Ending War and Aggression; Seeking a Just Peace

"We affirm our support for and solidarity with Russians who, despite the risk of harsh consequences, peacefully oppose and resist their government's military conscription and illegal, inhumane war of aggression in Ukraine. We urge an end to the war and negotiations leading to a just peace, including respect for Ukrainian sovereignty as a neutral state."
Statement of Solidarity with Russian War Opponents
Circulated by the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security

Election Reflections
The "Red Wave" forecast by many in the mainstream media failed to materialize, but the U.S. polity remains sharply divided and still threatened by the rise of authoritarian nationalism. In "MAGA Stymied, But Stalemate Remains," Max Elbaum notes that high turnout played a crucial role in the election results, and that "progressives played crucial roles in motivating voters long neglected by both major parties and bringing it about." In "Race is Always on the Ballot," Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler reminds us that "there has not been an election where race and white supremacy has not been on the ballot. The issue of voting rights, who can and cannot vote, health care, crime, Supreme Court nominees, a women's choice, guns, or taxes all boil down to who keeps and who is able to take away."

Sign the Statement of Solidarity with Russian War Opponents
U.S. peace organizations, including UFPJ, announced on November 1 that more than 1,000 Americans who opposed the U.S. wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq have signed a statement expressing solidarity and support with Russians who are opposing the Ukraine War, both within Russia and those who have fled Russia. The statement is being shared by Russian and Ukrainian partners who have translated the statement. Joseph Gerson of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security explained, "Those of us in the United States who have resisted and protested U.S. wars in Vietnam , Iraq and Afghanistan have come together to pledge our support and solidarity with peace activists across Russia and resisters who have fled due to their conscientious objection to war." Read Joseph Gerson's Op-ed HERE. Then sign the statement of solidarity HERE.

AS WE APPROACH THE YEAR'S END--PLEASE DONATE TO UFPJ TODAY !
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AFRICOM Out of Africa/Human Rights in Africa: December 20, 2022
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-US and CODEPINK are sponsoring a webinar on the United States African Command (AFRICOM) on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 11am PT, 2pm ET, 7 pm Nigeria time. Experts on Africa, AFRICOM, and the US Command program. will speak. After exchanging views and insights, discussion will explore what can be done to increase feminist peacemaking and support the liberation of peoples on the continent of Africa. Speakers are: Sylvie Ndongmo, current WILPF International President; Doctor Gnake Lagoke, Assistant Professor of history (world, African, and African-American) and Pan-Africana Studies at Lincoln University (PA); Bro. Imani Umoja, based in Guinea Bissau, Steering Committee member, Black Alliance for Peace, and CODEPINK leader Ann Wright . Register HERE. Your organization can endorse HERE.

Christmas Truce in Ukraine!
As Christians around the world prepare for Christmas and Jews await the Festival of Lights holiday of Hanukkah, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is partnering with members of the National Council of Elders and CODEPINK to get faith leaders and institutions to sign onto their statement calling for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine. FOR hopes to get at least 100 signatories from around the United States, and then take the petition to President Biden and the media. Read the statement calling for a Christmas Truce HERE. If you are a faith leader, please add your name and affiliation. If you belong to a congregation, ask your faith community to add their endorsement, and please share it with any and all religious leaders and institutions!

The Ukraine War: A Divided Opposition
The Ukraine war has confronted those working for peace with profound political and ethical dilemmas. Those opposing the war have yet to develop a common understanding of its causes or of how best to play a part in bringing it to an end. Several recent publications discuss the splits among peace advocates around the world: for views from Germany see Angela Klein, "'Stop the War!' Discussions of the German Left," Posle, October 12, 2022; for India, see Achin Vanaik, "Ukraine: Divisions Among The Left," Radical Socialist, October 30, 2022; and for a perspective on those divisions in the United States, see Andrew Lichterman, "A Divided Opposition: The Ukraine War and the Critique of Geopolitical Reason," a working paper for a future peace movement, Western States Legal Foundation, November 2022.

COP27 and Its Contradictions
The COP27 UN Climate meeting is happening in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to November 18. While a climate summit is more urgent than ever, this specific one is being protested and debated by activists across the world. CODEPINK campaigner Nancy Mancias, who has been present at this year's COP, summarizes the tensions within COP27: "it's the conference with the most potential to galvanize international cooperation on climate change, but is sponsored by super-polluter Coca-Cola and held in a repressive regime that by some estimates has taken over 60,000 political prisoners since 2013." Read more about the first week at COP27 here; listen to environmental activists and advocates for political prisoners discuss the conference here; and add your name to CODEPINK's petition, calling for military emissions to be included in climate agreements.

On the 60^th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Virtual Teach-In on the Current Nuclear Crisis
October 27, 1962, off the coast of Cuba, the U.S. Navy was attacking the nuclear torpedo-equipped Soviet submarine B-59 with depth charges. The ship's captain gave the order to fire the torpedoes at the Navy flotilla. As the flotilla commander, Vasily Arkhipov countermanded the order, thus preventing a likely thermo-nuclear exchange. On October 27, 2022, Vasily Arkhipov Day, the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee sponsored a Virtual Teach-In on the Renewed Threat of Nuclear War. Presenters were Patrick Mazza, progressive activist and journalist; Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation; Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research; with special guest Daniel Ellsberg. John Steinbach, Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee, moderated the discussion. Watch the recording and read the transcript here.

The Illegality of Threats of Nuclear Force
"Once again, the world is grappling with the specter of nuclear warfare, this time with threatened use of nuclear arms serving as a shield for conventional military operations," John Burroughs told the UN General Assembly on October 13. Speaking for UFPJ member groups Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Western States Legal Foundation, joined by other groups, he said: "States are obligated to refrain from threats of aggressive force" and "threats of force which would violate international humanitarian law. Consequently, states are obligated to refrain from threatening use of nuclear weapons in any circumstance, whether the threat is aggressive or defensive in nature." Surprisingly, the recent G20 Declaration (4.) adopts a position going in the same direction, stating that the "use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible."

Biden's Nuclear Posture Review: "Pouring Gas on the Fire"
Writing about the Biden Administration's new Nuclear Posture Review for the Institute for Public Accuracy, on October 31, Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation and National Co-convenor of UFPJ, said: "With the Russian government's alarming nuclear threats in Ukraine and the world closer to nuclear war than at any time since the darkest days of the Cold War, the Biden administration's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) could be read as pouring gas on the fire. Rather than issuing a clarion call for diplomacy, military restraint and new, non-nuclear global security arrangements, the new NPR doubles down on the centrality of nuclear deterrence — the threatened use of nuclear weapons — in U.S. national security policy." Read HERE. Jackie was interviewed about the NPR by David Swanson on Talk World Radio. Watch HERE.

Rising Nuclear Tensions on the Korean Peninsula
"If our attention wasn't riveted on the midterm election results and Russia's continuing nuclear threats in Ukraine, we would be rightly alarmed about rising nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula. It's a very dangerous situation and one that presents extraordinary challenges. . . . With festering nuclear flashpoints in Ukraine, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, South Asia, and the Middle East, it's time to go back to the drawing board." So writes Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation and National Co-convener of United for Peace and Justice, in an opinion piece published by In-Depth News on November 13, 2022. Click here to read the full article.

A Good Day for Divesting from War
On Monday, November 7, the Corvallis City Council unanimously passed a resolution prohibiting the city from investing in companies that produce weapons of war. This effort was accomplished through years of work by Corvallis Divest from War, a coalition of 19 groups including Veterans for Peace Linus Pauling Chapter 132, Corvallis Interfaith Climate Justice Committee, World Beyond War, and CODEPINK. While Corvallis does not currently hold investments in weapons manufacturers, this resolution marks an important commitment of the city to support life-affirming industries in all future investments. That same day, a similar ordinance was passed by the Spokane, WA City Council directing the city to divest from, and break all contracts with, the companies that produce nuclear weapons! Learn more about divesting your community here.

Poor Peoples Campaign Gears Up for Georgia Runoff Text-Banking Campaign
The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival reached a monumental milestone in mobilizing poor, low-wage, and low-propensity voters to the polls ahead of the midterm elections. Nearly 1,000 volunteers contacted over 5.1 million voters across 15 states, representing 1 out of every 50 eligible voters. Shailly Gupta Barnes, Policy Director for the Poor People's Campaign, in How Low-Income Voters Shaped the Midterm Elections, wrote: "We seldom hear about poverty in elections. But poor people vote. In 2020, one-third of all votes were cast by poor or low-income people. . . . 50 million low-income people voted in that election. Numbers like these can make all the difference." But it's not over. Georgia will be holding a runoff election on December 6 to choose their next U.S. senator. Learn more and sign up to text bank here.

Get Military Money Out of Politics!
As the midterms draw to a close and members of Congress return to DC, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA, or military budget) is back on the table. Members of the Senate Armed Services committee greenlit a $858 billion budget before going to their home districts - the rest of Congress will now decide whether that's acceptable to them. And, for a shocking number of politicians, it will be. In CODEPINK campaigner Shea Leibow's recent article in Jacobin, they discuss the financial factors that prompt so many members of Congress to keep passing military budgets that feed behemoth war-mongering corporations and starve communities. Read more about what a stock trading ban has to do with the military budget here.

The Golden Rule: Reaching Thousands of People Along the Great Loop!
Thanks to many Veterans For Peace chapters, volunteers and crew, the first part of the Golden Rule's "Great Loop" voyage has been amazing! There have been 41 events in 20 cities along the Mississippi River, with dozens of articles in local newspapers and radio and TV interviews. Marshall Islanders in Dubuque only recently learned that activists sailed the Golden Rule in 1958 to stop nuclear testing (67 weapons were detonated there). The nuclear tests made much of their land uninhabitable. On October 9, the Marshallese welcomed the Golden Rule's arrival with traditional music and dancing - and great joy! Extensive media of the event increased public awareness of why nearly 1000 Marshall Islanders now live in Dubuque. Click here for news covering the voyage and to follow the Golden Rule on a map. Daily photos and videos are posted HERE.

Mayors for Peace 10th General Conference Held in Hiroshima, October 19 – 20, 2022
On October 19 - 20, the 10th General Conference of Mayors for Peace was held in Hiroshima. The theme was, "Creating a Peaceful, Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Cultivating a Culture of Peace in Civil Society." Attended by 176 participants from 102 member cities in 9 countries, the Conference decided to establish a Mayors for Peace Supporter System and adopted the Hiroshima Appeal, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Mayors for Peace. As of November 1, 2022, Mayors for Peace membership has reached 8,222 cities in 166 countries and regions, with 223 U.S. members. Mayors for Peace has set its next membership goal at 10,000. Is your Mayor a member? Learn more about Mayors for Peace and find out how to enroll your mayor HERE.

CODEPINK Disrupts War Profiteer Lockheed Martin
On November 16, CODEPINK campaigner Olivia DiNucci disrupted an event at Politico's Defense Strategy Conference, calling out Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet for profiting off of war, climate crisis, and violence. DiNucci took to the stage, informing the audience about Lockheed Martin's human rights and environmental abuses and unfurling a banner reading "Lockheed Loves War" before being carried off the stage. "Every year Lockheed Martin pours money into political campaigns and secures billions of dollars from the American taxpayer," said DiNucci. "Lockheed Martin and its CEO Jim Taiclet make a fortune off the suffering of the people of Yemen and Palestine and off the destruction of the planet. The war profiteers need to be called out." You can view the disruption here, and read more here.

Vietnam Era Antiwar Movement: Successes, Failures, and Legacies – December 1, 2022
From the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee: This panel discussion considers the most vibrant, diverse, and sustained antiwar movement in U.S. history. What impact did it have on the conduct and conclusion of the Vietnam War? Does it offer lessons for our own time? Moderated by filmmaker Judith Ehrlich (The Boys Who Said NO!), the panel includes Daniel Ellsberg (the whistle blower who exposed decades of government lies about the war by releasing the Pentagon Papers), Carolyn Eisenberg (an antiwar activist and historian of the Vietnam War), Nguyet Nguyen (a historian of the transnational Vietnamese antiwar movement), and W.D. Ehrhart (a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War who joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and became a poet and author). December 1, 2022; 7 pm EST; online. Register HERE. See more webinars in this series HERE.

Cuba Sí, Bloqueo No!
The UN General Assembly's annual vote on the U.S.'s blockade on Cuba took place earlier this month, on November 2 and 3. This marked the 30th consecutive vote where a large majority of the international community voted to end the blockade. This year, every participating party voted in favor of ending the blockade except for Brazil and Ukraine, who abstained, and the U.S. and Israel, who voted in favor of the blockade. In response, activist groups across the U.S. mobilized with a clear message: "we do not agree with our government's policies toward Cuba and demand an end to the blockade, and the removal of Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list!" Groups participated in the week of action at the U.S. State Department and in DC, NYC, Los Angeles, and Chicago. You can read more and watch an inspiring video about the NYC action here.

Imagine What We Can Do Together
Creating justice, peace and maintaining our democracy is important work; our voices must not be stifled. United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) is a network of organizations working to end war and oppression, shifting resources toward human needs, and protecting the environment. There is strength in numbers; together we can grow a culture of justice, peace, equality, cooperation, and respect. Please consider joining United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) as a member group. To learn more read our Unity Statement, and Benefits of Membership then Join Us. Questions? Email info.ufpj@gmail.com

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