May 2024
In a nation once known as "the home of the brave" and "the land of the free," there are untold numbers of brave souls who are without homes or on the verge of homelessness. Today, there is not a single state or county where someone earning the federal minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment.
"Housing, Not Handcuffs"
Liz Theoharis and Shailly Gupta Barnes
Webinar -- TOMORROW, Wednesday, May 29 -- Nuclear War: A Scenario; A Conversation with Annie Jacobsen
The Back from the Brink Campaign is hosting a virtual event with Annie Jacobsen, New York Times bestselling author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, on Wed. May 29 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. In her book, Jacobsen examines the reality of what would unfold in the seconds, minutes, and hours following the launch of a nuclear attack against the U.S. and the full-scale nuclear war that would likely follow. In so doing, she exposes what the government and military do not want the public to understand about the current state of nuclear weapons and the policies and procedures that must be changed. Ms. Jacobsen will be joined by Archbishop John C. Wester (Santa Fe, NM), Eddie Laiche (high school senior and co-founder of Students for Nuclear Disarmament), and Dr. Ira Helfand (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War). LEARN MORE and REGISTER.
June 29: Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Polls
Join a historic assembly of impacted poor and low-wage workers, leaders from major religious organizations and denominations, labor unions, and other advocates on June 29 in Washington, DC and on line, as the Poor People's Campaign (PPC): A National Call for Moral Revival kicks off four months of outreach to 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters. The PPC is calling on candidates for public office in 2024 and beyond to endorse a moral public policy agenda that can expand democracy to all people and end the crisis of death by poverty and low wealth, which kills 295,000 people each year. The PPC's 17 Point Agenda includes addressing militarism and the war economy, standing for peace not war, an immediate cease fire in Gaza, and an end to genocide, around the world. WATCH the inspiring promo video. RSVP and LEARN MORE.
Video recording: War, Genocide, and the Gospels; A Sermon by Bishop William J. Barber, II
In response to an invitation by five North Carolina Baptist ministers, on April 26, Bishop William J. Barber II, National Co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, gave a sermon on "War, Genocide, and the Gospels" at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC. In his powerful and profound sermon, citing episodes from the Gospels and U.S. history, and quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bishop Barber called for an immediate ceasefire and end to the genocide in Gaza, and also to ongoing wars and genocides in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and elsewhere, noting, "U.S. history should make us the first to say no." If you have been curious about where Bishop Barber stands on issues of war and peace, WATCH the recording. (Note: Bishop Barber's sermon starts at about 30 min.)
Support RECA Expansion: Justice for Impacted Communities!
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) provides partial compensation for people harmed by radiation exposure from uranium mining and U.S. government nuclear weapons testing, including over 200 above-ground nuclear tests from 1945 to 1962. RECA is a valuable program, but it does not go far enough to support those who were harmed, and many thousands of people in impacted communities have been left out altogether. Time is running out for the House to vote, since the original RECA legislation sunsets on June 7. As nuclear test downwinder Mary Dickson has declared: "Nuclear testing did not prevent nuclear war. It was a nuclear war." LEARN MORE and TAKE ACTION.
June 10 -- 16, 2024: Daniel Ellsberg Week; A Week of Education and Action to Honor Peacemaking and Whistleblowing
Daniel Ellsberg became a whistleblower by giving the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. Ellsberg's subsequent trial on twelve felony counts, posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, leading to the convictions of several White House aides and figuring in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. Ellsberg was a lecturer, scholar, writer, and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions, and the urgent need for principled whistleblowing until his death on June 16, 2023. Today, the Defuse Nuclear War Coalition is carrying on his legacy and honoring him with a week of education and action, June 10 -- 16. FIND OUT how you can get involved.
International Criminal Court Issues Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders as International Court of Justice Orders a Halt to Israel's Rafah Offensive
On May 20, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh. All are alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Just Security is providing a useful collection of documents and commentary on the case. On May 24, The International Court of Justice ordered an immediate halt to Israel's offensive in Rafah, modifying its earlier order in South Africa's case against Israel based on alleged violations of the Genocide Convention. See the ICJ case page for all filings, orders, and other documents. Both cases will test the effectiveness and the limits of the law of armed conflict.
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Speaking Out and Educating Publics about Gaza, from Campuses to the United Nations: UFPJ Gaza Resources
The UFPJ Gaza war resources page provides links to a variety of materials, including selected webinars and video presentations. Recent additions include a Massachusetts Peace Action webinar, Occupation, Encampment & Divestment on Campus: Students' Voices Must Be Heard, featuring organizers from a number of Massachusetts universities; and 2024 Commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba "1948-2024: The Ongoing Palestinian Nakba," convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) at the UN in New York, with speakers including Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, and a variety of NGO and academic experts. We update the resource page regularly, so check back for more.
Image: Rousseau Diderot, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Webinar recording: Emergency Forum with Israeli Conscientious Objector Yuval Dag
On May 23, the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Red Letter Christians hosted an emergency forum with Israeli conscientious objector, Yuval Dag. After growing up with a nationalist identity, Yuval began to question his privilege and how it was maintained through the oppression of Palestinians. "Resistance begins…. With the understanding that enlisting in the army is a political choice, and its meaning is to support the military and political agenda, and to take part in it. The understanding that even a small cog contributes to the system's function." Yuval decided that he could not in good conscientious accept his military conscription. He spent two months in prison for his refusal to serve and today works with the Israeli Refusers Solidarity Network to support other Israeli Jewish Refusniks. WATCH the recording.
Teetering on the Brink or Stepping Away? UFPJ Ukraine Resources
Seeking to discourage further Western military aid, the government of the Russian Federation recently conducted nuclear weapons drills close to Ukraine's borders. Ukraine's military subsequently struck radars that are part of the Russian strategic early warning system. Meanwhile, both countries floated competing peace frameworks. Ukraine called for countries including the U.S. and China to attend its summit in Switzerland, to which the Russian Federation is not invited. Anonymous high-level Russian sources told Reuters that their government is open to a ceasefire that "recognises the current battlefield lines," noting that the government has grown concerned about the potential for nuclear war. On the battlefield, however, The Russian military is ramping up its offensive. Find these and other resources at the UFPJ Ukraine resources page.
The Inadmissibility of Nuclear Threats
In November 2022, the G20, meeting in Bali, adopted a declaration that stated in part: "The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible." The point was repeated by the September 2023 G20 meeting in New Delhi. The G20 is an intergovernmental forum that includes the world's major powers. In an article for Arms Control Today, John Burroughs of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy explains the legal foundation for the inadmissibility -- the unacceptability -- of nuclear threats, whether aggressive or defensive, through an analysis of the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (pictured). He concludes that it is imperative that governments and NGOs strive to entrench the norm against nuclear threats more deeply in national and international understanding.
Webinar recording: Nuclear Dangers, Ukraine War, The Third Year
On May 16, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation held a virtual event to discuss the third year of the Ukraine War and the nuclear dangers associated with this conflict. The event featured Professor Grigory Yavlinsky, a Russian economist and politician who ran for the Presidency of Russia three times. Yavlinsky was joined by Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher of The Nation, and Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University. Cynthia Lazaroff, an expert on US-Russian relations moderated. Grigory Yavlinsky's comments in Russian were translated into English. READ the speakers' bios and WATCH the recording.
Cancel the New U.S. Land-Based Missile
The new U.S. land-based nuclear missile program, Sentinel, is experiencing major cost overruns. This provides an opportunity to revisit the decision to deploy the Sentinel missiles to replace the existing Minuteman III land-based missiles. A statement by the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy argues that Congress should terminate funding for the Sentinel missile program. Land-based missiles are vulnerable to attack, triggering a "use them or lose them" dilemma; deploying a new generation of missiles is contrary to commitments the U.S. made under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and their use would violate the international law of armed conflict; and there are better uses for the vast sums of money involved.
Housing, Not Handcuffs: The Moral Response to Homelessness
On April 22, the Supreme Court heard the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which sets the stage for the most significant Supreme Court case about the rights of homeless people in decades. The case will decide whether cities are allowed to punish people for sleeping outside with a pillow or blanket, even when there are no safe shelter options. As Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, National Co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and Shailly Gupta Barnes, Policy Director for the Poor People's Campaign write: "Our faith traditions and constitutional values certainly should be clear enough that it is cruel and unusual punishment to treat the homeless the way Grants Pass wants to do. The court and the nation should respond to this moral crisis with care and compassion, with housing, not handcuffs." READ MORE.
Webinar recording: Where Your 2023 Taxes Went: A People's Briefing
On May 2, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) hosted an online People's Briefing, "Where Your 2023 Taxes Went." Moderated by IPS' Nefta Freeman, IPS' National Priorities Project (NPP) Director, Lindsay Koshgarian, and NPP Outreach Coordinator, Alliyah Lusuegro gave an illuminating explanation of where your 2023 income taxes went. WATCH the recording. The average taxpayer in the United States paid $19,113 in federal income taxes in 2023. FIND OUT where your 2023 taxes went. (Hint: $5,109.93 went to militarism, while only $205.58 went to non-military foreign aid and diplomacy.) You can create an individualized tax receipt using this INTERACTIVE TOOL.
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