When I was very young, I loved spending time with my grandmother in her garden. She was very careful to point out that a healthy garden required much more than seeds, water and sun. I hope that I brought that same attention and care to the young people who make up our first class of participants in UFPJ's Seeding Peacekeepers training. George Friday, UFPJ National Organizer
Seeding Peacekeepers: Emerging Activists Begin to Prepare Local Projects
United for Peace and Justice's (UFPJ's) initial group of emerging activists have had two sessions on each on the four big topics of their six-month training with UFPJ's National Organizer, George Friday. The topics were chosen to encourage participants to question our culture of violence. Their first sessions focused on, "What created the conditions for the U.S. to be as wedded to militarism as it is now in 2021?" Their next meetings focused on the local work each team will be doing, by identifying the communities where they want to connect, build community, and make changes, and asking, "Who is hurting where you are?" An organizer has the responsibility to identify those communities, amplify the stories they're telling, and lift their voices to create the change needed locally. READ MORE
"Don't Look Away" -- U.S. drones regularly kill civilians throughout the world
The U.S. continues using drone warfare to seek out and kill terrorists. Regrettably many of the "targets" killed are not terrorists; these bombings also kill and injure many innocent civilians and children near the supposed "target." PeaceWorks-KC protested drone warfare at the entry of Whiteman Air Force Base on Nov. 29. "Don't Look Away" was our theme, and the theme for 10 other peace actions that day at U.S. Air Force bases that launch drone strikes and train drone operators. We condemned the Aug. 29 drone killing of 10 members of the Ahmadi family in Kabul, and the ongoing U.S. drone strikes. READ MORE
Guantanamo: 20 Years of Injustice Must End!
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the most vocal congressional champion of closing Guantanamo, chaired a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 7: "Closing Guantanamo: Ending 20 Years of Injustice" at which Colleen Kelly a co-founder of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, one of the founding organizations of UFPJ, testified about the frustrations of victim family members to get answers to their questions. At long last, the failure of the military commissions at Guantanamo to deliver justice and accountability for 9/11 is getting recognition. As the 20th anniversary of Guantanamo, January 11, 2022, follows the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it is time to shutter the detention facilities at last. READ MORE
Time for a Lasting Peace in Ukraine, and in Europe
Ukraine is back in the headlines, with the risk of a wider war hard to assess amidst the ongoing propaganda war waged by all the governments involved. Melvin Goodman provides an overview of the current crisis, reminding us of its roots in unmet commitments by the U.S. and its allies not to expand NATO eastward. Richard Sakwa provides broader background on post-Cold War relations between Russia, the U.S., and Europe, and the failure to make a place for Russia in an equitable post-Cold War security architecture. At the same time, rhetoric from Russia's leadership stirs echoes of the irredentist nationalisms that played a part in sparking the world wars of the 20th century, with President Putin portraying Russians and Ukrainians as "one people -- a single whole," and "parts of what is essentially the same historical and spiritual space...." Even at the height of the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet governments were able to negotiate agreements that reduced the risk of war between their nuclear-armed countries. The time to start talking is now.
The Poor People's Campaign: Get it Done in 2021!
On December 13, United for Peace & Justice partnered with the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival for a Mass Moral Monday in Washington, DC to demand that Congress "Get it Done in 2021!" As explained by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: "Congress must pass voting rights protections and the Build Back Better plan before the end of the year to help the country heal from the pandemics of systemic racism, poverty, voter suppression and COVID-19 that are wreaking havoc on our daily lives, our democracy and our nation's social and moral infrastructure. So we are telling Congress and President Biden to get it done in '21!" The Poor People's Campaign concurrently released a timely new fact sheet, A Moral Budget Versus a War Budget. READ MORE
Something to celebrate! NYC Adopts Strong Nuclear Disarmament Legislation
On December 9, the New York City Council adopted a comprehensive package of nuclear disarmament legislation. Resolution 976 calls on the NYC Comptroller to instruct the $266 billion pension funds of public employees to divest from companies involved in the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. Introduction 1621 establishes an advisory committee to educate the public and recommend policy on issues relating to nuclear disarmament. The resolution also reaffirms NYC as a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, supporting earlier City Council resolutions that prohibited the production, transport, storage, placement, and deployment of nuclear weapons within NYC. Finally, it also joins NYC to the ICAN Cities Appeal, calling on the U.S. to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. READ MORE
No more money for war and xenophobia
Congress is wasting trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars on beefing up an already overinflated military budget to escalate war on China as they scramble to pass the Build Back Better Act! The latest package of legislation Congress is trying to push through to ramp up the U.S. hybrid war on China is the U.S. "Innovation" and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA), sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer. The USICA is a Frankenstein-like combination of several targeted anti-China bills -- including the Endless Frontier Act, the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, and the Meeting the China Challenge Act -- into a single, monstrous 2,276-page bill. Although Congress and media pundits have been framing the bill as a "necessary investment" in technology and research, additional money for the military makes it incredibly dangerous! Take Action here!
UFPJ Webinar: The Costs of War at Home, recording now available
This webinar highlighted work by UFPJ member groups and allies to raise awareness of the impacts of war industries in communities around the U.S., including approaches ranging from focusing on particular armament companies to the use of local resolutions to educate publics about endless funding for the military while the frontline services provided by local government are short-changed. The keynote speaker was Rev. Liz Theoharis, National Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. The webinar was part of Code Pink's Cut the Pentagon campaign, bringing together a broad coalition of groups to reduce military spending in a 100-day calendar of events. Click here for a recording of the webinar.
International Peace & Planet Online Conference Jan. 4, 2022
You are invited to the Peace & Planet Online International Conference, "Building our Movements & Impacting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference" which will take place via Zoom on January 4, 2022 10 AM New York time. Click here to register. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) came into effect in 1970 with the promise of creating a nuclear weapons free world. The nuclear powers have refused to fulfill their part of the bargain, leaving humanity hostage to unspeakable possibilities that could end civilization. Beginning January 4, 2022 diplomats will converge on the United Nations for the 10th Review Conference of the NPT, with the ostensible goal of holding governments accountable to fulfill the Treaty's promise. They cannot afford to fail. READ MORE
Climate Crisis Webinar: Recording Now Available
Climate change brings us face to face not only with the injustice of ecological devastation, but with a "perfect storm" of interlocking injustices including poverty, racism, militarism, and religious nationalism. On November 14, the California Poor People's Campaign Policy & Education Working Group hosted a webinar with an all-star lineup of presenters: Tom Goldtooth, Chair of the Indigenous Environmental Network; William Barber III with the Climate Reality Project; Jacqueline Patterson, Chair of the Chisholm Legacy Project; and Josiah Edwards with the Sunrise Movement. These speakers helped us better understand the nature of this crisis while providing critical insight into ways Indigenous communities and people of color are especially impacted. Watch the recording here.
How Congress Loots the Treasury for the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies
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The United States Congress has passed a $768 billion military budget bill for 2022. Our elected officials are preparing to hand the lion's share of federal discretionary spending to the U.S. war machine, even as they wring their hands over spending a mere quarter of that amount on the Build Back Better Act. Sixty years after Eisenhower's Farewell Address, exactly as he predicted, the "weight of this combination" of corrupt generals and admirals, the profitable "merchants of death" whose goods they peddle, and the Senators and Representatives who blindly entrust them with trillions of dollars of the public's money, constitute the full flowering of President Eisenhower's greatest fears for our country. READ MORE
CODEPINK Just Returned from Cuba
CODEPINK members just returned from Cuba, where people are hoping that conditions will improve now that their population is almost fully vaccinated and tourists are returning. But instead of helping Cubans recover from COVID and the scarcities they have been confronting, the Biden administration is following Trump's maximum pressure campaign. It's up to us to push Biden to return to Obama's policy of normalizing relations and here's how you can help: call your Representative and ask them to sign on to the Cuba letter calling on President Biden to implement a policy towards Cuba that addresses humanitarian concerns, the economic crisis and engagement rather than isolation. Contact your representative now!
Thank you Lewis Hamilton!
We did it! A year ago this week we sent a call to action about Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton. We had heard that Formula 1 was traveling to Saudi Arabia despite the Jamal Khashoggi murder and the blockade and war on the Yemeni people. At the Saudi Grand Prix early this month, Hamilton called for scrutiny over Saudi Arabia's human rights record after thousands of you signed a petition asking him to do so! Over the last year, we sent Lewis' team petition signatures, had Twitter storms that many of you participated in, and released a letter with over 45 human rights organizations calling on Hamilton to call attention to human rights abuses. It was a collective effort that shows us that activism works. Let's recognize this win and send a thank you to Lewis Hamilton!
The Power of the Pen: Coalition Urges Congress to Require Report on the Impact of Severe Restrictions in Gaza
United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) regularly signs onto letters and statements dealing with a broad range of important peace and justice issues, intended to influence government policy. In November, UFPJ signed this 70+ org national coalition letter, led by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), Arab American Institute (AAI), Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), and J Street, in support of Sen. Sanders' NDAA amendment requiring a report on the humanitarian impact of severe restrictions on movement, access, and goods in and out of Gaza and possible solutions to the crisis. The letter was sent to every Senate office On November 15.
Let's use Currents to start conversations!
The UFPJ Coordinating Committee came up with the idea of a monthly Newsletter "Currents" almost two years ago, just as the pandemic was beginning and our connections to each other became harder to sustain. We are pleased with the better-than-average "open rate" of 25%, but we also would like to hear more from our readers. You can reach us at ufpjnewsletter(at)gmail.com If an article sparks a reaction, if you have a question or want to add something, or to point out an issue that needs more attention, drop us a line. Let's talk to each other!
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