cut weapons funding by 25%, and responsibly end the War in Afghanistan via the safe and orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan of all members of the Armed Forces and Department of Defense contractor personnel.
Enjoy solutions for peace and a better world
Our meeting enjoys a monthly presentation of examples of positive, solution experiences. This month we explored “Yes” magazine. For an online example link to Yes Magazine http://www.yesmagazine.org/
Another recommendation was Quaker Action. This is an American Friends Service Committee publication. For an online preview link to http://afsc.org/resource/quaker-action-fall-2012
There was a discussion of the value of community garden projects
Write for Rights. We celebrate Human Rights Day
Join us at our next meeting Dec 8 for a human rights letter writing event for Amnesty International. This is an annual effort to send cards to prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders. This letter writing campaign has been very effective in the release of prisoners. Our letters will be joined by millions of Amnesty supporters organizing for human rights around the world. If you are unable to attend you can download and join the 2012 Write-a-thon
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/campaigns/individuals-at-risk/individuals-at-risk-campaign-resources
From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World:
Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence
WILPF has long connected the militarism and war profits with violence on our streets and in the home. In response to the “16 days of Activism against Gender Violence Campaign” sponsored by Rutgers University and WILPFus.org we voted to ask our members to support our local women’s shelter, A Safe Place. For more information and to donate link to: http://asafeplacedvs.org/
Women and Children impacted by economic downturn
“California’s most vulnerable children have been disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn and devastating state budget cuts to education, health care, and social services. Over the past five years, California has made billions of dollars of cuts to programs serving children and families, and children of color and poor children have been hardest hit.
At a time when one in five California children lives in poverty and millions of California children are unable to read or do math at grade level, we cannot afford to make additional cuts to investments in children and further damage an already tattered safety net.
CalWORKs provides cash assistance and job-related services to low-income families, including 1.1 million children. Nearly four out of five CalWORKs recipients are children. CalWORKs has experienced some of the most severe budget cuts and the cumulative impact of these cuts amounts to nearly $4 billion over the last five years. The state has significantly reduced the amount of the monthly cash grant to below $650 per month for a family of three. The state has also limited the amount of time parents can receive cash assistance and tightened work requirements for parents from 3 to 5 years. The CalWORKs grant a family receives today only goes half as far as it did 20 years ago.”
For more information link to Children’s Defense Fund, California
http://www.cdfca.org/policy-priorities/childrens-state-budget-watch/past-updates/slashing-children-from-budget.html
