April 2021
How do we ask millions of people to die as a result of a climate catastrophe fueled by endless war and militarism?
Veterans For Peace
Letter to John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
Global Meeting TODAY: the World Says No to War on Yemen
Monday, April 26th at 9am (San Francisco) / 12pm (New York)
5pm (London) / 7pm (Sana €™a)
You can still register for TODAY's meeting of the organizers of the World Says No to War on Yemen Global Day of Action. People across the world planned Yemen war protests in March, marking 6 years since the Saudi-led coalition began bombing Yemen. Activists are building this movement and they need you and your organization. Read about the U.S. grassroots movement to end Western backing of the war on Yemen.
Veterans Ask Kerry to Recognize U.S. Militarism is a Key Contributor to the Climate Crisis
Veterans For Peace delivered a letter to Special Climate Envoy John Kerry on April 14th, asking Kerry to recognize that militarism is a key part of the climate crisis and the need to promote redirection of military expenditures to address the climate crisis and provide for human needs. The letter, signed by over 200 climate, environmental, peace and veterans' organizations including United for Peace & Justice, asks Climate Envoy Kerry to include military Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in all reporting and data on GHGs and use his public platform to promote major reductions in the military and its expenditures, including eliminating hundreds of overseas bases, rejecting nuclear modernization and endless war. Help take this action further! Sign the petition calling on John Kerry to include militarism in climate talks. READ MORE
Reflections on a Debacle--the Afghanistan War
Mary Hladky, UFPJ Coordinating Committee member and member since 2008 of Military Families Speak Out writes, "The United States did not bring peace, democracy, or freedom to Afghanistan. We did not improve the lives of the Afghan people. Twenty years of war and U.S. interference have brought no long-term, positive gains in Afghanistan. War is not the answer. Not in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria. When will we learn that war and violence are not the path to a better world? Peace must be our demand." READ MORE
Community Reading: Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam"
On April 3rd the North Carolina Poor People's Campaign: A Call for Moral Revival joined with North Carolina Peace Action to host a reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech at Riverside Church in in New York City. Using resources from United for Peace & Justice, volunteers from across the state read the speech, which was live-streamed, recorded, and shared on the North Carolina Poor People's Campaign's Facebook page. For a downloadable "kit" to help you organize a reading in your community, click here.
Poor People's Campaign Announces Plans for In-Person Mass Moral March on Washington in June 2022
During the April -19th Moral Monday, the Co-Chairs of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, announced a virtual Mass Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington, DC to take place Monday, June 21st, as well as plans for an in-person Mass Moral March on Washington in June 2022. Powerful, inspiring, live-streamed weekly Moral Mondays, addressing voter rights, ending the filibuster, supporting a living wage, healthcare for all, racial and environmental justice, and other interlocking moral injustices will culminate with the June 21st virtual mass action. READ MORE
GDAMS 2021 Have Started: 5 Weeks to Take Action!
The 10th annual Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) were launched on April 10, 2021 and will go through May 17th. Key dates include: April 26th, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) release of new data on 2020 global military spending; May 1st, International Workers Day; May 9th, Europe's Day of Peace; and May 17th, Tax Day in the U.S. This campaign is an initiative of the International Peace Bureau and has been endorsed by United for Peace & Justice and dozens of groups around the world. Find out what's being planned and how you can be involved.
Email and Call Your Congressional Representatives: Defund the Pentagon and Invest in Our Communities!
President Biden has proposed a $753,000,000,000 Pentagon budget for 2022, increasing the Pentagon budget by billions of dollars from last year. We know that spending $753 billion on the Pentagon budget won't make us safer-- especially when over half of that goes directly into the pockets of private "defense" contractors like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. At the end of the day, the Pentagon Budget is up to Congress, not the President, to decide. It's imperative that we call on our Congressional representatives to defund the Pentagon and invest in human needs!
New Mayors for Peace Campaign Tool Kit!
Mayors for Peace, founded in 1982 and led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is working for a world without nuclear weapons, and safe and resilient cities, as essential measures for the realization of lasting world peace. As of April 1, 2021, Mayors for Peace has grown to 8,024 cities in 165 countries and regions, with 218 U.S. members, representing in total over one billion people. Mayors for Peace's current goal is to reach 10,000 member cities as quickly as possible. Is your mayor a member? Click here for the new Mayors for Peace Campaign Tool Kit.
Watch: Biden & China €“ The First 100 Days: Confrontations, Competitions, and Anti-Asian Racism
On April 14th the Asia Pacific Working Group presented a webinar on Biden and China €“ The First 100 days. Speakers included Professor Christine Hong, University of California, Santa Cruz, author of "A Violent Peace: Race, U.S. Militarism, and Cultures of Democratization in Cold War Asia and the Pacific," Joseph Gerson, President, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security, and Jake Werner, Boston University, Global Development Policy Center and Co-Founder Critical China Scholars. The panel was moderated by Jackie Cabasso, national co-convener of United for Peace & Justice and Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation. Click here for the Video recording.
Watch: CODEPINK Webinar: Inside China, A Conversation with Tings Chak and Marco Fernandes
CODEPINK Co-Founder Jodie Evans is joined by Tings Chak and Marco Fernandes, both researchers with the Dongsheng News & Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, to discuss the China is Not Our Enemy Campaign. For an inside view of life in China, watch the entire webinar on the CODEPINK Youtube channel here!
Watch: UFPJ webinar, The Enduring Nuclear Threat; A Deeper Look
On March 30th UFPJ hosted a webinar providing an update on nuclear weapons policies and programs and an overview of relevant developments in international law. The panelists also discussed organizing approaches for disarmament, with an emphasis on linking peace and disarmament work to other issues and movements. For more information, additional nuclear disarmament resources, and to view the recording of the webinar, click here.
Kings Bay Plowshares Win Inaugural Berrigan-McAlister Award
The Kings Bay Plowshares have won the inaugural Berrigan-McAlister Award, given by DePaul University to a person or organization that exemplifies the practice of active Christian nonviolence. The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (kingsbayplowshares7.org) protested nuclear weapons by entering the site of the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia to hammer swords into plowshares, pouring their own blood and inscribing messages of peace and love at a site of the deadliest weapons on earth, 3 years ago on April 4, 2018. Click here for more information and to register for the virtual awards ceremony.
Good Friday Swords into Plowshares Participants Call for Abolition of All Nuclear Weapons
San Francisco Bay Area nuclear disarmament activists gathered, mostly virtually, on April 2nd for the 38th annual Good Friday Worship and Witness at the Livermore National Laboratory, one of the two labs where every nuclear warhead and bomb in the U.S. arsenal is designed. Livermore Lab uses over 85% of the funding it gets from the U.S. Department of Energy for nuclear weapons, By comparison, less than 2% of the funding is for science, and less than 1% goes to research into energy efficiency and renewable energy. Read the outstanding article by Marilyn Bechtel, in the People's World.
Biden's Appeasement of Hawks and Neocons Is Crippling His Diplomacy
Read Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies' article: Biden's Appeasement of Hawks and Neocons Is Crippling His Diplomacy. For a president who promised a new era of American diplomacy, this has been a dreadful start. Read the full article here.
Tell BlackRock: Put Human Rights on Your Shareholder Meeting Agenda!
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For the coming 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) season, CODEPINK would like to highlight three shareholder proposals about human rights and nuclear weapons filed by faith-based investors represented by Investor Advocates for Social Justice. Proposals with Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and PNC Bank will go to a vote at shareholder meetings this spring. Read the full proposals and take action here!
Join CODEPINK Congress!
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Every Tuesday at 5pm PT/8pm ET we're demanding greater accountability from Congress, the White House, and the media. Mobilize co-sponsors and votes for peace legislation. Sign up to be a part of great change in Congress! JOIN HERE
On Tuesday, April 27th CODEPINK Congress will focus on freeing Julian Assange and all whistleblowers. RSVP here
On Tuesday, May 4th CODEPINK will focus on Divesting Congress from the War Machine! RSVP here.
The Power of the Pen
United for Peace & Justice regularly signs onto letters dealing with a broad range of important peace and justice issues, intended to influence government policy. With a new administration in place, over the last month, UFPJ joined the Friends Committee on National Legislation, more than 70 other organizations, and over a dozen celebrities, in a letter to President Biden urging him to "demand an immediate and unconditional end" to Saudi Arabia's military blockade on Yemen. UFPJ also joined a coalition of 55 advocacy groups and progressive organizations in a letter to Biden regarding a review of existing U.S. and multilateral financial sanctions, to demand that the administration indefinitely suspend broad-based sanctions on civilian sectors. UFPJ joined the National Iranian American Council and 43 partner organizations in a letter calling on President Biden to provide urgently needed sanctions relief for the people of Iran as they combat another deadly wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, UFPJ joined more than 30 organizations endorsing a letter led by Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), encouraging the Biden Administration to consider a secure and sustainable path forward for U.S.-North Korea relations as the Administration conducts its North Korea policy review.
UFPJ is a diverse network of peace and justice organizations. If your organization is interested in joining UFPJ, please read our Unity Statement, and if it is consistent with your principles click here to join.
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